Weekly Update

Dear Family,

Things have been going well for me here, this past week has flown by! It's nuts! I am still in disbelief that one week from now I will be making my way to Muenchen! I am so excited to go! The MTC has been... well interesting to say the least. From some letters that I have received, I noticed that I didn't exactly explain very well why I am in the international ward. The reason for this is most international students speak English, and so when they get called state side, or to an English speaking mission, they come here and learn the lessons, and gospel vocabulary for three weeks, then are sent off to their respective missions. This is common enough that they have made a branch for it. Because American curriculum does not require that you learn a 2nd language, it is very rare for an American to speak a second language well enough to be fast-tracked ( on the 3 week schedule) and sent out. I should clarify however that the Spanish speaking fast-track is a branch in and of itself, which I assume is filled with Americans. But that is just it, not very many Americans learn a non-Spanish second language, if a second one at all. Does that help a bit? It is rather weird being the minority for once. It makes me laugh however, because one of the first questions I get asked is " are you American?"  Yes, I am American and I am the minority, please don't rub it in... :-) It's awesome though, I have met people from everywhere! Hopefully dad got my letter today about my travel plans if not I am sending you a copy of the full itinerary, but here is somewhat abbreviated version:

Report to the Travel office at 5 am ( I am one of the lucky ones, some elders have to report as early as 1 am! ( the church likes to fly them out so that the missionaries can start proselyting on the same day they land )).

I travel from Salt Lake to Atlanta, and then onto Munich.  I will land there the morning of the 7th, which will be around midnight here.  

I completely skip a p-day, so you won't get an e-mail next week. I should be able to call from Salt Lake airport though... so hopefully that will suffice :-)

Today being a P-day we got to go to the temple, and this time instead of doing an endowment session, me and my companion went and did sealings. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! The blessings of the temple are truly marvelous to think on. All of the promised blessings, and the ability to be sealed as a family for eternity! I always have thought that I had a concept of this, but until I was able to be a part of  it, it really hit me, how incredible of a blessing this truly is! It's something that I have taken for granted, having been born in the covenant. It kills me that there are people out who don't have these blessings! And the only reason they don't know it, is because they don't know where to find them (D&C 123:12). This is why missionary work is so important, there are those seeking to come closer to our Heavenly Father, and don't know how to. We have been so blessed to have the gospel and all of these blessings.

That’s  all for now, I will let you know of any changes,

Love you all,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen