Elders Nilson & Larson, Schwamendingen flea market
Lily & Heinz Locher, Naeide

MAY 2, 2009 SATURDAY

A few weeks ago Elder Evans and Jensen stopped in quick and asked if we would store a 3'x4' white board for a few days. The few days turned into a few weeks and so I asked them when they were going to get it out of our hallway. They said they didn’t want it and heard we were looking for one and asked if we wanted to keep it. So that is how we got our white board that we are now using for German study. It’s easier to teach when you can write things down on something bigger than a sheet of paper. We used it for the first time today and it was so much easier. At the end of our study time Elder Pine called and asked if we could print off a talk in Portuguese given by Elder Uchtdorf in the November issue of the Liahona. It took me awhile, but I finally got it figured out. Later on, because we weren’t going to be home, I took it down to the Church and left it where he could pick it up. As I got to the Church I saw Bro. Diethelm and Bro. Moeller directing cars where to park as members arrived for the leadership session of Stake Conference. I stopped to thank Juerg for setting it up with Bro. Locher to work on Cornelia’s shop tomorrow and that I was going to be able to go with him. Juerg said he was also going over tomorrow with him also and that he had found a nice lamp to take over too. He also said he’d been over there yesterday and had done some painting, and that Bro. Furhrer was going to build a wall or something as well as a sliding door. We’re really happy that the members have taken Cornelia in and are helping her get situated again.

We went on in to Schwamendingen to buy a few things at Migros to tide us over the weekend. As we got off the tram we saw that a flea market was in progress in the square. It’s not a real big flea market, but it’s always interesting to walk through. We saw a bunch of bags of coins in a basket and saw that each bag was from a different country. We asked the guy how much for the USA bag and he said one franc, which is about eighty five cents. We bought it and then asked how much for the bags from England, Italy, Austria and France. All told we paid seven francs for them. We know people here who go to each of these countries and we thought they might be useful for them. The bag from the USA had over $4.00 worth of coins in it, and the bag from England had about $20.00 worth in it. We don’t know how to calculate the other countries’ coins. We know the USA money is good and the coins from England are good also because England doesn’t belong to the European Union. At conference we asked Irene, who comes from Austria and works in a bank here, if the Austrian coins are any good. She said they weren’t because the Euro money has taken the place of all the currency/money from all of the countries belonging to the union. So the coins from Italy and France are probably no good either. But, even so, we made money on the deal. However, we no longer have the coins from England. As we were arriving for conference we saw Elder Pine driving the mission van out of the parking lot and he stopped and waited to talk to us. Diana gave him the bag of coins to look at and he was excited to see English coins since he’s from England. He was blocking the entrance to the parking lot and someone wanted to get in so he started to hand the bag of coins back to Diana, but the impatient driver wanting in honked again so I told Elder Pine to keep it. What I meant was for him to keep it so he could get out of the way faster expecting that we could get it back later. He, on the other hand, assumed I meant he could keep it permanently. Later when we saw him in the Church he couldn’t believe we bought the bag for two francs and was so happy we had given it to him that I didn’t have the heart to ask him for it back. He kept saying that each one pound coin was worth two Swiss francs and there were eight of them in the bag with many more of other denominations. So I guess it’s easy come and easy go.

We came back home from the store and thought we had about an hour before the conference started at 4:30. However, we received a call from Elder Jensen asking us if we could go to the Church to meet a member who had arrived from Italy a couple of days ago and wanted to speak with missionaries. So we got our things together and, just as we left our apartment to walk to the church, we had a good old thunder storm. This time we remembered our umbrella and it was kind of fun walking to Church in the rain with thunder breaking over our heads. The Zurich Stake covers areas clear into Germany and members come from that far away to conference. The parking lot is small and they pack the cars in so the last one in has to be the first one out; the first one in has to be the last one out. We met the member who was a man about 35 years old who was from Iran, but had lived in Italy for the last two or three years. The main thing he wanted was a job, any job that would last six months. He said in six months he would be filming a documentary on all the religions of the world. He claimed there were over 400,000 religions worldwide and over 78,000 just in Iran. We haven’t a clue about how you find a job here and so wasn’t much help to him. We introduced him to other members as they arrived, but they weren’t much help either. There have been many lay-offs and the unemployment among the Swiss is pretty high so it’s tough to find a job right now.

As the meeting began we worked our way to the Relief Society room where the English translation was piped to. There were only five or so of us there. The translations always leave something to be desired although you can get the jist of what is being said. Irene was one of the translators and she does a fairly good job. Our new friend left before the meeting was through saying he would be back tomorrow. Halfway through the meeting we saw Cornelia on our TV screen. She had come late and had stepped in front of the camera. We were happy to see her and to know she had come to the meeting. After conference was over, we tried to get to her before she left, but we didn’t make it. We saw that Irene had talked to her so at least someone was there to fellowship her. Following the social stuff after the meeting we walked home. For supper we fried hamburger patties, cooked grated carrots and cut up zucchini. I topped it off with frozen fruit and vanilla ice cream while Diana read a book Sister Matern insisted she borrow. And that ends our day.

Charlotte is always joking about having to give up wine and doesn't want to get rid of what she has. She saving it to serve company when they come to visit. Pres. Matern is joking around with her.