March is Almost Here

The computer just deleted my whole e-mail, and it was saved. :-( So now I get to start over... Wunderbar (wonderful). 

Well this week was alright. At times rough, but it has its good things as well. The appointment with Mischa and his wife fell out, his ausbildung (training) takes longer than he thought and he couldn't make it, and we haven't been able to get in contact with him since.

We had quite the number of appointments fall out this week 4 of them with one investigator. :-( Na ja, so ist es (well, so it is). Yesterday we were supposed to have 5 lessons, back to back to back. All but 1 fell out :-( That was hard. 

But then we were able to meet with Jakiri, which is always awesome. :-) Jakiri got quite the discussion on Genealogy this week. We mentioned it, in relation to Temple work last Sunday.  On Friday we took him to meet with Sister Strong, who was showing him how to  use Family Search and how to prepare names for the Temple.  Then For Priesthood (which here is the first hour) was all about Temple and Family History :-)

We got to meet with Martin and Marion twice. Which was good. We had one appointment with the Schäffners, and we talked a bit about the Gathering of Israel. Then they invited us over to their house for Lunch after Church and we talked a bit about the organization of the church (First Presidency, Apostles Seventies, etc) That was a lot of fun. :-) I happened to see the background on Martins Laptop, its pictures of Brigham Young, the 12 apostles and Church historical sites... I have a really good feeling about them :-) They are making a ton of progress. We don't have all that much that we need to teach them, the main thing that is holding them back from Baptism is getting married, which by the looks of it, will be in the beginning of August... But I have no doubt that they will get married and Baptized. And they are also planning for a trip to Utah next year around this time :-) I am excited for that. :-) 

The main highlight of the week though, was actually not from someone that I am personally teaching. About a week and a half ago, Elder Chapman and I were on the way to the church to meet someone there. On the way I went and sat down on one side next to the window. And there was a girl sitting over at the other window, doing something with her phone. I started talking to her.  She was very friendly and wanted to know more. She didn't really believe in the Catholic church, because her mom had taught that there are no Saints (referring to the ones that the Catholics pray to.) That Jesus Christ is our only Savior, and we should only pray to God in his name. At this point I had to get off, but she wanted to meet again and talk some more, so she gave me her number. 

I gave her a call, and told her about the Sister Missionaries, and then had them call her. They did, and they made out an appointment. It went REALLY well I got a call from the Sisters saying that that lesson was the best that they have had their whole missions and that she was really prepared. :-) She also said that she was looking for the true church and thinks that she had found it.  

2 Days later they met with her again. She had read from the title page of the Book of Mormon, through the testimony of Joseph Smith and then through 1 Nephi 11. She said that she had a warm feeling while reading it, knew it was true and she wanted to get baptized! She will be getting baptized on the 31st of March! :-) She also gave the sisters the information of her family in Mexico so that they can be taught as well. :-) I am so incredibly excited for her. 

I am so grateful to be here, I am so grateful to be able to be an instrument of the Lord. And I know that he is guiding his work and leading us to those who are prepared to find it. :-) I know that this really is the true Church. And that God loves and leads us today, just like he did in ancient times. :-)

I need to go now, but I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Ryan K. Christensen

A good week :-)

Well, I don't know exactly how much time I will have to write this e-mail, since I wrote Josh one already. 

But this week was well... Traumhaft (Fantastic)  :-) We still had 5 appointments fall out but we taught 11 lessons! :-) And found 4 new investigators. 10 New investigators in 2 weeks! Such a good week. :-) 

We taught Sasha the Plan of Salvation on Tuesday, he comes from Drösing which is clear out on the Slovakian border, but he comes here to Wien every now and again and then we meet with him. It went really well and a lot of things started making sense (not from the lesson, but about life, things that he has heard/ experienced etc.)  But he really liked it and he trusts us a lot. If only he had time to meet with us more than once every other week... 

