Transfers and Conference... Wow.

Well, I am getting transferred.  And most people wouldn't be able to guess so I will just tell you. VIENNA 5.  I AM GOING TO VIENNA!!!!!!

It may be the death of me, Vienna is huge, and I am used to being in a small city. Its like getting transferred from Pleasant Grove to Las Vegas (both distance wise and city size). And for the life of me I just can't seem to shake this whole British Commonwealth thing; an Australian Companion, a British Ward Mission leader, and now a Canadian companion :-) That should be interesting eh? ;-)

I will leave the apartment at about 8:30 that morning and arrive in Vienna Hauptbahnhof at 7:45 that night. Then we have to take a train out to district 27, where our apartment is (I guess I am on the outskirts of Vienna, I will see a lot of the city, but my main area will actually be outside of it). I don't know much more than that. A new start in a new area. I just checked and they have no current baptismal candidates, so I will get to go to work and start over again. But I am excited for it.

Yeah, it is really hard to leave Dornbirn. It has pretty much been my entire mission so far. I love this small ward here, and have seen a lot of neat things. I love the church here in Austria, no matter where you go, there are always to connections to others. For example, there were two families in the ward that have relatives in Linz, where Elder Esplin went, and there are also two families in the ward who have family in Vienna 5 as well. And Schwester Stubbe-Griel is actually coming out there in two weeks to visit them! She was thrilled when she found out that I was going there. 

Well, I was actually not able to be present for the announcement of the missionary age changing, I was in Feldkirch teaching a train wreck of a lesson. I won't go into details on it, it was bad. We tried to teach the restoration and one of the joint teaches that we had kept taking us way off topic, and at times said some things that were actually completely false. It totally destroyed the lesson. That was hard. I got back to Dornbirn just before Elder Cooks talk. But I was quickly updated on the announcement.

At SUU last year there was a rumor going around that the missionary age would be changed to 18 for the boys, so that was absolutely no surprise to me (if you come from Britain, the age has been 18 already for awhile) but the announcement about the sister shocked me. I didn't see that one coming. But its from a prophet and I think it is amazing, It will make it a lot easier for sister missionaries to serve missions. 

I actually want to talk about Missionary service for the rest of the e-mail.

First and foremost anyone out there who is considering serving a mission, DO IT.  If possible, don't wait, get your papers in and GO! It is an absolutely incredible experience. Its incredibly hard, and there are days that I wonder if I am going to make it all the way through. But as missionaries we have the chance to help people, in many ways. And it brings a lot of joy. I want to share a few stories from my experiences so far, which I may or may not have previously shared.

The first story, was from my first area. I can't explain everything, nor will I attempt to, its not a happy beginning, but here is a bit of history. The Swiss mission has been through a lot in past years. Long story short, there were a lot of very disobedient missionaries and they were all put in Stuttgart. It became a thing of pride, they made t-shirts and called it "schwarz-gart" ("schwarz" means illegal, illicit or disobedient (colloquial German)). Well The missionary work pretty well went down hill. When these two missions became one, 17 missionaries, just from Stuttgart, rebelled and were sent home. Ok. So Esslingen had had its share of not so great missionaries as it was so close to Stuttgart. When I arrived (a year and a half after the incident mentioned above) there was still some leftover residue from Schwarz-gart.

There was a sister in the ward, who did a ton of member missionary work. Bringing her friends to church etc. But DID NOT like the missionaries. Always treated them very coldly, and wouldn't let us come near any of her friends. Well, my first day in Esslingen, we had a ward dinner. I went around talking to members and went up to this lady and asked her how she was doing, her reply "why are asking me that?" not very warm. I just told her that I was trying to be friendly and said it genuinely. So she answered and I started talking to her a bit. Then Elder Heinrich walked up and started talking to her as well, and before we knew it she accepted our offer to come and teach her the lessons and work on them so that we could maybe teach her friends. Elder Heinrich was really excited.

She went on vacation for two or so weeks, and then was busy, but she invited us to come and teach a friend of hers with her. We accepted and did so. It was a great discussion and it went well. Despite the fact that I was new, and the dialect wasn't that great, I was still able to share a couple scriptures and bear testimony. Well after that she was quick to invite us to come back with her another time. After that she wasn't cold to us anymore, and when I announced that I was being transferred to the ward, she quickly came up to me and shook my hand and said that she was sad to see me go and wished me the best. That was one of my neatest experiences from Esslingen. 

I haven't shared it because I don't want to make me seem center stage, but these are the kinds of miracles that can be worked through us when we are ready and willing to serve a mission. And these experiences are waiting out there for those who want to serve missions

Another small story from recent past. We went and visited a member in our ward who asked us to come and give her husband and son blessings because they were both really sick. We did so and spent some time talking to the family  This sister who invited us expressed sorrow over the loss of her father. He died a very slow and painful death from a disease (I don't remember which) and she had been having a hard time with that for awhile. She hadn't yet felt that he was ok, that he wasn't in pain anymore. I had a scripture come to mind in D&C 42:45-46 (only the first half of 45), so I opened it up and read it, and bore testimony of it.

45 Thou shalt ^alive together in ^blove, insomuch that thou shalt ^cweep for the loss of them that die, and more especially for those that have not ^dhope of a glorious resurrection.

 46 And it shall come to pass that those that die in me shall not ^ataste of ^bdeath, for it shall be ^csweet unto them;

She thanked me then for it, and was in tears a bit, and said that it helped. Well a few days later we went back and visited them. And this time with tears in her eyes she thanked me for the scripture. After months of this pain, it finally brought peace. And that when she went to work that day, that her co-worker all told her that she looked different, happy again. Again, I claim nothing on that. The Holy Ghost brought to mind that scripture. But it was powerful and finally brought her the piece she was looking for. Those experiences are also those which wait upon you. 

Miracles happen everyday. Both big and small, if you don't think so, then you aren't looking hard enough. I could go on and on, there are so many stories, so many miracles. Both small and big, I just want to say this: I have faced some of the hardest times that I have ever encountered being out here, but my testimony has grown so much stronger. I have felt Gods love for me and for all his wonderful children.

He needs missionaries to find these children, these lost sheep. To show them that there is a father in heaven who loves them. That is why the mission age limit has been lowered. HE NEEDS YOU. OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS NEED YOU. Don't hesitate or put it off. It will bring you nothing but happiness and blessings (after pain and trials sometimes (See D&C 58:3-4)).

 3 Ye cannot behold with your natural ^aeyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the ^bglory which shall follow after much tribulation.

 4 For after much ^atribulation come the ^bblessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be ^ccrowned with much ^dglory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand.

I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the World. I know that this church is really the one and only church of God. This is the stone cut out of the mountains with no hands, which is to fill the earth. I know that there are people who are waiting for you to come and find them and bring them back. I know that there are miracles for you to bring forth. So, GO AND DO!

Thats all. I love you all and wish you the best!

Thanks,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

P.S. One quick request:  All those who are going to take advantage of this new age, can you please leave a comment on the blog or post a message to my account on Facebook? (Then to Mom/dad, can you gather the names and send them to me, in the next e-mail? Thanks.)