Wieder zu Hause am Bodensee!!!

Back Home on Lake Constance!!!

Wow! I don't know where to start. Monday, I took my last P-day and made sure everything was in order for when I left. We had a lesson that night with Benjamin, and it went really well. We had a good District Meeting on Tuesday, my last one in Munich :-( The Hunsakers took a picture, and I will forward it on in a moment. Wednesday was good, we met with Tenzin in the morning to say goodbye. The Munich 2 sisters were there as well (since Sister Scoggin was also leaving). The next appointment was supposed to be at the church, but it fell out. Then later that night we met with Bastian and Nicole for the last time. :-( I am going to miss them a lot. 

Thursday I took the long way to Ravensburg. I went from Munich, through Ulm to Stuttgart, then Stuttgart back through Ulm to Ravensburg. Elder Kingery met me at Hauptbahnhof Munich, then we picked up our Hawaiian companion at Stuttgart. Ok, so he isn't native Hawaiian, he has lived there for 5 years though. It is so funny to contact people with him, one because he is still really new and his German has a way to go, and 2 when ever he says hi or bye he does the shaka, (the Hawaiian hand gesture that people usually associate with "Aloha") It's really funny, its totally out of habit so there isn't much he can do at this point :-).

It is so weird and cool at the same time to be in Ravensburg. It feels like a dream. I still can't believe it. We have a lot of work to do however. We currently have... 0 real investigators, and no potentials (that haven't already been contacted like 3 times over). I think this is pretty much the story of my mission so far, Get to an area, nothing, leave it better than I found it. :-) 

I mentioned that this past week was shaping up really well for Munich 4 when I left, well they were able to set 2 additional baptismal dates! I am very happy for that. Anyway, Ravensburg, like I mentioned is a branch. A small one. We have on our roster more than 80 members, but average attendance is around 15 per week. Yesterday, other than the branch presidency and us, there were maybe 8 or 9 people there. All sisters. Yup, The branch presidency and us made up the entire priesthood body. And we usually make up 80 percent of the priesthood body. We (the Elders) prepare, bless and pass the sacrament every week. We meet in the third story of a warehouse like building. It is quite the unique experience. We have a lot of work to do. This branch has almost been shut down a number of times. With the exception of the most recent Branch president (the one just before Elder Buchanan) (who was from Switzerland) all the other branch presidents have gone completely inactive. One of them after, who was somewhat new to the church at that time lost his wife tragically and went off the deep end, so to say, and was excommunicated. 

Anyway, so we have ALOT of work ahead of us, but I am SO EXCITED. Elders Kingery and Wasden are excited and hard working, which is so wonderful. :-) We had a really great weekly planning session, and have decided we are going to focus on re activating less actives. Well, the ones that we can get to on bikes anyway (I will get to that in a moment). One of our goals this transfer can be summed up with a picture, which I don't have right this second, but we took a picture of the chapel and hope to have the phrase "No empty chairs" written underneath it, and have that hanging in our apartment. 

Back in Munich, just before I left, Elder Müller and I organized a German class because we were in an English speaking ward. Getting here I brought up the idea of creating and English class. Which we are currently planning and getting ready to go. But I have already found quite a number of people that are interested. :-) Elder Kingery also had the idea to do a service day, and entire day devoted to serving the members and less actives. 

Last year just after I left Dornbirn the Elders that were in Ravensburg, weren't the most hard working, and there were days they just hung out in the apartment. That hurt the relations between the missionaries and the ward a bit. In fact the first member I met, I asked if there was anything we could do and she just said, please just be a hard working missionary. It's kind of sad when the main concern about a new missionary to the ward is if he will be hard working or not. 

The first full day here, we spent trying to meet up with less actives, none of whom were home. But we found 4 people while walking around (I will come back to that too) all day. :-) That was great, 2 of which are really cool. Courtney and Rockelle who are both from America, but are living in Germany. Courtney is huge, and is playing as the quarterback for the professional football team here in Ravensburg (Ravensburg Razerbacks). HE came up to us and talked to us saying that he has met missionaries all over the place and they are always really friendly, so he gave us his information and said that he would like to have us over for dinner sometime and that if there was anything that we need, he was more than willing to help. :-) 

Its really interesting, we seem to have gotten quite the tie in with the Ravensburg Razerbacks recently. Just before I came, the Missionaries met the Coach of the team who is actually a member of the church, that we didn't know about. He talked a lot about how good his time was when he was active, but he wouldn't give them any information about where he lived. But there is also a less active member who played for the team, and we seem to have contact in a number of other ways. 

