Wichtrach train station; Robert, Dale Abersold, Verena Thomas, Rolf Thomas and Janet Abersold; Verena & Rolf Thomas.

JUNE 29, 2009 MONDAY

We got up early and were off to the train station to catch the train to Wichtrach. For once we got off early enough that we didn’t have to run to catch the train; we didn’t even have to worry we wouldn’t make it in time. The train was jam packed with commuters and young men reporting for military duty somewhere. The ride was uneventful and after one transfer in Bern, we arrived in Wichtrach. It was exciting being back in an area where I had spent six months serving as a young missionary. They had preserved the old train station so it was exactly the same as it was in 1963. Of course the area around it was built up, but the station was the same. We arrived a half hour early and so we were able to look around and take photos. We had made arrangements to meet my old companion, Dale Abersold, and his wife at 10:00 at the train station and then go visit Rolf and Verena Thomas, the family we stayed with when we were on our mission here. We expected them to come in a car, but we saw Dale and Janet Abersold and Rolf Thomas come walking around the corner and waving at us. We went over and had a joyful happy reunion, talked for a little while and then walked to the Thomas home. Diana and Janet walked together talking up a storm while the three of us men walked a little behind. The Thomases had a bakery back then and they lived in it too while we rented one of the upper rooms. The bakery was still there although it was all converted into a rental home which someone rents now. Later we got to go see it and learned the oven could still work, but, of course, it’s not in use right now. We took photos of us in front of the building while reliving old times.

We learned they later bought the building next to them, tore it down and built a bigger more modern bakery in it, with apartments built in the upper floors. After that one they built another one around the corner and that one is still operating today, although he isn’t the one doing the work. They still live in the second one and rent the bottom of it where the bakery was to a pre-school. Rolf was pretty proud of the design of the buildings and what he and Verena had accomplished over their lives. They have three children and, if we remember right, eight grandchildren. We had a good time talking with one another and reliving old times and catching up on what has happened in our lives. Verena fixed a a nice lunch of a vegetable salad and something similar to chilli mac only with bowtie pasta and strawberries and cream over merangue. They still had the Book of Mormon we gave them long ago, and we added to it by giving them the DVD, “The Lamb of God,” and a CD. The Abersolds are on their way home after having been released from their mission in Germany. They were kind enough to bring us a bag of chocolate chips, a block of cheddar cheese and a bottle of Best Foods for Diana as well as a bottle of ibuprofen, a case of A&W rootbeer and a bottle of liquid vanilla. Before we left Rolf made me climb a ladder into a cherry tree and pick some cherries to take with us. All in all it was a wonderful four hours we spent with Rolf and Verena and Dale and Janet. We promised we’d come back and visit them again. They have a fountain out front and the saying goes that anyone that drinks from it is destined to return and we drank from it at least twice.

The day was beautiful weather-wise, but it got rather warm today, especially on the train and tram coming home. When we got home we were able to relax a little and then it was time to go to family home evening. Tonight, besides we six missionaries, there was Pres. & Sister Bolt, Charlotte, Neide, Irene and Jessica, a sixteen year old investigator from Paraguay. Elders Pine and Jensen gave the lesson on Christ-like love, Pres. Bolt organized the game and Charlotte provided the dessert. We always have fun, learn something and just enjoy being together. After the FHE Elder Pine and Jensen wanted to beat us home in order to download something off the computer and with trepidation, we loaned them our master set of keys. Elders Nilsson and Harris walked home with us because they also wanted to burn something off the computer. They were here about an hour and then Elders Pine and Jensen left. They didn’t get done whatever it is they were working on and they’ll be coming back in the morning at 8:00 to finish. About 10:00 the other two finally got done and left. We also learned that Patricia, one of their investigators, got caught by the police without a valid visa and will be sent back to South America within the week. We will be sad to see her go because she was making great strides towards baptism. We’ll have to refer her to missionaries in her home country.

Robert, the Ehlen brothers, Jacob, Daniel, Peter. Video through tram window going up Zurich Bahnhofstrasse on a Sunday evening when the street was relatively empty.

JUNE 28, 2009 SUNDAY

Last night after our journal entry was posted (10:00 pm) we got a call from Peter Ehlen who had arrived with his two brothers and was staying at Irene Russo’s for a couple of days, inviting us to come over for a bowl of ice cream. It was late, but we put on our shoes and went over, taking a loaf of still warm banana nut bread with us. We knew there was a reason we baked it fresh tonight. He was released from his mission a couple of weeks ago and came back with his two brothers to tour Europe for a couple of weeks. We had a nice reunion and then we were invited to lunch tomorrow as that would be the last time we would see him unless it was State-side.

This morning the ward mission leader didn’t show up and neither did George, only we six missionaries were there at 8:00. Shortly after, Bishop Schwendener came in and saw none of the ward leaders were there. He said an appointment he had canceled and he had time to hear our reports. Each missionary pair went over their respective progress report. By the time we finished some more of the committee entered and we went over everything again. It seems redundant to have to do it twice, but for some reason that is how they like to do it. The first half of the meeting is with the WML, his companion George and the missionaries. The second half of the meeting the rest of the committee come in and, when the WML is there, he summarizes our reports for them. When he’s not there, we go over everything again for them. These include a bishopric counselor, a Relief Society representative, a High Priest Group rep., an Elders Quorum rep. and a Young Single Adult representative. Every organization is represented to coordinate the missionary work in the ward.

Diana missed Isobella Daly’s baby shower Friday night so she brought a gift to Church to give to her today. Isobella had some of her nursery kids help her unwrap it and one was going to throw away all the paper, but Isobella saw it was a 50.00sfr. note and rescued it.

It is so exciting and rewarding to see people come to Church we’ve been working with. The Rodriguez family was in sacrament meeting as well as Cornelia and Dora Wachter. It’s been a long time since Dora’s been to church. We talked with them after the meeting and were able to make appointments with the Rodriguez family and Dora this week, one for Wednesday evening and one for Thursday evening.

Before Priesthood meeting started Rolf Hediger asked me if I would help Bishop Schwendener give him a blessing after the block of meetings. He is the brother who has been trying to quit smoking for the last nine months. He starts and then hasn’t been strong enough to continue not smoking. A couple of weeks ago I told him a story about a friend who’s daughter was getting sealed to her husband in the temple and he couldn’t enter because he smoked and didn’t have a recommend. My friend felt so bad he couldn’t go in and be with his family and decided he didn’t want to feel this bad throughout eternity. He made the decision right then to stop smoking and make himself worthy to go to the temple. He accomplished that and he and his wife have served a mission together since. So after the block of meetings we, with Bishop Schwendener acting as voice, gave him a wonderful Priesthood blessing. The Lord will help him if he truly wants to quit and get his life in order to be baptized. Here is a question and we’ll write the answer in tomorrow’s journal entry. How many time does “knock and it will be opened unto to you, ask and ye shall receive” or words to that effect appear in the scriptures?

We were invited to have lunch at Irene Russo’s and so we went there after all our responsibilities were taken care of. We spent a couple of hours eating, visiting, reminiscing and taking photos. About 4:00 Peter, Jacob and Daniel came home with us so I could cut their hair. It seems I am never going to run out of customers. When everyone else gets to play, I work. Oh well. We got through just in time to run to the fireside where the Bern Temple president, Pres. Castellani, and his wife were the featured speakers. Neither he nor Sister Castellani speak German so a couple of interpreters were used translate.

Suwang came to church today and also came to the fireside tonight. She asked us if we would come to her apartment after the fireside to help her move her huge oxygen machine outside her apartment door so the hospital staff could exchange it for her tomorrow. The threshold under her entry door is about four inches high and she wasn’t strong enough to lift it over to move it outside her door. It takes and hour both way to get to her apartment and back home. It was a nice ride by tram and bus, but we didn’t get home until 10:00. Today ended up being a long long day. Elder Norris called us for our report as we were coming home, but he had to wait until 10:00 before we could give him the information.

