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.