Things went well, I don't know what else to add, we met with John as well last week, which was good. Sadly Bro. Opare wasn't able to come :-( But went alright none the less.
My find is fairly fuzzy about this past week, and because its a new transfer I don't have my planner with me. All I can remember is this weekend we had Stake conference and Transfer Calls...
Well, I am staying here in Munich (YES!!) and I have now been made district leader. :-) I am excited for this additional chance to serve. It will be a completely new thing for me, and with this district there are special Challenges, but I am excited for it. And then there is stake Conference, which was absolutely incredible! :-)
The YSA Choir, that I was in sang in the adult session on Saturday night. Elder Boohm from the 70 spoke, he is from Holland. It was a fun talk, however one of the things that effected me the most was from Sister Kopischke, the daughter of Elder Kospishke I assume, she had a short talk but it was amazing, she related the chance she had to me someone who refines Silver ( I think it was her, maybe it was someone else, I don't quite remember) and she asked him
"Do you really need to sit in front of the fire the whole time?"
"Yes", he responded "If the silver is in the fire for even a few seconds to long it will ruin all of it".
She then asked "how do you know when it is done?"
"Simple" he said "When I can see myself in it"
Man, that had so many scriptural applications to it that my mind exploded, and I missed the rest of the talk. Mainly in Maleachi 3:3 compared to Alma 5:19 as well as a number of Isaiah references and the hymn "How firm a foundation" "The flame shall not hurt the, I only design, thy dross to consume and they [silver] to refine" That was pretty amazing, I must say.
Elder Boohms talk was good as well, he mentioned back when he was first called to serve in the 70 that Elder Kopischke ( who was at that point in time the president over the area) asked him how good his German was, he said that it wasn't very good at all. So Elder Kopischke told him to get a German book of Mormon and read it. He did, and at first it was hard but toward the end he had a better hold on it. Then Elder Kopischke put him in charge of the Frankfurt section of the Area. And then in the same conversation asked him what he was doing the next weekend. He had nothing and Elder Kopischke asked him if he could go and speak at a District conference in Erfurt. He agreed, then Elder Kopischke added "oh by the way, they don't speak any English at all". Elder Boohm said "Well surely there must be someone who can translate". Elder Kopischke responded "No, no translators, unless you want a 14 year old girl to translate for you [small pause] Good luck!" and then he hung up.
Long story short he did a lot of praying for help, and was successfully able to organize it and go there and speak. Haha, this next part made me laugh really hard. He added, "I found out awhile later that I only made one mistake in the whole conference. In the adult session of the conference I wanted to tell the parents that they need to bear more testimony to there children. Instead what I actually said was that they need to bear more children..." This difference in German is so small. It made me laugh. "Zeugnis" in German is testimony, "Zeuge" is a witness, "bezeugen" is to testify but "zeugen" in one context means to have children, or in old English "Beget". :-) Oh, language mistakes, they are so funny. He then said "When I returned a few years later, I think they had doubled on members ;-)".
And then there was sunday. Oh boy, that was an adventure. I sang solo on the tenor part of a song in a concert hall in Erding in front of the whole stake. Oh man thats a story. So first, this past week has been pretty rough on me and my Allergies, I have medicine and have been taking it regularly but I still woke up Sunday, with Cold like symptoms. And for those who know me, know that when I get a Cold, my voice gets very low. That is how it was, but after getting up showering etc. it went away and my normal voice was back. Well, the stake Conference took place out in a concert hall in Erding, about an hour or so away. We left early so that we ( Elders Helbig, Thomas, Evans and I) could participate in the Stake Choir. They were meeting at 8.55 to practice. Elder Evans meets some other missionaries there who he hasn't seen in a long time, so he starts talking to them and decides not to participate in the choir. Elder Helbig, who is fairly tone deaf felt bad that he was throwing the person next to him off, so he left.
Now Elder Thomas and I are the only missionaries in the choir, which isn't all that big. Maybe 40 people or so. We practiced the first song 3 or 4 times all the way through. And then moved on to "I believe in Christ" It went well until the last verse, when the arrangement called for a key change. All of the sudden All the tenors decide that they are going to sing bass, because it is way to high for them. I and Elder Thomas were the only two that could sing that high, him in Falsetto and me at the very top of my normal range. Because of the key change, the tenor part now had a high F#, boy that was a stretch to get it, but I could! And could sing it loudly as well. We practiced it ONCE. I was still having problems with the tenor in places, but because Elder Thomas was there I was able to stay on pitch. I have only been really singing as tenor for the past few months or so.
Anyway, the choir then has a 10 minute break before we sing prelude ( which was supposed to be the other song, not the really high tenor one). We all separated Then it comes time to sing, we all walk back up there ( now because this was in a concert hall, and the stage wasn't that big, there were no choir seats, we just stood on a small riser in front of the pulpit). I get up there, everyone is there, except Elder Thomas... So now I am the ONLY missionary in the whole choir, and if that weren't bad enough, because all the tenors changing to basses they changed were they were standing. So now I was on the far right.
Well, because of the position of that Piano, I blocked the pianists view, so I had to take 3 steps to the right. Wonderful. I am the tallest in the choir, I am standing on the backrow, I am now having to stand 3 steps separation from the other guys, and I have a name tag on my chest ( the only missionary in the choir) Also the only tenor. Could I possibly stick out anymore? I was looking for the giant flashing neon arrow sign saying "Hey look at ME!".
There was a change in plans the song with the high tenor part was first... Oh boy, I look out and see Elder Thomas at the back row of the balcony with a "Whoops..." look on his face. I was so incredibly nervous. But I did it! And no one really noticed that I was the only tenor in the choir, despite it being a prominent part in some areas. I am grateful that for the help of the Lord during that song. I made a mistake, which through me off, but I quickly regained composure, and despite being terrified was able to sing the part. :-)
That was my adventure yesterday. :-) The conference was other wise amazing. We performed two songs, the prelude and the opening song, with me standing out on the edge of the riser... anyway it was great.
Well after writing all of that I don't have much time left. But things are going well, I am looking forward to another good week ahead.
love,
Ryan K. Christensen
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