A couple of kiosks at Bahnhof Luzern. Elder Pine


DECEMBER 5, 2008 FRIDAY

I looked out the window this morning about 4:30 and saw that it was raining again. I thought it would be a wet day for us out doing our searching and finding. Later on about 9:00 the sun was shining, but when we went out at about 10:00 it was overcast again. We got to the first address, but the member was not home. We left there to walk to the next one and it started to rain. We wished we would have brought our umbrella. We rode the bus to the next stop and walked to the next address. This time the member was home, but she didn’t want to talk to us. It is so disappointing to know what the Gospel has to offer and have one-time members reject it. We wonder how they lost their testimony and fell away from the Church. Lehi’s dream of the Tree of Life describes the mist of darkness where some who had found the path lost their way again. Sad, but true. We continued through the rain to the next address and that member wasn’t home either. We walked back to our bus stop and while waiting for the bus, we recognized a store where we had made a contact and placed a BM during our first or second week here. We’ve been back several times, but hadn’t found him at work. We walked over and went in and discovered he was at work this time. We introduced ourselves to him and when asked if he’d read the BM, he said he had read some of it, but it wasn’t for him. Rather than just throw it away he said he had given it to a friend who had an interest in it. He asked us if his friend had called us yet. We told him no, but we hoped he would. We consider today a success because we verified the addresses of two members and we can pray for the third one. And who knows where that BM will end up and who it will influence. Our goal for today was to visit these three members and then return home to prepare things for Naeide’s visit this afternoon. We feel it important, between us and the missionaries, to keep daily contact with her to support her in her decision to be baptized on December 14th.

This morning we invited Elders Pine and Middleton to come to dinner with us so they could get to know her also. We stopped on the way home to pick up some groceries and then came on home. This is what we had for dinner: breaded chicken patties, potatoes and chicken/mushroom gravy, cooked shredded carrots, green salad, orange jello with tangerines topped with cream, and for desert a bite sized eclair type pastry without the chocolate frosting. Before the Elders got here Diana showed Naeide the DVD our daughters sent us of them and our grandchildren, then She helped Diana make the eclair pastries.

The Elders came right on time and we had a great time together. The meal was delicious and the company was great. After dinner we played a game called “Heaven.” While playing the game we talked about everything and anything. Sometimes church subjects came up which was an informal way to teach. We all switched back and forth between English and German and it’s nice to be able to do this because it helps us all to learn the languages. Naeide kept looking more tired as the evening went on and finally, when asked if she needed to go home, she said she had quit drinking coffee. Without the stimulant she felt drowsy and tired, but she said she knew things would get better as the caffeine got out of her system. She is truly committed to do everything she can to be ready for her baptism. Elder Elend called Elder Pine and asked him if someone had left a BM and a bible in the McDonalds at Bahnhof Oerlikon on Saturday during the street display. The only BM that we could think of is the one we gave the order-taker. When he gave us our hamburgers, we gave him a BM. Maybe he just left it there and they finally decided to call the phone number inside the front cover. Anyway, it was kind of funny. Finally the time came for everyone to go home.