AUGUST 12, 2010 THURSDAY

I didn’t get to bed last night until about 2:00 in the morning, but I was awake again by 6:15. We got up and did our morning things and then busied about still doing some final adjustments with weighing our suitcases etc. After I shaved I had to find room for the electric shavers and a few other things. We made one last walk through of our apartment just to make sure we had everything and that it was all spic and span and we hadn’t left anything behind. By 8:30 we had all the suitcases and carry-ons downstairs ready to load into Jacob’s car. Of course it was raining, just like it was when we arrived 23 months ago. We wouldn’t want it any other way. While I was bringing down the last of the luggage, Jacob carried the large suitcases out and put them in the trunk of his car. He must have left them standing in the rain because when we got home and started to unpack, the contents of two of them we absolutely soaked. Nothing was really damaged except one book on William Tell.

At the bahnhof we unloaded our luggage, carried it down their stairs, through the tunnel and back up onto platform three. There were a total of five pieces weighing fifty pounds each, a backpack, computer case and Diana’s carry-on, quite a load really. We were supposed to meet Sylvain to give him the key to our apartment, but didn’t see him at first. However, he soon arrived which was a relief to us. And then Silvia came to see us off and then Dorothea. At that moment I remembered that yesterday during the zone conference I discovered a “Camp Helaman” coin in my suit coat pocket. Where it came from I have no idea because I knew how many I had and I had given them all away. Sylvain lost his the other day and asked for another one. I told him then that I would have to send him one, when we got back to America. But now I had one and I gave it to him right then. He was so touched he burst into tears and gave me a big hug. I’ll never know where it came from. Another tender mercy?

The train came and we got all of the luggage on then said our tearful last farewells as the doors shut and the train pulled out. We made our last trip from Schaffhausen to the airport with mixed emotions. At the airport we got our luggage off the train, loaded onto a cart, then went to check in. We arrived at 10:00 even though our flight was not scheduled to leave until 1:55 p.m. We didn’t want to have to rush around and get all frazzled, but we especially wanted to have time to visit with our friends who said they were coming to send us off. Suwang surprised us by being at the airport already and she happily greeted us and escorted us everywhere we went. We finally found the right place to check in and, when the agent looked up our flight, she said it had been cancelled. What!!! How could that be? The agent said not to worry and, since we were so early, she may be able to find us another flight. After some searching she finally found a flight from Zurich to New York’s JFK airport that would get us there in time for us to catch our connecting flight to Salt Lake City. The only catch was that it would leave an hour earlier. Because of the disruption of our flight, we received a $100 coupon apiece good towards purchase of a future flight to somewhere. If we actually do arrange to go back to Switzerland for Agnes’ baptism, the coupons will come in handy.

Because of the change from Delta to Swissair, we had to push the cart a long ways to the Swissair check in. When we finally got there, we had to wait in line. All the time it was getting closer to when we said we’d be at the SBB ticket shop to meet everyone. To complicate things we decided we’d check in one more bag than we were initially going to carry on. I thought I had sent the all bags through the check in counter, but then I saw one more on the cart. I got confused and told the agent I’d sent the wrong one through, forgetting we had decided to send all five, so she hurried and stopped the belt and went to retrieve it. Then I realized we’d decided to send all five so we told her that when she came back. She said we were only allowed four bags, but was kind enough to tell her supervisor what happened and he was also kind enough to allow the fifth bag through. We thought we were only allowed one bag each, that we’d have to pay for the other three, but they didn’t charge us for any of them. All the time I was watching the clock seeing the minutes tick away. By the time we had all that mess taken care of it was 11:30, the time we were supposed to meet our friends. Our new “to be at the gate” time was 12:00 which only gave us a half an hour. We decided Diana and Suwang would stay with the carry-on baggage while I hurriedly would run down and let our friends know what happened and to give them a quick goodbye for both of us.

I put myself in my fast gear and was down to the meeting place lickety split. I saw Margarita Maurer and Dora Wachter sitting on a bench and when they saw me they jumped up and gave me a hug. One of them got on her cell phone and before long the whole crowd arrived. These are our friends who came to see us off: Margarita Mauer, Denise Maurer, Norma Bachmann and her son Allessandro, Dora Wachter, Suwang Stefaniak, Neide Graff, Charlotte Stoecklin, Danielle Martin, Madeleine Schwitter, They all gave me a hug and when they asked where Diana was and I told them, they all took off, except Margarita, Dora and Madeleine, to go find her. Margarita, Dora and I stayed behind with Madeleine who walks about on a snail pace because of her bum knee. Finally, we got to where Diana and Suwang were and all of them were crowded around her wishing her well and saying goodbye. We were already past our 12:00 check in time, but they all wanted to take photos. Everyone had cameras including us and they all wanted group photos and us just with them individually. Everyone wanted to hug us, not once, not twice, but many times. Last call for check in came and we just had to tear ourselves away and make our escape through the gate. What a wonderful send off from some wonderful saints.

It was a relief to finally be settled into a seat with nothing to do, but sit and relax and prepare for a long flight back home. Many mixed emotions and fond remembrances of the times we spent with these members during our time in Schwamendingen. For instance, the first time we had contact with Margarita was by phone and, when we asked if we could come visit her, she emphatically said, “No, I’m not a member any more and you can’t come.” But during the course of the year and a half, she became our dear friend and is active in the Church again as much as the pain in her knees will let her. We could recount the yodeling with Daniella, the conversions of Charlotte, Neide and Madeleine, our visits with Dora, Suwang in the hospital, Denise and Allesandro at Halloween and on and on. But all of these experiences have already been documented in this journal.

We made it through security without too much hassle other than the metal detector went off when I went through. I had absolutely nothing on me that should have set it off. I was escorted into a small room where I received a pat down search and another search with a handheld metal detector. The officer found nothing, but it gave him the chance to notice my name badge and ask what it meant. He said he’d seen them on young men coming through the airport and wondered what they did. I quickly gave him a brief overview and gave him a pass-along card. That was the best I could do at the moment. Will he respond to the pass along card? Diana had no trouble at all.

When we got to JFK airport, we went through customs like a breeze. All they were interested in was seeing our passports and getting the customs declaration paper. We found the counter for our flight to Salt Lake and checked in, wanting to get rid of the five pieces of luggage again. The agent asked us how many pieces we wanted to check in to which we replied, “five.” He wanted to know how many we had paid for in Zurich. We told him they didn’t charge us anything. He then told us that today was our lucky day because we should have been charged, at least for the fifth one. He continued and said, “You know you’ll be charged here, though, don’t you.” And then he checked in the five piece and told me the charge would be twenty-five dollars. At my surprised looked he asked if we expected it to me more. Well, yes, at least $50.00. He smiled and told us to have the rest of nice trip. Do the Lord’s tender mercies never quit? And they didn’t end there.

We continued on to find the train that took us to the gate. The directions he gave us were to go around the corner, up one floor on the escalator to track two, get on for one stop and then get off and go to gate 26. But when we got of the train, we couldn’t find any signs, but there was an elevator so we took it up to level two and got out. As we were standing there looking around trying to figure out where to go, a gentleman approached us and asked what we were looking for and if he could help. We told him and he said to follow him. He knew the way, which indeed he did. First he had to wind his way through a thick crowd of people standing in lines to a kiosk to get a boarding pass. After that we followed him to the long long line of people waiting to go through the security check. He bypassed the end of the line and went right to the front, ducked under the barrier tape and talked to the control officer and convinced her that he had special permission through some sort of program to not have to wait in line. She believed him and then he told her he was escorting us and we needed to be allowed through to go with him. She assented, checked our boarding pass and, walla, let us through. That act of kindness saved us at least an hour of standing in line. Another tender mercy. As we walked through the confusing hallways to gate 26, his destination, too, we discovered his name was Allen from Alpine. He didn’t give us his last name, but stayed with us for part of the time while waiting for our flight to come. We were very grateful for his kindness.

The rest of the flight was without incident, but long. I used the time to write most of this journal entry until I used up the battery and the screen went blank. Waiting for us at the Salt Lake Airport were Roxsan, Brad and their kids, Rees, Drayson, Mayleah, Nathan and Truxtn; Monica and her kids, Remy, Jade and Robert; and Rebecca. What a joyous celebration punctuated with hugs, kisses and all of our grandchildren wanting special attention. The kids had made welcoming signs which made it special to us.

Finally, our bags came, Rebecca drove up and we loaded everything and we were off. Riding home was a special feeling of being back in our own land, the promised land. It was good to be back home although we left a part of our hearts in Switzerland. It was good to be back in the Land of the English-speaking!