Diana & Madeline, friends forever; Diana Robert Elders Irick, Nilsson, Dias, Dockstader, Madeline & Charlotte; Roesti & French toast.

JANUARY 1, 2010 FRIDAY

It was way past midnight before we got home last night (early this morning) and writing our journal for the last day of the year was out of the question. In spite of the late hour getting to bed, I was up at 7:00, read the last fifteen chapters in Job, shaved and showered and was ready to write it by 9:00. Getting the entry written, the photos downloaded onto the computer and everything onto Blogspot and posted usually takes over an hour. So I got to work and when I had finished writing the journal, Diana reviewed it, as she always does, to see if she wants to add anything from her perspective or clarify anything I have already written. We got all of this done and then began working on the lunch (belated breakfast) we were sponsoring today.

Elders Irick and Nilsson called to confirm what time they should be here and Diana called some others to make sure they new the time. We pulled the table extensions out, got a new paper tablecloth on it and got it all set. After that Diana cracked eggs and made up the egg wash for the French toast while I grated the potatoes we cooked yesterday to make the roesti (hashbrowns). At noon we started cooking the hashbrowns and had them finished and in the oven to keep hot by 12:15. I had just started heating up the frying pans to start cooking the French toast when Madeline arrived. From then on Diana did the entertaining while I continued to cook the toast. We planned on frying the toast and putting them in the oven to keep hot until everybody arrived and that plan worked to perfection. By the time I had the last piece of French toast cooked, everybody but Daniella & Peter Martin had arrived. Diana called Daniella and found out she had forgotten about the invitation. We invited her while she was in rehab in Davos before she came home, so it was understandable that it had slipped her mind. They said they’d be right over, but we decided to go ahead and start without them.

French toast, in spite of it’s name, is an American dish and not known here in Switzerland as far as we can tell. Madeline had never had it before either and they were especially interested in the maple syrup, especially when they found out Diana had made it from scratch. The Martins, Charlotte and Madeline wanted to know how she made it and so we showed them the bottle of corn syrup and mapeline extract bottle. Diana explained how she used these two things plus sugar and water to make the syrup. They had never seen corn syrup or mapeline extract in stores and we explained it’s not easy to find corn syrup and we’ve never seen the extract anywhere to buy it. The mapeline we had was imported from the USA sent to us by our children Diana graciously gave Madeline a bottle of our corn syrup hoard and the rest of the mapeline extract. They were also impressed we made the roesti from scratch and had cooked it in the Swiss style. We forgot to take photos before we dug in, but if you look close on the blog, you’ll be able to see kind of how it looks before eating. It’s amazing how much food four missionaries and six adults can put away in mere minutes. The Martins arrived and enjoyed all they wanted before it was all gone.

Nobody is really anxious to go home after a meal and it’s nice to sit around and just talk and enjoy the company. Today is an off day for missionaries, too, because of the partying that goes on among the gentiles, but they go back to work at 6:00. Madeline was supposed to have had her baptism interview yesterday, but she forgot and went to her friend’s to get her hair braided into corn rows for her baptism Sunday. Elder Knight made another appointment for tonight at 7:00 and he’ll call us when it’s over to let us know if it’s a go for Sunday.

Last fall Daniella took us on a yodeling tour with her yodeling club which we enjoyed immensely. Today she gave the missionaries yodeling lessons, but they didn’t do so well. It takes more than a few minute lesson to be able to sing it like they do. Daniella also told us next June there was going to be a “Yodeling Fest” or celebration in which clubs come from all over Switzerland come to sing on the streets in there particular county traditional uniforms. She said they also dress up their cows and march them through the streets like when they bring them off the mountains in the fall. She didn’t know the exact date, but was going to try and get it for us.

The tender mercy for today is that we have survived into another year in which we can go forward in our efforts to repent and make progress.