Diana, Elder Nilsson, Fabian, Elder Harris and Charlotte; Diana & Robert waiting in front of the Church for someone to walk by; Robert in the tunnels under Minot Schloss in Schaffhausen.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2009 WEDNESDAY

Wash day again already. How does that happen so quick? Elders Harris and Ross (Elder Nilsson was on an exchange) were coming at 8:00 so we had to be up, showered and dressed before then. We had the first load of wash in by 7:00 and were ready for them when they got here at 8:00. We got them situated and then took off to do some grocery shopping at LIDL in Oerlikon. We bought groceries for tonight’s dinner since we invited Fabian and Elders Harris & Nilsson to come. We had room for one more so Diana called Charlotte and invited her too. As we approached our building, Elders Harris and Ross were just leaving. When we met, Elder Harris told us they hadn’t quite finished their report, but they had to leave for an appointment and could they come back later in the day to finish. We let them keep our spare set of keys and, if we weren’t home when they came back, they would be able to get in.

After we got home we finished the wash and, at the same time, baked an apple crisp for dessert this evening, sliced tomatoes and mozzarella and made the lime jello with pineapple salad. After that it was time to meet Fabian at the Church for our contacting activity. We did the same thing twice last week except today we set a goal to do it for two hours instead of one. We actually exceeded that goal and stayed a half hour longer. Fabian was a big help because he’s Swiss and speaks Swiss German. Diana and he worked together really well. Sometimes we would stop them and then Fabian would come and help us out. Sometimes he was off doing his thing and we were on our own, but we managed just fine. Most people were friendly and stopped to let us talk to them. Most took an invitation to conference and quite a few took other brochures as well. At 4:00 Pres. Matern, Pres. Bolt and Elders Harris & Nilsson had a meeting to talk about the investigators and members being taught so coordination between the Stake and Mission could be maintained. Joerg Moeller, the stake secretary, was the first to show up followed by Pres. Matern, then Elders Nillson & Harris and lastly, Pres. Bolt. Soon after we packed it up and went home.

When we got home, we started preparing dinner and shortly after Fabian arrived. Then Charlotte came and, while she waited for us to get dinner ready, she used our computer to do her emails because her computer is on the fritz right now. We had dinner cooked and still on the stove to keep things hot while waiting for the elders to show up. Their meeting went extra long with the two Presidents, but they finally arrived at six. For dinner we had the same spinach tortellini/chicken main dish we fixed for ourselves the other night, brussel sprouts, tomato and mozzarella slices with olive oil and balsamic vinegar drizzled over them sprinkled with basil, jello pineapple salad, and the apple crisp and ice cream for dessert. After dinner we discussed different ideas from the Swiss point of view (Fabian & Charlotte) on best ways to contact people. They felt the worst way was knocking on doors. We also spent a lot of time talking about the gospel as well as answering questions Charlotte brought up. One question she had was related to how one explains to people how we “KNOW” the Church is true and that we have a prophet today. Everybody left at 8:30 and while Diana finished cleaning up, I prepared my presentation for tomorrow’s district meeting.

The tender mercy for me today was watching Diana boldly stop people as they walked by. Diana’s tender mercy was that Fabian was there to come and help her out and, when he didn’t, I did.