March is Almost Here

The computer just deleted my whole e-mail, and it was saved. :-( So now I get to start over... Wunderbar (wonderful). 

Well this week was alright. At times rough, but it has its good things as well. The appointment with Mischa and his wife fell out, his ausbildung (training) takes longer than he thought and he couldn't make it, and we haven't been able to get in contact with him since.

We had quite the number of appointments fall out this week 4 of them with one investigator. :-( Na ja, so ist es (well, so it is). Yesterday we were supposed to have 5 lessons, back to back to back. All but 1 fell out :-( That was hard. 

But then we were able to meet with Jakiri, which is always awesome. :-) Jakiri got quite the discussion on Genealogy this week. We mentioned it, in relation to Temple work last Sunday.  On Friday we took him to meet with Sister Strong, who was showing him how to  use Family Search and how to prepare names for the Temple.  Then For Priesthood (which here is the first hour) was all about Temple and Family History :-)

We got to meet with Martin and Marion twice. Which was good. We had one appointment with the Schäffners, and we talked a bit about the Gathering of Israel. Then they invited us over to their house for Lunch after Church and we talked a bit about the organization of the church (First Presidency, Apostles Seventies, etc) That was a lot of fun. :-) I happened to see the background on Martins Laptop, its pictures of Brigham Young, the 12 apostles and Church historical sites... I have a really good feeling about them :-) They are making a ton of progress. We don't have all that much that we need to teach them, the main thing that is holding them back from Baptism is getting married, which by the looks of it, will be in the beginning of August... But I have no doubt that they will get married and Baptized. And they are also planning for a trip to Utah next year around this time :-) I am excited for that. :-) 

The main highlight of the week though, was actually not from someone that I am personally teaching. About a week and a half ago, Elder Chapman and I were on the way to the church to meet someone there. On the way I went and sat down on one side next to the window. And there was a girl sitting over at the other window, doing something with her phone. I started talking to her.  She was very friendly and wanted to know more. She didn't really believe in the Catholic church, because her mom had taught that there are no Saints (referring to the ones that the Catholics pray to.) That Jesus Christ is our only Savior, and we should only pray to God in his name. At this point I had to get off, but she wanted to meet again and talk some more, so she gave me her number. 

I gave her a call, and told her about the Sister Missionaries, and then had them call her. They did, and they made out an appointment. It went REALLY well I got a call from the Sisters saying that that lesson was the best that they have had their whole missions and that she was really prepared. :-) She also said that she was looking for the true church and thinks that she had found it.  

2 Days later they met with her again. She had read from the title page of the Book of Mormon, through the testimony of Joseph Smith and then through 1 Nephi 11. She said that she had a warm feeling while reading it, knew it was true and she wanted to get baptized! She will be getting baptized on the 31st of March! :-) She also gave the sisters the information of her family in Mexico so that they can be taught as well. :-) I am so incredibly excited for her. 

I am so grateful to be here, I am so grateful to be able to be an instrument of the Lord. And I know that he is guiding his work and leading us to those who are prepared to find it. :-) I know that this really is the true Church. And that God loves and leads us today, just like he did in ancient times. :-)

I need to go now, but I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Ryan K. Christensen

A good week :-)

Well, I don't know exactly how much time I will have to write this e-mail, since I wrote Josh one already. 

But this week was well... Traumhaft (Fantastic)  :-) We still had 5 appointments fall out but we taught 11 lessons! :-) And found 4 new investigators. 10 New investigators in 2 weeks! Such a good week. :-) 

We taught Sasha the Plan of Salvation on Tuesday, he comes from Drösing which is clear out on the Slovakian border, but he comes here to Wien every now and again and then we meet with him. It went really well and a lot of things started making sense (not from the lesson, but about life, things that he has heard/ experienced etc.)  But he really liked it and he trusts us a lot. If only he had time to meet with us more than once every other week... 

We also were able to finally meet with Osas, a man from Nigeria who I talked to on the street 3 weeks ago. Nigerians are very famous here in the mission for always not showing up to their appointments. From experience, it is worse in there culture to say "no I can't meet then" than to lie and say "yeah that will work" and then not show up... That is a bit hard... Luckily (for us not necessarily for them) here in Wien there is an international ward, and the missionaries serving there teach all (and only) those who speak English. So we are turning him over to them. We were supposed to meet with him yesterday on splits with them, but he wasn't there... But when we actually did meet with him, it was really good and he really wants to learn more about Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ.   

Nigerians are funny though, they love Jesus. Back in Dornbirn, I met one on the street, who when he heard that we were from the Church, his response was "Preach to me". And again here in Wien, Elder Chapman was walking down the road and talked to a Nigerian Lady who asked 

"do preach Jesus?"

