Temple photos from today.

NOVEMBER 18, 2009 WEDNESDAY

We were up this morning, dressed and on our way by 7:00. It had been raining and was misting when we went down the ramp to our tram stop. We took our big umbrella with us this time because it’s about a ten minute walk from the Zollikofen bahnhof to the temple and we didn’t want to get wet. However, as the day progressed it got clearer and clearer and we never needed it again on this trip. It was a big pain dragging it around with us on the trams and trains especially when we didn’t need it. But, you never know; better safe than sorry. We made it to the Zurich bahnhof in time and got on our train. The schedule we wrote down said we should have arrived in Bern at 8:29 to catch our connection to Zollikofen at 8:37, but we were still traveling along at 8:40. We thought we had gotten on the wrong train and wondered where we would end up. As it turned out, we had evidently written down the wrong time because we came safely into the Bern bahnhof. We hoped there would be a connecting train to Zollikofen we could catch and still be on time getting to the temple. Almost always the time you have to catch a connecting train is just enough to get there, if you hurray and don’t make any errors. We were guessing this time not knowing for sure what time or what train, but we were led by an unseen hand to the right platform and everything worked out. We got off in Zollikofen and walked to the temple. It’s always an awe inspiring sight to see Angel Moroni sitting atop the temple spire as well as the temple itself and the beautifully manicured lawns and grounds. Normally there are a lot of missionaries milling around the temple when we’ve arrived other times, but today there was no one in sight. We went inside and asked the brother at the desk where everyone was, if the session had started and we were late. He surprised us by saying we were the very first ones to arrive and that the session wouldn’t be starting until 10:00. So that’s two we owe the AP’s; not only did they not bring us in the van, but they gave us the wrong arrival time. We could have slept another half hour or so instead of getting up at 5:45. Oh well, it gave us time to get everyone on the prayer roll who we thought could use a special blessing. In the morning we did a sealing session and the afternoon an endowment session with a lunch break in between.

After the afternoon session was over we had about a half an hour to get changed and to the train station. We made it with a few minutes to spare and, as we approached the station, we saw Brother & Sister Klaumunzner, our office couple, looking at the train schedule to find the best way for them to travel to their home in Frauenfeld. They finally decided to take the same train as us and ride back to Zurich where they could get a speedier train to Frauenfeld. When we found out they knew about our upcoming transfer, we took this opportunity to ask a few questions. One of them was how we were going to get an internet service provider, get it installed and have the bill come to the mission home so it could be paid out of our account. Since we would only need it for about eight months, could we pay by the month or would we have to pay for a whole year? She said she would look into it and try and arrange something so it could be available soon after the missionaries leave our apartment where we’re moving to.

In Zurich we waved goodbye to the Klaumunzners and took our tram home. We had a half an hour for a potty break and then to get what we needed for our meeting with Tony Dkere. We arrived at his place a few minutes late and rang his doorbell. No answer. We rang it again; same results. We were so excited to have a teaching appointment, but he wasn’t home. We got the cell phone out and were going to try calling him, but when we looked at the screen, we had a message waiting. It must have come while sitting in the temple locker and we hadn’t looked at it until when we wanted to call him. It was a message from Anthony telling us he would be gone for a couple of days and he’d see us at the same time and place on Friday evening. It was a relief that he hadn’t just stood us up because he’s disappointed us many times in the past. We hope and pray this is a sign he’s making progress. So we wasted an hour going over to Tonys just to turn around and come back home.

The rest of the evening was uneventful other than I cooked a tomato soup for Diana and pre-cooked some ingredients for a casserole for tomorrow. Elder Knight, our district leader, made his mid-week check-up call and we got a call from our former District Leader, Elder Norris, who is currently stationed in Germany.

Some tender mercies we received today was that Tony sent us a message to change our appointment, we were able to put many names on the prayer roll, and we rode home with the Klaumunzners and got some of our questions answered.