The next day we went to Singen, for the District Leader training meeting. It was an hour train ride, which was much better than I had expected (and much easier than any of the other District Leaders some of who spent 3 hours on the train). Anyway that was great. Elder Chapman, and my old companion from Vienna is the new Zone Leader here, which has given us a chance to talk a lot. Elder Davies is also one of the district leaders here! (A really good friend of mine here in the mission field). We missed our train connection back home, which allowed us to find a family for the new sisters in Singen. Which was cool, because they up till that point were having a hard couple of days finding people. 

Sunday was neat, we walked to the church early to prepare the sacrament, and prepare for the meeting. Attendance was low, like I mentioned earlier, and 2 of them (both Americans that were here for a study abroad) gave their farewell talks (yes in English, they were translated by Sister Hoffman). So that was cool. They did a lot while they were here. Because the branch and attendance is so low, church is only 2 hours right now. Every other week it alternates, between Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief society. We have no youth and no primary, most the active members are grandparents, whose children are in active. Like I said, a lot of work to be done. :-) 

But on really awesome news, we  made contact with a man who hasn't been to church since 1960 and he invited us to come back today! And then we went by on a friend of a less active lady who had once come to church but since then the missionaries couldn't contact. And she is incredible!! She invited us right in, sat us down, gave us home made Filipino cake, and got us some drinks, despite preparing dinner for family and a huge amount of friends who were coming over any minute for a party. She told us that she had a LOT of interest in our church, and her daughter as well. Even her husband (who is German) has interest, but that they have been really busy.  It was really cool, then all her friends came and they were getting ready to eat. Mercedes, who we came to visit, told us that we could stay, but we didn't want to intrude (since we just randomly showed up on her doorstep (none of us having seen her before)). 

But we got a chance to talk to her sister and some of her friends (All the women there were from the Philippians married to German men). Many of them have interest. But because of vacation time, most of them will be going to the Philippians for the next 5 weeks... And the ones who weren't necessarily interested have interest in the English class. :-) That was SO COOL! I am so excited. We have a lot to do, but SO MUCH POTENTIAL.

  

I am way excited to work with the Buchanans and get going! This Branch hasn't had a baptism in 2 years or so. We have one lady, Marriot who is ready to be baptized, and wants to be, but is just really busy, and we need to set a new date with her. But then there is Mercedes, who we will also most likely set a date with on August 12th when we go back and visit her and her family. :-) (that is the earliest she can meet). 

So I mentioned earlier that this area used to be a car area and that when the Ehepaar (couple) came, they took the car and we got bus tickets. Well this area (as of 2 transfers ago) was changed to a bike area. So we have bikes now and no public transit. (Not that it was really good anyway...). But we are now 3 here. And there are only 2 bikes... so we were thinking about buying a rope and a skate board so that the third Elder could sit and ride everywhere, but then we decided that wouldn't be fair for the Elder on the bike having to pull him ;-). 

So I talked to President Miles instead, and we are going to rent a bike for this transfer :-). Because we haven't had one for the past few days,we have walked EVERYWHERE. One time we walked an hour and a half straight from the first person to the second. So we will hopefully have 3 bikes by tomorrow and won't need to spend so much time walking places (its good because then we can contact, but it really limits what we can accomplish). 

So just like my brother in Texas, I will be riding a bike everywhere. What makes biking even more fun is that Ravensburg is entirely hills. There isn't much flat ground at all... some of the hills are really long and steep too (suddenly those stairs in Plochingen don't sound too bad anymore... ;-)). 

Anyway, I am thrilled to be here and to spread the gospel and work hard. I am so grateful for this chance that I have to serve here. I want you all to know, that I know that this church is the true church of God. That it was restored, as promised, through a prophet of God to the earth. I know that Joseph Smith was that prophet. I know that he was called and ordained of God. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, that he atoned for our sins, and provided a way for us to repent and to come back to God one day. And I am so grateful for the chance I have, to be here in this part of the world and tell people about it. :-)

I wish you all a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

P.S.

Talking to Elder Chapman about Vienna, 2 people that we found together  in Vienna have baptismal dates!!!! Andy I called on the phone and met with twice, then he got busy and couldn't meet for a month or so, and the other we found on the street, he was  friend of a member, and will hopefully be baptized sometime in the next few months!! They are also working 2 companionships in that area now. So Wien 5 has 3 baptismal dates from people that Elder Chapman and I found/ taught. And Munich 4 currently has 3 baptismal dates from people that Elder Curtis, Evans and I found. :-) I am so happy, I can't even bring it correctly into words. It has been such a huge blessing, and though I may not see all of them get baptized, I am so happy to have had my part (no matter how small) in this work. :-) 

Some Pictures

Ryan's camera struggles with talking to the computers he uses over there, so as a result we don't have many pictures of him or the people he visits, or the places he sees.....Much to the frustration of his mother, so whenever I come across any pictures of him on other's blogs or facebook I grab them.  Here are a few I have collected recently.