JUNE 27, 2009 SATURDAY

This morning first thing we called Tony Dkere, our friend we have yet to meet because he has always stood us up for the last three appointments we made with him. He answered the phone and seemed so nice as we made another appointment to visit him at 3:00 this afternoon. Well, good! Maybe this time he’ll be home. Today was a steady rain day, but it didn’t stop us from getting out. If we stayed in every time it rained, we’d hardly ever get out. A couple of months ago when we visited Hildegunde Schroeder, it was raining and she made us take an umbrella because we’d forgotten ours. It had started to rain while we were visiting. She said she’d be to Church the next Sunday and we could give it back to her then. She hasn’t been to Church since. We’ve tried a couple of times to take it back to her, but she has not been home. Today we wanted to take it back to her and we also brought along a loaf of banana nut bread for her. Today was Ruth Diethelm’s birthday and we wanted to take her birthday present to her this morning. They both live in the same building so we thought we’d kill two birds with one stone as the saying goes. First off, Hildegunde wasn’t home so we went to her daughter’s apartment not far away because she is often over there. Today she wasn’t, so we couldn’t get rid of the umbrella or banana bread, but had to carry them around with us which was just one more thing to carry. We went back to see if Ruth was home, but she and Bruno were gone also. We thought sure they would be home because she is still suffering a lot of pain because of a broken pelvis. We were just getting ready to put it in their mailbox when a little old lady stuck her head out of the door and asked us what we wanted. We told her and also mentioned we were going to put the present in the mail box. She offered to give it to Ruth and said it wasn’t safe to put things in mailboxes because there has been a lot of thefts. She recognized who we were and couldn’t resist telling us she was 86 years old, religious and prayed every night and morning. We thanked her for being so nice and then went on our way.

From a new ward member list we discovered a few more names we hadn’t seen before and one of them was Christopher Ernst. We went back to Schwamendingen, got on bus 62 and traveled to Dorflinde. We found his address, Magdalenenstrasse 6, rang his bell and was let in. He seemed about 50-55 years old, had very bad teeth, was married and lived in a one room apartment. His wife wasn’t home at the time and later on in our meeting, she kept calling him. Evidently he was late to meet her somewhere. He had a very bad stuttering problem and was very difficult to understand in both English and German. We’re not sure he knew either language very good, but maybe he’d had a stroke or something which affected his speech. Even though he grew up in the Church he said he never believed it was true. When we testified that God is our Father and Christ was his Son and Joseph Smith was a prophet, he became agitated and said he didn’t believe any of it and that Joseph Smith was a liar. He complained that tithing was a tax and he didn’t believe in it. At one point he broke down and asked us if we could give him his life back and the next minute he said he wanted to die. In between he said he didn’t know how to come back and asked us how he could. When we tried to give him the answer, he would go off again. He was all over the place and at the end we wished him well and tried to leave him an invite to the Sunday evening fireside. He said we might as well take it with us or it would go in his garbage. It was so sad to see a person so confused and unhappy and know the answer to his problems would be to accept Christ and follow his commandments.

Our next appointment was with Tony Dkere whom we called this morning. It’s quite an effort to get there, but we really wanted to meet this guy. This morning he said his mother had died and he would be going to Africa soon and would be there for at least a month. We wanted to meet him before he left. With great anticipation we rang his doorbell expecting that his time he would be home. After ringing his bell several more times and no answer, all we could do was smile at each other in disbelief that he’d done it to us again. What is it with this guy? If he thinks he going to wear us out, he’s got another think coming. We still have fourteen months and, as long as he’ll answer the phone, we’ll keep making appointments. We’ll wear him down to where he’ll meet with us or tell us to take a hike. And we had a loaf of banana nut bread for him too.

We decided we’d try to find one more new person from our member list, but we missed our tram stop so we called it a day and came home. We didn’t find anyone home today to give the banana bread to, so we ate it ourselves. But we did bake some more just in case. We finished out the day writing our journal entry and completing our correlation report for in the morning.

Charlotte's day care circus; our attorney; The Hutchesons and Diana in attorney's office.

JUNE 26, 2009 FRIDAY

Elder and Sister Hutcheson called us on Wednesday to set a time to pick us up today so we could all go to the Mission’s attorney to sign some papers to try and get our insurance requirements for Kanton Zurich straightened out. When they arrived, we had lunch waiting for them, cold roast beef and all the fixins for sandwiches, green salad, fruit cocktail jello, and ice cream over banana bread for dessert. For their sandwiches she went for the Best Foods mayonnaise and he went for the Miracle whip. We had a nice leisurely lunch over which we discussed the various things we do on our missions.

After lunch we went in their car to the attorney’s office. It was an exciting drive because he wasn’t used to driving in the city and we had to go right through downtown Zurich. He didn’t have a Tom Tom either, and mine went berserk, so we had to rely on his printed directions as well as common sense. Our attorney was fairly young, but he seemed to know what he was supposed to do. He told us that nowhere else in Switzerland is there a problem, only Zurich. The attorney had already received verification/guarantee from Deseret Mutual to the effect they would match the Swiss requirements which is 100% coverage for any and all health problems, choice of hospitals, choice of doctors and either full private or part private rooms at our choice. All we really had to do was sign the documents which will now be sent to the proper agency for their decision. If they don’t approve it, then the attorney will appeal the decision to the courts. It’s important for the Church to get a final decision, not really specific for us, although it will certainly benefit us too, but for all the senior couples who come after us. We don’t know if we have to pay additional for the improved coverage.

On the way back it was a little more confusing and he actually turned down a one way street the wrong way. We came to a stop light and when we stopped, a bicycle rider tapped on his window, and when it was rolled down, told Elder Hutcheson he was going the wrong way and it wasn’t allowed. When the light turned green, he quickly made a right turn and got going the right way again. We continued on, but got turned around again. Diana and I knew where we were and told them they could let us out and we’d go back home on the tram rather than try and find our way back to our apartment in the car. They agreed and we went our way and they, we’re sure, found it much easier to just be concerned about getting back to their home in Ebnat Kappel near St. Gallen. It only took us about 15 minutes on the tram to get home.

It was Patricia Pascutto’s birthday today so we were just getting ready to go visit her when we got a call from Charlotte. She reminded us that it was tonight at 6:15 when the day care she used to work at was having their circus program put on by the children. We had just enough time to get to Patricia’s and return unless she was at home. Well, she wasn’t home so we got back home with a few minutes to spare. At 6:15 Charlotte dropped by and picked us up although we knew the way there because it’s in the same building she lives in. It was a fun little program with the younger kids walking along a 2X4 placed on the ground as if it were a balance beam. The next older group dressed as lions and performed tricks dictated by the lion tamer. There were muscle men lifting weights (balloons), dancers with streamers, a magician, the kids standing close together so they looked like one person with six arms etc. Anyway, it was all pretty fun, but after the performances, we left because it was pretty crowded and we didn’t want to impose on their refreshments.

We still had time to make another couple of contacts so we decided to go try and visit Dora and Markus Wachter and a new person we identified from the new member list, Renatus Raschle. We took a loaf of banana nut bread with us to give to the Wachters, but neither one of them were home. We ended up going back home without contacting either one although we left them notes with an invitation to come to the fireside Sunday evening. When we got home, it was close to 9:00 and we still had time to call Marija Friederich, the person Sister Locher recommended we try and visit. Marija answered the phone and after she realized who it was we had an interesting short conversation. We asked her if we could come by and visit her. She made it “klip und klar” (crystal clear) that she wasn’t interested in becoming active in the Church again. We told her we’d still like to come by and meet her and just get to know her. She agreed finally to let us come, but not until next weekend. It was late by this time so we called it a day.

Card created by ZL Elders Harris and Nilsson to give out at zone conference. Allesandro getting a haircut.

JUNE 25, 2009 THURSDAY

This is the first no rain day we’ve had in quite some time. We read in the paper today that there has been severe flooding in Austria, but not so much in Switzerland. Last Sunday we asked for and got a new member list from Brother Pang, the bishop’s executive secretary. Today we compared it to the one we’ve been working from and discovered a few new names on it. We looked them up on the internet telephone book to make sure they really lived at the addresses listed. We will visit them in the near future and see what’s what. In the mean time we went to visit Marija Friederick, the person Lily Locher asked us to visit, but she wasn’t home. While we were in Volketswil, we tried to visit two others whom we have tried to visit many times, but neither were home as usual. We’d try calling them to make an appointment, but we can’t find a number for either one of them. We left a note with all three on the back of a flyer advertising the fireside next Sunday evening in the stake center and invited them to call us and also to come to the fireside. President Castellani, the Bern temple president, is going to talk on, “From Baptism to the Temple.” If the three would just come, we’re sure they’d feel different about the Church. We can only hope and pray.

