Walking around the temple grounds and shooting pictures of snow!

Above: Looking north into the forest which is "behind / on the back side of" the temple. We have had a couple of snows storms, one of them pretty big last Sunday (Feb. 22).

This is the MAB (Miss. Apt. Bldg.) where the 16 couples live (the senior couples who work at the temple). You are looking east. Now turn 90 degrees to the left and you'll be looking into the forest (mentioned above).

Turn back (right) to the east, then turn 90 degrees more (right) and look to the south. You can see the east edge of the temple. Alice was intrigued by the thick trunks of the two evergreens. We figured they must be giant members of the juniper family.

Now walk west along the wide asphalt side walk you saw leading to the MAB (which is east) and then turn left 90 degrees to the south again. Now cock your head left so that you can see more of the temple and one of the junipers. . .in this picture which I forgot to turn 90 degrees so that it would be easy for you to see!

Walk west all the way "past" the temple (you can see the temple's northwest corner) and you come to an asphalt sidewalk perpendicular (north/south) to the one we were walking on. It goes along the west side of the temple (from the north side, where we were in the past pictures. Walk along this sidewalk, and at the end (way down there at the end), find the main entrance to the temple (on your left). If you wanna have more fun, look at this in Google Earth.

As you are walking south on the asphalt sidewalk, look toward the right (west) and see the president's house and behind it, the patrons' hostel. You all know what youth hostels are like, right?. . . spartan! But liveable! It's a lot cheaper to stay in these Church-maintained quarters than out there in regular Swiss hotels (even ordinary ones are really high-priced!). (These cost about $38 a night for 2 adults).

Ok, this is the south side of the temple. . .I'm facing north. I thought I was close enough to get the German words "The House of the Lord, Holiness to the Lord," over the door, but I guess I was not. Sorry. The north/south sidewalk you just took is on the left side of this picture, but out of view.

Now turn 180 degrees and face south. This field of snow is normally green (Utah-like) grass. On a clear day, you can see the Alps to the left of the larger of the two pine trees. But it's not clear very often. I think the Alps look like Mt. Timpanogas when it's covered with snow.

Turn left 90 degrees and take another asphalt sidewalk in front of the temple Follow it east. You'll come closer to the Zollikofen Ward building. You might see some kids who have come to the temple from France or Italy with their parents. . . kids do baptisms and parents do endowment sessions and other ordinances.

On the southeast side of the temple you can see those two big junipers again. (Crick in your neck?)

There's a small residential street just southeast of the temple. Snow has been piled about 4 1/2 feet high there. There's a little shop called "Mormon Home," a book and gift shop. You would think you were in Utah (if it weren't so small). Unfortunately, it might close. The owners have posted a "for sale" sign. I had hoped you could read the words "Mormon Home" on the window, but I fail to guess how close I need to be in order to get a picture that shows readable words.

Walking further east. . . I noticed a car is turning into the little residential street mentioned above. The hedge marks the edge of the chapel grounds. If you strain, you can read the sign. ("Mormon Home" is on the right side, outside of the picture.)

Actually, there are two signs that say the same thing. This is the second one, and it's 50 feet to the left (north) of the previous sign. I sure hope you can read the words!! (Is German really that hard?) But now look. . . at the (little!) black car. It's a 2 seater, called a "Smart" car. Really should be called a "short" car. It looks like it's had its rump chopped off. Makes a 1950's Volkswagen Beetle (are you old enough to remember?) look like a limousine! It's a popular car among yuppies (who aren't very rich yet).

Walk down the street (northerly direction) in the previous shot, and then into the official Church Distribution Center. Again, small, but ok. But prices. . . sheesh! (high). Turn right 90 degrees (inside the store) and you could see all the garments for sale. (No need to show that, though, is there?)

