MARCH 1, 2009 SUNDAY

This morning started with missionary correlation meeting. Our ward mission leader wasn’t there because he was only going to come to Fast & Testimony meeting because his family was here for his baby blessing. The missionary work is going forward in a lot of areas which is good to see. Following correlation meeting came Priesthood/RS. In our High Priest Group Brother Ryser talked about three things that were covered in their priesthood leadership meeting yesterday that concerned Pres. Bolt. It seems some false ideas have somehow found their way into practice and he wanted to correct them. First was the idea that a person, who had been excommunicated or disfellowshipped, could not hold a responsible leadership position after the repentance process had been completed and the person was back into full fellowship in the Church. He said that such a person could be considered but would have to go through the same approval process as any other person would have to and, in some cases, be cleared by the First Presidency. It was a false notion that the person would be automatically exclude from such positions. Second, that a person currently under discipline sanctions of excommunication or disfellowshipment could not give lessons or pray in homes as a home teacher or visiting teacher. Pres. Bolt said that is a false assumption, but that they could be called and participate in giving lessons and praying with their families. Third, that only those holding the Melchizedek Priesthood are allowed to be witnesses for baptisms. That also is a false assumption because those holding the office of Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood as well as holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood can be witnesses.

Fast & Testimony meeting in this ward is always fast. You have to be fast in order to get a chance to bear your testimony. Today, neither Diana or I were fast enough. There were a lot of male youth who bore their testimonies with profound insights and strong convictions. Two returned missionaries and one who just received his call to the Paris France Mission bore their testimonies also. Next F&T meeting we’ll have to put on our track shoes, then maybe we’ll have a chance.

Following the block of meetings we went home, but didn’t get to rest long. We texted Danek asking him if he had decided to come with us to the fireside tonight. He didn’t answer the text message nor the phone calls. Elder Evans called and asked us if we could escort Charlotte to the fireside, but we couldn’t commit until we found out for sure if Danek was coming or not. We decided we’d go early to the hospital to see if his mother had heard from him. We also found out today that Denise Maurer’s mom, Margarit Maurer, was in the hospital with a knee problem and we wanted to go visit her too. She’s the one who told us she was Catholic and wouldn’t allow us to visit several months ago. We invited Denise and her mother to lunch after Church several weeks ago, but she didn’t come.

We made a little bouquet of stuffed airplanes, created a sympathy card and were on our way. When we got to Margarita’s room, Elders Pine and Harris were already there and when she saw us, she seemed genuinely glad to see us. We visited for about seven or eight minutes when more family members came, so we all left. It is heartwarming to see that the missionaries have broken through the hard Swiss shell and she asked them to come see her as we left. It seems like the Lord wants her back into the fold and created a circumstance (hospital stay) where she would get to know the missionaries on a more personal level. We all four went to Suwang’s room to visit her and Elders Ehlen and Hoffmann were already there. We had a great visit for a little while and then we had to leave. We asked her is she had heard from Danek, but she said he wouldn’t answer her phone calls either. She said she didn’t think he would be coming with us tonight. She hadn’t found out how is colonoscopy had gone.

Since Danek wouldn’t be coming with us to the fireside, that freed us up to go back and meet Charlotte to escort her to the fireside. We had a few minutes so we went home to re-group. Charlotte lives in the same building as Pres. Bolt which is about a five minute walk away. We almost got to her house when she came out, joined us and we walked back to our tram stop. It took about forty-five minutes to get to the mission home via trams #9, #3 and dolderbahn. It’s only about a three minute walk from the last stop to the mission home. By the time the program started the place was packed by investigators, missionaries and some members. Jona was there and he gave us the usual bear hug. The meeting was inspirational and I’m sure the investigators felt the Spirit as they listened to the talks. Of course, after the meeting was over there was refreshments provided. We finally broke away and escorted Charlotte back home and we finally came to rest about 9:00.

I tried to get a start on writing this journal entry, but I only got a paragraph written when Rebecca called us on SKYPE. We hadn’t heard from her for about a week so it was good to see and talk to her on SKYPE. We didn’t know, but her computer had been down because they were re-carpeting their home. Little Mack looked like he was full of energy because he was all over he place. We saw him up close as he tried to eat or climb on the camera. We saw him running around the room. We heard him fall off the desk onto the floor which surprise him as well as his mother. We actually got to see Jared as he came in to get crying Mack. He must have checked out OK because he came walking back in after a little while to check out the equipment again. In the middle of this call our DL, Elder Norris called for our weekly report. I had to leave to do that and missed the rest of the call. Before I got back Roxsan and her family called, but they could only talk for a few minutes. I got back just in time to say hello and good-bye. We tried to call Monica, but she was off line so couldn’t reach her. We are glad tomorrow is P-DAY!