Hello from Paradise!

Well I am now in Austria, it's unreal. Its gorgeous beyond description, I have some pictures, but they do it a horrible injustice. Its so green! And then there is the Swiss, and Austrian Alps! I have never seen anything like it in my life. I will attach a few pictures. Lake Constance was awesome too! On our way here, we stopped in Lindau, which is on an island in Lake Constance. It was a very scenic train ride, my camera was dead ( maybe it's because he took so many pictures of cars and animals!! :)   )so I don't have any pictures sadly. But yeah, I arrived safely and am enjoying Austria! The dialect is... well Its been a bit of a transition. The dialect has two names, Vorarlbergerisch or Gsibergerisch. The second name comes from their word "gsi" instead of the High German word "gewesen". I am beginning to pick up on it. I find it rather interesting, that the verb "sehen" ( which means "to see") seems to have a different word in every dialect, sehen and schauen are both High German, but depending on where you are in Northern Germany will determine on which one is used more. In Schwäbish the word is "gucken" (pronounced something like "goocken"). And in Gsibergerisch, however, the word is luacken. On an funny side note, I just noticed how "Gsibergerisch" almost resembles the word "gibberish", which wouldn't be a half bad way to describe the way it sounds ;-) 

Oh man, there is so much to talk about... First off something cool, for those out there who have seen or know of, Baptists at our Barbeque, Errand of Angels, One good Man, The Letter Writer, and Joseph Smith and the Golden Plates. Well, the man who made them is in my ward, he lives across the street actually. Talk about a small world, I would have never thought that of all places, Dornbirn Austria is where I would find him. The ward here is incredibly small! There were probably no more than 60 people that came to church yesterday! Very very small. The Ward mission leader is from Great Britain. And let me tell you, he is VERY British. We talk with him in English and he has a very noticeable British accent. ( On a side note, I find it funny that I go from having an Australian companion to have an British GML). Christian Vuissa ( the Director of the films stated above) is making a new movie in Austria that will show on KBYU in November, anyway he has a friend here from america who is helping edit the film. Trevor is his name, and he doesn't speak German, so I got my first shot at translating Sacrament meeting yesterday... That was a bit of a challenge, but as I started to get the hang of it, it was kind of fun. The first talk was hard, because it had a strong dialect influence ( church is in High German, but some people still speak with heavy accents) so I wasn't able to translate very much of the first talk. But then the High Councilor got up and spoke in very clear high German, which is when I was able to translate almost word for word. Very cool. :-) 

As far as missionary work goes, well its going to be rough. We have 0 investigators. Which I thought was just because of lazy missionaries. But after 12 or so hours of non stop dooring and and street contacting. I have changed my mind. Nearly everyone here is either Catholic, or Turkish. If they are catholic, they just say " I have my faith and I am going to stay with it" word for word. If they are turkish, then either a) they can't understand us; or b) even if they do, their Muslim. Which we have to get permission before we can actually teach them. But so far not many people have much interest. Its going to take a lot of work to find people here, but I know the Lord will help us find those who are ready and willing to accept the Gospel.

I get to go to Winterthur ( in Switzerland) twice this week! We have an exchange with the Zone Leaders, and I will be traveling. And due to the cost and the time, the Area Presidency has authorized us to travel alone on exchanges. It would cost twice as much money and take more time to meet somewhere and exchange. So I will get to try and Navigate to Winterthur on my own. I change trains 4 times... taking a total of 2 hours to get there. But I know where to get off and change trains, so I am not very nervous about it. That will happen on Wednesday, then on Saturday, Elder Esplin and I will go to Winterthur again for a District leader conference. And then next P-day, we will probably go to Liechtenstein, so that I can say that I have been there ( If I am going to be this close, I have to go visit ;-) ). Only 3 months into my mission and I will have already visited 4 countries! 

Dornbirn is a really quite place, compared to Esslingen, which was more of a downtown Salt lake feel, Dornbirn has a more rural aura about it. Large fields, open areas, less crowded housing and its just peaceful. For that reason I really am liking the city. Leaving Esslingen, came rather abruptly, we had a ton of eating appointments, and then went and stopped by on a few people, and I left. I miss quite a few people in the ward, and the investigators. But I look forward to making new friendships with members and investigators here. 

Did I mention anything about my German Visa? Well they are getting really strict about the residency permit laws, and because I was going to Austria, well, they destroyed my visa... and Elder Bullock, the only other person in the Zone that was being transferred, they took his visa and destroyed it as well. So now its time to get an Austrian Visa... hopefully it goes a bit easier than getting a German one. 

I think that is all that I have to mention, I am really enjoying Austria and the area. Its going to take a lot of work here, but I am up to the challenge! :-) 

By the way the first picture I sent was of the field that is write across the street from our apartment, and the second is from the Balcony at the GML's Appartment. The Mountains that are on the right side are in Switzerland, and the mountains that you can barely see to the left ( not the green hill but the snow-capped mountains just behind the hill)  are in Liechtenstein. That is how close the border is! 

Things are going well, I hope all is well at home, Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen.

New Pictures ....... of stuff

Sorry this is so late, I know you are desperately waiting for these.  So here you go! Sorry there aren't very many pictures of me.   I will try and change that! Love Elder Ryan Christensen

Parental Note: we received just over 200 pictures - most of which we are not posting as they are of plants and animals at a zoo, and cars at the Mercedes Museum.  When Ryan stated that there were not very many pictures of him, he was not kidding.  The only photos of him were posted 2 weeks ago.  So here are some pictures of the zoo and the Mercedes Museum.  The rest will be saved for when he is home.  Mom will be writing a letter with more specific instructions on what she wants to see in the photos for the next round :).  Dad and Josh think the car pictures were cool (but understand the need to see a missionary posing next to a cool car too).

TRANSFERS!! - DORNBIRN AUSTRIA!!

Well, I will admit I was suprised with Transfers. I thought I would stay in Esslingen, or atleast Germany. NOPE! I AM GOING TO DORNBIRN!! The city itself is in Austria, but the area is the one and only to have Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein in it! 4 NATIONS IN ONE AREA!  Wow, this is my Third Transfer, have I really already been here for 3 months? Its unbelievable. Did you ever receive a map of the mission? If not I will send one hope this week, as well as a thumb drive with the Atonement talk on it ;-) My new companion will be Elder Esplin, which is REALLY Ironic, because he was with Elder Stokes in Tübingen. Poor Elder Stokes, he has been really wanting to go to Dornbirn, While in Tübingen, his companion Elder Esplin went there, his new companion Elder Moulton, had just come back from Dornbirn, and told him all about it. Which made him really want to go, and now I am going there...  

I am not looking forward to the dialect though, it is apparently so incredibly hard, that once I learn it, I will be able to understand every other Dialect of German. It has a bit of Swiss, Österreichish, Bayerisch, und Schwäbisch. SWISS IS RIDICULOUS. Yesterday there were a few people visiting the ward, and one of them said the closing prayer in Sunday School. After they finished I asked Elder Stokes what language he thought that was, he thought it was Russian, I thought it was either Polish or Hungarian. Come to find out, its Swiss. I can see how if one could understand that, everything else would be easy... On a matter of Moving, Here is my new address (don't get used to this, I only have it is because of Elder Moulton. Normally you wouldn't know my address till the week after I got there). 

