NOVEMBER 9, 2009 MONDAY

We told Fabian yesterday we would see him off at the airport this morning. We called Charlotte to see if she was going to go, too, and if she wanted to go with us. She said she was going to ride with Joerg and Hitsch and maybe there was room in the car for two more. She confirmed there was and so, instead of riding the tram to the airport, we rode with them. All told there were about 16 people there to see him off. We spent about an hour having lunch together and then Fabian was on his way to the good old USA to start a new life. We wish him well. If everything goes as planned, we’ll see him sometime after our mission.

We rode back to Oerlikon on the train and, as monotonous as it sounds, we had to go to LIDL’s again to get some bananas. For tonight’s FHE Elders Nilsson & Irick we assigned to bring the dessert. They had an appointment for tonight weren’t able to come so they asked Charlotte to do the dessert for them. She is always doing more than her share and so we offered to help her. Charlotte had to get some things for tonight’s dessert so she came with us. Our bananas were to make banana bread to go along with what Charlotte was going to do, chocolate pudding. When we got home, I got to busy making the bread and, when that was finished we made some good old fashioned caramel. While it was still hot, we dipped some stick pretzels in it to make caramel pretzels. The rest went into a flat pan, some with walnuts, some with slivered almonds and some just plain.

About 2:30 Elder Harris called and asked if he and Elder Baird could come over to do their emails. They are stationed in Winthertur, but came here to play basketball with about twenty other missionaries at the Church. Just as they were finishing, Elders Nilsson and Irick called to see if they could do their emails. They were on the computer until a little after 6:00. We had some left over scalloped potatoes from Sunday and they were glad to have some tasty hot food. We also let them eat all the caramel they wanted. It’s fun to have these missionaries around because their goodness rubs off on us.

We got things prepared and then we left for the home evening. We thought we had everything, but half way there Diana felt something was missing. Sure enough, we had left the box with the caramel pretzels and the rest of the caramel in it at home. I ran back and got it and by the time I caught up with Diana, who came part way back because she had the umbrella and it was drizzling, Elders Dockstader and Richeson were standing with her. She would have come all the way back, but the missionaries we excited to tell her a success story they had just experienced. They had a few minutes before home evening so they went into a building knocking doors and had made a couple of appointments, one of which was with a whole family. It is really a treat to teach a whole family so they are excited for the opportunity. We all walked to the Moeller-Russos together. We had another great home evening and we’re sure going to miss it when we leave here.

Back home Diana made some more caramel pretzels while I wrote this journal entry. Another great day in soggy, rainy Switzerland.

We forgot to put in our journal yesterday that we asked Pres. Matern what the expectations were for family and friends coming over here at the end of our mission. He said the rules are different for senior missionaries and it would be okay for them to come anytime near our release date. It would seem that anytime from the middle of June on would be appropriate. Before you come, you might want to peruse the internet and identify things you might want to see or places you’d like to visit.