"Truly no effort is wasted" - October 6, 2014 - From Lucerne

On Lake Lucerne

Sister Oswald and Sister Lewis on Mt. Rigi

A slice of heaven! 

The Rigi Cogwheel train from Art Goldau up to Rigi Kulm 

Dropbox on this computer is the slooooowwest so sorry you never get pictures and when you do they are weeks old. Also I forgot to tell you that on another p-day we went to the Bourbaki panorama. If dropbox ever gets to it, you'll see pictures.

So here is the picture :-) This panorama commemorates an incident in the Franco-Prussian War  (1870-71) when the defeated fresh forces of General Bourbaki fled out of France to Switzerland to avoid annihilation by the Germans.  The Swiss army disarmed the French and then welcomed them into homes throughout Switzerland for rest and recuperation during the winter.  This even reinforced Switzerland's role as a neutral power

Last P-day was obviously crazy!! And we had to email president on Tuesday because we didn't have time on Monday and we were out late and everything was nuts but don't worry, I am trying very hard to be an obedient missionary. So that's why you also got that message from me on Tuesday. So my week! On Saturday we went to visit Ingrid and her family and Georgina was also there! (Ingrid and Georgina are both daughters of my cousins on my father side. My dad had one older brother who had two daughters  and Ingrid and Georgina are their  daughters and I love that Katie got to get together with them!) They spoiled us rotten with the best Raclette we've had (Sister Oswald even said so) and incredibly good company. And Georgina was so excited to get her Book of Mormon and I was so excited to give it to her! I can't wait to hear what she thinks. They are all such good people and I'm glad we're related! So we missed general conference Saturday night (the Saturday morning session) but we went to church early Sunday morning to watch it and then came back later to watch the Saturday evening session and the Sunday morning session with whoever wanted to come from the ward. There weren't so many ward members, but 3 of the non-members we invited came!! We were so happy. One is Lisa, from Malaysia, and the other two are a mother and daughter we stopped on the street!

One time this man sat next to me on the bus and I was able to give him a Book of Mormon and get his information so I could ask him what he thought about it. And then last week we met! The tricky part is there aren't so many people available for joint teaches, so we had to have the elders come. So we might even have to give him to the elders. But his name is HB and he's completely Swiss. I'm also pretty sure he's an alcoholic. I was praying on the bus with him sitting right there next to me that I would be able to keep talking to him even though he smelled SO STRONGLY of alcohol. And he smelled that way at his lesson too. But the lesson went well and we taught him how to say a personal prayer. It is something really special to be with someone the first time they ever offer a personal prayer to their Father in Heaven. The Spirit was there. I really loved general conference. 

We were finally able to meet Sister Brechbühl, the relief society president's mother! I just remembered to tell you that because Lindsey asked about her in her letter. Liddy I loved your letter! And I got my t-shirt signed by all of you. :-) So we saw her and she still wants all the lessons and she is our great friend.

Today P-day is unusual

again (hence my late email) because we helped a member clean her house before she moves to Bosnia! I cleaned so many blinds today . . .

This is the story I told President Kohler:

One day Sister Oswald and I decided to stop by on a member and leave them with a personal touch. These members live in an area we had never been to before, and of course we wanted to find someone. There was almost no one on the street, but we did eventually run into an elderly woman on a walk with her daughter. We contacted them and immediately started talking about the Book of Mormon. The daughter shared with us that she had received one from one of our members! She also told us that she had watched a session of general conference at the church with this member! She mentioned how impressed she was by it, and we of course mentioned that general conference was coming up again in a few weeks and invited her to come again. After talking more about the Book of Mormon, the mother wanted to have one and we left with her number so that we could follow up on her reading and let her and her daughter know the details of conference. When I called to follow up I was a little disappointed, because she had read in the Book of Mormon but didn't have interest in talking any more about it. She also seemed to have forgotten all about general conference but she said she would let her daughter know that we had called in case her daughter wanted to come. It didn't sound very promising. So Sister Oswald and I were excited when her daughter did call, and wanted to know all of the details about general conference so that she could attend another session. The mother and the daughter came together to the session that was broadcasted Sunday night. Several members were also there. We got to talk a lot before and after about living prophets, and it was perfect that the theme of that session (the Sunday Morning Session) seemed to be the fact that we have a prophet on the earth today. After the session the mother had questions about Jesus appearing in America, and she will now read 3 Nephi 11-26. She is very Catholic, but said that after general conference she feels like she understands the Bible better! It was a neat experience. I'm excited to see what she thought about the chapters in 3 Nephi! I just loved how both members and missionaries were involved in this experience. Truly no effort is wasted.

Love you all, Sister Kate