Swiss chalets in Murren; sardines in the gondola going up to the Schildhorn; Junfrau in the background from the terrace on the Schildhorn.

Alpen horns we listened to while at Mauersee (Greifensee) today.


JULY 31, 2009 FRIDAY

Last Tuesday before our district meeting Sisters Hewitt and Stoddart put some food in the Church fridge intending to take it home with them. We even reminded them after the meeting, but they still forgot and left it there. About noon Elders Nilsson and Harris called and said the sisters remembered the food in the fridge, called them and told them they could have it, if they wanted it. They went over a picked it up and then called us to see if they could come over here to cook it and eat it during their lunch break. They arrived a few minutes later and did just that, cooked it and ate it. While they were here we went over the member list a little and finished planning our noon meal tomorrow. We’ve invited Priscilla, her friend Eva, and Elders Nilsson and Harris to come, but we wanted someone else also so Priscilla could get to know more people in the ward. We decided to call Norma, who can speak English with Priscilla, to come too. She said she could come and would bring Allesandro with her..

When the Elders left, we left also to visit Rene’ Gysler who had a birthday today. He wasn’t home so we left the card in his mailbox. While we were in the neighborhood, we also went to see if Hanna Roth had changed her mind from the last time the missionaries went by. On our member list the missionaries who were here in 2007 wrote a note that said she didn’t want any more contact with the Church. Well, she was home and she hadn’t changed her mind at all. The reason we ‘ve decided to recheck all the ones who have this notation by their names is that last week we took a birthday gift to Sarah Otte and we had a good conversation with her. We thought maybe others would be willing to talk to us too. Not this one.

Our next stop was clear on the other side of Zurich and it took us at least an hour and a half to get there because the tram/bus connections weren’t very good. Cinthya and Max Frioud had their baby on July 13 and we wanted to go visit them. They are thrilled to have this little baby. This is their fourth try, the others having miscarried. They named their little girl Aline. Unfortunately she stayed asleep the whole time we were there so we just got a peak at her in her crib while she was asleep. But everything is fine with them.

By the time we left them it was 6:00 and we still had to do a little shopping for tomorrow’s lunch. Tomorrow is August 1st, the day Switzerland celebrates their independence. We think all of the stores will be closed tomorrow and we were also afraid they would close early tonight. We visited a store in Ebmatingen and then had to carry the groceries all the way back on the bus and tram to Schwamendingen. COOP was still open so we got a few more things there and then went home. We dropped off the groceries and then went back out to go to Affoltern to take a card/gift to Caroline LaJacono. We contacted her many months ago, but she didn’t want to talk to us so we just put the card and gift in her mailbox and left. We just wanted her to know we hadn’t forgotten her. Who knows, maybe someday she’ll decide to come back.

When we got home, Diana baked a cheese cake for tomorrow while I started writing our journal. In the middle of doing that first Rebecca skyped us and right after, Monica and Roxsan skyped us. Among other things, the main topic of conversation was about homes they were looking at. They need to find one for us to exchange with the one we are selling.

Diana wants to say that, with the exception of a few hot days, this has been an exceptionally pleasant July, the days not being too hot and the nights cooling off nicely. The Swiss say that July and August are normally the two hottest months of the summer, but we’re hoping it continues just like it is.