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.