Sister Norma Bachmann called a few days ago and asked if we could come over tonight and cut her son’s hair. She’s divorced and her ex-husband is a former NBA player. She is such a nice and fun person one wonders how anyone would want to divorce her. Allesandro just got baptized a few weeks ago and his and Norma’s photo was posted on our blog at the time. He’s such a good kid, but like all kids his age, didn’t necessarily want to get his hair cut. However, after a few minutes of coaxing and a stern “get on the chair” from his mom, we got it done. Norma seems to only have enough money to meet their basic needs although she has a fairly expensive apartment. She works as a maid cleaning people homes, but it’s not steady work. She is looking to get into a smaller apartment that only cost $1300 a month instead of $1750 which will give her a little more breathing room financially. As we were getting ready to leave she said she had an appointment to look at it and so we went with her. It was a nice clean apartment, but only had one bedroom. After she was finished looking at it, we left and parted company outside, she going back to her home and we to ours. It wasn’t the most exciting day in the lives of these missionaries, but nonetheless important only if we were able to give a little encouragement and support to Norma.

We forgot to mention we got a package from Roxsan for Mothers/Fathers Day which was very thoughtful. Some of the things she went us were: a small book of spiritual thought ideas, another one of object lessons, a manly tie, some licorice candy, a package of Werther’s candies, four “Armor of God” coins, two indelible ink pens and letters from Drayson and Mayleah. The letters were most precious of all. The two books will be helpful too because we’re always looking for teaching ideas along with object lessons. Thank you very much for being so thoughtful. We also got to talk on skype for awhile. We also got to talk to Monica on skype for awhile tonight.

Motorcycle in Showroom window; scenic photo on Vierwaldstaedtersee; witch weather vane. If we have posted these before, we're sorry. We have no new photos yet.

JUNE 24, 2009 WEDNESDAY

At zone conference Monday Pres. Matern made an appointment to get his hair cut this evening, so we thought it advisable to use this morning as a “Putz Tag” or in other words cleaning day. Wednesday is already our wash day so we just extended it to other areas. Besides clothes we washed carpets, walls, tub, sinks, stove, fridge, floors, and anything else that got in the road. Diana’s wardrobe door hasn’t shut right for a long time so I worked on that too. It’s amazing how fast book shelves and cupboards can get all messed up, and how long it takes to get them straightened out and organized again. In between we used some over ripe bananas to make two loaves of banana nut bread, one of which we were going to give to Pres. Matern when he came for his haircut.

After we had everything ship shape I went into Schwamendingen to change the last of our USA money into Euros for when we went shopping in Germany this afternoon. At 2:00 we met Erika Weibel and Charlotte at the church and off we went. Erika and Charlotte were responsible to buy the food for a primary activity Saturday and food is much cheaper in Germany that in Switzerland. Since they were going anyway and had a couple seats free in their car, they invited us to go along. It only took about a half an hour to drive there and it was mostly through farm country. Crops we saw growing in fields included barley, wheat, potatoes, peas, corn, squash, huge vineyards, sunflowers and alfalfa. We bought more than we wanted at Aldi’s, but everything was so cheap compared to Switzerland. While we were in Aldi’s our cell phone rang and I absent-mindedly answered it. We aren’t supposed to use our cell phone outside of Switzerland because of the cost. But this time we were glad I did. It was Sister Sunke telling us another senior couple, the Hutchesons, would be calling us to coordinate picking us up to go to sign some papers at the Mission attorney’s office this Friday. Hopefully we’ll get this problem fixed sometime soon. If we don’t, we’ll end up paying approx. $1000.00 per month for insurance for the both of us.

We got back home and were able to move things around in our freezer to get the frozen items in, but it was nip and tuck. The other things Diana put into our pantry. We had time for a quick dinner of bratwurst and roesti (hashbrowns) that Diana prepared for us. It was quick, but tasty. Soon after Pres. Matern arrived and I cut his hair. He seemed satisfied with it so that made me happy. If he comes again, then we’ll know it was okay. As he was leaving he gave us an assignment to come to the mission home a week from Friday and take the van to deliver an area rug to a missionary apartment near Bern. That’ll be kind of scary for us because we have not, as yet, driven over here. Streets are narrow and go every which way, funneling to one lane with intermittent parking allowed along the edges so you have to weave in and out and around while watching for oncoming traffic. We do have the Tom Tom which will make it easier, we hope. After he left we made a few phone calls to check on some people. Kummers were home, but Kurt said he’s see us Sunday in church and make an appointment. The Hutcheson’s also called this evening and they’ll pick us up on Friday around noon. We told them we’d have a lunch prepared for them when they get here.

Fasnacht photo in Luzern; Robert & Diana in front of the Einsiedeln Kloster; Robert & Diana at Neide's. Sorry these are old photos, but we haven't any new ones.

JUNE 23, 2009 TUESDAY

Since yesterday’s P-day was replaced with zone conference, we were allowed to have P-day today. We got a call from Elders Harris and Nilsson at 7:45 asking if they could use our computer for emails before we left for our excursion. We had twenty minutes for both of us to shower, shave (me) and get dressed before they got here. After they had arrived they only had a half hour to do their emails and then we were off to the bahnhof to meet the other missionaries and Charlotte. Today we went to Luzern by train where we met the sister missionaries and then took a ferry boat to Hergiswil on Vierwaldstaedtersee. We were initially going to go to Aareschlucht which is a river which goes through a chute not far from Luzern. It’s supposed to be a scenic walk along the river where there are some waterfalls or something. But today it was still raining and so we went to a glass manufacturing factory where they still manufacture glass from scratch and then make all different kinds of glass products. They still do some glass blowing there as well and for 15sfr. you can blow your own glass ball. The name of the factory is Glasi Hergiswil. We committed the cardinal sin by forgetting to bring our camera along. So now we have no photos of our own, but the fortunate things is the missionaries often come to our apartment and we’ll be able to download their photos onto our computer. We’re sorry, but for today, we have no photos of our trip.

There has been so much rain during the last few weeks that everything is wonderfully green and lush. The train/ship rides through the country and over the lake are just magnificent. Luzern is such a picturesque city with it’s towers, bridges and old buildings, and the boat ride from Luzern to Hergiswil is hard to describe. The clouds were hugging the mountains making it especially scenic. The snow-capped mountains surround the lake and we passed town after town that were so pretty. Sometimes we heard church bells ringing and the whole experience was what one would think of when trying to visualize Switzerland.

I spent most of the trip in the front of the ferry where I met a man from Luxembourg who was vacationing in Switzerland. We talked of a lot of things and before we got to Hergiswil I gave him a Book of Mormon and a few pamphlets. He said he was too old to want to change religions and wanted to give me the book back, but I assured him he would learn something new if he kept it and read it. When we got to Hergiswil we parted as friends and he took the book with him.

Diana and the other missionaries, Elders Harris, Nilsson, Norris and Carrier and Sisters Hewitt and Stoddard, stayed inside the dining area, but still had a good view of the country as we passed by. They met a large group of girls from Chicago who were traveling as a school group. They played games, made friends and had a lot of fun along the way. They even had an ugly face contest and Diana couldn’t pass up the chance to shove gummi bears up her nose. At the end photos were taken amid a lot of laughing and friendly banter. But in the mean time, pass-along cards were given out and some missionary work was accomplished.

When we got to the factory, we first went through the museum which was in English because we were the only ones there. It was a self-guided tour and it was set up so that as we went through, sound and lights would come on and a recorded explanation was given and at the conclusion a door would automatically open and the lights came on in the next section while the ones where we were went off. This naturally led us through the tour. Once through we entered onto a balcony overlooking men at work shaping and manufacturing different glass products. It would take too long to explain and describe what they did, but needless to say, it was interesting. There were three different stations, each making something different, big vases, serving trays and napkin holders. There was also a station where you could pay to blow your own glass ball. There were still other parts of the tour such as an archive of all the products they had made since the beginning many years ago when they first discovered how to make glass, some fun interactive things made of glass etc. Then we went across the street to the store to look at everything they had for sale. We may have bought something, but the thing that always brings us back to our senses is that we can’t take much home at the end of our mission. We look, but don’t buy although we want to.

Rather than ride the ship back to Luzern, we took the train, made a connection in Luzern and rode a different train back to Zurich. Soon we were back home and had a couple of hours of down time before we got ready and went to Institute. There were a few less youth at Institute tonight because one class met at a pizza place where they met the teacher’s Muslim friend who was going to tell them about the Muslim religion. We attended the New Testament class and discussed parts of Revelation. When we came home, it was still raining although it was more like a heavy dew instead of real rain. It is unseasonably cold, 14 degrees Celsius or about 58 degrees Fahrenheit which is pretty cold for the end of June.

While in the Luzern bahnhof, the Church’s lawyer working on our health insurance case called us to discuss the problem we are having with Zurich recognizing our insurance. He just wanted to know if we had signed the papers and also wanted to know what coverage we had. We hope he’s able to get things done for us.

Card given out at zone conf.; Video clip of Pres. Matern teaching a spiritual talk.
Demonstration with ropes representing Satan's chains which were cut off by Pres. Matern as he talked of Christ being able to cut the bands to free us.


JUNE 22, 2009 MONDAY

Normally today should have been our P-day, but instead we traveled to Bad-Saechingen, Germany, for our Zone Conference. Zone conferences happen every transfer or, in other words, every six weeks. We were picked up at Stettbach Bahnhof by Elders Pine and Jensen and rode up in the mission van with the rest of our district, Elders Harris, Nilsson, Norris and Carrier making eight in all. Sisters Hewitt and Stoddard rode with Pres. Matern. On the way there we got stuck in traffic and, since Pres. Matern was ahead of us and stuck too, he called Elder Pine and told him to take the next exit and go another route which is what Pres. Matern did. However, when we got to the exit, the traffic freed up so we stayed on the freeway and beat Pres. Matern to the conference location by a good twenty minutes. We ended up starting 30 minutes late anyway.

Altogether there were 38 of us in our zone conference. We always learn a lot and have fun to boot. We learned more about setting goals, being united, urgency, commitment, proper use of time, working together and etc. The unity game we played was “the helium stick” which worked like a charm. We also were split into teams and given a sack of random things to build a tower out of. The team who built the tallest tower won a prize. The sisters in the local ward provided the lunch for us and we always thank them after by singing them a song and giving them a gift or flowers or something. During the lunch break Pres. Matern came over and asked me if I had brought my barber tools with me. I thought that was a weird question, as if I take my barber tools wherever I go. He said he noticed some missionaries who need haircuts bad, but I couldn’t help this time. Later on Sister Matern came and asked me the same question. I had to disappoint her too. I mentioned they could let me know next time and I’d be glad to bring them and do whatever they wanted me to do. I was asked to give the opening prayer of the afternoon session. Elder & Sister Horlacher, the Outreach couple stationed in Freiburg, will be going home next week after having served 23 months. It is both a very sad and a very happy time for them. After the meeting was over, Pres. Matern came over again, but this time he asked if he could make an appointment to come get his hair cut. So next Wednesday he’ll come over to our apartment and I’ll cut his hair here.

Just as the conference was getting over, we received two calls on our cell phone, one right after the other, from the same person, Sister Klaumunzner from the mission office. Since we were in Germany, we weren’t allowed to answer the calls because it costs too much for international calls. She ended up calling Pres. Matern and Diana brought me his phone so I could talk to her. She said it was important for us to come to the mission home tonight and sign a power of attorney form so the mission lawyer can work on our behalf to challenge the Zurich Health Insurance Bureau’s decision not to recognize our insurance from home to fill the Swiss’s requirement for mandatory health insurance. After dropping the others off at the Zurich Bahnhof we went to the mission home to get that done. That made us late for our family home evening at Pres. Bolt’s. They were glad when we showed up even if we were late. Normally we have as few as eight and as many as fourteen, but tonight there were only four before we came. We spent a nice evening together as we always do.

Two things disturbed the peace of the evening. First, Joerg Moeller was in the hospital because of stomach pains or something. He was transported there by ambulance earlier in the evening before we got there. Second, the cell phone in my pocket rang and when I pulled it out, SURPRISE, the phone wasn’t mine. It belonged to Elder Jensen. Where was our cell phone? I looked in all my pockets, my jacket pockets and my briefcase. We couldn’t find it. We guessed perhaps I had pick up Elders Jensen’s cell from the desk in the mission home and left mine there. Diana was tired and didn’t want to go clear back to the mission home (it was 9:15 pm) so I walked her halfway home and then went back to the Bolt’s home to ride with the elders. I happened to look through the van window as I passed by and saw our cell phone on the seat. Yippee! After telling everyone I had found it, I went home too

Ruth & Bruno Diethelm; Cindy Peterson & Kim Humphrey; Daniella & Peter Martin

JUNE 21, 2009 SUNDAY

We arrived at Church this morning at 8:00 for our missionary correlation meeting and met the other four missionaries, but the Ward Mission Leader didn’t show up nor did George who usually presides when he isn’t there. At 8:30 the rest of he committee came and we found an empty room and had our meeting. There’s some good things happening with the missionary work and it’s good to get the ward involved in the fellowshipping and teaching.

Following correlation meeting was Priesthood and Relief Society. Diana was thrill to see that Gabriella Rodriguez came for the first time. Until now she has only come (twice) to Sacrament Meeting. She stayed through Sunday School but spent the time in the nursery with her two children. We, on the other hand, attended the “investigator” class taught by Elder Harris and Elder Nilsson. The only investigator there was Agnes, a 15 year old girl, who usually comes with her mother and 12 year old brother. She was the only one who came today, but we had a really good lesson on the Plan of Salvation. The elders have an appointment with the whole family on Wednesday night and will teach them the same lesson again.

When Sacrament Meeting time came we saw Julio was with Gabriella and their two kids. They came in and sat down on the back bench so we got up and went back and sat with them. I shared my song book with Julio who sang every song with the congregation. He is a friendly guy and is so cute with his family. One or the other or sometimes both were in and out of the chapel with one or both of their kids when they became noisy or crying. Each time they came back in until the meeting ended. Halfway through the meeting Suwang came in and sat by us. When the meeting was over, I went out into the foyer and talked to Julio while Diana talked to Suwang in the chapel. Suwang always has a lot to say so Diana was trapped for some time. I asked Julio if we could come visit them this week to which he replied he is working six days a week with extended hours, so he wouldn’t be able to meet with us this week. He said maybe things would be better at work and we could visit them next week. Angela Campbell and her three kids also came to Church today. Cornelia didn’t come so we called her this evening to let her know we missed her. She asked if we were calling because we missed her and we let her know we did. And then she said something very interesting and we were grateful to hear. She said she missed coming to Church, that she had become accustomed to coming and felt bad when she couldn’t come today. The reason she didn’t come was she ate some food that gave her an allergic reaction and she was sick all day. She has made a lot of progress over the last couple of months. Elders Pine and Jensen met with her last Wednesday and had a great lesson with her.

Following Sacrament meeting we hurried home, got a few things and went over to Charlotte’s for lunch. She had a very nice meal prepared for us after which Elders Pine and Jensen gave a spiritual thought, teaching about the power of faith. They used two scriptures, Helaman 5:12 and
Ether 12:6 to teach the principle and then used two plastic cups, a candle, a match and some water to illustrate the point. They lit the candle and then placed an empty cup over the fire. Immediately a hole was burned in the bottom of it. The cup represents you and the flame represents trials and temptations you may be faced with. The water represents faith in Jesus Christ and his gospel and this cup had no water in it representing a person with no faith. When trials and temptations came, it couldn’t withstand them and was destroyed. The second demonstration was with a cup with water (faith) in it. When it was placed over the flame, the bottom was blackened, but the cup withstood the heat and wasn’t destroyed. So with us when we have faith; we will not be destroyed when the trials come.

After the meal we intended to go visit Margarita Maurer with the elders in the mission van because it was her birthday today. They couldn’t set up the meeting until 5:00 so we couldn’t go which made us sad. We had an appointment of our own at 5:00 with Ruth and Bruno Diethelm. We gave our gift to the elders for them to take it to her for us.

