These reverse p-days are really throwing me off... Man what
a P-day, it has probably been one of the most rewarding P-days I have had
though, even though it will be 2 hours shorter than it should... (According to Ryan, reverse P-days are just days where they do their proselyting during the day instead of the evening, and use the evening for email. Nothing formal, but this happens from time to time).
But I will start off giving a bit of the week in review...
Tuesday, we had district meeting, then went contacting (went by on our
potentials) all day long. Everywhere we went, as I always like to do, we go
door to door in the neighboring buildings. We found a few potentials that day!
That was cool, Long, but cool.
Wednesday, we finally went and ordered our German Visas. Glad to have
that taken care of. Is weird to think about though, by the time My German Visa
will expire, Josh will only be a month away from getting back from his mission.
Yeah, it will be good till May of 2015. Weird.
Anyway, then we did or study,
and met with Nataly, a lady from Santa Lucia, in the Carribean. THAT WAS GOOD.
Brother Wellington was an amazing Joint teach. He is awesome. We had to call
him the day before, because the joint teach we had in mind, didn't work
anymore. So I called him and started off by asking him how he was doing (he
sounded absolutely EXHAUSTED) his response made me kind of laugh: "how am
I doing... man, that's a story, well, I am just going to skip that and ask you
how are doing..."
We found out the next day at the lesson, that the day
before he had worked 30 straight hours by his job, and had then tried to drive
home. Praying that he could get home safely. It almost worked. A couple blocks
from his house he fell asleep and ran into another car. Thankfully, he wasn't
going very fast and no one was hurt. But he felt overwhelmed, and long story
short prayed for help, and got the feeling "Just trust God" so he
did, he put his trust in him that everything happens for a reason and that God
has a plan. Then he felt peace. It goes on, but it really amazing. He made that
lesson go well.
After that we contacted the rest of the day. And ended up in
Schön Geising. IN THE MIDDLE OF NO WHERE. Here is the story. We decided to go
by on Ufi, she was someone who we wanted to meet with a few weeks ago, but it
fell out last moment, and we hadn't been able to contact her since. So we go to
hauptbahnhof and catch a train to Aubing (on the border of Munich already)
Well then I sit down and start talking to the people across from me (I have
made it a point to talk to EVERYONE that I can regardless the circumstances,
awkwardness etc. This is a point where I had to really come out of my
comfort zone... especially trying to talk to someone about the gospel, who is
trying to mock or embarrass me while the whole train is watching...)
Anyway, I start
talking to these two people sitting across from me, it turns out that one is
from England, and the other one actually came out of Oberösterreich, the
portion which was actually in my last area. That was cool. But I got into a
good discussion with them. GRR... She was SO CLOSE I could see it in her eyes
that she wanted to learn more, she was smiling and really liked the testimony
and the things that I said, but he was atheist and said that it wasn't
something that they would be interested in. :-( And then she just kind of
nodded and let it go...
Anyway, they asked me where I was getting off, having
long past our stop I just said, the next stop is where I need to get off. They just
nodded and said that it was a pretty area. Elder Evans and I get off the train,
and realize we are in the middle of NOWHERE. All we can see in every direction
where trees. And a small road. That was it. Woops. It was now 7:45 or so. And
we were so far from out Apartment, that we took the next train home and got
back just after 9 pm....
That was fun. I wish you could have heard Elder Helbigs
reaction when I told him where we were, and why we wouldn't be back for dinner
at 8... " WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING OUT THERE?!! I was really the middle
of nowhere. I don't know what else to say about it. Later on we found out
that if we would have followed the road a kilometer or so we would have come
into the little dorf that was there. Oh well, it was to late by that point...
That was the adventure for the week. :-) We met with John on
Thursday, and had an EXCELLENT lesson with him. We showed him the Church's website, and watched a few Mormon messages (he really likes the word
of God and inspirational music) and then talked about the restoration using the Bible and the Book of Mormon. I love Acts 3:19-21. Which in most modern
bibles reads like thus: (referring to Jesus) "Who must remain in
heaven until the time of the RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS..." Then I
pull out the pamphlet and say, this is exactly why we are here, and of what we
are testifying. It was a great lesson. He understands it, and really wants to
read the Book of Mormon now to know if it is true. We have another appointment
with this upcoming Thursday and we will teach him the Plan of Salvation. He is
really excited for that. So are we. :-)
Friday and Saturday had fallen out appointments, during
which we went and contacted. We actually were successfully able to make and
appointment out for the Munich 3 sisters. Which they were really happy about.
That is one thing that I really love about working here, is that we have the
whole city of Munich, so I can go and contacted for other missionaries, while
finding people for us. Its great. I love it here. I was worried about not
speaking enough German, but that is all that I do all day long while I am
traveling, talking to everyone. Its so great. :-)
Sunday was awesome, we had two Nigerians show up to church,
and Elder Evans and I got to teach them, as well as 3 African Brothers from the
ward. That was really cool, Elder Evans and I were the only white guys in the
room with 5 africans. It was incredible. Brother Opare was there and made the
most incredible comparison I have ever heard. He compared the church to a car,
and the priesthood power with the motor. It sounds crazy, but it was brilliant,
and they understood it so well. Essentially he asked them "if I give you a
car, and take the motor, can you drive the car?" "noway" and
then compared it to the authority and "Power of God" (which sounds
ten times cooler with a Nigerian accent) that Jesus gave his apostles to lead
the church or in other words "drive the car". So cool. Nigerians are
crazy, but so funny. And they immediately think you are the coolest white guy
ever if you know there handshake. I have learned and I love doing it and
watching there faces. They do it will out really noticing it, and if you do it
as well, they get really excited. :-)
Anyway, we had an amazing lesson. They are both excited and
commited to reading the Book of Mormon and finding out if its true. :-)
That brings me to today. So today has been crazy, we went
shopping at 8 am this morning with Munich 1, came back had personal and
companionship study, then went to the mission office, to pick up the keys to
the church (we still don't have a key to our church yet) so that we could meet
with Nataly at 12 with Brother Wellington again. We were out the door a bit
late, and our train was a bit late, so when we started to walk from the office
to the church we had a limited amount of time. 10 minutes, which was just
enough to walk there. (The bus didn't come for another 7 minutes or so). So we
start walking, and after a few minutes, I get the impression to turn around, I
follow and notice a man and a woman dragging luggage down the street, so I turn
around and quickly walked toward them, and asked if I could help them. They
said no, but thanks, then I walked with them back a ways, and started talking to
them.
They asked me what I was doing here, and I told them that I am here to
help people gain hope and feel Gods love for them. Neither one was German. He
was Turkisch, and I can't remember where she was from, but it turns out that
the man's employer had stopped paying him, and told him that he would have to
wait for a couple of months to get paid. He had a family to support, and
couldn't wait, so the manager told him to leave and never come back. So now he
is as of 2 days, jobless. Just before then, they had a problem with there
landlord, I don't remember exactly what it was, but they were forced to leave.
So they were now Jobless and homeless. I told them, I couldn't help them with
their apartment or money, but bore testimony that God loves them and hears and
answers prayers. That was something that they really wanted to hear about.
The
mom is taking her daughter to France for awhile and the Dad will stay here at a homeless shelter until they can get a lawyer and get everything worked out. But
they both wanted to hear this message and very quickly gave me there phone
number. :-) I can't teach them because they are German speakers, but I am still really happy that I listened to the impression to turn around. Their bus came,
and they got on. Then I saw our bus, stopped at the stoplight and, we
were able to successfully sprint and catch the bus to make it to the church at
exactly 12. :-)
The appointment with Nataly went very well. It went REALLY well
actually. :-) She has a lot of interest in learning more about God, and she
really liked what we taught her about the purpose of life. Some of the things
that we mention were things that popped into our heads right in the moment. For
example, while talking about earth life, I asked her if she has children. She
does, then I talked about assigning them to clean their room, how if she told
them to do it, then sat there and watched they would most likely do it... then
she said something that made it incredible: "yeah, I could sit there, but
I want them to do it, because they want to do it, and not because I am forcing
them" "EXACTLY!!" That is exactly why we are here on the earth,
away from Gods presence. So that we can learn to follow him, not because we are
forced, but because we want to! That is what He wants for us. That is why he
gave us free agency. Then came the point where it clicked in her head and she
understood. Oh man, it was amazing. :-)
After that we went to visit a less active member in our
ward, who just had the first of a series of surgeries for cancer. He has been
diagnosed with lung cancer. The doctors only gave him a 30% chance of living.
But he has been given a couple of blessings and miracles have happened. Through
Chemo, and radiation, the spreading cancer, came back into one clump, and
hardened, which allowed the surgeons to cut it out. Then his rate at which he
is recovering from Surgery is remarkable. The day after the surgery he was able
to get up and walk around. He also has a sarcoma, which was located by his
shoulder. He had it removed many years ago, but it came back. And this time it
was in a location, which if the doctors were to operate on it, would probably
kill him. But with a blessing and much prayer from the ward, the sarcoma moved
in location, it went from being a lethal operation, to one in which he would
most likely loose his arm, to one in which he would loose use of the arm, and
now the doctors say he will loose only partial use of the arm. That is
incredible!!
But we went and visited him then, which lasted some time,
then with travel (and getting into another conversation with someone which
took us a couple stops past Giesing...) I am now sitting here writing this
e-mail. We also stopped at Marien Platz and went and got some things which took
time. But its been a great P-day, very uplifting. :-)
I am loving my time here, if you can't tell. Things are
going well, and I am seeing so many wonderful things happen everyday. We have
been so blessed. I am so grateful to be here, I must say. I am so grateful for
the influences of the spirit which has helped us so much. I love this gospel and
know that it is true.:-)
Have a great week!
love,
Elder Ryan K. Christensen
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