Diana & Robert, Ewa & Martin Neidhart; Bern Temple; Elders Larson & Vincent.

JANUARY 8, 2010 FRIDAY

Today we decided we might as well get started packing rather than wait until the last minute. After doing our morning things, we jumped right in. The living room has an entertainment center type piece of furniture with cupboards on both ends, drawers all along the bottom and shelves with swinging doors above where a TV would be if we had one. We used one end and the upper middle shelves for books, Church DVD’s, and such and the other end for dishes, tablecloths, napkins etc. Diana took the dish cupboard and I took the books. When the Horlachers went home, we inherited all of their dishes and silverware. We put most of them in the basement storage room because we really didn’t need them, but we did use some plates. We brought them up so Diana could go through them to see what we could use and what she should leave for the couple replacing us. I went through the books and took the ones we wanted, but also left some good ones for the Walters. Most of the ones we packed up were the ones we brought ourselves.

Next came the food in the pantry and the knives, forks, spoons and other kitchen utensils. In the Horlacher’s stuff was a complete set of silverware so we left everything here that was here when we came. We’ve bought a few things since we’ve been here so we made sure we packed all of that up to take with us. We’re not sure what is already in our new apartment in Schaffhausen. Young missionaries aren’t particular about what they have, but we want to make sure we have what we need in case we invite someone over for dinner. We’ve done quite a bit of that where we are now, so we want to be prepared. Here our apartment is so close to the Church that it was really convenient for the missionaries, investigators and members to come here after the meetings. It was a way to get members and investigators together in a more social setting to get to know one another, but to also continue teaching about the gospel and answering questions along the way. The apartment in Schaffhausen is not very convenient to get to and doesn’t look like it will lend itself to the same kind of activity. We think we’ll really miss the close association with the missionaries, their investigators and the members.

At the first part of our mission Diana was on her own mission to get a two year supply of staple foods and everything else we would need so we wouldn’t have to be bothered with it. She also believes in following the counsel to have food storage in case of emergencies. So moving isn’t a simple task for us. Some of the things she found in the pantry had been here for many years from previous missionary couples. We’ve used some like the dry pack wheat, soup mix, chopped onions and apple slices in gallon cans dated 1994. How they got here we don’t know, but we’ve enjoyed them. We can vouch for their longevity. By late tonight we have most of our stuff packed up and ready to go except for our clothes and even some of those are packed, too.

This afternoon we got a call from Elder Irick asking for some phone numbers and recommendations on who they could visit this afternoon. They wanted to go visit Margarita Maurer, but she’s the hospital having undergone a knee replacement operation today. What are they going to do when we leave? Later in the evening Elder Dias called to make sure we were home and brought us the keys and cell phone for our new apartment. While he was here, he told us they met with one of the investigators Sister Neidhart invited to the ward Christmas party, the one who came to Church the next day with her son and the one I met in the store several days ago. He said they challenged Mary to baptism and she accepted, but they haven’t set a date with her yet.

The next chore we have is to try and use up everything in our fridge and freezer. Tomorrow we’ve invited Priscilla, Neide, Irene, Joerg, and Elders Irick and Nilsson for dinner and maybe we’ll have to invite the four missionaries for lunch after Church Sunday. We don’t think we’ll be able to get it all gone by ourselves.
Martin Neidhart is on bottom left and Mary is the third person with Madeleine sitting between Martin & Mary.

The Neidharts really try hard to do missionary work and it’s a tender mercy to see their efforts pay off. There’s much work to do with Mary, but it looks hopeful.