Its almost the end of July already!

Well this week went fairly well. Elder Esplin and I were fairly booked toward the beginning of the week. A lot to do before Elder Esplin left and I started to train. Nothing overall huge to report, Elder Sampson took us out to a Chinese Buffet on Tuesday to celebrate ( Both Elder Esplin and Elder Hanson were leaving, and Both Elder Hustead and I are training) a great couple of transfers together.

Wednesday we essentially tried to study, failing miserably to keep focused, did some last minute preparation and then took our long train ride to Munich. We did find some time to sing a few hymns and I have them recorded, I don't know how good the sound quality turned out but I will try to attach a couple to this e-mail :-). ( we did not have any files attached. If we get something we will post it) Elder Esplin is now in Linz. He was a great companion, and I Iearned a TON those two transfers. How to best approach people, give out Copies of the Book of Mormon, give good well explained commitments etc. It has made all the difference these past few days trying to train. :-) 

On to Munich, Elder Esplin and I ended up both going to Munich, he spent the night with the Zone Leaders there, and I went to the mission home with all of the other trainers. Sister Miles made dinner, and we had BYU creamery Ranch!! I haven't had ranch in nearly 6 months!!!  That in and of it self makes training worth it ;-) (Kidding!) I had a lot of Salad... oh the simple pleasures of life ;-).

Anyway, haha after dinner we all got together and had a testimony meeting and then the trainers all talked about their areas, investigators etc. Then it was announced who was training who. I think I was just as anxious waiting to see who I would train, as the new missionaries where to figure out who was going to be their trainer. And my new companion is... Elder Robins from Spanish Fork Utah! Which is a bit of a funny name to have because some people here have a hard time saying an american "r" so when some people say it, it sounds more like "Wobins". 

(We found this picutre of all the new missionaries and their trainers on a blog from one of the new missionaries.  Elder Christensen is of course in the top left, his companion Elder Robins is standing next to him)

He is way excited to be out here and to teach and do everything despite the language barrier. He doesn't back down, but when he talks to people its really easy to see that he is nervous, he speaks really fast and doesn't really give any breaks. It comes with time, after a few weeks, when he is not so worked up about finally doing real missionary work, I think he will calm down a bit.

We taught a lesson on Saturday, that was fun, I had to keep pulling the brakes on him to slow him down, If I didn't he may committed our investigator to the law of consecration before we even told him about the first vision. ;-) Its fun to see his excitement, I remember feeling the same way when I first got here. It just needs to be controlled a bit better.

Haha we also ended up teaching Isabelle on Saturday, she speaks ECHT VORALBERGERISCH. I have been here awhile now and I understand it, he being both new to the area, and completely new on a mission, well he walked out of it wide eyed thinking he had come to a German speaking mission. Oh the irony, Alpine German Speaking Mission Munich, the only mission with "German Speaking" in it's title, and yet no one here actually speaks German ;-).

I was actually surprised in Munich, they speak fairly good High German there, I heard some people speaking, and it sounded like crystal clear, very beautiful German (I know, most of you wouldn't use to word "beautiful" to describe German, but that's because you have never actually heard it :-) ). I thought "Wow, I have been hanging around with the Schwabs and the Vorarlbergers for far too long" :-) I had forgotten what real German sounds like. Especially getting a huge Swiss influence here; the Swiss has a lot of the "clear your throat of phlegm sound" (I have my own theory, on why that is, but anyone who likes french won't want to hear it ;-) ). Every "ch", "g" "k" "ck" all have that sound, so it was very different to be back in Munich :-). 

Elder Robins and I left Munich at 1:50 and arrived in Dornbirn at 5:40. We had to switch trains in Bucholoe, which is just as well known as it sounds. ;-) But we made it safely back, and getting to the apartment we had 15 minutes to change into work clothing and head off to Frau Vuissa ( the non-member Grandma of Christian Vuissa) to pull weeds for her in her Garden. Elder Robins thought it was funny, he flew halfway around the world, only to do something that he could have just as easily done in Utah. :-) 

We had a really cool experience this past weekend. After an Eating appointment in Hohenems, we had about an hour and a half or so till we needed to get back to the apartment. We were riding on the number 23, which I knew turned into the 13, and would take us past der Kehlermähder, at which point we could walk up to der Kehlerstraße to go by on Herr Gyser and Frau Fink. So that is what I told Elder Robins that we were going to do. Then when the bus pulled up to der Fischbachgasse, I had a feeling to get out. Ok, so I jump out of the bus, followed by a confused Elder Robins, wondering what we were doing.  We had one potential on that street, so I assumed that is why we needed to get out. We went by on him, but he wasn't home. Elder Esplin and I had already knocked on every door on the street, so there wasn't anything left to do. I was a bit confused I was certain that we needed to get off at the stop. On the way back I saw two buildings, which Elder Esplin and I had already door-ed out. The thought came to door them again. I pushed it away, we had already done it. The thought came back, so I stopped to think about. I told Elder Robins my dilemma that, we had already done the whole building but that I think we needed to do it again. He didn't have an opinion so I decided why not, lets get him some experience going door to door.

We ended up only being able to get through an entire building and a single floor, we gave out 3 Copies of the Book of Mormon, and we made one appointment for the following day. The lesson that we taught I mentioned above. As part of the training program the new missionary is supposed to give the invitation to be baptized in the first week (which consists of 3 days). So I told him that morning that we were going to shape the lesson around that commitment, and that we were going to pair it with the Commitment to read in the Book of Mormon, explaining everything really well (or else they don't understand the importance of reading and praying) then give the baptismal invitation. We did just that, taught the lesson, explained everything really well, and when Elder Robins extended the invitation... he accepted! Wow. I mentioned last week that I had given two invitations out to people, all excepted but none so far in Dornbirn.

This is just a commitment to be baptized based on his experience in the Book of Mormon, no date, but still a huge step forward. I had no plans to go to der Fischbachgasse, I had no reason; it was dead.We had knocked on every door, received 5 or 6 potentials, who all, except one, ended up coming across anti-mormon literature and dropping us. The other is nearly impossible to contact. It just shows that the Lord really is in charge. It's a bit scary to think that I was close to ignoring it, that had I not have done it, we would have never had met Marco. We have another appointment on Tuesday, I will report on that next week. Wow.

Well that was this week, more hard work, giving out Book of Mormons well and seeing miracles. Elder Robins has a lot to learn/experience but he is a great Elder and we are going to have a great Transfer! I am still waiting on Elder Walsh to send me the paperwork for Elder Robins. As a Trainer I am in charge of getting him anmelded (logged or archived) and getting his Visa ordered. President Miles, half (but only half) threatened to hang us if our companion has to go home because of an anmeld/Visa problem. For a good reason, they aren't all that incredibly hard to prevent. I will be taking care of that as soon as I get the paperwork form Walsh to save my neck (literally ;-)) and his ability to stay here.

That is probably one of the biggest things that sets us apart from state side missions, all the government paperwork that needs to be taken care of. If I slip up, I could kicked out, and never able to come back (come back and actually be a resident that is). A lot to think about, but its not to hard once you get used to it. Anmeld, abmeld, ummeld, German Visas, Austrians Visas, drivers licenses (not required, and won't get me kicked out, but its more documents to get taken care of). I actually got mine (Austrian drivers license) in the mail a couple weeks ago! It looks way cool! And, IT HAS NO EXPIRATION DATE! :-) Luckily I don't have to worry about getting Elder Robins a License, its a bit of a pain when you are a missionary and don't really have much time (except the once a week p-day). 

I think that is all for this week. I hope all is well at home!

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen