AUGUST 12, 2010 THURSDAY

I didn’t get to bed last night until about 2:00 in the morning, but I was awake again by 6:15. We got up and did our morning things and then busied about still doing some final adjustments with weighing our suitcases etc. After I shaved I had to find room for the electric shavers and a few other things. We made one last walk through of our apartment just to make sure we had everything and that it was all spic and span and we hadn’t left anything behind. By 8:30 we had all the suitcases and carry-ons downstairs ready to load into Jacob’s car. Of course it was raining, just like it was when we arrived 23 months ago. We wouldn’t want it any other way. While I was bringing down the last of the luggage, Jacob carried the large suitcases out and put them in the trunk of his car. He must have left them standing in the rain because when we got home and started to unpack, the contents of two of them we absolutely soaked. Nothing was really damaged except one book on William Tell.

At the bahnhof we unloaded our luggage, carried it down their stairs, through the tunnel and back up onto platform three. There were a total of five pieces weighing fifty pounds each, a backpack, computer case and Diana’s carry-on, quite a load really. We were supposed to meet Sylvain to give him the key to our apartment, but didn’t see him at first. However, he soon arrived which was a relief to us. And then Silvia came to see us off and then Dorothea. At that moment I remembered that yesterday during the zone conference I discovered a “Camp Helaman” coin in my suit coat pocket. Where it came from I have no idea because I knew how many I had and I had given them all away. Sylvain lost his the other day and asked for another one. I told him then that I would have to send him one, when we got back to America. But now I had one and I gave it to him right then. He was so touched he burst into tears and gave me a big hug. I’ll never know where it came from. Another tender mercy?

The train came and we got all of the luggage on then said our tearful last farewells as the doors shut and the train pulled out. We made our last trip from Schaffhausen to the airport with mixed emotions. At the airport we got our luggage off the train, loaded onto a cart, then went to check in. We arrived at 10:00 even though our flight was not scheduled to leave until 1:55 p.m. We didn’t want to have to rush around and get all frazzled, but we especially wanted to have time to visit with our friends who said they were coming to send us off. Suwang surprised us by being at the airport already and she happily greeted us and escorted us everywhere we went. We finally found the right place to check in and, when the agent looked up our flight, she said it had been cancelled. What!!! How could that be? The agent said not to worry and, since we were so early, she may be able to find us another flight. After some searching she finally found a flight from Zurich to New York’s JFK airport that would get us there in time for us to catch our connecting flight to Salt Lake City. The only catch was that it would leave an hour earlier. Because of the disruption of our flight, we received a $100 coupon apiece good towards purchase of a future flight to somewhere. If we actually do arrange to go back to Switzerland for Agnes’ baptism, the coupons will come in handy.

Because of the change from Delta to Swissair, we had to push the cart a long ways to the Swissair check in. When we finally got there, we had to wait in line. All the time it was getting closer to when we said we’d be at the SBB ticket shop to meet everyone. To complicate things we decided we’d check in one more bag than we were initially going to carry on. I thought I had sent the all bags through the check in counter, but then I saw one more on the cart. I got confused and told the agent I’d sent the wrong one through, forgetting we had decided to send all five, so she hurried and stopped the belt and went to retrieve it. Then I realized we’d decided to send all five so we told her that when she came back. She said we were only allowed four bags, but was kind enough to tell her supervisor what happened and he was also kind enough to allow the fifth bag through. We thought we were only allowed one bag each, that we’d have to pay for the other three, but they didn’t charge us for any of them. All the time I was watching the clock seeing the minutes tick away. By the time we had all that mess taken care of it was 11:30, the time we were supposed to meet our friends. Our new “to be at the gate” time was 12:00 which only gave us a half an hour. We decided Diana and Suwang would stay with the carry-on baggage while I hurriedly would run down and let our friends know what happened and to give them a quick goodbye for both of us.

