AUGUST 12, 2010 THURSDAY

I didn’t get to bed last night until about 2:00 in the morning, but I was awake again by 6:15. We got up and did our morning things and then busied about still doing some final adjustments with weighing our suitcases etc. After I shaved I had to find room for the electric shavers and a few other things. We made one last walk through of our apartment just to make sure we had everything and that it was all spic and span and we hadn’t left anything behind. By 8:30 we had all the suitcases and carry-ons downstairs ready to load into Jacob’s car. Of course it was raining, just like it was when we arrived 23 months ago. We wouldn’t want it any other way. While I was bringing down the last of the luggage, Jacob carried the large suitcases out and put them in the trunk of his car. He must have left them standing in the rain because when we got home and started to unpack, the contents of two of them we absolutely soaked. Nothing was really damaged except one book on William Tell.

At the bahnhof we unloaded our luggage, carried it down their stairs, through the tunnel and back up onto platform three. There were a total of five pieces weighing fifty pounds each, a backpack, computer case and Diana’s carry-on, quite a load really. We were supposed to meet Sylvain to give him the key to our apartment, but didn’t see him at first. However, he soon arrived which was a relief to us. And then Silvia came to see us off and then Dorothea. At that moment I remembered that yesterday during the zone conference I discovered a “Camp Helaman” coin in my suit coat pocket. Where it came from I have no idea because I knew how many I had and I had given them all away. Sylvain lost his the other day and asked for another one. I told him then that I would have to send him one, when we got back to America. But now I had one and I gave it to him right then. He was so touched he burst into tears and gave me a big hug. I’ll never know where it came from. Another tender mercy?

The train came and we got all of the luggage on then said our tearful last farewells as the doors shut and the train pulled out. We made our last trip from Schaffhausen to the airport with mixed emotions. At the airport we got our luggage off the train, loaded onto a cart, then went to check in. We arrived at 10:00 even though our flight was not scheduled to leave until 1:55 p.m. We didn’t want to have to rush around and get all frazzled, but we especially wanted to have time to visit with our friends who said they were coming to send us off. Suwang surprised us by being at the airport already and she happily greeted us and escorted us everywhere we went. We finally found the right place to check in and, when the agent looked up our flight, she said it had been cancelled. What!!! How could that be? The agent said not to worry and, since we were so early, she may be able to find us another flight. After some searching she finally found a flight from Zurich to New York’s JFK airport that would get us there in time for us to catch our connecting flight to Salt Lake City. The only catch was that it would leave an hour earlier. Because of the disruption of our flight, we received a $100 coupon apiece good towards purchase of a future flight to somewhere. If we actually do arrange to go back to Switzerland for Agnes’ baptism, the coupons will come in handy.

Because of the change from Delta to Swissair, we had to push the cart a long ways to the Swissair check in. When we finally got there, we had to wait in line. All the time it was getting closer to when we said we’d be at the SBB ticket shop to meet everyone. To complicate things we decided we’d check in one more bag than we were initially going to carry on. I thought I had sent the all bags through the check in counter, but then I saw one more on the cart. I got confused and told the agent I’d sent the wrong one through, forgetting we had decided to send all five, so she hurried and stopped the belt and went to retrieve it. Then I realized we’d decided to send all five so we told her that when she came back. She said we were only allowed four bags, but was kind enough to tell her supervisor what happened and he was also kind enough to allow the fifth bag through. We thought we were only allowed one bag each, that we’d have to pay for the other three, but they didn’t charge us for any of them. All the time I was watching the clock seeing the minutes tick away. By the time we had all that mess taken care of it was 11:30, the time we were supposed to meet our friends. Our new “to be at the gate” time was 12:00 which only gave us a half an hour. We decided Diana and Suwang would stay with the carry-on baggage while I hurriedly would run down and let our friends know what happened and to give them a quick goodbye for both of us.

I put myself in my fast gear and was down to the meeting place lickety split. I saw Margarita Maurer and Dora Wachter sitting on a bench and when they saw me they jumped up and gave me a hug. One of them got on her cell phone and before long the whole crowd arrived. These are our friends who came to see us off: Margarita Mauer, Denise Maurer, Norma Bachmann and her son Allessandro, Dora Wachter, Suwang Stefaniak, Neide Graff, Charlotte Stoecklin, Danielle Martin, Madeleine Schwitter, They all gave me a hug and when they asked where Diana was and I told them, they all took off, except Margarita, Dora and Madeleine, to go find her. Margarita, Dora and I stayed behind with Madeleine who walks about on a snail pace because of her bum knee. Finally, we got to where Diana and Suwang were and all of them were crowded around her wishing her well and saying goodbye. We were already past our 12:00 check in time, but they all wanted to take photos. Everyone had cameras including us and they all wanted group photos and us just with them individually. Everyone wanted to hug us, not once, not twice, but many times. Last call for check in came and we just had to tear ourselves away and make our escape through the gate. What a wonderful send off from some wonderful saints.

It was a relief to finally be settled into a seat with nothing to do, but sit and relax and prepare for a long flight back home. Many mixed emotions and fond remembrances of the times we spent with these members during our time in Schwamendingen. For instance, the first time we had contact with Margarita was by phone and, when we asked if we could come visit her, she emphatically said, “No, I’m not a member any more and you can’t come.” But during the course of the year and a half, she became our dear friend and is active in the Church again as much as the pain in her knees will let her. We could recount the yodeling with Daniella, the conversions of Charlotte, Neide and Madeleine, our visits with Dora, Suwang in the hospital, Denise and Allesandro at Halloween and on and on. But all of these experiences have already been documented in this journal.

We made it through security without too much hassle other than the metal detector went off when I went through. I had absolutely nothing on me that should have set it off. I was escorted into a small room where I received a pat down search and another search with a handheld metal detector. The officer found nothing, but it gave him the chance to notice my name badge and ask what it meant. He said he’d seen them on young men coming through the airport and wondered what they did. I quickly gave him a brief overview and gave him a pass-along card. That was the best I could do at the moment. Will he respond to the pass along card? Diana had no trouble at all.

When we got to JFK airport, we went through customs like a breeze. All they were interested in was seeing our passports and getting the customs declaration paper. We found the counter for our flight to Salt Lake and checked in, wanting to get rid of the five pieces of luggage again. The agent asked us how many pieces we wanted to check in to which we replied, “five.” He wanted to know how many we had paid for in Zurich. We told him they didn’t charge us anything. He then told us that today was our lucky day because we should have been charged, at least for the fifth one. He continued and said, “You know you’ll be charged here, though, don’t you.” And then he checked in the five piece and told me the charge would be twenty-five dollars. At my surprised looked he asked if we expected it to me more. Well, yes, at least $50.00. He smiled and told us to have the rest of nice trip. Do the Lord’s tender mercies never quit? And they didn’t end there.

We continued on to find the train that took us to the gate. The directions he gave us were to go around the corner, up one floor on the escalator to track two, get on for one stop and then get off and go to gate 26. But when we got of the train, we couldn’t find any signs, but there was an elevator so we took it up to level two and got out. As we were standing there looking around trying to figure out where to go, a gentleman approached us and asked what we were looking for and if he could help. We told him and he said to follow him. He knew the way, which indeed he did. First he had to wind his way through a thick crowd of people standing in lines to a kiosk to get a boarding pass. After that we followed him to the long long line of people waiting to go through the security check. He bypassed the end of the line and went right to the front, ducked under the barrier tape and talked to the control officer and convinced her that he had special permission through some sort of program to not have to wait in line. She believed him and then he told her he was escorting us and we needed to be allowed through to go with him. She assented, checked our boarding pass and, walla, let us through. That act of kindness saved us at least an hour of standing in line. Another tender mercy. As we walked through the confusing hallways to gate 26, his destination, too, we discovered his name was Allen from Alpine. He didn’t give us his last name, but stayed with us for part of the time while waiting for our flight to come. We were very grateful for his kindness.

