July 2013: Elder and Sister Stepan Bid Farewell and Depart for Home.
We arrived
in Innsbruck on 4 Feb 2012. There was lots of snow and it was the coldest
winter that it had been in years. It was Sunday morning and we arrived in time to
attend church meetings. We enjoyed meeting the wonderful members of the
Innsbruck branch. We had many great experiences working with the JAE and
meeting with members in their homes.
Being able
to serve in Innsbruck with the other missionaries and the members is one of the
most memorable times of our life. We quickly learned to love them all.
We have received many blessings from serving. We are thankful for the
great support that all the members and the missionaries gave us while we were
serving in Innsbruck.
We have 7
children, 2 boys and 5 girls, and we have 26 grandchildren, 14 boys and
12 girls. We live in southern Utah in a small town called Beaver.
We love
you, we miss you, we hope to return to Innsbruck sometime in the
future. May the Lord bless you, love, Elder &
Sister Stepan
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| Elder and Sister Stepan (Wien, 2012) |
July 2013: Elder and Sister Mower Arrive (19 July). Elder and Sister Mower arrived in Innsbruck on 19 July and replaced the previous "Ehepaar", Elder and Sister Stepan. Going on a mission as a couple has been planned for many years and coming to Innsbruck was a dream come true. Elder Mower served a mission in the Southern German Mission in 1967-1969 and served in Freiburg i. Br., Tuttlingen, Ravensburg, and Offenburg.
Elder and Sister Mower are from Bountiful, Utah, and have five children and 18 grandchildren. Elder Mower is a retired electrical engineer. Sister Mower was a school teacher for a short time before we started raising our family. She also did the bookkeeping for our son's tile business for many years. We have both served in many church callings over the years. We now have 18 grandchildren.
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| Elder and Sister Mower (2012) |
August-September 2013: Institute: Life was quite busy for Elder and Sister Mower and they got acquainted with everyone and busily prepared for Institute each Thursday. During the July-September time frame, Elder and Sister Erlacher, the senior missionary couple in Brixen, Italy, would drive down with Samuel P. and attend Institute. Samuel is preparing to serve a mission (he was later called to an Italy mission) and coming to Institute was a great experience to learn a little more about the gospel and to associate with the other "JE" in Innsbruck. Most of the time some of the Brixen missionaries, including the sister missionaries, would come with. Fortunately, the Erlacher's have a car with three rows of seats. Since Samuel lives in Bozen, coming to Innsbruck is quite a time sacrifice for him. We appreciate him and the others coming!
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| Bottom picture from left: Elder Zamarippa, Samuel, Rahim, Sister and
Elder Erlacher, Sister and Elder Mower, Diana, Julian, (member from
Italy), Victor and Karin, Klaus and Amanda, Elder Hans, Günther |
September 2013: Dimitri and Emily Wedding Reception (22 Sep): Demi and Emily were recently married in Klagenfurt and will be living in Innsbruck. Emily will be teaching school and Demi will be attending the University Medical School. The branch hosted a wedding reception for Demi and Emily at the church on 22 Sep. Pictures are shown below.
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| 22 Sep.: Wedding reception in Innsbruck for Demi and Emily |
September 2013: Institute Opening (29 Sep.). It's time to award certificates for Summer institute and to start a new school year. The planned stake institute opening in Salzburg didn't materialize, so President Erlacher thought it best for us to have our institute opening for the 2013/2014 school year right here in Innsbruck. We had the closing (Summer) and opening (2013/2014 year) exercises in the chapel and, after that, enjoyed a meal in the Relief Society room. We also took a picture of the group outside the building.
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| 29 Sep. 2013: Institute Opening |
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| 29 Sep. 2013: Institute Opening from left: Victor, Karin, Brother Vogel-from Stake, Elder Zamarippa, Elder Jensen, Elder Smith, Thomas, Julian, (friend from Germany), Elder Hans, President Erlacher, Dimitri, Diana, Amanda, Klaus |
November 2013: Good-bye Lucy (11 Nov). Lucina (Lucy) has made the decision to move to Vienna (Wien) where she feels she will have better opportunities for her at this stage in her life. We will miss her! We support her decision and wish her the best in all that she does. Lucy has been the "JAE" (same as Young Single Adults (YSA) in English) leader in the branch for some years now and her work with the JAE has been greatly appreciated. Diana has been the assistant JAE leader.
So, it's time for a good-bye party for Lucy to wish her well on her new adventure! The event was held on our regular family home evening night. It was mostly organized and planned by Diana, with help from Amanda and others. It was a surprise party (well, not quite), so Lucy didn't come until a little later. We all brought some "goodies" to eat (see the picture) and had a good time together.
