Tree stand and what you can see sitting in it.

AUGUST 7, 2010 SATURDAY

No appointments today, but we worked hard anyway. I spent the morning into the afternoon until 3:00 with only a short break at noon working on translating the conversion story of Diana’s grandfather, George C. Phillips. She’s going to use it in her talk tomorrow. She has ten minutes, but the story she wants to read will take her fifteen minutes. It will be okay with me, if she takes the whole twenty minutes, her ten minutes and my ten minutes.

During the break we went to get on the train to go to Jestetten to spend the last of our Euros on food for Paul. We found out when we got there that that particular line was not running, but they had buses set up to replace the trains. We were directed to the right bus and rode it to Jestetten. Yes, it took more than twice as long and wasn’t as comfortable as the train. When we got to the Jestetten Bahnhof we saw why the trains weren’t running. Yep, construction. Crews had dug a giant trench under the tracks to install a cement culvert or something. We spent our 32.44 Euros at Aldis on flour, sugar, butter, spaghetti, noodles, hamburger, nectarines, canned peaches, canned pineapple, frozen fruit (for me) and eggs. Maybe with all this food, he can put some flesh on his skinny body.

When we returned, I finished with Diana’s translation and then changed and went for a walk. I needed some quiet time and it seems I can think better when I’m out walking than sitting behind a desk. I walked up into the woods where it was cool and quiet, found a deer stand on the edge of a meadow, walked over the hill into the woods and spooked a deer, one of the few I’ve actually seen in Switzerland. As I was walking around I decided to focus my talk on testimony and what one has to do to get and keep one. Part of what I’ll use is Alma 32 where he uses planting seeds to teach the process of receiving a testimony. I’ll probably also use some of 2 Nephi 31 especially the verses where Christ invites everyone to follow His example of being baptized. I also need to focus a little bit on enduring to the end. Tomorrow we’ll have a mixed congregation of active members, less-active members, children and adults, and investigators. It’ll be a challenge to present something for all to feast on. I really haven’t been able to “write a talk” and just have ideas floating around in my head. I’ll certainly need the help of the Spirit to help me say what needs to be said.

While I was doing the translating, Diana was working at sorting, keeping, discarding and weighing our baggage. It’ll be a miracle, if we can get it all done before we go home. Later this evening we sent text message invitations to Priska & Mike and Charlotte Kunz. Will they come to Church tomorrow? We practiced singing our hymn that we’ll sing tomorrow with Dorothea Jaermann.

Of course we cleared our emails (getting fewer and fewer all the time) and we read the blogs of our friends in Geneva and Buenos Aires. Roxsan, Monica and Rebecca are busy planning our vacation to Bear Lake the Monday after we get home. It doesn’t seem possible that we’ll be home next Thursday.