The rest of the flight was without incident, but long. I used the time to write most of this journal entry until I used up the battery and the screen went blank. Waiting for us at the Salt Lake Airport were Roxsan, Brad and their kids, Rees, Drayson, Mayleah, Nathan and Truxtn; Monica and her kids, Remy, Jade and Robert; and Rebecca. What a joyous celebration punctuated with hugs, kisses and all of our grandchildren wanting special attention. The kids had made welcoming signs which made it special to us.

Finally, our bags came, Rebecca drove up and we loaded everything and we were off. Riding home was a special feeling of being back in our own land, the promised land. It was good to be back home although we left a part of our hearts in Switzerland. It was good to be back in the Land of the English-speaking!

AUGUST 11, 2010 WEDNESDAY

So, once again we arose early to catch the train in time to get to the stake Center in Schwamendingen for our final zone conference. We thought the one a month ago was our last one; they even had us give our departing testimonies. With the two missions combining, everything has been kind of topsy turvy and not running as smoothly as before. But, as Pres. Condie said, things will get worked out soon. He told us some missionaries are as yet unwilling to accept the changes which has made it a little difficult. But it will come, sooner or later.

Even though we got up in plenty of time we got out the door only to see the bus was already at our stop which is about fifty or so yards away. There was no hope in catching it because the bus drivers wait for no one. What? Miracles of Miracles!!! We got out to the sidewalk and the bus driver saw us. We didn’t even try because we knew we were too late, so we turned around and started to go back to our apartment. However, we noticed the bus just sat there and then we realized he was waiting for us. We hurried as fast as we could, jumped on the bus and then made sure we thanked him. When we got to the bahnhof, we went forward with Book of Mormon in hand and tried to thank him by giving him the book. He was nice and we had a friendly chat during which he said he read very little and declined the offer. We start with the big thing first (BM) and, if they don’t accept, we scale our offering back to smaller things. This time he did accept the brochure, “The Family, A Proclamation on the World.” We chose this one because he talked about his family during our conversation. He said he would read it.

We got on the train and made it to the Schwamendingen stake center just as they were singing prelude hymns. If we would have missed our train, we really would have been late. Another tender mercy in our lives. The conference was great as usual, but we felt it was one of the best ones we’ve attended. The training was great, centered on teaching rather than purely on gospel principles, contacting etc. Pres. Condie announced the new focus from the area presidency for the training the missionaries will be receiving. The missionaries come into the mission field with a good knowledge of the gospel, but most haven’t learned the teaching skills they need. So that will be the focus of zone conferences which will be held every three months rather than every six weeks, and special training for specific groups or leaders etc. on the two months in between conferences. The missions where our friends serve , the Doyles and Kroffs, are already well into this program. Coming up will be four days of intensive training to kick off the program. Pres. Condie also solicited suggestions for a new mission logo, song and name for the newsletter to try and help the combined missions establish some esprit de corps and become unified as one mission.

The last part of the conference is always a testimony meeting and, as we expected, we were asked to bear our testimonies again. Last time we did it in English, but this time in German. Diana always gets compliments on her German, as she should, because she has learned to speak and understand quite well.

After the conference was over Pres. Condie wanted us to stick around and talk to us. While he was in his debrief meeting with the mission leaders, we made a quick trip to visit Cornelia Schaer, but she wasn’t home. We sent her a text message earlier in the day to let her know we would be coming, but never received an answer back then either. We had previously written a note in the front of a book, Be Your Best Self written by Pres. Monson, and put it in her mailbox. We were sad we didn’t get to say goodbye to her personally.

We made it back to the stake center in plenty of time and took the opportunity to talk with and say goodbye to our missionary friends. We knew almost all of the ones who were in attendance today. From the first we’ve been impressed with the dedication, knowledge and abilities the missionaries have. We love them all.

Pres. Condie finally had time to talk to us and thanked us for the work we’ve done. He was very gracious and kind and gave us a folder with some talks from General Authorities in it as well as our release document in German. The English one was sent to our stake president at home, Pres. Mark C. Oviatt, who will give it to us when he releases us from our mission on Friday evening. During our meeting with Pres. Condie, Neide called and asked if we were going to come for dinner. We told her we were on our way. Elders Stucki & Christiansen were waiting for us because they were invited, too. They couldn’t go alone because of the new rule that two missionaries of the opposite sex of the person they are going to visit, must have a third person present. Two missionaries are not allowed to visit a single person no matter how young or old.

Neide had a nice Brazilian dinner prepared for us and we enjoyed it immensely. We stayed for an hour and then slowly made our way out the door, but then she decided she would walk us to the bus stop. We had a prayer which held us up just long enough to miss the bus. We walked to another bus stop to see if we could catch a different bus to get us to the bahnhof sooner, but our effort was wasted. We got on the next bus, but got to the bahnhof too late. However, when we looked at the schedule, we saw that, during rush hour, another train to Schaffhausen would come in five minutes. We were relieved that we didn’t have to wait another hour.

We got home thinking that we now had some time to finish up packing and doing the last detail things. However, as soon as we got in our apartment and shut the door, our landlords were there to invite us to dinner with them. Do we have to eat again, groan groan? Yes in deedy. They said they’d prepared a very special Appenzeller specialty just for us. How could we refuse? Alice and Jacob had everything set up on their porch and then brought out the main dish. It was canned pork that looked horrible along with the jelly stuff than one sees in vienna sausages at home. It was probably processed like corned beef and they were so proud of it, that we had to eat it. Thick layers of pork fat with thin ribbons of meat was not our idea of a delicacy. Besides the million calories it must have contained, it wasn’t all that bad. One just had to not think about it when eating it.

By 9:30 we were back in our apartment worn out, but needing to do some more stuff. We got a call from Neide telling us she’d probably not make it to the airport tomorrow. We also got a call from Kofi Safo-Adu thanking us and wishing us well.

We finished putting what clothes we weren’t going to take home into bags and I walked one last time up the stairway to heaven to deposit them in the clothing donation bins. And now it’s after midnight and when I post this entry, it’ll post on 12 August instead of August 11. Oh well.

Agnes Muangi; Interlake Ost;

AUGUST 10, 2010 TUESDAY

When we got home last night, we saw that the big garbage sack we’d set out that morning was left behind with rejected sticker on it. Now what!!!! We wanted to get all the garbage gone before we left, and now that wasn’t possible. The only thing we could figure out was that it was a grey sack and not a black one with the proper words on it. The grey sack we used was exactly the same size as the black official ones and we had affixed the proper number of tax stamps to it, too. We left it there for the night because it was so late, but it bothered me all night and at 4:30 I couldn’t stand it any longer. I got up, got my razor knife and a couple of the 30 liter garbage bags and went down to take care of the problem. Most of what was in the bag was two old carpets. I unrolled them and with the razor knife, cut them into pieces that fit the smaller bags, all nice and tidy. It made me mad that I had to use two more stamps, but I did, and then I took them down into our basement store room. I was going to ask our landlord to take them out for me on Monday, the next garbage pick up day.

With that done I was still on a roll. I got the bag with the excess sheets, blankets and etc., put in the ones I’d taken from the garbage left behind, and took the two large sacks up the hill to the collection bins by Paul’s apartment. The bins were full this time so I just put the sacks along side and went back home. A shave and a shower fixed me up fine and it was only 6:30. It wasn’t long before Diana was up and we got busy working on putting the apartment into shape for two missionaries instead of a senior couple. We took the double mattress off the two single beds and put it in the other room along the wall behind the two tables. We moved the single beds apart, moved the chests of drawers, slid the desk over and made the bedroom look really nice. We went through all the desk drawers, taking what we needed, throwing some things away and leaving other stuff. It took basically all day to get things packed up, the suitcases weighed, floors mopped, trash collected and etc. etc. etc. And just now while I was writing this, I discovered three MOSQUITOS sucking blood from my feet and ankles. Now where did they come from? Probably from the windows we’ve had open to let a little cool air in. It’s been pretty warm today. I found some bug spray and made them feel really sorry for bothering me.

