Cinthya Frioud is a good friend of Norma, Norma Bachmann and son Alissandro & E. Pine at Allisandro's baptism. The video clip is of Markus Weidmann giving a talk in his native tongue which is Swiss German.

7 JUNE, 2009 SUNDAY


Today is one of those days you hope for as a missionary. In correlation meeting we found out that Sis. Fuhrer, a member of the Relief Society Presidency, was assigned to Cornelia as a visiting teacher. We know that she’ll be receiving regular visits now. We also know that the Elder’s Quorum has been assigned to care for the Rodriquez family because they have Spanish speaking elders in the quorum, so we hope they get with it and assigned someone to make regular visits with that family.

Once our assignments in Relief Society (spiritual thought for Diana) and High Priest Group (talk about the member missionary program outlined by the bishopric) were over, things went a lot better. We attended the Gospel Essentials class with Solange, Suki and Elders Harris and Nilsson taught by the ward mission leader, Marcel Daehler. He gave a very good lesson on prayer.

Then came Fast and Testimony meeting. We always watch for the people we’ve invited to come to Church and today we were rewarded. Cornelia is becoming a regular so we only worry a little about her, but she came. After the meeting was over we saw her get a donation envelop which shows she is making progress. We don’t want to push her too fast, but we need to get her coming to more than the one meeting. Ward members are doing a great job in helping her as well as fellowshipping. Cornelia likes to sit on the back row near the door so this time we sat by her.

The meeting had just started when I saw Gabriella Rodriguez peek in through the little window in the door. I jumped up and went out to greet her and saw she had her whole family with her. I escorted them into the chapel where they sat on the back row with us. Last Sunday they were afraid their kids would be too disruptive so they didn’t stay a long time. Sitting on the last row today they got a first hand look at other little kids who were much more noisy than their two. They stayed for the whole meeting and seemed to enjoy it. Later in the afternoon we received a text message from them wanting to know the bishop’s phone number and also wanting to know if we could visit them on Wednesday. We texted the bishop’s phone number back and told them we could come, but we needed to know a time. As of yet we haven’t heard back from them, but we’ll call tomorrow and see if they got the message.

Margarita Maurer came to Fast and Testimony meeting again today and she hugged us like old friends. This is a far cry from when she told us we couldn’t visit her the first time we called her on the telephone last October. She also came back for Alissandro’s baptism this afternoon.

Angela Campbell came today also after having missed last Sunday. We taught her husband a lesson two weeks ago, but his next appointment fell through. We don’t have his phone number or address so we’ve been trying to get it from Angela. Evidently he hasn’t been in contact with her either since they are separated, but she said she would let us know when he gets back in touch with her. Angela is such a good person who keeps a happy attitude even though she has and has had many challenges in her life. She also makes it to Church pretty regular even though she has three small children to get ready and bring.

At 4:00 we were back at Church for Alissandro’s baptism. The room was as crowded as it was last Sunday for Ashley’s baptism. Norma’s father-in-law and girl friend were there who belong to the Reformed Church. We talked with them a bit before the baptism and they said they had never been to a “Mormon baptism” before. In their Church they baptize infants and made the comment that they couldn’t understand the purpose of it because the infant wasn’t aware of what was happening. They were excited to be there and were looking forward to seeing what went on. The baptism was wonderful with the usual program and spirituality. I was one of the witnesses and was honored to be asked by the family to do it. After the baptism we notice Bishop Schwendener talking to the couple we had talked to before the baptism. After he got through with them, we again had the opportunity to talk to them. They admitted they were really impressed with the baptism and confirmation and thought it much better than their infant baptism. They were also impressed with the sociability of the saints in this ward, that they gather together to talk and socialize. They said in their church everyone just looks out for themselves and after services, just go home. They have no other contact with their fellow members. We educated them on some of the practices of our Church and at the end we asked them if they would be willing to meet with us to learn more about the Church. Even though they we really impressed and liked what they had experienced, they said they were still members of their church and didn’t want to change. We can only offer; they need to do the rest.

Brother Wichtermann, who we help on Tuesday nights with Institute, told us the Diethelms, the Institute missionaries, were back from their vacation, but Ruth had had an accident on her bicycle and had cracked her pelvis. He asked us if we could still help with Institute because, even though she can get around, she can’t lift. We assured him we’d help as long as we were needed.

Monica skyped us tonight and we had fun talking to her and Jade. We don’t know where the rest of the family was. Monica was going through the slides I took in Switzerland during my first mission here in 1963-1965. Elder Norris, our district leader, asked us if we could show some old photos at our next district meeting Tuesday. Monica is busy sorting the photos and will digitize them and send them to us here. Isn’t technology wonderful? Shortly after she hung up, Roxsan skyped us. We were able to talk to Roxsan and all her kids. It’s wonderful to see and talk with them. Little Nathan always seems so happy to see us as are the others.

Elder Jake Pine and Alissandro.