Since it was ward temple day, we thought we would feature photos of the temple even though you probably have seen them already. We didn't take any new photos because it was such an ugly day.

DECEMBER5, 2009 SATURDAY

We got up early, got ready and walked to the Church to be there at the pre-arranged time of 8:00. Not long after we got there David Wichtermann drove up in his parent’s van. Natasha, his married sister, was in the front seat, too. We got in, had a prayer and were off to the temple. It was a foggy morning and it remained cold, dreary and a little rainy the whole day. It took an hour an fifteen minutes to drive from the Church parking lot to the temple parking lot. We arrived in plenty of time to get ready for the session. It was good not to be rushed and to have time to write names on the prayer roll, then to sit quietly in the chapel until the session started. We saw quite a few ward members there including Pres. & Sister Bolt. After the session was over, we found David, but this time he had his older brother, Pascal, with him and when we asked where Natasha was, he said she would be riding home with her husband who had come for a later session. The ride home was uneventful and we arrived without any problems. We brought some cinnamon rolls for us to eat on the way back and David and Pascal thought they were great. They had never had cinnamon rolls before. It seems cinnamon rolls are an American thing and even though their father works in a Migros bakery, they had never seen or tasted them before. Good! The next Church function we have, we’ll have to bake some for it. We are really blessed at home with temples so close that it only takes a few minutes to get to one and a few minutes to get back home. For this one session it took us about seven hours from doorstep to doorstep. But them we think of other members in the world who have to travel and sacrifice much more to attend a temple.

This afternoon we did a little shopping, not just for food, but we’re trying to get a few presents for Christmas. Our home evening group will have a present grab because we’re in charge of the game. We’ll probably have a present exchange at our zone conference like last year and then one in our own district meeting. Plus, we have a few special people we want to give a gift to as well. We didn’t find much in Schwamendingen so we’ll have to go somewhere else another time.

This evening we filled out our report for tomorrow and emailed it to Bodo Rueckauer. Bruno Patane’, the Elders Quorum President, wanted a copy of all our weekly reports for 2009. I finally figured out how to attach these reports to an email and sent them to him. We’ll find out tomorrow if it worked. We also made a few calls and sent a text message to Tony encouraging him to come to Church tomorrow as he promised us on Monday he would. Diana told Cinthyia Frioud she’d bring brownies for the after Church social when her baby was blessed so she called her tonight to confirm which Sunday it would be. We thought maybe it would be tomorrow, but her husband is out of town so they will do it on December 13. She also tried to call Priscilla, but couldn’t reach her.

Among our blessings today was the opportunity we had to add people’s names to the prayer roll in the temple. Every time we visit the temple we are encouraged by our mission president to place the names of all the people we are working with, investigators and less-active members, on the rolls. We also include everyone we know who is struggling with health or other issues both at home, in our families and over here.

Christmas market booth; Australian omelet; Tito, Triana and Elder Larson.

DECEMBER 4, 2009 FRIDAY

Yesterday we made arrangements with Liz to come over at 12:30 to show us how to make her Australian omelet. Each omelet takes 7 eggs and we didn’t have that many in our fridge. That meant we had to go into town to buy some more. We also needed to buy another bag of potatoes because we were almost out of them too. We took cinnamon rolls to home evening last Monday and the elders who were there raved about them and so Diana wanted to bake some more this morning for when they came today. Last, but not least, we needed yeast because we used the last of it making the last rolls. I made a quick trip into Migros to get everything and was back in a flash, well, maybe five or six flashes. On the way back I got on the front of the tram and as I looked around, I saw Gabrielle Rodriguez standing way on the other end of the tram. We waved at each other and we hope that contact will help her choose to come to Church Sunday.

We made the dough and then put it in a bowl to rise and, while it was rising, I ground the brown sugar bars into granules to mix with cinnamon to put on the dough after it was rolled out. We have yet to find American brown sugar, but we did find these brown sugar bars (5" X 2" X 1/4") in an Asian food store. We found a little hand gricer that is just perfect for making the bars into useful granules even though it is a lot of work. We also made the icing out of butter, powder sugar and Philadelphia Cream Cheese. After the dough doubled in size, we punched it down, kneaded it for five or six minutes and then rolled it into a rectangle. We spread butter on it, sprinkled the sugar/cinnamon on it, rolled it up and cut the roll into 16 pieces. After rising fifteen minutes, into the oven they went. The aroma of baking cinnamon rolls is indescribable. They turned out just perfect and just in time for Elders Irick and Knight to arrive at 12:30. They only had an hour so we were hoping Liz would hurry and get here. After waiting ten or fifteen minutes we decided to fix lunch for the Elders because, even if Liz came, there wouldn’t be enough time for her to make her omelets before they had to leave. We fried some potatoes with eggs and cheese along with a couple of hamburger patties for them. Just as we were serving that up Liz and Triana came so we dished some up for her too. As they were eating we explained more about the gospel and how our Sunday meeting are. We explained about Fast and Testimony meeting, the purpose of the fast, the bearing of testimonies and the sacrament. We told her that the missionaries have a series of lessons they give to people to explain the gospel and asked her if she would allow them to teach her. She said she would be glad to hear them and when we invited her to Church Sunday, she said she would try to come. We hope nothing will interfere this time like it did last time. Last time as they were getting ready, little Triana trip and fell face first into a cabinet door and had to be taken to the emergency room for treatment.

After the missionaries left Liz showed Diana how to make the first omelet while I tended Triana. As soon as the first one was done she wanted to make another one, but this time with me doing the work while she watched and coached. She liked to explain every little detail as if I had never done any cooking before, but finally it was all done and we could just relax. She likes her tea so we brewed her up a cup of hot peppermint tea while Diana had hot chocolate. Along with the tea we had the freshly baked cinnamon rolls and now we are required to go to her home and show her how to make them. She said another of her favorites is brownies, but hasn’t found any here in Switzerland that she likes and can’t make them herself. Some day in the near future we’ll visit her and teach her how to make both of them. We talked the rest of the afternoon away and then she finally had to leave to pick up Tito from school at 5:30.

We tried several times yesterday and today to call the Neidhards to invite them over tonight for dinner to celebrate Martin’s birthday. They never answered their phones. Instead, I went to Schwamendingen intending to leave his box of cookies and card in their mailbox. When I got there, I rang their doorbell and Ewa opened the door. She apologized for not answering their phone, but said they have been so busy that they didn’t want any interruptions. It seems they have to finish getting a package together and get it to the post office tonight in order for it to get to Jona, their son on a mission in France, before Christmas. It seems everything is a crisis for Ewa who is so disorganized. But they are really wonderful people and we love them. Martin wasn’t home having gone to Migros for something, so I left his gift and card with Ewa and left. On the way back towards the tram stop I ran into Martin who was returning home. I wished him happy birthday and told him we’d invite them over for lunch or dinner next week sometime when they weren’t so busy. I went on to Migros and bought some milk, flour, sugar and some wonderful Clementines and then went home.

Tomorrow is ward temple day and we still needed to find a ride with someone rather than ride the train. The last time we went we rode with the Wichtermans so we called them and arranged a ride, but it remains to be seen whose car we’ll ride in. We’ll meet them at the Church at 8:00 in the morning.

The tender mercy today was the package we received from Roxsan and her family this morning. Just the things we needed. Thanks a bunch. Another one are the photos and film clips that our children post on their blogs that we look at almost every night. It helps to be able to see them grow up even though we are not home to watch them.

These are the Bouso family, Triana, Jacinto sleeping on the floor, and Liz with Triana and Diana looking on.

DECEMBER 3, 2009 THURSDAY

When we got in last night, Diana had a difficult time getting up the stairs because her knee was giving her problems. In fact all day yesterday her knee was giving her problems and this morning it didn’t feel any better. So today we felt she should give it a rest and try and let it recuperate. Of course we did our usual personal, companion and language study. We had plenty of things to keep us busy here in our apartment so we got after it. Before we did, we tried to call the Neidhards to invited them over for dinner tomorrow night to celebrate Martin’s birthday, but they didn’t answer their phone. We also called Beatrice Jacobs, our contact from yesterday, to set up an appointment. She was busy until next week, so we scheduled it for next Thursday at 11:00.

I had been putting off writing some emails and catching up the log we keep on all the interactions with members, but mostly focusing on the less active members. While I was working on those, Diana waded through four months of purchase receipts to organize them for our taxes. She sorted them into months and then into categories and then totaled them. About 5:00 we took a break and looked up a website on prophecies of the last days from an LDS perspective and was in the middle of reading an article when our door buzzer went off. Who could be coming to visit us? Missionaries usually call before they come. I went down to the door and Liz Bouso and her two kids were standing there. What a surprise! We hadn’t been able to catch her on the phone or meet with her for so long until last night when Diana talked to her on the phone. Last Tuesday at district meeting everyone gave a name of an investigator to the Elder saying the closing prayer to pray for them. Our name was Liz Bouso, that we would be able to get back into contact with her. We testify that the Lord hears our prayers and answers them as well. So, when we couldn’t get out, Liz was prompted to come to us in our apartment. She arrived at about 6:00 and left at 9:45. In between we had a nice visit with her. While I played with the kids, Diana taught her most of the first lesson, finishing with the Joseph Smith story and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. We already had given her a BM the fist time we met with her, but she hasn’t been able to read any of it yet. This time we gave her the DVD, “The Restoration” and asked her to watch it with her children. Tito, her six year old, is a bright boy, and he was excited to get the DVD so he may be the one to prompt his mom to watch it. Just as they were leaving the subject got onto food and she reminded us that she was going to show us how to make the potato omelet she brought last time she came here for dinner. We made arrangements for her to come back tomorrow at 12:30 to show us how it is made. Before she left we had a prayer with them and she was grateful for it.

After they left we called Elder Nilsson & Irick to see if they could come over for lunch so they can get better acquainted with Liz. They had to do some juggling with their schedule, but they said two of them would be here; however, we don’t know which two.

The tender mercy of the Lord was that He sent Liz to us. Diana was feeling so bad about not being able to get out today that it was a blessing for her to be able to accomplish some missionary work.

These are more photos of some of the booths at the Christmas Market. This particular soft book (middle) only cost $145.00. How many do you want?

DECEMBER 2, 2009 WEDNESDAY

This morning we got up and did three batches of wash and between the batches, completed our personal study, companion study and our language study. That took us to lunch time and after lunch we had to make a trip to the mission home to take the letter from the Zurich Tax Department to Sister Sunke. The last thing we want to do is pay taxes to Switzerland, especially when we don’t owe them any. While we were on our way there, we saw a lady waiting at our tram stop. We had a Christmas pass-along card inviting people to call the mission home number and request a “Birth of Christ” video. We mentioned Christmas was coming and asked her if she had everything ready for it. She didn’t exactly know what to think, but then we told her she probably didn’t have a present for herself yet, but she could order one by calling the number on the card. That began a conversation about what we were doing here in Switzerland and that we had a message that we would like to share with her. As all of this was going on, our tram came and we all got on it and continued our conversation. Before she got off, she said we could come visit her and even wrote down her name, address and phone numbers in our day planner. She said she would be busy today, but we could call her tomorrow. And that made our day.

We continued on to the mission home and gave the letter to Sister Sunke. While we were there, we wanted to pick up some of those videos that were advertised on the pass-along card. It turns out that the cards are outdated and so the video is unavailable. Brother Klaumuenzner also said that the orders he had placed with the distribution center in Frankfurt six weeks ago to get prepared for the Christmas promotions hadn’t been filled yet. We offered to travel to Frankfurt and personally pick up what he needed, but he declined the offer. Instead he said the two mission vehicles are being replaced soon and asked us if we would like to drive one and follow him driving the other one to Germany to pick up the new ones. We told him we’d really like to do that, but I didn’t tell him that I don’t have a valid driver’s license since mine expired October 1st. He doesn’t have a lot of media available in the mission home right now. We did get at least two of each of the following DVD’s: Together Forever, The Restoration, Joy to the World, and Finding Faith in Christ.

From the mission home we traveled to Emma Schmids to wish her a happy birthday. It took us a long time to get there and then she wasn’t home to boot. We left her gift and card on her doorstep and then went back to Duebendof to take Daniella Schwendener her birthday gift. We didn’t expect them to be home since she and her husband both work, but they could have taken a day off. No one was home so we left her gift in her mailbox. We needed to get back home in time to make dinner for Valerie Otte whom we had invited to dinner at 6:00. We called her this morning to remind her, but she didn’t answer. We left a message on her voice mail and asked her to call us back and, if tonight wasn’t good for her, to come tomorrow night at 6:00. She didn’t return the call to our cell phone so we didn’t know if she were coming or not. We arrived back home at 5:45 pm and thought we’d have to hurry whip something up when we noticed the light blinking on our home phone. We picked up the message and Valerie said she was busy both nights and don’t expect her. In a way we were relieved, but sad also that we wouldn’t be meeting with her tonight.

For dinner Diana cooked her some tomato soup and I had leftover soup from yesterday. It wasn’t fancy, but it was good and filling. We were out of banana bread and we had some over ripe bananas, so rather than let them go to waste, we made some more banana bread. We promised Silvana that the next time we come to visit, we’d bring her a loaf. She has to watch her sugar so we told her we’d make it with Splenda, a sugar substitute. Tonight we made one loaf with Splenda, and the other with regular sugar. Splenda does not cook the same as regular sugar in spite of the advertisement printed on the package. Is there a secret to make it work? The Splenda loaf certainly didn’t look the same and it didn’t taste quite right either.

The rest of the evening we spent reading, checking emails/blogs and writing our journal entry for today. Elder Knight called to make his mid-week check on us and Diana had fun talking to him for quite awhile.

The tender mercy for today was Brother Klaumuenzner gave us a Lindt “Petits Desserts Mousse au Chocolat Noisette” while we were there. Diana didn’t have anything to eat this morning and this was just the ticket to tide her over for the rest of the day. I enjoyed my share, too.

The first photo is soft books for small children made of cloth with animals or whatever that can be pulled off and put back on with velcro. The second is Swarovski crystal Swiss cows, large and small. Third is the Swarovski tree decorated with crystal ornaments.

DECEMBER 1, 2009 TUESDAY

Morning came way too soon, but when it did, the eyes popped open and we realized we were still on this good earth and still have time to make progress. Our goal is to keep our eyes focused on Jesus Christ and not let them waver or our resolve weaken, but moving forward with faith and hope. This morning at 10:30 was our first district meeting following transfers last Thursday. We said goodbye to Sisters Robinson, Miron and Wellborn and also to Elder Richeson last week. Today we welcomed Elders Dias, our new Assistant to the President, and Elders Harris & Baird who took the place of the Sisters in Luzern. Elder Knight apologized for forgetting to call me with an assignment for this meeting, but he remembered to call Sister Larson with hers last Sunday. We had a good meeting, but the best part was Diana’s German tip and game. One of the difficult things about the German language is that every noun has a gender (article), male (der), female (die) or neuter (das). It is imperative that you get the gender/article right in order to master the language. She created a list of nouns and the tip/game was for the person whose turn it was to state the right article for the noun. She read a word and the Elder answered with the article he thought was right. Any other Elder could challenge him and, if the Elder was right and the challenger wrong, the challenger had to go to the last place. And visa versa, if the Elder was wrong and the challenger was right, the Elder would go to the end of the line and the challenger would take his seat wherever it was, and the rest would move up one spot. This game showed that we all needed work on memorizing the articles because we got quite a few of them wrong.

Following district meeting we came home, got a birthday present and went to visit Gitta Kummer. It was her birthday yesterday, but we weren’t able to visit her. However, we called her and made arrangements to come by today. We had a nice visit with them, but couldn’t stay long because Norma was coming at 2:00 to get her hair cut. We were fifteen minutes late getting home and since she wasn’t there, we thought Norma may have got tired of waiting for us and gone home. We called her cell phone and she told us she had missed her train, but would arrive in a few minutes which she did. Diana got busy and cut her hair while I did some work on the computer updating the member list. As soon as she left a little after 4:00 we got the present for Kaitlan Parkin, the daughter of the new family in our ward, and started our trip to Nuerensdorf, a journey of over an hour and a half. Our connections this time were bad and we had to wait as much as twenty-five minutes between buses. By the time we got there it was dark and we had never been to Nuerensdorf before so we were in strange territory. The drizzling rain and slush on the sidewalks and roads didn’t help any as we walked from our bus stop to the Parkin’s home. When we got there, they were surprised to see us, but little Kaitlin was happy. We sang happy birthday to her and Jana took us on a tour of their huge apartment. Jana invited us to stay for dinner, but we couldn’t stay long because we had to be back in Schwamendingen for Institute at 7:45. She gave us each a slice of pumpkin bread to eat on our way back home and it was really moist and delicious. On our return trip we took the bus to the Bassersdorf Bahnhof and then took a train to Oerlikon. From there we took our usual bus #63 and then tram #9 to home. The last part of our journey is always the hardest, climbing the two long flights of stairs, hiking up the long ramp to street level and then the final two flights of stairs to our apartment.

We got to rest for about a half hour and then to Institute we went. Elder Irick gave the spiritual thought during opening exercises and Patriarch Koch was the instructor for our class. The topic was Alma chapters 8 through 11. We always have a good time talking and visiting with the missionaries and Young Single Adults. Agnes came, too, so that was nice, but we missed Suwang. By the time Institute was over we were glad to go home and call it a day. We started out the day by going to district meeting at 10:15 and got home from Institute a little before 10:00, a long day by anybody’s standard.

It seems the Lord helps everything work out. For instance, today we were late getting back home from the Kummers and, did Norma just happen to miss her train so she didn’t arrive at our place before we did? I think we had some help on this one and, all of us are helped more than we think, each and every day, but we just don’t take the time to recognize it.

Another tender mercy was the two packages we got from Monica and her family. Licorice twists for Diana and licorice nibs and snaps for me. There were also some turkey roasting bags, photos of Remi, Jade and Robby and a note from Monica. Thank you all.