Busy weekends

September has been a busy month and we are all looking forward to life slowing down a bit. One weekend was spent with members of our stake going on a hike together. Our motto for the year was "Unsere Berge bezwingen" which means to overcome our personal "mountains", or in other words to attempt overcome some of our chosen traits or weaknesses. As a crowning event for our work we joined together as a group of saints to literally climb a mountain, the Ebenalp. We met in Wasserauen in Appenzell Innerhoden at 9.00 am and set off in single line to climb the 768m to Ebenalp.

It wasn't very easy to walk in single line especially as people were stopping to take photos (I only took mine when we had come to a halt - sorry for the blurry ones ;) ) so after about 20 minutes the hubster and I started to overtake people to get to the front. After that it got a lot easier :)

As we climbed out of the forest the weather was rather foggy but we hoped that by the time we reached the summit that it would have cleared up.......

 

No, this is not blurry - it's fog! And by the time we got the the top we were sweaty and hot and in no time at all we were freezing our butts off.

 We took refuge in the building where the cable car reached the summit and it was full of mormons eating their lunch on the floor!

Daniel was so cold I asked him if he wanted to wrap himself in the blanket - he did :)

 After our singing and dedicatory prayer the clouds and fog started to lift......

 

Looking down on to Seealpsee. Isn't that green just breathtaking?

The hubster and I took a different way down  - a longer way, of course so it was just the two of us. Jordan went with his group of friends and Daniel didn't want to walk down so he went down in the cable car with Krystyna. We arrived back down in Wasserauen just after 4pm - tired but happy.

The weekend after this one found us in Zürich for a special conference with Elder M Russell Ballard. The spirit was strong and we came away uplifted. Elder Ballard's talk about staying close to the whisperings of the holy ghost touched our souls and we have been trying to follow this wise counsel. The hubster tried this out on Sunday afternoon as he felt that he should come with me to visit a sister I visit and teach who is currently in hospital. While we were there she asked for a blessing and he was able to call another priesthood holder to come and assist him in giving this dear sister a much needed blessing. He was glad that he listened to the promptings of the spirit.

The following weekend after the conference was our ward temple trip. Every year we travel as a ward by coach to the temple which is 2 hours (by car) in Zollikofen. The primary aged children are tended while the youth participate in baptisms and the adults do a session.  There was a special moment in the celestial room as Renée, Krystyna and I sat together on a sofa holding hands and feeling the bonds of sisterhood and friendship. (Our husbands were all helping out in the baptistry)

For lunch we all drove to a nearby restaurant and were able to eat and chat with friends before loading ourselves back in to the coach for the journey back to St. Gallen

I just love this picture of these young aaronic priesthood holders.....

The day after our temple trip was our ward primary presentation. The children did a great job and we (the primary presidency) got a lot of compliments for it. They sang well and spoke clearly and the sunbeams were just darling. Personally, I am glad its over with and look forward to a few months of "normal primary"

So this was our busy September with October just around the corner. October means General Conference and school holidays and my mum will be flying in on Wednesday for a three week visit. It seems to me that it'll be a good month......

Hugs all,
Becca