I put myself in my fast gear and was down to the meeting place lickety split. I saw Margarita Maurer and Dora Wachter sitting on a bench and when they saw me they jumped up and gave me a hug. One of them got on her cell phone and before long the whole crowd arrived. These are our friends who came to see us off: Margarita Mauer, Denise Maurer, Norma Bachmann and her son Allessandro, Dora Wachter, Suwang Stefaniak, Neide Graff, Charlotte Stoecklin, Danielle Martin, Madeleine Schwitter, They all gave me a hug and when they asked where Diana was and I told them, they all took off, except Margarita, Dora and Madeleine, to go find her. Margarita, Dora and I stayed behind with Madeleine who walks about on a snail pace because of her bum knee. Finally, we got to where Diana and Suwang were and all of them were crowded around her wishing her well and saying goodbye. We were already past our 12:00 check in time, but they all wanted to take photos. Everyone had cameras including us and they all wanted group photos and us just with them individually. Everyone wanted to hug us, not once, not twice, but many times. Last call for check in came and we just had to tear ourselves away and make our escape through the gate. What a wonderful send off from some wonderful saints.

It was a relief to finally be settled into a seat with nothing to do, but sit and relax and prepare for a long flight back home. Many mixed emotions and fond remembrances of the times we spent with these members during our time in Schwamendingen. For instance, the first time we had contact with Margarita was by phone and, when we asked if we could come visit her, she emphatically said, “No, I’m not a member any more and you can’t come.” But during the course of the year and a half, she became our dear friend and is active in the Church again as much as the pain in her knees will let her. We could recount the yodeling with Daniella, the conversions of Charlotte, Neide and Madeleine, our visits with Dora, Suwang in the hospital, Denise and Allesandro at Halloween and on and on. But all of these experiences have already been documented in this journal.

We made it through security without too much hassle other than the metal detector went off when I went through. I had absolutely nothing on me that should have set it off. I was escorted into a small room where I received a pat down search and another search with a handheld metal detector. The officer found nothing, but it gave him the chance to notice my name badge and ask what it meant. He said he’d seen them on young men coming through the airport and wondered what they did. I quickly gave him a brief overview and gave him a pass-along card. That was the best I could do at the moment. Will he respond to the pass along card? Diana had no trouble at all.

When we got to JFK airport, we went through customs like a breeze. All they were interested in was seeing our passports and getting the customs declaration paper. We found the counter for our flight to Salt Lake and checked in, wanting to get rid of the five pieces of luggage again. The agent asked us how many pieces we wanted to check in to which we replied, “five.” He wanted to know how many we had paid for in Zurich. We told him they didn’t charge us anything. He then told us that today was our lucky day because we should have been charged, at least for the fifth one. He continued and said, “You know you’ll be charged here, though, don’t you.” And then he checked in the five piece and told me the charge would be twenty-five dollars. At my surprised looked he asked if we expected it to me more. Well, yes, at least $50.00. He smiled and told us to have the rest of nice trip. Do the Lord’s tender mercies never quit? And they didn’t end there.

We continued on to find the train that took us to the gate. The directions he gave us were to go around the corner, up one floor on the escalator to track two, get on for one stop and then get off and go to gate 26. But when we got of the train, we couldn’t find any signs, but there was an elevator so we took it up to level two and got out. As we were standing there looking around trying to figure out where to go, a gentleman approached us and asked what we were looking for and if he could help. We told him and he said to follow him. He knew the way, which indeed he did. First he had to wind his way through a thick crowd of people standing in lines to a kiosk to get a boarding pass. After that we followed him to the long long line of people waiting to go through the security check. He bypassed the end of the line and went right to the front, ducked under the barrier tape and talked to the control officer and convinced her that he had special permission through some sort of program to not have to wait in line. She believed him and then he told her he was escorting us and we needed to be allowed through to go with him. She assented, checked our boarding pass and, walla, let us through. That act of kindness saved us at least an hour of standing in line. Another tender mercy. As we walked through the confusing hallways to gate 26, his destination, too, we discovered his name was Allen from Alpine. He didn’t give us his last name, but stayed with us for part of the time while waiting for our flight to come. We were very grateful for his kindness.

The rest of the flight was without incident, but long. I used the time to write most of this journal entry until I used up the battery and the screen went blank. Waiting for us at the Salt Lake Airport were Roxsan, Brad and their kids, Rees, Drayson, Mayleah, Nathan and Truxtn; Monica and her kids, Remy, Jade and Robert; and Rebecca. What a joyous celebration punctuated with hugs, kisses and all of our grandchildren wanting special attention. The kids had made welcoming signs which made it special to us.

Finally, our bags came, Rebecca drove up and we loaded everything and we were off. Riding home was a special feeling of being back in our own land, the promised land. It was good to be back home although we left a part of our hearts in Switzerland. It was good to be back in the Land of the English-speaking!

AUGUST 11, 2010 WEDNESDAY

So, once again we arose early to catch the train in time to get to the stake Center in Schwamendingen for our final zone conference. We thought the one a month ago was our last one; they even had us give our departing testimonies. With the two missions combining, everything has been kind of topsy turvy and not running as smoothly as before. But, as Pres. Condie said, things will get worked out soon. He told us some missionaries are as yet unwilling to accept the changes which has made it a little difficult. But it will come, sooner or later.

Even though we got up in plenty of time we got out the door only to see the bus was already at our stop which is about fifty or so yards away. There was no hope in catching it because the bus drivers wait for no one. What? Miracles of Miracles!!! We got out to the sidewalk and the bus driver saw us. We didn’t even try because we knew we were too late, so we turned around and started to go back to our apartment. However, we noticed the bus just sat there and then we realized he was waiting for us. We hurried as fast as we could, jumped on the bus and then made sure we thanked him. When we got to the bahnhof, we went forward with Book of Mormon in hand and tried to thank him by giving him the book. He was nice and we had a friendly chat during which he said he read very little and declined the offer. We start with the big thing first (BM) and, if they don’t accept, we scale our offering back to smaller things. This time he did accept the brochure, “The Family, A Proclamation on the World.” We chose this one because he talked about his family during our conversation. He said he would read it.

We got on the train and made it to the Schwamendingen stake center just as they were singing prelude hymns. If we would have missed our train, we really would have been late. Another tender mercy in our lives. The conference was great as usual, but we felt it was one of the best ones we’ve attended. The training was great, centered on teaching rather than purely on gospel principles, contacting etc. Pres. Condie announced the new focus from the area presidency for the training the missionaries will be receiving. The missionaries come into the mission field with a good knowledge of the gospel, but most haven’t learned the teaching skills they need. So that will be the focus of zone conferences which will be held every three months rather than every six weeks, and special training for specific groups or leaders etc. on the two months in between conferences. The missions where our friends serve , the Doyles and Kroffs, are already well into this program. Coming up will be four days of intensive training to kick off the program. Pres. Condie also solicited suggestions for a new mission logo, song and name for the newsletter to try and help the combined missions establish some esprit de corps and become unified as one mission.

The last part of the conference is always a testimony meeting and, as we expected, we were asked to bear our testimonies again. Last time we did it in English, but this time in German. Diana always gets compliments on her German, as she should, because she has learned to speak and understand quite well.

After the conference was over Pres. Condie wanted us to stick around and talk to us. While he was in his debrief meeting with the mission leaders, we made a quick trip to visit Cornelia Schaer, but she wasn’t home. We sent her a text message earlier in the day to let her know we would be coming, but never received an answer back then either. We had previously written a note in the front of a book, Be Your Best Self written by Pres. Monson, and put it in her mailbox. We were sad we didn’t get to say goodbye to her personally.

We made it back to the stake center in plenty of time and took the opportunity to talk with and say goodbye to our missionary friends. We knew almost all of the ones who were in attendance today. From the first we’ve been impressed with the dedication, knowledge and abilities the missionaries have. We love them all.

Pres. Condie finally had time to talk to us and thanked us for the work we’ve done. He was very gracious and kind and gave us a folder with some talks from General Authorities in it as well as our release document in German. The English one was sent to our stake president at home, Pres. Mark C. Oviatt, who will give it to us when he releases us from our mission on Friday evening. During our meeting with Pres. Condie, Neide called and asked if we were going to come for dinner. We told her we were on our way. Elders Stucki & Christiansen were waiting for us because they were invited, too. They couldn’t go alone because of the new rule that two missionaries of the opposite sex of the person they are going to visit, must have a third person present. Two missionaries are not allowed to visit a single person no matter how young or old.