We interrupted our frenzied cleaning and packing to go to Dorothea Jaermanns for lunch. She said it would be a quick one because she knew we had a lot to do. However, her “quick” turned into two hours. Before we left she asked me to give her another blessing which I was happy to do. Now what I’m going to write is not to brag or make people think we’re special, but to emphasize how important it is, and what a blessing it is for members everywhere when senior couples go on missions. I’m sure that our friends, the Doyles (Geneva) and Kroffs (Buenos Aires), and my sister Avonne and husband David (Korea) and Diana’s brother (Ray and wife Aloa (Japan) have every bit as much or more influence for good on the members and investigators as we’ve had. It’s the Lord who uses the faithful to bless the lives of His children who need it. And while they think they are the ones getting blessings, we in turn receive our share. How can it get better than that?

Dorothea said the last few years have been really a trial for the branch here in Schaffhausen, and her as well, because the members just haven’t been able to get along with each other. It has been so bad that one member went into inactivity, one moved and Dorothea, who we thought was solid as a rock, said that she had decided to leave the Church, too, unless something changed. But she decided to wait and see what the senior couple (us) would bring to the branch. She said what we brought was the spirit of love that hadn’t been in the branch for years. Our example of loving everyone, without reservation, breathed a ray of hope into her which she hopes will continue after we leave. She said she has observed a marked difference in the whole branch since we arrived. And we have developed a great love for all the members and will really miss them after we are gone. We reminded her of the principles of the gospel, faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost and then emphasized that there was still one more, “enduring to the end.” And she agreed with us and will do just that.

When we returned home, Paul called to see if we would visit him one last time before we left. I told him I’d be right up. And then while Diana continued to work on things in our apartment, I loaded up my backpack with food and took the other two big sacks of groceries and again walked up the stairway to heaven to take them to Paul. He was disappointed Diana did come, but understood that things had to get done at home. He again was very grateful for what we brought having been without some things for some time because he’s had no money. He says he can live on next to nothing, and we’re sure he’s been able to do it, but the food we brought will help him out. We are going to miss Paul.

Besides doing the work on the apartment and packing, I made a trip into the Church with a stack of papers that needed to be shredded. Realizing that the walk into Schaffhausen was probably going to be my last made me happy and sad at the same time. After I shredded all I needed to, I printed off a small inspirational story, signed it for both Diana and me, and put a copy in each of the song books. They’ll have a surprise on Sunday and a final word from us even though we’ll be gone. While I was there, Elder Neuffer called to get a report on our progressing investigators. Fortunately, I had a list with me and it was no problem.

Sylvain called and said he’d lost the “Camp Helaman” coin I’d given him and asked if I had another he could have. He said he looked for it everywhere today and couldn’t find it, but really wanted one to remind him of us and the things he had learned during our many many discussions. I didn’t have another one, but I promised I’d send him another when we get home.

The tender mercy of the Lord today was that I was asked to give Dorothea a blessing. Also, during our visit, she found out we’d had problems with our garbage and, because they have a small dumpster for their apartment, she was happy to take the two bags and dispose of them for us.

Jungfrau; Agnes, Elder Larson, Charlotte; Sister Larson.

AUGUST 9, 2010 MONDAY

Our P-day trip this morning started at 6:45 by catching our bus to make the trip to the Zurich Bahnhof where we met Agnes and Charlotte at 8:00. We used a coupon we had and bought Agnes a day pass for all of her transportation needs for the day for 30.00 sfr. We were glad that she came with us today. After we were set we caught the train that took us from Zurich to Bern where we changed trains and rode to Spiez. At Spiez we changed trains again and finally got to Interlaken Ost. We had been there before, when it was raining and very cloudy, so we couldn’t ride the cable car up onto the top of Harder Kulm. That was our goal today and it was a bright clear beautiful day to get it done. The ride up took only fifteen minutes or so, but the view from there was breathtaking. We hade a clear overlook of Interlaken, the Moench, Eiger and Jungfrau, the Brienzersee and Thunersee. We took our time on top just enjoying the view, fresh air and the company. We always take a lunch with us so during this pause, we sat on a bench in the cool shade and had lunch.

During the trip Agnes finally told us her intended baptism date, September 4. We’ve been waiting for months for her to tell us so, if at all possible, one or both of us could come back to be here when it happens. We think that maybe I and Roxsan (maybe Rees, too) could come spend a week or so traveling since she wasn’t able to come when Rebecca, Monica and Chris came last July. We’ll have to see if it all works out. When we got back to Zurich, Agnes gave us a letter to read after she left. It was a heartfelt thank you and a very sincere testimony of the Church and why she wanted to wait until September 4 to get baptized. She was born on September 6 and will be 18 years old this year. The 6th falls on a Monday and so the baptism will take place on the 4th which will, symbolically, be the beginning of her new life.

After lunch we rode the cable car back down and walked around the town a bit, then continued our trip on the train up over Bruenig Pass to Luzern. We’ve already taken this train ride several times before, but we have never gotten tired of this part of Switzerland. From Luzern we rode back to Zurich Oerlikon arriving at 5:00. Charlotte needed to buy a few things for our dinner tonight with Pres. & Sister Condie and then we took the bus to the stop near her home. As we were walking through the park on our way, Neide saw us and came running. Charlotte continued on home while we visited with Neide for a few minutes. She talked us into coming for dinner tomorrow after zone conference although we really don’t have time nor do we actually need any more food. It’s been hard these last few days to keep the weight off because everyone wants to feed us. And it’s been hard to keep saying goodbye over and over again.

We said goodbye to Neide and went to Charlottes. I left Diana there to help her get dinner ready for us and the Condies while I walked to Schwamendingerplatz to withdraw enough money to pay our mission home bill. Sister Klaumuenzner called us earlier today with the final figure which came to 1, 067. 45 sfr. I got back about a half hour before the Condies were supposed to arrive, but Diana had gone over to visit Barbara Weidmann, who lives in the apartment next to Charlotte. I went over and joined them so as not to be alone with Charlotte. Barbara is a part time travel agent and Diana asked her to look up airfare from SLC to Zurich. She said would email the price to us tomorrow. From there we went up to the top of the building to Hitsch & Kathy Bolt’s apartment to say goodbye to them. It was hard to say goodbye, but when we told him that I might be back for Agnes’ baptism, he said I, and whoever came with me, could stay in their guest room while we were here.

We went back down to Charlottes and waited for the Condies to show up. They were about a half hour late, but finally arrived. We had a nice visit with them and Charlotte and the chicken dinner was delicious, too. When it came near time when we had to leave to catch our 8:54 train, Charlotte started telling the Condies her conversion story. We got more nervous and more nervous about having to leave, but she kept going on and we didn’t want to break in on her. It was really a great story and we were enjoying it, too, although we lived it with her and knew it frontwards and backwards, but that didn’t keep the train from coming. If we missed this one, it would probably have take us till midnight to get home. If we caught the 8:54, it would still take us until near 10:30. Much as we hated to we broke in with the excuse we had to go, but we needed to settle our bill with the mission home before we left. We gave 975.50 sfr to Pres. Condie and then we said our goodbyes. Diana and I both gave Charlotte our normal hug and Pres. Condie about swallowed his tongue. I had to explain that in Switzerland it’s custom to give both a greeting hug and three kisses on the cheeks upon meeting and saying goodbye. The members understand why it’s not proper for the young missionaries to do it, but for senior couples, it’s offensive to them not to do it. We asked Pres. Matern a long time ago what we should do. He said his guideline (he had the same problem) was that it was okay when Diana and I were together, but never while alone, and the members are okay with that. We try to avoid the kisses as was the case tonight.

We took off running, literally, and arrived at the bus stop, but it had just left. We saw that when the next one came, we just might have enough time to get to the train platform, if the bus didn’t have to wait for older passengers to hobble on and off the bus. Fortunately there were no problems and when it stopped at the bahnhof, we again ran, this time down the stairs, through the tunnel and back up to the right platforms just in time to slip into the train before it took off. Whew!!!! We’ll sure be glad when we have our own car and can come and go when we want although we do enjoy the trams, buses and trains.

The ride back home was uneventful, so much so that it was hard to stay awake. By the time we were home we were so tired that we mostly just got ready for bed and crashed. We hoped that by in the morning we would be sufficiently recovered to be able to move and get done what we needed to do.

Jecelyn Hoenle & Michaela Zaunigk; Carla Wigger, Aaron & Susan Flammia; Claudia Clavadetscher (eyes closed); Diana, Dorothea Jaermann; Greta Troesch.

AUGUST 9, 2010 SUNDAY

Even though it was our last Sunday here, I followed my normal routine and got up early and walked to Church, not all the way this time because I got a little late start. It took a little longer than I thought to collect all the clothes we were giving to Michael Hartig at Church today. I got to the Church and wrote our report on the computer. I again expected Michael to show up at 8:00, but he didn’t come. When Michaela came. She said he was on vacation and that she could take the clothes to him.

We had invited quite a few investigators to come to Church today including: Charlotte Kunz (sent us a nice text message, but didn’t come), Franz & Anita Maier (didn’t come), Katia & Emely DiPaolo (they came), Claudia Clavadetscher (she came), Jasmin Hunsiker & kids (sent a text message that India didn’t feel good and they would try to come anyway, but didn’t) and Kofi Safo-Adu (he came, but not his family). We sent and invitation to Prisca & Mike, but didn’t really expect them to come since they live so far away and she works until after midnight. It was especially disappointing that Jasmin and the Maiers didn’t come, but we were especially excited that Claudia came.

Paul Hunziker gave his first talk in Sacrament meeting and did very well. He mostly told his conversion story, that it took him fifty-five years to get baptized und he was kind enough to give us the credit for helping him to finally get over the hump, so to speak and get baptized. Following him, Diana, Dorothea and I sang our a capella song, The Lord Is My Shepherd.” The people present thought we did very well, but then again, what else would they say? Dorothea was very happy to have been able to sing with us, and the feeling was mutual.

Diana was next up and did a marvelous job in giving her talk. She thanked the member for making us feel welcome and told them she would miss all of them a lot. She felt inspired to share the testimony of her grandfather, George C. Phillipps. She wanted to have someone come read it and interpret it for her rather than do it herself, but finally she asked me to translate it yesterday for her. It took me most of the day as reported in yesterday’s journal, but it was worth it. Many eyes were moist before she finished. I followed with a talk on testimony, why it’s important to obtain one, how to do it and what to do with it once you have it. The first and middle part was mostly directed to Claudia, Emely and the younger kids, Manuel, Fabian and Aaron, emphasizing that everyone, even those born and raised in the Church, must develop their own testimonies and can’t rely on parents or anyone else. After one has a testimony it requires nurturing and work to maintain it, keeping the commandments, following Christ into the waters of baptism. The last part of the talk was directed to the less-actives who were there, Martin Hedinger, Kofi Safo-Adu and Katia DiPaolo as well as the rest of the members. After one is baptized and on the road then comes activity in the Church, always progressing, learning, repenting, and enduring to the end. What good is it, if we quit in the middle?

After sacrament meeting there were a lot of hugs and well wishes. We gave Lea and Aaron the Camp Helaman coins depicting the armor of God described in Ephesians 6:11-18. Both were appreciative and we were a little surprised how much Aaron was affected by the memento from us. Claudia gave us an expensive brass Swiss cow bell and Michaela knitted a heavy wool cap for me. She said it took her two weeks to do it and we can believe that. It is very heavy and thick and would certainly keep one warm in the winter.

Suwang Stefaniak called this morning and said she was on her way to Schaffhausen and wanted the address to the Church. Diana talked to her and gave her directions, but Suwang told Diana she wouldn’t arrive until 9:45, right in the middle of sacrament meeting so we couldn’t meet her train. She said she could find the Church on her own. However, as soon as I could get away after the meeting, I went looking for her. I finally realized I could call her on the cell phone and found out she was still on the train and coming. She told me she would arrive at 11:45 and at the time it was 10:40. I thought about going back up to the Church and then near 11:45, go back and meet the train. However, since I was at the bahnhof already, I had the feeling I should wait the five minutes to see if she was on the train arriving at 10:45. It was a good thing I listened to the prompting because when the 10:45 train came, out popped Suwang. She gave me an enthusiastic greeting and then we walked together back up to the Church. On the way we met Katia & Emely walking back down to the parking lot so I was able to tell them goodbye. I also gave her a card with the Geneva ward and Outreach addresses on it for her daughter who moved to Geneva for school. The Doyles were kind enough to send them to us so we could pass them on to Kathleen.

When Sunday School ended, we went through another round of hugs and well wishes. We took photos and talked and hugged some more and an hour later made our exit. We walked to the parking lot with Dorothea who offered us a ride home. When I say we, I mean me, Diana and Suwang. Suwang was stuck like glue to Diana; she wasn’t going to let her out of her sight. As she dropped us off at home Dorothea insisted we come to her home for lunch on Tuesday, wanting one more visit from us before we go.

Suwang was our guest all afternoon. It was fun to talk to her, she gets so excited about things. We fixed her lunch, but I slipped out occasionally to write as much of our daily journal as I could because I knew this evening I wouldn’t have much time to do it. We were invited by Paul to come over for lunch and when we told him we needed to visit with Suwang for awhile, he said we could come over anytime this afternoon. About 4:30 we mentioned to Suwang we had another appointment to go to so she decided to take the 4:51 bus to the bahnhof to catch the 5:14 train back to Zurich. She’s still trying to figure out how to get us to come back and live with her. She said it would be okay with her if we stayed for six months or longer. She’s such a sweetheart.

Diana took a half hour rest after she left to kind of wind down and then we filled my backpack with food, grabbed the two big sacks of groceries and left to walk up the stairway to heaven to Pauls. He’d prepared a big dinner of baked chicken and mashed potatoes along with a green salad. We spent about an hour and a half with him, read some verses from Galatians and then had a prayer. He’ll be a real strength to the branch. He always has self made Schwarzwald cake for dessert and insists I eat some. Today I declined and he decided that was okay, but insisted I take two helpings with me for later. Of all the missionaries who have visited him in the past, none have written him a letter even though some promised him they would. He has been disappointed about that. So, as soon as we get home, we need to write him a letter to cheer him up. We told him he could count on us.

Tonight we tried to get on the internet and saw that we had no service. We waited for an hour, but still had no service. We went down and talked to our landlord because we work off a router from their computer service we had installed. She said they didn’t have service either and that they would call a technician tomorrow to see if they couldn’t get it fixed. Not long after we saw we had service. I went back down and talked to Alice to let her know. She said she had been down in the basement and had discovered the plug had come out of the outlet and she put it back in. Thank goodness. What would we do without our computer?

Franz Maier promised us he’s come to Church today, but he didn’t come. He called tonight to apologize and said he had to help his wife do something and didn’t have time to come. We told him he could come to Church even though we wouldn’t be there. He said, “I know.” At least he called which was nice.

Halina Stefaniak, Suwang’s daughter, called tonight to say goodbye and to thank us for watching over and being friends to Suwang. She said she really appreciated it. She thanked us for being a good influence in her life, too, and wished us well as we return home. Such thoughtful people.

Madeleine called and talked to Diana for about a half an hour. She said she saw Neide at Church today and she was doing okay. Charlotte called to see if Pres. Condie had called us to talk about going outside the mission borders tomorrow for P-day. We told her he hadn’t so we planned to start early tomorrow and go to Interlaken and spend some time there. After that we’ll travel over Bruenig Pass to Luzern and back to Zurick by 5:00. Agnes plans on coming with us. Charlotte said that when we get back to Zurich, we have to come to her place. When I started to object, she said she was asked by President Condie to say we have been commanded by President Condie to meet with him at her place to have dinner with him. Is that true? We think there’s a monkey in the woodpile somewhere. They are probably planning a surprise party for us with our family home evening group that we spent so much time with. We’ll see.

And now it 10:30, Diana’s fast asleep on the bed and I’m dead tired. We need to be up and out the door by 6:45 for our play day and so it’s good night y’all.

Tree stand and what you can see sitting in it.

AUGUST 7, 2010 SATURDAY

No appointments today, but we worked hard anyway. I spent the morning into the afternoon until 3:00 with only a short break at noon working on translating the conversion story of Diana’s grandfather, George C. Phillips. She’s going to use it in her talk tomorrow. She has ten minutes, but the story she wants to read will take her fifteen minutes. It will be okay with me, if she takes the whole twenty minutes, her ten minutes and my ten minutes.

During the break we went to get on the train to go to Jestetten to spend the last of our Euros on food for Paul. We found out when we got there that that particular line was not running, but they had buses set up to replace the trains. We were directed to the right bus and rode it to Jestetten. Yes, it took more than twice as long and wasn’t as comfortable as the train. When we got to the Jestetten Bahnhof we saw why the trains weren’t running. Yep, construction. Crews had dug a giant trench under the tracks to install a cement culvert or something. We spent our 32.44 Euros at Aldis on flour, sugar, butter, spaghetti, noodles, hamburger, nectarines, canned peaches, canned pineapple, frozen fruit (for me) and eggs. Maybe with all this food, he can put some flesh on his skinny body.

When we returned, I finished with Diana’s translation and then changed and went for a walk. I needed some quiet time and it seems I can think better when I’m out walking than sitting behind a desk. I walked up into the woods where it was cool and quiet, found a deer stand on the edge of a meadow, walked over the hill into the woods and spooked a deer, one of the few I’ve actually seen in Switzerland. As I was walking around I decided to focus my talk on testimony and what one has to do to get and keep one. Part of what I’ll use is Alma 32 where he uses planting seeds to teach the process of receiving a testimony. I’ll probably also use some of 2 Nephi 31 especially the verses where Christ invites everyone to follow His example of being baptized. I also need to focus a little bit on enduring to the end. Tomorrow we’ll have a mixed congregation of active members, less-active members, children and adults, and investigators. It’ll be a challenge to present something for all to feast on. I really haven’t been able to “write a talk” and just have ideas floating around in my head. I’ll certainly need the help of the Spirit to help me say what needs to be said.

While I was doing the translating, Diana was working at sorting, keeping, discarding and weighing our baggage. It’ll be a miracle, if we can get it all done before we go home. Later this evening we sent text message invitations to Priska & Mike and Charlotte Kunz. Will they come to Church tomorrow? We practiced singing our hymn that we’ll sing tomorrow with Dorothea Jaermann.

Of course we cleared our emails (getting fewer and fewer all the time) and we read the blogs of our friends in Geneva and Buenos Aires. Roxsan, Monica and Rebecca are busy planning our vacation to Bear Lake the Monday after we get home. It doesn’t seem possible that we’ll be home next Thursday.

Juergen & Susan Klaumuenzner and Elder and Sister Larson; Worms that have eaten the plant outside the door of our apartment.

AUGUST 6, 2010 FRIDAY

Our meeting with Emely went really well this morning, even when we were there at 9:00. We presented her with a very nice CTR (WDR in German, Waehle Das Recht) ring which was too big for Emely. We bought the smallest one they had, but Diana devised a plan that we thought was inspired. We presented it to Emely and, because it was too big, we suggested we let her mother wear it until she was big enough for it to fit her. She agreed and Katia was really excited that she’ll be able to wear it for awhile. We should have bought them both one, but hindsight is better than foresight, it seems. We centered our lesson around choosing the right and used a conference talk given by Elder L. Tom Perry in the November 1993 issue of the Ensign. We also gave Katia a sunstone and discussed it’s symbolism. Just for kicks and because we don’t have room to take some things home, we also gave Emely the pencil our kids sent us that smelled like bubble gum and a fish on a key ring. She loved both of them. She hooked the key ring fish on her backpack which had nine or ten other similar animal key rings on it. It was hard to say goodbye, but they promised to come to Church on Sunday to see us for the last time.

We took the barber tools with us so we didn’t have to go home to get them. We took the bus back to the bahnhof, waited the fifteen minutes for the train to come, and then we were on our way to Frauenfeld to visit Juergen and Susan Klaumuenzner. When we got to Winterthur, we had to change trains and after we did, we called Juergen to let him know we would be at the Frauenfeld Bahnhof at 12:00. The lady that sat across the aisle from us noticed that we spoke English and started a conversation with us. It turned out she was a Jehovah Witness and was happy to talk about religion. She was very genial and complimentary about the missionary effort of the Mormon Church and then she said she really didn’t know what we believed. That opened the door toi a very brief first discussion. We only had fifteen minutes on the train from Winterthur to Frauenfeld. As we were pulling into Frauenfeld we gave her a Book of Mormon with the usual brochures in it and she in turn gave us a couple of Watch Tower magazines. We thanked her and she seemed happy to receive the Book of Mormon. We just hope she reads what we gave her. She probably hopes the same thing.

When we got off the train, Juergen was already there to pick us up and take us to his home. We spent an enjoyable three hours there visiting, cutting his hair and eating a wonderfully delicious baked salmon dinner. On the side she had baked/braised potatoes and green beans making it a very calorie conscious healthy meal. Dessert was fresh mashed blackberries from their garden with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. They are a great couple who have served in the mission home for five or six years straight, but now they are anxious to wrap up what’s necessary to close out the mission home in Zurich and transfer all responsibilities to the new mission home in Munich, Germany.

When we got home, we finished writing the report on our investigators and comments about the members for the missionaries that will replace us here. They’ll be able to hit the ground running. Later I took a walk while Diana worked on her talk that she’ll be giving in sacrament meeting Sunday. If all come who say they’ll be there, the building should be packed.

Elder Neuffer called today to let us know the zone conference will be in Schwamendingen on Wednesday, August 11, just a day before we go home. At the last zone conference a month ago we were asked to bear our testimonies which is the custom for those going home. Will we be asked to do it again? We go home the next day. Of course, we’re always ready to bear testimony. He also told us that he wasn’t allowed to have a district meeting during the same week as a zone conference. They were really looking forward to the french toast, hashbrowns, fried eggs, sausage and hot chocolate breakfast that we told them was on the menu for next Tuesday. Oh well, not having a district meeting will give us more time to get everything done so we can leave with a clear conscience.

A Swiss chalet without flowers; somewhere around Urnaesch; Diana, Deborah, India, Jasmin, Robert, and David in front.

AUGUST 5, 2010 THURSDAY

Right now we would have been in a jet on our way home, if we hadn’t extended another week. But, if we had gone home, we would have missed some wonderful experiences meeting with people. We probably would have missed Markus and Dora Wachter, Claudia Clavadetscher, Jasmin Hunziker and her three kids, Emely and Katia DiPaolo (tomorrow) and the Klaumuenzners (tomorrow). As yet, after tomorrow, we don’t have any appointments scheduled, but that may change. We have to have some time to prepare our talks for Sunday, finish sorting, packing and getting rid of stuff, thoroughly clean our apartment from top to bottom, wash all the bedding and put it into shape for the two sisters to take over. We also have one more P-day to spend with Charlotte so that takes care of Monday. Tuesday we have district meeting and lunch which takes all morning and into the afternoon. We’ll probably visit Paul one more time Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday late afternoon and evening will be spent with Pres. and Sister Condie in Schwamendingen for our final interview; they also want to take us to dinner somewhere. We’ll probably get home late that evening, the day before we leave for home.

This morning we arrived at Jasmin’s home at 9:45 and were glad she and her three kids were home. This was the first time we’ve been able to meet with the whole family. After the greetings and how are yous, Diana offered the prayer and then we had a wonderful discussion. For the benefit of India (12) and Deborah (9) we gave a brief overview of the Plan of Salvation in simple terms and then jumped into a discussion about the commandments God has given us. Nothing was really new for Jasmin; she already new about the Word of Wisdom and tithing. Diana used the object lesson using M&M peanuts to illustrate the windows of heaven being opened up and God showering us with blessings, when we pay our tithing (Mal. 3:7-12). Diana poured 10 M&Ms into her hand, asked for 10%, then poured the rest into her hands which, of course, spilled over her hands onto to the floor. The kids really enjoyed that part of the lesson. We didn’t get to discuss all of the commandments in the lesson, but we briefly mentioned the ones we wouldn’t cover. Among those was chastity. Jasmin didn’t let us skip over that one, but asked us to briefly teach what chastity meant. As we taught it, she looked at India to reinforce and agree with what we were saying. India is only twelve, but it seems her mother wanted her to understand the meaning of chastity.