We also were able to finally meet with Osas, a man from Nigeria who I talked to on the street 3 weeks ago. Nigerians are very famous here in the mission for always not showing up to their appointments. From experience, it is worse in there culture to say "no I can't meet then" than to lie and say "yeah that will work" and then not show up... That is a bit hard... Luckily (for us not necessarily for them) here in Wien there is an international ward, and the missionaries serving there teach all (and only) those who speak English. So we are turning him over to them. We were supposed to meet with him yesterday on splits with them, but he wasn't there... But when we actually did meet with him, it was really good and he really wants to learn more about Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ.   

Nigerians are funny though, they love Jesus. Back in Dornbirn, I met one on the street, who when he heard that we were from the Church, his response was "Preach to me". And again here in Wien, Elder Chapman was walking down the road and talked to a Nigerian Lady who asked 

"do preach Jesus?"

"yes we do"

"Ok, I give you my number, you call and we meet"

(yes 'mam!)

We still haven't been able to get a hold of her yet, but we are trying... But once we do we will give her to the Sisters in the International Ward.

Anyway, We also were invited to Dinner with Daniel, and his family which was cool. He is a member of the ward who I have been trying to meet with since December. His wife is not a member and is somewhat against going to church. Back last year they had made an agreement that they would come to church all together as a family once a month, that he and Robin (at this time one and a half year old son) could go twice in the month, and the other Sunday they would do something else. But they had another baby in August and after that his wife didn't have much interest. 

But she let us come to dinner, and we got to know them a bit which was good. Walking on thin ice though... at the end Daniel asked us to share a "neutral" spiritual thought. Its always fun when someone asks for something like that and you have to figure it out on the spot, while looking like you know exactly what you want to share... oh boy. Elder Chapman very quickly deferred it to me... Anyway after frantically flipping through a few things praying to find something good, the spirit came to my rescue and reminded me of  Romans 8:16 ( my mind just blanked, I think its 16 but I am not sure, "so bezeugt der Geist selber, unserem Geist dass wir Kinder Gottes sind" (The Spirit itself beareth ^awitness with our ^bspirit, that we are the ^cchildren of God:) is what it says) and then comparing that to sermon on the mount where Christ talks about praying (3 Nephi 14:7-11) "ask and ye shall receive .. for which of you when his son asks for a fish, shall give him a serpent .. if ye being evil, know how to give you children good gifts how much more shall your Father in heaven give good things unto those who shall ask" Something like that. But then talked about how much God loves us and will help us when we pray and ask for his help. I went well and Daniel really liked it. 

Another success of the week was with Familie Friedl we met with them again, and taught the plan of salvation and talked about eternal families. Overall it went really really well. We talked about some things we need to do to live with our families eternally. Baptism came up, and they said that they are already baptized, but if they need to do it again to be together forever than they will do it!!! We are going to teach them about the restoration, and priesthood authority, and then commit them to a date :-) (We wanted to make sure that they understand why they need to be baptized again and that not all baptisms are the same). 

I am really excited! Misha came to church yesterday! He arrived just before Sacrament meeting, in the middle of the investigator class. At the beginning he was visibly uncomfortable, he didn't have a tie, or a nice normal white shirt (in all honesty he looked fine with the white shirt he had) but Danny Schäffner and a few others said that it was just fine. Martin Hayden and I sat next to him, and towards the end he looked a lot more comfortable. Martin Hayden invited Misha and his wife to come to him on Tuesday and we will teach them there! :-)  I am VERY Excited for that. :-) Things are going well this week, and we have high hopes for this upcoming week.

We have not heard anything from Frau Zalka, we don't know what happened. 

Martin and Marion are still awesome as always, we are meeting with them on Friday with the Schäffners and then they invited us to them after church on Sunday.

That will need to suffice for this e-mail. I wish you all a wonderful week! I love you all,

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Double Digit Transfers...

Well we got transfer calls this past week. We were somewhat surprised, we are both staying. And we found out that its actually next transfer (not this one) that we start getting the ridiculous amount of missionaries. But yeah I get to stay! Which I am really excited for! There are a number of people that I really wanted to meet with that I now will be able to because I am staying.