I walked out of the "Bookstore/Distrib. center" and said, "Look at all the unmelted snow! It's still about 3 feet high, after melting for 3 days. Of course that was the pile made by the snow plow. Just behind the shrub in the middle of the photo are some winding stairs. Climb and you come to the entrance to the MAB. Turn right and look for our name on the "phone" plate (below)

Here's the proof we are really here. We have an official name plate outside of the MAB. The second name from the top is the name of the English-only speaking couple. They speak ONLY English! He's a former stake president and patriarch from Granger, Utah. No one (NO ONE!) knows why they were called to this temple!!! (Americans are NOT supposed to be called to this temple!) (unless their membership records, like ours, is located within the Swiss Temple District.)

Older pictures than what you will see in the next posting.

Just keep scrolling down.



On Thursday, Feb. 12, a few of us went to Zurich to hear Elder
Bednar speak. He had been in southern Germany on his mission,
and we were afraid he might speak in German. But although he
made a few jokes at the beginning about that (in German), he
gave most of his talk in English, and then it was translated
(translated very well!). We arrived in Zurich before dark
because we wanted to see a little of it. Zurich is located at a
point where a river flows into a lake. Behind us is the lake. On
my right, below, are Sis. and Bro. Di San Sebastiano. Alice is
wearing a "fur cap," she bought at Salvation Army for $3 (but
it looks like it cost $30!). To her left is Maria Sacco. We are
all temple workers.

This is kinda the same picture, except next to Maria Sacco is
Sis. Berz, a native Dutch, who went to the States, lived there
10 years, married a Swiss German who was also living there,
and then returned to Switzerland. He never joined the Church,
but she did, and now works full time at the temple. She plans
to move from near Zurich to an apartment within 5 minutes of
the temple. We think she will be willing to "put up" one or two
of our visitors (if they come) for one or two nights. (If, that is,
she gets moved over here to Zollikofen before April 1, about 5
weeks from now.) BTW, a young lady came by on the bridge
and offered to take or picture, so Sis. Berz handed her our
camera (gulp!). She took our picture, and I asked her if she
were a turist. "Yes," she said in English. "Hey," I said "where
are you from?" "Argentina" she replied!! (as she handed
the camera back to me! (Wow! what a story!)


Picture of the lake without us standing in front
of it. Gray, overcast day. It must be pretty on
a sunny summer day.

Same picture, but 60 degrees further to the right,
looking "southwest," I think. Stacy might know,
because maybe she's been here!

Some of the food for our Valentine's Day / Carnaval / Mardi Gras
celebration held last night, Mon. Feb. 23. (To be continued
in next blog. . . so keep scrolling down, and then look at the next
new blog.)

This is the most pictures I've ever posted.

This is Brother Millet (below). He is in charge of our
living quarters. He introduced us to our apartment,
after which we went through it to see if we had
everything we were supposed to have. We were
missing a few things, which he got for us. A few
things needed to be fixed, but it seems so many
people are so busy that they haven't had time to
get to us. No big deal though. Bro. Millet said he
wanted us to teach him to read English better,
because there is so much to read about the Church
in English, compared to French. But he's so very
very busy, both with his regular job at the temple
(temple planner, a big job) plus his being "dorm
father" and "handy-man" here at the apartments,
that he has no time for anything else. A humble
man, but rock solid! We are proud and blessed to
know him and his wife.


Bro. Venet below. See a picture of him and his wife
posted earlier. These pictures were taken in the
basment of the MAB (Missionary Apartment Building)
which serves as a general meeting room for all
16 couples, plus a storage area for our empty
luggage. That explains all the luggage you see.
Through the door you see the other room.

Lorenzo and Lorenza Perticaroli below. Just very
very nice people. Lorenza has composed a song,
but doesn't know how to write music, so Alice
listened to it, wrote it down and also composed
an accompaniement for it. Lorenza was elated.
Lorenzo speaks some French, but my Italian is
improving daily, and so we speak less French
together. They really want to be close to us, but
we all have different levels of skill in French and
Italian, so we're not spending as much time
together as they had hoped we would.


Last night, Monday Feb 23, we had a combined
Valentine's Day and Mardi Gras celebration,
which explains all the balloons and streamers.
It was held in the "bunker." I don't know if I
told you earlier: In the basement of the MAB
is a "bomb shelter." Just like some of us had
in the 1950's and 60's. All cement enclosure!
Probably 400 sq. feet or more! Two rooms.
Our luggage is stored against the walls of 3
sides of one of the rooms. In the other (larger)
room we have about 10 tables and 30 or so
chairs. Enough for all of us. We had the "party"
in the big room, and the food for the party
was on long tables in the other room. See
picture of table of food, above. Of course since
we are about 1/2 French, 1/2 Italian, there
is a tendency to divide the groups along linguistic
lines. Looking across from us, you see most
French against the other wall, Perticaroli's on
the right side, and the head of Bro. Christiansen,
the only monolingual (and American) in the
group. Well, his wife is the same. This is not
easy for them!

Below: Close by, some Italians. Further away,
some French.


Immediately to my left, the Italian concentration!
From left: Sis. Bisi, Young Bro. Gavaz, Old Bro.
Gavaz (his father). Across the table: Sis. Di San
Sebastiano, her daughter (on visit from Italy),
her father ("speak no evil") and in a pink blouse,
Maria Sacco.



Dark coat standing: Pres. Castellani welcomes everyone.
Standing to his left, in blue shirt, his counselor, Pres.
Savian, who translates into semi-fractured French.
Between them, barely visible, Sis. Castellani.
To the right of Pres. Castellani, the Perticarolis. To
their right, the Brouillets. Bro. Brouillet is the other
counselor, a native French speaker, but he knows
precious little (little!) Italian. I don't know how the
presidency functions, because President speaks Italian
and English, Savian speaks Italian, French and some
English, and Brouillet speaks basically only French.


Here are the two work-horses, the team-leaders:
Savian and Brouillet (left to right). We're in Savian's
group, which is mostly Italians.

Pictures of French-speaking missionaires (did you get that word?) at Swiss Temple in Zollikofen

Here are the four ladies at this evening's Crêpes snack.
From left to right:

1. Sister Simone Venet
2. Sister Alice Giauque
3. Sister Jubault
4. Sister Tavella.



These are André and ??? Jubault, from Rennes,
in Bretagne (Western France). They hosted the
crêpes snack.




These are Daniel and Simone Venet, from Lyons.
He's quite a "funny guy" even though I don't
think he intends to be. It's just that he scurries
about quite often. His wife is sensitive and worried
that he's not "the way he should be."
Wonderful people! Great spirit.






Roberto and Jeanine Tavella. He has a heavy "southern
French" accent. Was born in Venice, Italy, but raised
in France. He has had lots of experience in the Church,
and tells a lot about his experiences. They are
fascinating. He was bishop of a singles ward in Paris
(27 different nationalities), counselor to a Mission
President in Geneva, a district president in Southern
France and a mission president himself in Kinshasha
(capital of Zaire (Belgian Congo)) in Africa. An engineer
by profession, he's been involved with construction,
particularly of chapels in Europe. He considers
American and Canadian construction work "inexpensive
in appearance, but expensive because the quality is not
good. . .too much wood, not solid enough." He was
amazed, of course, to learn that there was a stake in
a town of 2500 people in southern Alberta. It was he
who organized the Sacrament Mtg. we held earlier
today. I'm very impressed with this man.

There are more, but I don't have pictures of them yet.

Feb 22, 2009.

Today is Sunday. Feb 22. When we woke up, there was
snow on the ground again. Mom doesn't like snow,
especially after Feb. 1. Or maybe even Jan 1.! It's been
snowing all day, and we probably have 6 or more inches
by now. It's 30 km to Bienne, and most of the temple
workers who go there (the French speakers) have
decided that we'll stay here and have a meeting in
our apartment building at 3 p.m. instead of driving to
Bienne in what might be dangerous conditions.

