APRIL 3, 2010 SATURDAY

Because we got home so late last night, we slept in a little this morning to make up for it. We did our usual morning things, read our scriptures and studied a bit after which we got ready to go to Zurich for General Conference this evening. We planned on going to Zurich earlier so we could do a little shopping, visit Neide and also visit Madeleine to show her how to make brownies.

We climbed aboard the train in Schaffhausen at 12:54 and were in Oerlikon (Zurich) an hour later. First we took the bus to Schwamendingerplatz and walked to the little Jewish textile shop (Diana’s favorite junk store) and discovered it was closed for the day, ostensibly for the Easter weekend. We went back, got on the bus and went to the Asian Way (my favorite store to buy weird things to eat) and bought a few things such as coconut milk powder, candied ginger, candied papaya, tempura mix, frozen shrimp, cashews, chicken bullion, Thai tapioca w/Taro and cinnamon.

We got back on the bus and got off on the Saatlenstrasse bus stop and walked to Neide’s home. She wasn’t home again so we left her a note that we’d be at conference tomorrow and hoped we’d see her there. We were hoping to put the frozen shrimp in Neide’s freezer while we visited her, but that didn’t work out. We decided to try the Church fridge so we walked that direction. On the way we found Elders Irick & Porter sitting on a bench along the sidewalk with Agnes. We stopped and talked to them for awhile during which we mentioned to Agnes that we would be ending our mission in August. She’s a smart girl and knew that we were hinting that we hoped she would be baptized before we go home. She said she would be baptized this year, but wouldn’t tell us what date she had in mind. Diana told her she was ready now and wouldn’t be any more ready by waiting. She acknowledged that was true also and then we changed the subject because she started to look a little uncomfortable.

We all walked to the Church, we to put our shrimp in the freezer, the two elders to get a couple of dishes from Elder Irick’s backpack for us to take to Madeleine and Agnes just because she was part of the group. I went to the kitchen, but was surprised that it was locked. When I asked around why, I found out it was because people used the kitchen, but didn’t clean it up after themselves.

We left and went to visit Madeleine. She was happy to see us and gave Diana about a five minute hug. She had room in her freezer for our shrimp, thank goodness. We were happy to find out that she will get her miserable, painful knee replaced on April 18 which was a big surprise. She’d kept it a secret until she could tell us personally. Diana and Madeleine got busy in the kitchen and made the brownie batter and put it in the oven. While it was baking, we had a good visit. It only took twenty-five minutes before the brownies were done and, boy, did they smell good. Problem was, all we could do was smell and not taste. Every Saturday noon until Sunday noon is fast day for us and sometimes it’s a challenge, but worth it.

We got to the Church a half hour before conference started so we could greet our old friends and, hopefully, do something with our shrimp. We discovered Elder Dias had a key which no one knows about and when he came, we borrowed it and resolved our little crisis. We visited with the members and missionaries alike, but were surprised there weren’t more members attending this session of conference. We attended the English translation in the cultural hall and maybe more came in late to the German translation in the main chapel. Since we had to leave about a half hour early to catch our train back to Schaffhausen, we weren’t able to see who may have come late.

At 7:30 we remembered to get our shrimp and then walked back to the bus stop near Neide’s home. She must have been watching for us because she came running to give us hugs and say hello. She said she would be at conference tomorrow and we’ll see her there. We do love our Neide. We visited for a couple of minutes and then our bus came so we had to continue on our way. We got home about 9:00 and settled in for the night. Tomorrow will come early and we’ll be back on the train for Zurich by 8:30.

The tender mercy of the Lord today is recognizing the blessing it is to have the restored gospel taught by apostles, prophets and other leaders who have been called of God to preach the gospel, and that the priesthood authority is once more on the earth. The counsel we receive from them is vitally important for us to weather the storm of Satan’s fiery darts that will be coming our way for the next six months. We need to sit up and pay attention.