JULY 13, 2010 TUESDAY

District meeting was scheduled for this morning at 10:30 so we were up and through with our morning routine in time to prepare what we were having for lunch. The menu today was spaghetti, garlic bread, green salad, buttered corn, with watermelon for dessert. While Diana cooked the hamburger, sauteed the mushrooms and onions and made the spaghetti sauce, I made a quick trip to the store to get some bread for the garlic bread, a cucumber, tomatoes and some lettuce for the salad. I also bought a couple packages of Biberli which is a St. Gallen specialty filled cookie. I made it home in time to help Diana finish making preparations.

We got a call from Elder Neuffer about 9:00 who told us that Brother Klaumunzner had come to pick up their car because it had too many miles on it (150,000 kilomenters) and told them it was going to be sold. They’ll be without a car for a couple of weeks until the new one comes. They were going to be picked up by Elders Bushnell and Sills and they expected to be at least a half hour late. That was okay by us because that gave us a little more time to try and look up some scriptures for our meeting with Charlotte Kunz at 2:00 this afternoon. They all arrived at 11:00 and we got started with our meeting.

We sung the song Diana chose, Because I Have Been Given Much, after which she said a very thoughtful opening prayer. Elder Daneke had the rule book part and chose to talk about using our time wisely. After that we all got a chance to talk about our investigators and brainstorm how we might help them progress. This was followed by a game in which everyone received a small piece of paper. Everyone wrote a sentence on it starting with, “What if” and then finishing the sentence with whatever they wanted to say. That part of the paper was folded over so the sentence couldn’t be read and the piece of paper was passed to the person on the right. Then, on that piece of paper, we all wrote down the answer to our own question on it. Then everyone read what was on the paper they had. Some of them were pretty funny. This was followed by a presentation on Chapter 8 from the Preach My Gospel.

As is usual, we slip in and out to go to the kitchen to start things cooking/warming so everything is ready when the meeting is over. After I said the closing prayer the missionaries were eager to clear the table and set it with the dishes etc. that Diana already had set out. Diana did a great job in getting a delicious meal prepared and the missionaries expressed their appreciation by eating till they were ready to pop.

As soon as they left we got our things together and made a mad dash for the bus. We only had three minutes between when they left and when the bus arrived. In this heat that brought the sweat and we both were pretty damp by the time we got to Charlotte’s. From the bus stop we walked the five minutes to her home and rang the bell. Nothing. We rang it again and then knocked. Nothing. We called her home phone and got her answer machine. We called her cell phone and were happy that she answered, but unhappy at what she told us. We came on the wrong day; she was expecting us on Friday, therefore, she wasn’t home at the moment. So, we exchanged pleasantries, reconfirmed our appointment for Friday at 2:00 and then hung up.

During our district meeting Franz Maier, an inactive member, called to ask if we had time to meet with him today. We finally agreed on 4:30 because we thought we had the meeting with Charlotte. We hadn’t really had time to prepare anything for Franz, so we went back home and used the time to put some thoughts together. We met him at the Manor department store restaurant in Schaffhausen and had a good hour long meeting with him. He’s mostly interested in talking about anything other than religion, but we mange to steer the conversation around to it. He just loves to talk about the USA, but we’ve developed a sort of friendship with him during the three meetings we’ve had with him. We always invite him to come to Church, but he says he can’t stand the Swiss so he won’t come. We’ve tried to change his mind about them, but so far it hasn’t worked.

On the way out of the store we stopped and found and bought a couple of things to take to Emely, when we visit her in the hospital either tomorrow or Thursday. We tried to find something appropriate for Charlotte and Neide to commemorate, hopefully, their decision to follow the example of Christ to treat even your enemies with love, but also to follow His commandments to forgive and love our neighbors as ourselves. How many time do we read in the scriptures where we’re commanded to love one another, not judge unrighteously and to forgive? Why can’t we learn how to do this? Anyway, we didn’t find anything for them so we’ll just have to wing it tomorrow.

When we got home, we put a batch of whites in the wash and then I gathered up all of our empty bottles and cans and dropped them off at the recycle bins on my jalk (jog and walk). I jogged along Hochstrasse and happened to see Hannah Stamm sitting at the bus stop near Paul Hunziker’s place. She had just visited Paul. I stopped and talked to her for awhile and then asked her if Paul had given her the Book of Mormon I had left with him for her. She said he didn’t, but was glad that I told her so she could get it the next time she visited him. The first time we met her and showed her the BM, she wouldn’t even touch it. We’ve talked with her a few times and now she is even excited to get a copy of it. We’ll talk to Paul and see if we can set up a meeting with the four of us next week.

We called Katia DiPaolo tonight to check on Emely. She told us that the operation went perfectly and were so thankful for the blessing she got Sunday. She was just overjoyed about how everything was watched over by the Lord. She said Emely would probably have to stay in the hospital for ten to twelve days, but was recovering nicely. We told her we’d probably make a visit Thursday sometime. Katia is staying at the hospital with her while she recovers.

We called Silvia Gardedieu tonight also and talked with her about the people we’ve been teaching including Jasmin. She said she saw Jasmin about a week ago and Jasmin told her she was excited about what we’ve taught her and wants to continue. Why she hasn’t answered our phone calls or text messages is a mystery to us. When we find a minute, we plan to just drop in on her and see how she is. She was also concerned about Silvia and we talked about him, too, and how we could better help him.

Elder Vincent, who hasn’t called us for a couple of weeks, called tonight to see how things were going. We thought about calling him today, but he beat us to it. It’s always good to hear what’s going on in other parts of the mission.

We got the letter with the Swiss money in it that Rebecca sent us. When she got home from her visit, she found the coins and sent them back to us. Thanks, Rebecca.

The tender mercy of the Lord today was that out of all the routes I could have taken on my jalk, He guided my path so it would cross that of Hannah Stamm. And the work goes forward.