At the Holocaust Memorial 

With his companions in Munich

Recent picture of the missionaries in their Munich ward

District Meeting

Transferred!! EXCITED BEYOND BELIEF and very sad as well. :-(

Well. Yeah the title says it all. This week was GREAT. Nothing fell out. And it set up for the new transfer beautifully. Tuesday was probably one of the best days in my whole mission. Hands down. Finally after an entire transfer of nothing but dropped appointments and frustrations, we had a solid week. 

But first I will tell you about Transfer calls. I am transferred. I won't get to remain in the ward any longer. But... 

I AM GOING BACK TO THE DORNBIRN DISTRICT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I will be in RAVENSBURG!!!!!!!!!!!!  I AM GOING BACK!! 

I have been there several times on Exchange, and I know it well, better yet, I will be the district leader and get to return to Dornbirn on exchange!! I AM GOING BACK TO THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE IN THE WORLD!!! Plus, every other week will have district meeting and finding day back in that area. I AM SO HAPPY. I thought that I would never get a chance to return, it was just a dream, but now it will be reality!!!  So many good memories from back in that district and area. Ravensburg is a small branch of about 20 people. Elder Buchanan is serving as the branch president there currently. It will be rough, it was a car area originally, but when the Ehepaar came we gave the car to them. (Being in a car area means the public transit isn't really really not good (if it was only "really not good" then it would be a bike area ;-) ). But I hear that the Buchanans drive us around a lot.  

So yeah, I nearly cried for 2 reasons on that phone call, 1) because I must leave, and 2 because I get to go back to my favorite place on that planet. I love Ravensburg, and Dornbirn. I will be in a Dritt (a three-sum? I don't know how you would call it in English)  down there, which means I will have 2 companions, both of whom are fairly new. One just finished being trained, and the other one is just one transfer older than the first mentioned. I don't know much more than that. President Miles told me the names,  then later called the office to ask them again, and they told me another name. Essentially the only thing I am certain of, is that one of my two companions is Elder Wasden, from Hawaii who just finished his training. :-) But there is another miracle about me going to this specific place, which I will mention after I talk about Tuesday. 

So Tuesday. One of the best days ever. First there was district Meeting, which is good, despite being planned by me, it all went really well ;-). After that, we had a special appointment, Martin Lauer, who I got to meet with in Wien, was traveling with his brother and stopped here in Munich to say hi to me, and so that we could show his brother the church!! That was way cool that he would stop here in Munich to meet with me. 

We had a great time, and had a really good lesson with his brother. Being used to getting a lot of questions, I asked if either of them had questions. Martin turned to me and said something to the effect " I only have one, will you come back to Wien and baptize me in November?" I was stunned and was so happy, that he would ask me to have that honor. 

Mission rules will allow me to return and perform the ordinance, so I was able to except the offer!! Now here is the true miracle, being transferred to Ravensburg (which will presumably be my very last area) I am only 35 minutes away from Austria. Train fare in Austria is really cheap with a Vorteils card (a savings card so to say, it makes all tickets half price (it only is good for people under 26 though)). Mine was supposed to expire about a month ago, but before I left Wien, I renewed it. 

But, the mission will cover travel expenses (and allow you to go) if the cost of travel for you and your companion is less than 200 Euro there and back. Being in Ravensburg, going to Wien and back for my companion and I will cost well less than 200 euro. Which means that being there (as opposed to being in Stuttgart or somewhere else) will allow me to return to Wien!! 

Granted, because I was asked to perform the baptism, I could have probably got permission to return anyway, but now it's guaranteed!!!! That really means a lot to me. And it really has shown me how much God really does love us and cares about even the small details. I really wanted to be able to go back for that baptism, and God has prepared away for that too happen. :-) That is was a huge miracle and blessing!

So yes, I am sad to go, but of all places which God could have sent me, I am going to the best place I could possibly go to. I was only in Esslingen for 11 weeks, and because I learned so much down in Dornbirn and was in that district for so long. I essentially consider that the beginning of my mission. A lot of firsts happened there, so its nearly like ending my mission where I began it. :-) In zone Conferences you only bear your testimony for your first and your last. My first one was there in that district (our mission just got a new Zone, so I am not in the Sankt Gallen Zone anymore) and my last one will be as well. Its Pretty cool! 

Anyway, Later on that night on Tuesday we finally were able to meet with Charles, and long story short, we set a baptismal date with him! And because the rest of the week worked out like it did, after I leave (and Elder Curtis will be training a new missionary). They should be able to set baptismal dates with 3 other people! (If not more, this coming week could be a spectacular week here). Which makes me really happy, I won't be here for it, and even though this entire transfer was really hard, we were able to finally have things work out, and put the area in a really good condition just before I leave. :-) 

So yeah, things went well this week, I and I am excited to go. Yesterday was hard, Clark Itama came up to me nearly with tears in his eyes and said that he would miss me a lot and that I was a good missionary. I think I got the biggest hug from anyone from him yesterday. :-) I am going to miss him, he is a really good guy. And a few other ward members as well I will miss. 

I was asked to give a talk yesterday, which I found out standing up there that the talk as I had it planned could have gone a lot longer, and because I was already short on time, I had to cut it down rapidly and I was afraid that I didn't do well because I couldn't connect the points well enough. I had less than 10 minutes and getting up there I realized that I had enough prepared to talk for 20 or more minutes... But a lot of people seemed to like it. 

Not having a computer, the talk is hand written, but I essentially spoke on Integrity, and compared it to building a temple, and its structural integrity, how they are designed to withstand anything that could pose a hazard to it. Then compared that to our lives being patterned after Christ, so to speak building our own temples and that we need our own integrity to withstand anything. God is merciful, so he allows for us to be tempted and tried to see where are integrity is weak and could be improved, I quoted Ether 12:27 and tied it to Alma 13:28 and talked about how we need to constantly watch and pray and read the scriptures for those promises to actually take effect. That was pretty much my talk in a nut shell. I also managed to throw in the story of the three little pigs in there ;-) ( House of straw, twigs and brick... the brick had good structural integrity ;-)). 

On a different note, with this past transfer, past few actually, I have had the chance to reflect back over my mission, and over about where I thought I would be now and things like that. It highlighted some of my weaknesses that I have been trying to overcome for a long while, and it was frustrating to me. I had the chance to read my patriarchal blessing and write down thoughts over it, and though I have it mostly memorized, 4 words stuck out to me, which had an immense impact on me. With everything going, many things being on my mind, and being frustrated at the lack of my ability to overcome my own weaknesses, (In reference to the Lord ) I read "He knows your circumstances". 

You won't ever quite realize how much that meant to me, right in that moment. I felt in that moment so much love and peace like I hadn't quite felt before. He knows everything, how I am feeling, what I am trying to do, what I want to do, my frustrations, fears and all other things. And he is there with me. Through everything. No one else will know what I am going through, but He does. And I want to add my testimony of that to you, that now matter where we are, or what we are going through, I know that God knows our circumstances, and loves us so very much. He is there, and He will guide us through our hard times as we put our faith and trust in him (Proverbs 3:5-6). 

With that, I will wish you a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Well, I survived!

Well, I don't know what else to really add to that. Same pattern as always; everything falls out. But last week we got a call from Tenzin, and he needed a blessing, on Monday right after we finished with e-mails, he was having horrible migraines, and having just been taught about the Priesthood authority by the sisters, called us and wanted us to come. We arrived and talked with him for a bit. He wanted to know what he needed to do to be healed, we read 3 Nephi 17 with him with an emphasis on verse 8, having the faith to be healed. It was a good conversation and gave him a blessing. Having had them for an extended period of time, he also went to the doctor, and with the blessing and the visit, his migraines were gone the next day. :-) That was neat. It was cool that he called us though, no one told him too, he just did it on his own accord. :-) 

After that we went to the Deutsches Museum. One of the Largest Natural History Science Museusm in the World! Sadly we didn't end up with too much time, and I am quite sad, because it closed a lot earlier than we supposed and I didn't get to see the Chemistry section, or the Amateur Radio section. Darn it! Maybe God knew that it would be to much of a distraction for me.... :-P. 

Anyway, Tuesday was Zone Training, which was really awesome and uplifting as always, but lasted way long. That was a hard day for Elder Curtis more than me. He forgot his wallet at home and got a fine of 40 Euro for riding the train with out a ticket (he didn't realize until the controllers (who are usually in disguise) controlled our U-bahn car). 

Going back a bit to leaving the apartment, Elder Thomas after getting to the 2nd floor of the building realized that he left his wallet in the apartment and asked for the keys to go get it, Elder Curtis was closest and gave him ours so that he could run up real quick and get it (Ironic right?) but he forgot to get them back... And we needed them to complete a service project. So we had some unplanned contacting, and I had to pay for tickets so that Elder Curtis and I could actually do that.:-) That was great. 

Wednesday everything fell out. But we still found some people, so that was good. Like 4 or 5! :-) But all for Munich 1 and 3 :-)

Thursday, Elder Curtis and I leave the apartment at 10 (per recommendation of other missionaries to break up studies so that you can focus better) we get to Sendlingertor, to switch U-bahns and Elder Curtis realizes that he left his wallet in the apartment, again. So we turn around and head back, and he feels that we should get off one stop before ours and walk back. So we do and start talking to people. Nothing. I was feeling a bit down, and the spirit prompted me that I needed to think more positively and be happier. So I tried, and because God never tells us to do something without helping us, I was able to be happy, and feel better, despite the hard crowd. 

Then after getting turned down who knows how many more times, I saw a couple walking down toward us, and got a way good feeling, so I went up and talked to them. THEY ARE AWESOME! They were so happy to see us and talk with us, they love God and hearing his word and really want to come to church. She had heard of our church before, and only heard about the law of Chastity which we lives. She likes that a lot, and talked about how important it was to have one person to spend your life with. And then I asked her, " What would it mean to you, if you could find out for yourself that marriage isn't just for this life, but for all eternity?" She got REALLY EXCITED. Her husband was also really interested. I was so happy! We got her information and gave it to Munich 1  she is german speaking). Then still on the way back to the apartment we found them 2 more potentials for Munich 1, and successfully got a hold of an old investigator. :-) 

Later that night we went to the Bishops house and had Dinner with him. That was neat, we were supposed to finally meet with Charles again (its been 6 weeks since we have had an appointment which didn't fall out with him) but, he couldn't make it again, work is too strenuous. He could only meet after 9 pm. I am going to call President Miles and see if we can get special permission to teach him at that time. We will see what happens. 

But then we went by and gave a book of Mormon to a way cool potential that was given to us by the Zone Leaders! That was cool. He was home, I found his house (which is a miracle in and of it self since he misspelled the name of the street really bad...) and we talked to him and his wife briefly. :-) 

Friday was excellent and really hard. We felt that we should go buy on Osuma, a man with whom we were supposed to meet earlier in the week but it fell out. So we did, and another woman was there who we had talked to last time. There were 2 families that lived there. Osuma wasn't there but Elizabeth was. She is from Ghana, and sadly her English isn't the greatest. And she isn't the most literate in Twi either. It is her native tongue, but written Twi is slightly different from spoken Twi apparently. Anyway, long story short, we used a 16 year old boy ( I forgot his name) to help us translate, but he is Muslim, so I don't know how much she understood. But she has a lot of interest, and we have members in the ward from Ghana who speak Twi. We will bring them with us this week. So we had an un expected lesson. Excellent. 

After this lesson, I was starting to feel a bit sick, however I ignored it and thought it would pass. We went home to eat lunch and have language study, and do weekly planning. I get home, and feel a bit worse, I have no appetite really, but I try to just have some toast. My stomach felt really upset, so I took medicine. I won't go into to many details, but none of that stayed down. I couldn't even drink water.  I tried to do weekly planning anyway, but I couldn't focus, and felt fuzzy. Which came from being dehydrated. But I couldn't drink any water, my stomach wouldn't allow me to. I don't want to scare anyone, so I won't give to many more details, but needless to say I got worse and worse until I myself was quite nervous. 

My whole body ached, and I had nearly no strength at all. Sister Miles was explained all my symptoms, and was pretty sure it was just a 24 flu. So she recommended that I just rest and try to drink some water. It is hot, and Europe has no internal cooling. I was dehydrated and I couldn't do anything against it, except sleep and wait a few hours till I could hopefully start drinking water again. Which is what I did. I spent most of Friday sleeping, and then drinking slowly. At the end of the evening. I was able to drink a bit but had no desire to eat at all. I asked for a blessing that night from Elder Curtis, Thomas and Mochon. Elder Curtis anointed and Elder Thomas sealed, and gave a wonderful blessings which went passed my physical needs into some things which I was concerned and praying about. That was wonderful, and a reminder that God really hears and answers my prayers. :-)

I slept alright that night, and the next day my stomach was at ease. I didn't eat anything really that day, but I was able to drink a lot, to overcome my dehydration. By request of Sister Miles and the other Elders we stayed home that day (not exactly something that I wanted to do). I was still tired and weak, and apparently a bit pale. So we stayed home and  I decided if I was going to stay home, I was going to get as much rest as possible so that I could get back to work ASAP. So I did, I spent that day and slept. at around 5 that evening I had all my strength back, and was able to go to visit an investigator, who we had made an appointment with (which ended up falling out... go figure :-)). But I was able to make a lot of phone calls and this coming week is looking really good!! I have long since completely recovered and everything is alright. :-) Sorry if I caused any one any worries, I am fine now! 

Something really Ironic because I was sick, we had to cancel the appointments on Friday night, the only ones which would have probably actually happened. :-P God surely does have a sense of humor... and I am still trying to learn patience :-) 

But over all things are great! The church is still true! We are alive and doing His work. :-) I am still incredibly grateful to be here. And look forward to another great week ahead! I know that this truly is the Church of God! If it wasn't I would have come home a LONG TIME AGO ;-). I know that when God loves us and cares for each and every one of us. I am grateful for the Priesthood power, that I have the chance give blessings, and am grateful for the times when I need to receive blessings. I think this is probably the first blessing I had, since I was set 18 months ago. I guess God just needed to humble me enough to get one, because I really needed his help, and that blessing (like I mentioned before) blessed me with the things that I have been asking and hoping for. :-) God hears each and everyone of us. DON'T FORGET IT! :-)

I wish you all a great week!

love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

4th of July? I don't even know what that means anymore...

