Fountain in Konstanz. Church in Konstanz Plant pot in Zurich

MAY 19, 2009 TUESDAY

This morning we were on our way to the Zurich Bahnhof at 7:45 to meet the other missionaries. We met up and traveled on to Luzern for our district meeting. On the way there Neide called and invited us to dinner tonight, but we had to decline because we were already committed to helping at Institute tonight. We enjoy going to Luzern because it is a beautiful city sitting on the end of Vierwaldstaetter Lake with snow capped mountains in the background. It was foggy when we got there, but the sun was shining brightly when we came out of the church after the meeting. We had our usual inspirational meeting, but one story stuck with us. The theme was enduring trials, making the best of every situation, being positive and learning the lessons taught. We’ll tell the Reader’s Digest version.

This farmer had an old donkey and one night it got curious about a deep unused well and fell in. It brayed and brayed for help, but none seemed to come. However, the farmer heard the animal in the bottom of the well and searched and searched to find a way to get it out. He tried one thing after another and then decided the donkey was old anyway so he’d just bury it and that would be the end of it. He rounded up some help and all of them started throwing dirt into the well to bury the donkey. At first the donkey went wild with fear making all kinds of noise. The farmer and his friends kept shoveling the dirt in as fast as they could. After a while, the donkey was quiet, but they kept shoveling dirt in anyway. But the donkey learned from the experience and when dirt was shoveled in, he would shake it off his back and step up on it. He kept doing this until he was out of the well and free again. The farmer and his friends were amazed at the ingenuity of the donkey who used adversity to his advantage. If we have the right attitude and faith to go with it, we can benefit from everything that happens to us. Diana also gave her commitment in German and she did very well. She’s also glad she doesn’t have to worry about it anymore.

After the meeting the sisters went to an appointment, but the other missionaries and we went to their favorite Kebap (sandwich) shop and had lunch. We split a hamburger made the Kebap way which was so good. After that we went on back to Zurich.

Every three years Zurich has a program where they put out statues or something during the tourist season and then people buy them and take them away. They have already had benches to sit on, teddy bears, and cows (you have seen these on our blog). This year it is giant pots for plants. They put approximately 300 of them throughout the city and there were a lot along Bahnhof street and around and in the main Zurich train station. Some are rather mundane, but there are some that are quite unique. We took a lot of photos of them. Next year you’ll not be able to find very many of them because they’ll be scattered out, even taken to different countries.

The rest of the afternoon we worked on our lesson for Thursday, read scriptures and even napped for a few minutes. First time that has happened! At 6:00 we were at the Church with the Wichtermann’s to prepare the refreshments for Institute. This time it was mostly veggies and dip, but there were also a pastry made by rolling up a stick of chocolate inside dough so it looked like a croissant, and then it was baked. The youth really like them and we did too. We thought we had plenty of veggies, and actually we did, but just barely. Suwang came to Institute tonight and it was good to see her out and about again. It was a long illness that she suffered and a long recovery. She is still not 100% and it will take some time before she is. After Institute she walked to the Schoerlistrasse tram stop with us where we parted, she to go to get on the tram, we to go home. However, she and Diana waited at the top of the ramp while I ran to our apartment to get the screws for her wardrobe closet, the ones I’d forgotten to give to Roland when he moved her belongings the other day. She was really happy to get them and said she had been praying they would turn up. I told her I was sorry I had caused her to fret. She went home happy. We went home tired.