Madeleine & her friends; Diana and Madeleine after her baptism; E. Larson, E. Nilsson, Madeleine, E. Irick just before her baptism.

JANUARY 3, 2010 SUNDAY

We had to take a lot of stuff to Church today and it was all that we could carry. Madeleine’s baptism was scheduled for 1:00, almost right after Sacrament meeting so we had all the goodies to take for it. Fruit cake, brownies, hazelnuess staenglis, cookies and the icing for the brownies were part of the load. In addition I had my white clothes for the baptism, five song books we borrowed from the Church for home evening and our two satchels with our scriptures and lesson manuals. All in all a pretty big load for both of us. We unloaded the goodies in the Church kitchen, the white clothes in the men’s change room and then went to the correlation meeting. Part of the meeting was discussing the details of Madeleine’s baptism today. Normally it only takes one priesthood holder to baptize the candidate, but in Madeleine’s case, she wanted two of us in the font. Elder Irick would do the actual ordinance and I would be there to make sure she got back up out of the water. Madeleine has a knee that gives her a lot of pain and she can’t bend it and Elder Irick is pretty skinny, so she just felt better with a second person assisting.

We let Bishop Schwendener know this morning that we had been transferred to Schaffhausen and he seemed genuinely sorry to see us go. Since today was Fast Sunday, we expected that he would let the ward know and ask us to bear our testimonies, but that didn’t happen. Instead he announced the release of the Relief Society presidency and the Primary presidency and the new sisters who had been called. Sister Esther Ryser (RS) was released and Irene Russo was called. Sister Emma Schmid (Primary) was released and Sister Danielle Schwendener was called. They were all asked to bear their testimonies which took up most of the time for bearing testimonies. We’ll be here for next Sunday and that’s when he’ll announce our transfer. Many of the members who are close to us already know and they are sad to see us go, but they know we aren’t really that far away. After having time to think about and get used to the idea of a transfer, we are looking forward to the change. We’ve contacted almost all of the less-active members here in this ward and been to all of the members homes and we were beginning to wonder if we shouldn’t be out knocking on doors or doing street contacting like the young missionaries do. We’ve done some street contacting, but were not looking forward to knocking doors. In Schaffhausen we’ll have a brand new member list to start over with. Exciting, gael?

After Sacrament meeting the bishop wanted an hour to have time to set apart the new presidencies and we needed the time to get the big banquet table out and all of the goodies set out. It’s incredible how many people bring food and help to get things ready. The Wichtermann’s are always in the kitchen and Norma does her share, too. Diana fits right in with this group, cutting, icing, putting food on trays and generally helping out wherever.

When it was time to dress, Madeleine, Elder Irick and I went to our dressing rooms and dressed in our whites and got ready. Madeleine invited five of her friends to come and she wanted to get some photos with them. Her friends are very supportive and they also came to the sacrament service prior to the baptism. The baptismal service was spot on and everyone there felt the spirit of the occasion. The service was in English except for the talk given by Sister Schwendener and the welcome into the ward by Bishop Schwendener both done in French with German interpreters for the congregation. Madelineine’s mother tongue is French and she understands English better than German.

When it came time for the baptism, Diana escorted Madeleine in through the door to the top of the stairs leading into the font. Elder Irick and I went into the men’s side and I went to the to of the stairs. I thought Elder Irick was following me, but he instead made a beeline for one of the commodes in the restroom. I couldn’t wait for him to come back because Madeleine was already standing at the top of the stairs on the women’s side. I went down the stairs into the water expecting it to be a little on the warm side. That’s what I always did at home when I was in charge of baptisms so it would be comfortable for those being baptized. However, the water was very cold and I knew it would be a surprise for Madeleine. She waited patiently at the top of the stairs until I got over there and then I warned her before she stepped down into the water that it was going to be cold. She gave a little gasp, but she bravely kept on coming down into the font. By then Elder Irick caught up and we both escorted her to the middle and got arranged for the baptism. Elder Irick said the prayer with a little hesitation in the middle of it and then she was baptized under the water. When she went into the cold water, it was all we could do to make sure she went clear under before she came back up almost without any of our help. The witnesses declared the baptism valid and we were very glad because we didn’t want to have to do it over again. We escorted her back over to the steps and Diana helped her back up into the change room. While we were changing back into dry clothes, Elder Irick mentioned that it wasn’t a good time to get sick right in the middle of a baptism. That was the reason for his quick departure to the commode and the pause in the middle of the prayer.

Women usually take much longer than men to change, but in this case Madeleine was dressed and waiting for us when we came back out into the meeting room. She didn’t have to do anything with her hair because it was all braided. The meeting continued and when it was over, Diana offered a very thoughtful closing prayer including the blessing of the food. Then came the refreshments and the socializing. Madeleine’s friends were very appreciative and expressed their thanks for the friendship she had found within the Church, and that they felt we all had been sent by God to Madeleine. Prior to today they had had concerns about what Madeleine was getting into, but now, after having experienced the Church service and the warm fellowship and acceptance of its members, they felt she was in the right place with the right people.

During this day many people have expressed their love and gratitude for us and we, in turn, expressed our love and gratitude for them for the love and support they had given us during our short time here. Eventually, we had to say goodbye to the few who stayed longer the we did and then we went home. On the way home we remembered I had forgotten my white clothes so I went back and got them a little later, took them home and dried them.

I got on the computer and made a few more entries on the member list report and then printed all 46 pages. We had made arrangements for the four missionaries to come over and discuss the ones we felt important for the missionaries to continue to focus on. We spent the next two and a half hours going over that list making sure they understood how much work we had put in to finding, teaching and fellowshipping these special people and how much they meant to us. With the new focus on working with less-active members, we hope none of these members fall through the cracks again.

After they left it kind of settled down and we began working on this journal entry. Things were moving along fairly well when all of a sudden the skype icon came on with the familiar bong bong. Everything stops when one of our beloved children call; this time it was Monica. We had a very good and welcome conversation with her and before we were through, we got to talk to Jade, Robby and Remington and heard Chris in the background. It was good to catch up on all the news and doings of the Greer family and we’re grateful Monica’s back is somewhat better.

Earlier Diana called Priscilla to see why she wasn’t in Church today and discovered she was sick again, this time with pain in her kidney area. She plans on seeing the doctor tomorrow. We tried to call the Zone Leaders to give them this information, but they didn’t pick up. Our home phone rang and I picked it up and Ewa Neidhart was on the other end. While I was talking to her, the ZL’s called back on our cell. This place was a madhouse for a few minutes. Diana gave the ZL’s the information on Priscilla, and Ewa wanted to come over and get a copy of Jona’s email from off our computer. How could we say no to her? She arrived at 10:00 p.m. in time to talk to Monica on Skype for awhile and when Monica decided she had been patient long enough, she hung up. Ewa is a special person whom we’ll really miss. She finally wound down and left to walk home somewhere around 11:30 and now we’re done with this journal entry at 12:30 a.m. It’s a good thing it’s P-day tomorrow and we can at least sleep in in the morning. However, we need to be at the mission home at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon to ride with Pres. Matern and Bro. Klaumunzner to look at our new Schaffhausen apartment. Between now and then we also have to come up with a game for our Monday night family home evening. Oh well.

We felt it a real blessing to be associated with the baptism of Madeleine and to experience another of God’s children enter the waters of baptism. Next Sunday she’ll be confirmed a member of the Church and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost through the laying on of hands by someone with Priesthood authority.

The video clip is French being spoken and translated into German. This is mainly for the Doyles who are serving in the Geneva Swiss mission.