All of these photos were taken in the old town Zurich. Robert by a fountain; another cow statue and the Prediger Kirche.

OCTOBER 26, 2009 MONDAY

The first thing we wanted to do this morning was to go get the medicine for our sick neighbor. Before we were ready to go out, Diana heard her door open and shut as she left as we were saying our morning prayer. We don’t know if we puttered around too long and she couldn’t wait, or if things got so bad for her, she had to go to the doctor or if she recovered overnight. I tried to catch her and even went into Schwamendingen and checked the three drug stores trying to find her, but couldn’t. We didn’t know whether to buy the medicine for her or not, so we left a note on her door telling her we were out and about and, if she still wanted it, we’d buy it and bring it to her. As we were in and out of our apartment during the day and evening, we saw the note was still on her door and was still there when we got back from home evening at 9:00. There were also no lights on in her apartment this evening. We’ll check on her tomorrow.

We didn’t have much on our agenda for P-day today other than a hair cutting appointment at 3:00 and then home evening at 7:00. Elder Nilsson called this morning to ask us what we we’re doing and if it would be possible to come over in the afternoon to just hang out. Since we were going to be here cutting hair anyway, we told him we’d be happy to have them come visit. We were surprised to get a phone call from President Matern too. He asked if we had been told when our next interview with him was going to be. I told him no we hadn’t to which he replied, “Das ist schlecht.” (That’s bad!) Evidently the ZL’s hadn’t made all the calls to missionaries yet about the change resulting from the zone conference being moved up because an area Seventy was coming to talk to us. Three zones will be coming together on November 4th. He told us our interview was going to be next Friday and could he get a haircut after. Of course, I told him it would be my pleasure.

We decided today we would just go into Zurich and walk through the old town to see what we could find. We were there last winter, but hadn’t seen much at that time. It was fun walking through the narrow cobblestoned streets looking at the small shops, but nothing really caught our eye. We went into one church, the Prediger Kirche (Preacher Church), and saw that it was rather plain, but nice, inside which was refreshing for a change. It was still spacious inside like the other cathedrals and churches, but didn’t have all the statues, crucifixes and other stuff most of the churches have. We got tired of wandering and decided to get on a bus we’d never been on before and ride it to the end and back. This time we went through a rather seedy part of town to one stop past the Alstetten Bahnhof and then back again to Central Station where we changed to our normal tram #7. While on the bus, Diana called Priscilla to wish her well on her trip home to see her mother because it would be three weeks before we would see her again. We rode the tram past our stop into Schwamendingen because we’d used up all our milk and needed to buy some more. We also bought a 22# bag of potatoes because it cost 5.50 sfr. for the whole bag and if bought by the pound, it would have cost at least 22.00 sfr. Go figure! We bought some cookies for the missionaries to snack on and some cream to make carmel with that Diana’s been dying to make.

We got home a little before Elders Harris and Baird arrived which gave us time to put the groceries away and to set up the barbering tools. Diana, always wanting to make sure the Elders are well fed, decided to use up some bread and maple syrup by making French toast and hot chocolate for them. That was a real treat for me as well as for the missionaries. Elder Harris was the first to get his hair cut and this time decided to go back to the short style rather than keep it with a part. That was fine with me because it’s easier to cut it that way. Elder Baird, his new companion in Winterthur who’s only been here two weeks, was next. He is from Spokane, Washington. His hair wasn’t so bad to cut, but every head of hair, no matter whose, has it’s problems and challenges to deal with. While I was cutting the hair, Diana broke out the cookies, banana bread, brownies and made some more hot chocolate to go with it. By the time I finished with him, all the other missionaries had arrived, Elders Carrier & Hodges from Basel, our zone leaders Elders Nilsson & Irick, and our AP’s Elders Richeson & Dockstader. It’s great having the missionaries around and being able to serve and support them in various ways. They are such good and dedicated young men.

All but Elders Nilsson and Irick left about 5:00, but these two wanted to use the computer to find something inspirational that would help them with their talks they give each district as they visit them in their district meetings. They also really wanted to listen to Elder Holland’s conference talk in English because they had only heard it in German. Even though they speak good German, you get so much more out of it listening in your native tongue. They left about 6:00 after which we got ready for home evening. We made arrangements with Tony Dkere to meet him at the Church at 6:55 so he could park his car there and then walk to the Moeller-Russo’s for home evening. We got to the Church on time and waited for him, but he didn’t come. Irene Russo came up the street from the bus stop on her way home and saw us there. She crossed the street to us and Diana went with her to her home while I waited a little longer to se if Tony would show up. Finally, I called him on the telephone and he answered. To my question he replied that he had gotten home late and wouldn’t be coming tonight. That was not what we wanted to hear, but he said he would see us in Church next Sunday.

In FHE our lesson was on Ephesians 4 and Pres. Bolt was the presenter this time. He always has insights to the scriptures that make us think and he enjoys seeing our wheels turn. Not everyone agrees with his interpretations, but it gives rise to lively discussions. We always have fun at these meetings and it’s good to rub shoulders with them all. Fabian is close to getting his USA visa and, if all goes well, he’ll be flying to Chicago to establish his home there. He will have the Melchizedek Priesthood conferred on him and be ordained and Elder on November 8 and then travel to Chicago on the 9th. He plans on marrying his sweetheart sometime in February.

After coming home and while writing our journal, our district leader, Elder Knight called to give us our assignment for district meeting on Thursday. Our assignment is to come up with some sort of activity or game to be used to get the blood flowing again in the middle of the meeting. This won’t be too hard to do.

The tender mercy of the Lord today is that we were assigned to give the lesson in home evening next Monday. We say this because those who give the lessons are the ones who get the most out of them. Fabian also asked me to be in the circle when he receives the Melchizedek Priesthood.