MARCH 11, 2010 THURSDAY

This morning we got up, went through our morning routine and then were preparing lessons for our two appointments today, one with Dorothea Jaermann at noon and the other with Paul Hunziker at 5:20, when we got a call from Elder Tavake. He told us his companion, Elder Bushnell, had attempted to cut his own hair and had made a mess out of it. He asked if they could come over and have me “fix him up.” When they arrived a half hour later, we could see he really had messed up his hair, but not so much he couldn’t be made presentable. I went to work cutting his hair while Diana and Elder Tavake watched the DVD with the two short videos on it, one on the Atonement and the other about a pioneer miracle. It didn’t take long before I had finished with Elder Bushnell and then they left to continue their labors and we to get back to what we were doing.

The time slipped away and we were a minute late to catch our bus so we walked through the cold and falling snow one stop to where we would have had to change buses anyway. We waited the sixteen minutes for the bus to come and then got on and rode to the stop by Sister Jaermanns. She had everything set for lunch when we got there. A salad followed by raclette cheese and boiled potatoes. Dessert was a bowl of a variety of fresh fruit. After we had eaten lunch we gave her a spiritual thought and an object lesson on faith. She had fun watching the tea bag burn down to her hand before it took off into the air. It generated a good discussion.

We ‘ve been asked to participate in the Relief Society activity on March 17th and, as part of our presentation, Diana wants to have them learn the song, Search, Ponder and Pray, which is not in the German hymn book. We downloaded the song off the internet and gave a copy to Sis. Jaermann to translate. She had it translated so she got out her keyboard and we sang it several times. We made a couple of adjustments that we think will make it easier to sing, but keep the necessary meaning of the words. She should have it ready for us by Sunday.

We went home for about an hour and then climbed on the bus to go meet Silvia at the bahnhof post office. We arrived and found her, but before we boarded the bus to go meet with Paul Hunziker, she wanted to talk over a problem she had. She wanted our opinion if she should let Sylvain come live with her now that he has a job and seems to be working hard at not drinking any more. We talked this over with her by active listening and helping her to come to her own decision. This impromptu counseling session seemed to help her clear her thoughts and then we went on our way to visit Paul.

Paul welcomed us with open arms and after our greeting we all sat around his dining room table. Paul likes to talk to anyone who will listen and today was no exception with little input from us. He likes everyone to know he loves the bible and how he actively talks to people about it. Then what seemed like a miracle happened. He said he had said enough and now it was time for us to have a chance and he would listen. We didn’t waste time in getting started to teaching him about faith. He’s been investigating the Church for many years and actively comes to Church meetings when he’s healthy enough to attend. Each time we meet with him we encourage him to get baptized but, even though he’s sincere, he always gives us reasons why it’s not quite time for that to happen. This time he mentioned his observation that after sacrament meeting, about half the members get up and leave. Silvia explained they weren’t leaving, but were going to other classes within the building. He didn’t quite believe her and said he’s seen ladies out in the foyer just talking which bothered him. If he’s able to come to Church next Sunday, Silvia will introduce him to the various classes being taught. It just goes to show how members (the two sisters) can influence investigators by setting a bad example and who weren’t even aware of it. People do look at the members and judge the Church by their actions. It came time to leave and Silvia quickly left to make sure she caught her bus leaving us to discourage Paul from loading us up with his homemade bread and anything else he could think of to give us. He is such a generous man and loves to cook in order to give it away to others.

Not long after we got home Silvia called to make sure we understood all that Paul told us in regards to the problem he saw in our branch. She also told us what her decision was in regards to Sylvain living with her so that when he comes for his lesson tomorrow, we would be aware of it in case he brought it up. And that’s about it for today.