Well, I don't really know what to say, this past week flew by incredibly rapidly. It was a really weird week as well, seeing as we switched nearly our entire P-day (except the time allotted us for e-mails so that you wouldn't freak out and worry about me when no e-mail came on Monday) till Tuesday.

It was incredibly unique, because it was the first P-day that we (except for the Hunsakers and Sister Sonumura and Sister Holmgren) could all be together. We needed to change it because of Interviews on Monday with President Miles. So we were all going to go to Neuschwannstein. Sadly Sister Scoggin and Sister Smith (in case I haven't mentioned it already, she is missionary from Grandma and Grandpa Marks' ward) had to back out last minute. Sadly, so it was just us, the AP's and the Office Elders. But we had a blast. Elder Hemsley, Elder Müller, and I wore our Lederhosen. Which actually caused us some interesting problems... I got asked 9 times from random people if they could take their picture with me. I don't know why.  Elder Hemsley and Müller didn't get asked but maybe once or twice, I however, 9 times (in the space of the hour and a half that we were there). I don't get it.

The same thing happens to me with beggers, or street displays from different organizations, they will nearly run my companion over to get to me and ask me for money, some sort of participaption in something, or in this case pictures... Anyway, it was rather interesting, and it took us longer to get there and back than it probably would have otherwise have taken. Memo to self, don't wear Lederhosen to Neuschwannstein as a missionary, and when not a missionary, charge money. ;-)

That was a lot of fun though. The castle, though it be not that old, is really beautiful, and is located in a very beautiful location. I keep trying to post pictures, but this computer doesn't like my camera, so I can't... sorry. I will need to do it next week. 

But then we came back and did an Exchange with the Zone Leaders. I got to work with Elder Gochnour again. :-) Elder Gochnour was my district leader for the last transfer in Vienna, and we went on an exchange then which was a blast. He was trained by Elder Young, my MTC companion, one transfer after I started training Elder Robins. I love Elder Gochnour he is a really good missionary. We had a stellar exchange, we tried to go by on one of our potentials and started to talk to everyone we could see, and we found 5 people who wanted to hear our message, 5 people within 40 minutes! That was unbelievable. 

And some of them were REALLY cool. One girl, originally from Russia went on foreign exchange to Utah. She talked about how at first she absolutely hated it. No Alcohol, no partying (to her expectations etc.) But toward the end she really loved it. She said she felt something special there. She came back and has since stopped drinking alcohol and smoking (she was on exchange 7 years ago). And as we were talking to her, she told us that she was getting that same feeling that she had when she was in Utah again, a really good feeling that she liked. I then bore testimony of the spirit, and told her that if she came to church and other activities that she could feel that same feeling more often, and told her we would like to talk to her about how she can feel that feeling all the time. She was really excited. It was cool. :-) She lives in the Zone Leaders area, and so they will teach her. But I am still very excited for her. :-) 

Wednesday was also cool. In order to break the day up a bit, we decided to have our personal and companionship study, and then go out for a few hours, coming back in the dead part of the afternoon for language study and lunch. I decided to go by on someone, who lived on the most northern part of Munich, which was far away, so I was worried that it would be a waste, but I decided to go anyway. So we did. We make it up there and walk to his house (he didn't live too far away.) But talked to someone on the way who wanted to meet  with the missionaries. :-) 

We get to Osuma, a man from Ghana, who let us right in. We had a really great lesson, and he let us know of some other people from Ghana who would perhaps also like to hear our message, and we talked to them and will meet with them on Wednesday with Osuma again. :-) So within that one trip we found 4 people who want to talk to missionaries, and had a really good lesson. And I thought that it was stupid. I am glad I listened to the prompting I had. I didn't even recognize it as a prompting until all that happened and then I realized that it wasn't just me that decided to just go there, I had without recognizing it been led there. We found a number of people and happened to go at a time that this man was home. That was really neat.

The next 3 days in a row were pretty much service filled. We had planned to paint Ruth's balcony (Ruth is an 88 year old German lady, who speaks amazing english and comes to our ward). Well, I wasn't aware of it, but she was supposed to go to the hospital for 6 days and had left the morning. So a member of the ward met us there and showed us what Ruth wanted to be done, gave us the roller and the paint (sadly that is all we got, not pan for the paint and no paint brush just a roller and the paint) and the keys to the apartment. Which actually has been a huge advantage, because the first day was the morning after it rained, and the patio was wet. We dried it off, but it still wasn't quite suitable for painting, so we would have to come back the next day and paint it. 

