Miracles....need I say more.

 
This week was INCREDIBLE! Absolutely incredible. To sum it up, since the last e-mail I wrote you, we have taught 11 lessons, found 7 new investigators, set 2 baptismal dates and found 10 potentials. ABSOLUTELY A MIRACLE. 

Wow. I don't know what to say. We have been so blessed, especially when you consider that we spent our entire saturday doing service for members and investigators, no teaching or finding at all on that day. Incredible. And we have found some of the coolest people!

So monday, after we ate with the Buchanans and taught Derrick we biked with Derrick back to where he lives to stop in on a Sri Lanken lady that I back in week 2 of the transfer ( this past week having been week 5). She was there and invited us right in to teach her ( huge advantage of being in a 3 sum, is that we don't have to turn down appointments with single women because no one could come with us). But she is so cool. She has lived here for a year, speaks a fair amount of German, but no English. Luckily she is Evangelisch, meaning she is already a Christian and has a bible, because otherwise it would be much harder to communicate. We read a lot of scriptures out of the bible and try to explain them. Which has been working, and we have had two good lessons with her this week. It was so great, when we were leaving the 1st lesson on Monday night she told us "alright, Friday at 6 I will be expecting you DON'T FORGET!" When we went back on Friday she had invited her friend to join us. It was great!

Tuesday I gave a baptismal interview and did an exchange in Dornbirn. I enjoyed it WAY TO MUCH. Especially English class that night, which was attended by some members, the Repnicks who I have mentioned before. It was so much fun to see them again and get to talk to them. Like I said, brother Repnick has become fully active in the church again and is now serving as a ward missionary. Also, there was less active who I tried to contact who at that time turned me down somewhat coldly, but now her and her daughter have become completely active ( only about a month ago!) She decided that something was missing and wanted to come back. That was SO COOL. 

Wednesday we exchanged back with Dornbirn only to ride all the way to Singen to an exchange with the Zone Leaders in Which Elder Wasden went to Singen and Elder Janis came to us in Ravensburg. That is where the most miracles happened. We set a goal to find 8 interested people on the exchange. It was VERY high, especially because we didn't have too much time to find people. But we set out with prayer and hope to make it a reality. Well, God is truly a God of miracles, with 3 minutes to go before the end of the first day we had found 7 interested people, but we still had 3 minutes, and since we were so close to achieving the goal for the exchange on the first half of it, we went out to to find the last one. We walked around the corner of the apartment, Elder Janis and Kingery went one way, I went another ( we have found then when 3 people talk to 1 on the street that it can get intimidating, so usually one splits off and talks to someone else). I saw a couple of college students walking down the road and went up and talked to them, with a prayer in my heart that I they would have interest. They did! 2 of them, so we found 9 interested children of God that day. Absolutely incredible. Truly a miracle. And we made appointments with 3 of them. It was an incredible exchange, and we saw so many miracles. It is crazy! We were able to meet with those 3 the next morning before we exchanged back and all the lessons went well. Absolutely incredible. Right after we exchanged back we went on Splits with the Elder Buchanan, and I went with him to visit a family that I found on the street in Bregenz last year and reffered to Ravensburg. That was an adventure, but no one answered, and we can't confirm that they live there anymore. :-( But it was a lot of fun doing splits with Elder Buchanan. :-)

Friday we had weekly planning and met with Zohrab again for the second time. He is from Afghanistan, and can't speak so much german, but we gave him a book of Mormon in Farsi (Persian) and he said that he would read it and pray about it. We will see if we can meet again with him this week. As previously mentioned we also met with Nancy and her friend and that was also great. :-)

Saturday was our day for service. We did service for Sister Kiefer and her husband ( who isn't a member but has come to church every week for a year or so) and then had a spiritual thought with them. That was neat. Sister Kiefer also asked me to give her a blessing ( as she was going to spend 2 months visiting family in Ogden Utah) before she flew, being a bit nervous for all the flights and connections and things. That was really neat, I love being able to give blessings, and love it when people ask. It truly is a unique thing, to have Gods Priesthood power and be able to use it. :-) Later that day we fixed Sister Stevens bike, and helped out an investigator the rest of the day. It was a good day, but because it was a full day of service I was in a short sleeve T-shirt and jeans the whole day, it felt really weird... and none of us actually enjoyed that aspect of it. The service was great though! :-)

Sunday... We had high hopes to have 3 investigators in church, but something really sad about Ravensburg, is on Holidays and sundays the Buses don't drive until after 10:30. So the Earliest that anyone could get to the church by public transit is 11, but church starts at 9:30 and because it's so small church only lasts 2 hours. But in Branch council we had a great discussion, and hopefully will be able to start church at 10, and flip the hours, so that Sacrament meeting is last. If we did it any later, that would severely disconvience those active members who come a long way to church every week, so we can't start later than that. There wasn't anyone who could pick up our investigators, so we are going to need to work things out. But on the brightside,  the branch watched the "Hastening the work of Salvation" broadcast which was good to see again. I was worried I was going to need to translate it to English, but I didn't end up needing to. :-)

This morning just before e-mails, we went and visited two of the potentials that we found during the exchange, and we had an incredible lesson. Chrisina, the wife wasn't there, but the neighbor was, so we have 2 baptismal dates currently and hope to set one with Christina on Wednesday when we teach them again. They are Nigerian, but have been here awhile. 

Well this is Week six, which means that this coming week is transfer calls. I know I said awhile ago that I would most likely be staying here for the rest of my mission, I really hope I do, but with the circumstances anything can happen. Threesums usually only last one transfer. Which means one of us will probably go. Elder Kingery has only been here one transfer longer than Elder Wasden and I. Due to that it is likely that he could leave, but because I am the oldest missionary, there is a huge likely hood that I will be transferred away and that they will stay and work together. :-( Which isn't a bad thing other than I wouldn't get to stay. We shall see what happens. I learned along time ago not to really expect anything with transfers, it never seems to happen the way I think it could :-). So we will see. The Buchanans are hoping and praying that we all stay, or that a 4th missionary will be sent. THAT WOULD BE GREAT. We have so much to do, and work in the area would really pick up if we had 2 sets of missionaries, but we will see what happens. 

So many good things are happening. And we have been praying and working hard for miracles, like I mentioned the branch hasn't had a baptism in well over 2 years. We hope to change that :-). I am conviced that the Branch will be a ward someday, completely convinced. And it is toward that goal that we are working. God with be with us. He has been and will continue to be, we have been so blessed, and I can't help but only be grateful for all the blessings that we are recieving. I said it last week, but I will say it again, God truly hears and answers our prayers. I know it. And I invite you all to try it! :-)

I wish you a great week!

love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

P.S. sorry I left my camera cable at home... I know, I am the worst at sending pictures, but I will work on it ( with your luck I will finally get better sometime toward the end of December ;-)) (Thank Goodness for the Buchanan's who post pictures of the Elders on their blog!)

Another Monday, More Miracles

Yup, it's monday again. It's crazy how fast time flies. This week went by super fast because we didn't really have much of a normal schedule. Monday was P-day, and played Siedler Von Catan (Settlers of Catan) with Derrick and the Buchanans. That was blast. The had a few expansion packs, so their were higher point values, boats, islands, and a few other things. SO MUCH FUN. I Won! :-) But that took from 3:30 until we started making dinner at 5:30 or so. 

Then we had hoped to have a lesson with the Weißenrieders, a really amazing family who we went by on at the beginning of the transfer. Sadly, she wasn't there. It turns out later that there was a mis-communication with the time, and she thought we were coming at 3pm and we thought we were coming at 7 pm... :-( Anyway, but we were able to go by on a few other people which was good. 

Tuesday was actually the only normal day we had that week. We met with Sani, A man from India and his wife. I love them so much, its a bit rough, because Sani speaks very little English and German. His wife speaks more English, but teaching is a lot of fun because we have to do it in "Denglisch" to communicate. We have met with him a couple of times with out his wife, and we have mainly just read scriptures from the Book of Mormon in Hindi (he actually speaks Punjabi (I have no idea how that is spelled)).  Which is a really fun, because Hindi looks nothing like English, and the number system looks completely different. But I was very quickly (like in the matter of a 30 minute lesson) able  learn the numbers and have been able to look up page numbers for the books, go to the page, Chapter and verse. It's a long shot away from being able to read it, but I really am convinced that the gift of tongues, or rather the interpretation thereof, has played a large role in that. And I am so grateful for the help that God gives to us. :-)

Anyway, Wednesday we had an exchange with Dornbirn, because we are a in a threesum, I need to go there for all the exchanges (like I even need an excuse to go back to my favorite place in the whole world ;-)) that was absolutely incredible, amazing, wonderful, terrible and horrible all at the same time. Incredible and amazing because I was back in the place I have a lot of love for, and it was a dream come true. Wonderful because everything came back to me, I remembered exactly where everyone lived, all the streets, buses, bus times, EVERYTHING came back. And because Elder Morey has only been there for one full transfer, I ended up taking him everywhere he wanted to go because I knew how to get there better than he did. :-) 

I also was able to show him where many people that I knew lived, and recommend when to go by on them. And it was really awesome working with Elder Morey. It was terrible and horrible, because I managed to completely forget for a bit that I was actually stationed in RAVENSBURG and when I realized that I wasn't actually serving in that area permanently yeah, not fun. I love Ravensburg, and am glad to be here and not there, but because I was there the exact same time last year, the weather being the same and everything, it made it feel like I had never left, and then it was a smack in the face when I realized that it had been an entire year and that I wasn't there. It was weird. 

Anyway, that was awesome, then on Thursday we had weekly planning, then went to Friedrichshafen/ Markdorf to go hopefully have a lesson with George, which didn't happen. But thats ok. On Friday we  had Zone Conference, which are my favorite! I love Zone Converences, the Spirit is always strong there, and I always learn so much. What is really weird  though, is at the next Zone Conference I will be bearing my final Testimony. In Zone Conferences you only bear your testimony at your first, and at your last. The next one will be my last. Crazy. 

Back to Tuesday,  we had a lot of time available and we used it to try and visit some people none of whom were home. We tried talking to people and no one would listen. We ended up stopping at the apartment really quick to grab some things before we were going to go out and walk to Weststadt and talk to people on the way. I took the time at the apartment to kneel and pray. It was a bit rough that day, and I needed help. I prayed for strength and for help that we could find 2 people that night that would be open to meet with us, because up till that point we hadn't found anyone. Then we set off. 

We only had 2 hours or so (or so we thought, God had something else in mind) before we would come back plan, and eat dinner. So We go and walk out to the first member, who very evidently wants nothing to do with the church, lets put it that way. :-P Then we walk from there, and end up getting a bit turned around (we still haven't gotten the new map yet). Up until this point we had not met a single person on the street, and I was a bit mad at myself for not pushing to take the bikes, thinking that we just wasted our time, when we could have visited them on the bikes and then walked around somewhere, where people actually were. But I decided I needed a more positive out look, and so I prayed for that and tried to be happier. 

A man riding a bike, who noticed our confusion, stopped and asked us if we needed any help, we told him where we wanted to go, and he told us how to get there. So we start walking up the hill (Weststadt is characterized by a long steep hill) and not long after stop a young man and talked to him. We told him who we were and what we were doing, long story short, he wanted a book of Mormon and would like to meet us! That was awesome, anyway, then later on we get to a fork in the road, we had initially planned to just go straight and turn right, but I wanted to take the left road and walk up to the street we were looking for. We made it up there an met another man walking down the street, I had the absolute coolest discussion with him that I have ever had. 

We essentially quoted bible verses back and forth, not contending or arguing, but building on what the other said. He said that the only way to find truth was to ask God with an open heart and real intent, or else we will never get the answer. He also talked about the importance of Apostles and Prophets. (He belongs to the new apostolic church) but told us how he was first Catholic, but then started looking at different religions, and was searching and praying to find the right church. We didn't have much more time, but we had a really great discussion and made an appointment for Saturday to come back and teach him. Which we did. He likes to talk a lot, but he knows so much truth already. In the lesson he told us so many things that he believes that we also believe. It was really neat and we will return and speak with him on Thursday again. 

Anyway, it was such a huge blessing on Tuesday night to have that prayer answered. We found those two potentials and it was nothing short of a miracle.  :-) And that last minute impression to change the direction that we were walking, was also a part of it, and I didn't recognize it in the moment as an impression, just  a desire to take the other road. I am so grateful for that, that God is always watching out for me, and is leading me. That is such a huge comfort to me and it means a lot. I am grateful for the guidance which he gives us. 

Last night things didn't necessarily go completely to plan and we had extra time, which I felt we should use to call people. In only maybe 30 minutes I contacted 3 former investigators who have interest, and made appointments with them. :-) Things are going well and we are being so blessed! I am so grateful to be here and so grateful for Gods love and grace and for his help. I know that he loves us. I know that he hears and answers our prayers. And I am so grateful for that. 

I wish you all a wonderful week!

love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Tender Mercies...Pictures!!!

For those of you who follow Ryan's blog, it's painfully obvious he doesn't send many pictures.  So when I checked my email and found an email from a senior missionary couple serving in his area, and they sent me a link to their blog, I was thrilled!!  As a missionary mom, you are starved for information and photos of your missionary, so it was such a tender mercy and a blessing to receive this email from the Buchanan's.  Brother Buchanan is the branch president in the ward where Ryan and his two companions are serving. The top picture was from a castle they visited on a P day with an investigator.

This was on a ferry on P Day

He joked that when he takes these three elders in the little mission car, they have to roll down the window so they can stick their shoulders and arms out to have enough room.

These pictures are of the beautiful part of the German countryside they are in.

No' en Woche isch vorbei gange'

Well like it says completely clearly in the title, another week has gone by ;-). This week was pretty good actually, it also has its adventures as well. :-) 

First P-day, we went to Meersburg Castle, that was really cool! People still live there (which for me is crazy, I can't imagine having a castle as my home...) but there is a large part which has been dedicated as a Middle ages Museum. I will attach some pictures in a moment. (We did not get pictures of Meersburg, maybe next week)

That was a blast, it was Elder Buchanan, the three of us and Derrick. I member of the ward who I love a lot, he is really good guy. I think he is 19 or 20, He is here from Nigeria, and who has an absolutely terrible past (I may have mentioned him last year when I was serving in Vorarlberg). The Buchanans are WAY TOO NICE. They offered to take us to Meersburg, and were wondering if we wanted to go, The only problem was the entrance fee (and that sister Buchanan wouldn't be able to go) The entrance fee was somewhat expensive, and we had originally declined the offer, because of price and because Sister Buchanan couldn't go. Then they called me back and said that they would pay for everything, and that Sister Buchanan would stay home because it would be a lot of fun for Derrick. So we went, and then they brought us back to their apartment at 5 with a nice dinner prepared and then we had a good conversation/ lesson with Derrick, before heading to our "Appointment" at 7 that night. 

I say that with the quotation marks, because the "appointment" was with a homeless drunk man that I talked to while we were walking around and he said that he wanted to meet us. On Monday night at 7 at the park. So we went, and waited for 15 minutes (we walked and talked to some people as well in the mean time). He didn't show up so we decided to go by on Scott, someone who I knew from back when I was in Vorarlberg. 

That was an adventure. So I locate the street on the map (we do everything by a map here in this mission...) and I found it, and found, what I thought be a shorter way, with some additional streets, instead of riding to the Bascilica in Weingarten, to turn well before that, and it should have been a straight shot. That is, if the map we had was actually a decent map. So we got lost, none of the roads existed for which we searched for, and we got out somewhere, and when we finally decided to go the long way, it was going to take too long, and we would have been late home. So we road back. And to our astonishment, we made it back to the apartment in 15 minutes. (We have gotten good at efficient Bike travel) so we used the time to go talk to some people for a few minutes, and I found a really cool man out of India who knows Derrick.  But that was Monday.

Tuesday was neat, we went to Zone Training meeting in Singen, and the Buchanans drove us there, through Meersburg (the city) and then with the Faerie across Bodensee, to Konstanz from there we drove to Singen. THAT WAS SO COOL. I was only able to take a couple picture though, because it wasn't a very long ride, and it was also the only time that we could really eat lunch. That was cool. Then that night we finally met with Marriet, the Nigerian girl who has before expressed a lot of interest to get baptized, but wants her family to be there. The lesson was interesting. According to the Buchanans she wasn't herself at all and something was wrong. She said that she was having "personal problems" what ever that is supposed to mean. I hope that things will go better for her. She couldn't come to church yesterday because she had some friends visiting. And she actually hasn't been to church in a long while. 

That was pretty much it for Tuesday. On Wednesday, we had an appointment with Ley, who we can't really do much for. He has taken a lot of drugs in the past, which have permanently effected his ability to think and reason. He isn't really capable of hearing and understanding our message, which is hard, because he heard of baptism and wants to be baptized, but he has some really weird beliefs, and because of the drugs in the past, he can't understand us. Sometimes its as if we aren't even saying anything at all and he just says the same things over and over again. 

After that we decided to go and try to Find Scott again. I HATE OUR MAP. We eventually found the street, and there is only one building there, which is a warehouse. And it turns out that he lives there. We talked to some people outside who said he lives there. So we went and walked around this wearhouse until we found out where his room was. Of course it had to be on the level where they store all the miscellaneous items and all the lights don't work. Dark room with weird objects, it was rather sketchy. But we found his room and had a good Visit with him. 

He is quite the interesting character to say the least. He has had a lot of rough things happen to him in the past, one of which involves a close family member intentionally setting him up to fail in a business which caused him a huge amount of debt. A lot of things haven't gone his way and he described himself as a servant of God who is worn out. We will see if we can help do some service for him.

Thursday we spent in Friedrichshafen, That is such a beautiful area, right on the Bodensee. Anyway, again we had map problems with streets not connecting in ways that the map said... :-P So we were only able to attempt to go by on a potential in Friedrichshafen, whose house number actually didn't exist (there's nothing greater than spending an hour using a faulty map trying to find a street so that we can visit someone, only to finally find it and realize that the house number doesn't exist! :-P). But on the bright side I had a really neat conversation with a lady on the way, who didn't necessarily express interest right then, but maybe someday. 

Then we met with the Zeller Family, a family who I knew when I was in Dornbirn, but for some unknown reason the missionaries stopped meeting with. We had a good discussion with Mr. Zeller, although his wife very obviously has more interest. She wasn't able to get there until only a few minutes before we had to leave. 

Then we went to Markdorf to meet with another family that I found in the area book. When I first talked to him, he asked me if I needed directions how to get there (having not had the experience with the map yet, I didn't know this would be necessary) and I said no. We looked up the address on the record, and the street name seemed to us incomplete, and there were two options that it could be. So we tried both, and then later (after finally getting someone to talk to us on the street) figured out that the address wasn't incomplete, that it existed on a hill, and that there was only one house there and that our map didn't even know that it existed. By that time, we had to cancel the appointment, and head home because we were in danger of being late. :-P 

So, to sum up, we learned our lesson, that we need a new map, and are desperately waiting for the arrival of iPads, with the ability to look up address on google... :-) I probably won't get to see that day, as it most likely won't take place here until nearly January, but that is ok. :-) 

Luckily on Saturday and Sunday we spent the whole day with the Buchanans visiting Members, and potentials in Friedrichshafen/Wangen and other surrounding areas. Luckily they have a GPS in the car. One of the people we visited was in Markdorf so we decided to plug in the address of the family and we drove out to find it. TALK ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. That will be fun trying to get back to. We went and knocked on the door, and now one was home, we just woke up a small dog which came out and attacked Elder Kingery... :-) No I am not kidding, it went for his pant leg was pulling on it growling and barking. That was funny. 

We had to hike up the last little bit to the house because the hill was too much for poor GW (GW, is the 4 cylinder eco friendly Opal that we have here in Ravensburg. The name "GW" is Sister Buchanan's name for it. It stands for Gutless Wonder. ;-)). Haha, I still laugh at that, especially remembering Elder Sampson's Sarcastic Commentary on it last year "That's the thing that I love about the car, is that I can push the pedal to the floor, and it doesn't go any faster" ;-) )

Anyway. That pretty much sums up our adventure, we visited an older lady of our ward yesterday who can't come to church because of age and distance, so we took her the sacrament, and sang (in what actually was pretty good 4 part harmony)  the hymn "O bleibe Herr" (literally "O Lord Stay", maybe Abide with me??) I don't know the English name for it anymore, but it is beautiful, especially in German, and is one of my favorites :-) She spoke really fluent Schwäbisch. That was so fun to hear it again, especially now that I can actually make sense of it. I found out after thought that I am the only one who really understands everything that she is saying. :-) President Buchanan said he only understands about half of what she says. 

Yeah, the bike problems have continued, the rubber on the handle bars has turned into a puddy like substance, which has been sticking to my hands and turning them black. So I managed to get some Electrical tape, and now the problem is fixed. :-) I will need knew brake pads, and the back brakes, no matter how hard I pull them, don't do a darn thing I happened to figure that out going down one of the largest hills in Ravensburg... (luckily the front brakes work really well, as long as you don't pull them too hard... ;-)) So I will be getting those today. After that I should be fine, until next week when you will probably here of me getting a flat tire, or having the frame collapse or something... 

Another funny thing, David Barluschke just moved into this ward. He was my first Zone leader. He is going to get married in a month or so. Anyway, just having in the ward is really funny. He is one of the missionaries who was in the epic bike wreck, and what is even more Hilarious, the bike that he destroyed in that wreck is that of his future father in law. :-) When I found that out I made fun of him even more, which led into the story of how he and Steffani got together (to show that they didn't get together when he was serving in her ward) which is even funnier. Long story short she thought that he was a complete idiot when he was serving in her ward (there is a long story behind that) and every time the missionaries were invited over, she would go take a nap in her room. After his mission (since he is  German) he came back and visited a few times. And now they will be getting married in October. :-)

Anyway, that was pretty much our week. Its been a bit different getting used to having bikes, you can't do things the same way as you would when you have public transit. What we have come up with, is that we use the bikes to travel to a city in which we want to work, chain up our bikes somewhere, and then spend our whole time there walking around talking to people, as we go and visit people. Its still slow going, but we have a lot of promise for this week, which I am so happy about. We still suffered some dropped appointments last week, but we also managed to teach more lessons than any missionary companionship has in a long time(well over a year or so). And we are only starting. There is so much potential here! I don't understand why, but we are being so incredibly blessed right now, and I haven't worked nearly as hard as I have needed to in the past to get things going. 

I am so grateful for this work, and for the wonderful chance that I have to be a part of it. I love it so much, and am so excited to keep working throughout my whole life. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ, my Savior. I have a much greater appreciation for him now than I ever had. In Isaiah 48:21 It talks about the Israelite s  didn't suffer any thirst as God led them through the Deseret because he let water flow from a rock, the rock was first broken then water came from it. I came to realize in that moment, how symbolic that really was. In 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 we read that Christ was that rock, or rather that rock is symbolic of ´Christ. That Rock needed to first be broken, before the life-sustaining water could come forth. 

Reading in John 7 we can find that the Water is symbolic of the Spirit. Christ atoned for our sins, suffered and died, so that we would have we could, among other things have that water which we need to make it through this desert of trials and hardship we call life. And I am here trying to do what it tells me to do in Verse 20 of Isaiah 48, to proclaim the message with "Fröhlichem Schall" ("Joyful Sound") to the ends of the earth, that the Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob. 

That even when times are rough, there is a way prepared that we may find peace, not a peace from the world, but from the Comforter, which is to speak, that water to help us make it through this life. I know that is true, and am grateful to be apart of it! 

I wish you all a great week!

love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Here are some pictures of when I was in Munich and we went and saw Neuschwannstein. Sorry I actually don't have any more time, so these pictures will have to do for this week! That and my battery just died, so the last picture that I wanted to send, will also have to wait. But I hope you enjoy these 2!

Sorry not much time today....

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

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