"yes we do"

"Ok, I give you my number, you call and we meet"

(yes 'mam!)

We still haven't been able to get a hold of her yet, but we are trying... But once we do we will give her to the Sisters in the International Ward.

Anyway, We also were invited to Dinner with Daniel, and his family which was cool. He is a member of the ward who I have been trying to meet with since December. His wife is not a member and is somewhat against going to church. Back last year they had made an agreement that they would come to church all together as a family once a month, that he and Robin (at this time one and a half year old son) could go twice in the month, and the other Sunday they would do something else. But they had another baby in August and after that his wife didn't have much interest. 

But she let us come to dinner, and we got to know them a bit which was good. Walking on thin ice though... at the end Daniel asked us to share a "neutral" spiritual thought. Its always fun when someone asks for something like that and you have to figure it out on the spot, while looking like you know exactly what you want to share... oh boy. Elder Chapman very quickly deferred it to me... Anyway after frantically flipping through a few things praying to find something good, the spirit came to my rescue and reminded me of  Romans 8:16 ( my mind just blanked, I think its 16 but I am not sure, "so bezeugt der Geist selber, unserem Geist dass wir Kinder Gottes sind" (The Spirit itself beareth ^awitness with our ^bspirit, that we are the ^cchildren of God:) is what it says) and then comparing that to sermon on the mount where Christ talks about praying (3 Nephi 14:7-11) "ask and ye shall receive .. for which of you when his son asks for a fish, shall give him a serpent .. if ye being evil, know how to give you children good gifts how much more shall your Father in heaven give good things unto those who shall ask" Something like that. But then talked about how much God loves us and will help us when we pray and ask for his help. I went well and Daniel really liked it. 

Another success of the week was with Familie Friedl we met with them again, and taught the plan of salvation and talked about eternal families. Overall it went really really well. We talked about some things we need to do to live with our families eternally. Baptism came up, and they said that they are already baptized, but if they need to do it again to be together forever than they will do it!!! We are going to teach them about the restoration, and priesthood authority, and then commit them to a date :-) (We wanted to make sure that they understand why they need to be baptized again and that not all baptisms are the same). 

I am really excited! Misha came to church yesterday! He arrived just before Sacrament meeting, in the middle of the investigator class. At the beginning he was visibly uncomfortable, he didn't have a tie, or a nice normal white shirt (in all honesty he looked fine with the white shirt he had) but Danny Schäffner and a few others said that it was just fine. Martin Hayden and I sat next to him, and towards the end he looked a lot more comfortable. Martin Hayden invited Misha and his wife to come to him on Tuesday and we will teach them there! :-)  I am VERY Excited for that. :-) Things are going well this week, and we have high hopes for this upcoming week.

We have not heard anything from Frau Zalka, we don't know what happened. 

Martin and Marion are still awesome as always, we are meeting with them on Friday with the Schäffners and then they invited us to them after church on Sunday.

That will need to suffice for this e-mail. I wish you all a wonderful week! I love you all,

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Double Digit Transfers...

Well we got transfer calls this past week. We were somewhat surprised, we are both staying. And we found out that its actually next transfer (not this one) that we start getting the ridiculous amount of missionaries. But yeah I get to stay! Which I am really excited for! There are a number of people that I really wanted to meet with that I now will be able to because I am staying.

Of course it will be somewhat of a short transfer, its a 5 week transfer. Which despite being only one week shorter, it seems to go by a lot faster. Oh man, with this transfer I now hit double digit transfers, i.e. I am entering my 10th Transfer! THAT IS SO WEIRD. And this one only lasts five weeks, which means in no time, I will be in my 11th transfer... That is really weird (taking into account that I only get 17 of them...) 

Time flies REALLY FAST. And something that is saddening, and weird at the same time, is that Elder Esplin goes home on Thursday. :-( He was such a good companion and had a large influence on me. What is weird though, is that I am now in the exact same spot on my mission, as he was when I first came to him in Dornbirn. Which wasn't all that long ago.... And something that caught me off guard a few weeks ago is that I learned that Elder and Sister Sampson are now back home in Utah. I didn't expect them to leave until later October, but I heard out of health reasons that they needed to cut it a bit short. 

I left their e-mail address back in the apartment, but I will probably have one of you send them an e-mail for me next week. (You could even visit them if you really wanted to I guess, however they live down near Washington...)

Elder Esplin and Elder Jacklin go home this transfer, then next transfer Elder Stokes and Allen, then there is a one transfer break, then Elder Heinrich goes home... I could go on, essentially from them on there a lot of missionaries that I am well aquainted with who are going home in the upcoming transfers. 

