What we bought from the Broki Huus and the vase Paul gave us; Diana in the Broki Huus; photo from the museum.

MARCH 23, 2010 TUESDAY

We had to start early to have everything ready by the time the missionaries were supposed to be here at 10:00. The spices in the hamburger stuffing for the peppers had mellowed nicely, but the banana casserole didn’t turn out as we’d hoped. It was rather bland and dry so we cooked up some vanilla pudding to top it with and then made a chocolate sauce to finish it off. Better, but still not great. We cut the stem end off all the peppers, cleaned them and then parboiled them so they’d be tender when baked. We filled them with the stuffing and put them in a casserole pan ready to go in the oven. All was set by the time they arrived.

Elders Tavake & Bushnell arrived about fifteen minutes early and Elders Bentley & Von Niederhausern arrrived about fifteen minutes late as usual. As soon as they arrived the meeting began, but it didn’t last as long as normal because the last two elders had an appointment with an investigator that required them to leave early. We started out with a song and prayer after which came the announcements such as they were. Next Sunday is the day we change the time for daylight savings and General Conference is on April 3 and 4. Elder Von Niederhausern gave us a short spiritual thought and then we all played the game of SEEK which is a question answer game with Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon and Doctrines & Ordinances as the categories. After the game Elder Tavake announced the Elder & Sister Larson would give a talk on charity. At our surprised looks he realized he had forgotten to call us back Sunday evening to give us our assignment. We could have done it, but Elder Bushnell, the bashful one of the group, piped up and said he had us covered. He did a remarkable job in covering the subject which led to a discussion of examples of charity we’ve seen or experienced in our lives. We closed the meeting and then had lunch. The stuffed peppers, peas and carrots and corn were really good, but the dessert wasn’t a favorite. Oh well, next time.

After the meal Elders Bentley & Von Niederhausern left. Elder Tavake goes home in a week and a half and he asked if he could get a haircut so he’d look sharp when he left. I cut his hair while Diana did the dishes. By the time they left we felt like we’d already done a day’s work. Diana decided to rest her hip and I did some research on the computer on the subject of our pre-mortal life.

Yesterday afternoon Diana’s hip started to hurt and by the time we got home she could hardly walk on it. As the night wore on, it got worse and worse until she was in a lot of pain just lying on the bed. By this morning it was feeling a little better, but we decided it would be wise for her to rest it as much as she could today. We caught up on a few things and did a little preparation for tomorrow when Sister Dorothea Jaermann and Sister Kusz are coming for lunch. Sister Kusz is having a hard time in the branch right now and needs some tender loving care. Later in the afternoon we have to travel to Neuhausen to meet a former investigator of previous missionaries we were able to contact again. We hope that Diana will be able to walk without pain by tomorrow afternoon.

This evening we got a phone call from Narina Fleury, a less active member, who we contacted a month ago. She told us then she was going to move and would call us to let us know when. She didn’t know her exact address yet, but she promised to call us when she did. She has diabetes and can’t walk because of complications in lower leg and foot. She uses a wheel chair to get around. She told us on April 6 the doctors were going to operate and remove her leg below the knee because it is so bad and won’t heal. When we talked with her before, she said the reason she didn’t go to Church any more is because it was impossible for her to get up the steep road and then up the steps in to the building. Where she will be moving to near or in St. Gallen, she’ll be able to travel to our Church by bus and then wheel right in to the building because there are no steps. It was good to hear that she plans to start going to our Church again as soon as she is able.