Well, its Monday yet again. Wow. Time flies.

Well first things first Frau Zalka and Simon despite feeling good about it all week, trying on Baptismal clothing, taking pictures etc. Called off the Baptism a few hours before it was supposed to happen on Friday. We called them that morning and all was fine. Then Simon's religion teacher called her and started bashing on the church calling it a sect (which is a ridiculously huge thing here for some reason so big that we have church material that we give out which says "A state recognized church since 1955"). Es ist ja, ein Wahnsinn dass hier im Österreich  so etwas  wichtig ist.(It is maddening that this is so important in Austria).  

Anyway, she called it off (through e-mail, for some reason she really detests phone calls, she won't talk on the phone for more than 2 or 3 minutes, yet will gladly write a 10 page letter and send it (I am glad that she at least switched to an e-mail instead of a letter sent through the mail)). She said that she wouldn't be baptized and wouldn't come to church anymore. End of story. Well we knew Frau Zalka well and correctly guessed that we would hear from her today. And we did. She wrote an e-mail (this is all to the GML, who then relates it to us) apologizing for her behavior and said that she again, started reading in the Book of Mormon again, and can't deny that she knows its true.

She also was reading a talk by a general Authority which mentioned how Peter denied Jesus 3 times. Having now denied the church and called off the baptism 3 times, it really had an effect on her. So she wants to get baptized on Friday just before a Fireside for the Relief Society. She has a testimony, she understands the doctrine, she just needs to stop letting herself get tossed to and fro by all these different opinions. We will try to go up and visit it her with the GML and hopefully we can get her baptized (if not Friday then eventually!) Mensch (Man!). This is crazy. 

That was pretty much my Friday, get back from an exchange, have a baptism cancelled on me, and then go to PFK (?? not sure what this is) ( there were a few other things but that was the main part of the day). 

I don't really know what else to write about. There were 3 baptisms on Saturday hier in Wien. That was cool.

Haha, on Tuesday we met with Martin and Marion, with Martin Hayden as a mitbelehrung, and taught them about the Haus of Israel. That wasn't planned, but we asked them (well specifically Marion) if they had any questions. And she said that when reading the book of Mormon she was really confused about the terms (Jews, Gentiles, Israel, etc.) and that looking them up in the Schriftenführer (Bible Dictionary) only made more questions (the Schriftenführer is like a hybrid between the topical guide and Bible dictionary. I LOVE IT. With every word or "Begriff" ("term") (you will need to translate that I forgot what the English word is) you get a small definition, and then a list of scriptures in which it appears). So we started with Abraham and went our way through the 12 tribes, how at the time of Isaiah, Jeramiah etc. they were separated into 2 kingdoms etc. It went really well and now she completely understands those terms :-).

After that we asked if there were any other questions, and they asked 

" how does one know from which tribe he is?" 

"That is a completely different topic for another time". 

"Oh, and I also heard this really weird word in Relief Society that I didn't understand, what is a Patriarchal Blessing?" 

(while smacking my forehead) "that is exactly what we were referring to with 'completely different topic for another time'..."  It was much more funny in person, but I guess that we will be talking about Patriarchal blessings next time with them... :-)

Once Martin gets back from South Korea that is, he flew out on Saturday for some business related training for the next week. :-) Things are going well with them, they are both steadily making progress, and will get baptized, its not a question anymore. For a honeymoon trip, they are planning on visiting Salt Lake City/ Tempel Square. :-) (then subsequently California and Hawaii, but Salt Lake was the thing they put emphasis on). 

We got a new investigator this past week. She met with the missionaries last year, but then stopped because of Summer vacation. Elders Chapman and Babcock met with her on Friday, and we have another appointment with her this upcoming Friday. She is really good friends with the Husz Familie (A & M Husz (there are more than one Husz families in the ward)). So we meet with them and teach. She has a few concerns though dealing with WWII how members of the church were allowed to be apart of the Nazi regime, and the fact that Nephi cut Labans head off really concerns her as well.

Which brings me to a cool experience. As a mission we are reading the Book of Mormon through; 2 chapters a day. Well I was starting into personal Study on Saturday, trying to read in the Book of Mormon, and I couldn't. I couldn't focus, but was thinking about her and her concerns. So I started to ponder and study, and being enlightened by the Spirit I found out how I could resolve all of her concerns in one lesson, namely the plan of Salvation (she has more concerns than just those two mentioned, but those are two of the biggest).

It was absolutely incredible. I could see the points to highlight, the exact scriptures that I was to use were coming to mind and how to go about the lesson. It was fantastic. :-) I took notes and wrote it all down. I am excited for it. :-) It is wonderful to be able to have the influence of the spirit leading in this great work. It only strengthens my testimony that what is happening here is truly the work of the Lord. He leads it, and we are only tools in his hands. 

My time is now up. But I wish you all well! I love you all,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

What a week

Wow, this is probably one of the most intense weeks I have had out here. So much has happened. Tuesday we had interviews with President Miles, which was awesome. :-) It's always a very uplifting. Then I had to wait for Elder Orchard to get done with his interviews so we could go out to Wolkersdorf, a member had invited us to eat with them. Well with everything that happened we got there an hour late.... but we still had a good time there with the Vodusek family.

Then we came back (we were now 4 in the apartment) and I made Bauern Cordon Bleu Schnitzel  :-) (yeah I know, I come from an eating appointment and make schnitzel, but we had 4 elders and I wanted to do something a bit special). That was pretty much all that was done, we went to bed, studied the next day, We went to Zone Training, and were back to our normal companionship.

Thursday we got a ton of snow, WAY more than is normal for Vienna we got a half a meter in a single day. Public transit was a nightmare. We had originally planned to go contact on the street for a couple of hours, but it was so cold and snowing so bad that we abandoned that plan, and went out near Großfeldsiedlung and doored. We waited 20 minutes at the bus stop for the bus, and then all at once 3 came. We took the first go a couple stops, and get out. (On a side note the bus got stuck! It took 20 minutes for the bus driver to clear the snow from the tires and get out).

Went door to door for a while not finding really anyone, which was hard because I had felt that we should come and door here. In the last building before we had to leave, I saw a cleaning lady and started talking to her, and we were able to have a good conversation and we were able to bear a lot of testimony. She recognized the name of the church, and was really interested in learning about the church. She mentioned that her mom was in contact with the church, and had passed a way a few years ago. Long story short, she is going out of town for the next couple of weeks, but she wants us to come by and visit her when she gets back. :-)

Another thing that is really cool. While waiting 20 minutes for the bus, the GML called and said he had some news about Frau Zalka. She and Simon had talked, and she had taught her children the restoration through a really cool lesson. She had drawn pictures of Churches and wrote down the names of different Churches, Evangelisch, Catholic, etc. Then cut a corner out of each of the churches and said that they all had a part missing. I don't remember exactly how she did the next part, but then explained and showed that through Joseph Smith the church was restored. Really cool.

She had talked with her son and he wants to be baptized on his birthday with her. This Friday! They came to Church, had another interview. Simon knew the answers and as of now wants to be baptized! It's not final yet, Frau Zalka wants to wait and be baptized with Simon, so that they can do it together, which means if he changes his mind she won't get baptized. So if you could pray for the both of them it would be well appreciated. :-)

Later that day I get a call from someone, saything that he was baptized a member 17 years ago but had been living in Serbia for the past while but was back in Wien and wanted to meet with the missionaries as soon as possible. He lives in the Wien 3 area, so I was going to give them to him in hopes that they could meet with him. But I couldn't get a hold of them, and our appointment fell out. We both felt, despite the fact that he wasn't in our area, that we needed to go and visit this man, so we start heading out there (we were already in the middle of Wien at Deutsch Kurs not too far away from where we needed to go to find this man).

We get on the U3, and then Wien 3 calls us. Essentially they were on there way to another appointment, and were on the U6 getting there. But here is the thing, the U3 and U6 cross at Westbahnhof, and because we were on our way, we both were able to meet at Westbahnhof, and go on splits with them so we could go to both appointments. I went to Zoran (this member from Serbia) with Elder Evans. He essentially told us his life story 3 times over. If everything which he said was true, he has had an INCREDIBLY hard life. His daughter dying at the age of 9 from Bone Marrow cancer, while he was in jail because someone had stolen some money, and had framed him for it. And a lot of other things. Essentially he had gone away from the church for a while because of all of these things but recognizes he needs Gods help. He was supposed to have gone to church yesterday, I haven't yet heard from Wien 3 what happened.

Friday was absolutely hands down the craziest day of missionary work that I have ever had. We had an appointment on Simensstraße, but it fell out, and earlier we had felt that we needed to go dooring at Simensstraße 27. Here in Wien addresses are a bit different; you have the first number which generally covers a couple of buildings made up of Stieges (sections of a building you can say) and then the door number. This place had like 11 stieges so we went door to door there for an hour or so. That was crazy, we doored into everything imaginable, 4 people smoking Marijuana, a ton of drunk people, and a ton of other things. But among all the craziness we found 2 potentials, and made out 2 specific appointments for Saturday and Sunday. (They both fell out... go figure, but still it was awesome!)

Then later we went and had dinner, went by on a few other people, and then went and visited Edith to teach Chiara. It went longer than we had wanted it to, and we were walking out the door at like 9.15 or so, but walking down the street Chiara comes outside (Chiara acts a lot more like a 4 year old, despite being 8) bare feet without a coat, in -4 degree Celsius weather (and VERY HUMID which makes it far worse than it actually feels) absolutely refusing to listen to her mom. So Jakiri (who came with us) goes and picks her up and takes her back in side. We were down the street waiting, and we could here Chiara screaming all the way from inside her house. Long story short, Jakiri called us and asked us to come back and see if we could help Chiara calm down.

We went back and waited and tried helping. This took a while. Edith was at her end and nearly in tears asking us if we could kneel down and pray. We did. Then I had an idea, make a paper airplane so I did, and showed it to Chiara. It calmed her down IMMEDIATELY. We through it back and forth across the room for a bit, then Jakiri and I sang a hymn. The atmosphere was calm, the spirit was there and it allowed Elder Chapman and I to leave. We got home at 10.35. That is the first time I have ever gotten back to the apartment after curfew my entire mission. And it just happened to happen on the 18th of January. The Year mark of Elder Chapman and I. There is more to the story, but I don't have any more time. CRAZIEST DAY EVER!

It was a neat week full of a lot of spiritual impressions that had we not followed things would have turned out a lot differently. I am so grateful for those small spiritual impressions, and that these really neat things happened.

I saw a name of a potential last night during weekly planning, and for some reason I wanted to visit her RIGHT THEN. So I tell Elder Chapman if he would mind he looks at me and says " are you kidding? I HATE weekly planning! Lets go!" So we did and found her at home. It turns out that she really likes the missionaries and wants to meet with us, but had been busy. It turns out that the only reliable free day that she has in the week is Sunday. So had we not have gone right then, and done it another day, We probably would have never been able to contakt her (did I mention that she has a husband and 4 kids, a FAMILY!) She was fairly sick and was hospitalized recently she had someone visiting at the moment, but she was happy to see us, and wants to keep in contact atleast weekly with us. :-)

The spirit really leads this work and we are seeing some amazing things. If Frau Zalka and Simon get baptized this week, that with be 4 baptisms in Wien within 2 days!!!!!! I know that this is the true church and that the work that missionaries are doing here is of God and that he leads it. 

I wish you all a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Ja, noch eine Woche ist vorbei.

(Yes, Another week has passed).  

I don't really know where to begin with this e-mail. This week was fairly mellow. We had 4 fallen out appointments (which has become normal to us) and a lot of time to find. We found 8 potentials though! And made out 3 appointments for this week! (Yeah, ok there is a probability that most, if not all will fall out, but I am still positive and happy about them!)

Nothing overally special happened this past week. Things are still going well with Frau Zalka, for that past 3 weeks or so she has had a constant desire to be baptized, and has said that she wants to be baptized at the end of the Month with Simon, her son who will turn 8. The only problem is, Simon is against it.

He came to her in tears and asked that she not be baptized... She is still wanting to because she feels that Heavenly Father wants her too. Simon has had a rough ride with her. Back when she first started coming he was given a part in the primary program as was so incredibly excited! He memorized the part and put on his suit and was ready to go when his mom then decided that they weren't going to go to church. He went and cried for awhile when she told him that.

Our GML is guessing that with the up and down it has just been too much and he doesn't want to get attached to anyone, make any friendships, only to have them ripped away again... They didn't come to church again yesterday... We are still praying that all will go well. We hope to be able to teach them a couple of times per week until the end of January. I will let you know how that turns out.

We met with Martin and Marion again on Saturday at out GML's house in Deutsch Wagram. We talked about the ten Commandments, Keeping the Sabbath day holy, Following the Prophet, then taught the law of Chasity. It went very well. We had a good discussion and focused a lot on the blessings. Nearly a Month or so ago, Elder Steed and I invited them to baptism, which is when we found out that they weren't married, but they told us at that time that they had plans to get married within 12 to 18 months. We brought it back up on Saturday and they said that they had talked about it and said between 6 to 10 months! Then we committed them to come up with a SPECIFIC DAY and reminded them that without getting married they couldn't get baptized. We will see what they decide  (Elder Chapman and I are really hoping for the 29th of January..... ;-))

Haha we found out that Martin has in his possesion and is reading Preach My Gospel. :-) Well, it should make teaching a lot easier, just assign him the sections we want to discuss and then we can talk about them together. :-) I love Martin and Marion, they are so funny. We have a lot of fun meeting with them. 

On a completely unrelated note, I MADE A THAI CURRY! I don't know exactly if it was a Musa mun ( I have no clue how to spell that...) or not ( I don't know exactly what makes it a Musa mun as opposed to a normal curry with chicken, Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, and Cashews...) BUT it was REALLY REALLY GOOD. I was rather proud of myself. I didn't have a recipe either.

While shopping last week I noticed the asian food isle and saw a small jar which was a Thai red curry paste. I looked at it, and saw that with this and coconut milk you could make a curry sauce, so I thought I would give it a try, I purchased Potatoes, and Carrots ( Elder Chapman wanted them as well) a couple of Chicken breasts and Cashews. I already had onions at home. I made the sauce, added a ton of Siracha, and a bit of lemon juice to the point where it tasted about right, boiled and then cut up a couple Chicken breasts, cut up some potatoes, onions, and carrots and threw them all together and let them simmer in the curry sauce for awhile. Then put it over rice and it was great. I attached some pictures.

The best part is, is that Elder Chapman doesn't really like Asian, so I got to have left overs for the next day! :-) I have been really wanting a Thai curry for a long time, and so it made me incredibly happy to be able to make one :-)

That is pretty much all I have to report. The only lesson that actually happened this week was with Martin and Marion. This week will be an adventure, we have interviews on Tuesday, and Zone Training on Wednesday. We have missionaries from way far away coming in that will be staying with us here in Wien.

And for those two days we will be doing splits with missionaries. Elder Escher (who is in the 4th ward here in Wien) will be working with Elder Chapman and my companion will be Elder Orchard who is coming from Klagenfurt. Do you remember Conference in April how one of the speakers said that his nephew was coming to this mission here? Elder Orchard is that one. :-) I met him when I picked up Elder Robins (he came in at the same time). So for Tuesday and Wednesday we will have 4 Elders in our incredibly small apartment, and I will be companions with Elder Orchard.:-)

That will do it for this e-mail I wish you all well!

I love you all!

-Elder Ryan K. Christensen

A New Week

Its hard to believe that it has only been one week since the New Year began. Last week was pretty crazy, well Transfer day was atleast. Last Tuesday we got the phone call telling us what we were doing. Elder Steed took the phone call and wrote down everything. He told me that I would be going to Salzburg and spending the day there (as I expected).

Well Transfer day came, I didn't plan for anything because I assumed I would be with the Zone Leaders in Salzburg contacting all day. We leave the apartment a little bit later than we wanted, and take the U-Bahn. The U-bahn got delayed and we arrived on Westbahnhof 5 minutes before our Train was supposed to leave. PANIC. We had to go up the stairs and accross a somewhat busy street to get to the long distance trains. So we go as fast as we can and get up to the street just as the the cross walk light turns red...

So we wait and wait and it still doesn't change. 2 minutes till the Train is supposed to leave. There was a large gap in cars, so we run across the street (dragging Elder Steeds ridiculously heavy luggage) into bahnhof up the stairs down to our Platform, then RUN down the platform as the whistle blows for the train to leave (we are still 20 meters from getting onto the train so we REALLY BOOKED IT) we get to the train drag all of Elder Steeds stuff on. I jump on (asssuming I am going to Salzburg) when the Strongs (the Ehepaar (couple missionaries) here for the YSA center) come running up and say "get off! get off!" "What?!" I jump out seconds before the doors shut, and then the train drove out of the station.

I was so confused. It turns out that I wasn't supposed to go with Elder Steed to Salzburg, and that I was going to stay the day in Wien. We had to call and have someone print off our ticket for us (the strongs gave it to Elder Steed just as we jumped on) and it was only for one person. And thats how I found out that I was actually working here in Wien, and not going with the Salzburg Elders. Thats one heck of a way to find out.

