Vierwaldstaedtersee, Suwang in the hospital gown.


MARCH 19, 2009 THURSDAY

This morning we went in and picked up the package Monica sent us, but first, since we were in town already, we stopped at LIDL, a new discount grocery store from Germany that is opening a chain here in Switzerland. The stores over here are much different than the ones we are used to at home. They are mostly pretty small, the aisles are very narrow and there are a lot of people with shopping carts which makes it almost impossible to maneuver around. Since this was opening day, it was probably more crowded than it would normally be, but we bought some bananas and a few things and left. It took us about a half hour to get through the line, but we couldn’t see any other way out or we would of put our few things back and left. The prices didn’t seem any different than Migros or COOP or Denners. When we got out, we walked to the POST, picked up the package and then walked to the AsianWay and bought a few new food items to try.

We got home and opened the package from Monica and her kids. The best thing in it was the letters from her, Jade and Robby. Thanks, Monica and kids.

We decided to try going out later in the day to see if we could find the last of our wayward members who we haven’t been able to contact yet. The first was Sister Bader who has been intentionally eluding us. We know she’s been home before, but just hasn’t answered the door. Her birthday was today so we thought we would try again. Nobody answered the door so we left the gift in her mailbox. We walked back to Sister Duelle, but she wasn’t home either. We’ll just have to try still later than 6:00.

We still had to visit Suwang, but since we were in Bassersdorf, we went a different way back into Zurich. We took bus #765 to the airport and switched to Tram #10 which took us right to the hospital. It’s fun to see her face light up when we open her door and she sees who it is coming to visit. She seems almost back to normal except for strength and stamina. She has been reading her BM in Mandarin and she told us she is learning so much. She said this new translation makes the book come alive as if she were right there living it along with Nephi. She learned that Nephi was taught by his father and realized she had that the responsibility to teach her own children and she had not taught them very much. She was offended and left the church when her children were fairly small and didn’t decide to return until ten years later, sometime not very much before we came here last October. She said she is committed to correcting that mistake, but knows that it’ll be difficult now that Danek and Halina are adults. She has thought this through and has a plan. She knows she can’t force feed them and have it do any good, so she’s going to mention she read something interesting in the BM and tell them about it. Then she’s going to ask them what they think about it. Step by step and little by little she’ll teach them the gospel. We also talked about forgiveness and following Christ’s example of loving others even if they have offended us and treated us badly. She said she has learned that lesson too and won’t let others keep her from the blessings of activity in the Church. She said she finally realized that they were still enjoying the blessings of activity in the Church, and she was not, that she was only hurting herself by leaving the Church. We also made the point that no one is perfect and we’re all striving to do our best. We all make mistakes and we need to be more understanding of other people.

Just before we left Suwang thanked us for being such good examples to her. We mention this not to brag, but to illustrate how important it is to greet people and talk to everyone, especially those who sit alone or are new. We didn’t know at the time that she was just coming back into activity after a hard ten year struggle. She just looked alone and a little odd with her lunch and a jug of milk in Sacrament Meeting. We first met Suwang in Sacrament Meeting shortly after we arrived last year. She was sitting alone, dressed in a blouse and worn pants, and she looked like she had her lunch and a liter of milk. We slid over and talked to her before the meeting started. After it was over she was like a wound up toy, talking a mile a minute and bouncing around us. She was surprised that strangers would be nice to her without wanting anything in return. A few weeks later we invited her to our home for lunch after services on a Sunday and she really appreciated that. Then she got sick and we’ve been with her almost every day and will continue until she’s back to health. We know not everyone can spend the time that we’ve been able to because we are on a mission. However, we all need to be more observant and reach a hand out to everyone; we don’t really know who needs the extra encouragement and friendship in a particular moment and we could make the difference in a life without even knowing it.