This will probably be the shortest e-mail I have sent in a
long time, President Buchanan is taking us and Derrick (a member of our ward
who was baptized 2 years ago but is having a bit of a rough time currently) to
Meersburg, to go tour the castle, and then bringing us back to have dinner
together and have a short family home evening with Derrick. That will take up
nearly the entire P-day. So that is that.
Not much to report on this week. We got the bike, there is
an interesting story to that which I will get to in a moment. But man, I never
realized how long it has been since I have ridden a bike until we after the
first day, and the next few days in which my legs did not ceased to remind me how long
it had been ;-). That has been an adventure.
Actually the bike itself has been
quite an adventure. I test road it real quick when I picked it up and
everything seemed in order. But after the first couple days it became apparent
that there were some problems. I had to completely fix and re-tune the front gear
derailer, because it wasn't allowing me to switch gears hardly at all. So I
fixed that (and actually because I had nearly no time, I OVER tuned it which
caused the chain to jam and nearly cause me to crash). Then on one trip to
Weingarten, I began to notice that I felt like my seat was reclining and that
I was leaning backwards. Well it turns out that the seat wasn't really
tightened well, and I lacked the tool to fix it so I had to tighten it the best
I could with my hands, which allowed me to make it back in one piece to
Ravensburg.
Then as if that wasn't enough, I realized that my brakes weren't as
tightened as I thought they were... Elder Kingery had to come to a somewhat
sudden halt at a stop sign for a car, and well. I ran right into him. Not
because I wasn't paying attention but because the brakes weren't very tight so
I didn't slow down fast enough (did I mentioned this bike was used??) Luckily
he stopped me before I went into the intersection though. :-). And if that were
it, it might not be too bad... But the list continues.
And to top all that off,
after I finally fixed the bike I chained it up (at home luckily) only to find
that sometime during the day the key had fallen out of my pocket... AWESOME, I
fixed up the bike and can't even ride it now! So we spent Saturday (or
actually the part of Saturday that we weren't in Vorarlberg) walking around
until the next day when Brother Trautman provided me with Bolt cutters to free
the bike. :-) (By the way, if you ever want to get weird looks from people,
you should try cutting off a bike lock with Bolt cutters and then replacing it
with another bike lock. ;-))
Other than the bike adventures, we managed to visit and talk
with two less active members, which was good. The one that hadn't been to
church since 1960 at the beginning wasn't really showing much interest in
talking with us, but at the end he consented to read the Book of Mormon and
pray about it. That was good. :-)
Other than that we didn't really have much else that
happened. We did, however manage to make out a number of appointments for this
upcoming week. Which is good. Last monday I got a call from Elder Brose, who
had found someone for us in Konstanz, who really wanted to learn more and lived
in Markdorf. That was an adventure getting there... Luckily we decided to use
the train to get there and not bike, as it would have taken us 2+ hours to get
there and well over 3 to get home. But we went with the train, which was
easier, and sadly couldn't meet with him, but found a neighbor who was interested
and talked to his daughter who might also have interest. :-) That was good as
well.
This past week at church we had a pretty decent turn out. nearly 15
people I think, including us and the branch presidency. We had a few people
there who hadn't been to church in several months, one of them a year! That was
GREAT! And one of them was someone that we visited and invited to church!
By the way, before I forget (since I have already forgotten
once).
Elder Ryan Christensen
Kirche Jesu Christi HLT
Charlottenstraße 8
88212 Ravensburg
Germany
Yes, if anyone noticed, I was in Vorarlberg again. We had
finding day in BREGENZ!!! That was so cool, and fun, and I still can't
believe that it actually happened. The entire time I was there It felt like
this weird mix of Dejavu and a dream. It was incredible for the first half I
worked with Brother Lange, and we went by on some old investigators. That was
REALLY COOL. Because many of them were found by Elder Robins and I. ( Did I
tell you about that? How Elder Robins and I were finding like crazy but having
a hard time meeting with people, and that after I left they really focused on
making out appointments with people that we found and were teaching nearly 20
lessons every week?! ) Anyway, I saw one, who I really loved, Bruno. And I took
the chance to go and meet with him. I knew exactly where he lived, and knew
that he would be home. That was good, but hard, his health has gotten a lot
worse since I last met him. He didn't really remember me anymore, and wasn't quite
the same. He still has a good heart though. When I was there his mind wasn't completely there already, but it is even worse now. But it was still neat to go
and talk with him again.
For the second half of the finding day I was on splits with
the Bishop. That was fun, we met, as do we always, some interesting people. Man
that was so weird, like I said it was weird, like a dream nearly. But it was
really neat. Something really cool, that made me happy, a less active member,
whose son Elder Robins and I taught, when I first met him, he didn't have any
interest at all in the church. Didn't want to come, wouldn't read the book of
Mormon, didn't really have a testimony. But as we kept coming, we started to
noticed that he was changing. When I asked about him, I found out that he is
completely active in the ward, he has a calling and his testimony is strong
once again!
Anyway, I really don't have much time. But things are going
well, this week should be a really good week (I think I always say that, and
they always usually are in their own (sometimes twisted) perspective). We have
a lot to do. A LOT. But I am grateful for the chance I have to get out, find
people, talk to less actives, and get the work going again! I am so grateful
for this Gospel and this church. I know its true, I really do.
Sadly I have no more time at all, so I will need to bring
this to a rapid end, but I wish you all an incredible week!
Love,
Elder Ryan K. Christensen
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