Not it's 4:45 p.m., and I'm writing this paragraph
just after the we had this 3 p.m. Sacrament Mtg.
The second counselor of the Temple presidency said
there are directives allowing temple workers to hold
their own Sacrament Meeting. So that is what we
did. Only 13 people attended, but it was an excellent
mtg. Great singing, then the Sacrament administered
using regular table glasses containing only a very
little water, and then a wonderful discussion of
three recent Conference talks. Couldn't have been better.

Now it's 7:45 p.m. and I'm writing about the next thing
that happened today. We, along with 2 other French
couples were invited to the apartment of the Jubeault
family, where we had cre^pes and jam. De'licieux!
(Delicious!). Plus lots of conversation on lots of subjects,
all uplifting.

This is what I wrote earlier.

The temple is about more than temple ordinances.
Here we have experts in computers who make sure
all the electrical systems work. They're all Church
employees, of course. There are grounds keepers
(but I'm not sure they are church members), and
they've been very busy trimming trees all month
long. There are two men trained in dealing with
emergencies, and we've received training from
them on how to deal with a situation if someone in
the temple (or anywhere on the temple grounds,
such as in the patrons' housing area) has a heart
attack or a stroke. It's really quite amazing!

Last evening, long before the snow began to fall,
there was a little get-together over there, at Bienne. . .
presentations on family preparedness, and then a
branch pot-luck dinner based on food taken from
our “reserves.” I want to talk to you about it.

One of the presenters, a lady, talked about the
importance of at least a 3 months reserve, including
water. Of course those who live in apartments
or other small quarters will have problems storing
food, but they should store as much as they can
anyway. She also talked about storing for longer
term, ie., a year of “survival food,” and several
other people shared their ideas too. The people
who attended have been in the Church for many
years (20 to 40, I'd say) and most of them know a
lot about the “culture” of the Church, including it's
“lifestyle” (and they even used a word I really like
to characterize that: “ l'Art de vivre”). So they
talked about canning fruit, storing grain, using your
food storage regularly so that your body gets used
to that kind of food, mending and repairing clothes,
saving money, buying during sales, etc., etc. It was
as good a presentation as I have ever seen in the US.


The second presenter took his theme from Elder L.
Tom Perry's most recent Conference talk, about Henry
David Thoreau and Walden Pond. He talked about
a 3-day survival bag, for oneself and for a family. It
was reminiscent of discussions about preparing
for a Scout hike. Pack light! Bring essentials! The
presenter, who is the Young Men's president (not
surprising, no?) is very obviously into this sort of
thing! The parents' bag, he said, should not contain
everything! Each child should have her/his own bag,
and in it should be certain things (like the aluminum
cooking pot).

Then he brought in some ideas I had not heard
of regarding survival: First, make sure you have
necessary medications in your survival bag. Now
that Mom and I take medications daily, it hit me
that that is important. Second, make copies of your
important papers and put them in watertight
“containers” (i.e., water-tight plastic covers which
you can buy.) He talked of being in Poland 20 years
ago, while it was still “red,” and not having his I.D.
papers or any cash. Big problem! Although he
did get out, I still didn't understand how he did it.
One of the attenders told of being in Africa and
wrapping money (bills) in a roll of toilet paper so
that they wouldn't be robbed. (I am not sure they
have toilet paper in Africa, so this story might be
suspect! JOKE, JOKE!!) The presenter recommended
making at least one zerox copy of all the contents of
your wallet (I've felt strongly about this for some
time, but never get around to doing it) and your
passport!

I've even xeroxed our temple recommends. Suppose
we went on a trip to France or Italy or even here in
Switzerland, and lost our wallets. Then came back here,
we couldn't get into the temple, and we're supposed
to be temple workers. And if we couldn't get in, then
we should not be able to remain in this apartment!
So I made a zerox copy of our recommends which,
having been issued in SLC, have a bar code, so even
though it's only a copy, hopefully this copy with a bar
code could let us get into the temple to do our work.
I'm going to check with the temple presidency about
that tomorrow. And also, put some money with your
survival bag too!