Neide had a nice Brazilian dinner prepared for us and we enjoyed it immensely. We stayed for an hour and then slowly made our way out the door, but then she decided she would walk us to the bus stop. We had a prayer which held us up just long enough to miss the bus. We walked to another bus stop to see if we could catch a different bus to get us to the bahnhof sooner, but our effort was wasted. We got on the next bus, but got to the bahnhof too late. However, when we looked at the schedule, we saw that, during rush hour, another train to Schaffhausen would come in five minutes. We were relieved that we didn’t have to wait another hour.

We got home thinking that we now had some time to finish up packing and doing the last detail things. However, as soon as we got in our apartment and shut the door, our landlords were there to invite us to dinner with them. Do we have to eat again, groan groan? Yes in deedy. They said they’d prepared a very special Appenzeller specialty just for us. How could we refuse? Alice and Jacob had everything set up on their porch and then brought out the main dish. It was canned pork that looked horrible along with the jelly stuff than one sees in vienna sausages at home. It was probably processed like corned beef and they were so proud of it, that we had to eat it. Thick layers of pork fat with thin ribbons of meat was not our idea of a delicacy. Besides the million calories it must have contained, it wasn’t all that bad. One just had to not think about it when eating it.

By 9:30 we were back in our apartment worn out, but needing to do some more stuff. We got a call from Neide telling us she’d probably not make it to the airport tomorrow. We also got a call from Kofi Safo-Adu thanking us and wishing us well.

We finished putting what clothes we weren’t going to take home into bags and I walked one last time up the stairway to heaven to deposit them in the clothing donation bins. And now it’s after midnight and when I post this entry, it’ll post on 12 August instead of August 11. Oh well.

Agnes Muangi; Interlake Ost;

AUGUST 10, 2010 TUESDAY

When we got home last night, we saw that the big garbage sack we’d set out that morning was left behind with rejected sticker on it. Now what!!!! We wanted to get all the garbage gone before we left, and now that wasn’t possible. The only thing we could figure out was that it was a grey sack and not a black one with the proper words on it. The grey sack we used was exactly the same size as the black official ones and we had affixed the proper number of tax stamps to it, too. We left it there for the night because it was so late, but it bothered me all night and at 4:30 I couldn’t stand it any longer. I got up, got my razor knife and a couple of the 30 liter garbage bags and went down to take care of the problem. Most of what was in the bag was two old carpets. I unrolled them and with the razor knife, cut them into pieces that fit the smaller bags, all nice and tidy. It made me mad that I had to use two more stamps, but I did, and then I took them down into our basement store room. I was going to ask our landlord to take them out for me on Monday, the next garbage pick up day.

With that done I was still on a roll. I got the bag with the excess sheets, blankets and etc., put in the ones I’d taken from the garbage left behind, and took the two large sacks up the hill to the collection bins by Paul’s apartment. The bins were full this time so I just put the sacks along side and went back home. A shave and a shower fixed me up fine and it was only 6:30. It wasn’t long before Diana was up and we got busy working on putting the apartment into shape for two missionaries instead of a senior couple. We took the double mattress off the two single beds and put it in the other room along the wall behind the two tables. We moved the single beds apart, moved the chests of drawers, slid the desk over and made the bedroom look really nice. We went through all the desk drawers, taking what we needed, throwing some things away and leaving other stuff. It took basically all day to get things packed up, the suitcases weighed, floors mopped, trash collected and etc. etc. etc. And just now while I was writing this, I discovered three MOSQUITOS sucking blood from my feet and ankles. Now where did they come from? Probably from the windows we’ve had open to let a little cool air in. It’s been pretty warm today. I found some bug spray and made them feel really sorry for bothering me.