We included India and Deborah during the lesson, asking them questions and having them read some of the scriptures. When the Spirit was strong, we reminded Jasmin that last time she agreed to be baptized and asked her, if we could set a solid baptism date. She responded she hadn’t received a strong testimony yet, and thought maybe she would be ready in three months. When we told her we were going home next Thursday and this was probably the last time we would meet with her, she was anxious to know if someone would replace us to continue teaching them. We assured her that two sister missionaries would be coming to replace us and they would be glad to continue with her. We were glad to have that established and that she wanted the missionaries to come. We told her we would be speaking in sacrament meeting Sunday and she said she and her kids would be there. We asked India to say the closing prayer and taught her and Deborah how to pray. She was too bashful and asked her mother to give them an example of how it was done, so Jasmin offered it.

When we got back to Schaffhausen, we were a little early to go meet Franz Maier, so we went home briefly. An hour later we met Franz, where we usually meet him, in the Manor Restaurant. As soon as we said hello and got settled, he pulled out some photos of a female who he claimed was an international fugitive wanted for manslaughter. He said she lives in Schaffhausen and that he reported her to the police, but nothing has happened to her. She’s still running around loose. He continued his normal theme about how governments are crooked, the banks take all our money and etc etc etc. He surprised us by inviting his wife to meet us today and a half hour into our meeting with him, she arrived. She’s a very nice lady and thinks Franz is too critical of everything, that he takes it too seriously. He, on the other hand, thinks she’s naive and sticks her head in the sand. After she finished her lunch she had to go back to work, but not before Franz told her Sunday will be our last Sunday and would she come to Church with him. She agreed and so that’s another commitment for Sunday. We carried on the conversation with him for another half hour and then he surprised us. He asked us why we came on our mission and who pays for it. We had the opportunity to bear our testimonies, talk about the gathering of Isreal and our responsibility as members of the true Church to bring the gospel to all peoples. Finally it was time to go and we left with his promise ringing in our ears that “absolutely we’ll come to Church Sunday.”

We were going to go to Jestetten one last time to spend the rest of our Euros on groceries, but we missed the train. We decided to just go home and continue our task to getting things ready to go home. It has been raining all day anyway and wasn’t a good day to be out and about, especially with groceries. When we got home, I changed, gathered up all the plastic and glass bottles and cans, put them into my backpack to take to the recycle bins by Migros. There was also a bag of old shoes other missionaries had left in the basement as well as a bag of overcoats, belts and bedding. Missionaries have been asked to get rid of everything, when they are transferred, but it seems they don’t get around to it. We did it for them. With the backpack on my back, a big bag in each hand, I climbed the stairway to heaven and continued on up to Hochstrasse where there were some collection bins for clothes and shoes. It wasn’t a big problem to donate them. I walked the half hour to Migros and also got rid of the cans, bottles and containers. While I was there, I bought some more garbage bag stamps because we were almost out. We’ll need them to get rid of all the other crap that’s been left here (in the basement storage room) which we’ll do through the normal weekly garbage pick up.

We noticed yesterday a lot of inch and a half long green worms eating on the leaves of some plants by the front door of our house. We didn’t have an opportunity to tell our landlords about it until this afternoon. Jakob was working on the front door, when we got home, which is right next to the plants so we showed them to him. He in turn got his wife and showed her. They were amazed they hadn’t noticed them and said they had never had a problem with them before. The little bounders are fast eaters because they had just about stripped the plant bare from yesterday to today.

It’s only 8:45 right now and we’re just about done with the journal entry. It seems kind of odd, but by the time we add photos and post it, it’ll probably be 9:30. Hopefully, we’ll get to bed early because we have another meeting with Emely at 9:00 in the morning.

Jungfrau above Grindelwald; Diana & Madeleine; Robert, Diana, Silvia & Sylvain Gardedieu.

AUGUST 4, 2010 WEDNESDAY

After my walk this morning we spent some time going through things deciding what to take, what to throw away and what to leave behind. Where did all this stuff come from? We have been careful not to buy much, but it seems to have multiplied while we weren’t looking.

Diana called Suwang, our little Thai friend from Altstetten, to tell her goodbye and that we were leaving in a few days. She did everything she could to convince us to come visit her, but we just don’t have time. It would take most of a day to make the trip both ways and have a little time to visit. She was sad, but understood finally. She said she’s come visit us in America.

Madeleine needed some help to move a few things in her apartment and Diana promised her we’d come today to do it. We arrived in Schwamendingen about 1:30, did what we could, and then came back home for our appointment with the Gardedieus this evening. Madeleine is another friend who is hard to say goodbye to, but she is in the good hands of the Schwamendingen ward members.

We got home at 5:00 and were able to collect a few things to take to the Gardedieus, rest for about thirty minutes and then we were off again. We arrived in Schleitheim at 6:30 then walked the fifteen minutes up the hill to their home. Sylvain had a wonderfully delicious dinner prepared for us consisting of a traditional green salad with a viniagaret dressing, poached fish covered with a shrimp sauce along with a side of basmatti rice. We had a great time talking about our time together while we were enjoying the meal. They both asked us questions about our mission experiences, beginning with our application and then the MTC training. They both would like to serve a mission as a senior couple, when the time is right. The time went all too fast, but before it got too dark, Silvia insisted on taking a phot of us on their front lawn. Silvia gave Diana a red silk scarf with an Edelweis flower design on it. She said each flower represented a prayer that had been offered in their behalf. We finally had to say goodbye because we needed to catch our bus. We’ll see them at least one more time at Church next Sunday.

We got back home at 10:15 p.m. and before we could start our journal, first Roxsan skyped us, but she couldn’t hear a thing we were saying. Then Rebecca called and we talked to her for fifteen minutes and then Roxsan called us back. This time we could communicate. It started to hail there and Rees went out and brought in hailstones and some were as big as quarters. And that about brings us to the end of our day.

Paul Hunziker; Diana, Robert, Elders Neuffer (bending), Bushnell, Sills, Dahneke; Bears in Singen

AUGUST 3, 2010 TUESDAY

After we posted our journal last night we noticed our phone blinking which meant we had a message waiting. Elder Neuffer had left us a message telling us what our assignment was for tomorrow’s district meeting. He said he was sorry he didn’t get us the assignment sooner, but he wasn’t as sorry as we were. Diana’s assignment was to pick the opening song and say the opening prayer. My assignment was to provide training in the German language to increase their ability to teach. So, being it was too late to get something prepared last night, I spent the morning preparing. That meant this morning Diana was on her own to make the sloppy Joe mix and get the rest ready for lunch today for after our district meeting. I prepared a list of idioms in English with the German counterpart with the goal that they match them up. I finished in time to shower and get ready before the missionaries arrived fifteen minutes early. Diana had everything ready, too, and the sloppy Joe filling was absolutely delicious (she had me taste test it).

Elders Bushnell & Sills and Elders Dahneke & Neuffer all arrived at the same time and, since we were all present, we began the meeting early. Elder Neuffer needs some practice in preparing an agenda, giving assignments, remembering who he assigned to do what, and conducting a meeting in the right way. With time he’ll learn all of these things and be a great leader. He asked Diana for the opening song and then asked me to offer the opening prayer which was actually part of Diana’s assignment. But, respecting the office of the district leader, we obediently did what he asked us to do without the slightest hesitation or correction. By the end of the meeting I knew he had forgotten what he asked me to do. After the meeting was over I asked him if I could give the German tip next week because I already had it prepared. It dawned on him that he’d totally forgotten my real assignment, apologized profusely and assented to my request.

