The meal Paul served us; Paul Hunziker and Elder Larson.

FEBRUARY 18, 2010 THURSDAY

Overnight it rained and then froze leaving a thin layer of ice over everything. As I went out on my early morning walk I wondered if it was wise to continue and contemplated turning back after the first few steps. However, I decided to continue because of the pea gravel they spread on the sidewalks during the winter. It gives a little footing even though it was covered with the ice also. Even though I was slipping and sliding a bit, I made my hour walk without actually falling down.

When we went to Konstanz, we bought some packages of bread mix where only water needed to be added. This morning we mixed one of these up to make two loaves of bread for our appointments today. The first was for Paul Hunziker who invited us for lunch. The other was for Jecelyn who we were visiting this afternoon with Silvia. The bread loaves took a long time to raise and we barely had time to get them baked before we had to leave for our meeting with Paul. While they were raising and baking, we reviewed the lessons we had prepared for him and for Jecelyn. We left the bread in till the last second and then we took it out, bagged up one loaf and left.

Paul was waiting for us when we got to his home with salad already dished up on the table. He is an amazing guy who, even though he’s 77 years old, is a great cook. He dished up our meal which consisted of hash browns, fried fish and green beans. He offered the blessing and then we all dug in. Paul likes to talk and likes to show us the things he’s been able to do. He’s very inventive and showed us several things he made including how he repaired a photograph for a lady, repaired a bible and made a small Lazy Susan for every shelf in his kitchen cupboards, some out of cardboard pizza boxes. He also was very proud that he was wearing a pair of pants that he bought when he was seventeen. Pres. Hinckley would have been proud of him because he follows the counsel to use it up. After lunch we launched into our discussion on baptism. Paul is more of a member than some members although he’s not baptized. We had a heart to heart discussion with him concerning the necessity to follow the example of Christ and be baptized by someone who has the authority to do it. As a basis for our discussion we used 2 Nephi 31. As we discussed this scripture we felt the Spirit and we know Paul did, too. We bore testimony that the Church was true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon was the word of God. Further, we bore testimony that Paul knew, too, and that he should follow the example of Christ and be baptized. He agreed he had a testimony, but wanted to make sure. He said he’d seen others get baptized too soon and fall away and he didn’t want that to happen to him. We told him he shouldn’t wait too long, but before we could finish the sentence, he said it for us. He shouldn’t wait because he could die anytime. He brought up the excuse again that if he got baptized, his other friends wouldn’t come around any more and do bible study with him. We told him that wasn’t true, that he already comes to Church all the time anyway and that hasn’t stopped them yet. He acknowledged that was right and he knew his friends wouldn’t leave him. By this time we felt we had said enough and thought it would be wise to let the spirit work on him. He wrote down the BM reference, hopefully so he could study it in more detail. Before we left we said a prayer with him and had a group hug. He said he would meet us at the meeting place Saturday and Sunday to car pool with us to the stake conference in Schwamendingen.

We hurried home as fast as our buses and feet would take us, made a pit stop, got the other loaf of bread and left again to meet Silvia to ride to Bonndorf/Schwarzewald, Germany, to visit Jecelyn Hoenle. At the Schaffhausen Bahnhof we climbed on bus #21 for Schleittheim. Silvia got on two stops later which was closer to where she works, and we three rode together to Schleittheim. We got off there and Silvia borrowed her mother’s car and we rode the half hour across the German border to Jecelyn’s. As we got to the border Silvia asked us if we had brought our “papers” meaning passports. We had totally forgotten about needing them, but I had my Swiss visa and we both had our Swiss transportation passes that might have helped if we had needed them. Most of the cars at the border are just waved through and that what happened to us for which we were grateful.

When Jecelyn opened the door, she started to cry and we could tell she needed some tender loving care. We all got a chance to hug her and then, when the welcome was over, we had a nice long discussion about her experience, feelings and how comforting it was to know that the Lord is in charge and has given us the knowledge of what happens after this life. Jecelyn is strong in the faith and this experience has strengthened her although it’s been very difficult for her. Having served a mission, she has a deep testimony of the gospel.

Two weeks we visited a person by the name of Hannah Ryter who was borne in the Philippines. She was not ready to come back into activity in the Church, but while we were there, we asked her if the Hoenle’s could visit her to invite her and her two daughters to come to the branch Easter camp. Jecelyn and Karl went there, but she wasn’t home so Jecelyn called her on the phone. As it turned out Hannah was in the stake Young Womens presidency at the same time Jecelyn was in her branch Young Womens presidency so they both knew each other very well. This coming week Jecelyn and Karl have been invited to their home for dinner. Jecelyn is the right person to help Hannah back into activity in the Church. It’s comforting to know the Lord puts people in position to help others for we don’t believe these things happen by chance.

We were there for a couple of hours and stayed long enough to be there when Karl, her husband, got home from work. We had a good chat with him also and then had a prayer and left. Everyone likes to hear Diana pray so she gets to do it a lot. We rode back to Schleittheim, caught the bus and came home.

We were dying to try some of the bread we’d given away, but both Paul and Jecelyn didn’t offer us any. It smelled so good that when we got home, we mixed up another batch and this time made rolls out of it. They turned out much better and we were able to eat a couple of them while they were hot. It doesn’t get any better than that.

The tender mercy of the Lord today is having the knowledge that He knows each one of us and does everything he possibly can to help us return to Him.