Of course it will be somewhat of a short transfer, its a 5 week transfer. Which despite being only one week shorter, it seems to go by a lot faster. Oh man, with this transfer I now hit double digit transfers, i.e. I am entering my 10th Transfer! THAT IS SO WEIRD. And this one only lasts five weeks, which means in no time, I will be in my 11th transfer... That is really weird (taking into account that I only get 17 of them...) 

Time flies REALLY FAST. And something that is saddening, and weird at the same time, is that Elder Esplin goes home on Thursday. :-( He was such a good companion and had a large influence on me. What is weird though, is that I am now in the exact same spot on my mission, as he was when I first came to him in Dornbirn. Which wasn't all that long ago.... And something that caught me off guard a few weeks ago is that I learned that Elder and Sister Sampson are now back home in Utah. I didn't expect them to leave until later October, but I heard out of health reasons that they needed to cut it a bit short. 

I left their e-mail address back in the apartment, but I will probably have one of you send them an e-mail for me next week. (You could even visit them if you really wanted to I guess, however they live down near Washington...)

Elder Esplin and Elder Jacklin go home this transfer, then next transfer Elder Stokes and Allen, then there is a one transfer break, then Elder Heinrich goes home... I could go on, essentially from them on there a lot of missionaries that I am well aquainted with who are going home in the upcoming transfers. 

Wow, sorry I am not intending to make this (I forgot the word, but essentially relishing in the past? I think it starts with and "L" or and "N" any ideas?)(No ideas on this word he is searching for)

Anyway, This week was overall a pretty good week. We had all but 2 of our appointments fall out, but we found 6 new investigators! We finally were able to meet with Familie Friedl! Have I said anything about them before? Back awhile ago on a finding day, I was on splits with Elder Evans, and we talk to a man, who was actually an inactive member of our church who had moved back to Wien about a month before. He gave us his address but, couldn't guarantee his schedule, so we were just to come by every now and again to see if he was home. One day we did, and he wasn't but there. 

But just then a woman walked up, and rang one of the klingels, and was let inside. A few minutes later (we were still in the area) I saw her and her husband with a 2 year old walking out of the building. They walked by and were really friendly, but didn't have time to talk. I got this feeling that we needed to come back an talk to them. I had seen her go inside, so I knew exactly which klingel was theirs. So over the course of the next while we kept going by trying to make out an appointment. It was rough, they went to Serbia for a month, and were busy, but we were finally able to make an appointment out for Saturday at 11. 

It was awesome. Misha, is the husband, he has lived in Wien his whole life, then his wife, who was born in Serbia but can speak German. All the brothers of his wife were there as well (she wrote down her name, but they all knew that it was going to be hard to say and remember (they were right) and so I can't remember her name exactly...). 5 people. And they are very interested in reading the Book of Mormon and learning about the plan of Salvation. :-) I am really excited for them. :-) 

Then there was Andy, who I contacted by calling the 200+ numbers in the phone. He comes out of Romania, but can speak really good German. He also has quite the interest. :-) It was a good week. :-)

Frau Zalka... well I don't know. The last thing we heard is that she doesn't want to be baptized. And I don't anticipate her gettting baptized for the next few months. She needs to start coming consitently to church and really think and decided for herself what she wants to do. And then stick with it. She is letting herself be influenced way to much from everyone around her. So we will see what the future will hold.

Everything is going well with Martin and Marion. We had a good time on Tuesday with the Zemps and them. It was a good lesson, despite poor Brother Zemp, who can speak any German :-) (he is from Canada). 

Do you remember that lady that I called last week, that had a lot of interest, but was just sick? I called her again this week. And boy, does she like to talk. :-) She was incredibly friendly (which is rather unusual for Austrians, especially on the Telephone) and was asking me how long I have been here, where I have served, how the work was... etc. Then she mentioned that she now lives in Baden (right next to Wiener Neustadt). She had attended for a long time a Free Christian church, which she really liked. There was a warm greeting, the kids were taken to individual classes based on the age group etc. But had stopped after some of the ministry of the church told her that the Lord wanted her to become pregnant and have more Children ( for those who know free christian churches that isn't the least bit surprising). 

