Someone getting ready for Easter. George Wimalasuriya on the piano. Naeide singing.

MARCH 29, 2009 SUNDAY

Today started out way nice and it only got better as the day progressed. We started with the missionary correlation meeting, followed by the Priesthood/ Relief Society which was a combined meeting today taught by the bishopric. The focus of their message was on preparing for Sacrament Meeting, the importance of taking the Sacrament and reverence in the chapel after the meeting is over. Preparation for the meeting begins on Saturday so that Sunday morning isn’t the rush rush, hassle it can be, if we let it. Instead of coming to Church late and all frazzled, we can come with an attitude of worship. Bishop Schwendener talked about the purpose and meaning of the Sacrament, the need for self-evaluation, remembering our covenants and concentration on the prayers focusing on Christ and our covenants with Him. The last person teaching always gets cut short because the other two take more time than they are allowed. Brother Rothmund’s message was on reverence, that we should leave our talking outside in the foyer and when in the chapel we should be quiet, listen to the prelude music and prepare spiritually for the service. The bishopric also put forth the request for members to be reverent after the service is over while still in the chapel. Postlude music will play to assist and remind members to be reverent.

Since today was Fast Sunday, we didn’t invite anyone to come over for lunch. We came home expecting a nice restful afternoon, but soon that went out the window. Elder Pine called and told us the sad story that they had forgotten to go shopping again and had no food in their apartment. They had been fasting and couldn’t possibly keep from starving, if they had to wait until tomorrow to go buy some food. Their story was so sad Diana started to cry and begged them to come over for dinner later tonight when they had completed their fast. We only had twenty minutes to put something together before we had to go to the Church to support George and the musik/talent activity at 3:30. It’s important for us to do that because non-members and less-active members usually attend. We put on potatoes to boil, sauteed some onions and cut up some ham slices to be ready to make a casserole when we got home from the activity. When all was cooked, we left for Church.

The music was fantastic. George is one of those people who has musical ability oozing out of every pore. He can play requests never seeing a piece of music. There were others who sang and even our Naeide sang a song in Portuguese. We stayed as long as we could and then had to take a birthday present to Natasche, one of our members. We had to do this the day before her birthday because we’ll be busy all day tomorrow.

After we got home we finished the casserole and got it into the oven. Then came the shredded beets and salad. We finished it off with a strawberry/fruit mousse salad for dessert. While we were waiting for the Elders to come we called Cornelia, our less-active contact, to let her know that Joerg volunteered to help her with decorating her shop. In the process we set up the times she would be attending sessions of General Conference with us next Sunday. Instead of just one session, she said she would come to the Saturday evening session and then come to lunch at 1:00 on Sunday after which we will attend the 2:00 session. Maybe by then we can talk her into coming to the Spoken Word at 5:30 and then the 6:00 session on Sunday. That may be too much for her all at once, but we are just so excited she’s made the decision to come.

We were expecting Naeide to come for dinner with the Elders, but she declined this time. The meal was way good, but the surprising thing is that the Elders brought a big plastic bag with a tinfoil wrapped plate of sandwiches and one with vegetables. Someone probably gave them these after they made arrangements to come to our place for dinner. They even offered us some to take on our trip tomorrow. Before they left they asked us for a roll of toilet paper because they were out of that too. They obviously missed the segment on Sesame Street about “what happens next.”