I am amazed by Isabelle. The change that she has made just blows me a way. If I told you everything about her (the way she was when I first met her/just before I met her) and you saw her now, you wouldn't even recognize her. She is very strong now, despite incredible physical pain, and trials, she comes to church every week, without fail, she trusts and has faith in the Lord, and sees all the ways that the Lord has blessed her. She is happier. She is working on quitting smoking so that she can be rebaptized (She had her name taken off of the records a number of years ago).
It wouldn't surprise me if she will be baptized before the end of the year. It amazes me, when I first started meeting with her, she wouldn't even talk about baptism. She was scared and felt that she wasn't ready to take upon her the name of Christ yet. But by the time I left, she was bringing it up in every lesson. That she felt like she needed to, but then argues with herself if she is ready. She doesn't feel like she can quit smoking just yet, which is why she doesn't want to set a date yet. BUT ITS GETTING THERE! :-) I have instructed Elder Robins that he is to inform me as soon as possible if she gets a date. So we shall see what happens.
That was pretty much all that happened that week. Thursday was brutal. Sitting in a Train for 7 hours. 3 hours to Munich, a 3 hour layover, and then 4 hours to Wien, followed by a 30 minute subway ride to Florisdorf (district 21). Speaking of which, before I forget here is my new address:
Elder Ryan K. Christensen
Kirche Jesu Christi HLT
Schloßhofer straße 50/14
1210 Vienna
Austria
That was a long day. It was awesome though. I saw Elder Stokes, Elder Heinrich, and Elder Esplin all there. Elder Esplin is now training in Linz, so he rode with me out this direction (as well as a group of 6 others). While sitting at the bahnhof for 3 hours I also got to go get lunch with Elder Heinrich, which was awesome as well. Its fun to meet up with old Companions. All of them are doing very well and enjoying their areas. Which I was very happy for.
Wien (Vienna in German, I keep forgetting to say "Vienna" so I am just going to stick with Wien (a "w" in German is pronounced with a "V" sound in German. Just so you pronounce it correctly. :-)) is HUGE. I am not simply talking population, I am meaning SIZE. We got into Wien West Bahnhof, then took a 30 min subway ride out to Florisdorf (district 21of Wien accross the Donau River).
I about died when I saw the apartment though. The apartment in Dornbirn is probably one of the nicest in the mission, the Wien 5 apartment however... very run down. It actually isn't so bad, but I panicked initially. We have a gas burning stove and oven. Which is rather interesting. Getting the oven started is an art. Light the match, let it burn for a few seconds, then toss it into a tiny slot just right, so that it doesn't extinguish the flame, but that it gets down far enough to ignite the gas. Then turn the gas on, and hold it for a few seconds and pray :-). Elder Steed was laughing at me last night, First time I did it, the match extinguished itself after I put it in, the second time I didn't hold the gas on for long enough, then the third time the match broke in my hand (at which point Elder Steed went to go look for his camera... punk) then I got it!
I have really loved the Terrace though. We are on the 6th floor of an apartment building, and we have a great view of the City from this terrace. I have found it very relaxing to go and look out into the city. Which is good because I got way stressed out and had somewhat of a panic attack when I got here. I knew everything about Dornbirn, all the people, the places, the bus times, everything. I was a trainer, I was in control because I new everything.
Here no. I didn't know the investigators, or any potentials, nor any bus times, nothing. I didn't know how Elder Steed did missionary work, what an average day was or anything. So I have taken advantage of the terrace, walking outside taking a few deep breaths and enjoying the beautiful view of the Donau and of Wien. I am doing ok now, I have realized that It will take some time before I know my way around and can have a larger input on what we should do.
I have tried taking some pictures, but they are all at night, and my camera doesn't handle night shots well. It takes forever to capture the image, and most of them end up being blurry. So I lack pictures. I will try to fix that shortly. I have posted pictures of my last morning in Dornbirn; Elder Heinrich, me, and Elder Robins; me and Elder Esplin in Munich.
Not much happened last week, Elder Steed got sick so we weren't able to accomplish much. I love the ward! Dornbirn was a small ward that averaged maybe 60 people every week at Church. Wien 5 averages 110! A real ward again. :-) I do miss the Dornbirn Gemeinde. Like I said, there is family over here from members in Dornbirn. Which is awesome. Back in Dornbirn, Schwester Stubbe-Griel and Bishof Stubbe invited us to lunch every Sunday. Well Schwester Stubbe-Griels Daughter lives here, and told us that since her mom fed me back in Dornbirn, that she guesses its her turn now. So we will now be having lunch everyweek with the Jankowich's :-). I am so incredibly grateful for that.
This will need to be continued next week. Elder Steed is waiting on me. I hope all is well at home! I will have more to report next week!
Love,
Elder Ryan K. Christensen
1 comment:
I am glad he got to his new area! I can only imagine how going to a new area would feel, especially a new country! Wow. He will do great. He is great at adapting. He is so awesome.
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