All of these photos were taken in Brig.

MARCH 25, 2009 WEDNESDAY

We were up early to get our clothes in the washer so we could get them all done before we went to our appointment at 9:00. We did get the whites done and half of them in the dryer before we left. It takes so long for them to dry that we were back to take them out at the right time. Then we put the shirts in so we could be there when they finished drying, to take them out so they wouldn’t wrinkle so bad.

We met Cornelia at 9:00 and had a long visit with her and got to know her a little. She is a single sister, never married and has no children. She does have two cats and when we left, we had most of their hair on our clothes. She has very little family support and says she doesn’t have any close friends. She worked as a dental technician making dental crowns etc. for dentists. She was self employed working with a dentist when the dentist died in an accident. His widow had three small children and needed money so she sold all the dental equipment along with all of Cornelia’s personal equipment. She could have gone to court to get her property back, but she decided not to because she felt sorry for the widow. It would have cost more than she had to fight for it anyway. Since then she has completed schooling and has a license as a pedicurist as well as manicurist. She is presently trying to open a practice for foot care, foot massages and pedicurist. She needs help in decorating her office because she says she has no clue how to do it. She hasn’t been to Church in a long time and seems afraid to come when she may be asked to do something. She has agreed to come to conference in two weeks and to dinner at our home on the same day. We hope to introduce her to Bishop Schwendener and other members. She needs friends in the Church and help with setting up her business. We also said we would mention her to Daniela Martin who is also a dental technician, but currently isn’t working because of an injured knee. There may be a possibility Cornelia could do the work Daniels isn’t able to do right now. She is currently living off savings she had put away for retirement, but that is almost gone. She was overcome by emotion a few times when we expressed our desire to try and find help for her and it seemed she just needs someone to empathize with her. We gave her a mini lesson on President Hinckley’s statement that every member needs friends, a calling and nurturing by the good word of God and that she could find all three in the Church. We’ll see if we can teach and love her back into activity.

Last night we invited Naeide and Elders Evans & Jensen for lunch today because we felt Naeide needs some extra support right now in dealing with her problems. We had a little time before noon so we traveled to the mission home to take a letter to Sister Sunke that we received from Zurich City regarding proof of our medical insurance. We thought this had been taken care of a long time ago, but it has surfaced again. Sister Sunke is expert in dealing with the government on this issue so we’ll see what happens and what we need to do to resolve the problem. As we got to the mission home it was snowing and the mail carrier was standing at the mission mail box. When he saw me, he must of thought I was Pres. Matern so he asked me to sign for three envelopes that otherwise he would have had to take back with him. I signed for them like as if I knew what I was doing, and took them into the mission home office. No one was around so we left the three letters and our letter on Sister Sunke’s desk along with a note and then left.

We made it back in time to have lunch almost ready by the time everyone arrived. We had a good time as we ate the meal of Mexican beans over rice with chocolate-cake-in-a-mug with ice cream for dessert. Naeide brought some fresh baked warm yummy bread with her and throw in a few chips and it was all good. After, the Elders left and Naeide used our computer to take care of her emails. When she left, we cleaned up a bit and then traveled to the hospital to visit Suwang. She will be transferred to the rehab clinic tomorrow which is more than an hour away on train. We’ll see if we can still visit her there, but we probably won’t be able to do it as often. Suwang broke down and told us she is afraid to go back to her apartment once she is strong enough to leave the clinic. She told us she lives in an attic apartment and some men had come over the roof and broken into her apartment through her window several times and destroyed her TV and other things. She had called the police, but they told her she should move. She heard Pres. Bolt has an apartment coming open in his building and asked us to talk to him and see if he would rent to her. She also asked us to talk to Bishop Schwendener to see if he could help her out. And that kind of tells the highlights of today.