New Branch Presidency

Our second Sunday at the Branch was fabulous!  They reorganized our Branch Presidency so the entire Stake Presidency came from Switzerland.  We had twice as many people as last week (about 50) due to all the visitors.  Our Stake President is Christian Bolt.  There is a Mormon Message on him (you should check it out!) He is a sculptor, as in a very good and well known sculptor. We both think he is super cool. One of the counselors is Guido Uchtdorf.  He is the son of President Dieter Uchtdorf.  He approached Bob and I after the meeting and talked to us about the great need they have here for us.  He told us the members had petitioned the mission president for a senior missionary couple. He gave us some counsel on reaching out to members in this tiny branch and encouraging support of the YSA here.  He let us know that we are very much wanted and needed here. Our new Branch President is Denes Wijsbeek.  He and his wife are Dutch.  They have 5 children and are the only family in the Branch with children at home.  The first counselor is Giampietro (Giampi) Tonoli.  He and his wife are the only young couple in the Branch.  He was in the former presidency and served a mission in Northern Germany (yes, he is Italian).  The meeting went a little long because we heard from the former Branch President and his wife, the new Branch President and his wife, the counselor, Rudiger Trautmann, who was released, and all members of the Stake Presidency. Bob was asked to give the closing prayer.  They had a break after the meeting and then we reconvened to set the new presidency apart.  Then there was a pot luck lunch.  They have one of these about every other month for the members to socialize.  The Branch is scattered over a very large geographic area so many members come a long way to attend church.  They don't have many opportunities to socialize.  The only room large enough is the chapel, so they moved chairs and set up some tables in there.  There was lots of good food and the members and visitors really enjoyed it.

I made a wonderful new friend today.  Her name is Irina Kiefer.  She is from Russia but also speaks English and German. I marveled at that but she said it is very common here to speak several languages. She is tall and thin and very kind. She offered to meet us in the old city next week and show us around.  We told her we would love to!

Irina Kiefer

We also had a fun experience meeting up with Talmadge Eyre and his wife, Anita, and their daughter Annina.  He is from Utah and served in Brazil on a mission with our son, Spencer.  He is Richard and Linda Eyre's son.  They were vacationing in our area and just randomly chose our branch to attend church. They live in Switzerland (Anita is Swiss) and are members of our Stake.  It was great to get acquainted with them.  We will look for them at Stake Conference next week in Zurich.

Talmadge, Anita, and Annina Eyre

View from the window of the church
Not too scenic!