We haven't any new photos so you get some you may have already seen. The one of the witch was taken today because every time we go to Tony Dkere's, we have to take a picture. The middle one is of Robert in Switzerland on his first mission in 1963 (P-day, of course). The first was one taken last fall on the water wheel in the woods back of our apartment.

NOVEMBER 5, 2009 FRIDAY

We decided to change things around a little bit today to use our time a little more efficiently. Rather than do all our preparation/study/etc. in the morning and then go out after lunch, we decided to just do our combined scripture reading and then go out earlier. Later in the evening we could catch up on our personal study. This morning we continued in 3 Nephi and read the next four chapters in German, of course. Before we left our apartment, we called Silvana Gianatti to see if she would give us the recipe for the apple torte she served us the last time we were there. Our main goal was to make a contact and invite her to stake conference, but we really did want her recipe so we can make one like it for tomorrow evening. She answered the phone and was gracious enough to write the recipe down and have it ready for us when we got there.

We traveled to Dietlikon and went to three apartments before we went to see Sister Gianatti. At the first one, Zancanato & Hasler, no one answered so we left the invite to conference in their box. Next, we went to Walter Buerri’s home, and he answered the door. We had a five minute lively discussion with him, invited him to come to conference, gave him a hug and then went on our merry way. Next we went to see if Charles Aboussou was home; he wasn’t, so we left an invite stuck inside his apartment door handle. Then, rather than wait for the bus and maybe be a little late getting to Sister Gianatti’s, we walked the twenty minutes to her home. When we talked to her on the phone, we promised to be there within an hour and a half. We made it with no time to spare! On the phone she also said she was in the middle of cleaning because her sister was coming to visit, and she didn’t have time to visit with us today. We told her that was alright because we didn’t have time to stay, but that we’d make an appointment some time later for a longer visit. But sweet Silvana couldn’t just hand the recipe out the door, but invited us in. She sat us down and went over the cooking instructions and ingredients very carefully and showed us the actual ingredients so we knew what to go buy. We invited her to conference, but she said she couldn’t because her sister would be there. We suggested she bring her sister, but she said her sister was through with religion. The straw that was too much for her was that her church, the Reformierte Kirche, found out her husband sold his business for $80,000 so the church sent them a tax bill for $60,000 and expected them to pay it. Rather than pay it, she left the church. One thing led to another and we ended up talking about tithing and how it is voluntary rather than a bill that is assessed by the church as is done by the Reformed Church and the Catholic Church. However, to be in full fellowship and to be obedient to God’s commandments, paying tithing is required. It’s an act of faith and the Lord promises that if we pay our tithing, he will bless us abundantly. Talking about tithing led to talking about temples and other things about the gospel. We stayed longer than we should have, but she was a willing participant. Before we left she gave us a packet of the pudding we’d need and because Diana was still coughing, a half a dozen packets of cold medicine her doctor had given her recently to treat her cold. She is such a sweet lady.

From there we went back to Stettbach, changed to bus #752 and got off at Meierhofstrasse in Duebendorf. We left an invitation in the Wachter’s mailbox then walked down the street and left one in Renatus Raschle’s mailbox. We got back on the bus, went back to Stettbach, changed to the tram and ended up getting off in Schwamendingen to go buy the ingredients for the apple torte. From there we went on home for a late lunch and to re-group. The reheated pot of beans was just right.

We had two more people we wanted to get invitations to, Tony Dkere and Angela Campbell. We tried to call them during lunch, but neither answered their phone. We also tried to call Heather Scheidegger, but she wasn’t home either. We haven’t seen Angela for a few months and Tony is back to promising and then not coming. Neither one was home so we left invitations in both their mailboxes. Getting to Angela’s is pretty simple, but we walked quite a distance to get to Tony’s. Before we left Oerlikon, we stopped in at LIDL’s to buy some yogurt, fruit (oranges & bananas) and vegetables because they are cheaper there than other places. Of course, we bought other things, too; it’s hard to just get what you need when there are so many other things to spend your money on like dill pickles, cheese, pudding mix, bread, flour and rosemary. While we were waiting for the bus, we got a call from Elder Nilsson who wanted to know if we knew a member by the name of Simone Assman. They said they had looked at the member list and called the first person they didn’t know and made an appointment. Now they were trying to get a little background of her before they went to the appointment. We told them she spoke in Sacrament meeting a few months ago, but we don’t think that helped them remember who she is. She’s an active member in the ward.

We got home just ahead of dark and we feel like it’s been a long, but productive day. We finished out the day doing some reading, writing our journal and Diana cleaned out some of our pantry in preparation for our move in January. We keep putting things in front on the shelves and, what’s in back, has been somewhat of a mystery. About 7:00 we got a somewhat frantic call from Elder Dockstader asking if we knew where the AP’s were. He is one of them so the question was a little confusing. He then clarified his question and asked us if we knew where his companion, Elder Richeson, was. Before we could answer, he said he had a call coming in and it was probably him and then hung up. What that was all about we have no idea, and we hope they got back together. They probably were on some kind of split with another companionship.

As we have reviewed our mission so far, one of our tender mercies is that the Lord has protected us from any serious accident. We walk up and down so many stairs; walk along so many busy streets, some without sidewalks, in winter and summer, rain or shine; climb in and out of so many trams, buses and trains and, as yet, all our body parts are in place and still function.