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! :-) (
Love,
Elder Ryan K. Christensen
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