We arrived at the Diethelm’s home at 5:00 and discovered Brother and Sister Humphreys waiting at the apartment building door. We discovered they had also been invited for dinner. They said they had rung the doorbell, but no one had answered. We looked and realized they had rung the doorbell of the daughter who lives in the same building, but in the other half of the building. We went to the next door and rang the right door bell and the Diethelms let us in. They are in their mid-seventies and are the Institute missionary couple for the Zurich region. They are rock solid members and do so much for the youth. Ruth had a super good dinner for us; an Italian salad, a Hungarian main dish (broad noodles with a chicken/spicy sauce), and then a dessert from Spain. She watches cooking shows and everything she served was like a beautiful painting. They live on the thirteenth floor and have a view over the city, and can watch airliners fly by on their way to the airport. We had a comfortable conversation and we all got to know each other better. After the meal Diana and I gave the spiritual thought on the meaning of the iron rod using the photo Monica sent us of the painting of the Tree of Life on our living room wall and the picture of the little man weighed down by all the stuff he’d collected that Roxsan sent us some time ago. It was very effective and we had a good discussion on letting the world get in the road of what is really important, keeping our eyes and our grip securely on the iron rod (Word of God). Before we left Ruth gave Diana a book she had written about her life which Diana really appreciated.

We started home a little after 9:00, but we received a phone call from Elders Harris and Nilsson on our way. They needed to use our computer once again to finish up something for tomorrow’s zone conference in Germany. We accommodated them and then we were free to write this journal entry. We’ve been expecting our children to skype us, but that hasn’t happened yet and it’s 11:23. Oh well, time for bed.

By the way, the reason why Cindy and Kim don't have the same last name is that they didn't get married until she was 44 and because of her profession, it was best to leave her name the way it was so people wouldn't get confused about her research work etc.

Sorry, no pics. It's too late tonight; will post some tomorrow.

JUNE 20, 2009 SATURDAY

Why does everything seem to pile up on one day? We started out with wanting to visit two people who had birthdays today, Rico Rothmund and Heather Scheidegger. At 12:00 we were asked by Elders Jensen and Pine to help them help Suki move some more furniture. We were supposed to be to Suwang’s at 2:00 and then meet Charlotte at 6:00 to go to the Martin’s for dinner. Then we got a call from Elders Harris and Nilsson wanting to use our computer at 11:30 to finish up preparations for zone conference on Monday. We told them we weren’t sure we could get home by 11:30, but we’d try. We got to the Rothmunds and Rico wasn’t home, but he came home before our bus arrived so we got to talk to him for a little while. We also got to talk to Lily Locher who lives in the same building. While we were talking, she asked us if we had visited Marija Friederick. We told her our list had a “want no contact” on it by her name so we hadn’t been there. She said Marija didn’t especially want the younger missionaries to go by, but thought it would be okay for us because we were closer to her age. We told her we appreciated the information and we’d try and contact her next week.

Our bus came and we traveled back to Stettbach. On the way back Elder Jensen called and asked if it would be okay to leave for Suki’s at 11:30 rather than 12:00. We decided we didn’t have enough time to get clear out to Heather’s so we decided to go home. We called Elder Harris and told him we would be home at 11:30, but they changed their minds and wanted to come at 11:00. We told them we’d be home by then. On the way we stopped at Migros to get the eggs I forgot the other day and we got a few other things too. There was a lady standing in front of COOP handing out religious flyers so we told her we’d take one of hers if she’d take one of ours. She refused saying she didn’t need ours. And that’s the way it goes.

When we got home, we hurried and put together the banana nut bread ingredients and popped it into the oven expecting Elders Harris and Nilsson would be able to take it out when it was done. They showed up and when we asked them, they said they wouldn’t be that long. Right then Elders Pine and Jensen showed up to pick us up to go to Suki’s. Diana decided to stay home to take the bread out when it was done while I went with the other Elders to help Suki. Diana baked another batch of brownies while I was gone and the Elders ate up all the banana bread muffins I made.

Elder Jensen assured me it would only take an hour or so to get the job done. As things turned out it took three and a half times that long before we were done. We had to go to her other apartment that she had sublet to a friend to pick up a wardrobe and take it to her present apartment and put it in her storage space. We got there, took apart the wardrobe and loaded all we could into the van. By this time I could see Diana and I were not going to be able to get to Suwangs. I asked Diana to call her and cancel for today, but to tell her we would come next week.

The three of us got in and drove to Suki’s apartment. Everything was unloaded and put in front of the building. I stayed there to carry it all up into the attic while the elders went back for another load. As I was carrying the pieces up to the attic a man and a woman came looking for someone who lived in another apartment in the same building. They were very nice, but the person they were looking for wasn’t home. We talked a bit before they left and I discovered they were Jehova Witnesses. As I said, they were very nice and it would have been interesting to have had time to talk with them. Just as I got the last piece up into the attic the elders came with another load. I accused them of waiting around the corner until I had everything put away, but they assured me that wasn’t the case. We unloaded and carried everything up into the attic. By then my legs were rubbery and I was ready to call it a day.

It was 4:00 by the time I got home so we had a couple of hours before we were to meet Charlotte so we baked another banana nut bread loaf. Along the way we prepared a spiritual thought for the Martins later tonight. Finally everything was done and we got ready to meet Charlotte at 6:00. I changed from my work clothes and grabbed a white short-sleeved shirt, but I wasn’t very careful about which one. On the way to the Martins we had to wait at a bus stop for 20 minutes and, while we were there, Charlotte noticed the sleeves of my shirt were cut off. The shirt I had picked was an old one that I had cut the sleeves off of to make it into a work shirt. We all had a good laugh at that blunder, but that’s what makes life fun!

We missed our connection by a minute and so we had to wait for almost a half hour, but we finally made it and were only 15 minutes late. We had a nice dinner of Hungarian goulash which was sooo good. We wondered if the meat were horse, but didn’t quite have the moxy to ask. It wouldn’t of mattered anyway because it was so good. We had a great time there and when it came time to go home, Peter took us in his car. That saved at least an hour ride and shortened it to about 15 minutes. We finally got home a little after 10:00 pm.

The Humphreys. Witch wind vane next to Tony Dkere's apartment.

JUNE 19, 2009 FRIDAY

It started raining last night and it was still raining this morning and it’s still raining right now (10:48 pm). Last night Diana felt a little like a cold was coming on and she woke up a little stuffy. She didn’t want that to stop us from going out today, but I made her stay in until this afternoon when we had an appointment with the elusive Tony Dkere. We worked on a lesson for the Humphreys who invited us to dinner tonight. We decided to do the lesson on the parable of the ten virgins and had to retype all of the pages we had because they were of such poor quality. But when we tried to print it out, our black ink cartridge ran out. We also baked banana nut bread to take to them as a thank you for the dinner. It smelled so good and the loaf was so big that Diana wanted to eat some of it, but I wouldn’t let her. I told her I would bake a loaf all for her, but we were out of eggs. Diana kept typing on the 10 virgin story while I went to the store to get the eggs and ink cartridges. While I was at it, we needed to get some cacao powder and sugar. I went out in the rain and when I got back, Diana asked me where the eggs were. I couldn’t believe I bought everything but had forgotten the eggs. Alas, Diana didn’t get her own loaf today.

Charlotte called and was a little miffed at Elders Pine and Jensen because they weren’t answering their phone and she needed to talk to them about some dinner appointments. She asked us to help her get in contact with them. We tried their number and got no results. We called the ZL’s and they didn’t answer either. Next we tried Elder Norris, our district leader, and he told us the four elders were busy in their monthly “mission council” meeting held once a transfer. We gave this information to Charlotte and she told us the next time we see them tell them that they have been invited to the Martin’s at 7:00 tomorrow evening and also to Charlotte’s at 1:00 on Sunday. Elder Pine called us during their lunch break and we passed on the information. They told us to let Charlotte know they would call her later on and talk to her. About 6:30 we got a text message from Charlotte asking if we had been in contact with Elder Pine. We texted back that we had.