Alright so Elder Brose and I work together for an hour, then Elder Kinghorn and Gubler show up ( Elder Gubler was Elder Brose new companion (Elder Gubler entered into the MTC the same day as I did, but I flew out here with Elder Brose  in case anyone was curious). And then they turn to me and ask "So what are your plans for today?". "I have NO idea". Elder Kinghorn came with me back to the apartment. Neither of us had studied so We studied for 3 hours and had lunch. I made Bauern Cordon Bleu Schnitzel :-). Instead of Ham, I used bacon, diced up some onions and sauteed them in a bit of oil, and them added a little bit of some spicy brown mustard. It was REALLY GOOD. :-)

Then we went out and went by on some potentials and made out a few appointments for this upcoming week! :-) It was good. We went by on people most of the day, as well as taught a German course, (Actually I ended up teaching advanced English, because no one showed up for german, and the elders that normally teached that were white washed :-)) (We are not sure what that means). But Then we went to West Bahnhof at 7:20 to pick up our new companions. We arrived home at a little bit after 8. And that was transfer day. :-)

Things have gone really well since then. Elder Steed hating finding and wouldn't talk to people on the street, Elder Chapman though really likes it. (I really like doing it as well) and it is unbelievable the difference there is when both Elders are trying to find people and talk to them. We managed to find 6 potentials last week. Most of that was in 2 days!! I am very excited for this new transfer. :-) We even made out 2 appointments for this week will people on the street, and we are going to call a couple of people tonight to make some more. :-)

Thats pretty much all I have to report. I found something really cool in the apartment yesterday! Its an Martin Luther Bible from the year 1941. Its not a full bible they call it the "Youth and Family Bible" It large sections of all the books of the Old Testament, and the Entire New testament with explanations on some of the verses. Its really cool. It is written in the old style of Writing which looks a lot different the the letters that you are reading on the page. I really like it.

I have a Mini Luther Bible that I bought in Esslingen, but it was the revised version, this is a lot closer to the original. :-) I also got to see a REALLY old bible from the1500's (see the 2nd picture). The GML has had it for a long time, I guess his grandpa found it a long time ago, some Bookstore was going to throw it away.

That is all for now, I need to leave, but I wish you all a great week!

love,
Ryan K. Christensen

P.S. The third picture is the title page to the New Testament. The writing in the Bible I have looks a lot like that, not as extreme, but that is what old Written German looks like. :-) Try reading that! haha I actually surprised my GML when I opened it up and started reading it. The words back then are spelled a bit different, but I was able to tell what the words meant. I knew already a bit of the old German lettering and so I was able to read it. IT WAS WAY COOL!

New Years Eve

This e-mail will be really really short. I have 20 minutes before I need to catch a train :-(. But things are going well.

We did have transfer calls this past week and Elder Steed will be going. My new companion is... Elder Chapman from Orem! Its really Ironic, back in my first area, Catherine (Winters) asked me if I new him/ saw him at all in the MTC because she was in the same Seminary class as his sister. Well, I didn't see him then, but he will be my new companion!! That will happen on Thursday, and because he is coming from Ellwangen... I am in for a VERY long day. I will probably be waiting at the bahnhof all day long, but that bahnhof will most likely be Salzburg!!! :-) But I am very excited. :-) 

We were invited to lunch out in Deutsch Wagram and will need to go soon. I may be able to write an expansion to this later on today, I am still not sure. We will be with the Jankowsky for lunch then tonight we will be with the Voduseks and the Husz. President Miles has given us permission to remain with them as long as they are wanting us there, even if it is past midnight (but they need to give us a ride home if this is the case.) And I think they are planning on it, so we will be up playing games tonight till 12 or later (assuming that we can actually last, I have heard stories from past missionaries saying that after 10:30 we pretty much crash... :-) ). So I will report on that more next week. :-) 

Thanks for all the letters! My word, I got 4 on the 24th, 4 on the 27th (and a package) 4 on the 28th (and a package as well) and like 5 or 6 today! (Including the 2 cards which you sent to me at the beginning of December ;-) ). That has been awesome, but inspired some envy on the part of Elder Steed, who may have gotten 1 or 2 :-). But he usually gets more mail than I do, so thats ok :-)

Anyway, unless I get a chance later to e-mail, this will be it. I love you all and wish you a happy New Year! Guten Rutsch ins Jahr 2013!!!!! (Happy New Year in 2013)

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

6 hours later.....

Well I get a little more time. Not much, but a little. I don't know really what to add though. I am still alive! Barely sometimes, but still alive none the less! ;-)

I could tell you a bit more about Jakiri. He's incredible. A lot of people have been asking him about the church at the klinic where he is on Kur, and he has been telling them about the Book of Mormon and a lot of things. And because of all of it, there are so far 3 people that are wanting to come to church! Unbelievable.

He also has some fairly neat storys about coming to church and making it back to Kur ( he has to make it back by a certain time before the doors lock.) One night he was here with us and the weather was horrific. It was below freezing, but it was raining. The rain was freezing instantly when it hit the ground. It was also freezing on the electrical line that the trains use, causing MASSIVE delays. He needed to catch a train that was from Florisdorf to Absdorf-Hippersdorf, and then wait 4 minutes for a train to take him to Krems.

Well he gets to Florisdorf and looks on the monitor to see when his train comes. All trains had massive delays then all of the sudden, all trains were CANCELLED. He was a little bit stressed, and then a thought came to his head "your a member now, just believe!" So he did and he waited patiently. After a few minutes the status of his train switched from "Cancelled" to "30 minute delay" and then he kept watching and the delay began counting down 27, 26 , 25, 23, 18... until it arrived with a delay of 10 minutes. But he got on, and it took him safely to Absdorf-Hippersdorf and he made it safely to Krems. 

On another occasion (yesterday) he didn't know how he would get here. The bishop had given him some money to pay for the train ride, but the taxi ride between Krems bahnhof and the klinic costed a lot more than expected so he didn't have any money to come. And most of the time, he gets a ride from his friend, but his friend got really sick. (Late at night Saturday).

He woke up the next morning feeling a bit discrouaged not knowing how he was going to possibly make it to Church. Then randomly his roomate gave him 20 Euro, which would cover the train ride here, but then he needed to figure out how to get the bahnhof. During breakfast one lady (who he didn't know hardly at all) randomly came up to him and asked if he would like a Ride to the Bahnhof. He was stunned but accepted and came!!! So cool. It is a great example on how the Lord will provide for our needs. Always. Even small things ( if you could call coming to Church small that is...). 

Anyway, that is all that I have time for. So I wish you all ( once again) a Happy new year!

I love you,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

 

Fröhliche Weihnacht Überall!

(Merry Christmas Everywhere!)