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| Left: Diana and Amanda making preparations; Right: Group picture (not everyone) |
Group Picture (left-to-right): Sister Mower, Diana, Elder Jensen, Elder
Smith, Elder Zamarippa, Thomas, Lucy, Elder Hans, Amanda with Loren,
Ingrid.
The young elders who are in our branch were here for the party. They are Elder Smith and Elder Jensen who are serving in Telfs (where Lucy lives), and Elder Hans and Elder Zamarippa who are serving in Innsbruck. Elder and Sister Mower are the senior missionary couple.
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Upper-left Picture (left-to-right): Elder Mower, Lucy, Elder Smith
Upper-right Picture (left-to-right): Ingrid, Amanda, Diana, Victor, Julian
Bottom-left Picture: Julian
Bottom-Center Picture: Günther, Ingrid, Julian, Diana, Sister Mower, Klaus
Bottom-right Picture: Thomas
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On the blackboard is a large piece of paper for everyone to write a good-bye note to Lucy. This was for Lucy to keep as a memory of this event. You'll see the projector in the center picture below. Diana put together a photo slide show of pictures of Lucy and others during the time when Diana knew Lucy. A couple of pictures came from Elder Mower from some of the JAE events since July 2013.
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Upper-left Picture (left-to-right): Lucy with Klaus and Amanda's baby Loren.
Upper-center Picture: Lucy with Loren and Amanda
Upper-right Picture: Günther, Ingrid, and Klaus
Bottom-left Picture: Elder Zamarippa, Sister Mower, Philipp (friend), Amanda, Lucy, Diana
Bottom right Picture:Lucy with Sister Mower
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November 2013: FHE - Reindeer Service Project (25 Nov)! We had a service project tonight making reindeer candy canes that will be taken to "Sagen Wohnheim" (where Sister Dallapozza lives) on the following Saturday. The pictures below were taken at FHE. On the following Saturday, Elder and Sister Mower met Thomas at the home and passed out the reindeer. On a sad note, this is the last night with Elder Hans, as he is return home at the end of his mission. We also lose Elder Zamarippa who is being transferred. We love our missionaries and hate to see them go, but it's also great to welcome the new missionaries on transfer day.
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| 25 Nov. 2013 - FHE Center Picture from left: Diana, Philipp, Elder Hans, Elder Jensen, Elder Zamarippa, Elder Smith, Julian |
November 2013: Institute (27 Nov) - Welcome Elders Pingel and Holm! We didn't have a large group tonight, but we still had a good time. Elder Holm and Elder Pingel just arrived from the MTC in Preston, England, and tonight was their first time to greet some of the JE here in Innsbruck. WELCOME! Elder Holm will be in Innsbruck with Elder Gochnour, and Elder Pingel will be in Telfs working with Elder Smith.
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| 27 Nov. 2013: Back from left: Julian, Elders Smith and Pingel, Elders Holm and Gochnour, Rahim, Front from left: Sister Mower, Karin, Günther, Victor |
Spotlight on Thomas
The following article is from the Salzburg Stake "Konferenz Fenster" for the Fall Conference 2013. It is included below with permission from Thomas.
December 2013: Our Innsbruck Missionaries (3 Dec.). It's time for another district meeting here in Innsbruck. Elder Mower brought his camera and tripod for the picture so we can all be in the picture together.
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| 3 Dec. 2013: Innsbruck District Missionaries: from left: Elders Pingel and Smith (Telfs), Elders Gochnour and Holm (Innsbruck), Elder and Sister Mower, Sisters Schönherr and Kervinen (Brixen), Elders Yeoman and Strauss (Brixen) |
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| Our Innsbruck/Telfs Missionaries - Elders Gochnour-Holm-Smith-Pingel |
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| 2013 Christmas Party Setup |
Karin and Sister Mower help organize the music. Karin was the conductor of the choir (see picture below) that was done against a picture backdrop. The songs were 1) "Es ist ein Ros entsprungen" and 2) "Krippenlied" (The Nativity Story).
Picture (left-to-right): Klaus, Elder Pingel, Elder Smith, Elder Holm, Sister Mower, Simone, Ingrid, Elder Gochnour, Karin (conducting)
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| Elder Smith and Elder Yeoman - servers |
The members and a couple of investigators from Brixen were also here, including the two sister missionaries, two elders, and Elder and Sister Bolt. The young missionaries helped with the serving, as shown on the picture to the left. The entire group from Brixen put on a play that was fun!
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Upper Picture (left-to-right): Diana with a friend, Elder Mower, Amanda with Loren.
Lower Pictures: Sister and Elder Mower, Rosangela with baby, Krippe display in foyer.
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December 2013: Julian's CD Presentation (18 Dec.). Julian hosted a wonderful event in Innsbruck to present his first music CD entitled "eternal PROGRESSION" VOL. 1. Quite a few people attended the event including friends, family, and some from the branch. Victor, Karin, Klaus, Amanda, and Elder and Sister Mower were there, among others. After an enjoyable performance of several of his musical selections, the CDs were offered for sale. Julian proudly autographed the CD covers (bottom-left picture below). The CD cover is the center-top picture below.