When it came time for our appointment with Tony, we got ready and left. We have been to his place so many times we know it off by heart. This is the third time we have arranged an appointment time with him and again we were disappointed; he wasn’t home. So the question is, do we keep calling him and keep trying, or just let him go? Of course we won’t give up; we’ll keep trying until we actually get to see his smiling face. Next time we hope it won’t be raining. But we didn’t let the trip go waste. We visited a little junk store that’s by him and bought some frisbees and spiders (rubber) to give to kids in our ward on their birthdays.

Since our appointment fell through and we had some time to kill, we rode tram 9 all the way to the end and back to the Seilbahn Rigi tram stop. It turned out that maybe we shouldn’t have spent so much time on the tram, but we didn’t want to get to our dinner appointment too early. When we got off at the tram stop to get on the cable car to ride up the mountain, it was under repair. Now what do we do? We were trying to decide what to do when a young Japanese man approached us and told us in English that a small bus would be coming which had replaced the cable car until it was fixed. He even escorted us to the right spot as he was going the same direction as we. He was an exchange student and he was leaving for home tomorrow. We gave him a Joseph Smith pamphlet (in English) and encouraged him to get in contact with the missionaries when he got home.

We arrived at the Humphreys after about a 10-15 minute walk in the rain from where the small bus dropped us off. We were somewhat soaked when we got there, but we’ve been in worse weather. Rather than spend time searching, when we got close, we called Cynthia and she talked us to the right building. They were so friendly and nice and she had a dinner of salmon, wild rice, broccoli, shrimp salad and hot rolls waiting for us. It was oh so very good and for dessert, she had something similar to a fruit pizza our kids sometimes make at home, topped with pistachio ice cream. After dinner we talked some more and then we gave them the lesson on the 10 virgins and gave them a photocopy of the famous painting. There is so much to think about and consider when contemplating if you are a wise or an unwise virgin (virgin means a member of the Church). We began and ended with a prayer.

When we left it was still raining and Sister Humphries gave us directions to get to tram #6 by walking downhill which was a relief for Diana. We made it back home by 10:20 and had started writing our journal when Monica skyped us. We talked with her for awhile which is always fun and then hung up.

Our tomato plant. Suwang's lunch. The video is of Suwang; sorry I got off a little, but I didn't want her to know I was making a video.

JUNE 18, 2009 THURSDAY

This morning we got a call from Suwang asking us to come over early for lunch. She had invited us to come over today, but didn’t give us a time. We said we’d be there at 10:30, but we didn’t arrive until almost 11:00 because we still had to get into our preaching clothes and the trip there takes about an hour. She is so happy to see us each time we come. We complimented her on the progress she had made in getting the clothes in the two dozen black bags sorted, washed and either donated or put away. She still has some big boxes and some piles left, but she has made tremendous progress. We talked and visited while she was busy preparing lunch. She talks a mile a minute using an English dialect with a smattering of German and Chinese mixed in. We can understand most of what she says, but once in awhile we get lost.

Last Friday we wrote in our journal we were kind of glad we didn’t get to stay for lunch because what we saw didn’t look to good. Today we were waiting with suspense what she was going to prepare for us. It all turned out really good and it was a healthy meal to boot. She served us boiled/fried potatoes plain, broccoli, steamed carrots, plain beans and chicken. I had peppermint tea and Diana had water.

After the meal she talked some more of her family and her desire to bring her son and daughter, Danek and Halina, back into activity in the Church. She is a convert and so didn’t have the advantage of growing up in the LDS culture. She said she didn’t understand how to be a good mother, but learned by watching others as they interacted with their children on Sundays. She’s trying to make up for those early years and she says she has made progress. She had some other things weighing heavily on her mind and just wanted to talk to someone about it. She said she trusted us to keep things confidential which we will. Sometimes you just have to get things off your chest and discuss it with someone in order to move on and heal. We finally had to go and she was disappointed we couldn’t stay for supper too. But we told her we’d come visit for awhile Saturday and that made her happy.

Today was Hans Maurer’s, Margarita’s 40 year old mentally challenged son, birthday. We called Elders Harris and Nilsson earlier to see if they would come with us to wish him a happy birthday. Diana talked to Denise, Margarita’s daughter, on Tuesday and Denise said she thought her mother wanted another blessing because of the pain in her knee. We wanted to use the occasion of Han’s birthday to all be there so, if she wanted, give her a blessing. We had made arrangements this morning for them to call us around 3:00 after their teaching appointment so we could get together and go over to Hans’ place. Their appointment went late and when they called us, they said they didn’t have time to go with us. We got our stuff together and went alone. It’s a good thing we did because both Hans and Margarita weren’t home. We turned around and came home.

Just as we thought we were done for the day, we got a call from Charlotte. She had cooked a roast and bought some stuff to make a salad to make dinner for the missionaries , but they called and had to cancel. She is a woman alone and was going to be gone the next few days and didn’t want the food to spoil and didn’t want to just throw it out. She called us to come and get it, which we did. We offered to pay for it, but she wouldn’t hear of it. She also found a set of thick glass rectangle plates you use to put hot dishes on in a second hand store that she gave us. She said they are made in a factory in Italy and they are very expensive and she was surprised to find them there.

About 9:45 we were just getting finished with our journal when our doorbell sounded. Diana didn’t want to answer it because the last time we did, the tax man was there and made us sign up to pay taxes on our internet connection. Suwang told us today that if you don’t answer the door, they give up and won’t bother you till next year. She said that’s why so many Swiss don’t answer their doors; they’re home, but don’t answer. But I looked out our window and saw that it was Brother and Sister Neidhart so I let them in. Their son Jona left for his mission on January 3rd and they wanted to find out how to check his email to see if he had sent them anything yet. They don’t know how to do it and they thought we could help them. We got on their internet account and didn’t find anything from Jona. We visited for almost an hour and then they decided to go home. So now, once again, we think we are finished for today. We try and try, but can’t seem to get to bed as early as we want.

The first photo is a honey wagon (hauls liquid manure to spray on their fields. The second is an old photo of Dale Abersold who was a companion of mine in 1964. The photo of the person with the bike is me in 1963 with Zuerich in the background.

JUNE 17, 2009 WEDNESDAY

This morning we noticed Elder Jensen’s day planner sitting on our desk. He must of left it here last night when they were using the computer to produce their article for the Gipfelsturmer, the mission newsletter that comes out every transfer (six weeks). He called us this morning and asked us if it were here and could he come over and get it. They arrived about 11:00 and wanted to finish their project on the computer while they were here. They were still at it when we left for our appointment. We have a spare set of keys they use to lock up when they leave and they just drop it in our locked mailbox at the bottom of our stairs when they go. We were a minute late for our tram and so had to wait for the next one which threw us late for our bus connection at Stettbach. We ended up at Bahnhof Bad waiting for the bus to leave so we called Sister Gianatti to let her know we were going to be bout 15 minutes late. She seemed anxious we get there because the others were already there and she must of not wanted them to wait on us so she sent Heinz in his car to get us. That was nice of them, but we think we could have gotten there just as fast on the bus.

Sister Silvana Gianatti is 63 years old, but seems in her seventies. We’ve been trying to get her to come to Church, but she’s resisted until now. The others who were there were Heinz & Lily Locher and Helena Roffler. It was Heinz’s birthday today which made him 72 years old. Helen is his sister and she’s 74. Silvana had quite an interesting lunch prepared. She had the first plate all dished up when we got there. It consisted of several kinds of thin sliced bacon, ham, and other kinds of cured meats although they looked raw and felt raw as you chewed them. They were somewhat salty too. I didn’t mind it, but Diana had a hard time with it. I tried to help her out by taking one off her plate, but Silvana got after me and told me if I wanted more, she had some extra she’d let me have. I didn’t want any more and I didn’t want to upset Silvana, so Diana was on her own. It took her awhile, but she finished it all. There were melon slices there which helped a lot, and they were really good. The interesting thing is, these types of meats are very expensive so we’re sure she went all out for us which we really appreciated. After the first course was finished, she served us a type of a spinach quiche that was good, but a couple of problems kept it from being excellent. First it was too salty which she admitted herself. Second, it was burned on the bottom, around the sides and on the top. Once you got into the middle, it was pretty good. She insisted on a second helping and when I got through with that, I thought I was done. But she had one more piece left and how can one say no? I wished I would have because it was almost like charcoal, nice and crunchy. For dessert she served a small dish of ice cream with a fresh cooked hot berry topping and a piece of lemon cake. Now that was the best part of the whole meal. The Swiss don’t like to rush their meals which is a nice custom. It gives everyone time to talk and visit with one another. It was Heinz’s birthday today so we gave him our usual gift, a box of chocolate covered cookies, and a card. We also gave our host, Silvana, a mosquito candle for her balcony.

