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.