Keeping his sense of Humor

Elder Summers showing he's got a sense of humor about his new area.  I know he's trying hard but sometimes you just feel like this.....

Ben included this picture in this weeks letter, this and a rundown of his week.  I think he was serious but I couldn't help but laugh. 


So, three positives things about Klagenfurt... 

1. it's by mountains  
2. it's, well not going to lie, that's all I can think of. 

 I have just accepted the fact that it's going to be a challenge for me, so yeah.  Klagenfurt B, that means there are 4 elders in the same ward, so just one ward but 4 elders, me and Elder Nelson, Elder Bybee and Elder Mckendrick.  So yeah, we all live together in our 4 man apartment.  The members are good to us so yeah.  My German is getting better, I think. When it gets hard I just say to myself the motto from the last area, sucks to suck, so yeah 

-Tuesday we went to Kühnsdorf and found there and got no one.
-Wednesday was the same thing but with A LOT of rain.
-Thursday we tried to sign in for Klagenfurt.  So in Austria you have to sign in       where you are living, so yeah that took a while then we just went finding.
-Friday we had dinner at the bishops house so that was fun and the start of the   day was the same as all others. 
-Saturday we went to Salzburg for stake priesthood meeting which is a 2hr drive   through the mountains, that was fun and that took all day.
-Sunday we had a unexpected eating appointment and yeah, found for a hour    and went home.  

So all in all my days are the same here it feels like I have been here for a really long time..... But yeah I hope it gets better, yeah.  I'll be on the look out for the package I'm excited for it.

 I love you mom you are the very best keep on being the very best.

 Have a great week,
 Love Elder Summers 

Picture Dump Day

Picture day.  Here's a mish mosh of Elder Summers last week in Vienna.  

Elder Summers saying goodbye to Vienna and Elder Plumb.  Wien 5 treated him well.

Sleeping on the rooftop the last night in Vienna.  I'd say that's a pretty fun way to make an exit.

Night time views with an Elder Summers photo bomb.

Haus des Meeres and enjoying the under water tunnel.  

Looking cautiously happy while visiting the animals at Haus des Meeres.

Elder Plumb didn't seem to mind the new friend he had made.  

Scenic overlook at the Haus des Meeres.  

Elder Summers with..... questions to be asked in his next letter home.  I believe they are the home owners of a house Ben helped renovate every Saturday.  He honestly enjoyed working on the house.

Saturday reconstruction action.

The house that missionaries learned life skills and offered service to others.

Elder Summers loved with all his heart Vienna; the people, the culture, the city life, mostly the people.  What a wonderful place to start out on your mission. 

My favorite picture of the goofy companions.  I enjoyed watching Ben grow while serving with EP.  

Be sure to put your feet in the right place- Letter home from Aug 31,2015

Left foot in Austria and right foot in the Czech Republic

So the past week had a lot of fun stuff going on.. Monday well i told you that story (they taught lessons and got stuck in traffic). Tuesday, we took our pday and we just walked around and looked at stuff, i took pictures and sent them.

Possibly at Hogwarts?  

  Wednesday we we had Tausch, which means we swap companions for the day, so i was with Elder Ward, a zone leader, and we talked with this less active family.   The mom has a lot of questions and stuff, but hopefully we can help her out.   Thursday was interesting.. So we went with the family Husz the ones we went with, he is a former 70, he is a really cool dude.

Summers and Plumb with the family Husz

Beautiful cabin near the Czech border

So we went out to the cabin, I sent pics of all of this so don't worry.   So that was 2 hrs or so out there, we ate at this really good restaurant and i had Wiener schnitzel and salad and for desert we had mohn knödel, it had some really good raspberry and chocolate center.  It was sooo good.  For service we just moved like 2 mattresses and a bed frame to their trailer and went to the Czech border. I sent a pic of that as well and we did not get back till late. Oh, ps the photo of the ground and me with the metal great that was the Czech border and Austrian so left was Austria and right was Czech.

Who knew Elder Summers would become such a world traveler.

Elder Plumb and Elder Summers right on the border of their mission.

Convinced Elder Summers is at Hogwarts 

 Friday we had lunch with an elderly couple and then we had a lesson with an investigator, she is coming along really well.  Saturday we did more service at the house.  We put up border on the ceiling so they can do the eletricity and I scrapped wallpaper. I love working on that house.   Sunday we had church and a investigator we have been teaching brought her entire family so thats super exciting!   Then essen(eat) and we brought the sacrament to a sister and then we had dinner with a investigaor and her member husband.   So it was a great week for investigators! 

 The food here is not that bad.  I eat everything I'm given, haha even a thing like Tingey soup I had a couple days ago.  :)  I'll sent Jack a card and Emma somthing too if I can.   Yeah its crazy how Jacob is almost in the rank of Elder! Time goes by really fast out here.   Honestly, what can I say I'm the white raptor! 

For the spiritual growth, well I'm reading the New Testament and the Book of Mormon and they go so well together.   My testimony of the gospel has grown so much more than it ever has honestly, its really nice.  Elder Plumb says hello. So 1 thing with the missionaries in the ward back home, one way i would say how to best help them is referrals honestly, and connect with them, talk with them.  Nothing is worse than being in a ward that the members don't talk with the missionaries, so that's my advice for the week.   Nothing really scary happened this week, partly because we don't go out at night, haha.   Oh so we went to Prater park,  I sent pics.  

So its a amusement park and we rode the tallest swings in Europe or in the world, so yeah that was a lot of fun.  I'm getting along with everyone and learning new things every day. Oh hey can you please send Abraham Lincoln quotes in your emails cause he is such a cool guy.   I was reading a little about him and did not realize how religious he was, so pretty please can you? 

 Have a great week mom.   I love you so very much.   Keep on being the best mom in the world and I'll see you in like 20 months.

 Mit Groß Liebe,
 Elder Summers

Sept. 7, 2015 Elder Summers letter home and showing Big Brother Love

Yeah I did hear about the refugee situation, they are all at west bahnhof and we don't go over there, but yeah.   President Kohler emailed us and said we could do service if we want with them, but yeah some people are talking about it here.  Give Hannah my love, I'm glad everyone is liking school more haha.   I'll email Jack later haha and Katie says for you to stop being a butt to her haha.  Hopefully my email helps her.  That's really awesome that Elder Bednar is coming and they get to go see and meet him,  it will be a great thing indeed.  I'm really happy for Jacob getting to Brazil, Good year!  I did get a pic of him and he looks great yeah, i think the wanting to get on the plane was a, "I'm ready for this lets go" kinda thing and not "I want to get out of here" kinda thing.   Can you send me his email?  

Plumb and Summers ready to go for a swing ride.

Yeah it's already cooled down to like I the low 60's or so, it's super nice!   Thanks, yeah it was a really fun swing ride cost me like 5€ though, but that's ok haha, it was worth it.   You can send videos if you want I don't mind, I'm ok, all the elders I live with are almost dead so they talk about home a lot, so videos won't make it worse, haha yeah.   

I'm doing really good, not much happened this week.  On Monday was just lessons with people cause the only time they can do it is on Monday.... Tuesday we looked at watches cause EP wants to get a nice one, I might get a swatch for people in the fam for Christmas, I'll see if I have the money. Wednesday we went by and no one was home so we just found someplace and we studied. Thursday we helped with the house, I'll take pictures next time I'm there so you can see what I'm talking about. Friday was a adventure for sure.  We went out to Bernhardsthal, that's 1hr 45mi drive from Wien, and then we took this van 35min to Poysdorf  to give a referral a Book of Mormon, who was not home, so then we took a taxi, which are expensive but EP payed cause he had money set aside for that, so all in all we got home at like 9:20 or so, it was a fun day. Saturday we helped with the house more and the zone leaders have a Taufe on Thursday so EP is the DL so he had to do the Taufe interview and we got home at 10 or so, it was a fun day.  Sunday we just went to church and weekly planned cause we had no time Friday, so ta-da, that's my week in a nut shell!  Full of fun.  

Caught without umbrellas.

 I'll send pic next week don't worry, oh also something more serious, I think it would be a good idea to talk about dad with the kids, but more with Katie and Jack.  Me and EP talked about it, and yeah, see how they feel about everything. Make sure they are ok and that they are not hiding any feelings about it, so yeah just a thought.  

I love you lots mom, more than you know.  Have a great week and keep on being the very best.

 With Great Love,
 Elder Summers

Letter home Sept 14,2015 Last Week in Wien

Hey so yeah news with transfers.......well I. Leaving on Thursday for Klagenfurt B in the Salzburg zone. So that's that I'll get you the address as soon as I find out what it is I'll send it to you, so yeah it's in southern Austria.  

Great gathering for a baptism in Vienna, even President Kohler came!

We are going to the Haus des Meers today, so I'm excited for my last p day in Wien.  Honestly not much happened this week except a Baptism.  Recently the zone leaders have been teaching her and they asked about baptism and yeah, so after 10 years she has been baptized! 

So yeah, we did a lot of service, I said goodbye to everyone in the ward and what not.   Not much has happened. I'm excited that you are going back to school well doing the online course.  So transfers are every 6 weeks, just a FYI kinda thing, sorry this is kinda short not much happened.  

Plumb, Albrecht, Ward, and Summers

On Monday we looked at watches with Elder Plumb and then Tuesday we taught English and went to the biggest mall in Europe shopping center or city south so that was fun.  Wednesday we had Tausch and I was with Elder McLean, he has been out for 8 months so it was cool.  Thursday we had zone training and taught English Friday we went with Elder Albrecht and Elder Ward came with us to the cabin by the Czech border to help move stuff, it was fun.  Saturday I helped on the house one last time and I took pictures and what not but don't have time to drop box today, so yeah.  After that we went to a primary thing at Wien 3 and helped with that, it was fun, and we found someone at it so it was all good.   Sunday I bore my testimony  in German and said goodbye to everyone then we just chilled at home and weekly planned, but other than that not much. 

Eating at a Burger King in Vienna..... oh bother.

 I love you so very much mom you are the best mom ever don't forget it.

 I'll send pictures of my new area when I can have a great week and keep on being awesome.

 Love Elder Summers  

Letter Home Sept 21,2015- No Growth in the Comfort Zone, Goodbye Wien

At the train station getting ready to leave Vienna.  

From Mom- The letter home this week was rough to read, heartbreaking in it's briefness and I just wanted to hug my big guy and tell him "Cheer up Charlie, give me a smile.  What happened to that smile I used to know?  Don't you know your smile has always been my sunshine, let that sunshine show." Because you can never know the sweet without the sour, I publish this recent letter home.  I contemplated whether or not to say that my son is in my opinion, really missing Vienna, his old companion Elder Plumb and the wonderful families of Wien 5.  But then again, "There is no growth in the comfort zone; there is no comfort in the growth zone."  As Ben said, "I need to find the positive."  I have no doubt that he will be able to find it, because he is doing the Lord's work, he is serving His children, teaching His children.  

 Monday we went to the aquarium and that was a lot of fun. Tuesday we had a eating appointment with the family Zemps, it was awesome.  Wednesday I said bye to everyone and had another eating appointment and Thursday we had transfers.  On Wednesday night we slept on the roof, I have a pic but drop box was full.  So we waited in Salzburg for 5 hours because the borders are shut down and the ones coming from Germany had to drive cause no trains were running between Austria and Germany.  There were a lot of refugees in the Bahnhof so it was kinda dirty in there, then it was a 3 hour train ride to Klagenfurt, so that was fun so all in all I got to the new place around 930 or so.  Friday we got to know the area, had a fireside and met a lot of the members then on Saturday we went finding all.....day....long. So yeah and found no one.  My honest opinion about this place is well.......I need to find the positive about it that's all I'm going to say.  I live in a four man and we spent most of our day just cleaning the apartment cause it was really dirty and moving things so that we had more room.  In honesty nothing interesting happened this week sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear but that's how it is yeah.  I'm really bummed about leaving Wien and Elder Plumb and everyone.  I'll send pictures next week I love you mom and love everything you do for me have a great week and be awesome 

Love,
 Elder Summers