Then we got a call from Tenzin, who needed help helping Ralph again. Ralph needed to paint his whole apartment before he left (he moved to Baden baden, as I mentioned) so we went and helped him paint it. Tenzin said that we were only painting the kitchen and the bedroom, and that it would only take 1 hour or so ( Mind you, Tenzin also said this about the all day moving project last time) so of course we are painting the whole apartment, and it takes up all of that day and the several hours the next day. (Yeah, all of our appointments fell out again this week... Diligence, patience and endurance, that is Elder Curtis and I are learning right now).

But It was really good, we finished at 12 the next day, helped him clean it up really fast so that he could go to Baden Baden, grab his things and be in Frankfurt that night to do a live theather show. He was INCREDIBLY grateful. If we didn't go he would have never made it in time. I had already given him a book of mormon and noticed it sitting in the front seat of the car, I assume he has started to read it already. He took us to a quick lunch, which was AMAZING. And then had to go, but before he did, he is like, I have a question which is really on my soul at the moment, and I want ask it. Elder Curtis and I were excited for it to be some big question about God or something. Then he started off saying how his mom had always taught him to not be rude and or impolite, at which point I figured it had something to do with our church, which is normal there are a lot of false ideas about our church. But then he caught us off guard when he asked, "may I please give you some money?" We obviously can't take any money, and we told him that, and made that clear. He sighed and said, alright, then you must come to the Black forest sometime and be my guest in Baden Baden. I totally plan on taking him up on that offer sometime. It will need to be after my mission, but I just got offered to come and stay with a well known German actor at his home in the black forest area of Germany. :-) 

After leaving there we went to paint Ruth's balcony. That took longer then we expected and we didn't end up getting home till 7 that night to do studies and eat dinner. The next day we were invited to go back out to Deggendorf to help clean up out there. The stake just out of our mission was going and wanted our missionaries to come. It was a last minute thing, so a lot of our missionaries couldn't make it. Munich 1 was one of them. Elder Mochon wanted to go, and I really wanting to stay and actually do some missionary work ( not that service isn't missionary work, but I really wanted (as strange as it sounds) to be in a shirt and tie again talking to people about the gospel), so I got it authorized for Elder Thomas and I to stay in Munich and do missionary work and Elder Curtis and Mochon to go to Degggendorf. We had also a grate exchange and found a number of people and had a good time. :-) 

Things are still going good.We are hoping and praying for a better week then the last. Always moving foward and doing what we can. :-) Haha, 4th July came and passed and I barely even noticed it. We sang "The Star Spangled Banner" as the hymn for companionship study, but other than that nothing was really done to celebrate it. Go figure, when you are in Germany you can't necessarily expect to celebrate an American holiday. :-) 

Anyway, I wish you all a great week!

love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

July.... This is going by way to quickly...

Well, another week has now come to a close. It was a rough week, good but at times rough. Every single appointment this week fell, not sparing even one. But, the Lord truly have a plan for us this week which we were unaware of. 

So to start it off, it truly begins Wednesday, We were FULL. It was going to be a good day. Then around 10 or so we get a a few phone calls and everything falls out, we went from being completely booked out to completely free day. I sat on our couch a bit frustrated and sad. WHY?! I thought, surely we couldn't have two weeks in a row like this. I was sad and I didn't understand why this was happening. But God truly loves me so incredible, 1) because I didn't have to wait long for the answer and 2) because of what happened. 

So only a few minutes after everything falling out (enough time to accept what had happened and make plans to fill the free day), I get a phone call from Tenzin (have I told you about him before?) with whom we hadn't been able to meet in a long time. Tenzin is from Tibet and was originally found by the sisters of Munich 2, and then later by us going door to door. So we both knew him, and because he was English speaking we were planning on teaching him. He knows the church is true and has a very good understanding that he needs to get baptized, and he wants to, however he wants to wait for his wife. When he first started talking to members of Christian religions his wife wouldn't speak to him for a week. But slowly he has been working with her, to the point where she now is OK that he meets with Christian people, but  he still wants to take is slow for her sake. 

Anyway, he gives us a call and says that he is helping a friend move out, and this friend is giving him some furniture, and he needs help moving it to his apartment that day. He reassured us that it was going to be easy, perhaps lasting no longer than an hour or so. Cool, despite how long it was going to last, Elder Curtis and I both felt better switching into service clothes rather than doing it in a shirt and tie (which I have on occasion done). We meet up, and go to his friends house. It turns out that his friend is a somewhat famous German actor. Ralph Bauer. Famous enough that he has a Jaguar (the car sponsorship, and the name on the doorbell was "Pegasus" so that he didn't have a ton of people come and ring his doorbell. :-) 

Ralph lived at the top of "Mini Everest" as Tenzin called it, at the top of a 6 story building WITH NO ELEVATOR. We hike to the top and start helping take things back down. 2 book shelves, and large floor cabinet and a bed. ABSOLUTELY MISERABLE. Taking heavy objects around a winding staircase down to the trailer, and then running back up the stairs to the top of the 6th floor to do it again! (remember what I said about stairs, back when I was in Esslingen? Yeah, God truly does have a sense of Humor...) 