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| Pictures of Julian at his CD Presentation -- on his birthday! |
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| Julian with Victor and Karin |
December 2013: Movie and Caroling Night (23 Dec.). Julian organized a wonderful evening for our FHE. We had some JAE budget left over for the year, so we decided it was about time to go see the movie "Stille Nacht" (Silent Night) that was produced in association with BYU TV and included a director from Austria (Dornbirn, we think). This movie was in German and was filmed in the area around Salzburg, Austria. One of our Innsbruck Branch members, Hans H., was in the movie posing as a member of the Catholic church congregation sitting in the pew looking up at the priest. Simone was also in the movie. This was the only film approved by the mission for the young elders to watch. We met at the (Kino) movie theater just across the Inn River. Julian had already purchased the tickets and had selected the best seating, so in we went and enjoyed the movie. Lucy was back from Wien and was able to attend with her cousin Marcelo (who took the picture) from Brazil. Below is a picture taken outside the movie theater.
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| Left-to-right: Vicky, Lucy, Diana, Elder Gochnour, Sister Mower, Elder Holm, Julian, Elder Mower, Thomas |
After the movie we walked across the river to the Annesäule where we sang Christmas songs. Sister Mower was, as usual, well prepared with copies of Christmas songs in German. There were a number of people passing by who stopped and listened. One lady asked us to sing a song she knew so she could sing along, so we sang "Stille Nacht" again. It was a fun, memorable event. Diana said singing at the Annesäule was an item on her "bucket list" that she could now cross off. The Telfs elders were able to join us for the singing and for the events afterwards at the church. (Lucy had to leave after the movie.) This is a perfect event for next year!
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| Singing by the Annesäule in downtown Innsbruck |
Left-to-right: Elder Gochnour, Elder Smith, Julian, Diane, Sister Mower, Elder Holm, Thomas, Elder Pingel. (Elder Mower took the picture.)
After we had caroled enough, we climbed into the "Strassenbahn" #3 and headed back to the church. The group still hadn't had enough singing, so we sang Christmas carols in German all of the way back to the church, with other passengers looking on and smiling. There was even a little clapping.
At the church we were met by Victor, Karin, Klaus and Amanda (with baby Loren). Sister Mower had prepared some goodies to eat and we shared gifts ( called "Wichteln"). We had received the secret name of the person who we were to buy a gift for about a week before, but the person receiving the gift didn't know who that was, so he/she had to guess who the gift was from after opening the gift and stating one thing that had happened in the year that they were thankful for. This was a fun event! The gift cost was limited to approximately 5 euros.
Left-to-right: Elder Mower, Sister Mower, Thomas (back), Klaus (front), Julian, Victor, Karin, Diana, Loren (baby), Amanda, Elder Gochnour, Elder Holm, Elder Smith, Elder Pingel.
December 2013: Waffles and Hockey Night (26 Dec.). The Christmas holidays are here and it's the day after Christmas! It's time to take a break from normal Institute for a couple of weeks. So, Elder and Sister Mower offered to make waffles for the group, if anyone wanted to come. At the last minute, Diana (who likes to be spontaneous) was able to call around and get a group together to play hockey in the cultural hall and enjoy waffles. Sister Mower was already prepared to make waffles in the event that this were to happen, so we jumped into the car with the necessary ingredients and waffle irons and headed to the church. In the meantime, Diana called everyone that was in town and, guess what, we had enough people at the church to form three hockey teams!
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| The hockey group in the cultural hall - 26 December 2013. |
Left-to-right: Jona, girl friend with Sam, Sam (Lucy's brother), Klaus, Amanda, Elder Pingel, Elder Gochnour, Victor, Marcelo (cousin of Lucy), Diana, Elder Holm, Lucy, (friend), Elder Gochnour (Not shown: Lisa and Aline)
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| Sister Mower |
We all love Sister Mower and her willingness to serve and, tonight, to make waffles for the group. Elder Mower served as her assistant in addition to running around taking pictures. Sister Mower always has good recipes and does a wonderful job! We had two waffle irons and a number of toppings. While two teams were playing hockey, the third team would eat, then back to hockey.
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Top-left Picture: Some of the group eating waffles
Top-right: Elder Smith with his new T-shirt
Bottom-left: Diana taking a rest
Bottom-right: Amanda and Lucy - catching up
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We're not certain (at least Elder Mower isn't) who really won the hockey game, but we're sure it was one of the two teams below. Yes, there is competition here in Innsbruck!
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| The winning teams. |
Left Picture: Sam, Diana, Victor, Elder Holm
Right Picture: Klaus, Elder Smith, Elder Gochnour, (friend)
