President Hitsch Bolt; the video clip is of the clock tower in Bern.

NOVEMBER 5, 2009 THURSDAY

The first thing on our agenda this morning was cutting Joerg Moeller’s hair at 10:00. We straightened up our apartment a bit and I took all the stuff we used to make the “armor” out of for our home evening lesson down to the Church dumpster. While I was there, I went into the Church to collect some of the plastic plates and bowls that were used by the missionaries for their conference lunch. They were the really good kind and I couldn’t see just throwing them away after one use. I didn’t think anyone was in the building, but as I was collecting them out of the garbage, Sister Rothmund, our janitor and wife of the bishopric 1st counselor, caught me. She explained to me that plastic ware was to use and then throw away and, if I wanted to use dishes that needed to be washed, there were plenty of china ware in the kitchen. She told me also that if I needed plastic plates, they’re pretty cheap and why don’t I just go buy some. She just couldn’t quite understand when I told her it was just as easy to get these and wash them and it would even be cheaper because it would cost me nothing. She shook her head and left me to my project. I got a sack full and took them home and washed them and they’re now as good as new.

Joerg came at 10:00 and I cut his hair. He looks presentable now and he’ll look good for stake conference Saturday and Sunday. He brought us a jar of his mother-in-law’s Austrian apricot jam to give us in exchange for the haircut. As soon as he left we had lunch and then read in 3rd Nephi until it came time to go. We received a notice from the post office yesterday that indicated we had a letter from Bern we needed to sign for and pick up. We were hoping it would be our visa renewal we’ve been waiting for. We went to the post office in Oerlikon and when we tried to get the letter, the clerk said my xerox copy of my last visa wasn’t acceptable as ID. We explained to her that the letter we wanted to pick up had our new cards in it. She agreed to go get it and open it in front of us to see if it really was. When she opened the letter and saw the card with my photo on it, she allowed me to sign for it and take it. One big problem. It only had my card in it and not Diana’s. Now what are we going to do? We wanted to call Sister Sunk in the mission home to see if she could call the immigration office, but she only works on Mondays and Wednesdays so we’ll have to wait until then. Maybe it’ll come in a separate envelope, who knows?

We made it back to the Oerlikon Bahnhof in time to catch the S-7 train to Kloten. Sister Azzola had a birthday last Sunday and we gave her a present in Church, but we wanted to visit her too so we made an appointment for today. We got out to Kloten and just missed the bus to go to her apartment and so we thought about walking there instead. We looked in my rucksack to get the map out, but it was nowhere to be found. I was sure I put it in, but somehow it got out again. We decided to wait for the bus so we wouldn’t get lost and it would be just as quick to wait and ride it. I didn’t write the address down knowing it was on the map, so when we got out at the stop, I recalled the building as being #85. We looked there, but her name wasn’t listed. We called Elder Nilsson to see if he had the address, but they had left their member list at home today too. However, they were at a member’s house and he had Sister Azzola’s phone number. I got it and then called her to get the correct address which was building #83, just a short distance away. When we got there, we had a nice visit with her. Before we were through with our visit, we taught her about the Holy Ghost using the pepper on the water object lesson. Just as we were getting done with that she asked us a question that surprised us. She said that some religions believe in reincarnation and asked us if that was possible. We ended up teaching her the whole Plan of Salvation. Even though she’s an active member of about ten years, we feel she needs a little help in understanding the basic principles of the gospel. She was raised in the Evangelist church and later in the Catholic Church. She had two sons and a daughter and her daughter belongs to the Jehovah Witness Church.

We left our apartment today at about 12:00 and got back home at 5:00 and it was already well on it’s way to becoming dark. However, we still had a birthday present to deliver so we quickly got the present and a card and went back out again. Mischa Weibel lives in Duebendorf and when we got out at the closest bus stop, it took about 20 minutes to walk to his home. Great Scott! Why do people have apartments if they are never home to use them? We left his cookies and card in the mailbox and went back on home. Today was relatively clear and sunny, but still rather cool, especially when the sun went down. We made it home, had supper of fried potatoes with onion and sausage it them, and grated cooked buttered carrots. MmmmmmGood.

We sent Fabian an email inviting him to a farewell lunch after Church on Sunday. He called this afternoon to say he was having an open house then, but would be available after the adult session on Saturday evening. Now the problem we have is what to serve.

The way the garbage system over here works is that everyone has to buy specially marked garbage sacks and then, when they’re full, take them out and place them in specific dumpsters. Diana, not wanting to pay for any more sacks, decided to burn some plastic egg cartons because they are bulky and take up a lot of room. She was in the kitchen doing the fire bug thing and I was working on this blog when I smelled smoke. I went in to see what was going on and saw all this soot floating in the air and smoke in the kitchen. Diana was holding a half burned egg carton and had a sheepish grin on her face. As soon as I saw what was going on and realized soot was floating in the air, I shut the kitchen door, but it was already too late. Soot floated around and settled on everything and Diana spent the next hour washing everything down. We opened the windows and patio door to air the place out, hoping no one would call the fire department.

Roxsan skyped us this afternoon and let Mayleah tell us she was going to have a baby boy. This will make the fourth boy and May was a little disappointed she wasn’t going to get a little sister. She said she was okay with another brother too.