Wow this week was crazy as well. Frau Zalka hasn't had any contact with us at all. She won't pick up the phone, we still don't know why. But, Jakiri, who I mentioned a long time ago, has agreed to move up his baptismal date to the 30th of November. This is huge. He is scared and satan is working on him INCREDIBLY HARD. His interview is this friday with President Hoeffel at 4:30. Please pray for him.
He knows that Joseph smith is a prophet with out a doubt. And he understands that he needs to be baptized and that it will be good for him. But he is scared. He has had a far worse past than any of you can imagine. He is by far the most incredible person that I have ever met though. He is the perfect example in my eyes of someone Christ-like. He helps out a few single mother families here in Florisdorf. He gives them everything, all his money, his time, everything. He sleeps in a single room apartment on a hard wood floor, and only eats when people give him food, because he gives everything to serve these families.
He still is haunted by his past however. His past sins, and these things that has happened to him. And satan is trying to eat him alive before he can reach baptism. Telling him that its too late, that he isn't good enough or worthy to be baptized, and this list goes on and on. He is battling everyday to overcome these feelings. He is ready to be baptized, he knows that it will be good for him, and that when he gets baptized that all the sin and guilt can be washed away. We have a recently returned missionary that is helping him a lot. Martin Hayden, absolutely a stud. He was baptized 4 years ago, who also had a really hard life and was on the point of near suicide when he found the gospel, and has the most powerful testimony of receiving a remission of sins at baptism that I have ever heard. When he made the decision to serve a mission, he was supporting his single mom and 4 brothers WITH HIS OWN MONEY. And he prayed and asked heavenly Father to take care of them for him, and he said that Heavenly Father said he would, so he went and served a mission and didn't worry about them at all, and came back and found out that the Lord had kept his promise. An incredible testimony. He met with us and Jakiri yesterday and it was incredible. That will help a lot, but if you could please pray for Jakiri, he needs it.
Another really cool things happened yesterday. At 4 we had an appointment with 4 communists. Or that is what Elder Steed called them (he didn't know their names). Elder Solt had contacted them back when he was here and agreed to meet with them under the terms that there would be no discussion on politics. They met with them and apparently had a good discussion but never made out a return appointment till I arrived about 2 months later. I called them (five weeks ago) and made out an appointment for yesterday (they are really busy). Well they came to the church yesterday and we sat down and started talking. 3 of them are totally Atheist, one of them has a weak belief on God.
They started off asking us questions like crazy, really weird questions dealing with war, killing people and what we thought about the death penalty. Which threw me way off, and there was no correct answer that I could give and I knew that. They were twisting our words like crazy. We finally were able to change topics, and I asked them a question about their belief on God, Elder Steed at this point left the room and was gone for most of the discussion, taking a couple of phone calls. So it was me with 3 Atheists and one who didn't know what to believe. It was a neat experience, I don't remember all of the details. I started to ask questions and to teach, and the words just came to me. The spirit was telling me exactly what I needed to say in that exact moment, and it was so powerful. I bore powerful testimony, and the words were flowing unto me. The German was nearly if not completely perfect. At the beginning of the lesson, the three were convinced that there was no God at all and didn't see a point in it at all. But left all promising, all WANTING to find out through prayer.
One of them, named Phillip, told me that he went to Catholic school and prayed all the time and never felt anything, therefore there could be no God. But then we talked about what his experience was with prayer and he said that it was the standard "Vater Unser" prayer (Lord's Prayer) that they prayed twice an hour or something like that. Then he said that to him it was just memorized words with no meaning. "Exactly." I quoted them the verse that is immediately before the "Vater Unser" (Lord's Prayer) and then I taught about what it means to pray from the heart. To mean it. Again, the spirit was so strong and at the end, he was the most sincere, asking me, if I pray and don't feel anything, am I not praying correctly, or am does it mean that I am not praying from my heart... Questions like that.
He REALLY wanted to know if there is a God or not, and wanted to make sure that he did it correctly so that he could find out. I told them that they may or may not feel anything on the first time. I used a scripture out of Alma where is says that he fasted and prayed MANY DAYS to get an answer, and then later told them about Ether 12:6 talking about how you don't receive a testimony till after your faith is tried. Then promised them if they really want to know and pray, that God would answer them, and that they can know just like I did that it was true. It was an incredible experience. I can honestly say that the promises made in Doctrine and Covenants 11:21, and 84:85 really are true.
"Trachtet nicht danach mein Wort zu verkünden, sondern trachtet zuerst danach mein wort zu erlangen und dann wird deine Zunge gelöst werden; dann, wenn ihr wünscht, wirst du meinem Geist und Wort haben, ja die Macht Gottes um Menschen zu überzeugen"
"Sorgt euch nicht in voraus, was ihr sagen sollt, sondern häuft in eurem Sinn beständig die Worte des Lebens auf, wie einen Schatz. Dann wird euch zur selben Stunde das Maß eingegeben werden, das einem jeden zugemessen werden soll"
21
Sorry I only have memorized in German. But they are true, and I know that they are, because I have experienced it myself. And I know for that these promises are for missionaries and non missionaries alike.
That will do for now, Thanks for the love and support. It means a lot to me. I love you all and wish you the best!
Love,
Elder Ryan K. Christensen
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