Wow, sorry I am not intending to make this (I forgot the word, but essentially relishing in the past? I think it starts with and "L" or and "N" any ideas?)(No ideas on this word he is searching for)

Anyway, This week was overall a pretty good week. We had all but 2 of our appointments fall out, but we found 6 new investigators! We finally were able to meet with Familie Friedl! Have I said anything about them before? Back awhile ago on a finding day, I was on splits with Elder Evans, and we talk to a man, who was actually an inactive member of our church who had moved back to Wien about a month before. He gave us his address but, couldn't guarantee his schedule, so we were just to come by every now and again to see if he was home. One day we did, and he wasn't but there. 

But just then a woman walked up, and rang one of the klingels, and was let inside. A few minutes later (we were still in the area) I saw her and her husband with a 2 year old walking out of the building. They walked by and were really friendly, but didn't have time to talk. I got this feeling that we needed to come back an talk to them. I had seen her go inside, so I knew exactly which klingel was theirs. So over the course of the next while we kept going by trying to make out an appointment. It was rough, they went to Serbia for a month, and were busy, but we were finally able to make an appointment out for Saturday at 11. 

It was awesome. Misha, is the husband, he has lived in Wien his whole life, then his wife, who was born in Serbia but can speak German. All the brothers of his wife were there as well (she wrote down her name, but they all knew that it was going to be hard to say and remember (they were right) and so I can't remember her name exactly...). 5 people. And they are very interested in reading the Book of Mormon and learning about the plan of Salvation. :-) I am really excited for them. :-) 

Then there was Andy, who I contacted by calling the 200+ numbers in the phone. He comes out of Romania, but can speak really good German. He also has quite the interest. :-) It was a good week. :-)

Frau Zalka... well I don't know. The last thing we heard is that she doesn't want to be baptized. And I don't anticipate her gettting baptized for the next few months. She needs to start coming consitently to church and really think and decided for herself what she wants to do. And then stick with it. She is letting herself be influenced way to much from everyone around her. So we will see what the future will hold.

Everything is going well with Martin and Marion. We had a good time on Tuesday with the Zemps and them. It was a good lesson, despite poor Brother Zemp, who can speak any German :-) (he is from Canada). 

Do you remember that lady that I called last week, that had a lot of interest, but was just sick? I called her again this week. And boy, does she like to talk. :-) She was incredibly friendly (which is rather unusual for Austrians, especially on the Telephone) and was asking me how long I have been here, where I have served, how the work was... etc. Then she mentioned that she now lives in Baden (right next to Wiener Neustadt). She had attended for a long time a Free Christian church, which she really liked. There was a warm greeting, the kids were taken to individual classes based on the age group etc. But had stopped after some of the ministry of the church told her that the Lord wanted her to become pregnant and have more Children ( for those who know free christian churches that isn't the least bit surprising). 

She thought it was really weird  and her husband was really offended by that and so they never went back. And then she told me that this past January she noticed that she had a desire for spiritual things, and really wants to go to church again. Specifically a church with young families, with classes for younger children, and somewhere where she could interact with other women saying that she needed the support. I very excitedly explained the Primary and Relief society programs of the church, and then mentioned that we have a ward in Wiener Neustadt ( Which is where the Free Christian church that she used to attend is). 

She was very excited, and I gave her the number of the Missionaries in Wiener Neustadt, and she said that she will talk to her husband and give them a call! :-) She was really excited when I told her about those things, and she said that even if her husband doesn't come with, that she wants to go. I am excited to see what comes out of that. That was neat that I was led to find her record in January (when she noticed that she wanted to start working with spiritual things again. :-) 

This truly is the Lord's work, and he is preparing those people to be taught the Gospel, and is leading us (as missionaries) to find those who are ready (most times after a lot of work on our part, such as calling 200 people and leaving 150 messages... :-P). But I know this church is true, and how inspired the organization is. And I am so blessed to be apart of this work. 

I love you all,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Josh is expecting his mission call to come this Wednesday.  It is listed as "Call Issued" with the Church.  Ryan sent the following note in addition to his letter above:

I forgot to take my guess on where Josh is going. I think he will go Spanish speaking (despite really wanting him to come here, I don't think that will happen :-( ) And I also think he will go state side, So I will say California. California Riverside Mission Spanish Speaking. 

There were two missionaries in my MTC group that were going there and they were awesome. If I had to guess outside the country I think he would go to South America, maybe somewhere in Chile :-) 

Good luck Josh! I am excited to hear what happens! Don't forget the Lord is who is calling you and sending you out. It doesn't matter where you go, even if its state side (it just means you get to visit you mission a lot more than I will get too). You will love it either way!

Love,
Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Februar!

