NOVEMBER 17, 2008 MONDAY
Today was “putztag” and we spent the first few hours thoroughly cleaning our apartment, from floors to ceiling, inside cupboards and out. After that was done we went into Zurich city to look at some of the churches, building and other sights. First, we finally found our way to the Frau Munster church and then over the Munster Bridge to the Gross Munster church. We went into the Frau Munster, but they wouldn’t let you take pictures inside. It is just a big cathedral with a few stained glass windows, not very ornate, and very cold. We also went into the Gross Munster and while Diana sat listening to the organ music that sounded like Halloween music, I paid two francs and climbed up the tower stairs. The music would start suddenly and then it would stop suddenly. Really weird. The stairs were narrow and made of stone for the first half and then they changed into wooden stairs. I took some photos from the tower and we’ll post some of them in our blog over the next few days.

After we left the Gross Munster we walked through the old town part of Zurich for a little while. The buildings are old, the roads are narrow and paved with cobblestones. There are a lot of little shops along the streets. One shop sold all kinds of gummi candies so we went in. This is one of the few places we found licorice so we bought a couple of bags. Diana also bought a plastic boot to see if it would work out for a plaster mold. She wants to make something for the primary kids to paint. We also went to the Wasser Church which is built partly over the water. It has two tunnel like things where they park boats. It was closed on Mondays so we couldn’t go in. There was a statue of Zwingli, one of the early reformers, on the one end of the church so we took some photos there. The Rathouse (Council Hall) was also closed when we got there. After that we decided to go on the Rigiblick bahn to see where it went. We travel past it a lot, but never have stop there. We found that it takes you up the steep side of Zurich and, if it were a clear sunny day, you could see over the city from the other side of where we took pictures before. From the top you could also catch a bus and go to the zoo, but we didn’t have time to do this today. We had to get back and get ready for FHE. We did stop in a grocery store to get some ice cream. We also wanted to find some baking soda for future baking. Guess what? This is another item that isn’t very common over here. We don’t know what they use instead.

Most of the people who regularly attend FHE were going to be gone tonight so we only had the AP’s, one investigator and us attend. The missionaries had the game and the lesson so they combined them into one. We played Jeopardy but used Prophets, Book of Mormon, Bible and Jesus Christ as four categories. Questions were worth 100, 200, 300, and 400 points in each category. Of course at the end there was a bonus question and then the one where you wager how many of your points you would like. The last question was to name seven of the 12 original apostles. Great game and lesson at the same time. At the end since there were only us 5 there, the missionaries brought up a problem the investigator was having with her son. He has been getting more and more aggressive with her and again tonight grabbed her and pushed her around. She is afraid to go home tonight so the Elders left her with us while they went to talk with the stake president. They made arrangements for her to stay with them tonight and see if they could work things out. While the Elders were gone, Diana and the investigator had a good long talk and Diana was a real help for her. We hope and pray that things will work out for her and her son.