Members of our immediate family will remember the
Navalta family, I think. Wilfried Navalta was the
women's volleyball coach at NAU for one year and a
member of our ward, and then went to BYU-Hawaii
where he's had a very successful career, winning
national championships several years, and also serving
as a stake president. You can read about him here: http://w2.byuh.edu/sports/Volleyball/coaches/coaches.htm

Last Sunday the missionaries brought two young
American women to church; they are professional
volleyball players in Bienne! (They're trying to learn
French, but it's hard!) I told them about Navalta and
they seemed impressed, even though they had not
heard of him. And then, yesterday, I saw on p. 80 of
the March Ensign that BYU-Hawaii had suffered pretty
severe flooding, and I imagine that Navaltas' house
may have been damaged too.

Try to get some things ready in case of physical
problems. The theme of most of the March Ensign is
“Self-reliance.” That's good advice for everyone,
and including those who read this blog.

And by the way, there's need for family support too.
If anyone who reads this blog has not sent us their
blog site, we would like to have it. Feel free to forward
our blogsite address to other extended family members
if you wish.

Luv,
Mom and Dad, Alice and Gerry

Pictures of people we have met here. . . 11 Feb 09

Let's see if I can get pictures of our "colleagues" posted here. First, here is President Raimundo Castellani. He's taller than I am and relatively young looking. I'd said he is just barely 50. A kind and very gentle man, he reminds me a bit of my cousin Bill Giauque. He's "been around" in the Church, having served as a bishop, stake president (I think), Area Seventy and now Temple President. His wife has had a disability for about 18 of their 25 years of marriage: Parkinson's disease, so although she looks young, she doesn't move very fast. He seems ideal to be a temple president: he seems "presidential" (if not prince-ly). Never, never gets rattled. . . even though yesterday all the electricity in the temple went off about 10 minutes into the first session. There has been lots of wind throughout Europe, passing through western then central France, and then here. Anyway, he's a wonderful example and dignity, calm, kindness.

By the way, all of the people described below are Italians. We are on the non-French shift, meaning it is almost all Italian, even though there are a few non-Italians on this shift (including an American couple. . . see below) and a widowed Dutch lady who speaks mostly German and a fair amount of English. And another by the way, I see that in most cases, I wasn't standing close enough to the people when I took their pictures. So you don't really see much of their face. Maybe I'll just have to re-do them. Anyway. . .

Directly above are President and Sister Savian. Bro. Savian is the first counselor in the temple presidency, and the leader of the team/shift that we belong to. As you can see, the wife is taller than the husband, but in the temple (at least), you know which of these two is in charge: it's Bro. Savian. Both of these people are strong-willed and a little distant. But they know (really know!) how to do the temple. The amazing thing about Bro. Savian is his linguistic skill. He speaks Italian natively. I've been told that his parents (or maybe even he) was/were born in Armenia. But he doesn't speak Armenian (as far as I know). Besides his native Italian, he speak German very very well. He certainly holds his own in French, although he does make a few mistakes, like saying "il a vi" instead of "il a vu." He speaks English pretty well too, but seems to have to search for the words a little more. And I believe he speaks Spanish (but I've never heard him speak that). In any case, it is he who translates when we have a meeting with several speakers of different languages present. In fact, even as I write this, I can hear him saying exactly those words, in English, with his own special accent.) I respect him a great deal for his ability to switch from one language to the next with less than a second's hesitation! Me, I'm getting there, but it often takes me 5 seconds to get from French to German to Italian or from Italian to French to German. The wrong words just come out of my mouth!! Not so in his case!


