Week of 6 June 2010:

RANDOM SCENES FROM GENEVA









Both are pretty in purple, n'est-ce pas?









Two trees diverged in the woods on a cloudy day at Lake Geneva





Geneva's Jet d'eau is reflected in the sloping front window of the Kempinski Hotel







Sunday morning we drove to Neuchâtel to see Bastien Canonica before he leaves for his mission. After the meetings, we went to the Canonica home for the pre-mission reception in their back yard – which had a giant cherry tree, and apple tree, a real garden, a patio and a swing set for the kids (we hung our suit coats on the laundry rack). Most of the Neuchâtel ward came, and there was tons of food. We broke our fast (or at least damaged it significantly) with spaghetti, bread, slivered pickled beets and salad.






At the Canonica's back yard for Bastien's missionary farewell





We’ll try to be legal, even if it costs an arm and a leg: Monday we walked into the village of Ferny-Voltaire, where at “city hall” we learned that back in February we had been sent a letter telling us that the pictures we’d made using our computer (for our permission to stay in France) were unacceptable, and that we need to go to a local supermarket and pay to get pictures taken in a little passport camera booth. The question is whether it’s worth doing that now, with only 2 months left on our mission – and at a potential cost of several hundred dollars - but if that’s what it takes to “obey, honor, and sustain” the law, perhaps we should. That evening at the Geneva Center for Young Adults, Br Bustamante showed the church video “Finding Happiness” in Spanish – which is great because the pictures are all European scenes – to the Spanish FHE group of about 25, with nearly half being non-members. Afterwards, he stressed the importance of families in our quest for happiness. He told how in South America, he’d worked night and day, never taking a vacation, making lots of money; in contrast, now in Switzerland, he doesn’t have a great job; as he said “Now I have nothing, but yet I have everything, because I have the gospel of Jesus Christ and the possibility of having my family with me forever.” He didn’t actually say that, because he speaks only Spanish, but that was Dede’s interpretation.





The long arm of the mower is about to strike. Do we use equipment like this to mow the edges of our roadways??






A Spanish/Russian/German dinner to celebrate family home evening: Thursday’s dinner for the young adult family home evening was Arroz Tapoda (which is made by putting an inch or so or cooked rice into a bowl, then adding another inch or so layer of a mixture of fried hamburger, chopped hard-boiled eggs, the fried onion/red pepper mixture, and halved olives, and then covering that with another couple inches of rice. This would then be inverted on a person’s plate to yield a little white mountain of food with a colorful layer in the middle. The Russian salad was made by chopping beets, apples, and boiled potatoes (all in quarter-inch chunks) and stirring with a bit of mayonnaise before putting it onto a bed of lettuce (in our case, we used fresh spinach). Sister Crisinel had brought a Black Forest chocolate cake (with the cherries), and the dinner was wonderful. Anthony (who is from the Dominican Republic) taught a great lesson regarding the need to fulfill our callings with all our heart, might, mind and strength (D&C 99:107-108).


Note the chocoolate "drape" topping this Black Forest cake



Who’d have thought the Swiss know Smurfs? The young adult activity Friday involved their sitting in a circle and brainstorming about the 7-minute film/video they would make for competition in the August regional young adult conference (last year their film had won the trophy). As ideas were being batted around, the young man brought by the missionaries, Nathaniel, opened up and began sharing ideas and suggestions. Their film will be a take-off on the Smurf movie (or TV series). They all laughed and had lots of fun exchanging ideas.




Kids are assembled after Michael's baptism. OK, who's next for the font?

The first baptism in the new Spanish Ward: Saturday was the baptism of Michael Entrembasaguas (Denisé’s son/Lita’s nephew). Michael’s baptism was delayed for nearly 30 minutes so that his mother could arrive by tram, with 7 of his little school friends who were coming for his 8-year old birthday party right after his baptism. And a couple more moms and their boys showed up, making about 10 in all. Bishop (now “brother”) Volpicelli performed the baptism, with the boys all kneeling at the edge of the font. We all sang “Happy Birthday” in one or more of four languages (Spanish, French, English, and/or Portuguese). The kids received colorful hats and balloons, and the best part of the “party” was that they seemed to have a great time, even though there were no games. We then drove to Lausanne for their Saturday session of Stake conference and to take a picture of Bastien Canonica and his family before he leaves on his mission – getting him loose from the saints in Lausanne, and especially the young adults, took the better part of an hour, but we were able to get the family together with President Maerki just before he was officially set apart as a missionary.

"Forget the pictures; let's eat!"



All you could eat was more than we could eat: As we started home, we spotted an open restaurant (Les Tuileries). We both ordered the shrimp dinner (called “gambas”). They brought out a good mixed salad and some bread, and after a bit, they brought a large frying pan full of whole shrimp (heads, legs, antennae, and all), 28 LARGE critters. We were able to eat them, at which the proprietor told us this evening was “all you can eat” and asked if we’d like more. We thanked him, but excused ourselves. A wee miracle: when we tried to pay with our debit card and were told that the internet connection needed to verify the transaction was not working, I “happened” to have enough cash to pay the bill. Sometime ago I’d withdrawn money from a Swiss ATM and had decided to take out considerably more than was needed at the time – just to “save time” having to go again to an ATM. Otherwise, we might still be sitting there, hoping their internet came back on line. The dinner took nearly two hours, so it again was close to midnight when we finished the day and week.