(This email was received on Christmas Eve.  As a family, we were out of town and could not get it posted to the blog sooner than today.  We had the AWESOME opportunity to see and talk with Elder Ryan Christensen via skype on Christmas morning.  Words cannot describe the joy in seeing him.  It was hard to say goodbye after about an hour, but it was amazing none the less.  We love and miss Ryan but know that he is doing well and serving the Lord with all his heart.  On Thursday of this last week he was expecting a transfer call for his companion Elder Steed.  We will know Monday what happened.  Also, he told us that in March his mission will get 90 missionaries more than they currently have.  They expect that number may increase again in June.  Very exciting!  We are very grateful to the GML and his family for allowing the missionaries to use their computer and spend a little time with us on Christmas.)

Wow its really hard to believe that it is already christmas time again! Has it really been almost a year now that I have been here? Crazy. 

This will be really short because I will talk to you tomorrow evening, and today we are totally packed. We were invited by Schwester Mittermayer to lunch, and then to the Vodusek Familie for dinner. But it will take a long time. We are allowed to stay out past 10:30 twice between now and new years, as long as a member gives us a direct ride home. And so who knows how long we will be with them tonight. :-) 

I really don't know what to write in this e-mail, there wasn't really anything exciting that happened over the past few weeks. Martin and Marion are really sick so they weren't able to come to Church yesterday, we were able to meet with Martin though, Marion was sick and had a really good lesson with him. 

Frau Zalka came to Sacrament meeting, she too was feeling a little sick, but much better than before. One of her concerns that she mentioned in an sms to our GML is that she doesn't know if she "für die Kirche geeignet ist". I don't know exactly how to translate that to English. The closest that I can think of is that she doesn't think that she is fit for the church or if she qualified to be a member. I gave her 2 Nephi 26:24-28, 33 and then Alma 7 14-15 to study and pray about. I hope that helps. 

24 He doeth not ^aanything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he ^bloveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw ^call men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation.

 25 Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: ^aCome unto me all ye ^bends of the earth, ^cbuy milk and honey, without money and without price.

 26 Behold, hath he commanded any that they should ^adepart out of the synagogues, or out of the houses of worship? Behold, I say unto you, Nay.

 27 Hath he commanded any that they should not partake of his^asalvation? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but he hath ^bgiven it free for all men; and he hath commanded his people that they should persuade all men to ^crepentance.

 28 Behold, hath the Lord commanded any that they should not partake of his goodness? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but ^aall men are privileged the one ^blike unto the other, and none are forbidden.

33 For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he ^ainviteth them ^ballto ^ccome unto him and partake of his goodness; and he ^ddeniethnone that come unto him, black and white, ^ebond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the ^fheathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.

 14 Now I say unto you that ye must ^arepent, and be born again; for the Spirit saith if ye are not born again ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.

 15 Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth ^abeset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism.

If not than maybe 3 Nephi 9:13-15, 21-22; Mosia 18:8-10. :-) We will see. She will get baptized, as will Martin and Marion. It's just a matter of time. 

Martin has studied the church for a long time and knows everything even really deep doctorine. He has come across a lot of anti-mormon literature and says that he has already worked everything out in his mind and nothing has or will take him away from the church! We just need to get them married, before they can get baptized... But they will Marion really wants to learn and understand, they pray and read together out of the Book of Mormon everyday, and come to church often. They always ask US when we can meet, we don't even need to ask them. :-)

Anyway thats all the time I have today. I will SEE you tomorrow!!! 

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

16th of December...

Well Another week has yet again gone by. Strange. I guess yesterday I officially became 20. Which I pretty much forgot until President and Sister Miles called and sang happy birthday to me on their trainride back to Munich ( We had Zone Conference this past week here in Wien). And then that night Elders Stilger and Davies called and sang. :-) But other than that it was another normal day. 2 eating appointments one with a cake, Sister Fries ( who made the cake) was and probably still is totally unaware that yesterday was my birthday. :-). Ohwell. :-) But nothing really happened, and Its weird to think that I am now officially 20. Thats REALLY REALLY weird. It will take some getting used to :-).

I sang a solo yesterday in Sacrament meeting. Which is somewhat of a miracle because one, I am terrrified to get up in front of people, and 2 because I had a really bad cold, and trying to sing all the other hymns my voice was cracking REALLY bad. But when I got up and started, I wasn't shaking, and, my voice held, I sang it, kept pitch really well, and didn't crack! Thats probably the first time I have really performed in front of people like that. I don't know if I will do it back at home, because  singing for a ward of 80 or so is a lot different than 500 or so, but we will see. :-) The song was "What child is this". Elder Steed wanted me to sing it will a few other people. But still planned for me to solo the first verse and the end phrase. A lot of people like it. It was cool. Totally new experience for me though.

The main highlight out of this past week was Zone Conference. They are always incredible! Its neat to get together as missionaries with the Mission President. The spirit is always strong and uplifting. I really enjoyed it. I don't have my notes with me, so I can't really remember everything that we discussed. But it was amazing. :-)

We had the ward Christmas Party on Saturday, which was neat. It was set up with various booths that one could visit, Chesnuts; roasted potatoes (done outside the church); a "Kinderpunsch" stand ( "Punsch" (hot punch) is normally alcoholic and the versions without alcohol have the word "kinder" right before them (it means children's)); a Stand where you could decorate Christmas tree ornaments (put on by the young women (of course ;-)); A Christmas caroling stand; a Stand were you "Shoot" cans down with a ball (Put on by the young men (no surprise there either ;-)); A waffel stand; and a lot of other things.

It was a lot of fun, Martin and Marion came, and I had invited a number of less actives, some of which came! And there were a number of other people that were there who didn't belong to the church. It was neat. :-) Haha the Primary put on a skit of the sign of Christs birth in america. They also had Danny Schäffner and Sammy Jankowsky join in, which if you knew them... It was hilarious. It was a very successful evening.

Martin and Marion were busy this week so we weren't able to meet with them sepeartely. But they came to the christmas party, and Church again (they have come now 6 weeks I think!). Frau Zalka is going through a lot right now. We got another letter from her on Friday (well the GML did) which essentially as he explained it, explains her whole life experiences and then she said that she wants to be baptized on Saturday (the 15th) at 11 am. Because the Primary was practicing for the skit anyway, and she really wants to get baptized. But then he called her, she didn't answer and sent him a text saying that she still wants to get baptized, but her neighbor was going through an incredibly hard time. The son of this neighbor passed away a year ago, and only a few days ago her husband committed suicide. So she is staying with her and comforting her right now and can't come to the ward christmas party and will probably not be able to come to church.

