Easter, The Atonement, and an Eye of Faith

Wow, What a week! Sorry this e-mail is going to be short and late. Today is a holiday ( Easter part 2 ( Easter and Christmas are two day long holidays here)) and because of that my entire schedule is thrown off. Normally P-days go something like this: (6.30) Wake up, (von 8.00 bis 11.00) (from 8 until 11) 3 hours of studies, (11.00 bis entweder 11.46 oder 12.16) (11 until either 11:45 or 12:15) go shopping for the weeks groceries, (11.46 or 12.16) catch a bus to Sirinau to do e-mails till about 2:30 or 3, then find something to do for the rest of the day. Well today all the store are closed, so we couldn't go shopping. Few people work today, so we got invited to a lunch appointment at 13.00. Then, because of the holiday, THE MERCEDES-BENZ MUSEUM was open! So we went there and spent a few hours there, and now I am back here at the church writing this e-mail. It was INCREDIBLE! Oh Man, I took a ridiculous amount of pictures, which I will send when I get the new memory cards. For those out there who don't know, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimier separately patented the first car at the same time ( they set up opposing companies, but in the financial crisis following WWI they joined together). So in the museum they have every advancement from the first motorized carriage to the really new cars. VERY COOL. 

This past week has been pretty normal, except we went door-ing for 3 hours in pouring rain in Frickenhausen. Yeah, there is a town in my area called Frickenhausen. :-)  Sadly my umbrella broke about halfway through... so I was one sopping-wet-pathetic-puppy-dog-looking missionary by the time we knocked on the last door ;-) Haha but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. Its been very cold and rainy here for the past week or so, I don't think I seen the sun for 8 or so days, its so weird. But at least its consistent, unlike the weather in Utah that I have been hearing about... This week was a bit weird with the holidays ( Good Friday and then the 2 days of Easter). Its crazy on both Easter, and good Friday, Esslingen looked like a Ghost town, there was practically NOBODY out. No cars. All the shops were closed. It was so different. Holidays are big family days, so we weren't able to meet with very many of our investigators :-( But this week should be better. The man that I talked didn't show up to church. It might have been due to Easter, I don't know. I hope I see him again. I am considering door-ing in that area to see if I can find him. I don't know, we will see. (Last week he wrote of a man who asked the next time they would be meeting at the church, someone who had previously had contact with the missionaries)

Easter was nice, what a wonderful time to reflect of the wonderful gift of the Atonement. And to celebrate the Resurrection of Him of redeemed us. Sacrament meetings was amazing, I love singing the hymns about Easter, the Resurrection, usw. They are powerful, and very uplifting. I am so grateful for everything that my Savior has done for me. Alma 7:11-12 Is a wonderful reminder to us of the purpose of the Atonement, In verse 12 it states that he went through it so that His bowels could be filled with mercy according to the flesh, so that he could understand from a personal perspective of what it's like. So he knows how to comfort us in every situation. In 3 Nephi 11:15 The Nephites get to see and feel the prints of the nails in hands and feet. There is a phrase in Ether 12:19 that I really love, It speaks over those who have gotten to see Christ personally, in the middle it says that they got to see with their eyes, what they had seen WITH AN EYE OF FAITH. That is a very cool description. We may not get to see those nail marks with our own eyes, but with the eye of faith we can. And as it says in verse 4, with that faith we can hope for a better world at the right hand of God. Because of what he did, we have a chance at living with God again, we can have that hope in us, that nothing, not even death can take away those blessings from us and our loved ones. But in to gain that hope, we need to have faith, and we don't get that faith till it has been tried. Its an interesting principle, that in order to gain that eye of faith, to gain that hope, we need to be tried, sometimes with very hard things. But God knows that it will ultimately end for the better. I am out of time, but I would like to add that I know that Christ lives. I know that he died for me, and that because he did that, I have a hope that I can one day return to Gods presence with friends and family. I know that on the third day, Christ was resurrected from the dead, and that HE LIVES. I hope everyone has had a wonderful Easter! And that everyone will have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen