Jecelyn Hoenle & Michaela Zaunigk; Carla Wigger, Aaron & Susan Flammia; Claudia Clavadetscher (eyes closed); Diana, Dorothea Jaermann; Greta Troesch.

AUGUST 9, 2010 SUNDAY

Even though it was our last Sunday here, I followed my normal routine and got up early and walked to Church, not all the way this time because I got a little late start. It took a little longer than I thought to collect all the clothes we were giving to Michael Hartig at Church today. I got to the Church and wrote our report on the computer. I again expected Michael to show up at 8:00, but he didn’t come. When Michaela came. She said he was on vacation and that she could take the clothes to him.

We had invited quite a few investigators to come to Church today including: Charlotte Kunz (sent us a nice text message, but didn’t come), Franz & Anita Maier (didn’t come), Katia & Emely DiPaolo (they came), Claudia Clavadetscher (she came), Jasmin Hunsiker & kids (sent a text message that India didn’t feel good and they would try to come anyway, but didn’t) and Kofi Safo-Adu (he came, but not his family). We sent and invitation to Prisca & Mike, but didn’t really expect them to come since they live so far away and she works until after midnight. It was especially disappointing that Jasmin and the Maiers didn’t come, but we were especially excited that Claudia came.

Paul Hunziker gave his first talk in Sacrament meeting and did very well. He mostly told his conversion story, that it took him fifty-five years to get baptized und he was kind enough to give us the credit for helping him to finally get over the hump, so to speak and get baptized. Following him, Diana, Dorothea and I sang our a capella song, The Lord Is My Shepherd.” The people present thought we did very well, but then again, what else would they say? Dorothea was very happy to have been able to sing with us, and the feeling was mutual.

Diana was next up and did a marvelous job in giving her talk. She thanked the member for making us feel welcome and told them she would miss all of them a lot. She felt inspired to share the testimony of her grandfather, George C. Phillipps. She wanted to have someone come read it and interpret it for her rather than do it herself, but finally she asked me to translate it yesterday for her. It took me most of the day as reported in yesterday’s journal, but it was worth it. Many eyes were moist before she finished. I followed with a talk on testimony, why it’s important to obtain one, how to do it and what to do with it once you have it. The first and middle part was mostly directed to Claudia, Emely and the younger kids, Manuel, Fabian and Aaron, emphasizing that everyone, even those born and raised in the Church, must develop their own testimonies and can’t rely on parents or anyone else. After one has a testimony it requires nurturing and work to maintain it, keeping the commandments, following Christ into the waters of baptism. The last part of the talk was directed to the less-actives who were there, Martin Hedinger, Kofi Safo-Adu and Katia DiPaolo as well as the rest of the members. After one is baptized and on the road then comes activity in the Church, always progressing, learning, repenting, and enduring to the end. What good is it, if we quit in the middle?

After sacrament meeting there were a lot of hugs and well wishes. We gave Lea and Aaron the Camp Helaman coins depicting the armor of God described in Ephesians 6:11-18. Both were appreciative and we were a little surprised how much Aaron was affected by the memento from us. Claudia gave us an expensive brass Swiss cow bell and Michaela knitted a heavy wool cap for me. She said it took her two weeks to do it and we can believe that. It is very heavy and thick and would certainly keep one warm in the winter.

Suwang Stefaniak called this morning and said she was on her way to Schaffhausen and wanted the address to the Church. Diana talked to her and gave her directions, but Suwang told Diana she wouldn’t arrive until 9:45, right in the middle of sacrament meeting so we couldn’t meet her train. She said she could find the Church on her own. However, as soon as I could get away after the meeting, I went looking for her. I finally realized I could call her on the cell phone and found out she was still on the train and coming. She told me she would arrive at 11:45 and at the time it was 10:40. I thought about going back up to the Church and then near 11:45, go back and meet the train. However, since I was at the bahnhof already, I had the feeling I should wait the five minutes to see if she was on the train arriving at 10:45. It was a good thing I listened to the prompting because when the 10:45 train came, out popped Suwang. She gave me an enthusiastic greeting and then we walked together back up to the Church. On the way we met Katia & Emely walking back down to the parking lot so I was able to tell them goodbye. I also gave her a card with the Geneva ward and Outreach addresses on it for her daughter who moved to Geneva for school. The Doyles were kind enough to send them to us so we could pass them on to Kathleen.

When Sunday School ended, we went through another round of hugs and well wishes. We took photos and talked and hugged some more and an hour later made our exit. We walked to the parking lot with Dorothea who offered us a ride home. When I say we, I mean me, Diana and Suwang. Suwang was stuck like glue to Diana; she wasn’t going to let her out of her sight. As she dropped us off at home Dorothea insisted we come to her home for lunch on Tuesday, wanting one more visit from us before we go.

Suwang was our guest all afternoon. It was fun to talk to her, she gets so excited about things. We fixed her lunch, but I slipped out occasionally to write as much of our daily journal as I could because I knew this evening I wouldn’t have much time to do it. We were invited by Paul to come over for lunch and when we told him we needed to visit with Suwang for awhile, he said we could come over anytime this afternoon. About 4:30 we mentioned to Suwang we had another appointment to go to so she decided to take the 4:51 bus to the bahnhof to catch the 5:14 train back to Zurich. She’s still trying to figure out how to get us to come back and live with her. She said it would be okay with her if we stayed for six months or longer. She’s such a sweetheart.

Diana took a half hour rest after she left to kind of wind down and then we filled my backpack with food, grabbed the two big sacks of groceries and left to walk up the stairway to heaven to Pauls. He’d prepared a big dinner of baked chicken and mashed potatoes along with a green salad. We spent about an hour and a half with him, read some verses from Galatians and then had a prayer. He’ll be a real strength to the branch. He always has self made Schwarzwald cake for dessert and insists I eat some. Today I declined and he decided that was okay, but insisted I take two helpings with me for later. Of all the missionaries who have visited him in the past, none have written him a letter even though some promised him they would. He has been disappointed about that. So, as soon as we get home, we need to write him a letter to cheer him up. We told him he could count on us.

Tonight we tried to get on the internet and saw that we had no service. We waited for an hour, but still had no service. We went down and talked to our landlord because we work off a router from their computer service we had installed. She said they didn’t have service either and that they would call a technician tomorrow to see if they couldn’t get it fixed. Not long after we saw we had service. I went back down and talked to Alice to let her know. She said she had been down in the basement and had discovered the plug had come out of the outlet and she put it back in. Thank goodness. What would we do without our computer?

Franz Maier promised us he’s come to Church today, but he didn’t come. He called tonight to apologize and said he had to help his wife do something and didn’t have time to come. We told him he could come to Church even though we wouldn’t be there. He said, “I know.” At least he called which was nice.

Halina Stefaniak, Suwang’s daughter, called tonight to say goodbye and to thank us for watching over and being friends to Suwang. She said she really appreciated it. She thanked us for being a good influence in her life, too, and wished us well as we return home. Such thoughtful people.

Madeleine called and talked to Diana for about a half an hour. She said she saw Neide at Church today and she was doing okay. Charlotte called to see if Pres. Condie had called us to talk about going outside the mission borders tomorrow for P-day. We told her he hadn’t so we planned to start early tomorrow and go to Interlaken and spend some time there. After that we’ll travel over Bruenig Pass to Luzern and back to Zurick by 5:00. Agnes plans on coming with us. Charlotte said that when we get back to Zurich, we have to come to her place. When I started to object, she said she was asked by President Condie to say we have been commanded by President Condie to meet with him at her place to have dinner with him. Is that true? We think there’s a monkey in the woodpile somewhere. They are probably planning a surprise party for us with our family home evening group that we spent so much time with. We’ll see.

And now it 10:30, Diana’s fast asleep on the bed and I’m dead tired. We need to be up and out the door by 6:45 for our play day and so it’s good night y’all.