Wow, nearly Oktober already. This past week was incredible! We taught 11 lessons! We only had a few appointments fall out this past week, which was a HUGE blessing. 3 Lessons with a member, 8 other lessons, 3 investigators in Church, 5 progressing investigators and 4 new investigators!!!!!!! And we have a number of really great investigators, with whom either this week or next we will be setting Baptismal dates with!! Jawohl! Finally!
I swear this has come out of nowhere. Only a few weeks ago we only had 1 lesson in the whole week. Normally we get 4 lessons per week, but this past week we had 4 lessons (and a 3 hour service project!) in one day . Very awesome productive week. This week probably won't be as great as far as lessons are concerned, but still looking at a good week!
So last week we did hike out to Staufen See, which in was really cool. The hike there was rather pointless, I thought they had another trail, but it turned out that it was just walking along the main road (we could have just taken the bus instead). But the lake was really pretty, very quite, serene, private. You can't see it from the main road. I wish I had pictures, but my camera died so I don't, but next week we will go again (through Alpenloch) and I will take some of the lake :-)
That is essentially all that happened on Monday, it took us a little less time than expected to hike there, so we had a bit of time when we returned to our apartment. Tuesday we had a companionship exchange, and I went to Ravensburg. That was good, Its so weird going from Austria to Germany, there are a lot of things that are different. Different dialect, culture to a degree, transportation is very different. It throws all of us off it makes for an interesting exchange.
For example, in Vorarlberg you don't need to show your ticket to get on a bus, and you normally get on through the back door of the bus. In Germany, however, you NEED to show a ticket and get on AT THE FRONT. Or else the bus driver may get really mad at you... You can probably see how this is a bit of a problem. I almost always remember, but there have been a couple of times when I don't think and try to get on in the back. Not good. :-)
Wednesday we exchanged back and were supposed to have an appointment, but it fell out last minute. So we went by and visited a number of potentials, unsuccessfully. We ended up going and visiting Bruno, an investigator, sort of. His mind isn't in the best condition and its enough of a Behinderung (disability) that he isn't quite capable of understanding our message. But he loves it when we come and read to him out of the Book of Mormon. We ended up reading Alma 7, and he really enjoyed it :-). He cracks me up, I love Bruno, and so does every missionary that has served here. He is nearly completely blind, but he opens the Book of Mormon (he has his own) to the page that we are reading from, and every time he hears us turn a page, he turns the page in his as well. It makes me smile. We usually visit him once every 1 and a half weeks or so.
Thursday we did service for Frau Vuissa again. We have been doing service for her once a week for nearly the entire time that I have been here. We go and pull weeds and do other yard work for her, and then she feeds us really good food :-).
We also had a lesson with Thomas, someone we found going door to door on Sandgasse. We had a good lesson with him. By the end he was excited to read the Book of Mormon. He's not much of a reader, but he really liked the Book of Mormon. He put it in the "honor spot" on his Book shelf (the one and only Book that he now has on it). The only thing was (and is a common occurrence here) is that people will react really well and want to read then tell us that they will call us in 3 or so weeks, and THEN we can come back. :-( Not exactly optimal Luckily he said only 2 weeks, but that is normally how it works. We tried to talk him into letting us come back the following week, but then he made it very clear that he will call us in two weeks. So if he doesn't call us in 2 weeks then we can call him.
Friday was awesome 4 lessons and a service project. Tony (former investigator), Todd Smith, Delfina Meir, and Smarts twin daughters. We brought Marvin Veit with us to Delfina, that was a great lesson. Delfina really liked Marvin and Marvin was a huge help. I don't know if I have mentioned anything about Delfina before. She is from the Philippians, probably 70 or so years old, and is a Baptist, who does not like Jehovas Witnesses. :-) She is reading the Book of Mormon and seems to be liking it, but is still hesitant to come and visit the church despite the invitation from Marvin to be picked up.
Its interesting, even though so much has happened this week I still am having a hard time trying to figure out what to write... Smarts daughters are very Nigerian. Some of their concerns with our church is that we don't sing and dance and shout hallelujah, and "Praise the Lord". :-) It sounds foreign to most of us, but to them its normal. When someone is "filled with the spirit" they stand up and start shouting gibberish (they consider that the gift of tongues). We have been able to use a lot of scriptures and help resolve some concerns, but they are still very concerned about the Book of Mormon. "There can't be anything but the bible". A long way to go :-) But I think they the will make progress.
Yesterday was also really good. We had 3 investigators in Church, including Frau Kirchman, who came after Sacrament meeting and went to Sunday School (we didn't even know she was there till after sunday school) and she stayed for Relief Society as well. I gave her the restoration DVD last week, and she said she watched it A FEW TIMES. I thought that was cool. I didn't get much of a chance to talk to her yesterday, she was talking to A LOT of members. Which is more important. So I will give her a call this week and we will see what she thought, and hopefully be able to meet with her again.
After Church we had lunch with the Familie Stevens in Hohenems, then came back and had a lesson with Michael. Elder Robins and Hustead taught him on Tuesday, but he was drunk then. This time he was sober, and we had a really good lesson with him. He made another appointment with us on Wednesday, and he may come to Church on Sunday! We will see.
Anyway, after that, we went and visited the Familie Lumetzberger. Bru. Lumetzberger and Thomas, were both sick. So we went and gave them each a blessing. They both asked me to seal the anointing, so I got to give 2 blessings in German yesterday, which is really cool. Then we stayed and talked with them for a bit, which was good. Their Family has been struggling a bit in a number of ways. Both parents are really sick, and its hard. They like it when we come though, and they invited us over on Tuesday for dinner. :-)
That pretty much finished that day, we finished the day with our studies. A really good week. We are excited for another week! And ready to go. I broke another umbrella this past week. I don't know how. We were running down the platform to try and catch a train, it was pouring rain. We make it to the train, and I notice that one of the arms on the umbrella had somehow snapped. :-( Yet another umbrella meets its demise at my hand... oh boy.
Anyway. Things are going really well here. I hope all is well at home!
Love,
Elder Ryan Christensen
1 comment:
I am so glad he had an incredible week!!!! He deserved it so much. So happy for him.
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