NOVEMBER 29, 2008 SATURDAY

This morning we met with Fabian because he wanted us to help translate his book from German to English. We spent about an hour and a half at the church using his laptop to do the work. We read a sentence or paragraph and then the three of us would wordsmith until we caught the meaning of what Fabian wanted to say. And then we would move on. We managed to get a few pages done and then decided we’d had enough for the time being. We kind of have a flavor of how we should proceed with the translation. We also wanted to get in on the last of the street display at Bahnhof Oerlikon and see our contact there, the man who sold olive oil. First we went home and Fabian put his book on our laptop. Now we can work on it in our spare time at home.

We arrived at Bahnhof Oerlikon and tried to find Herr Fischer, but he had already packed up and gone home. We’ll have to try to find him on another Saturday. So we joined the other Elders and a few members passing out tracts and trying to talk to people as they hurried by. Before we knew the lady was a member from a different ward, as we turned around we saw her rummaging through our brochures and BM’s sitting on our display. Thinking she was just a passer-by we asked her if we could help her or answer any questions and she broke out laughing. She introduced herself to us and we had a laugh too. It was plenty cold on this day too, but not quite as cold as the other Saturdays. At 2:00 we packed it in and started on our way home. At Schwamendingenplatz where we change from bus to tram there was a flea market in progress. We strolled through looking at things, but it was like a garage sale at home after everyone had rummaged through them. We don’t need anything so it’s just interesting to go through and look. After that we went home and I spent a few hours translating Fabian’s book. And so ends another day.

NOVEMBER 30, 2008 SUNDAY

Today was a pretty full day which started with our 8:00 correlation meeting. These are always interesting because we get to find out about the progress of investigators etc. During our week we met Walter, an older member who has been totally inactive whom we wrote about in a previous entry. We asked the council members if anyone knew him. One knew of him, but for better information we were referred to Bro. Locher. He gave us some history about Walter and that he’d been totally inactive for at least fifteen years. We’ve decided we’ll take him a Christmas gift in a couple of weeks and see if he won’t let us be his friends. Evidently he lives alone and must be lonely. We learned that Naeide is still going to get baptized next Sunday. She has had some trials during the past weeks, but has been able to overcome them with great faith and determination. We also found out that Suki’s stepdaughter will be baptized Dec. 6th in our stake center although she’s a member of another ward. So good things are happening in this part of the vineyard.

After the block of meetings we talked with Sister Ryser and offered our services at her daughter’s wedding on the 12th of December. We are going to help in the kitchen as well as bring brownies. After that we went home for a couple of hours to wait for the activities scheduled for this afternoon at 4:00. Elder Pine kept calling us to find out information on people he and Elder Middleton were trying to find and contact. It seems as if we have become the clearing house for information on less-active members for elders and the Bishopric. At 4:00 there were three different things going on at the church: a baptism of a young boy from a different ward (primary room), a Young Single Adult fireside (chapel and cultural hall) and a music/talent event (Relief Society room). We chose to begin in the music/talent activity because George and Naeide asked us to and we wanted to support them. George was taking requests from those present and Diana had him play some of her favorites which include The Girl From Epanema, The Entertainer, Take Five and Aquarius. She asked him to play the Flight of the Bumblebee, but he said he hadn’t practiced that one for a long time. One lady sang two songs who had a very beautiful voice. Her husband played the saxophone like a professional. Naiede sang the two songs in Portuguese she’s going to sing at her baptism. Sister Brigitte played the piano also. Norma and Denise, who we celebrated Thanksgiving with, were there too. It was just a nice enjoyable evening. While we were there, we met a less-active member who we had met while finding and searching, but hadn’t actually been able to visit with yet. We also met the mother of an active member who, when we called her on the phone, said we weren’t welcome and that she had returned to her Catholic faith. It was good to meet them and talk with them a little bit and try to build a relationship. The music was beautiful and near the end it turned into a sing-a-long including Christmas hymns. Part way through Elder Elend came and got Naeide so she could witness the baptism to prepare her for her own next Sunday. After the baptism we went back into the music/talent activity. It is such a joy to be in the midst of such wonderful faithful people.

After the activities were over we offered to walk Naeide home. Of course she invited us in and we spent a couple of pleasant hours talking about this and that with her and Marcel. Naeide is taking a course in Cosmetology and needs people to practice on at school so she talked Diana into being a model for facials etc. Diana is not too excited about this, but she is prepared to do most anything within reason to further the work here. We finally bid adieu and went home. No sooner did we get home when Elder Pine called again and reported his activities of trying finding the members he’d asked us about earlier and also to give us our assignments for Tuesday’s district meeting. He calls us every Sunday evening to get a report on our missionary statistics for the week. This time the district meeting is going to be in Luzern where the sister missionaries are stationed. Diana’s assignment is to teach/memorize the scripture, and I have the assignment to talk about my work at the Utah State Prison and relate that to missionary work. That’s a strange one and I’m not sure how this will all work out. Finally, Diana and I looked for things to do on our P-day tomorrow. And this ends this day in the life of two missionaries.