E. Larson, Paul Hunziker, S. Larson; Br. Klaumuenzner; Carla Diehl Sprenger.

MAY 8, 2010 SATURDAY

We weren’t too rushed this morning; we had to be ready by 8:45 when Brother DeMarzi picked us up. We made it to Winterthur by 9:35 and saw that someone was already there filling the font with water. We took our goodies into the kitchen and then helped arrange the chairs in the meeting room and set song books and programs on the chairs. Pres. Flammia and his family arrived with Paul and his friend, Hannah Stamm who is not a member. We took the appropriate pre-baptism photos including a group photo of all the branch members we could easily round up. Paul and I changed into our white baptism clothes and when we came out, the photo shoot continued. Paul had his picture taken with Pres. and Sister Matern, Pres. and Sister Flammia as well as with us. That done we all went into the meeting room for the service.

The meeting was conducted by our branch mission leader and counselor to Pres. Flammia, Sandro DeMarzi. The opening song was said followed by the opening prayer by Greta Troesch. Dorthea Jaermann introduced Paul and gave a very good, but short life sketch so those present could get to know him a little. She was followed by a congregational hymn then a talk on baptism was given by Sister Larson. She worked on the talk for two weeks and her preparation paid off. Her German pronunciation was excellent and she received many compliments from those present, especially Pres. & Sister Matern, Charlotte, Silvia, Pres. Flammia and me. Silvia Gardedieu gave an excellent talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. She had borrowed the book, Articles of Faith by Talmage from Paul a few weeks ago and used some of the paragraphs he had underlined when he read it some time ago. And then came the baptism. Paul and I went down the steps into the font and positioned ourselves, remembering to stay far enough away from the wall so he wouldn’t hit his head when he was baptized. All went as it was supposed to happen, confirmed by the two witnesses, Sandro DeMarzi and Karl Hoenle.

While Paul and I changed clothes, Diana passed out sheets of paper to those present for them to write their testimonies and words of congratulation for Paul to read later. Diana and I will make a Book of Remembrance for him with these pages, photos, program, invitation and whatever else we can think of to making it memorable for him.

When we were dressed and back in the meeting room, Paul was given a few minutes to express his thoughts after which I was asked to bear my testimony. The meeting was closed with a song and a prayer by Andreas Wigger, a counselor to Pres. Flammia.

After the meeting everyone congratulated Paul and then we all went into the kitchen where there were all kinds of good things to eat. It seemed there was much more than could be eaten by the twenty-six people who attended the baptism, however, most of it disappeared except our rice crispie treats. They weren’t so popular. We did get compliments on the banana nut bread and Sister Wigger asked for the recipe. When the celebration was over, we gathered up the wet clothes and what ever else we brought with us and came home. Bro. DeMarzi drove us, but this time Dorothea and Greta came with us.

We were grateful to the people who made the effort to come and support Paul. They included Brother & Sister Walters who serve in the mission home, Pres. & Sis. Matern, Bro. Klaumuenzner, Charlotte Stoecklin, the Flammias, the Wiggers, Dorothea Jaermann, Greta Troesch, Karl Hoenle, Silvia Gardedieu, Sis. Pietoboni, Hannah Stamm, and Bro. DeMarzi, We were disappointed no missionaries came to offer their support or bring investigators with them.

We got home about 1:00 and had about an hour to regroup and get ready to go visit a member in Andelfingen who lives in an assisted living home. We knocked on her door a few weeks ago, but she said she wasn’t feeling good and to come back later. We called the other day and this time we made an appointment with her. We got distracted and missed the bus we wanted to take, but came to with just enough time to run and catch the bus we absolutely needed to catch to give us a chance at the bahnhof to catch our train to Andelfingen. I looked at my watch as we got to the bahnhof and saw that we were too late, but we hurried to the platform just in case. Again Divine intervention saved the day because the train was a couple of minutes late. With thankful hearts we climbed aboard and arrived in Andelfingen right on schedule. To wait for the bus would have taken too long so we walked the fifteen minutes to the care center.

When we knocked on Carla’s door, she opened it and invited us in. She was ready for us this time, dressed in her best and with goodies on the table waiting for us. She would have been really disappointed if we had missed our train and the Lord knew that and delayed the train just enough. Carla is a wonderful sweet lady who will be 89 years old on June 25. She has a daughter who lives near Lake Constance and a nephew in Zurich. She hasn’t had contact with the Church for more than 13 years which is a sad commentary about the condition of the home and visiting teaching here in Switzerland.

Carla has many talents including making arts and crafts and playing the piano which really has been her life. She has a degree in music and has taught piano her whole life. She offered to play for us and we jumped at the chance to listen to her play. At 89 she plays wonderfully and with feeling. After, Carla brought out some photos and pointed out some of the pictures hanging on her walls that came from her grandfather and father. Reliving the past caused her to be homesick for them and she shed some tears. She misses those who have passed on and now she is so lonely.

After an hour and a half we mentioned we needed to leave, but she was so disappointed that we stayed another hour. We asked her if we could do anything for her to which she responded she’d really like a blessing. Before we left I gave her that blessing and we all felt the Spirit and I was grateful that I, holding the Priesthood, could do that for her. We had a prayer with her before we left and promised to come back again. We also asked her if it would be okay if she received home and visiting teacher. She said she’d be thrilled to have members come visit her. Her health won’t allow her to come to Church. The time flies by so fast when we realized our bus was due. We hurried out of the building and saw it go past. It was a good thing the bus stop was just across the road and down the street just a little ways. I ran on ahead and jumped the wall to get to the bus to hold it for Diana. Fortunately there were a lot of people getting on which gave us time to get there.

We made it back home and spent the rest of the evening washing baptism clothes and towels, finishing filling out the baptism form, reading the lesson for tomorrow’s priesthood and relief society and writing this journal entry. We expected Kofi to come this evening, but he didn’t show. All in all we felt we had a terrific day filled with the spirit, and great satisfaction.

The tender mercy for today is that we had the privilege of meeting a very wonderful member of the Church. She was very generous and wanted to give us some of everything she has made. She thanked us for the blessing and looks forward to when we will visit again.