JANUARY 20, 2010 WEDNESDAY

During my walk this morning I located an ALDI and now all we do is have to find a LiDL. Then we will have all of the grocery stores to choose from, Migros, COOP, Denners, ALDI and LiDL. Now how good is that? It didn’t seem to be too cold this morning, but as the day progressed it became bitter cold.

We’ve spent enough time moving, cleaning, organizing, going to zone conference and P-day, so now it was time to get back to work. We were given a member list last Sunday to work with and we found old member lists with notations on them that may help us to understand who are missing friends and who are active. We worked at plotting the addresses of those living in Schaffhausen on a map, but it was a lot harder doing it this way than it was using Google Maps. With Google Maps we just had to plug in our address and the address we wanted to visit and not only the map came up, but also the bus connections and directions on how to get there did as well. Just as we were going to leave our apartment to go find a couple of members, Brother Klaumuenzner called and asked if he and his wife could come visit us to bring us some bedding and to also see what else we may need in the way of furniture. We made arrangements to be home at 6:00 to meet them and since they were coming directly from the mission home, we told him we would have dinner prepared for them.

We rode the bus into the bahnhof and then set out on foot to find Nerina Fleury. The GPS guided us into the old town part of Schaffhausen which wasn’t too far away. We would have enjoyed the cobblestone streets, old buildings, quaint businesses and great fountains if it wouldn’t of been soooo freezing cold. The address wasn’t difficult to find, but no one was home. We couldn’t even leave a message because the mailboxes must have been inside the building. We couldn’t find any outside. From there we continued down the street, turned left, went through the tunnel under the street and railroads to the other side of the bahnhof. It only took us twenty or twenty five minutes to walk to Franz & Anita Maier’s home and by the time we got there, we were frozen. They weren’t home either, but this time we were able to leave a note letting them know we had been by and that we would call them later this evening.

We walked back and went down into the tunnel to get back to the other side, but this time we stopped in a little jewelry store because the warmth coming out of the doors as people went in and out was so inviting. We went in and looked around long enough to warm up a little and then out we went again. We noticed a Migros store and, since we needed bread and salad fixin’s for dinner, we stopped long enough to buy some. We traveled back home and began preparing dinner for the Klaumuenzners. We got a call from Elder Nilsson & Irick who were at Madeleine’s and they were trying to help her understand how to fill out her tithing slip. They were unfamiliar with some words on it so we went over how to fill it out. Madeleine said hi and we let her know we were still okay, but we missed her and the other members in Zurich. We told her the members here had treated us well and had welcomed us with open arms.

The Klaumuenzners arrived at 7:00 and brought three bags of sheets, towels, blankets, pillows and a box of drinking glasses. Br. Klaumuenzner saw this apartment when the other missionaries lived here and he was amazed at how well it looks now. They have a dinette set in their garage in Frauenfeld that they are just dying to get rid of because it’s taking up space there. They insisted it would look good in our living room and so tomorrow we’ll go to Frauenfeld to help him load it and bring it here. We hope it will fit up the three flights of stairs as it gets pretty skinny in spots.

For dinner Diana fixed them a green salad followed by a wonderful meal of taco mix with beans, hamburger and tomatoes over rice, buttered steamed carrots, bread and vanilla pudding topped with raspberries. They were grateful for the meal as they had little time even for lunch. It seems they have a new financial program that is not working very well. They used it to pay all the bills this month and for some reason, everything was returned so the bills didn’t actually get paid which has called a lot of problems. For example, all of the phone service for the missionaries in Germany was shut off for lack of payment and that is not good. All of the landlords are clamoring for their rent and etc. We wonder if the missions in other parts of the world Geneva and Argentina) are having the same problems. They were so tired that reluctantly, they finally had to leave to get home.

We are grateful for the care and concern for our well being that Sister Matern and the Klaumuenzners have for us. They want to make sure that we are comfortable in our new area of labor.