Rhein River by Schaffhausen; Rhein River close to Konstanz; Konstanz Bahnhof.

FEBRUARY 16, 2010 TUESDAY

Before the elders arrived for the district meeting we grated the potatoes into hash browns, sauteed the onions and added them to the potatoes, cut up the cevelats, added them and then fried the whole mess in the fry pan. The trick is to fry the bottom crispy brown then place a plate over the top, quickly turn it over and dump them onto the plate. Once you have them on the plate, slide it all back into the frying pan and cook until that side is a golden brown. It really looks great if you do it right; tastes good, too. When it was done, we slid it onto a metal tray and put it in the oven to warm up just before we served it. Diana made the hot chocolate and left it on low on the stove to keep it hot. As we got done with the meeting, Diana slid into the kitchen and mixed up the eggs for the French toast. We went to all this trouble to make a nice lunch for them and we wonder why we should bother. Please read further for the rest of the story.

Our current district leader, Elder Holzapfel, and our future district leader after transfers Thursday, Elder Tavake, arrived just after 10:00. We waited and waited for the other two elders, Von Niederhausen and Bentley, to get here. They finally called and said they would not be too long. We waited and waited some more and finally they called again, told us where they were, and asked directions how to get here. They finally arrived an hour late. However, during the hour that we waited for them, we discussed less active members as well as former investigators with Elder Tavake because he served in Schaffhausen about a year ago. We got some good information from him that will be helpful as we continue to serve here.

Diana’s assignment was to pick the opening song and give the opening prayer. My assignment was to pick the closing song and give the closing prayer. The main activity for the district meeting was each missionary gave at least one spiritual thought that we all could use when meeting with members or others. Members expect missionaries to give a spiritual thought after a dinner appointment and it’s nice to be able to have some ideas. Some of the ones given were pretty good and others not so good. When the meeting was over, the two who came late had to leave in a hurry for an appointment so we quickly put some hash browns and French toast on some plastic plates and sent them on their way. The other two tried to do their best, but they didn’t want to eat too much because they had another dinner appointment at 2:00. So we ended up again with more leftovers than we wanted. Elder Tavake said that next week they’d make sure they would have enough time to stay for lunch.

We washed dishes and cleaned up after they left and then went out to find Irma Egli, a less-active member who lives in Neuhausen am Rhein. Bus #1 got us to our destination and this time it was only a short walk to her apartment. When we rang her doorbell, a lady opened it and asked us who we were and what we wanted. We told her who we were and that we wanted to congratulate Irma Egli for her birthday today. We discovered she was the daughter of Irma and she and her mother had just been to lunch and now her mother was taking a shower. She invited us in and we got to know her a little and the longer we talked with her the friendlier she became. She said she didn’t know her mother was a member of our Church. Finally Irma came into the room and asked us how we got her address and how we knew it was her birthday. We told her the branch president, Philippo Flammia, gave it to us and to tell her “happy birthday” for him, too. We found out today was her 81st birthday, is widowed, has a very small pension that just barely provides for her needs, and can’t pay her tithing. She said someone in the branch told her years back that if she couldn’t pay her tithing that she was a bad member and so she quit coming to Church. Now she is unable to go because she can’t walk very well and certainly can’t climb the steep street to the Church. She’s had one hip replacement and is anticipating having the other one replaced in March or April. She will be glad for that because after her first hip replacement, one leg ended up about three inches longer than the other and she’s had trouble walking ever since. She’s hoping when she gets the other hip fixed, both legs will be the same length. (Socialized medicine, anyone?) She goes to see the doctor on March 3 for more x-rays and to set an operation date. She is a very sweet person with a great sense of humor. We asked her if we could come visit her again and she said we could if we could find her home. We offered to come give her a priesthood blessing prior to her upcoming operation and she told us she would appreciate it.

Today we called Kofi to see which session of conference he was going to attend. He told us he’d need a ride on Sunday to go to the general session of stake conference. Paul Hunziker said he was going to both the Saturday and Sunday sessions. Martin Hedinger and Franz Maier didn’t answer their phones. Sylvain called tonight to tell us he was okay and our conversations with him usually last at least a half an hour. He said he would be ready for us to set up an appointment with him for next week to begin the 12 step to recovery program. Charlotte also called to tell us the new senior missionary couple, the Walters, had arrived and she had been with them all afternoon getting them oriented and settled into our old apartment in Schwamendingen. She said they looked all over for clothes washing room and couldn’t find it. We told her the reason she couldn’t was that it wasn’t in our building, but in building #5. We agreed to come meet the Walters on Sunday after conference to show them the in’s and out’s of where things were and how to operate them.