We interrupted our frenzied cleaning and packing to go to Dorothea Jaermanns for lunch. She said it would be a quick one because she knew we had a lot to do. However, her “quick” turned into two hours. Before we left she asked me to give her another blessing which I was happy to do. Now what I’m going to write is not to brag or make people think we’re special, but to emphasize how important it is, and what a blessing it is for members everywhere when senior couples go on missions. I’m sure that our friends, the Doyles (Geneva) and Kroffs (Buenos Aires), and my sister Avonne and husband David (Korea) and Diana’s brother (Ray and wife Aloa (Japan) have every bit as much or more influence for good on the members and investigators as we’ve had. It’s the Lord who uses the faithful to bless the lives of His children who need it. And while they think they are the ones getting blessings, we in turn receive our share. How can it get better than that?

Dorothea said the last few years have been really a trial for the branch here in Schaffhausen, and her as well, because the members just haven’t been able to get along with each other. It has been so bad that one member went into inactivity, one moved and Dorothea, who we thought was solid as a rock, said that she had decided to leave the Church, too, unless something changed. But she decided to wait and see what the senior couple (us) would bring to the branch. She said what we brought was the spirit of love that hadn’t been in the branch for years. Our example of loving everyone, without reservation, breathed a ray of hope into her which she hopes will continue after we leave. She said she has observed a marked difference in the whole branch since we arrived. And we have developed a great love for all the members and will really miss them after we are gone. We reminded her of the principles of the gospel, faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost and then emphasized that there was still one more, “enduring to the end.” And she agreed with us and will do just that.

When we returned home, Paul called to see if we would visit him one last time before we left. I told him I’d be right up. And then while Diana continued to work on things in our apartment, I loaded up my backpack with food and took the other two big sacks of groceries and again walked up the stairway to heaven to take them to Paul. He was disappointed Diana did come, but understood that things had to get done at home. He again was very grateful for what we brought having been without some things for some time because he’s had no money. He says he can live on next to nothing, and we’re sure he’s been able to do it, but the food we brought will help him out. We are going to miss Paul.

Besides doing the work on the apartment and packing, I made a trip into the Church with a stack of papers that needed to be shredded. Realizing that the walk into Schaffhausen was probably going to be my last made me happy and sad at the same time. After I shredded all I needed to, I printed off a small inspirational story, signed it for both Diana and me, and put a copy in each of the song books. They’ll have a surprise on Sunday and a final word from us even though we’ll be gone. While I was there, Elder Neuffer called to get a report on our progressing investigators. Fortunately, I had a list with me and it was no problem.

Sylvain called and said he’d lost the “Camp Helaman” coin I’d given him and asked if I had another he could have. He said he looked for it everywhere today and couldn’t find it, but really wanted one to remind him of us and the things he had learned during our many many discussions. I didn’t have another one, but I promised I’d send him another when we get home.

The tender mercy of the Lord today was that I was asked to give Dorothea a blessing. Also, during our visit, she found out we’d had problems with our garbage and, because they have a small dumpster for their apartment, she was happy to take the two bags and dispose of them for us.

Jungfrau; Agnes, Elder Larson, Charlotte; Sister Larson.

AUGUST 9, 2010 MONDAY

Our P-day trip this morning started at 6:45 by catching our bus to make the trip to the Zurich Bahnhof where we met Agnes and Charlotte at 8:00. We used a coupon we had and bought Agnes a day pass for all of her transportation needs for the day for 30.00 sfr. We were glad that she came with us today. After we were set we caught the train that took us from Zurich to Bern where we changed trains and rode to Spiez. At Spiez we changed trains again and finally got to Interlaken Ost. We had been there before, when it was raining and very cloudy, so we couldn’t ride the cable car up onto the top of Harder Kulm. That was our goal today and it was a bright clear beautiful day to get it done. The ride up took only fifteen minutes or so, but the view from there was breathtaking. We hade a clear overlook of Interlaken, the Moench, Eiger and Jungfrau, the Brienzersee and Thunersee. We took our time on top just enjoying the view, fresh air and the company. We always take a lunch with us so during this pause, we sat on a bench in the cool shade and had lunch.

