Jungfrau; Agnes, Elder Larson, Charlotte; Sister Larson.

AUGUST 9, 2010 MONDAY

Our P-day trip this morning started at 6:45 by catching our bus to make the trip to the Zurich Bahnhof where we met Agnes and Charlotte at 8:00. We used a coupon we had and bought Agnes a day pass for all of her transportation needs for the day for 30.00 sfr. We were glad that she came with us today. After we were set we caught the train that took us from Zurich to Bern where we changed trains and rode to Spiez. At Spiez we changed trains again and finally got to Interlaken Ost. We had been there before, when it was raining and very cloudy, so we couldn’t ride the cable car up onto the top of Harder Kulm. That was our goal today and it was a bright clear beautiful day to get it done. The ride up took only fifteen minutes or so, but the view from there was breathtaking. We hade a clear overlook of Interlaken, the Moench, Eiger and Jungfrau, the Brienzersee and Thunersee. We took our time on top just enjoying the view, fresh air and the company. We always take a lunch with us so during this pause, we sat on a bench in the cool shade and had lunch.

During the trip Agnes finally told us her intended baptism date, September 4. We’ve been waiting for months for her to tell us so, if at all possible, one or both of us could come back to be here when it happens. We think that maybe I and Roxsan (maybe Rees, too) could come spend a week or so traveling since she wasn’t able to come when Rebecca, Monica and Chris came last July. We’ll have to see if it all works out. When we got back to Zurich, Agnes gave us a letter to read after she left. It was a heartfelt thank you and a very sincere testimony of the Church and why she wanted to wait until September 4 to get baptized. She was born on September 6 and will be 18 years old this year. The 6th falls on a Monday and so the baptism will take place on the 4th which will, symbolically, be the beginning of her new life.

After lunch we rode the cable car back down and walked around the town a bit, then continued our trip on the train up over Bruenig Pass to Luzern. We’ve already taken this train ride several times before, but we have never gotten tired of this part of Switzerland. From Luzern we rode back to Zurich Oerlikon arriving at 5:00. Charlotte needed to buy a few things for our dinner tonight with Pres. & Sister Condie and then we took the bus to the stop near her home. As we were walking through the park on our way, Neide saw us and came running. Charlotte continued on home while we visited with Neide for a few minutes. She talked us into coming for dinner tomorrow after zone conference although we really don’t have time nor do we actually need any more food. It’s been hard these last few days to keep the weight off because everyone wants to feed us. And it’s been hard to keep saying goodbye over and over again.

We said goodbye to Neide and went to Charlottes. I left Diana there to help her get dinner ready for us and the Condies while I walked to Schwamendingerplatz to withdraw enough money to pay our mission home bill. Sister Klaumuenzner called us earlier today with the final figure which came to 1, 067. 45 sfr. I got back about a half hour before the Condies were supposed to arrive, but Diana had gone over to visit Barbara Weidmann, who lives in the apartment next to Charlotte. I went over and joined them so as not to be alone with Charlotte. Barbara is a part time travel agent and Diana asked her to look up airfare from SLC to Zurich. She said would email the price to us tomorrow. From there we went up to the top of the building to Hitsch & Kathy Bolt’s apartment to say goodbye to them. It was hard to say goodbye, but when we told him that I might be back for Agnes’ baptism, he said I, and whoever came with me, could stay in their guest room while we were here.

We went back down to Charlottes and waited for the Condies to show up. They were about a half hour late, but finally arrived. We had a nice visit with them and Charlotte and the chicken dinner was delicious, too. When it came near time when we had to leave to catch our 8:54 train, Charlotte started telling the Condies her conversion story. We got more nervous and more nervous about having to leave, but she kept going on and we didn’t want to break in on her. It was really a great story and we were enjoying it, too, although we lived it with her and knew it frontwards and backwards, but that didn’t keep the train from coming. If we missed this one, it would probably have take us till midnight to get home. If we caught the 8:54, it would still take us until near 10:30. Much as we hated to we broke in with the excuse we had to go, but we needed to settle our bill with the mission home before we left. We gave 975.50 sfr to Pres. Condie and then we said our goodbyes. Diana and I both gave Charlotte our normal hug and Pres. Condie about swallowed his tongue. I had to explain that in Switzerland it’s custom to give both a greeting hug and three kisses on the cheeks upon meeting and saying goodbye. The members understand why it’s not proper for the young missionaries to do it, but for senior couples, it’s offensive to them not to do it. We asked Pres. Matern a long time ago what we should do. He said his guideline (he had the same problem) was that it was okay when Diana and I were together, but never while alone, and the members are okay with that. We try to avoid the kisses as was the case tonight.

We took off running, literally, and arrived at the bus stop, but it had just left. We saw that when the next one came, we just might have enough time to get to the train platform, if the bus didn’t have to wait for older passengers to hobble on and off the bus. Fortunately there were no problems and when it stopped at the bahnhof, we again ran, this time down the stairs, through the tunnel and back up to the right platforms just in time to slip into the train before it took off. Whew!!!! We’ll sure be glad when we have our own car and can come and go when we want although we do enjoy the trams, buses and trains.

The ride back home was uneventful, so much so that it was hard to stay awake. By the time we were home we were so tired that we mostly just got ready for bed and crashed. We hoped that by in the morning we would be sufficiently recovered to be able to move and get done what we needed to do.