Then Frau Zalka's son got her (Frau Zalka) sick, and so she has the flu now as well... ugh. Pray for her that she won't lose the desire to be baptized after all these trials. I don't know when she wants to be baptized now, I think she wants to do it somewhat soon. But I am not sure yet. We will try to get in contact with her this week and aim for the 30th of December.

Anyway, I need to get off now, So I will let this come to an end. Thanks for the support and prayers!
I love you all,

-Elder Ryan K. Christensen

10.12.2012

Today's date is the only thing that I can think of to title the e-mail. :-) I really don't know what to write about at all, so this may or may not be short. We shall see.

Jakiri is now auf Kur (on treatment), but the bishopric has worked it out so that he can come to all the church meetings! I am really happy about that, and so is he. Haha he is the only member of the church at this klinic, and everybody is asking him questions about the church. He says he is teaching and bearing testimony all day long. He said to me last night "I thought this place was supposed to be a place where I could rest!" But instead he is answering everyone's questions about Joseph Smith, and the church and belief all day long :-).

He felt (before the baptism, and still now) that he didn't know very much at all, and he is slowly figuring out that he still knows somethings. I gave him a Gospel Principles manual yesterday as well as a True to the Faith, to help him answer the questions and learn more things in his free time. :-) Apparently a lot of the other people there have a lot of interest in learning about the gospel. I am curious to see if any of them become investigators in the future. :-)

I got to see the Christmas Devotional yesterday! That was really neat. The talks were wonderful and so was the music. I really enjoyed it. Listening to it translated took the humor out of the jokes sadly (lacking the vocal intonations, and complete accuracy due to the translators) but I still really enjoyed it. Jakiri did as well, and so did Martin and Marion. Sadly Frau Zalka's son started feeling really sick and had a high fever, so she wasn't able to come and watch it with us in the church. But she said she was going to do it from the church website. 

Things are going well with Martin and Marion. We met with them this past week. And watched The Testaments. It was good, Martin liked it, we discovered that Marion cannot handle even the slightest bit of violence in films, so even that of the church made movie, was too much for her (and personally I think there was more violence in that movie than need be). :-(  But we were able to bring it back and focus on the idea of the movie, that the book of Mormon and the bible are both Testaments of Jesus Christ. That when Christ said "Other sheep I have that are not of this fold" he meant the Nephites (3 Nephi 15:21-24). And invited them to read 3 Nephi chapters 11 and 17 (we recommended reading more but suggested that they AT LEAST read those two) and then invited them to pray about it.

They will be coming to the ward Christmas party on Saturday but are too busy to meet otherwise. They seem to really be liking things though. Martin is really excited, Marion not so much. He knows a lot about the church. He has a triple combination and a few other things, and I asked him what else he had. His reply was: 

"you know how items on the church's online shop are fairly cheap?", 

"yeah"

"over the past 6 or 7 years, I have spent around 300 Euro buying things from there".

He has everything! All of the manuals that you can buy, everything. He has been reading the Liahona magazines for awhile and occasionally quotes things from them in our lessons! It's crazy. He is just waiting on Marion to be ready. I am excited for them. :-)

We had a bit of a funny experience this past week. We were invited to eat with Mutti Mittermayer again, and Martin Hayden came with us. After we were done he drove us home. Little did we know, but there had been a burglary in the area by two men wearing completely dark clothing. Well dark clothing just happens to be standard winter missionary attire. I was wearing my Black coat, Black Gloves, completely dressed in dark colors, and Elder Steed was as well.

The police had set up some checkpoints in the area. So we got stopped, and the policemen saw us and asked us to step out of car. Martin was driving so the officer started asking him questions where we were what we were doing etc. He told them that we were just visiting a member of the ward, and that he was driving the missionaries home. At which point he turned to me and asked "missionaries? "Yeah, we are missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ, we come and teach people about the his gospel, would you by chance have any interest in learning about it?".

No, I am not joking I really asked the police officer if he wanted to learn about the church. He told me no, and was somewhat silent. Then he let us go :-). 

Well that will do it for this week, nothing else overly exciting happened. I wish you a great week!

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Video From Austria

A few weeks ago, some neighbors (Darren and Annie Rollins) went on a trip to Austria.  Darren had served in Vienna Austria on his mission.  They were there to see the area he served in and happened to ask some Elders if they knew Elder Ryan Christensen.  They said "Heck Yea", and told them he was serving in Vienna now. 

So the Rollins went to the ward where Elder Christensen was attending and were able to see him. They took the following picture and video.

Elder Christensen, Elder Steed, Darren Rollins

Ryan mentioned in his blog post about how stunned he was to see the Rollins in Vienna.  You can see in the video that he is still a little overwhelmed.  It was very good to see and hear him. We love and miss him, and getting to see his face and hear his voice and see that he is doing well is a great comfort.

Thanks to Darren and Annie for going to Austria to check up on Elder Christensen for us!

If you cannot see the video through email, you can access it on the blog at www.ryanmissionblog.blogspot.com

Baptism!

Well, I will explain in a second, but we cancelled Frau Zalka's Baptism, but Jakiri was Baptized!! (And confirmed of course!) We met with him a couple of times throughout the week, he had his struggles, but he never gave up and he was baptized! It was such a huge change for him, and he recognized that.

On Sunday he asked me to bring a really sharp knife or scissors to the baptism on Friday. I was confused but I brought both, and just before he climbed into the baptismal font, HE CUT HIS HAIR! His hair wasn't really all that long, and he didn't need to cut it but, he wanted a new look to go with his new start. He is so happy now. He still is having his struggles, but is moving forward with faith. It is so neat to see. Haha, there were 8 investigators at the baptism, who subsequently were a bit worried that they would also need to cut their hair if they were to get baptized. The missionaries ( there were 4 other companionship there) cleared it up fairly quickly.;-) Frau Zalka came to it! She almost couldn't because she was having car problems, and they didn't get resolved till an hour before she needed to leave, but she came and really enjoyed it. 