Part of the meeting involved spotlighting someone. Because we are going home soon, Elder Neuffer focused on us this time. He passed out two pieces of paper to each elder and asked them to write something about us, fold them and then give them to us. Diana read them one by one and this is what they wrote:
“You’re always willing to share what’s important to you.”
“Sister Larson, your meals and sweet spirit always brightened our day. Your German is pretty darned good, too.”
“Elder Larson, you’re like a father to us. The help, guidance and haircuts were all extremely appreciated.”
“Senior couple Larson, it’s gonna get warmer when you leave. Why? Because you’re so cool! Like cooler than the underside of the pillow cool.”
“You have been a great strength to our district as missionaries.”
“You set a great example for other missionaries and those you meet.”
“The Larsons are a hard working, missionary, married, converting team; they are very good examples and are......”
“Every time the Larsons get out of bed in the morning, Satan says “Oh, crap!”
“You guys work so well together you’ve never been transferred away from each other.”

What great missionaries we have. We gave each one a red T-shirt with the white Swiss flag on the front and the word Schweiz (Switzerland) on the back. They all seemed excited to get one and wanted a district photo wearing them.

After they were gone we got our stuff together to go visit Paul. We bought him some groceries yesterday, when we went to Erzlingen. We took him some frozen chicken, hamburger, butter, milk, cans of soup, flour, leftover sloppy Joe and a couple of buns. He was happy to get it, but was especially happy to see the butter. He said he’d run out a couple weeks ago. There’s a story that goes with the hamburger that shows the Lord is in our lives a lot more than we think. He cares about us and helps us with our decisions, if we pay attention. And this time we did. As we were looking at the hamburger deciding which to buy, we first selected the mixed meat kind (beef and pork) which was about fifty cents a package cheaper than the beef hamburger. Anyone who knows us would expected we would buy the cheapest and we actually put the mixed meat kind in our cart. But then we had a change of heart and put it back and got the all beef kind. Why? We didn’t know or really think about it, we just did it. When we got to Pauls and took everything out of the sack and put it on his table, he looked at the ingredients and was glad to see that the hamburger was all beef. He said he was allergic to pork. How’s that for a testimony builder.

We spent an hour and a half with him listening to his life’s experiences as well as talking about the gospel and the influence Jesus has had in our lives. He gave us a card that he’d made himself as a token of his appreciation and hoped we’d remember him after we returned home. We won’t ever forget Paul.

We had a little bit of time after we got home to prepare for our next appointment which was with Claudia Clavadetscher. We had a good meeting with her, bearing testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and teaching about the first principles and ordinances of the gospel. We read and discussed 2 Kings Chapter 2 focusing on the priesthood keys, recognizing and sustaining prophets. We read and discussed the story of Naaman and Elischa which teaches us to have faith, repent, be baptized by immersion and be cleansed by the Holy Ghost, and that we all can open our mouths to proclaim the gospel as did the young Isrealite girl who had been taken captive. We read most of 2 Nephi 31 and then invited her to follow the example of Jesus and be baptized by someone having the authority of the priesthood. We didn’t quite get a commitment, but she said she’d come to Church next Sunday. We feel she is close to baptism and hope the missionaries replacing us will be able to help her make the final step.

When we got off the bus at our stop, we talked to a young black man who was looking for an address in the area. We spoke to him in German, but then he asked us if we spoke English. We switched to English and, before he took off to catch up with his friends, we gave him an English Book of Mormon. He was in too big of a hurry to get an address or anything.

Back at home working on our journal, we received a call from Markus Wachter, the husband of Dora, who is a less-active member in the Schwamendingen Ward. Elders Stucki & Christensen had just been there and told them we were leaving soon. He called to chastize us for trying to leave Switzerland without saying goodbye to them. We told him we wouldn’t of let that happen, but were waiting for them to call us as they had promised the last time we visited them. We both had a chuckle and then at the end of our conversation agreed to meet in the airport just before we leave on August 12. We wish he’d make the decision to be baptized which would help Dora to become more active.

And that kind of sums up our day. All in all, a good day.

Greta, Andreas, Bea, Susan, Manuel; Greta, Dorothea, Carla, Vivian, Lukas, Andreas; Singen bear

AUGUST 2, 2010 MONDAY

Since today was P-day and we didn’t get to bed until well after midnight last night, we slept in a little this morning. However, I was out the door for my morning walk by 8:00, this time up the road towards the Herblingen Castle. I go as fast away from our apartment as I can get within a half hour and then turn around and come back. Along the way I do about four reps of modified pushups and try to break my record each day. Today I made 85 pushups which beat the previous record by five.

When I got home, we checked the emails and saw one from Neide. She wrote to tell us that she wouldn’t be able to attend the temple until September 4 at the earliest. She asked us if we could stay that long so we could go with her. We had to tell her we were already registered with Switzerland to leave on August 12 because our visas had expired and we couldn’t change it. We didn’t promise, but we told her to let us know when she’s ready and the date is set, and we’ll try to come back, if we can arrange it.

Diana cut my hair and then I was barely able to get ready in time to catch the bus. It was Diana’s P-day to choose something to do and she chose to spend it in Singen, Germany, just to see what was there. We’ve been there several times for conferences, but never had time to look around or explore. We met Charlotte at the bahnhof and then traveled together to Singen. We walked around town exploring different stores, but we didn’t buy anything until right at the very last. Diana had 4.35 Euro in small change, mostly of the copper variety, and wanted to get rid of it. We stopped in a bread store and bought some butter rolls for .15 each which was less than half of what they would have cost in Switzerland. We were hungry, too, so we went into a grocery store and bought some nectarines, blue berries, pistachio milk and some sliced bread to snack on. For some reason there were a lot of bear statues placed throughout the town and, of course, that demanded we take photos of them.

By 3:30 we’d had enough and climbed aboard the train bound for Schaffhausen. On the way there Diana decided we needed to go to Erzlingen to buy some more groceries from the Penny Markt store. Most of what we bought we’re going to take to Paul tomorrow when we visit him including two bags of frozen chicken, two packages of hamburger and several pounds of butter. To that we’ll add several liters of milk and some chocolate wafer sticks. I bought some more Mueller Milk, yogurt and fruit while Diana bought some chocolate mint wafers for gifts when we are invited to dinner. When we had as much as I could carry, we went on home. At the Schaffhausen Bahnhof Charlotte caught her train and we caught our bus and went home.

We had a couple of hours to change, put together a spiritual thought and then we left to go to our dinner appointment with the Flammias. When we arrived, Philippo was standing out on the sidewalk and greeted us as we got off the bus. We should have suspected something, but naive people that we are, we didn’t. We hadn’t eaten all day expecting to be treated to a dinner tonight. As we went into his house we heard singing coming from his living room and we saw Dorothea and Greta sitting on the couch. I thought maybe we were interrupting some kind of meeting or something, but we found out soon enough that the singing was for our benefit. The branch had organized a surprise going away party for us. Now how sweet is that? We really didn’t suspect a thing.

Rather than each of them having their own home evening, they had one together. The opening prayer was said and then the time was turned over to us for the spiritual thought. We showed the 20 minute film, The Bridge which is about the atonement. After that we played a few games, had dessert and then visited for quite awhile. Susan Flammia made sure we won a few prizes including cookie cutters in the shape of Switzerland and edelweiss, and Carla Wigger and Sister Troesch gave Diana go-away gifts, too. Carla’s was cookies, chocolate and a little glass angel. Sister Troesch gave her a small beautifully hand stitched cloth to put on a table. We were really appreciative of their thoughtfulness. We’re going to miss them.

Everyone left about 9:30 except the Flammias, of course, us and Yvonny and we sat around and talked until 10:00. Yvonny took us home, but before we left, Pres. Flammia asked Diana and I to speak in sacrament meeting again, each for about ten minutes. He left it up to us to decide what to talk on which always makes it harder, at least for me.

It drizzled most of the afternoon and was still drizzling as we got home. It was a great day

Draw bridges at Lenzburg castle; edelweis, the Swiss flower; Lenzburg castle on the hill.

AUGUST 1, 2010 SUNDAY

I almost decided not to go in to the church early this morning, but because I needed to unlock the door for Michael, I overcame my moment of weakness, showered, shaved, got ready, offered our morning prayer together with Diana and was out the door by 6:50. I carried the bag that had the suit, ties and sweater I was giving to Michael in it, but it didn’t slow me down much. I arrived at the church at 7:30 and started filling out our weekly report. Michael normally arrives at 8:00, but this morning he didn’t come. What? He didn’t come and didn’t call me? Oh well, it was better to get the report done and not have to worry about it later. By the time I was finished it was about time for fast and testimony meeting to begin, but when I went down to greet everyone, Paul Hunziker wasn’t among those present. I found out he was ill and couldn’t come, so that meant I had the Sunday school lesson by myself. Dorthea picked up Diana on her way which is always nice for Diana because she doesn’t have to ride the bus, and nice for me because I don’t have to run down to the bahnhof to escort Diana back up the hill.

There were many missing from the meeting today because of vacations, illness and such so our numbers were few. After the opening song, prayer and sacrament came the testimony part of the meeting. When Pres. Flammia conducts, he not only bears his testimony, but also gives a talk which takes ten to fifteen minutes or so. Members who bore testimony following him were Diana, me, Sylvain, Brother Pederson and Dorothea which took up the rest of the time. All too soon came time for Sunday school to begin. It seemed no sooner had we started than it was time to close. Where did the time go? And why didn’t we have time to cover everything that we should have?

Following the meeting Dorothea dropped us off at home. For lunch we heated up a frozen pizza Paul had given us a couple of weeks ago and then read the Doyles and Kroffs blogs that we were too tired to read last night and then came the emails. After that Diana took a nap while I got a spiritual thought ready for Dorothea tonight and the Flammias tomorrow night. We also printed off some of the photos of Mary Elia’s baptism for her and for the Neidharts, who were the ones that made first contact with her. We left for our 6:00 dinner appointment with Dorothea at 5:45 not remembering the buses don’t run on the same schedule on Sundays as other days. As a result we were seven minutes late.

Dorothea had a good looking green salad ready for us when we arrived and so we didn’t waste any time saying the blessing and getting started. Following the salad, she cooked a thick pork chop for each of us and served it along with seasoned rice and sauteed peppers. We thought we were done, but then she brought us in another plate of rice with a stuffed tomato on it. She explained that she had planned on just doing the pork chops, but forgot and made the stuffed tomatoes. She didn’t know what to do with the pork chops other than cook them for us, so we ended up with both. It was all very delicious, but it was way too much, especially for us who are trying to keep from gaining weight. The dessert after didn’t help me very much either. When she asked Diana if she wanted dessert, Diana said no thanks. Dorthea forgot and dished her up some anyway. The dessert was two scoops of ice cream with currants and raspberries. Since Diana has given up sugar, and we didn’t want to hurt Dorothea’s feelings, I ended up eating the four scoops of ice cream (mine and Diana’s) along with my berries. Just what I needed, not! It was all delicious and we appreciated her kindness, but I’ll have to fast tomorrow to make up for it.

Dorothea came with us Friday to visit Carla Sprenger and someway she got the idea during that visit that Diana and I would sing The Lord Is My Shepherd in Sacrament meeting next Sunday. So after dinner we practiced singing it over and over. Dorothea decided she would sing with us, making it a trio, rather than try to play the piano accompaniment. We’ll try and sing it a capella. This ought to be good! Finally, Dorothea got out her violin and played us a few songs on it. She hasn’t played it for a long time, but she still plays very well.

Before we left Elder Neuffer called to get our teaching statistics for the week. We told him we were just on our way home and we’d call him back when we got there. Dorothea insisted on driving us home rather than letting us wait for the bus. It was just about dark (9:15) and the fireworks had just started. Today is the Swiss national holiday celebrating the founding of the Swiss confederation. They celebrate it just as we celebrate July 4. When we got home, we called Elder Neuffer and gave him our numbers. We also sent an email to Pres. Condie to give him an update on our status (we’re still alive). We got a message off our answer machine from Silvia inviting us to dinner on Wednesday evening. We’ll call her tomorrow to confirm.

We have experienced the tender mercies of the Lord through the hands of the members here in the Schaffhausen Branch as well as the Schwamendingen Ward. We are truly fortunate to be serving a mission among them.

The Swiss Temple; Elder & Sister Larson with Charlotte Stoecklin; Irene Moeller-Russo and Bishop Alvin Schwendener with Charlotte.

JULY 31, 2010 SATURDAY

The alarm came sooner than we wanted, but up we jumped to get ready for this long awaited day. Actually, I was the first to get up at 4:30 and after I was done with the bathroom, Diana was up at 5:00. No time for breakfast, but we put some apples, nectarines and pears in my backpack for later. We caught the bus at 5:47 for Schaffhausen, the train at 6:07 for Zurich, switched to another train that took us to Bern and switched to another train that took us to Zollikofen. From there we walked to the temple and arrived at 8:20 which gave us time to greet everyone, members and missionaries alike, then change and get ready for the session. Elder Vincent and his companion were there as promised as well as another companionship. Charlotte was already there and had completed the other ordinances that needed to be done before the session began. I wondered as I sat in the endowment room how Charlotte would react to her first time going through to receive her endowment. A wonderful feeling of peace came over me that bore witness to me that this is the Lord’s House and His work, and that I didn’t need to worry about Charlotte. After the session was over she shed tears of joy that she couldn’t hold back. It was a day that she will always remember and neither will we. The temple president, knowing it was Charlotte’s first time in the temple, invited her to sit in on a sealing session so she could experience that ordinance, too. Charlotte’s husband died seven years or so ago and she looks forward to the time when she can be sealed to him.

Before we left the temple grounds everyone took a lot of photos and then we divided up into cars and went back to Charlotte’s. Diana and I rode with Rolf and Christa Aeberli in their BMW and on the way back they took us to the Lenzburg Castle. We’ve ridden past it many times going to and coming back from the temple, but have never had the opportunity to stop and explore. We parked in an underground parking lot at the base of the hill and then walked around the “old town” before we climbed the hill to the castle. We love walking the old narrow streets and in this town, there were many evidences of the old walls that used to protect the town in Mediaeval times. Portions of the walls were incorporated into newer buildings.

The hike up to the castle was accomplished via a portion of cobblestone road, then paved road with an occasional shortcut using steep granite stairs. We took photos of the castle from different angles and elevations as well as overviews of the town of Lenzburg. Right before we entered the castle we walked over a drawbridge, the first one we remember seeing. The one we walked over was for horses and wagons, but next to it was one for only people walking single file. We went inside to where we could look into the courtyard, but because we didn’t have enough time (we would have needed several hours) and the cost was too much for the few minutes we did have, we looked and then returned to the car and went on our way.

By the time we got to Charlotte’s at 3:00, most of the people who were at the temple (except for the missionaries who had to stay in their proselyting areas around Bern) were there. We joined in the celebration and had a good time renewing friendships. Mary came and brought a lot of food for tomorrow’s get-together and, while she was there, we gave her some more of her baptism photos she requested. We talked with Pres. Bolt and Bishop Schwendener who said they had meetings scheduled with Neide to interview her for her temple recommend. Hopefully, Neide will be able to go to the temple next Saturday. Pres. Bolt said he’d already made arrangement with Brother Locher to organize a session for her next Saturday. If all goes well, Pres. Bolt will give us a call and let us know for sure.

We arrived home about 6:30 fairly exhausted from today’s emotional highs and the side trip to the castle. But no rest for me. Paul called and said he’d be at Church tomorrow ready to give his part of the lesson. We talked for about a half hour on the phone. After that I spent another hour and a half working on my part of the lesson and his part as well, just in case he needs some help. Teaching lessons in Church is not my favorite thing to do, but when the Lord calls, we answer. Right? Hopefully, the members will learn something and won’t have to suffer too much.

We forgot to put in our blog yesterday that Leroy Lloyd passed away the other day. We don’t have any details, but it’s sad to lose one of our great scouters and a good friend, too. He’s done so much good in his life and influenced thousands of young men.

The tender mercy of the Lord today is that Charlotte was finally able to receive her endowment. She realized the things you work the hardest for, are all the more precious and sweet.