After we got through with the meal we cleared the table and then lead a discussion on parts of the first lesson, which continued on from the last time we met with her. It was nice having the Lochers and Helena there to help when we got a little stuck with the language. Diana wasn’t bashful about participating either and made some good points which added to the discussion. Silvana kept coming back to saying she couldn’t understand why there were so many Churches and how can one know which one is right. Diana used a plate which represented Christ’s church and gospel which was supported by the 12 apostles (the foundation as described in Ephesians 2:20. When you take away the 12 apostles supporting the plate, it falls and breaks into many pieces. Each piece represents perhaps one or two truths or pieces of the gospel or Church. A minister or priest takes one of the pieces and with this one truth, establishes a church. And so on it goes until there are many churches, but each has only a piece of the gospel, not one has the complete gospel. That’s why a restoration of all things was necessary. We related the parable to her about planting a seed. When you plant a seed you have to have a desire so see it grow. You have to have faith, but you also have to nurture it and give it space to grow. If you neglect it, it’ll die. It’s the same with finding out what’s true. First you have to have a desire to know, then exercise faith to the extent you do something to discover the truth such as read the Book of Mormon, ponder what you read and then pray for an answer. The Lord has promised if you’re sincere, he’ll testify of the truth to you through the power of the Holy Ghost. Moroni 10:4-6 We committed her to reading the BM the last time we were here, but she had other things disrupt her life such as her sister’s husband died. Now that’s all past we committed her to read 15 minutes a day and to start with 3 Nephi chapters 11 through 26 where Christ visits the Nephites, organized his Church by calling 12 apostles, giving them authority to baptize and administer the sacrament. The last thing we did was to invite her to Church again. The meal and the lesson took three hours and poor Lily Locher dozed off at the last. As we were leaving Silvana gave us a jar of Holunder berry jam and Citroenenmelisse (with orange and lemon) syrup you dilute with water to drink. Her daughter manufactures these items. We thanked her for the meal and the gifts. She requested we bring back the bottles the syrup and the jam were in because they were decorative and they can be used over again. We took that as a sign we at least get to visit her one more time, although I’m sure we could and will anyway.

This evening we made a few calls to people to try and set up some more appointments. We got in touch with Tony Dkere again and made an appointment for Friday afternoon at 5:00. This is the third appointment we’ve made and we’ve yet to meet him. He seemed especially nice on the phone this time, so we hope he’ll be there. Herr Keller was a different story. We met him at the last street contacting activity at Bahnhof Oerlikon and after a short discussion, gave him a BM and the Joseph Smith pamphlet. We exchanged names and phone numbers at that time and he said he’d think about whether we could meet with him or not. When I talked to him tonight he said he’d done a little research and decided not to meet with us. It sounded like he got a hold of some anti-Mormon stuff and would rather believe the untruths than be taught the true gospel.

Our daughter Roxsan skyped us and had questions about some applicants she had received for one of our houses in Sandy that is empty. She also told us that Norma Lord, Diana’s dear friend in White City, experienced kidney failure last week and was in the hospital undergoing dialysis. She’s out of the hospital and home now and we understand she’s no longer required to undergo dialysis any more, but still needs to be on oxygen. We pray for her that she’ll recover. Monica, another daughter, talked to us for a little while and Remington, her son, informed us he had his Eagle project all worked out and approved. Great news that. Life is full of good news and not so good news and we have to be content with that.

JUNE 16, 2009 TUESDAY

This morning district meeting started an hour later than normal so we had a little more time to get ready and to brush up on our assignment. All ten of us were in our seats by 11:00 and for a change we started on time. Sister Stoddard talked about how a missionary will know if he/her is a successful missionary. Elder Harris gave a lesson on loving the people we serve and how important it is. Elder Carrier gave a Reader’s Digest version of a talk on missionary work by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. Elder Pine had the game which was supposed to have a spiritual element connected with it. He had us play hide-and-seek; we all hid and he tried to find us. As he found someone, the someone would then join to help find the rest. All were found but me. He finally called me on the phone and told me to come out, the game was over. The lessen behind the game was that it resembles our missionary work. Some are easy to find, but others took more work and diligence. As people were “found” (baptized) they would help find the others. And last, but not least, Diana and I talked about how the priesthood blesses our lives and how the gospel blesses our family. In between we had a get-to-know-you activity in that we filled out a questionaire created by Elder Norris after which he read the answers one at a time. As he read them we tried to guess who the author was. We were glad when the meeting got over because we had an appointment with Tony Dkere and we barely had time to go home, get our stuff and get to his apartment. The trouble was, he wasn’t home again. We left a note and an invitation to come to Church and a fireside. This is the second time he wasn’t there, but we won’t give up.

Today was Christiana Sigrist-DeMelo’s birthday and, since she lives in Forch, quite a distance from us, we talked Elders Pine and Jensen to drive us out there. Unfortunately she wasn’t home so we left the gift by her door. As we were going back to the car her husband drove up. He said he didn’t know when she would be home, and he mentioned he hadn’t remembered it was her birthday. Now that he knows maybe he’ll make it up to her.

On the way back Elder Jensen asked me if I would go with him and Elder Pine to teach Rolf Hediger this evening. We had a little time before the meeting so while we prepared a dinner of chilimac, Elder Jensen worked on the computer putting something together for zone conference coming up on the 22nd. We are getting pretty good at putting something together on the spur of the moment.

The meeting with Rolf was good. We took turns reading Alma chapter 5 and then we discussed the different things that impressed us. Rolf is a one time member many years ago who withdrew his membership because he wasn’t living his life in accordance with the gospel. About seven months ago he made the decision to come back and has been working on it ever since. His main stumbling block is smoking. He’s tried many times and can’t kick the habit. Hopefully one of these times he’ll get over the hump. He seems so humble and sincere and he’s reading both the bible and the Book of Mormon everyday. We bore testimony that the Lord would help him if he really really deep down was committed to quit.

The missionaries brought me home and I got Diana and we went to Institute. We got there a little late and Denise Maurer was sitting in the foyer waiting for an appointment with the bishop. Diana talked to her while I went into opening exercises and then to the New Testament class. The discussion topic today was the first chapters of Revelations. On the other hand Diana went to the World Religion class. She said she enjoyed the class because this time they read scriptures and compared them to other religions beliefs. After class we mingled with the youth while eating pigs-in-a-blanket and German potato salad. Yummmmmmmy. We saw our help was needed in the kitchen for drying dishes and to help clean up. We made it home by 10:15. Another long day. And our home phone won’t let us make outgoing calls. But at least we can receive them, and we have our cell phone.

This 3-wheeled vehicke is a pedal car. The other photo is of a bomb shelter of which there are many, but they are hard to find unless you know where to look.
The video clip is of a bird chirping to beat the band although you can't hear him because of the highway noise. The clip was taken from our bedroom window. The bird comes everday and stays for many hours.
JUNE 15, 2009 MONDAY

We indeed got skyped by Rebecca and Roxsan last night and it’s always good to talk to them and see our grandchildren. Mack is a busy little boy, climbing and getting into everything. Rebecca sure has aa lot patience and that’s a good thing. With Roxsan we talk over our rental problems and she lets us know what has happened and what’s coming down the pike. We got to talk to Brad a bit also, mostly about swine flu and how it’s affecting people. Last night Diana worked on some questions for tonight’s family home evening game which we were assigned to provide.

The first thing we started working on this morning was perfecting the questions for the “Mormon baseball” game we are making for tonight and decorating the cake for Elder Robert’s birthday party today. Diana worked on the cake while I did the computer work for the game. The game consists of gospel questions ranging from easy (1st base) to hard (home runs). The hardest part is to think up the questions and providing a reference for each answer. We took most of the questions from the Old Testament, but threw in some from the New testament. It took most of the day to do this with a break for the birthday party.