Which brings me to her story, you know most of it, 2 p-days ago we went and visited her, she had her interview, and she requested the 2nd of December as a baptismal date. Well, the following sunday (a week before yesterday) she didn't come to church, saying that she wanted to go the her Evangelisch ward one more time to get "Clarity" (I guess to make absolutely sure that she was making the right decision or something) but asked us to keep the baptismal date as is. Ok, so we did, the GML called her that night and everything looked to be fine, she didn't feel anything at all, so we were still on for Sunday.

We had previously designed to alternate with the GML and call her throughout the week. Every night. He was supposed to call her on Monday, but he happened to be traveling so he forgot. When he got back he noticed that he received a letter from Frau Zalka in the mail, and the letter said that she did NOT want to be baptized at all. So he called her and talked to her. She had sent that letter a few days earlier, and it was supposed to arrive on Friday or Saturday. At which point he talked to her for a bit, and decided that we were going to call off the baptism, and give it a few weeks in which she should come to church and Jakiri's baptism, then once things are a bit more constant, talk about a baptismal date. So that is why she was not baptized this past Sunday. Her son was sick yesterday, so she only came for Sacrament, but she came to the baptism as well and things are looking better. We will probably wait another week or so before we talk about a date, we hope that we can maybe shoot for the 23rd or the 30th. She knows everything she needs to know, she has a testimony, she just needs to get some support, and stick to her testimony. So that is where it stands on that currently. 

We met with Martin and Marion (I spelled it Miriam before, that was just a shot in the dark based on how they pronounce it, but the name is actually Marion). After having 3 discussions lasting nearly 2 hours a piece, we finally succeeded in explaining the Plan of Salvation to them both. It's really interesting teaching those two. They are on two completely different levels. Marion when we first started meeting her was agnostic, not atheist but wasn't really sure if there was a God or not. Martin on the other hand has been religious his whole life and has been studying about our church for 10 or so years, and knows a lot about deep doctrinal things. This is why it took that long to explain the Plan of Salvation.

We would get Marion to understand, then Martin would ask a question that was somewhat deep doctrinal, and Marion would get confused. We would read a scripture, and Marion, who thinks VERY logically, would get confused or not understand, so we would back it up and explain it verse for verse. But we finally answered all questions and they both understand it, so that they don't have any more concerns. Then we talked about baptism, and we challenged them to prepare themselves and set the goal of being baptized on the 30th of December.

But the one problem is, is they currently are not married, but living together. And it's somewhat difficult to get married here in Austria, The paperwork a lone can last between 2-4 weeks, and that's if you REALLY push for it. And Marion was also really concerned, she wanted to feel more sure, she still had a lot of doubts, and when we told her that she could be ready (marriage aside) for baptism in 4 weeks she was really skeptical. But this is where the miracle comes in.

Yesterday was fast and Testimony meeting. She was really skeptical about obtaining a testimony so quickly. I sat next to them yesterday, but we were in the back, typically where all the families with young children are. So the atmosphere, wasn't exactly the best, and I was really worried that they wouldn't feel the spirit. But I happened to look over at her during the meeting, and she was crying, not just tears in her eyes, but full out crying. I tapped Martin and asked her if she was alright and he nodded and said that it was a good thing, that she was just really touched at the testimonies. The next three testimonies were given by some young women in the ward, which were also very powerful (poor Marion, she was rather embarrassed that she was crying so much), and after that the meeting came to an end with the hymn "Freude der Welt" Joy to the world. Didn't help much :-).

After the closing prayer she made a straight shot to the bathroom (because she was still crying) When she came out she still had tears in her eyes, and Schwester Jankowsky (Nina Jankowsky (there are a lot of Jankowskys in the ward)) Went and gave her a hug, and invited them to lunch with her family (YES!!!). I about started crying. IT WAS PERFECT. Exactly what Elder Steed and I wanted, and were praying for. That she could feel the spirit, and that we could find someone to invite them to lunch or something, some friends in the ward! 

So that was our day yesterday. Very successful. I confirmed Jakiri, and survived. (It is the first time that I have ever confirmed anyone, doing it in German, in Sacrament meeting if front of the whole ward) I was really nervous and was shaking, but only made one mistake in that I said "Mitglieder" instead of "Mitglied" ("members" instead of "member") but I was ok, and I did not need to do it again (thank goodness!).  Haha, and then after Church I ended up giving him (Jakiri) a blessing because he ate some expired food and got food poisoning from it. I have blessed enough times in German that I can do that without a problem. :-) I am just going to remember "MITGLIED" next time :-).

But yeah. that is pretty much all that happened this week. Jakiri loves Elder Steed and I, he refers to us Yang and Ying, respectively. :-) I don't know exactly the entire meaning behind that (the names have a meaning associated to them, and he gave me a small explanation, but if anyone wants to look that up and tell me what they mean, feel free :-) ) Essentially what I got out of it is Ying is more reserved and Yang is more aggressive. He says that we were the only two which could really help him out. That was kind of him to say.  Which fits us really well in our relationship with Jakiri. It took both to bring him to be baptized now, instead of later.

He is going on Kur on Wednesday. Kur is essentially a 6 week vacation in a hospital, where you take a break from all of your problems. He wants to get a new job working with Computers, but before he can begin training his soon to be employers are requiring him to go take a break :-). Believe me, its needed. The only problem is, is that he will be gone for 6 weeks and won't be able to come to church. We are going to organize it so that he gets visits from members and us while he is there, because he can't leave. So that is to come. But we will take it one step at a time. :-) 

Thats all for this week, I love you all and wish you all well!

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Der Herr hat's gegeben, Der Herr hat's genommen, gelobt sei der Name des Herrn!

I don't have my bible with me, so I couldn't tell you exactly where that scripture is, I know its in Job somewhere (Job 1:21). It says something to the effect "The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken, praised be the name of the Lord!" It was a scripture that has been on my mind the past few days, I really like it. But holy cow, what a week! Long story short we are going to be having two Baptisms this week!

