I'm dreaming of a white...day after Christmas. DARN THAT FÖN!

Yeah, for those who don't know what Fön is, it is a warm wind that come from the Swiss Alps that effects Southern Germany, Munich apparently gets really bad, and we got it pretty bad on the 24th and 25th. It was nearly 15 degrees Centigrade (nearly 60 degrees Fahrenheit!). I didn't even wear a coat! I didn't need even need to it so warm! And as it come in, it gets pushed down by the cold air in the atmosphere creating high pressure and sunny weather, which makes feel that much warmer. :-). But just as quickly as it came, it left and on the 26th we had temperatures below freezing and got nearly an inch of snow in certain areas. Yup. Warm sunny Christmas day. Freezing cold snowy day after. Welcome to life in Southern Germany! :-)

On Monday this week we had a farewell appointment with Prospery. He flies back home to Sambia in two days. We have had some really cool discussions with him. He had seen missionaries before and was a private teacher (he teaches physics!) I still to this day marvel at a common missionary occurrence, I have found so many people who are chemists, physicists, something very much related to my personality.  Elder Sumsion speaks fluent Spanish (his mom spoke only Spanish too him as he grew up) and he finds many people who speak Spanish, Elder Mongia is from Italy, and he finds many people who speak Italian (and in this case I mean an unusually large number).  

Anyway, he told us that he would have never listened to the missionaries there, or had any desire to learn about our church, had he not met us here in Ravensburg. I asked him if he knew where a church of ours was in Sambia, he said yes, than I asked how close is it to where you live. He thought for a moment, and said probably around 250 Kilometers away. I was stunned and thought "surely there needs to be one closer" So he gets his computer and I go to LDS.org and look under the "find a branch near you" or something like that, I ask to type in his home town, he does, and it comes up with a building. He looks at the address and says, thats only two buildings down from where I will work... and then we all laughed. NO EXCUSE! :-) We exchanged e-mails and I have his skype address so we will be able to keep in touch. He plans on continuing to meet with missionaries in Sambia. 

Then we had Christmas which was fun. We spent most of it with Derick and the Buchanans, which was fun. Derrick made us some Nigerian food. Egousi with Fofo (I have clue if I spelled that right). Its a famous dish that most missionaries talk about. Egousi is melons seeds, which are ground up, and put into a soup which typically has Goat meat, chicken and other seasonings in it. It is typically VERY SPICEY but Derrick toned it down for our first time. It is typically eaten with Fofo, which, to best describe it, is like mashed potatoes, but has a consistency more like that of a bread dough, you take a small part of it form it into a ball and flatten it, then take it in your hand and eat the soup using it as a spoon. Very different from anything I have ever had. Egousi is from the Yoruba tribe, and Ukodo (which I had in Munich with Clark) is more from the Ibo tribe. I like both a lot actually. :-) I got the recipe for Ukodo from Clark, and I will probably get a recipe from Derick as well. 

It was a fun time with them, we played various games and enjoyed our time together. On the 26th (the day of the snow) we went to Sister Hofman, which was HUGE. Sister Hofman takes care of her father, who really hates the church, and so never before have missionaries been invited to her house. Ever. We were! The house is her fathers, but she has an apartment in the basement, kind of, and she invited us over. It was great. That ended the day on the 26th. 

The next day we had an exchange with Dornbirn, in the which I went there. We had Fön again, which was actually a bit of a blessing, it made for Beautiful weather while I was there. We had the exchange at 4, and exchanged back the next day at 5, both going in and coming out there were two absolutely spectacular sunsets. (I actually didn't get a good picture of the one out, as we were in Lindau after it had set) but that was neat. That was my last time seeing Vorarlberg and Austria for that matter. We had beautiful weather the whole time I was there and had a exchange. 

We exchanged back at 5 on Saturday, but we didn't get back into Ravensburg until 7 or so. The trains had to be shut down in Friedrichshafen due to a tragic incident, and we needed to take a bus back to Ravenburg. The only problem is, when you take a bus to replace a train, is that there are so many people that you are just squished. 

I have figured out that being the big guy that I am, I am sligthly claustrophobic. And I am also prone to get minor motion sickness occasionally... Needless to say that was the longest 64 minutes and 30.526 seconds of my life. :-P I have never ever felt so much relief by getting off a bus as I did then! 

What made it worse (on the way there) was out of the small portion of the window that I could see from the bus, I noticed we were in Ravensburg. So I was happy and relieved that I wouldn't need to endure any longer, but I forgot how many one way roads Ravensburg has, and to get to the train station requires nearly taking a grand tour of the city, driving a good half Kilometer past the station and then turn around and come back. 

On top of that EVERY SINGLE STOP LIGHT WE ENCOUNTERED WAS RED. God truly must have a sense of humor. That is all I can say. I am surprised I didn't go insane! Of course, that's assuming that I was sane in the first place. ;-) 

Anyway, Yesterday I gave my farewell talk here in Church. I was assigned to speak for 25 minutes, but after cutting back a portion of the talk, I still managed to speak for 28 minutes. Granted I knew that there were only two speakers and I started at 18 after the hour and the meeting was going to end at around 10 after, and I thought I was going to be short, so I didn't really worry to much. Woops. :-) 

All in all it was a good week. :-) I can't believe that I only have one more (full week). Its crazy. I am so grateful for the time that I have had to serve here in Ravensburg. I am grateful for all the things that I have been able to see and experience. What a neat experience it has been to be here. I still one full week left, and I will use to its fullest. We have an exchange going on, on Thursday to Friday again, which will make the week fly by at an incredible speed again. But we will make the most of it.

I wish you all a wonderful week! 

Gute Rutsch ins Neujahr!  (Good Happy New Year!)

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Wow

Well this week was hard, and good at the same time. We started with an exchange late Monday. It probably would have been much more enjoyable, had I not been sick. :-P But I went anyway. Its always fun working with a former companion, and this was no exception. :-) The exchange went from Monday evening till Wednesday morning. After that we had district meeting her in Ravensburg. That was good. :-) It ran smoothly and we had an enjoyable time.

My time is a bit shorter today because of a short P-day ( we have more to do than the time can manage) but we had a few cool things happen this week. On Thursday we went with the Buchanans to deliver cookies to various people and were able to meet a lot of Less active Members who we have not been able to contact for a long time. I got a phone number from one of them (FINALLY! :-) ) That was great. Afterwards we had ward Council. It was fun. It was also my last. That struck me a bit when we ended it, and I realized the next one will be on the 19th of January. :-( But I guess that is just how it goes. 

Friday was also neat. Our plans got way off track but we had some cool things happen. We ended up in Markdorf at around 2 or so, I think it was actually closer to 3, and then we went by on the Micov Family. We sat down and taught them a bit more about the restoration, which was good, toward the end a young couple from Syria. He was a Pharmacist, she was a Professor of Arabic, but both came here because its not so safe there now. Anyway, they both speak a bit of English, so we talked a bit to them. They wanted to load their phone with more minutes and internet but didn't know how to do it, because their service provider is an obscure branch off of Vodafone and they couldn't speak any German and only a bit of English. 

So we volunteered to help them, first we went to a small shop outside of Bahnhof (about a 10 minute walk south of where we were) Essentially she didn't know it, and wasn't sure if she could. Then someone recommended an Electronics shop in Innenstadt that should be able to do it. So we walk over there (15 minutes or so) I have idea where it is so I keep asking people for directions. We finally make it only to be told that they couldn't do it, but that there was a Vodafone shop down the street we should visit. The main guy that was there kept talking to us in English. THAT BUGS ME. I HATE IT when people start talking to me in English. 

Anyway his English was very good. I still spoke only German to him though. :-) Through the process of the confersation it became apparent that he knew a lot about us and our Church ( he said later that was the reason that he was speaking English is because he knew our Church had its head quarters in the States) and mentioned that  his Son and Daughter in Law just joined our church in Switzerland. He gave us his business card and we hope to stay in touch with him. That was way neat. Anyway after a bit more discussing we go to the Vodafone shop, and we get the phone uploaded I make a few phone calls, and I got there phone to have internet. Long story short we made some friends with this Syrien couple ( they really like us now) and we met a German whose son just joined the church. :-) That was neat.

Later on I got contact with this less active. That was really neat. All I did was ask them how they were doing and if we could help them at all. They said that they didn't need any help but would love a visit from us sometime.So he looked at his schedule and said " I think we would have time on the 12th of January at around 15." I sighed and said, yeah we could do that. Then he asked me how long I would still be there ( knowing that missionaries are changed around alot) and I mentioned that I went to Munich on the 9th, so he quickly made plans to get meet with him on the 8th. We have been trying to contact this less active since January of last year, and now we will meet with him my last day in field. :-) (on the 9th I will travel to Munich and be interviewed then fly home on the 10th). I am excited to meet with him. His wife isn't a member but they once expressed interest in having her take the lessons. I really excited! 

  

My time is now nearly up, but I want to wish you all a Fröhliche Weihnachten und ein Guten Rutsch ins Neujahr! :-) (Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!)

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

21... Wow I can't believe it.

(Happy Birthday to Elder Ryan Christensen.  He turned 21 years old today.  We love him and miss him and will get to see him soon...)

Well This week flew by just as I expected it would. Monday we had our normal P-day. At around 5 we went to help throw some couches of a balcony (ok, more like tying them up with ropes and then throwing them off while controlling the speed at which they fell. ;-) ) Then we went to Exchange in Lindau and almost missed our trains back to Ravensburg... we made though. 

Tuesday we had the exchange and it was a bit rough. We met with man in the early afternoon who had met with missionaries off and on for quite awhile. We had a good lesson and the spirit was there, and the end I asked him when we could come back and he said " oh in a month or so." 

"Really? Thats kind of a long time, we usually like to meet with people once a week or so"

"Oh that would be too much for me, when the missionaries used to meet with me, it was about once a month and that was good for me" 

":-P" ;-) I was able to negotiate it down to once every 2-3 weeks. But still not exactly ideal. 

Later on that night we were supposed to meet with Vladimir. The week before, I had called him  and he told me he "needed his rest". I asked for a clarification, but it was obvious he wasn't really wanting to meet with us at the moment. In a last-ditch effort I invited him to the Christmas Party, to which he came. I called him later and he said that even though he was feeling depressed before hand, he came anyway and liked and felt good afterward. We had the appointment for about 5:30. The Buchanans were with us right then because they brought us some extra bedding for the additional 4 Elders that were going to be staying with us that night. So they came with us to the appointment. We got there, and he wasn't home, and he wasn't answering his phone... So we went by on a few more people and they weren't home. 

So we were about to give up, the Buchanans were taking us home so that we could go talk to people on the street for 2 hours. Then the phone rings, its Vladimir saying that he has time in 20 minutes if we did. SWEET! So we turn around and head to the church. He arrives and we sit down and start talking.

We sit down and asked him how he was doing. Not so great. Depressed and stressed about furthering his education (he studied 4 years to be an engineer, but he got depression which caused to fail the last required class, he tried 2 more times and couldn't pass it and by rule of the university, he lost all 4 years of credit). He is working with some doctors and told us that he needs to take it easy and not overwhelm himself (in the back of my mind I say here, well then we won't push for baptism just yet then, because it would probably be too much, then the thought came "is God not a God of miracles?" "of course but..." I pushed the thought away and thought to just see how it goes). 

We said a prayer and then asked him if he had any questions, he first said no, but then he asked about the 3 kings from the nativity scene at the Christmas party. We explained that up and that was the end of the question. The plan was to talk about the plan of salvation, but I felt like I should ask if he knew why we celebrate Christ's Birth. He mentioned that he was a good guy, did a lot of miracles, and showed us the way, but that was about it. I asked him what else he knew about Christ, and he mentioned how he died on a cross. So I asked him "Why?". His response was that the people didn't like him for some reason.

Essentially he had no knowledge of the atonement. So I asked him if he had ever heard the word "Sühnopfer" (German for atonement) He didn't. I wrote it on the board and we broke it down for him. We explained "Sühn" comes from the word "Sühnen" (English translation is literally to atone, or to make up for) and "Opfer" is an offering or a sacrifice. Literally means a sacrifice to atone, or to make up for. In our case to make up for the results of the fall. We then began to explain the different points of the Atonement, Forgiveness of sin (becoming clean again) that Christ took upon himself our weakness to know how to help us. How this allows us to be HEALED. Healed. "I want to know more about Healing, how can I be healed through Christ?" was his question. 

We then broke it down to various aspects. Praying to be healed, Having Faith, Repenting, being baptized to have our sins washed away, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit was SO INCREDIBLY STRONG. I paused and asked him: "How do you feel right now". "I feel good, like I have been lightened" We went on to explain that is the Holy Ghost. And told that the Holy Ghost testifies of truth, comforts us etc.  I asked him that question a few times throughout the lesson. We told him how Reading the scriptures, coming to church, and praying help us feel this peace through the spirit. 

I mentioned Priesthood how it was restored and how we can give blessings, baptized and do these things. The Spirit was so strong, and when I had mentioned that Preisthood being restored he said "I want to be baptized".  I was a bit shocked, and then I asked him "when?", the return question "How soon can I be baptized?"

"That depends on you. If we meet 3-4 times a week, if you come to church, and are constantly reading and praying we may be able to do it on the 28th of December. That being said, we aren't here to push you harder than you can go, and if you need more time we can put it off a week, or two, or a month or so, however long it takes you to feel ready. We are only here to help you get the healing and the peace that you need, and will do everything we can do to help." 

We talked more about the gift of the Holy Ghost, I first compared it to music, its like you pulling up in the intersection to a car next to you and you hear the music, and really like it, but when the light changes and the cars separate the music is gone. You can hear it at times, but having the gift of the Holy Ghost is like having the CD and being able to listen to it on your own when you want. Then Elder Fox used a second analogy which I like better. He compared it do a ring. You can touch the ring, and feel it, but it isn't until you receive it that you can wear it and feel it all the time.  It was wonderful. 

At the end we were getting ready to bring it to a close when I had the feeling we should sing a song. I asked if that was ok, and everyone said Yes. Elder Buchanan selected "Where can I turn for Peace?". He played it and we sang it. I love both versions but I especially love parts of the German one. I don't have time to translate them but it was beautiful. After we sang it, he sat there and in a quiet voice said "Its almost like that song was written for me". We said the closing prayer and all departed having all been uplifted and edified. It was an absolutely phenomenal experience. D&C 50:21-22 really sums it up the best. Absolutely incredible. We met with him once more that week, he came to church yesterday and we will meet him again today. :-)

Nothing else in the week really compares to that. We had a great time singing in Freiburg Innenstadt, with a choir of 30 missionaries. That was neat at the beginning a lady came up and started SCREAMING and SWEARING at us and saying that we were Satanic, it was really odd, seeing how we were singing Christmas hymns. But then people started to stop and sing with us, applauding us when we were done, it was SO COOL. :-)  Freiburg found 5 potential investigators from that (we were only there like 30 minutes). 

The next day was a bit of an adventure, but we survived. I saw France! The fastest train back to Ravensburg is through Basel. And to get there you ride the French border all the way down. It was late at night, so I have nothing more to brag than seeing French air and a couple buildings in the distance, but it was still cool! :-) I also saw the three country area, where France, Switerland and Germany meet (just outside of Basel). 

I am now out of time Sadly, but it was a fantastic week! Oh! Martin Lauer was baptized on Saturday and I got to skype him and Marion on Sunday. SO MUCH FUN!! :-) But that pretty much sums up the week! It was great, need I say more?

I wish you all a great week!

love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

A busy week a head! :-)

Well, This week was... interesting. It has some highlights and some hard times. We had in which I went to Dornbirn. That was great, I got to go back and meet with Peter Wenzel, who is a friend I knew back when I was in Dornbirn and we had a lot of fun with him. :-) I love going back and meeting members. I got to see Sister Repnick again, and also Christian Vuissa and his family again. Its a lot of fun. I was on exchange with Elder Sharp, the Australian. :-) I love this district we have a lot of fun. 

We got to meet with the Zeller Family the next day which was good. :-) We didn't really get to teach anything, but we got to know them a bit better. They provided dinner for us and we help them practice their English. I may or may not of also played the Piano for a few minutes ;-). They have a really beautiful white piano that they got awhile ago when their boys were learning how to play, then they gave up and it hadn't been played in a few years. So I played the only thing I knew, various Church hymns. :-) They enjoyed a lot, but that was really the only spiritual aspect of the evening sadly. 

Thursday was a both miraculous and rough at the same time. We had no plans at all. So we first went to Baindt, went buy on our single potential up there, who turn out to be professional body builders, who invited us to come and work out some time with them. :-) Which we may do if we can find time on a P-day in the next few weeks ;-) 

Then we just went door to door. for an hour and a half there, then we went to Weingarten, and went by on a polish family who we had talked to awhile ago. That was the miraculous part, the father was home, and so we could sit down and talk a bit. He works everyday and only has a few hours off every now and again. We ended up having Victoria, the 8 year old daughter, translate for us. Which was surprisingly very effective. The father is from India and could speak english, but the Daughter had better German than the father had english, so we used her to translate to polish for her mom and dad. 

We had given the Mother a polish book of mormon a few weeks back and we asked her what she though, and she said that she really liked it, and indicated with her hands that she cries when she reads it, she then asked us if we have any more books :-). That made me happy to see that she likes the Book and notices how good it makes her feel. On Saturday we came back with the Buchanans and showed her a talk from President Monson which also almost made her cry. Sadly Victoria wasn't there and Dominik who is 9 is too shy to translate. So we couldn't discuss too much more.  That was really neat, that we were able to meet with them on that day. :-) 

Friday was we had weekly planning, met with Jason to go over the questions for baptism and helped set up for the Christmas party.

The next day was great and hard at the same time. Jason didn't come to the Christmas party, which was hard because we planned to do the Baptismal interview right then. So we went to him and had it, long story short, China has no sort of retirement program, which means the kids are expected to pay all living expenses for their parents, but there is also a law which allows them to only have 1 child. And he also has student loans. Tithing is something that he isn't fully to terms with yet. So we will wait and help him develop a testimony of tithing. 

But Natalia came to the Christmas party as well as Vladimir and they both really enjoyed it! Patrizia was nearly glued to her moms side for the first bit, but then opened up a bit and went and played with the others kids that were present. That was good to see. It was fun, even when I missed more than half of it... :-P 

No one came to church on sunday which was hard, but we were able to go visit some people and bring some left over gift bags from the Christmas party. :-) 

This week will be nuts! Today at 5 we are helping move a large sofa from a second story apartment building ouside via the balcony, then we will immeidately go into an exchange, from now till tomorrow night at 9pm, when all 4 Dornbirn Elders come to spend the night with us here in Ravensburg in prepation for catching a train early the next morning to make it to Zone Training in Freiburg (THROUGH THE BLACK FOREST!!!!) Then we will go caroling in Offenburg, spend the night there, and come back to Freiburg the next day for the Christmas Conference then go home. :-)

This week will fly by. But it will also be full of a lot of good things as well I hope. 

Martin Lauer, Christina Zalka and her son will all be baptized this week in Wien!! :-) I am way excited for all of them, even if I can't go back to see them all. 

I wish you all a great week!

love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

December. NOT GOOD.

My head is still spinning really badly. I can't believe it. Everyone with whom I flew out is now at home. It makes me a bit sick.  In two weeks my MTC companion will fly home and I will be the oldest infield missionary, the only one in his 17th transfer. I am trying not to think about it. 

Well this week has been a huge adventure! Mainly since Elder George arrived. The first half of the week was typical for a week when a missionary leaves, we went and visited as many people as we could to say goodbye. Which is always hard. Tuesday was a huge highlight, Sister Buchanan made us a full out Thanksgiving dinner, for the district and the branch Presidency. We had a 22 pound Turkey (Brother Trautman reffered to it as the humming bird ;-)) Sister Buchanan made home made pies, and everything. So delicious. 

Its funny, Elder Moon and I were both here last year for Thanksgiving, and we both made a request to have rot kraut with the turkey. Wish granted! One of my favorite things ever, Turkey with Rot Kraut, way better than cranberry sauce. :-) I love Rot and Sauer Kraut, they are delicious with any kind of meat. And then you add Knödel and a gravy.... Just makes my mouth water. I am totally German when it comes to culinary tastes. :-)

Anyway that was heavenly. We had a great time, and ended up teaching Jason (who was there as well) about fasting right after that (it seemed to be an appropriate topic ;-). It went well Then because Elder Wasden was leaving we sang "Gott sei mit Euch bis aufs Wiedersehen" (God be with you till we meet again) I love and hate that song at the same time. Its beautiful but, but it's sad at the same time. That was the last time that Elder Wasden saw Derick and Jason. It was hard, having been together for so long, and having gotten to know both of them and all four of us getting to become friends.

Thursday was transfer day. It was simple we were supposed to go to Stuttgart, which was fine, and then catch a train to Ulm, than transfer to Ravensburg. There was only one problem, the train that the intended us to take was an IC, and our ticket only worked in Nahverkehr (IC was a step higher). Luckily on the track right next to it I saw an RB going to Aulendorf, which is in our area. So we hurry and jump on it. That was a miracle. A) that I saw it, and recognized it as a reliable alternative. and B) in Tübingen a college student sat down across from me and we were able to talk to her for most of the train ride, and I got her e-mail address to send her some more information about the church. 

It was funny I asked her what she was studying, she said that she was majoring in physics and minoring in Chemistry. EASIEST CONVERSATION STARTER EVER!!!!!!!!!! It was great. We easily steered it into a talk about God, she said she was on the search. She felt like once in her life she really felt Gods love for her, and after awhile she didn't feel is as strongly anymore. We talked to her a bit more and gave her a book of mormon before she got out of the train.

We made it back to Ravensburg eventually, that train ride took us through the middle of nowhere. I was worried for a bit actually, I have never taken the train before, and I had no idea where we were, all I had was the sign that said "Aulendorf". You can pull a lot of cool comparisons from that. The Church being the train, destination being celestial Kingdom, and not knowing how to get there, being some commandments or things that we do that may or may not make any sense. Sometimes (knowing that the church is true of course) we just need to have faith that God will lead the church, and if we just stay on and have faith we will reach our destination safely. :-) There is the spiritual thought/ parable for the day. :-)

Saturday was an adventure. We had a meeting in Singen for all the district Leaders, so we went, had a great meeting, drove back to Friedrichshafen and contacted for awhile on the street and got a Döner. At döner shop we ran in to a few Americans, that was cool they were on a Bible study abroad thing in Fischbach and we got to talk to them for awhile. That was way cool. Anyway we went out to Markdorf to visit the Micov Family and the Kunz family. 

We got to the Kunz family just as they were walking to go shopping real quick, and we ended up walking with them and talking on the way. That was a lot of fun. The only problem was, we missed the train at 8 which means we needed to catch one at 9 to get home at just before 10. Well we talked with them some more and they checked our train, which was supposed to be 10 minutes late. So they didn't let us leave until later (so that we didn't freeze ourselves to death) and well it turns out that it wasn't as late as it was supposed to be, and we missed it. Now I panicked that was probably the last train of the night. And we are 30 Kilometers from home. So I start calling some members, and luckily one answered and was able to rescue us! So we made it back home safely at around 10:20. ;-)

I don't have too much more time sadly. But Sunday was a miracle, we were able to organize a ride for Natalia and her 9 year old daughter to come to church. That was awesome. We found her through a huge miracle. She came and liked it a lot.  And wants to come more. Her daughter was really shy and so she stayed with her in Primary (so that Patrizia wasn't the only one there). After church we talked with them for a bit, then I ended up sitting down at the Piano and played some hymns. That was neat, Natalia and Patrizia came in and listened and really like it. That started a more personal conversation and it was really cool. 

That is three times now that playing the piano has done that, I have played investigators or potenials or just others come and sit down listen and we talk on a less formal more personal level and its way cool. :-) So glad I decided to try and teach myself to play again. 

Things are going well Jason is making a lot of progress to say the least. He is excited to be baptized to one day go to the temple and have and eternal family. Also is excited one day to be able to baptize his children. (after talking about how Elder George and I have been baptized from our dads). Way cool! He is also looking forward to the day that China will open to the missionaries and says he will be the first to welcome them. :-) I love Jason so much. He is incredible! Haha, we talked a bit about the temple and told him how every year they announce the building of 2 to 4 temples. He then said "wait until China opens up, then there will be like 10 every year!" 

  

I am so happy to be here, I am so happy to be able to preach this gospel so that people like Jason can find it. He wished he could have found it earlier. But is really happy to have it now. :-)

I know this church is true and this gospel can bless the lives of everyone!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen