Sorry no pics; it's too late and we're tired. The meaning of our blog title, Schweiz Aussicht, means " from "view from Switzerland." Stimmenvonderschweiz means "voices from Switzerland."

JANUARY 4, 2009 SUNDAY

Our Sunday always starts with the correlation meeting. We have been submitting our report on a separate form from the missionaries because what we do just doesn’t fit the categories. However, the bishop would like us to report on the same form, so we’ll try and figure it out. Also a member of the Elder’s Quorum asked us not to go meet Johannes, the person we gave a BM to in the rest home, because he felt he had a better contact with him and the Elder’s Quorum wanted to continue with him. We don’t care who gets to teach or who gets the credit as long as Johannes has the opportunity to hear the gospel. Today was Fast Sunday which meant we were privileged to hear testimonies of members. We have said this before, but it bears repeating. There are no silent pauses between testimonies; it’s one right after another. Many heartfelt testimonies were borne and even a 19 year old visiting from Argentina bore his in Spanish. The bishop stopped him and asked a Spanish-speaking sister to translate for him. He said it’s great to be able to go anywhere in the world and attend meetings and the Gospel is the same. We ditto that comment.

Diana bore her testimony in Relief Society. She also heard them ask for help to make sandwiches for some function or other, and when we met for Fast Meeting, she asked me to find out what it was so we could volunteer. I asked Sister Patane’ and she said they needed help for the blood drive Wednesday evening. So Wednesday night we know where we’ll be. We also invited George to come to dinner Friday and bring a non-member friend if he could get one to come. We also invited Elder Ehlen and Evans and Fabian. We also found out tomorrow evening for FHE I have the lesson and Diana has the game. We also gave Sister Roffler her birthday gift (cookies) because today was her birthday. The other one, Emeri, was still in the USA on vacation so we’ll have to get her when she gets back.

This evening at 6:00 was the fireside for investigators. We spent the afternoon baking cookies for it because there are always refreshments at almost every meeting (except for the block) after it is over. Three missionaries talked about success stories they have had and then Naeide gave a talk about her life and conversion. Her conversion story was very touching and spiritual. She had contact with the missionaries in Brazil when she was a teenager, but her mother wouldn’t let her talk to them. It took until she was 47 years old before she came back into contact with missionaries. In front of our ward building there are some barrier rocks and last fall she was having problems and she was wondering if life was worth living any more. She sat on one of the rocks, not knowing the building behind them was our church, and prayed long and hard for the Lord to help her. She thought the building was a wedding chapel or something and thought all the people going in and out were for weddings. She wondered how come so many people got married on Sunday. Not long after, she was waiting at her bus stop to go to her church when an older sister member of our ward got out of the bus when it arrived, and seemed to be having some problems. Naeide asked if she could help her and ended up escorting her to the church. On the way Sister Bader told her the Joseph Smith story and about the BM in such a way that it came alive for her. When they got to the church, Bishop Schwendener invited them in and Naeide ended up staying for the whole block of meetings. And that started her conversion. Before she left, the missionaries had met her and had made an appointment with her. And the rest is history. It just goes to show that the opportunities are there to share the gospel like Sister Bader; we just need to open our mouths.

After the fireside was over, I practiced the song I and Elder Eschweiler will sing while Elder Larsson accompanies us tomorrow at zone meeting. While I was doing that, Diana went home with Naeide. After I was done, I picked up Diana two hours later at 10:00 and we came home.