Prayer, Sprained Ankle and How Not to Wash a Sweater

Its hard to know where to begin, but I will do my best to explain what I can. It's been an interesting past few weeks, a lot of ups and downs as one would expect from Missionary work. As far as investigators go, we had an incredible experience this past Saturday. We met with Frau Baumann for the first time, Elder Heinrich and Elder Hyatt had given here a Russian Book of Mormon (she is a Russian lady that has lived here for 12 years). We stopped by on Saturday to give her a simple invitation to church ( We didn't think she would actually meet with us because she had said she wanted to read the entire Book of Mormon first). Well she finished. It took her only 3 weeks to read the entire Russian Book of Mormon! And she absolutely loved it! In fact she wanted more copies so she could send them to her friends and 2 children in Russia, she even said that she would pay for them if necessary! She is the perfect example of those people which are spoken about in D&C 123:12 those "who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it". She has read the entire bible twice as well as a lot of other religious/ philosophical books but says that the Book of Mormon stated the truths so clearly that she loved it! She said that she studied alongside the bible to see if there were any contradictions, upon finding none, she said that she accepted the book as the word of God, and believes EVERY WORD in the Book of Mormon. At that point me and my companion about asked her if she wouldn't mind meeting us down at the river dressed in white ;-) She gave us her two kids contact information and asked us if the missionaries in Russia could go and see them. She really loves the Book of Mormon.

Another Family we are teaching is Romanian, It is the Father and mother, their daughter and husband, and their 4 year old girl named Datia. It is really hard teaching them because only Thomas (the father) can speak fluent German, so unless he is there we can't really teach. Danny (the son in law) can speak a little bit of German and English, so between the two we can understand enough to get to know him better. Its been really rough for their family, they are immigrants and are trying to find someplace to work, and from what they say, no one wants to help them. For Danny, he is in a rough predicament, he wants to learn German, but he can't unless he goes to school, to go to school he needs money, to get money he needs a job, to get a job he needs to be able to speak German... I sure hope and pray that things will work out for them.

We have many more investigators, but those are the two that we talked to most recently. As far as mail is concerned, I don't know what to say, my companion said that his family didn't get the letter from the mission president till a month after it was sent... So it could be just that the mission office doesn't mail things the same day, or something, who knows. But I sent my first letter from here home on the 16th (Happy Birthday Mom!) but it was late in the day so it may not have shipped home till the next day. If the 3 day thing is true, you will most likely get it today or tomorrow. But, the memory card isn't in there... I decided to send it separate so that I could write an explanation for each picture, It’s done now so I should be able to send it out today or tomorrow.

This picture is of a really cool looking building in an area near Alstatdt Esslingen

And this picture, the quote from Elder Heinrich explains the picture the best "When it says 70 degrees, it means Celsius, not Fahrenheit." :-)  A much needed laugh at the ignominious demise of what was a nice, expensive sweater. [I asked him in a different email if he was staying warm enough, if not he should go buy a sweater, he responded that he would as soon as Elder Henrich figured out how to wash one. ]

I never knew really what it was like to pray till I got here though, which I will explain with the following story On my first Saturday here (essentially my 4th day here) we went and visited a less active sister who lived in Plochingen. Now, Plochingen is on the side of a mountain, and to get to her house it was a 2,000 ft elevation change ( talk about leaving the ninety and nine, my goodness...) it took us 20 minutes to climb the 2,000 feet of stairs ( Upon arriving I was convinced that I never wanted to see a staircase again, which obviously won't happen but I still have hope ;-) ) and we had Fruit tea and cake. First time having tea, I don't see why people like it...

Leaving the house, we realized that we were in danger of missing our train that would get us home before 9:30, so we ran [Ryan and running don't cooperate too well so when reading this, I knew what was coming... :) ] to the bus station, we took the street instead of the staircase,  and while running down an unlit Plochingen road, I managed to hit the one divot in the entire road and went down very hard. My ankle had rolled in the process, and was throbbing really bad. ( I later, thought of Alma 27:17 and tried to find humor in the situation)  But we were still 1500 feet above the train station and needed to hurry. In an effort to keep pace, but not put to much stress on what I thought was a sprained ankle, I ended up pulling some muscles in my other leg, and have what feels to be shin splints ( let me tell you its been a *fun* couple of weeks walking around :-) ). We made it down to the train station just in time to see our train leave. We sat at the station waiting 30 minutes for the next train to take us home late.

At that point in time I felt incredibly homesick, I was in pain, I was far away from home, I couldn't understand the dialect, I felt inadequate and completely alone. So I turned to the only person I could, my Father in heaven. I have always avoided vain repetitions in my prayers and tried to keep them sincere, but I don't think I have ever prayed like this. I honestly didn't think I was going to be able to make it through the next 23 months. I could not possibly describe the feelings of peace that I felt at the moment in time. I felt the pain of homesickness leave and the comfort that It won't be easy but I that I will be able to make it through the next two years. We have a loving Father in Heaven Who hears and answers prayers I testify of that, the words of this hymn have caught new meaning to me:

Mein Herz, das an Jesus sich lehnt  mit Vertraun, kann sicher auf deine Verheißungen baun; und mag alle Hölle auch gegen mich sein: Du lässest mich nimmer, du lässest mich nimmer, du lässest mich nimmer o nimmer allein.

My heart, which on Jesus hath leaned with trust, can surely build off of your promises; and if all Hell would combine against me: You would never leave me, You would never leave me, You would never leave me oh never alone."

I testify of that. God Lives, he loves us and will answer our prayers and comfort us in times of need. He has done it for me, and I know that he will do it for you. 
Elder Ryan Christensen