Cardboard pick up day for recycling; Munot Castle;

MARCH 18, 2010 THURSDAY

This morning I got on the bus and went to the Rhein River to try and find the Munot overlook we saw when riding with Silvia last week. I wanted to get a full landscape photo of the Munot Castle even though we have taken many photos of it from closer in. I crossed the Rhein (Rhine English spelling) on a bridge, found a road along a vineyard that took me up on the opposite side where I walked along until I got a good look at Munot. I took a bunch of photos as I walked along and back down to another bridge where I crossed back over and went home.

Sylvain called this morning asking if we had gotten his message about wanting a French translation of the addiction recovery book. He said it takes so long to figure out what he’s reading and the time could be better used in actually understanding and applying the principles taught. We told him there wasn’t one available in French, but that we had friends serving in Geneva and we had sent them an email requesting them to help us. Translating is not an easy thing to do, but the Doyles said they would try to do it for him. It’s nice to have friends who have special abilities and a desire to serve.

Markus Wachter called and confirmed they would be coming to visit us this afternoon. Dora, a less-active member in Schwamendingen, called a week and a half ago wondering why we weren’t in Schwamendingen any more. During the conversation we invited them to come visit and have dinner with us and made the appointment for this afternoon. She said she would check with Markus and get back to us to confirm, but she hadn’t until this morning. We wondered if they had forgotten, but were glad to get the call and the confirmation they were coming. They said they didn’t have time for dinner, but just wanted to come see us. We decided if we couldn’t feed them dinner, we could at least make few sandwiches. We needed to get a few things from the store to make them so I made a quick trip while Diana cooked the chicken and onions and made the chicken salad for the croissants I was going to buy. It didn’t take long before I was back and everything was ready.

We had a couple of hours so we went to Beringen to see if we could find Ella Huerlimann who lives in a care center. It only took about a half hour to get there and the center was only a few minute’s walk from the bus stop. We stopped at the reception desk and she escorted us to Ella’s room. Unfortunately she wasn’t in so we were obliged to wait in the waiting area to see if she would return. We waited about forty minutes and then left a note in her mail box that we’d been there, why we wanted to meet her and that we’d call later in the evening. We caught the bus and went back home. When we talked to Markus this morning, he didn’t know exactly when they would be coming so he told me he’d call us at 3:00 and let us know. He called and we made arrangements to meet him at the Bahnhof at 4:00.

While I went in to meet them, Diana put everything on the table and had it ready when we got back. While I was waiting at the bahnhof, Silvia came by and talked to me a minute. She mentioned a couple in our ward was having marital problems and asked if I and Diana would talk to them. If what she said is true, it’s pretty serious and our rule book tells us we shouldn’t get involved in counseling situations. We feel this kind of situation should be handled by the branch president. President Matern is coming here tomorrow for our every transfer interview and to get a haircut and this will give us opportunity to discuss this with him.

The Wachters seemed as thrilled to see us again and we them. The visit lasted a couple of hours during which time we talked about a lot of things, but also managed to get in some discussion about Dora’s activity in the Church and if Markus is any closer to wanting to be baptized. Markus isn’t ready yet, but Dora promised she will go to Church Sunday.

After they left I glued and screwed a chair back together that almost fell apart as Diana was sitting on it. Then we got busy doing some phone contacting. First we called Ella Huerlimann and when we introduced ourselves she just hung up without saying a word. We immediately called back, but she wouldn’t answer. She has a birthday in May which will give us the opportunity to go back out and try to talk to her personally. Next came Priska Staehelini, a former investigator who Pres. Flammia wants us to contact. She wasn’t home, but her daughter was. Ceceli told us her mother would be home in the morning or on Saturday. Next we tried Reinhard Gasser who had a birthday the other day. We tried the number on the member list, but it wasn’t a working number. We called Sister Kusz and invited her to come to lunch next Wednesday with Dorothea. She accepted.

Before the Wachters left they invited us to come to their home on March 31 in Duebendorf for a dinner of raclette. We can keep up our contact with them and keep encouraging them to make the Church a part of their lives.