tito, Triana, Robert; Robert, Fabian, Tito, Liz Bouso, Triana; Elder Nilsson, Triana, Diana, Elder Irick, and Tito at our home for a dinner teaching appointment with Liz and her children.

October 15, 2009 THURSDAY

We had two things scheduled for today; one was to meet with Sister Gianatti at two and the other was having Liz Bouso over for dinner at 5:00. We knew we wouldn’t have time to really cook anything if we waited until we got home from Sister Gianatti’s, so we prepared it and put it in the oven before we left. First I had to go into Schwamendingen for onions and bread before we could put together our meal. We previously bought a pork roast so we seasoned it and put it in the middle of our rectangle aluminum casserole pan. We quartered some onions and surrounded the roast with them and then on one side we put cut up potatoes and on the other side we put sliced carrots. Then we poured apple juice and 7-up in the bottom, covered it with aluminum foil and put it in the oven at 250 degrees just as we left for Sister Gianatti at 1:00.

We arrived at Sister Gianatti’s right on time at 2:00. She seemed happy to see us and even baked us an apple torte, similar to an apple pie, but European style. We enjoyed the pie and the conversation, but when the pie was gone, we asked her about her assignment from our last visit to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. She made excuses and said she hadn’t begun, that she still just reads in the bible. That lead into a discussion about prophets, both past and present, priesthood authority to act in God’s name and priesthood keys. She is confused about the purpose of prophets and, if Pres. Monson is a prophet, why she can’t talk to him personally, and why are the Apostles called prophets too. We ended up going back to basics and began teaching her the Plan of Salvation over again. We covered pre-earth life, birth, earth life and death, but at this point we ran out of time and had to close our discussion and leave. We agreed that next time we would finish this lesson and focus on why it is necessary to have priesthood authority. She is a delightful lady, but lacks the energy or desire to focus on understanding the gospel message. She watches these TV evangelists on Sunday and gets so confused as to what is really true. Today she told us she may have to stop watching these because on one of them they taught that we should just eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die and that’s the end of our existence. At least she believes in a hereafter.

We wanted to leave Sister Gianatti at 3:00 which meant we would have gotten home around 4:00 to give us time to make the finishing touches on the dinner for Liz Bouso, Fabian and Elders Nilsson & Irick (Irick is Nilsson’s new companion). We weren’t able to break away until 3:30, but we still made it home by 4:25 which gave us a little time. We turned up the oven to make sure the roast and veggies got cooked, made gravy, made both the green and fruit salad, got the bread and drinks on the table and had about everything done by 5:00 when the Elders showed up. Fabian wouldn’t get here until 6:30, but by 5:20 Liz hadn’t shown up yet. Diana called her to see if she was coming and Liz said she had just left her apartment and the walk to here would take her about 10-15 minutes. The Elders had another eating appointment at 7:00 so they didn’t have a lot of time and, they didn’t really want to eat very much or they would be too full for the next dinner. But they agreed to come because we wanted them to meet Liz and her children. She finally arrived and we started in on the meal after a blessing on the food.

Liz likes to talk and has very firm ideas about almost everything, but especially child-raising and relationships between people. She made and brought a potato tortilla and that looked like a huge potato omelett. She cut a large piece for everyone and the eyes of the missionaries got large. They tried to protest the size of the serving, but she brushed those aside and they were obligated to eat what was on their plate. It was delicious as well as the pork roast, potatoes and carrots and the two salads. When the Elders were through, we’re sure they were wondering how they were going to be able to eat the next meal in less than an hour. They tasted the fruit salad and really wanted more, but couldn’t. They asked if they could come back later tonight or tomorrow and have some more. As it turned out they had to come back later anyway because Elder Nilsson left his planner here again. This is about the 6th or 7th time he’s done that.

Shortly after the Elders left, Fabian arrived. We chatted and visited and chatted some more about almost everything under the sun. Conversation never lagged because if we had wanted to, we could have just sat and listened while Liz talked. However, Fabian was good in that he could kind of hold his own with her sometimes. Somewhere in between here, to get into the teaching mode, we asked her if she had read the “Testimony of Joseph Smith” or any of the Book of Mormon. She said she had really wanted to, but she had a friend going through a crisis and, between her and her kids, she hadn’t had the opportunity yet. She said that now that was over, she was going to take time for herself and focus on reading those. Diana invited her to come to the final session of General Conference on October 25 and she said she would love to come. Liz insisted on helping with the dishes and while Diana and she did that, Fabian helped Tito with his reading and in the process taught him a couple of principles of the gospel. As the text he used the ward newsletter which had a scripture written in it. One of the words was “versuchung” (temptation) and Tito asks Fabian what the word meant. That gave him opportunity to teach that principle. The newsletter also had a photo of Charlotte in it and Tito recognized her. Charlotte was his teacher at the pre-school he attended. Tito showed his mother the photo and we told Liz that Charlotte was a recent convert. It’s amazing how the Lord works in little ways to help and support the missionary work.

After the dishes were done Diana suggested we have a spiritual thought and she launched right in to teaching the principle of telling the truth and what happens when we tell lies. She had Tito stand up and, as she explained what happens with one lie, she wrapped a single cord around Tito binding his arms to his body. One lie wasn’t so bad because he could still move around a bit. But when he had to tell another lie to cover the first one and so on and so on, the cords bound him tighter and tighter until he couldn’t move. This is a visual aid to show how Satan robs us of our freedom little by little until he has total control of us. Mostly it happens slowly and carefully and we scarcely notice it until we think it’s too late. But, through the Atonement of Christ, it’s never too late. The road back may not be as easy, but through faith and perseverance, it can be done. Diana also told the story of the little boy who cried wolf. Tito really liked this story and his mother, Liz, said she’d probably have to tell it to him again before he went to bed.

As Fabian left at 9:00, Elders Nilsson & Irick came back. They stayed for another half an hour talking with Liz and they had to leave because of curfew. Liz stayed until we thought she planned to stay overnight, but about 10:45 she decided she ought to be on her way home. She really loved the gravy so we send what was left home with her. We walked her down to our underground tram stop and we thought she would get on the first tram that came. It came and left without her and she explained she didn’t want to just rush off without saying a proper goodbye. The proper goodbye lasted for two or three more trams going by (20 minutes) and finally she got on one. She gave us both a hug and a big kiss on the cheek and Tito, not wanting to be left out, shook my hand and then got on the tram, but turned on the steps to give Diana a hug and, at that moment the doors came shut trapping them between them. Sensing an obstruction, the doors quickly opened again and everyone just laughed as we waved at them when the tram went on it’s way. We slowly walked back home tired, but happy. We wished we could have taught Liz more, but it’s important for her to have some friends and the rest will come. The missionaries will have to take over the teaching of Liz anyway pretty soon. By the time we got ready for bed it was midnight and so this journal is a day late being posted.

The tender mercy is that Sister Gianatti welcomes us and we can spend a couple hours with her talking about the gospel and Heavenly Father and Christ’s love for us.