Directly below are Lorenzo and Lorenza Perticaroli. It's not easy to say their last name until you've practiced saying it a few times. It has a tendency to come out as “particularment.” at first, and then Perticorali later, and then finally correctly, “Per-ti-CA-ro-li.” They are a very fine couple. He's tall, easy going, and I think he looks like Rudy Giuliani. Lorenza, his wife, looks to me just a little tiny bit like Bonnie Carson Bailey. Unfortunately, Lorenza isn't smiling as much in this picture as I wish she were and as she often does (and that's when she looks the most like Bonnie).

Below are Bro. and Sis. (fratello e sorella) Di San Sebastiano. Their name is almost as hard to pronounced as that of the couple mentioned just above. As with the people above, the husband is fairly calm and the wife a little more animated! But the husband has some stories to tell!! He used to be a parachutist in the Italian army. He took parachute training at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and then returned home to teach other Italians soldiers to parachute. He was involved, as a parachutist, in the UN intervention in Somalia. He once gave a Priesthood blessing to a young Italian officer who was severely wounded. Unfortunately, the young man did not survive. He was my mentor last week, as I learned many things about “running a session.” It's not the man who stands in front of the alter in the ordinance room who runs the session. It's someone you never see, or almost never, who does a lot (a lot!) of behind the scenes work to “run the session.” It was somewhat challenging to learn everything, and he was both kind, firm and demanding. This week I have someone else as my mentor, and he's teaching me even more, and “un-teaching” me a couple of things I learned last week. I'll talk about him later. Before I forget, Vittorio (di San Sebestiano) seems to me like "the man who never smiles." (Soooo serious. And his first name means "Victory." Sounds kinda military doesn't it!) But then just today, I saw him act in a more animated and smiley way. I think he likes to pretend to be tough and then be "happy-go-lucky" the next day!

Bro. and Sis. Gavaz (below) are people who just keep on workin' and workin' and working! They look relatively young (especially he does), but he says he's been working in the temple for 29 years! I think that means he's been involved in temple work for 29 years, not that he's been here that long. That's because he has his own construction business and I'm sure he has to keep it going. But I wonder if he works outside very much, because he's here full-time now, and has often been here when we've come to the Swiss temple before. He and his wife even have a son who is a frequent temple worker. Sis. Gavaz is quite overweight, but she still serves a lot and is well-liked. Her mother passed away about last Thursday. The Gavaz's were gone Friday and Sat., but were right back here on Sunday when I took the pictures. Wow! That's why I say, they just never let up!

Speaking of pictures, you see some snow in these. We had about 5 inches on Sunday morning. It looked like Salt Lake to me. I've never seen so much snow in Europe (well, I guess I did in Dec. 1962, when the Seine River froze 3 ft. thick. But even then, it was the cold, not snow, which impressed me).

Two of the couples above have long names and are relatively young (late fifties or early sixties). The next two couples are a little older, with shorter and easier names. Bro. and Sister Bisi are just ordinary faithful members. Bro. Bisi wants me to help him a little with German, but German is quite hard for almost anyone who speaks a Romance language natively. Both of them are nice people.




Bro. and Sis Botta, below, are the “great-grand-parent” type. I think they are both in their 80's. We see them walking home (to the apartment building from the temple) hand in hand, just like young lovers. He is a sealer, and he asked me to participate in a sealing session the other day, as a son. Today I saw him in two sessions as an ordinary temple patron. He can do the veil ceremony in Italian, French and German (and maybe English, but I'm not sure. Sis. Botta is fun like a barrel o' monkeys. . . always upbeat. She often greets us in French (just to be kind, yes, but to show off a little bit too, maybe). I should have gotten closer to them to take this picture. I'll try to do it better next time.




Bro. And Sis. Christiansen (Clair and Joyce), below, are from Granger but recently moved to South Jordan. We are baffled about them. Let me explain. We had heard very clearly that no Americans were supposed to come to the Swiss Temple. Yet here they are! We felt very blessed to be able to work things out so that we could come as members of the Strasbourg Ward (Nancy Stake). But we *wanted * to come here. The Christiansens didn't seem to have this strong desire to be here. So, for two reasons, we can't figure out why there are here. The language(s) is/are not easy for them. . . not in the least. They work their entire shift in the office, not in the ordinance rooms, doing office work (entering numbers into a computer). Of course they get up and walk around, and talk with various people, but still, it's just office work and record keeping. But somebody has to do it, I guess. As I think I've mentioned before, we are kinda like “parents” for them, even though they are older than we are and have had significant callings in the Church in the US (bishop, patriarch, stake president, and she was R.S. Stake President). The most important thing we do for them is drive them around when they need it (and they are so worried that they are taking advantage of us, which of course, is not at all the case). Or, I translate for them. Yesterday, we and they had to get registered with the city and canton officials. It would really have been tough for them if they had had to do it without a car of linguistic help. Anyway, things are ok for them.

I need to take pictures of the French shift and a few more people of our shift and post them later. I also need to ask Mom to tell me more about what she does at the temple. We talk about it, but don't think we should make it "too public." Suffice it to say, we're both pretty busy most of the time that we are in the temple.

Here is a picture of the entrance to the temple. . . and the back of my head.

Sorry these pictures are too light. But please notice that they are of me. . . and President Heber J. Grant !

5 Feb 2009

Click on the "mess" above and increase the size of it. Then notice that I make lots of mistakes.

I wrote a "composition" in Italian yesterday. (Subject: Introducing ourselves.) Fratello (Bro.) Perticaroli asked me if I would like him to correct it. I said yes. He looked at it for 3 seconds and said, "This is full of mistakes."

There you see it, above.

You can see that it's a disaster.

I hope that this does not destroy the image you all have of me as "the guy who thinks he is perfect." It's just that I am simply not as far along as I had hoped I would be. Nevertheless, give me a few more weeks and you'll see some improvement.

Today, Elder Ge'rald J. Causse," Second Counselor in the European Area Presidency was here. He attended our "prayer and preparation meeting," and spoke about 12 minutes to us. There are two counselors in the temple presidency : one, a Frenchman, is in charge of the French speakers. The other, an Italian, Bro. Savian, is in charge of the rest of us, which includes a new American couple, a widowed German speaking sister (who also speaks English) and us. Bro. Savian is a gifted polyglot; he does Italian and German very well, and French quite well, and English quite well too, but a little less well than French. Elder Causse' spoke in English for the benefit of the newly arrived American couple and the German lady (and for us, a little). Bro. Savian translated into Italian for the rest. Need it be said? This is a unique temple!

We are learning our jobs! Mom took people through the veil today, and I was a veil coordinator today (there's a *lot * to that job!). They say it takes four months to train a temple worker (to do everything). We're finishing our 3rd week. I don't think it will take 4 months for us, but maybe they'll spring some new things on us soon.

This evening we had the American couple (who know very very little Italian) and the German sister over for dinner. It was fun.

Luv to all,

Dad/Gerry

Today is 2 Feb 2009.

Hello All,

It's 2:30 p.m. Our computer is working well (better than it was yesterday) and it's Monday (Temple is closed), and here we are, happy as can be!

This morning there were 3 inches on snow on the ground. I took our newbies, Bro. Clair (and Sis. Joyce) Christiansen, who used to be a stake president in Granger, down the street to the bakery where we buy bread and quiche at half-price. As explained earlier, I hope, the bakery produces bread for a chain of stores through Switzerland, but allows neighbors of the bakery to buy bread at half price if we get there between 8 and 11 a.m. So all the senior missionaries go there to buy bread. I spent 14 CHF (that's the abbreviation for Swiss francs) today, for enough bread and quiche for the week, and which would have cost $27 (full price) if we had bought it in a regular store.

As we walked there, about ¼ mile, I interrogated him (oh,. . . well, . . . I just asked a few questions, that's all) like “So I'll bet you've been a bishop or patriarch or stake president.” “Well, yes, all three.” So here I am showing this guy with lots of church experience behind him, who could easily be a temple president, how to buy bread in Switzerland! If you have little language. . . and they've done 2 months of language training in the MTC, it can be tough, and he recognizes that. So I helped him out. Of course we both bragged to each other about our kids and their families. Then Alice and I took him and his wife to “ShoppyLand,” a big mall, where there's a combined grocery and other-things store, called Migros. They bought lots of stuff, and even wanted a crock-pot. We couldn't find them one, but maybe in a few days they'll buy a substitute they found. It was amazing to me how many “American” things they wanted: aluminum foil, toilet bowl cleaner, minute rice, etc. etc. They did find the foil and the cleaner, but the rice they found was “10-15 minute” rice, and you could see Joyce was disappointed. “I wish they had a Walmart here,” she said at one point. Weelll... Switzerland (and the rest of Europe) surely DO NOT Walmart here, even though Walmart would LOVE to get in here. Culture, culture, culture differences! (That is, lots of little things that are different in Europe than in the US.)

This afternoon, I'm supposed to help an Italian get some photos in town (and he knows his lack of German will make it a challenge for him!)

Gotta tell you about yesterday, at Church. For the past two Sundays, in the morning, I've gone to the German ward located next to the temple. Then, in the afternoon, both Alice and I go, with our French compatriots, the temple workers, to Bienne, 30 kilometers west of here, to the French branch that meets in that bilingual town. Alice played piano in Rel. Soc. She says R.S. was good. There was an absolutely wonderful Priesthood meeting! Sunday School was pretty good. Testimony mtg. was wonderful. One lady told the story of her conversion (which I felt was entirely appropriate!). It sounded like her husband (who is also a temple worker now) made quite a change in his life. And then the French counselor in the presidency told a couple of experiences. (BTW, the Temple pres. is Italian, and I hope to get a photo of him and everyone else here soon. One counselor, Bro. Savian, is a German and French speaking Italian, and we're in his group of workers. The other counselor is French and his group is French too; his name is Bro. Brouillet).

Anyway, Bro. Brouillet said that Sat. night he received a phone call from the police in Zollikofen. The alarm in the temple had gone off, and it is connected to the police station, so they sent two cops up here to check things out. They were able to call Bro. Brouillet, who met them in front of the temple. It seems an American and two Italians had taken too long to get out of the temple, and it had gotten locked up with them in it. All the lights were off, and it was pitch black. They found a phone and tried to call, but it didn't work (I still don't know why, and I'm not sure others know why either). I guess the alarm went off when they tried to get out of the temple.
Anyway, as the cops come to the temple, Bro. Brouillet said that he was very sorry that the alarm had sounded at the police station, and that in order to turn off the alarm, they needed to go to the Engineers' Room (all the electronic equipment in the temple is controlled from a room in the basement of the chapel) (which helps to explain why temples are often built near chapels, especially in foreign countries). Bro. Brouillet started to walk across the grass, and the cops asked if it would be O.K. for them to walk on the grass. “We know that this is a religious building,” they said, “and we don't want to do something that we should not do.”

Bro. Brouillet was obviously touched by this show of respect, and we at the testimony meeting were touched too. This goes to show, he said, that by our being kind, respectful, good citizens, etc., we *can * have a good influence on those who know only very little about us. The “problem” of whether the cops would go inside the temple was apparently never even a question, apparently, because so many precautions have been taken to avoid that. But Bro. Brouillet wanted us to know, first and foremost, how good influences of members and the “good rumors” that go around had resulted in the cops asking what few cops would probably ask “Are we allowed to go there or to do that?”

These temple workers are truly wonderful people! And especially the leaders. We feel like they are General Authority quality! I'll try to write a little more this evening.

Luv,
Dad/Gerry