Dinner with the Maartins on Greifensee, Daniela, Peter, A daughter, Elders Harris and Nilsson.

JULY 30, 2009 THURSDAY

The first thing we needed to do today was try and get the electrical working again. I replaced all the fuses and tried that first. Didn’t work. I took the outlet apart again, checked all the wires to make sure they were all solidly connected and that none of them showed signs of arcing. I put it all back together and crossed my fingers. Didn’t work. The last option was to go buy new fuses for the stove/boiler breaker. There was also a small 10Amp 220 Volt fuse that looked like an old car fuse that I unscrewed out of the outlet, but the wire was still intact so I didn’t think I needed to replace it. I took it with me anyway when I went to the store, and I bought replacements for it and the other one. I also bought a couple of packages of hamburger patties that were half off and a bag of fresh hamburger. When I got home, the meat went into the freezer and the fuses into their respective spots. Low and behold, even though the small one looked good, it was the culprit. As soon as I replaced it, everything worked. Problem solved until the next time. I bought a package of five so we still have four as backups.

Rather than going out during the heat of the day, we do our studying, reading and lesson preparation and then go out in the later afternoon and evening when it is cooler. We wished we could go all day, but these old bones and muscles only last so long so we have to kind of pick and choose what we do and when we do it. We made some calls and set up an appointment with Sister Frioud for tomorrow and checked on Isobella Daly who just had her baby a week or so ago. At about 4:30 just as we were going out the door we got a call from Elder Harris who said Daniela & Peter Martin invited them and us to dinner at their campsite on Greifensee, but we had to be at the Oerlikon Bahnhof in 19 minutes to catch the train to Dubendorf. We made fairly good connections and arrived just before the train pulled in and by the time we went down the stairs and back up on platform #2, we barely had time to step inside and the doors shut. Daniela met us at the Dubendorf Bahnhof and drove us in her car to their campsite. Her two daughters were there, the oldest active and the younger one (17) not active. We had dinner sitting outside under a canopy and it was really nice, quiet and cool by the lake. We always give a spiritual thought when we’re invited to dinner and this time Elders Harris and Nilsson gave one from D&C 27 on the armor of God and how important it is to protect ourselves from the ways of the world. After we finished we strolled down to the lake and walked out on a small dock where a husband and wife were fishing. We started up a conversation and discovered they were vacationing from England. They said they were acquainted with the Church, but when we asked him if he had talked to the missionaries, he replied in the negative. He said he wasn’t religious at all to which we responded he could change that. We didn’t get anywhere with him, but we made some friends.

Elders Harris and Nilsson had to visit the little boys room so I wandered along with them to the restrooms. While I was sitting on a bench waiting for the elders, a man came over to me and stooped down to look at my name tag. I asked him if I could help him to which he replied, “no,” and then went back to the group he was with. They kept looking my way so when the elders came out of the restroom, I went over and handed one gentleman a pass-a-long card so they would know who we were. He said thanks, but the one who came and looked at my name tag grabbed it away from him and threw it back at me. However, by this time I was past and walking away and just kept walking. It appeared the one I had given it to was a little unhappy at the other, but what went on after I have no idea.

At 9:00 the missionaries had to leave to get back to their apartment by 9:30, but they would have never made it without a ride from the Martins. Peter was good enough to drive us all home and we arrived at 10:00.