Well, for all those who were hoping for a baptism this week, so were we, until Frau Zalka called and said that her and her children got really sick... So it fell out yet again. But not because of a doubt this time. She is fairly sure she has gotten over that by now... But who knows only time will tell. She will get baptized, someday, we just need to find a week were she doesn't have any doubts and can be physically healthy as well :-) No new date has, as of yet been set out. I may be long gone before she actually gets baptized, but she will with Simon eventually. Haha, Elder Chapman and I are considering sending her a letter, since that seems to be the most desired way of communication. We will see. 

Other than that it has been an interesting week. I have really noticed the hand of the Lord, Saturday and Sunday, all of our appointments fell through consisting of 5 appointments. All on the spot. So we spent the time finding, and it also gave us some time to go through and call everyone listed in the phones contact book. Through the efforts we now have 10 people who are interested in meeting with us! A couple of them are entire families. :-) 

I had the opportunity to look casually through a couple of the old area books, and as I was going through, a couple of names stuck out. They hadn't met with the missionaries in 6 years or so, but I felt like I should call them. So I did, and one of them was so incredibly thrilled to have us call. It was unbelievable. She had stopped meeting with the missionaries, mainly because of her husband. Her son also had interest as well but they had to stop. She was sick but was so incredibly thrilled that I called, that she said that we could call her at anytime and that next week, by which point she hopes to have recovered, that she really wants to meet with us again. That was cool. 

We have 4 area books, I happen to grab one open it up and skim through it, see a name and call someone that has a ton of interest. No other explanation than being led by the spirit. It was a really neat experience, and I am excited to go and meet with her ( assuming that I don't get transferred ( I will get to that in a second)). 

Another experience, on Tuesday this week we, again (no surprise) had an appointment fall out. So we contacted around for a bit, then decided to go by on Eric, who actually lives just on the other side of the boundary. Here is the story, so he met with the missionaries (the Wien 5) at the beginning of last year, they set a baptismal date with him, and then were going to give him to Wien 2 (whose area it is) but somehow he got lost and Wien 2 was never able to meet with him. I was told by Elder Steed that the  best time to go by on him was at night, but Elder Chapman said that he felt that we should go by right then. 

So we did, and he happened to be home. No one had been able to find him for this past year. We were able to talk to him and get his phone number, and figured out that he normally is in Burgenland for the week and only in Wien on the weekends. But just only happened to be in Wien right then. We were able to get the information to the Wien 2 Elders and they should have been able to call him and make an appointment. :-)

Something else that was cool (this week is full of stories like this) but after finding those two names (the other one had interest, but is so busy, she said call her in a month and she hopes things will be a bit more calmed). Elder Chapman generously (said super sarcastically, because the other option was calling every single kontakt in the phone (200+ names that I didn't know)  decided to go through the area books while I made phone calls. He pulled out a number of records of people that he though we should go by on. All we had planned left for the day (it was Sunday) was to study (we are supposed to still have personal and language study on Sundays). 

I looked through the names and got the impression to go by on them right then. So I told Elder Chapman, and we decided to go by on them, as well as a couple of the potentials we had found that week. Well long story home this family, whose record I saw, was home, and we made an appointment out for tomorrow at 2 :-) ( they were busy at the moment and couldn't meet).  This week is school break here, so we should be able to meet with them all. :-)

Now getting to transfers, Transfer calls are this Friday. The past two transfers in Austria have been mild, meaning not many people have moved, and a lot of people have been with there companion for 3 or 4 transfers. We are also starting to get into the new wave of missionaries (imagine this, normally every transfer we lose 8-12 missionaries and gain 8-12, now we start to lose 8-12 but gain 25 to 30). Which means we expect a big change up here, and because Elder Chapman and I have both been out over a year... well we both think that the chances of us staying together are very slim. 

We think either he will go and I will train, or that I will go somewhere and he will get younger companion. But we shall see, it wouldn't be the first time that I would be surprised at Transfers. So we shall see what the future holds. But either way things are going amazing well. the Zone is exploding with baptisms and baptismal dates. So far since the beginning of the year, 10 people have been baptized. Out of the 10, 6 are from the Wien Zone ( if only we could have made that 12 and 8 respectively... ). Its neat. Things are going well. :-)

Anyway, that ought to do it for this week. I love you all and wish you a great week! 

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Oh, before I forget, P-Day last week! We went to the cemetary here in Wien and saw some really cool things. Among them, the graves of Beethoven, Mozart and Ludvig Boltzman ( A FAMOUS CHEMIST!! :-)) I will attach a few pictures from it.

Elder Chapman had fun posing me, so we took a bunch of pictures here, are a few. :-) Yes I was really super excited to find this, incase anyone is wondering. You will need to show Mrs. Snow a few of these pictures.

Caption to the first one:

YES!!!! CHEMISTRY IN VIENNA!!!! 

2nd: need no explanation ;-)

3rd: The equation which he is know for. 

I love you all! Take care

Elder Ryan K. Christensen