Monday last week, was by far one of the most intense days I have ever had. Let me explain: So after I e-mailed you, Elder Steed and I went and shopped for our food, then went to the Zone P-day that they were having at the Institute Center. We went there and were there probably about an hour and a half (we arrived at 2 pm), When we get a call from our GML who tells us that we need to come to Deutsch Wagram (about an hour trip away) as soon as possible, he has a huge surprise that is more important that P-day! We were a bit shocked, but he knew how far away it was for us, if he is telling us that we need to come to Deutsch Wagram as soon as possible, its really important. My first thoughts were, "It has to be about Frau Zalka, he got contact and wants to drive up to Großharras and teach her!" I was excited, and we left as soon as possible.

Bru. Jankowsky picked us up and took us to his home (refusing to tell us what was up until we got to his apartment). We got in he invited us to sit down, and then he pulled out a letter, The return address on it was from Frau Zalka. Ok, I was really intriuged. It was 4 pages typed. Single space. LONG. But it explained everything. The weeks leading up to when she had set the date she was absolutely sure she wanted to join the church, she said she even had imagined herself being standing in the font being baptized. But the week after she set the date was chaotic. She was having an internal battle, she would have negative thoughts, doubts, anti-mormon literature come into her head, followed immediately by positive uplifting thoughts, that counteracted the doubts. This happened the entire week long, getting worse and worse and worse, to the point where she couldn't concentrate at all on Sunday Morning.

She and her children were completely ready to come to Church, her son had a part in the primary program and was really really excited to come to church. It was at that moment where it got so bad that she couldn't take it anymore, and she sent decided not to come. She felt a bit better throughout the day, and on Monday morning she sent us that text. But that night she couldn't sleep at all. Until 3 a.m. when she finally grabbed her Book of Mormon and started reading it. She felt the spirit strong and it enlightened her mind. She knew that this church was the right church. But she didn't call us. instead she wrote us a letter explaining everything, and planning out her whole baptism. Talks, deserts, who was going to baptize, confirm be witnesses. EVERYTHING down to the smallest details, then asked us if it was still ok to be Baptized on the 18th of Novemenber. But because of Austrian post, we didn't recieve the letter until the 19th. A day later.

Bru. Jankowsky, upon reading the letter immediately called her and essentially got the ok to visit her that night. Which is when he called us told us to come as soon as possible. She didn't have time to meet until 7 or so, and it was an hour away. But we had an appointment at 6:30 with Jakiri. So we had to Call Wien 3 and get them to do an emergency split with us. Thats was a nightmare to organize, they had an appointment as well at 8. On the complete opposite side of Wien. So I stayed here with Elder Evans (who is new to the mission) and Elder Babcock, and Elder Steed went with Bru. Jankowsky to Großharras. All in all it went well.

The Appointment with Jakiri was cut short, because we both arrived late, but it was still really good. I had a feeling to sing a hymn to start out, so we did and we read a scripture that popped into my head out of the Doctorine and Covenants "My son Peace be unto thy soul, thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment, and if thou endureth it well, God shall exhalt the on high." It was incredible. After that I got to try and navigate to an address in Wien 3's area. That was fun. The appointment was with a member and her boyfriend, who is agnostic. Elder Evans left a thought about the light of Christ, and we talked about how everyone had it, that is given us to judge good from the evil to the intent to bring closer to God. It was short, but it was good. Meanwhile, Elder Babcock gave Frau Zalka the baptismal interview, and a new date was set for the 2nd of December. And so far everything seems to be going well. But please pray for her that all will go well this week. We are going to be calling her every night to check up on her. Hopefully to help get rid of any doubts.

Jakiri is going to be baptized!!!!!!!!!! This is truly a miracle. Coming into the week of his interview, he said that he didn't have a testimony of Thomas S. Monson being a prophet. Which was the only thing holding Jakiri back from Baptism. And we were worried that he wouldn't be able to be baptized, because of it. And we were worried that he would be afraid, he has a lot of fears. We decided to watch "Special Witnesses of Christ" with him at the Church. We were praying that he would be able to recieve a confirmation that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet. We watched it, and at the end we bore testimony, and asked him what he thought, and he said that when President Monson was speaking, that he felt something, he had a really good feeling. A couple of Days later we were with Martin Hayden, who just returned from his mission a few weeks ago. We watched "The Race of Life" A talk that President Monson gave in this past April General Conference. We all bore testimony and he and Martin talked about it for awhile. We eventually had to leave but Jakiri stayed and talked. I talked to Jakiri that night and he said that he felt Good about what happened and that he was thinks that Thomas S. Monson is really a Prophet, but would pray for a confirmation!

He got the confirmation. We met on Friday just before the interview and sang hymns together (Well Jakiri and I sang hymns, Elder Steed accompanied on the Piano). President Hoefel came and everything went well. He did a great job interviewing, because Jakiri came out and was really happy. His fears are gone concerning baptism, he is excited to be baptized!! He has made such a huge change. Haha we all have gotten really close, he wanted us both to baptize him, as in like both be standing in the font. Sadly that can't be, but Elder Steed volunteered to baptize him, so he will baptize, I will confirm, and I will be standing on the stairs leading out of the font to Congratulate him. :-)

I am so happy, he is different. HE is happy his fears are gone he is different, and a lot of people have noticed it. He has been meeting with missionaries off and on for 12 years or so.  He wrote a note to past missionaries telling them all the sins he has done, and because of it they treated him differently. That hurt him really bad, and he was terrified to come to church for fear of people judging him based off of what he has done. But he opened up to us, and ended up telling us a number of things that he did, and we didn't shrink or back away. But we supported him and promised him that through the atonement that there wasn't anything that couldn't be washed away. He has had a hard life and now he is on a path to a much new and improved life. And he knows it. He can finally get rid of the pain that he has been carrying with him for a long time. It's truly incredible. Continue to pray for him though, he still has this week before the baptism. Satan is going to be working hard on him. He is meeting with his father tomorrow, and he knows his father will try to bring him down, so if you could pray for him, that all will go well. We are meeting with him nearly everyday this week. And are going to be praying hard for him.

That ought to do for this week. :-) I wish you the best, and I look forward to sending pictures to you next week!

Love,
Elder Ryan K. Christensen