Zugersee scenery; diana at Gross Scheidegg; Robert at the same spot with the Jung Frau, Moench and Eiger in the background along with a glacier or two.

JULY 13, 2009 MONDAY

Today was our P-day and normally Charlotte has our day planned for us and lets us know on Saturday or Sunday, what time we should meet, train schedules and our travel itinerary and etc. This time we talked about a few things, but never really made solid plans. We expected a call Sunday evening, but none came. This morning we got a call from her at 7:05 telling us we needed to be at the meeting point in the Zurich train station by 7:50. It normally takes about 28 minutes with the tram to make it to the train station and a few minutes to walk to the meeting point. We were like lightning getting everything ready to go including making sandwiches for lunch and somehow we made it to the station in time to catch the train. We traveled the same direction as last Monday through Luzern and ending up in Meiringen. This time, however, we took a POST bus through the scenic mountainous country to Schwarzwaldalps and then on to the pass called Grosse Scheidegg. We got off there and spent an hour or so walking the trails looking at the mountain flowers and the famous mountains in the distance. We had a good look at the Jung Frau, Eiger and Moench. On the one side of the valley were mountains covered with green meadows (no trees) and cows grazing here and there. There were also three places that looked like farm buildings. We discovered these were dairy farms along with factories for making cheese. Many people come up and walk to these factories and buy cheese and walk back. A nice way to get exercise while doing a little shopping. After seeing everything we wanted in the time we had, we traveled by bus down to Grindelwald. We walked around town a bit while waiting for our train to take us back to Zurich through Spiez, Thun and Bern. The scenery was so beautiful that we took tons of photos. On the train from Grindelwald to Spiez we met an older couple from Alpine, Utah, who were vacationing here. They served a mission in Canada about a year and a half ago and were thinking about putting in for another mission somewhere.

We got home at 6:30 just in time to cool off a little and then change for family home evening. Up on top of the mountain it was reasonably cool, but in the valley it seemed pretty hot. It’s been a pretty cool year so far and Diana has been loving it. Today was different. Our group was pretty small tonight because the Bolt’s were still on vacation, Neide was ill, Solange couldn’t come and the AP’s were invited to the Ryser family tonight. Our group was small, but we enjoyed each other’s company, learned something new as we talked about gifts and the Holy Ghost, had a good game provided by Diana and the dessert was delicious, apple strudel with ice cream. Diana chose to divide us into two teams and have them guess Church songs by just hearing the notes. She made a list of 15 songs and the group that was “it” picked the song number and the number of notes they wanted to hear in order to be able to guess the name of the song. The other team could challenge the first team by reducing the number of notes they wanted to be able to guess the hymn. Each team could underbid the other until one team wouldn’t go any lower. Then Diana would play the specified number of notes and the team would try and guess the name. If it couldn’t, the other team would try. If neither could guess right, Diana played one additional note. This continued until a team guessed right.

During the evening Joerg said he lost his wallet somewhere in Zurich today with not much money in it, but all his credit cards, driver’s license and health card in it. He spent a lot of time backtracking everywhere he went today trying to find it. Unfortunately he didn’t find it. Later, after we had arrived home, we received a call from him telling us he had found his wallet in the bathroom on the floor. We know the feeling of relief that comes with finding something because it’s happened to us more than once.

Our schedule is pretty full already for next week. We have our district meeting tomorrow from 10:00 until 12:30. Charlotte invited us to dinner at 5:00 for a going home get together for Elder Evans who leaves for home on Thursday. At 7:30 we will team teach Priscilla again with Elders Harris and Nilsson because they feel a little uncomfortable talking about chastity with her. Every third transfer we, along with a third of the missionaries in the mission, will go to the temple on Wednesday which takes all day. Wednesday evening we will celebrate Priscilla’s graduating from the “no smoking” program. Thursday we have a meeting with Brigitte Roffler. Sunday we’ve been invited to dinner after Church with the Moeller-Russos because they probably feel obligated to return a favor for me cutting Joerg’s hair last week. Sunday afternoon at 5:00 Priscilla has her baptism scheduled. In between we’ll do some contacting with others who need a friendly word or two.

To top things off tonight Roxsan, Drayson and Nathan skyped us. What a great way to end the day.