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Kirche Jesu Christi HLT

Montfortstraße 21a

6850 Dornbirn

Austria

There is so many cool things about this area that I have heard, First off, its right on the Bodensee (Lake Constance(Spelling?)) which is supposedly gorgeous, and also MOUNTAINS!!! SWISS ALPS! Finally, I will see mountains again! And the Neuschanstein (Cinderella) Castle, is not in the area (its in Kaufbeuren) but Dornbirn is the closest to it, so I will most likely go visit it! The ward there from what I have heard is also incredible and the missionary work is good. It will be cool.

Its been quite the mix of emotions, I obviously am excited to go, but I am really sad that I have to leave Esslingen. I just got used to Schwäbisch, I know my way around, I love the ward, the members, and the investigators. It was so bad of a mix, that on Friday night, and Saturday, I became fairly sick. Its so hard to say goodbye, especially to the Romanian family, the only reason I was able to make it through the lesson in control of my emotions, is because I had already intended on coming back on Wednesday to say goodbye. Because unlike all my friends and family, in 2 years I will see you all again. But now I don't know when, or even if I will see them again in this life. If I don't ever come back to Stuttgart, or even if I come back after awhile, there is no guarantee, with their circumstances that they will still be there. What makes it a bit harder is that this Saturday we were going to set a Baptismal date with them... The changes that they have already gone through is incredible. There is a bit more of a light in their eyes now than there was when I first met them. I hope all goes well for them, the only thing that is really holding them back from baptism is that they don't have money to come to church. And because they have a hard time understanding, coming to all 3 hours is fairly pointless, and because they can't come to all three hours, we can't have a member pick them up. This is when I wish we had a Romanian interpreter in the ward. If they were in Waiblingen they wouldn't have any problems, because the Kiefer family lives there, they could easily translate for them. As to what they will do to work out that problem, I am not sure. But unless we can figure out something, they can't get baptized which they really want to... 

Sorry that paragraph was a bit sad. As I am accepting the fact that I am leaving, I am getting more excited to go. Its going to be crazy on Thursday though. Elder Stokes and I will catch a train from Esslingen to Stuttgart at 11:25, then at 11.56 Elder Esplin and his companion will arrive in Stuttgart to pick me up. Elder Stokes and Elder Esplins Companion will wait with the Zone Leaders until their companions arrive at around 3. My train leaves from Stuttgart at 12:57 and arrives in Dornbirn at 4.20 pm. 

As for my Visa, Elder Stokes will send it to me when it arrives. In the mean time I will be getting an Austrian Visa. Which will be nice, then I won't need to worry about Visas again for the next 2 years ( they are good for the duration of my mission). 

Anyway Transfers are the biggest piece of news, everything has been the same, a normal week of Missionary Work. So I will leave this already incredibly long email come to an end. I hope all is well at home! Everything is going well with me, save it be that I need to leave. But thats just what a mission is, I will have to do it many more times throughout the rest of my mission. By the way, I gave my Facebook information out to a few people, so if you could accept them for me, it would be greatly appreciated :-) 

By the way, that paragraph that I talk about the Romanians, it doesn't come across as complaining does it? It shouldn't its just hard to serve and gain love for someone then to say goodbye. That is the main message that I want to convey, while I am excited to go to Austria, which I am. I am also sad to leave here because I really love it. Maybe one day I will come back and be a Zone Leader in Stuttgart or something. Who knows. We will see :-)

Until next week, when I will be e-mailing you from Austria!! 

Love,

Elder Ryan Christensen

Wow! Another Week has already gone by, as well as a Transfer... almost

I can't believe its already been a week, although last week was INCREDIBLY LONG. Elder Stokes has been sick, so he has been resting, meanwhile I deep cleaned the entire apartment, fixed the fridge, the sink, and organized about everything I could find. As well as reading "Our Search For Happiness" in its entirety, and having some intense scripture study. Not being able to really do much missionary work was, in all honesty, a bit saddening. Don't get me wrong, the studying was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING but, I its not what I was sent here to do. All but 3 of our appointments cancelled on us this past week, we still went to all the ones that were pre-scheduled, but we didn't do much else.

As stated in the title of the e-mail, yes another transfer is coming to a close. Before I came on a mission the transfers used to alternate, a 7 week, then a 5 week, and so on. But they changed it so that they are now all 6 week transfers, but the change happened right after a 7 week, so to make up for it, this one was a 5 week transfer. Interviews with the President are tomorrow, and transfer calls are this Friday. WOW. The following Thursday I could have a new companion, area, or even Country! ( Which is HIGHLY unlikely, because my German Visa should arrive in the mail in about 4 or so weeks, so I think I will be staying in Esslingen at least one more transfer, till I have the Visa safely in hand.) But then all hats are off as to what could happened next. I have a few ideas of what could happen, but I will keep them to myself until next week ;-) Elder Kuhlo ( Zone Leader), on an exchange kept telling me that I am going to be a great leader, and hinted that I may be in for a surprise this upcoming transfer... But we will see. 

Sorry I haven't sent any pictures home just yet, I am backing them up first, just in case they get destroyed in transit. I will attach a few from the Museum, and my trip to the botanical Gardens/ Zoo. 

The first picture is of me at the gardens, we ( Elder Smith, Elder Neumeyer, Elder Heinrich, and I) were all wearing glasses, and we walked from a cold, not so humid room, to a very warm, incredibly humid room. All of our glasses fogged up, we all laughed and took pictures of each other.

The Second picture is of me and the Romanian Family: Danny, his wife Andrea, Datia ( the 4 year old) and Danny's mom). Apparently Romanians don't smile for pictures... I promise they really are very kind and happy! 

Anyway, Like I said, with Elder Stokes being sick, not much happened this week. I really like "Our Search for Happiness" the intent of writing it was to help other people outside the church understand us a bit more. In order to do this it covered essentially our entire doctrine and gave some neat explanations of things. I also read a Talk on the atonement by Cleon Skausen, if you can either find a written copy, or a mp3. They are different, but both incredibly amazing! It completely changed my view on everything, especially Chemistry! I will try to send you a copy, but so far I haven't been able to do so. It's a beautiful talk about the Saviors Atonement. I may sound weird that I just linked Chemistry and the Atonement, but Chemistry is a HUGE part of the Atonement. I am assuming you are all now very curious, you need to read it! I will send a written copies of it when I can make a copy of it. 

I am so grateful for the Saviors Atonement for me, and what it has done for me in my life. I am grateful that Jesus Christ did do it for me. To give me a chance to repent and to become clean again, to gain strength and help from Him who is all knowing, knowing from experience. I am grateful for my opportunity to share that with others, there are those out there who don't know about it,  who don't know that because of the Atonement, we can have a hope of something better. That this life is just a small moment, that there is something far greater than anything that we can imagine. John 17:3 says something to the effect that "this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the true and living God" with a little cross referencing, and some linguistic work, you can change that scripture to this " this is life eternal, that they may have a relationship of greater love and closeness than words can describe, with thee the only true and living God". Thats a pretty powerful statement, that the end goal is to get to know God and have a friendship with God that is of far greater love and closeness than we can really imagine. To live again in his presence with all of our friends and loved ones. That is only possible through the Atonement of Christ. Without it, we would have to be cast out of Gods presence being subject to the devil and his angels forever. What an amazing gift the Atonement is which delivers us from the devil and returns us to the presence of God. And as Moroni says in Moroni 7:2 , what a gift to let others know about it. 