During the trip Agnes finally told us her intended baptism date, September 4. We’ve been waiting for months for her to tell us so, if at all possible, one or both of us could come back to be here when it happens. We think that maybe I and Roxsan (maybe Rees, too) could come spend a week or so traveling since she wasn’t able to come when Rebecca, Monica and Chris came last July. We’ll have to see if it all works out. When we got back to Zurich, Agnes gave us a letter to read after she left. It was a heartfelt thank you and a very sincere testimony of the Church and why she wanted to wait until September 4 to get baptized. She was born on September 6 and will be 18 years old this year. The 6th falls on a Monday and so the baptism will take place on the 4th which will, symbolically, be the beginning of her new life.

After lunch we rode the cable car back down and walked around the town a bit, then continued our trip on the train up over Bruenig Pass to Luzern. We’ve already taken this train ride several times before, but we have never gotten tired of this part of Switzerland. From Luzern we rode back to Zurich Oerlikon arriving at 5:00. Charlotte needed to buy a few things for our dinner tonight with Pres. & Sister Condie and then we took the bus to the stop near her home. As we were walking through the park on our way, Neide saw us and came running. Charlotte continued on home while we visited with Neide for a few minutes. She talked us into coming for dinner tomorrow after zone conference although we really don’t have time nor do we actually need any more food. It’s been hard these last few days to keep the weight off because everyone wants to feed us. And it’s been hard to keep saying goodbye over and over again.

We said goodbye to Neide and went to Charlottes. I left Diana there to help her get dinner ready for us and the Condies while I walked to Schwamendingerplatz to withdraw enough money to pay our mission home bill. Sister Klaumuenzner called us earlier today with the final figure which came to 1, 067. 45 sfr. I got back about a half hour before the Condies were supposed to arrive, but Diana had gone over to visit Barbara Weidmann, who lives in the apartment next to Charlotte. I went over and joined them so as not to be alone with Charlotte. Barbara is a part time travel agent and Diana asked her to look up airfare from SLC to Zurich. She said would email the price to us tomorrow. From there we went up to the top of the building to Hitsch & Kathy Bolt’s apartment to say goodbye to them. It was hard to say goodbye, but when we told him that I might be back for Agnes’ baptism, he said I, and whoever came with me, could stay in their guest room while we were here.

We went back down to Charlottes and waited for the Condies to show up. They were about a half hour late, but finally arrived. We had a nice visit with them and Charlotte and the chicken dinner was delicious, too. When it came near time when we had to leave to catch our 8:54 train, Charlotte started telling the Condies her conversion story. We got more nervous and more nervous about having to leave, but she kept going on and we didn’t want to break in on her. It was really a great story and we were enjoying it, too, although we lived it with her and knew it frontwards and backwards, but that didn’t keep the train from coming. If we missed this one, it would probably have take us till midnight to get home. If we caught the 8:54, it would still take us until near 10:30. Much as we hated to we broke in with the excuse we had to go, but we needed to settle our bill with the mission home before we left. We gave 975.50 sfr to Pres. Condie and then we said our goodbyes. Diana and I both gave Charlotte our normal hug and Pres. Condie about swallowed his tongue. I had to explain that in Switzerland it’s custom to give both a greeting hug and three kisses on the cheeks upon meeting and saying goodbye. The members understand why it’s not proper for the young missionaries to do it, but for senior couples, it’s offensive to them not to do it. We asked Pres. Matern a long time ago what we should do. He said his guideline (he had the same problem) was that it was okay when Diana and I were together, but never while alone, and the members are okay with that. We try to avoid the kisses as was the case tonight.

We took off running, literally, and arrived at the bus stop, but it had just left. We saw that when the next one came, we just might have enough time to get to the train platform, if the bus didn’t have to wait for older passengers to hobble on and off the bus. Fortunately there were no problems and when it stopped at the bahnhof, we again ran, this time down the stairs, through the tunnel and back up to the right platforms just in time to slip into the train before it took off. Whew!!!! We’ll sure be glad when we have our own car and can come and go when we want although we do enjoy the trams, buses and trains.

The ride back home was uneventful, so much so that it was hard to stay awake. By the time we were home we were so tired that we mostly just got ready for bed and crashed. We hoped that by in the morning we would be sufficiently recovered to be able to move and get done what we needed to do.

Jecelyn Hoenle & Michaela Zaunigk; Carla Wigger, Aaron & Susan Flammia; Claudia Clavadetscher (eyes closed); Diana, Dorothea Jaermann; Greta Troesch.

AUGUST 9, 2010 SUNDAY

Even though it was our last Sunday here, I followed my normal routine and got up early and walked to Church, not all the way this time because I got a little late start. It took a little longer than I thought to collect all the clothes we were giving to Michael Hartig at Church today. I got to the Church and wrote our report on the computer. I again expected Michael to show up at 8:00, but he didn’t come. When Michaela came. She said he was on vacation and that she could take the clothes to him.

We had invited quite a few investigators to come to Church today including: Charlotte Kunz (sent us a nice text message, but didn’t come), Franz & Anita Maier (didn’t come), Katia & Emely DiPaolo (they came), Claudia Clavadetscher (she came), Jasmin Hunsiker & kids (sent a text message that India didn’t feel good and they would try to come anyway, but didn’t) and Kofi Safo-Adu (he came, but not his family). We sent and invitation to Prisca & Mike, but didn’t really expect them to come since they live so far away and she works until after midnight. It was especially disappointing that Jasmin and the Maiers didn’t come, but we were especially excited that Claudia came.

Paul Hunziker gave his first talk in Sacrament meeting and did very well. He mostly told his conversion story, that it took him fifty-five years to get baptized und he was kind enough to give us the credit for helping him to finally get over the hump, so to speak and get baptized. Following him, Diana, Dorothea and I sang our a capella song, The Lord Is My Shepherd.” The people present thought we did very well, but then again, what else would they say? Dorothea was very happy to have been able to sing with us, and the feeling was mutual.

Diana was next up and did a marvelous job in giving her talk. She thanked the member for making us feel welcome and told them she would miss all of them a lot. She felt inspired to share the testimony of her grandfather, George C. Phillipps. She wanted to have someone come read it and interpret it for her rather than do it herself, but finally she asked me to translate it yesterday for her. It took me most of the day as reported in yesterday’s journal, but it was worth it. Many eyes were moist before she finished. I followed with a talk on testimony, why it’s important to obtain one, how to do it and what to do with it once you have it. The first and middle part was mostly directed to Claudia, Emely and the younger kids, Manuel, Fabian and Aaron, emphasizing that everyone, even those born and raised in the Church, must develop their own testimonies and can’t rely on parents or anyone else. After one has a testimony it requires nurturing and work to maintain it, keeping the commandments, following Christ into the waters of baptism. The last part of the talk was directed to the less-actives who were there, Martin Hedinger, Kofi Safo-Adu and Katia DiPaolo as well as the rest of the members. After one is baptized and on the road then comes activity in the Church, always progressing, learning, repenting, and enduring to the end. What good is it, if we quit in the middle?

After sacrament meeting there were a lot of hugs and well wishes. We gave Lea and Aaron the Camp Helaman coins depicting the armor of God described in Ephesians 6:11-18. Both were appreciative and we were a little surprised how much Aaron was affected by the memento from us. Claudia gave us an expensive brass Swiss cow bell and Michaela knitted a heavy wool cap for me. She said it took her two weeks to do it and we can believe that. It is very heavy and thick and would certainly keep one warm in the winter.

Suwang Stefaniak called this morning and said she was on her way to Schaffhausen and wanted the address to the Church. Diana talked to her and gave her directions, but Suwang told Diana she wouldn’t arrive until 9:45, right in the middle of sacrament meeting so we couldn’t meet her train. She said she could find the Church on her own. However, as soon as I could get away after the meeting, I went looking for her. I finally realized I could call her on the cell phone and found out she was still on the train and coming. She told me she would arrive at 11:45 and at the time it was 10:40. I thought about going back up to the Church and then near 11:45, go back and meet the train. However, since I was at the bahnhof already, I had the feeling I should wait the five minutes to see if she was on the train arriving at 10:45. It was a good thing I listened to the prompting because when the 10:45 train came, out popped Suwang. She gave me an enthusiastic greeting and then we walked together back up to the Church. On the way we met Katia & Emely walking back down to the parking lot so I was able to tell them goodbye. I also gave her a card with the Geneva ward and Outreach addresses on it for her daughter who moved to Geneva for school. The Doyles were kind enough to send them to us so we could pass them on to Kathleen.

