Elders Nilsson, Dias & Dockstader playing twister at Normas; Emma, Stephan, Kirsti, and Sarah Schmid, Diana, Robert, Elders Dias, Dockstader & Irick with Elder Nilsson taking the photo; Elders Dockstader, Nilsson, Irick, Larson, Norma, Deanna (Normas's cousin) E. Dias sitting & Alessandro with Diana taking the photo.

DECEMBER 24, 2009 THURSDAY

The day before Christmas and why are we still running around trying to put together something for each person we are going to go caroling to this afternoon? Yesterday, with the help of Pres. Matern’s counsel, the missionaries decided to go caroling to as many less-active members as we could this afternoon. Diana and I felt it would be a good thing to give them a goody bag along with the singing so we worked all morning to get them ready. I went into town to buy some more bags of clementines and packages of dates to give to certain people. For others we put peanuts, snicker bars, oranges, chocolate bars and some Rafaellos in two wash mitts and in some a bottle of orange drink as well. We also had time to make four loaves of banana bread which almost turned into a disaster. I forgot to turn on the oven to get it pre-heated while we were making the batter and to speed up the process, I turn the oven all the way up thinking it would heat up faster. Problem was I forgot to turn it down when I put the loaves in. Some minutes later I just happened to look in through the glass door and saw the tops were browning already and realized what I had done. I think the Spirit has to work overtime to keep me tracking right.

We called Charlotte this morning to invite her to our breakfast in the morning and while we were at it, asked her if she had any more of the stuffed animals Sister Schmid had given her for Nikolas. She said Nikolas had taken a lot of them but there were still some in a bag she had taken to the Church. I went down, found the bag, and picked out some for Gabriella’s and Liz Bouso’s kids to take to them today while we were caroling.

On the way back from town with the things I had bought, Elders Dockstader & Dias honked at me as they drove into the Church parking lot. I turned around and went back and put the bags of clementines and the dates in the back of the van so I wouldn’t have to take them home and bring them back. I took the rest of the stuff home and Diana finished getting the gift bags put together. As we were collecting all the things we needed to take with us including bags of clementines and dates we’d bought previously, we couldn’t find three containers of dates that I’d just bought. We looked everywhere and couldn’t find them, and then decided maybe I had left them at Migros when I had adjusted the items in our little cart so they would fit better. I made a hurried trip into Migros, but didn’t find them. On the return trip I remembered I had put them in the back of the van at the Church! Maybe it is true that the older you get, the more you don’t remember.

We were ready when the missionaries came to pick us up. The missionaries who were with us today were Elders Dockstader & Dias, Nilsson & Irick and Knight & Vincent. The people we actually caught home and sang hymns to were Valerie Otte (non member), Stefan Fuhrer, Margarita Maurer, Denise Maurer & Ashley, Kurt & Gitta Kummer, Walter Burri, Silvana Gianatti, and Gabriella Rodriguez. Those who weren’t home included Agnes, Liz Bouso (non member) and Suki Ehrensperger.

We woke Gabriella up when we rang her doorbell, but she allowed me at least to run up the stairs to give her the clementines and dates, and I gave her a plastic bag as well with some stuffed animals in it for little Julian and Siskea. She called us later in the day and thanked us for the gifts. Her husband is in the Dominican Republic for a few weeks and since she is alone with her kids, we invited her to our Christmas breakfast tomorrow. She accepted the invitation and we hope she comes.

It was good to see Sister Margarita Maurer again and she seemed glad to see us and all the missionaries. Her son, Hans, was also there. As we were singing the Christmas hymns to her she stood with her eyes closed soaking in the Spirit as we sang with amazing harmony. Before we left she told us her knee replacement surgery was going to happen on January 8, 2010. We’ll have to come visit her in the hospital while she’s recuperating.

When we rang the bell for Walter Burri, he eventually stuck his head out the window and, when he saw who it was, came and let us in. His greeting was totally different than a year ago when he told us to go away, that he didn’t need the Church any more. We sang him a couple of hymns and we feel he really enjoyed it. He accepted the clementines and dates graciously as we promised to come visit him again. While we were doing that, an elderly man came out of his apartment on the floor below to listen to us. As we left we knocked on his door and, when he and his wife answered it, we sang to them. He tried to give Elder Vincent some money, but of course, he didn’t accept it. Before we left we gave him the DVD, Finding Faith in Christ and a pass-along card.

When we rang Silvana Gianatti’s doorbell, her daughter answered the door. She said her mother was busy, but we persisted and said we had a Christmas gift for her and we also wanted to sing a couple of carols to her. She allowed us to come up and Silvana invited us in although she had been cooking and protested her apartment was a mess. We sang to her and gave her clementines and dates and she enjoyed the brief encounter with the missionaries.

We had fun doing this service for them and we felt the Spirit as well as they did. We wanted to get to others as well, but our time ran out. We had an appointment with Madeline to go pick up some food she had cooked for us. Elder Irick told her we already had two eating appointments tonight, but Madeline told him we could just come and pick it up. It didn’t work out that way. She had a pan full of fried plantain bananas, a pan full of breaded cooked fish, a pan full of beef & gravy to put on the rice, a pan full of cooked rice with carrots and a potato cheese casserole. She insisted we try them all and that took fifteen to twenty minutes. She insisted we take the food in the pans they were already in to the Church and add it to what we already had for tomorrow’s breakfast. We’re not quite sure if she is coming in the morning or not.

After taking the food to the Church we left to get to the Schmid’s home by 6:00 for our first eating appointment. Emma & Stephan are no slouches in putting on a wonderful tasty meal. They started with a delicious green salad followed by ham and scolloped potatoes. They apologized for not having dessert, but they had talked with Norma, who our next appointment was with, and they agreed she would do the dessert. That was just fine with us because with what we ate at Madeline’s and the Schmids, it would have been really difficult to eat another full meal. But they couldn’t resist bringing out a lot of cookies to munch on after the meal as Elder Dockstader lead the spiritual thought which included Luke Chapter 2 that documents the birth of Christ.

We left the Schmids just in time to be a little late getting to Norma’s home. We spent a fun couple of hours with her, Alessandro and her cousin who was staying with her. We felt the tender mercy today was that we caught almost everyone home who we intended to visit. And, Diana and my goal for today was to introduce the missionaries to as many of the less-active members that we could, who they have never met before, before we are transferred in January. We hope they will continue to work with our dear friends. And now it is 1:00 on Christmas morning and we wish you all a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.