Hugging and riding the bear in Bern (he didn't seem to mind); Zone conference in Singen, Germany.

AUGUST 4, 2009 TUESDAY

Today our zone conference was in Singen, Germany, so we were up early, dressed and on the tram by 7:15. The AP’s told us they would pick us up at Stettbach between 7:35 and 7:40, but we should have known by now they would be late. Elders Harris and Nilsson showed up at 8:00 because they were a little smarter than we are. Elders Richeson and Pine finally got there at 8:10 and we were off to Singen. We made good time and arrived by 9:20 and the ZL’s had time to set up what they needed before the meeting began. Our mission right now has 105 missionaries including couples (6) and 35 of the 105 are in our Zurich District. There are a total of 4 districts and ours is the largest.

All of the missionaries who had assignments and presentations did a wonderful job. They were competent and inspiring and we’re sure the Lord is pleased with their work. The highlight of the conference was the question and answer session by President Matern. During lunch break missionaries were invited to write down questions on pieces of paper and the Pres. Matern answered them later in the afternoon. He gave not only insightful answers, but also taught doctrine and principles related to them. All too soon the day was past and we had to come home. Ten of us piled in the van, two sisters and Diana in the back seat, four of us in the middle seat and three in front. We drove that way for about fifteen minutes until we arrived at the Singen train station and let the sisters off so they could ride the train to Luzern. The rest of the way home was a little more comfortable, but instead of taking us all the way home, we were dropped of in Dietlikon. We hopped on bus 787 to Stettbach and transferred to tram #7 for the rest of the way home.

Diana made potato soup for dinner and we cut up a fresh pineapple Charlotte sent over yesterday for a sweet treat. We checked our emails and found out the home we’re selling in Draper won’t close for another month, September 12, because the lawyer for the purchaser wants to get it surveyed etc. Mr. Woolstenhulme said he would try and hurray them along to make it sooner, but who knows. As soon as we finish up this journal entry and check the blogs of our friends in Geneva and Buenos Aires, we’ll call it a day. Maybe we can get to bed before midnight for once.