It was just us, Tenzin and Ralph, so it took a couple hours (Ralph also fed us some food as well). Then we have to take it with Ralphs car over to Tenzin (on the opposite side of the city) Ralph has a Jaguar sponsorship, however his Jaguar doesn't have a trailer hitch so he went to BMW and picked up a car with a trailer hitch. A BMW M-SERIES SPORTS WAGON. Top of the line. And I got to ride in the front seat!!! Oh man, that was such a nice car. 

So we get to Tenzin's house, and unload. But, there was still somethings that we need to bring (the trailer wasn't big enough to fit everything). So we drive in the really nice sports car back to Mini Everest, hike to the top, dissemble the large cabinets that were coming next (they weren't big enough to take in one piece) and then take them down piece by piece. Tenzin had some Tibet-ten friends there now, so it didn't take as long. Then we get all the things back to Tenzin's house and have dinner with him, his wife, Ralph and some of the other Tibet-tens. It was good, and we got a chance throughout the whole day to be around Tenzin's wife and family. And because I had dissembled the cabinets and knew how to reassemble them (and because a few other appointments fell out), we came back a few days later and reassembled all the shelves and things and then had lunch with his wife and him. THAT was cool. He made what I will call Tibet-ten Spaghetti. I figured out how he made it and I can make it now! It is very similar to normal Italian Spaghetti Bolognese, but It has some Ginger and Cilantro, which make it taste different, and when you add some really spicy chili sauce, it is REALLY good. 

Tenzin was incredibly busy for 5 weeks before this happened, so neither the sisters nor us, could contact him. But this week, God cleared out our schedule a bit so that we could spend a significant amount of time with him and his wife, to help us to gain her trust. I got to have amazing food, drive in an incredible sports car, get to know and become friends with a famous German actor, who has a heart of Gold, and get a good work out ;-). Ralph is truly incredible though. He is famous, and Car makers let him drive any car he wants, but he isn't arrogant or cocky, quite the opposite, he is incredibly humble. 

I found out later from Tenzin, that one time he was paid a large sum of money for something, and he took that money, went to a remote part of Tibet and used the money to repair all the roads and update the water systems so the people there could have fresh drinking water. Not for any publicity reasons, or anything other then helping out the people there (Tenzin's Wife is from that part which is why he went there). He has done an incredible amount of things for Tenzin and other Tibet-tens here. He moved yesterday to Baden Baden (I love to say that) but is coming back to go with Tenzin to an Interview which will begin the process of him opening up a museum here in Munich. 

Along with that, because other appointments fell out, we were able to schedule other appointments and I was able to do a 1/2 exchange with Elder Müller which was awesome. As a district leader in this district, I don't get to do any Exchanges except with the Zone Leaders, because the office staff work all day in the office, and then there are AP's and Sisters. AP's are already busy enough as it is, and the sisters... well that's obvious why that wouldn't work. :-) 

But Elder Müller and I went out past Augsburg a ways so that I could give one of their investigators a Baptismal Interview. That was a neat experience for me. I felt the impressions of the spirit strongly, and highlighted, as I was prompted to ask things in a certain way. I am grateful for that spirit which directed me that this specific person, though he seem ready, actually needed a bit more time. The bishop of the ward actually got a chance to talk with him a bit, and knowing that I had interviewed him, pulled me aside into a room to talk with me about him for a minute, we had the same prompting and the baptism has been pushed back a couple of weeks. That was a neat experience for me, having never done that before I was a bit nervous, but the spirit was there and it turns out that there were some misunderstandings when it came to commandments... I wouldn't have come out any other way had I not had the Spirit with me. That really taught me a lot gaining the experience that I am not alone, and that when I pray and strive for it the Spirit will direct me and I need not be nervous because God is leading me and won't let me make a mistake (as long as I am humble and seeking the spirit). 

The week didn't turn out the way that we had planned, but It was still overall a really good week. A long week, and there were hard times, but overall with everything else that happend it went well. Tenzin came to Church, as well as Brother Gardiner, who finally brought his wife and kids, and we met with them that night. :-) But there was an appointment in that spot, so God cancelled it for us so that we could meet with Brother Gardiner and his wife and kids and have a great experience. :-) 

I am grateful that the God is truly leading this work and that things go according to his plan, and not mine. :-) I am grateful for the spiritual promptings that we can recieve because of our callings and that God won't give us anything that we can't handle. Its wonderful to be here and to get to do this! I am loving it, It truly is an incredible work! The Broadcast was INCREDIBLE! Due to a weird schedule I got to watch the first half on Monday night, and the second half on Sunday. But I loved it! 

I wish you all a great week!

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen