The Euros

This Sunday, I saw once again how awesome our ward is. David, our WML, noticed a couple weeks back that I had a hole in the seat of a pair of suit pants. After trying to explain that that is what a mission does to clothing, he told me I needed to do something about it...

Then comes the first Sunday after Christmas. David, being the collest and greatest WML ever, brought presents for the Elders here. The bag he brought had 3 ties and a suit (seen above). David got this suit from Br. Promstaller--the suit was bought for his son, but it didn't fit, so was given to David. David is a little taller and thinner than I am, and the suit just didn't work for him either. David thinks of someone in desperate need of a suit, I pop into his head, and he brings it for me! It is a little loud--brown with lighter brown pin stripes, but it fits me like a glove.

Just another Christmas miracle!

The picture is of the Euros--Elder Ballantyne in his recently bought european cut, and myself.

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A-U-S-T-R-A-L-I-A vs. A-U-S-T-R-I-A

I don't know if I am just lucky or what.

My boxes came. Box 2 of 2 arrived on Friday of last week. Box 1 of 2 arrived 4 days later, and after opening it, I realized an interesting sticker on the front of the box, near the customs form.

Apparently, the Austrailians are getting as annoyed as Mom is. Note the red arrows and circle around the large print AUSTRIA were NOT written by a Kemsley, or an American, at that.

Way to do, New Mexico division of the USPS...

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Christmas Party

Well, the Missionaries were asked to sing a typical American Christmas song this year. We decided to go all out and hick-ify Jingle Bells. Elder Ballantyne had Brad Paisley's instrumental version, and we wrote some hick lyrics to it... It wasn't the most reverant part of the evening, but it was a hit...

Also on the agenda that evening was the singing of typical Tirolian and Baverian Christmas songs, accomponied by Jakob Egger (the clone of Wyndham) and his accordian...

I got to mess around with it after the party... Rock on?

Krampuslauf and Christmas With the Schmidts

The traditional Krampuslauf took place this last weekend. Here is how the story goes:

Back in mid-evil times, a small city was plagued with evil devils. These creatures would run around, whipping the townspeople and causing mayhem. They distroyed crops, scattered flocks and bullied children and adults alike. This pandemonium continued for a week, until the town leader summoned one St. Nicolaus from southern Austria to rid the city of these unwanted demons.

St. Nicolaus went through the city, performing exorcisms and the like, and as a sign of everything being ok, he put oranges and candies in the shoes of the children who were inside, afraid to leave their houses.

This tradition continues today, whipping included. Man, those things are freaky...

PS- (from left to right) Ballantyne, Hebbert, Beckstead and ME!

Thanksgiving 2009

Peter:

We'll start tonight with a Cream of Celery soup with a touch of fresh basil. A nice, full-grain wheat bread will be served to compliment the soup.

Afterwords, let us move onto our main course. We will be serving turkey breast filets in a red wine gravy and served with rice and fresh snow peas. Black current juice should complete the taste I am shooting for.

And to close tonight, we will be serving a homemade apple pie with a vanilla sauce and a scoop of hand-churned vanilla bean ice cream.

Bon Apitét.

Service

Last week, we went with Br. Egger to help him prepare for next winter. We didn't know quite what we were getting into. Somewhere along the line, between the 200+ lbs meter-long logs and the chainsaws, we realized that this might not be a missionary-approved service project...

It was awesome though. I now understand what it means to "bear a cross."

PS- Mom, don't worry, it isn't too cold here yet. We were up in the mountains, and we were working hard, but a tee shirt was more than enough...

Frau Martina

Well, this lady is Frau Martina. She is crazy. She stalks the missionaries and keeps tabs on where everyone goes. She sneaks pictures of us. She calls different missionaries and lies about her name to set up appointments with us. We are not allowed to meet with her and she is known throughout our mission as well as the other missions in Austria as a Do-Not-Contact person.

She lived in Wien, and came often to our ward. This picture, for example, was taken the day of the Palka's baptism. And she just re-found out where I am.

Needless to say, we can expect her to visit Innsbruck in the coming weeks...

PS- Props to Elder Hartmann for taking this picture.