At 7:00 pm we were at Charlotte’s for FHE and the others that came included Hitch & Kathi Bold, Solange, Joerg & Irene Moeller-Russo, Helena Roffler, Erika, and Neide Graf. The other missionaries weren’t there tonight. Irene gave the lesson on how important our thoughts are in our progress and development. She discussed four steps we need to follow to progress. Using the scripture in the BM about just having a wish to know and then giving it room to grow was the first step. The second was to be thankful for what we have and to make sure we have a positive attitude. The third was to develop faith. The fourth was to ask and pray.

Next came our game. Everyone had fun in trying to answer the questions. Some got them right and, of course, some didn’t. When someone couldn’t answer, didn’t give the right answer, or we were challenged about the answer, we looked up the scripture and read it. It seemed to go on for a long time and we mentioned that if the game got boring, we could stop. All of them objected and wanted to continue to play. They said it was fun and they were learning something which is what we hoped would happen. They asked us to do it again another time because we hadn’t used up all the questions we had prepared. Things broke up around 9:15 and we came home. Charlotte insisted she escort us with an umbrella because it was raining again. She treats us like she were our grandmother and we are older than she is by a couple of years.

At one time a developer gave us an offer for a piece of property we own on 7th east in Draper, but his project fell through and so his offer for our property lapsed. There are three of us with adjoining property right there and a church wants to buy all three pieces. The developer is acting as the go between and he sent us an email the other day with an offer. In today’s market it’s not a bad deal and we are leaning towards selling, but need a few questions answered before we say yes. He’s on vacation for another week, and would like a response from us by then.

L: Irene's sister, Joerg Moeller, Irene Russo (in pink). M: Elder Jensen, sister, Irene, Joerg, Diana. R: Robert

JUNE 14, 2009 SUNDAY

Correlation meeting this morning was way good. Just so you get a flavor of what our part in it today was, we listed the people we put on our weekly progress report and some of what we discussed. The Ward Mission Leader takes this information back to PEC and Ward Council to discuss how the ward can assist the missionary work. Cornelia Schaer has come to Church ever since we first visited her two months ago. We just need to be able to teach her a little more often. Suki Ehrensperger is not happy at work and is quitting so she needs love and support and help to find another job. Gabriella Rodrigues has been to sacrament meeting the last two weeks, came to Elder Pine’s party and we expect her to come today, except her daughter was ill and that may be a problem. She needs home teachers and visiting teachers. We need more opportunity to teach the family. Margarita Maurer has been coming to church regularly for the last few weeks, but still has knee pain. Elders Pine & Jensen will try and make an appointment with her this week. Elisabeth Graf was cordial on the phone, but didn’t want any more contact with the Church. Tony Dkere was not at home for our appointment to meet him, but we called and made another appointment for Tuesday. Angela Campbell came to Church last week and we arranged with her to help us get in touch with her husband, Emeka, next time she sees him. We also informed the committee that Angela had composed another song and would like the opportunity to sing it in a Sacrament meeting. We invited Charles Aboussou to come to church today, but he said he’d be in Glaurus visiting his daughter. We’ll invite him again to come next Sunday. Silvana Gianatti invited us along with the Lochers and Helena Roffler to have lunch with her on Wednesday. Heather Scheidegger called to tell Diana they wouldn’t be coming to dinner with us because she had to tend a sick granddaughter and they were also going to Utah for a three month vacation and had to prepare for that. When they get back in October, we’ll invite them again. We helped Suwang Stefaniak move some things from her basement to her apartment and will visit her on Thursday.

Following correlation meeting Brother Kim Barry, an American member of our ward, caught me in the hallway and told me of his experience he had a few days ago. He said he was on a flight from Boston on his way home here and over the ocean a fire broke out on his plane. They couldn’t turn back so had to go on to Halifax for an emergency landing which was a long way away. They made it safely down, but he said it had traumatized him to such a degree that he asked the bishop for permission to have a blessing. I assumed he had asked Bishop Schwendener to perform the blessing and just wanted to tell me about the experience. We went on into priesthood opening exercises and then went to class. After priesthood meeting was over he again approached me near the bishop’s office and asked me when I was going to give him the blessing. I finally realized he had asked the bishop for permission for me to give him a blessing. Just as I was looking for someone to help me, Bishop Schwendener came and offered to help and use of his office. Kim’s wife offered a prayer, Bishop Schwendener annointed and I sealed the anointing and gave him a blessing. It’s a great as well as humbling experience to use the Priesthood to bless the life of someone else. He felt somewhat better after, but still went home to rest and get his nerves back under control.

I knew Diana didn’t know where I had disappeared to, but I had a good idea where to look for her. I found her in the Gospel Essentials class where Elders Harris and Nilsson were teaching three investigators the importance of prophets and then showed the “Restoration” video which is the story of Joseph Smith. The three investigators are a mom and a daughter and son. The elders have been teaching them for about a month and a half and we hope they’ll be baptized soon.

Sacrament meeting was faith-building as usual. We were sad the Rodriguezes didn’t come, but her daughter was pretty ill at Elder Pine’s birthday party and she probably hadn’t recovered yet. However, Cornelia came as well as Neide and Suki. Charlotte was ill with a cold also.

After the block of meetings we were invited to go to Irene & Joerg’s for lunch with the other four missionaries. Irene’s sister was here from Washington DC and she wanted to get together with the missionaries. At home she invites the missionaries to her home all the time. She even brought us a few things from the USA that Irene told her we may want. We tried to pay her, but she wouldn’t let us. We had a nice lunch of a yummy salad, turkey broccoli rice casserole and jello with a brownie for dessert. All very delicious. After it was over we practiced the “teach to find” principle the missionaries use in proselyting. Each received a small piece of paper on which everyone wrote a gospel principle. They were collected, scrambled and then everyone drew one. The object of the exercise was for the first person to teach the principle he drew to the 2nd person, ask a question, answer it, and bear testimony. The 2nd person would then bear testimony to the principle taught him to the 3rd person and then teach the principle he had drawn, ask a question, answer it, and bear testimony. And so it goes until everyone has had a turn. In actual contacting/teaching the two missionaries would bounce back and forth between them until they have an appointment or a telephone number or, worse case scenario, declines. All members should practice the “teach-to-find” concept so they’d feel comfortable in talking to friends, families or whomever.

Before we left to go home we talked to Irene, who has a stake calling, about a request Jan Tolman made to help her collect pioneer stories from the sisters here as well as collect photos of Relief Society presidencies, service projects and homemaking activities the Swiss are involved in. She probably would like the same information from our friends in Geneva and Argentina, and my sister in Korea. She has put up a blog site, www.ldswomenofgod.com/blog, for RS sisters and welcomes anyone to visit it. We decided to put her actual words in our journal so anyone reading this can help her out.

“Diana, I need a favor from you. You may or may not know, but I started a blog about the Relief Society www.ldswomenofgod.com/blog about a year ago. I have gathered all the history about us Mormon women in one place, so sisters can learn about the great heritage of Relief Society and the great women of our past. It’s been very rewarding doing this. Here’s the favor: Would you take some pictures of some of the sisters and send them to me? I want smiling faces, or service projects, or whatever you can get. You can even be in the picture if you want. Tell me some of the activities the Swiss sisters are involved in, humanitarian, self-improvement, etc. And for those who know English, share my site with them. Now that I have more or less covered the past, I hope to collect present-day sister information. If you have access to several wards, could you gather pictures and activity information from them as well? Hey, and if there is a remarkable story: faith promoting, woman heroine, Swiss Mormon Woman history of any kind, I would love to share it on my site. Hopefully, this isn’t too huge of a favor, just get me what you can. I’m really hoping to get an international perspective. And be sure to look at the site yourself. You are welcome to take anything from there and share it with the sisters.”

This evening we called the Lechmanns to see if they were home. They weren’t, but a little while later they called us back. We asked if we could bring something to Melanie for her birthday. It took about a half hour to get there and we had a nice visit. They are a young couple who moved into the ward just after we did. They are from the St. Gallen area, were married just before they moved here, he’s going to medical school while she works in a hospital. He also served a mission in Berlin.

As usual, we finish up the day writing our journal, writing our report, reading etc. Hopefully we’ll get skyped, and we’re sure we’ll get a call from Elder Norris for our weekly stats.