TRANSFERS!! - DORNBIRN AUSTRIA!!

Well, I will admit I was suprised with Transfers. I thought I would stay in Esslingen, or atleast Germany. NOPE! I AM GOING TO DORNBIRN!! The city itself is in Austria, but the area is the one and only to have Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein in it! 4 NATIONS IN ONE AREA!  Wow, this is my Third Transfer, have I really already been here for 3 months? Its unbelievable. Did you ever receive a map of the mission? If not I will send one hope this week, as well as a thumb drive with the Atonement talk on it ;-) My new companion will be Elder Esplin, which is REALLY Ironic, because he was with Elder Stokes in Tübingen. Poor Elder Stokes, he has been really wanting to go to Dornbirn, While in Tübingen, his companion Elder Esplin went there, his new companion Elder Moulton, had just come back from Dornbirn, and told him all about it. Which made him really want to go, and now I am going there...  

I am not looking forward to the dialect though, it is apparently so incredibly hard, that once I learn it, I will be able to understand every other Dialect of German. It has a bit of Swiss, Österreichish, Bayerisch, und Schwäbisch. SWISS IS RIDICULOUS. Yesterday there were a few people visiting the ward, and one of them said the closing prayer in Sunday School. After they finished I asked Elder Stokes what language he thought that was, he thought it was Russian, I thought it was either Polish or Hungarian. Come to find out, its Swiss. I can see how if one could understand that, everything else would be easy... On a matter of Moving, Here is my new address (don't get used to this, I only have it is because of Elder Moulton. Normally you wouldn't know my address till the week after I got there). 

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Kirche Jesu Christi HLT

Montfortstraße 21a

6850 Dornbirn

Austria

There is so many cool things about this area that I have heard, First off, its right on the Bodensee (Lake Constance(Spelling?)) which is supposedly gorgeous, and also MOUNTAINS!!! SWISS ALPS! Finally, I will see mountains again! And the Neuschanstein (Cinderella) Castle, is not in the area (its in Kaufbeuren) but Dornbirn is the closest to it, so I will most likely go visit it! The ward there from what I have heard is also incredible and the missionary work is good. It will be cool.

Its been quite the mix of emotions, I obviously am excited to go, but I am really sad that I have to leave Esslingen. I just got used to Schwäbisch, I know my way around, I love the ward, the members, and the investigators. It was so bad of a mix, that on Friday night, and Saturday, I became fairly sick. Its so hard to say goodbye, especially to the Romanian family, the only reason I was able to make it through the lesson in control of my emotions, is because I had already intended on coming back on Wednesday to say goodbye. Because unlike all my friends and family, in 2 years I will see you all again. But now I don't know when, or even if I will see them again in this life. If I don't ever come back to Stuttgart, or even if I come back after awhile, there is no guarantee, with their circumstances that they will still be there. What makes it a bit harder is that this Saturday we were going to set a Baptismal date with them... The changes that they have already gone through is incredible. There is a bit more of a light in their eyes now than there was when I first met them. I hope all goes well for them, the only thing that is really holding them back from baptism is that they don't have money to come to church. And because they have a hard time understanding, coming to all 3 hours is fairly pointless, and because they can't come to all three hours, we can't have a member pick them up. This is when I wish we had a Romanian interpreter in the ward. If they were in Waiblingen they wouldn't have any problems, because the Kiefer family lives there, they could easily translate for them. As to what they will do to work out that problem, I am not sure. But unless we can figure out something, they can't get baptized which they really want to... 

Sorry that paragraph was a bit sad. As I am accepting the fact that I am leaving, I am getting more excited to go. Its going to be crazy on Thursday though. Elder Stokes and I will catch a train from Esslingen to Stuttgart at 11:25, then at 11.56 Elder Esplin and his companion will arrive in Stuttgart to pick me up. Elder Stokes and Elder Esplins Companion will wait with the Zone Leaders until their companions arrive at around 3. My train leaves from Stuttgart at 12:57 and arrives in Dornbirn at 4.20 pm. 

As for my Visa, Elder Stokes will send it to me when it arrives. In the mean time I will be getting an Austrian Visa. Which will be nice, then I won't need to worry about Visas again for the next 2 years ( they are good for the duration of my mission). 

Anyway Transfers are the biggest piece of news, everything has been the same, a normal week of Missionary Work. So I will leave this already incredibly long email come to an end. I hope all is well at home! Everything is going well with me, save it be that I need to leave. But thats just what a mission is, I will have to do it many more times throughout the rest of my mission. By the way, I gave my Facebook information out to a few people, so if you could accept them for me, it would be greatly appreciated :-) 

By the way, that paragraph that I talk about the Romanians, it doesn't come across as complaining does it? It shouldn't its just hard to serve and gain love for someone then to say goodbye. That is the main message that I want to convey, while I am excited to go to Austria, which I am. I am also sad to leave here because I really love it. Maybe one day I will come back and be a Zone Leader in Stuttgart or something. Who knows. We will see :-)

Until next week, when I will be e-mailing you from Austria!! 

Love,

Elder Ryan Christensen