Anyway thats all for now, I hope all is well at home. Good luck to Josh, Beth, and anyone the Pleasant Grove Choirs who will be going on Choir tour this week! Travel safely! 

Love, 

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Easter, The Atonement, and an Eye of Faith

Wow, What a week! Sorry this e-mail is going to be short and late. Today is a holiday ( Easter part 2 ( Easter and Christmas are two day long holidays here)) and because of that my entire schedule is thrown off. Normally P-days go something like this: (6.30) Wake up, (von 8.00 bis 11.00) (from 8 until 11) 3 hours of studies, (11.00 bis entweder 11.46 oder 12.16) (11 until either 11:45 or 12:15) go shopping for the weeks groceries, (11.46 or 12.16) catch a bus to Sirinau to do e-mails till about 2:30 or 3, then find something to do for the rest of the day. Well today all the store are closed, so we couldn't go shopping. Few people work today, so we got invited to a lunch appointment at 13.00. Then, because of the holiday, THE MERCEDES-BENZ MUSEUM was open! So we went there and spent a few hours there, and now I am back here at the church writing this e-mail. It was INCREDIBLE! Oh Man, I took a ridiculous amount of pictures, which I will send when I get the new memory cards. For those out there who don't know, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimier separately patented the first car at the same time ( they set up opposing companies, but in the financial crisis following WWI they joined together). So in the museum they have every advancement from the first motorized carriage to the really new cars. VERY COOL. 

This past week has been pretty normal, except we went door-ing for 3 hours in pouring rain in Frickenhausen. Yeah, there is a town in my area called Frickenhausen. :-)  Sadly my umbrella broke about halfway through... so I was one sopping-wet-pathetic-puppy-dog-looking missionary by the time we knocked on the last door ;-) Haha but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. Its been very cold and rainy here for the past week or so, I don't think I seen the sun for 8 or so days, its so weird. But at least its consistent, unlike the weather in Utah that I have been hearing about... This week was a bit weird with the holidays ( Good Friday and then the 2 days of Easter). Its crazy on both Easter, and good Friday, Esslingen looked like a Ghost town, there was practically NOBODY out. No cars. All the shops were closed. It was so different. Holidays are big family days, so we weren't able to meet with very many of our investigators :-( But this week should be better. The man that I talked didn't show up to church. It might have been due to Easter, I don't know. I hope I see him again. I am considering door-ing in that area to see if I can find him. I don't know, we will see. (Last week he wrote of a man who asked the next time they would be meeting at the church, someone who had previously had contact with the missionaries)

Easter was nice, what a wonderful time to reflect of the wonderful gift of the Atonement. And to celebrate the Resurrection of Him of redeemed us. Sacrament meetings was amazing, I love singing the hymns about Easter, the Resurrection, usw. They are powerful, and very uplifting. I am so grateful for everything that my Savior has done for me. Alma 7:11-12 Is a wonderful reminder to us of the purpose of the Atonement, In verse 12 it states that he went through it so that His bowels could be filled with mercy according to the flesh, so that he could understand from a personal perspective of what it's like. So he knows how to comfort us in every situation. In 3 Nephi 11:15 The Nephites get to see and feel the prints of the nails in hands and feet. There is a phrase in Ether 12:19 that I really love, It speaks over those who have gotten to see Christ personally, in the middle it says that they got to see with their eyes, what they had seen WITH AN EYE OF FAITH. That is a very cool description. We may not get to see those nail marks with our own eyes, but with the eye of faith we can. And as it says in verse 4, with that faith we can hope for a better world at the right hand of God. Because of what he did, we have a chance at living with God again, we can have that hope in us, that nothing, not even death can take away those blessings from us and our loved ones. But in to gain that hope, we need to have faith, and we don't get that faith till it has been tried. Its an interesting principle, that in order to gain that eye of faith, to gain that hope, we need to be tried, sometimes with very hard things. But God knows that it will ultimately end for the better. I am out of time, but I would like to add that I know that Christ lives. I know that he died for me, and that because he did that, I have a hope that I can one day return to Gods presence with friends and family. I know that on the third day, Christ was resurrected from the dead, and that HE LIVES. I hope everyone has had a wonderful Easter! And that everyone will have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Wow, What a weekend! General Conference

Wow what a weekend! This was probably by far the most enjoyable General Conference yet! It was really weird though. The "Saturday morning session" is a live broadcast out of SLC that began at 6pm. Jan Fabian (an investigator) came to that, so we saw that one in German. Wow. That was rough, the translator had a bit of a rough time keeping up, so there were times where he spoke really fast, and I was hopelessly lost. But I managed to get the Hauptpunkte von (main points of) each of the talks. Talking to him afterwards, he said that it was wonderful and what they spoke about was really something important ( I am glad that he understood more than I did ;-) ). Sadly, it being late on a Saturday night, the trains didn't work out well, and so Elder Stokes and I weren't able to get home till 10 pm. Its rough, because it takes almost 75 minutes to get to the stake center, and consequently return too, and if you miss your train, it can take a much longer time.  Anyway on Sunday morning, the Priesthood session was the first session which began at 11 and went to 1, then at 2 began the "Saturday Afternoon Session" which went till 4. Then after a 1 and a half hour break, Music and the Spoken Word began. Something which I thoroughly enjoyed! Followed by the "Sunday Morning Session". It is incredible how we can all go and hear the same talks, but yet, through the spirit can get completely different things out of it, depending what we need. Specifically for me, what talks I could give to our investigators that would benefit them.  I am very grateful for the Spirit of the Lord, who was able to enlighten me as to which talks should be given to who. 

These talks are truly inspired of God. Fridays here in the mission are when we do weekly planning, it takes 3 hours out of our day, but it generally is one of the worst days to proselyte. Anyway, so we had previously set up an appointment with Mae and Steven at 5pm. And the way it worked out we began planning at 4pm, we had planned to start the planning session, go and have a lesson with Mae and Steven, then come back at 6 plan for 2 hours then eat dinner, and end the night. Well we get up to Mae and Steven, and they weren't there, we call them, but they couldn't meet then, so we made out a return appointment, and returned home. We resumed planning and finished at 19.30 ( 30 minutes before we were going to have dinner). Sitting there wondering what to do, I had the impression to go to the Romanians. We had a disc of music for them, and some talks that had been printed out for them. So we thought we would run by real quick, and possibly have a quick spiritual thought or something. Anyway they didn't too far from us, so we walked there. On the way there a very sad looking Man came up to us and asked us if we were from the Church (Specifically meaning the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). We responded in the affirmative and we started to talk with him. He shared with us that his life is very terrible right now, everyone in his family has passed away, parents, and all siblings, he was addicted to drugs, but as of a few weeks before had stopped cold turkey. He said to us that he needs God in his life, he felt completely alone and was having a very rough time. He asked us when the next meeting at our church was ( he knew where our meeting house was, ( I guess he has had contact with missionaries at some point in the past)). We told him that this week was different than the other weeks, but the next meeting in Sirinau would be the following week. He had no interest in General Conference, but said that he would be at church next week. We gave him our phone number, told him that we were willing to help out in anyway that we could, then parted ways. He was on my mind for a large part of General Conference, and I was stunned to notice how many talks mentioned, in part or whole, that we ARE NOT ALONE. Wow. Especially Elder Hollands talk which mentioned that its never to late to repent and come back, that no matter how hard life is, no matter what we could have done, we are never outside the reach of the atonement. I am going to burn him a disc of those talks, and give it to him this upcoming Sunday.

But going back to that story though, it is amazing to see that the Lord really is in charge of things. If that appointment we had didn't fall out, we wouldn't have had time to go to the Romanian Family, and would have not been walking on that street to meet that man. I guess we might have seen him later on, but I don't doubt that he needed to meet us at that point in time. And visiting the Romanians at that time was inspired as well. We got there and talked to them, one thing that Danny mentioned to me, is how much he really wanted to learn German, but didn't have money to go to school and learn it, and without German it is almost impossible to get a job. I remembered that my German was greatly improved by reading the Book of Mormon in German, so I offered it to him. He expressed a concern of not being able to pronounce things correctly because he couldn't hear German being spoken. At that point it was brought to my remembrance that Elder Heinrich had a recording of someone reading the Book of Mormon in German, and that he had put it on a flash drive for Elder Smith, but because he left to Salzburg, he had given ME the flash drive to deliver to Elder Smith ( which was going to happen the following day). The flash drive happened to be in my backpack, and because of that, I was able to put a copy of it on the computer that they had. So now he has an inexpensive way to learn German and the gospel too! Only an all knowing Father in Heaven could have come up with something so perfect. 

That was the biggest thing that has happened this past week. I am excited to meet with the Romanian Family again this week and see if they have prayed about the Book of Mormon. And with them now having a computer with Internet, I can show them where they can listen to church music, and Listen to church talks etc. Missionary work proceeds forth, despite my weaknesses. I am grateful for a Father in Heaven, who always helps me through the rough times, who allows me to serve and be a part in this most glorious work, despite those weaknesses. Its truly a great blessing. 

Anyway, This e-mail is probably long enough :-) Things are going well here. I am officially legal in Germany for the next 2 years! (Ryan's application for a visa was approved) That's a relief to have that taken care of. I hope all is well at home, and that everyone enjoyed Conference! 

Love,

Elder Ryan Christensen

P.S. Haha I listened to the German Translation of Elder Christofferson's talk. Haha That poor translator...(struggled to translate the phrase) " What ever that is supposed to mean" it cracked me up. Anyway. Bis nächste Woche! (Until next week)

Stuffed like turkeys, Reading Dutch, and the Love of God

This week has been a very long, completely packed week! I don't know even where to begin. So with Elder Heinrich leaving this week, we got slammed with eating appointments. This is where I learned a very key lesson NEVER SCHEDULE 2 EATING APPOINTMENTS IN THE SAME DAY. The members here all think that Missionaries are bottomless pits, so they make an unbelievably large amount of food and expect you to eat all of it. And it is also a manner of politeness to eat a lot of food ( Heavenly Father is truly merciful to send me to a place where it is good manners to eat a lot of food ;-) ). Anyway we had an eating appointment on Tuesday for lunch, (where they stuffed us like thanksgiving Turkeys) that eating appointment was at 2:30 or so ( we actually got to do a bit of missionary work, talking to the grandpa of the family) anyway it ended at roughly 4:30. Well, a mere 2 hours later, we were scheduled for a dinner appointment. I could have easily gone without eating because I was still full from the lunch that we had. But again they made a ridiculous amount of food for us, and we did our best to eat as much as possible. Oh  mercy, while trying to tie my shoes I was praying that my stomach wouldn't rupture... I have never been so full in my life! 

Transfers were incredibly simple and quick. 8.25 Thursday morning Elder Heinrich boarded an RE to Stuttgart, and Elder Stokes got off. That was it. In a matter of seconds I had a new companion and we were getting back to work right then. Meanwhile a few other people I know waited for a few hours for their new companions to arrive, some traveling for up to 7 hours by train. But yeah, fairly unexciting for Elder Stokes who came from Tübingen ( which is directly adjacent to this area). As I have previously stated he comes from Australia, Brisbon to be exact. Its weird having a new companion, but it will be a good transfer, he is a good Elder. 

The next biggest thing that happened this week was daylight savings. Yes Germany apparently does it too, just at a different time. I feel bad for the elders who just came in on Wednesday ( which, had I not fast tracked would have been when I came in) just as they are getting over Jet lag, Daylight savings! That had to be miserable. But they will be fine come next week. 

Guess what? I can understand Dutch. Read it, hear it, and comprehend it ( speaking and writing is entirely different). Its actually easier than Schwäbish! (a dialect of German native to the area where Ryan is serving) It made  sound like a weird discovery, but let me explain. Something that you hear about often is how Dutch is a mix between German and English, I have been told a dozen times that if you can understand English and German, you can understand Dutch. And have heard some missionaries say that they have picked up the Dutch Book of Mormon, and have understood it. I have heard people speak Dutch, and let me tell you, its weird! Its not German, its not English, but I can understand it! And yesterday I had free time, so I found the Dutch Book of Mormon and started reading. This is where it is really weird. It looks weird, it doesn't resemble German in the least degree, but I can understand it! It blew my mind, I sat and kept reading it, checking my German and English to make sure that I was really understanding it. Its the weirdest feeling in the world, when someone tells you that you have the ability to understand a language you have never even heard before, and sure enough you can! 

As far as our investigators are concerened, almost all of our appointments fell out this week, we were however, able to meet with the Romanians yesterday. We managed to find a sister in the Stake that can translate from German to Romanian.. It was an incredible lesson! It lasted 2 hours, but the first hour was mainly Sister Kiefer ( the Romanian sister) getting to know the family, and allowing them to get to know her. I think that was one the best things that we could have done for them, finding someone who comes from their same country, who found the missionaries, and came to know for herself that it was true.Then sharing her witness  with them that the church is true. We talked about eternal families. How God loves our families so much that he has prepared a way for us to be together with them for eternity. This I think touched Danny, I found out recently that his dad was murdered when he was young, around the age of 12. And hearing that it is possible to be back with him, and his mom, as well as his current family in the Celestial Kingdom of God, I think brought him a lot of hope. After explaining this to the family, they asked us " how can we get these blessings?". We then talked about baptism, and challenged them to read and pray to know if what we were talking about is true. We will see next week how things will unfold from there. But after learning about his dad, it makes me think on how blessed I have been, first, not having to experience the sudden death of someone close to me, and having the knowledge that families are eternal. What a blessing that is! That we can be families for eternity, being able to enjoy time with parents and siblings forever, as well as with spouses and children. Knowing that nothing can ever take that away, save it be for our own personal unrighteousness. Its a very neat thing to contemplate on. 

In my recent study I came across something in 3rd Nephi 17 in verse 9 he heals all of there sick and afflicted. But something caught my eye, in the German versions he healed "jeden einzelnen". Which means "each and every one". It could have simply said "he healed them all" but instead it emphasizes that it was EACH and every ONE. This wasn't by any means a group healing, it was individual, I imagine that he went to each, and healed them personally. Going back to verse 7 He tells them to bring everyone that was afflicted for one reason or another, but the word "maimed" stuck out. The continent had just experienced a terrible catastrophe, cities where destroyed, fires, earthquakes, and floods, wiped out a large portion of the inhabitants. By no means could the amount of people who were maimed be small. Despite the large number he healed them EACH and every ONE. Later in the same Chapter, he takes the children, and blesses them ONE after another. This shows us that we are not just another person, we are not another face in the crowd, another prayer to be heard and answered. We are individuals of great worth to God, and to Jesus. The Atonement, on a much larger scale was done likewise. It was individual. Its a great reassurance that we are of worth to God, so much that he takes time to answer our prayers individually. He loves us individually, He hopes for our individual success and happiness, in this life and the one yet to come. Its neat to think about. 

Thats all for now, I guess I didn't have this much to say after all... But that is how it goes I guess, it was a fairly typical week save it be for transfers. I hope all is well at home! Thanks for the letters and for the support!

Love, 

Elder Ryan Christensen

Individual Letters from Ryan

We received individual letters from Ryan this week.  I wanted to record parts of them on here so I can keep a record if these letters get lost, or just take the time to translate them as his handwriting is crazy hard to read.  :)  Forgive some of the personal references or parts of the conversations that seem one sided.  I just eat up his every word and love to remember the way he says things.  

Dad,
Sorry it taken awhile to respond, this week has been rather busy as it very well should be.  :)  So I know what its like having no time.  I ought to be better.  There was a night again that we missed dinner. We barely made it back in time (9:30).   Then we planned (for the next day) for 30 minutes and it was 10.  At which point it was pointless to eat dinner.  (Probably shouldn't tell mom that :) I am really fine.  I don't skip dinner often and I eat large lunches to help balance the day out.)

Sorry about the water heater.  I wish I could have been there to help!  I have always loved to do things like that with you!  1)because I learn a lot and 2) its fun to spend time with you.  Plus I always loved how something would happen, we thought we were hosed, but then we still seemed to be able to get it done right.  :)  I am glad that you wer able to get it installed and that you have hot water.  :)

Yeah I heard about the paint fiasco :)  I can't imagine what that was like, but I am glad you found the right shade despite having a few gallons of various shades of blue.  Ha Ha, I have a feeling that I will come home in 2 years, the basement will be finished and each room will be painted in a slightly different shade of blue.

Yes I heard about the wood (friends of ours are making a Marimba out of exotic wood and used Kelly's tools) I wish I could see it!  It sounds beautiful, I can't wait to see pictures of the completed project! I miss wood working so much.  Elder Heinrich found a guitar at this apartment which was broken.  So we went and bought glue and clamps to fix it.  There is a hardware store around the corner from our apartment, so we went there.  We walk in and in smells just like Home Depot.  Oh man, I could have stayed there for a few hours, but Elder Heinrich wasn't so thrilled with that idea.  Go figure.  :)  But I miss those days of having a problem or project to work on together.

The new For the Strength of Youth pamphlets sound neat!  I wonder how long it will be till they will have them in German.  Thanks dad, for the testimony and the example.  I miss you a lot but am excited to be here and have a portion of the Lord's vineyard to tend for awhile.  Whether I will see any baptisms, I don't know.  A lot of our investigators are hesitant, but it doesn't matter I am where I am supposed to be, and the Lord is the one who called me here.

I love you dad.  And no matter how old I get, I will still be your star trek loving, Bronco riding, woodworking Pal and because of the plan created by an all knowing, loving Father in Heaven, that will never change.  I will always be your son, and you will always be my dad, hero and example and for those blessings I will forever be thankful.  I hope all is well and that there won't be anymore problems at home, well at least not expensive ones.  :)

Love,
Elder Ryan Christensen


Mom,
It has just occured to me that I never really written you a personalize email/letter or anything so here you go. :)  I wish my memory is better but alas its not and I don't remember everything I have written to you about previously.  But one of the things I do distinctly remember is that you quoted a passage in Alma 53:20 in relation to me and the 2000 stripling sons of Helaman.  Well if I may direct you to Alma 56:47-48/57:21 It says that they were taught by their MOTHERS. (I assume they had excellent father's too)  But that point was so important that it was mentioned 3 times in the space of 2 chapters.  :) So feel free to say that about me, but just recognize the fact that I was taught well by my parents.

I remember awhile back that you were assigned a talk in church on an ambiguous topic.  You asked us why were the way we were and made mention that there were a lot of good parents who's children may or may not have remained on the straight and narrow path.  A topic that has come up a few times in the past few months is found in Alma 62:41 It talks about how the exceedingly great length of the war caused some to wax hard, others to become soft.  It was the same war, yet there were 2 different outcomes.  You can compare it to boiling an egg vs a carrot.  You can put them both in the same boiling water yet the egg becomes hard but the carrot becomes soft.  Likewise 2 children an have the exact same family experience and  be completely different people.  The wonderful thing is that we can all choose which to be.  IT's never to late to change.  Jesus, while on the earth turned water into wine, why not an egg into a carrot?  :)

Anyway, things are going rather well here.  Elder Heinrich was just called to be a Zone leader in Salzburg.  I am staying here and will be getting the one and only Austrailian in the mission as my companion.  Ha ha he speaks German with a Austrailian accent which as you can imagine is a very peculiar combination.  But I am excited to remain here and see my investigators progress.

Anyway, I want you to know all is well with me and that I really am enjoying my time here.  I love you mom.  Thanks for the constant emails!  I really appreciate it.
Love,
Elder Christensen

Dear Josh,
What's up Josh! It's been awhile since I have talked with you.  How goes the Deca competitions?  ACT studying?  AP Test? Work?  You have a lot to tell me about.

How does your new room look?  Do you like it?  I hope so, it seems like something you would enjoy with your Taylor Made golf theme.  Anything new going on at home?  Sweethearts/Prom?  Have you been asked to any dances?

You're a stud Josh!  Don't let anyone/anything tell you different!  AP testing and the ACT are ridiculously difficult.  Just study as hard as you can and leave the rest up to the Lord.  Remember Alma 37:36-37.  The Lord will help you through the hard times and I promise that everything will work out.  Just keep your personal scripture study/prayers up.  Pray and you will receive.  I promise that because it happened to me, if you think it was just me that did well on the ACT you are wrong.  I was helped by the Lord a lot.  I still had to put effort into it but in the end he helped me.  And I know he will help you too. You are a stud Josh!  I couldn't have asked for a cooler younger brother!  I love you Josh!  Good Luck,

Elder Ryan Christensen

Dear Cassie,
Yeah time is going by super fast!  I have already been here 2 months!  Well on my mission for 2 months, 6 weeks in Deutschland :)  ITs cool being here.  It's really warm right now!  Today it got up to 20 C (roughly 70F)  It was so nice, even right now it's 9 pm and it's still 60F  I am liking it here.  I appreciate the fact that I am missed :)  Guess what it's March 18th.  One more month has passed! Hang in there Cassie, It will go quickly.  :)

How are things at home?  I miss your emails!  Keep emailing me!

I still can't believe I am actually here already.  We get transfer calls on Friday (every 6 weeks we have a "transfer" and there is a chance that we can go somewhere else)  I am staying here in Esslingen but Elder Henrich is going to Salzburg Austria!  I am very jealous!  Do you remember the movie Knight and Day?  Part of the movie is in Salzburg!  IT's beautiful, but so is Esslingen.  I can't wait till everything starts blooming, it will be cool to see.

How did Josh's room turn out?  I wish I could see it!  Does he like it?  How did Mark's room turn out?  I normally email at the church but sometimes we go to what's called an Internet cafe, basically a small place with a bunch of computers people can use.  You have to pay for it, but it's pretty cheap.  No it's not annoying to ride trains everyday it's kind of cool.  We ride a ton of trains and even more buses.  Sorry it's taken me awhile to respond.  I spent too much time on my email.  I look forward to hearing back!  I love you cass!

Love,
Elder Ryan Christensen

P.S.  Are you reading the Book of Mormon personally?  If not you totally should!  It will bless your life tremendously to get into a habit of personal study and prayer.  I testify of that.  TRY IT!


Dear Mark,
What's up Mark?  Sorry I haven't written very much, I have been busy!  But things are good.  I ride a lot of trains and buses!  IT's really cool and I think you would like it alot!  How's the weather there?  Its really warm here!  I like it alot.  How is school?  Homework?  I hear you still don't like it.  Sorry about that.  But I promise that it helps you learn!  IT's good for you.  Do you have any questions about the trains or anything? I know how much you love them.

The food here is pretty good, I am learning how to make it too!  It's pretty good!  I have yet to have anything that I don't like, even liverwurst!  The bread here is fantastic and there are bakeries everywhere!  ITs awesome.  Take care Mark!  I lovew you!  Good luck with all that you are doing!

Elder Ryan Christensen

Transfers and Zone Conference

This past week has been incredibly busy! Tuesday we had Zone Conference, which was absolutely fantastic! Then after an excruciatingly long week, we finally got "the phone call". No surprises on my part, I will remain here in Esslingen ( I am still in the process of getting a German Visa, so there was no way that I was going anywhere) however Elder Heinrich will go to Salzburg Austria. I wish I had a picture of his face when he found out... it was priceless! Which brings me to my next point, my new companion will be Elder Stokes, who is from Australia. He speaks German with an Australian accent, which, as some of you can probably imagine is a rather interesting combination. :-) Haha I feel bad for Elder Stokes though, he is from Tübingen, which is the area right next to mine, in my same district as well... he doesn't get much of an exciting transfer, especially since he has already been in Tübingen for 5 transfers... But he seemed rather "stoked" to come here none the less :-)

Elder Heinrich is both excited and sad to go to Salzburg, sad to leave Esslingen, because the ward is incredible, but excited because IT'S SALZBURG AUSTRIA! That will be neat for him. But I am very much so glad to stay here in Esslingen, hopefully that will allow me to see more progression with some of our investigators. Speaking of investigators I had my first one drop me yesterday. It totally caught me off guard. Frau Baumann. Yes, the lady who read the entire Book of Mormon in three weeks dropped us yesterday. She said she was baptized into the Russian Orthodox church, and she was going to remain Russian Orthodox. She didn't like how we asked her to be baptized again. And she had a few other concerns, such as the name of the church including the phrase "Der Heiligen der letzten Tage" (directly translated it means "the Saints of the Last Days") she didn't like how it said "last days". We wanted to explain it, but she didn't let us, instead she told us that she didn't want us wasting our time teaching her, and that she really appreciated the few lessons we taught. She said despite the age difference we were the best teachers that she's had ( at this point I was asking myself the question " then why are you are you dropping us?!"). But yeah, she did, and that was that. It really taught me the importance of pondering and praying about the Book of Mormon. This really showed me that it was truly possible read the entire Book of Mormon and still not gain a testimony of it. And a testimony is INCREDIBLY important. Especially when two 19/20 year old boys are essentially telling you that you need to be baptized again, because the first time wasn't valid... 

But yeah, the rest of the week pales in comparison to Transfer calls. That and Zone Conference. It was awesome to President and Sister Miles again. And the AP's who I seem to have gained eternal fame with. So back on my first day here, we spent the entire day being taught by the AP's. Nothing like sitting in a class for hours on end while suffering from Jet Lag... Well we were all really tired and doing everything in our power to remain awake. The AP's seeing our struggle to remain awake, said that they would allow us all to take a "20 minute power nap". Now keep in mind that the night before leaving Utah, I got roughly 4 hours of sleep, and wasn't able to sleep on the plane. So I by this time had been up 28 hours or so with 4 hours of sleep preceding. And after the 20 minutes were up, everyone else was able to wake up. Except me. I was out cold, and despite them yelling my name and shaking me, I wasn't waking up... Anyway, long story short I somehow woke up and was fine for the rest of the day. But upon seeing me at Zone Conference the AP's came up to me and said something to the effect of "Elder Christensen, its good to see you awake". Even the brand new AP seemed to know who I was... It was rather funny. But Zone Conference was awesome. President Miles is amazing and taught an awesome lesson on Faith and Obedience, and we broke off into smaller groups and worked on some aspects of teaching, This allowed President Miles to come around and give us individual tips on how to be better. I very thoroughly enjoyed it. :-)

The rest of this week was packed, but with the usual things, Teaching investigators, various eating appointments ( when members here that there is a transfer coming up, we get a ridiculous amount of eating appointment invitations). We have 2 eating appointments everyday for the rest of the week ( well till Wednesday, then on Thursday we transfer). Things are going well here. The Romanians moved, and changed telephone numbers ( we knew they were moving but didn't know when) so when we went to go say hi on Tuesday, someone else answered the door. That is a really strange feeling, when you knock on someones door, and someone completely different answers the door. We haven't been able to visit them for a week because both Danny and Thomas have worked, which means that its just Andrea, Datia, and Dannys mom at home. So evidently they moved between the time that we last visited them. But we found them this week!!! So we are continuing to teach them! Which I am very happy about! They are incredible! They were also incredibly happy to see us.. It's going to be hard for me when I get transferred out, I have really become good friends with them. Danny got a Job working construction in Böbling ( its on the complete opposite side of Stuttgart) but having to pay for a ticket there every day has left without enough money to come to church ( he gets paid for the first time this week so he said that they will be in church next week!) He has read all the way through first Nephi, and seems to be really liking it. I asked him if there was anything that we can do for him and his family, and he asked me for Church music, because it gave them feelings of peace when they listened to it. I am glad to see, whether they recognize it or not, that they are feeling the influence of the Holy Ghost.

So things are continuing to go well here. And as evident with the story above, the Lord continues to hear and answer my prayers, even the smallest of things he seems to care about. Its been a great testimony builder to me. The Lord is always there for us, all He is waiting for us to do is to ask Him for help.

Thanks for the e-mails/letters! I really appreciate them. Bis nächste Woche! (Until next week!)

Love,

Elder Ryan Christensen

Doner

In the pictures Ryan sent us, a couple of them show him eating something called a donor, and some people have asked him what it is.  Today he included a quick email and explained it, so I will post it for those who were curious.

So bowling fell through, and now with the last 20 minutes I am printing off a few things, and so I though I would explain a Döner now. First off a Döner is not german, rather its turkish ( turkish people are like the latino population of Germany, so just as there is a lot of Mexican resteraunts in the U.S. there is a lot of Turkish resteraunts here). Anyway, there are two types of Döner, a Kebap or a Yumfka. The one you see in the picture is a Yumfka, which is basically a Döner in a homemade torilla. Anway you go into these restraunts, and you see this huge chunk of meat on an open rotisery. Then when you order your Döner, they will take a sword out, and shave the meat off and put it in the tortilla, or in a crecsant like bun. Then you have your choice of various condiments, redkraut, weißkraut, lettuce, tomatoes, a white sauce, and special type of cheese if you want it. Then you can have ground pepper ( essentially the pizza pepper mix that you can get from Papa Murphy's ) added as well. It takes great! I am not sure what kind of meat it is, some say its lamb, others say you don't want to know... so maybe one day I will ask :-) either way its very good! Anyway I love you dad, thanks for your letter! I will respond and send you a return letter when I can, by the way your letter took 5 days to get here, which is 5 days faster than any other letter I have gotten!

A strike, a Ukulele, and a Testimony

I can't believe that yet another week has already gone by! It seems the weeks are going by far to quickly. Things are going fairly well, this week was a slow week, and  it seemed that none of our investigators could meet with us. Which was hard. Although it could be worse. My poor Zone Leaders. So on Wednesday there was public transportation strike, which was mainly in Stuttgart ( only 4 buses in Esslingen weren't driving, so it didn't effect me and Elder Heinrich too much.) Anyway, Stuttgart is rather large, and EVERYTHING was shut down. So the night before the strike my Zone leaders borrowed some bikes from members in the ward, to be used to go to all of their appointments.The next day comes, and they found themselves walking out the door a bit late. Luckily for them though ( or so they thought) they lived on the top of a huge hill, so they could make up the time by riding really fast down the hill. Which would have been totally fine, if it weren't for the incredibly sharp turn at the bottom... Yeah, so the first elder didn't make the turn and flew off on to the sidewalk, while the second, following not to far behind slammed on the brakes, but not quick enough, hit the other bike and flew up over the handlebars. Both bikes were destroyed in the process. But they both miraculously remained fairly uninjured ( they were traveling at around 40 kph ( roughly 25 mph) when they wrecked. But had some pretty good sized cuts ( they showed up at our District meaning a few days  later with some bandages claiming to have been jumped in an alley :-) ). Anyway, they made it into the newspaper with their wreck, which makes it twice in the period of 2 weeks that they were in the newspaper :-) The first time was an article about the church/missionary work. You may be able to see it ( although I think only Beth would be able to understand it) The name of the Article was Sie gehen ihren Weg des Herrn in the Stuttgart Zeitung, if anyone is interested.

Anyway, I am trying to think of anything exciting that happened this past week, but nothing is coming to mind, it was just a normal week of missionary work.  2 Nephi 29:3, if I had a dime for every time I have heard that phrase in the past few weeks... my goodness. It seems to be always the same:

 "Hi we are missiona... yeah, yeah, we know, you have your bible and that you don't need anymore. Yes we are familiar with Revelations 22:18, are you familiar with 2 Nephi 29:6? " haha I wish I could use that, but it probably wouldn't go over so well. But yeah, things are well, Frau Baumann came to church yesterday and liked it, and said that she will come again next week. Things are interesting at the moment with Frau Baumann, having heard that she has read the bible twice I assumed that she was christian, but she is very firm in her belief of Reincarnation, which is not a christian belief. So we hope that with time, coming to church, praying about the Book of Mormon, she can get a firm belief in the Plan of Salvation. She still doesn't have a baptismal date, because when we asked her if she wanted to be baptized, she said that had already been baptized so she didn't need to be. We are going to go back and review Priesthood Power and Authority, and then ask her again.

We have recently gained 2 new investigators, Mai and Steven. They both come from Nigeria, Mai has been here for 12 years, and Steven has lived here for a few months. A month or so ago, Mai had a baby girl, and named her Gift. Which in English is a sweet name to give a baby, however the poor child will be raised in Germany, where the word "Gift" means "Poison". Anyway, we met with them on Friday, and they came to church yesterday! All 3 hours! (Most of our investigators only come to Sacrament meeting, because its easier ( Sacrament meeting starts at 10.50 and for some it takes awhile to get here.)) They seemed to really enjoy it, so things are looking well in that respect. We just need to convince them to get married sooner rather than later. 

I am giving on a talk on this upcoming Sunday. And am scared to death to do so. Its easy to speak to one person in German, but it is going to be completely different speaking to 200 people in German for 10 or so minutes. But I will be fine, its just going to be pushing me well out of my comfort zone. Haha I gave a presentation in the primary! Well sort of, they were learning the names of the apostles, and Schwester Müller found out that I knew various facts about the apostles. So I told all that I knew about each apostle, which isn't much but it was enough for primary age children. Then Elder Heinrich, and Schwester Müller, and I tried to sing a poorly translated song about the apostles while Elder Heinrich played the Ukulele. We have video footage of it, but it is probably better not to share it ;-) Elder Heinrich's family will probably post it on Facebook, so if you add him as a friend under me, you might be able to see it.  Its really weird, there are only 13 kids in the entire primary! There almost more Primary children in our home ward than there are members in this ward! I am still trying to adjust to that. 

One thing recently that has come up a lot in my studies, is the atonement of Jesus Christ. A scripture that we commonly use is Alma 7:11-12. But having used a lot in the past few days, it has really caused me to stop an ponder on it. Its something that is very widely known and excepted that Jesus suffered for us. But I really wonder how much people comprehend the extent of what that means. Yesterday in a lesson with a non active member of the church, he expressed to us, that he couldn't believe in a God that would allow so much pain and sorrow to exist in this world. He wondered why it was necessary to come here and to be exposed to all of this. Naturally its for our good and for our experience, as stated in the Doctrine and Covenants, but one thing that I have thought of is that it allows us to more fully comprehend the atonement, and what it can do. We oft time take it for granted, and it is truly through trial and sorrow that we draw nearer to our Savior. How are we expected to draw nearer unto him, if we don't know Him, or don't know what he has done for us. By allowing these trials to come upon us, he allows us to become nearer to the savior, by relying on him more, and ourselves less. I am very grateful for what Jesus did for me. What a blessing it is to know that He should care for us, enough to atone, and die for us. It makes life that much more worth living, to know that someone has been where we are, and will always be there when we allow Him to be. I testify that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. That he came down and took upon himself all of our sins, iniquities and infirmities, so that we could repent, gain the help that we need, and be able to return to our Father in Heaven one day. 

Sorry that this week was a bit uneventful, hopefully there will be more to write next week!

Love,

Elder Christensen

Weekly Update

Sorry this is a bit late, today has been pretty weird. We ended up going to the Botanical Gardens/Zoo in Stuttgart today, mainly because my companion has never been to a Zoo. It was incredibly pretty, Its a one of a kind in Europe and one of only a few in the world. It was originally built to be a private garden/ residence for the king of Schwabenland, but now its a beautiful park. There is a Castle in it too, but we weren't able to go see it because it isn't open on Mondays ( but if you want to see pictures of it, just google Wilhelma Zoo in Stuttgart). I took roughly 160 pictures there, so you won't be lacking anything ( my camera died, so I can't send home any just yet). We spent a little more time there today then I wanted ( hence the reason for the late e-mail) but it was worth it in the end. 


Things have been going really well here, This past weekend was marvelous! But it didn't start out that way. So on Wednesday we got a referral from Church HQ of someone who lives in Kirchheim who anmelden on www.mormon.org and was requesting a Book of Mormon. So we made plans to give one to him on Thursday evening. Thursday was rough. There is a saying, or a parable of sorts about missionary work here; It goes like this: There are 2 people working a Garden, One of them spends all day sowing and harvesting plants, the other pushes a giant bolder around the perimeter of the garden all day long. Both work very hard and at the end of the day the are both exhausted, but the one who pushed to bolder in circles didn't do much. We felt like we had spent the day pushing a bolder. Everything fell through and no one wanted to listen ( I partly blame the weather, it was a GORGEOUS day on thursday) Sitting at the train station, we were exhausted and wanted the day to come to an end. Our referral lived a block away from the train station, so we planned enough time to go down to Kirchheim, give him his book, come home, eat dinner and go to bed. We take the train to Kirchheim ( a 25 minute train ride there) and go and klingel his door. The name on the door was "Pfarrer Obermann" Pfarrer means Pastor; he was a pastor for a local church. We thought " oh great, he is only going to want to bible bash with us" ( this wouldn't be the first time that someone went through the trouble of finding us, just to bash us). Anyway to our great surprise, he came to the door and was excited to see us, he was like jumping up and down with excitement to get his hands on a Book of Mormon. We gladly gave it to him. He said that he was busy for the next 30 minutes, but if we could wait he really wanted to talk to us about it. We said that would be fine, and that we would come back in 30 minutes. As previously mention Germans really dislike missionaries knocking at their door. The only thing they hate worse than that, is when missionaries knock on their door after the sun goes down. Well the sun had gone done, there wasn't anyone on the street, and we were stuck for 30 minutes. Which means that we only had one option, we were going to go door-ing after dark in the small city of Kirchheim. To our utter amazement 3 out of the 7 doors we knocked on actually had interest and we gave away a few Book of Mormons! We were dumbfounded! That kind of success doesn't not happen in Germany. Kirchheim! of all places! So as you can very well imagine we have already made plans to return to our new favorite proselyting area ;-). 


Anyway one thing I neglected to mention was that because were going to be in Kirchheim waiting to talk to Pfarrer Oberman, we knew that we weren't going to have time for dinner anymore. We had planned just enough time to come down give him the book talk for maybe 20 minutes or so, then return home for dinner ( we eat dinner at 8.00 PM here, then plan, then have an hour of personal time). So we had just assumed we would skip dinner again tonight ( BEFORE PEOPLE PANIC, THIS IS NOT A COMMON OCCURRENCE!) but it does happen occasionally. We came back an knocked on his door at roughly 7:55 P.M. He answered and welcomed us in, his wife was making dinner, and he told us that he doesn't let guests interfere with dinner, so we assumed we would talk to him for a bit, then he and his wife would have dinner and we would leave. Walking in to the main room, I glanced into the kitchen and noticed that the table was set for 4 people, I thought that to be peculiar, but assumed that they were having guests, so I didn't think anything of it. But after about 20 minutes of talking with him ( mainly just getting to know him ( he has a really interesting history)) his wife called us for dinner. We assumed this meant that we were leaving, but to our utter amazement, he invited us to join him for dinner! We had never met him before, and they had no idea we were coming! ( Or any clue that we weren't going to be able to eat dinner.) His reasoning was: "two young missionaries far away from home can appreciate a delicious home-cooked meal that they don't need to prepare or buy". So we joined them for dinner, and it was wonderful. They are an incredibly kind family. It turns out that he had served on the military base and had a colleague who was a member of our church, so he wanted to know more. Long story short through the meal, and tracting earlier, we gained a few new investigators, and didn't starve that night :-) It just goes to show that the Lord will take care of anyone who tries to do what is right. :-)


That was Thursday, on Friday Elder Blogett ( who actually was a professor of Linguistics at SUU) gave a presentation in Esslingen on the scattering of the 12 tribes of Israel. THAT WAS AMAZING! Completely in German, and yet I understood all of it! He used Linguistics to show the evolution of European languages, as well as who was scattered where and when. So in the presentation I learned the entire history of the English and German languages their origins etc. As well as the 4 times that the house of Israel was scattered! Its crazy! So long story short, Latin, English and German come from Hebrew ( well I am not 100% sure if Latin came from Hebrew, but it had a MAJOR Hebrew influence). And there are some really cool similarities for example:


The Hebrew word: Pader means Father. Scholars have noted that there are only 6 basic changes between Hebrew and English/German 2 are involved with this word: 1) P over time became an "F" in Englisch. 2) "d" became "dh" which in English was pronounced ( and later spelled) as "th" substituting those in directly, you get the word "Father". And those who know Spanish will recognize the word Padre´ anyone notice a similarity?! Yeah it blew my mind. This is why So many European Languages seem similar, they all came from a Hebrew background, but as Israel was scattered and time went on, became different languages! 
He showed that with so many words! It was so fascinating! And then he talked about symbols and things of the different tribes, and often times on the coat of arms of a state, or country you can seen which tribes settled it. For example one of the symbols of Judah was a cross, for Emphraim it was a cross tilted to look like an "x" you will noticed that the British flag has both of those symbols, which means that it was founded under a Judaic and Emphramaic influence. Even the Great Seal of the United States of America has symbolism. The original Country had 13 states, and there are technically 13 tribes of Israel ( because Joseph had two sons). So the seal has 13 clouds, and 13 fires, representing the Israel exodus from Egypt, they were led by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. HOW COOL IS THAT!! Oh my, it was awesome! Also, something really cool, most scholars think that Moses led the children of Israel out of bondage around the year 1492 BC. In 1492 AD Columbus discovered america, which allowed for many to escape a "spiritual or religious" bondage. It was a spectacular presentation.


And then on Sunday we ate one of the members houses, and while talking at dinner, she told me tht I speak "Akzentfrei" meaning accent free, or free of an accent. I gave her a puzzled look, because I thought there was no way that I, having only been here for 4 weeks, could possibly be speaking without and accent. See my expression, she said " well you have an accent, it just is much better than the other american missionaries". That made my weekend! I was told by a German native that I speak mostly accent free. Which made me feel really good, because I have been really working hard on my pronunciations lately. Speaking of which, right now I am trying to master the German "r" sound, they roll their "r" but its not with your tongue against your teeth, like they do with Spanish. Instead it is your uvula vibrating of the back of your tongue, and it is incredibly hard to do, I still can't do it. Maybe if I nod my head really fast... nope it didn't work, but I will keep trying! :-)


Things are going well here, there are naturally hard times, but things always seem to work out one way or another. There are a few investigators who could easily be baptized, they have kept all of our commitments, are in harmony with all the commandments or God, believe the Book of Mormon is true, everything! They just don't quite feel ready for baptism yet... But we will keep working. Hopefully we can set up a new baptismal date for Frau Schmid ( she is still trying to quit smoking, and is very close to doing so.) but once she does that, we should be good to go! Anyway, I hope all is well at home! Does Josh like his new room? After all that work, I hope he does. Speaking of Josh, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ( In 2 days :-) ). For your present, I decided to give you my room, my laptop and my car! ;-) In all honesty though, I would send you a gift, but most things in here are German ( Go figure...)  ( I was actually tempted to send you this golf book that I found, but you wouldn't understand it anyway :-) ) But if you can think of anything you want me to send you, I would be more than happy to do so! 


I love you all, 
Elder Ryan Christensen