L: Heinz & Lily Locher, Robert & Diana; M: Elders Harris & Nilson, Charlotte, Lily & Heinz Locher, Neide Graf, Silvia & Pres. Dietmar Matern; R: Elders Ehlen, Pine and Roberts.



MAY 1, 2009 FRIDAY

Every two weeks we schedule an extra wash day to take care of the dark clothes, but we had already done them on Wednesday so we used this mornings to wash most of our throw rugs. They were getting pretty bad from all the traffic that comes through our hallway. Even though most of the missionaries and other visitors take their shoes off, a custom in Switzerland, the rugs still get dirty over time. When we were done with them, they looked good as new (almost). Last night we got in so late that we had to write the journal entry this morning. After that we did our German study by reading for an hour in the German BoM, looking up the meaning of words we didn’t know, or reading the same verse in English. Sometimes reading the English version doesn’t really help because direct word for word translation is not possible. After that we made some phone calls to see how people were doing. Sister Maurer was still having problems with her knee, but said a physical therapist was helping her and she had another operation scheduled on May 25. She said she wanted to get with Elder Pine and invite us all over for dinner sometime soon.

We went out to try and find Maria Cancela-Rey home, but she wasn’t so we left her another invitation, this time to stake conference Saturday and Sunday. While we were doing that Elder Ehlen called and asked us if we were home because he wanted us to look up train times and connections from Altstetten to Schwamendingen. He said he had an appointment at 5:00 in Schwamendingen and because today was a holiday, the normal train times were not valid. We told him we’d be home in time to look them up for him. We didn’t let on that his appointment was a surprise birthday party for him at Charlottes. We wanted to stop at the store on the way home to buy him a present of some sort and also mail a letter. We finally realized all of the stores were closed today because of the holiday (something similar to Labor Day where you take time off of work to celebrate that you have work). We went on home, looked up the train schedules for him and sent them via texting. We wrapped up two cans of rootbeer and a package of snicker bars and left for the party.

When we got there, everything was ready and decorated with some banners. Those who were invited besides ourselves included, Pres. & Sister Matern, Bro. & Sis. Locher, Naeide, Solange, Bro. & Sister Neidhart & Jona, Elders Pine, Jensen, Harris, Nilson and the guest of honor Elder Ehlen. Charlotte had a fun evening planned with games and activities. We visited for awhile and then the birthday boy showed up and we all yelled surprise and then sang happy birthday. We had dinner which consisted of different kinds of macaroni salad, carrot salad, and meat cheese, kind of like baloney only thicker. Naeide brought one of her famous cakes and there was vanilla pudding and chocolate mousse as well. Then the games began. One game was played by the married couples only, Bro. & Sis. Locher, Pres. & Sis. Matern and us. Our wives sat on a chair and husbands sat on our wives’ lap. The wives were given a baby bottle and the husbands had to suck the bottle dry. The first one to finish was the winner. With Diana cheering me on and patting my back we sucked the bottle dry long before the others had theirs half empty. The Elders were happy the missionaries got the win. For our effort we got a rubber funnel that would collapse flat. Following that she brought out these yellow smiley face neoprene things that when you turned them inside out and set them down, they would spring back and shoot into the air. We all had fun with those for awhile and then she handed out suckers with long sticks and told us to throw them stick first at balloons to break them. Pres. Matern was first to try and actually broke a balloon on his fifth or sixth try. I tried, but my sucker broke before a balloon did. Charlotte tried also, but couldn’t break one so she got a dinner fork and threw that at them. That did it and she broke them all. Suwang Stefaniak called during all of this confused about where she should be going to church Sunday. She said a bishopric member of her ward was coming to pick her up and would take her to Frauenfeld. Once I explained it was stake conference and her ward was in the St. Gallen Stake and would meet in Frauenfeld, she understood and everything was alright again.

During the dinner Diana prompted me to ask Bro. Locher if Juerg had talked to him about Cornelia’s shop that needed some work. He said he had and was going over Monday to work on it. I asked him if he needed any help; at first he said no, but at Pres. Matern’s suggestion, he said I could come along. He’s to pick me up at 11:45 on Monday morning. Diana wanted to come too, but there wouldn’t be anything for her to do but stand around, so she decided her time would be better spent at home reading and studying German. The missionaries left about 8:30 so they could be at home when they should be and the rest of the party broke up around 9:30. Tonight we had time to write this journal entry before we fell asleep.