When Sunday School ended, we went through another round of hugs and well wishes. We took photos and talked and hugged some more and an hour later made our exit. We walked to the parking lot with Dorothea who offered us a ride home. When I say we, I mean me, Diana and Suwang. Suwang was stuck like glue to Diana; she wasn’t going to let her out of her sight. As she dropped us off at home Dorothea insisted we come to her home for lunch on Tuesday, wanting one more visit from us before we go.

Suwang was our guest all afternoon. It was fun to talk to her, she gets so excited about things. We fixed her lunch, but I slipped out occasionally to write as much of our daily journal as I could because I knew this evening I wouldn’t have much time to do it. We were invited by Paul to come over for lunch and when we told him we needed to visit with Suwang for awhile, he said we could come over anytime this afternoon. About 4:30 we mentioned to Suwang we had another appointment to go to so she decided to take the 4:51 bus to the bahnhof to catch the 5:14 train back to Zurich. She’s still trying to figure out how to get us to come back and live with her. She said it would be okay with her if we stayed for six months or longer. She’s such a sweetheart.

Diana took a half hour rest after she left to kind of wind down and then we filled my backpack with food, grabbed the two big sacks of groceries and left to walk up the stairway to heaven to Pauls. He’d prepared a big dinner of baked chicken and mashed potatoes along with a green salad. We spent about an hour and a half with him, read some verses from Galatians and then had a prayer. He’ll be a real strength to the branch. He always has self made Schwarzwald cake for dessert and insists I eat some. Today I declined and he decided that was okay, but insisted I take two helpings with me for later. Of all the missionaries who have visited him in the past, none have written him a letter even though some promised him they would. He has been disappointed about that. So, as soon as we get home, we need to write him a letter to cheer him up. We told him he could count on us.

Tonight we tried to get on the internet and saw that we had no service. We waited for an hour, but still had no service. We went down and talked to our landlord because we work off a router from their computer service we had installed. She said they didn’t have service either and that they would call a technician tomorrow to see if they couldn’t get it fixed. Not long after we saw we had service. I went back down and talked to Alice to let her know. She said she had been down in the basement and had discovered the plug had come out of the outlet and she put it back in. Thank goodness. What would we do without our computer?

Franz Maier promised us he’s come to Church today, but he didn’t come. He called tonight to apologize and said he had to help his wife do something and didn’t have time to come. We told him he could come to Church even though we wouldn’t be there. He said, “I know.” At least he called which was nice.

Halina Stefaniak, Suwang’s daughter, called tonight to say goodbye and to thank us for watching over and being friends to Suwang. She said she really appreciated it. She thanked us for being a good influence in her life, too, and wished us well as we return home. Such thoughtful people.

Madeleine called and talked to Diana for about a half an hour. She said she saw Neide at Church today and she was doing okay. Charlotte called to see if Pres. Condie had called us to talk about going outside the mission borders tomorrow for P-day. We told her he hadn’t so we planned to start early tomorrow and go to Interlaken and spend some time there. After that we’ll travel over Bruenig Pass to Luzern and back to Zurick by 5:00. Agnes plans on coming with us. Charlotte said that when we get back to Zurich, we have to come to her place. When I started to object, she said she was asked by President Condie to say we have been commanded by President Condie to meet with him at her place to have dinner with him. Is that true? We think there’s a monkey in the woodpile somewhere. They are probably planning a surprise party for us with our family home evening group that we spent so much time with. We’ll see.

And now it 10:30, Diana’s fast asleep on the bed and I’m dead tired. We need to be up and out the door by 6:45 for our play day and so it’s good night y’all.