She thought it was really weird  and her husband was really offended by that and so they never went back. And then she told me that this past January she noticed that she had a desire for spiritual things, and really wants to go to church again. Specifically a church with young families, with classes for younger children, and somewhere where she could interact with other women saying that she needed the support. I very excitedly explained the Primary and Relief society programs of the church, and then mentioned that we have a ward in Wiener Neustadt ( Which is where the Free Christian church that she used to attend is). 

She was very excited, and I gave her the number of the Missionaries in Wiener Neustadt, and she said that she will talk to her husband and give them a call! :-) She was really excited when I told her about those things, and she said that even if her husband doesn't come with, that she wants to go. I am excited to see what comes out of that. That was neat that I was led to find her record in January (when she noticed that she wanted to start working with spiritual things again. :-) 

This truly is the Lord's work, and he is preparing those people to be taught the Gospel, and is leading us (as missionaries) to find those who are ready (most times after a lot of work on our part, such as calling 200 people and leaving 150 messages... :-P). But I know this church is true, and how inspired the organization is. And I am so blessed to be apart of this work. 

I love you all,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Josh is expecting his mission call to come this Wednesday.  It is listed as "Call Issued" with the Church.  Ryan sent the following note in addition to his letter above:

I forgot to take my guess on where Josh is going. I think he will go Spanish speaking (despite really wanting him to come here, I don't think that will happen :-( ) And I also think he will go state side, So I will say California. California Riverside Mission Spanish Speaking. 

There were two missionaries in my MTC group that were going there and they were awesome. If I had to guess outside the country I think he would go to South America, maybe somewhere in Chile :-) 

Good luck Josh! I am excited to hear what happens! Don't forget the Lord is who is calling you and sending you out. It doesn't matter where you go, even if its state side (it just means you get to visit you mission a lot more than I will get too). You will love it either way!

Love,
Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Februar!

Well, for all those who were hoping for a baptism this week, so were we, until Frau Zalka called and said that her and her children got really sick... So it fell out yet again. But not because of a doubt this time. She is fairly sure she has gotten over that by now... But who knows only time will tell. She will get baptized, someday, we just need to find a week were she doesn't have any doubts and can be physically healthy as well :-) No new date has, as of yet been set out. I may be long gone before she actually gets baptized, but she will with Simon eventually. Haha, Elder Chapman and I are considering sending her a letter, since that seems to be the most desired way of communication. We will see. 

Other than that it has been an interesting week. I have really noticed the hand of the Lord, Saturday and Sunday, all of our appointments fell through consisting of 5 appointments. All on the spot. So we spent the time finding, and it also gave us some time to go through and call everyone listed in the phones contact book. Through the efforts we now have 10 people who are interested in meeting with us! A couple of them are entire families. :-) 

I had the opportunity to look casually through a couple of the old area books, and as I was going through, a couple of names stuck out. They hadn't met with the missionaries in 6 years or so, but I felt like I should call them. So I did, and one of them was so incredibly thrilled to have us call. It was unbelievable. She had stopped meeting with the missionaries, mainly because of her husband. Her son also had interest as well but they had to stop. She was sick but was so incredibly thrilled that I called, that she said that we could call her at anytime and that next week, by which point she hopes to have recovered, that she really wants to meet with us again. That was cool. 

We have 4 area books, I happen to grab one open it up and skim through it, see a name and call someone that has a ton of interest. No other explanation than being led by the spirit. It was a really neat experience, and I am excited to go and meet with her ( assuming that I don't get transferred ( I will get to that in a second)). 

Another experience, on Tuesday this week we, again (no surprise) had an appointment fall out. So we contacted around for a bit, then decided to go by on Eric, who actually lives just on the other side of the boundary. Here is the story, so he met with the missionaries (the Wien 5) at the beginning of last year, they set a baptismal date with him, and then were going to give him to Wien 2 (whose area it is) but somehow he got lost and Wien 2 was never able to meet with him. I was told by Elder Steed that the  best time to go by on him was at night, but Elder Chapman said that he felt that we should go by right then. 

So we did, and he happened to be home. No one had been able to find him for this past year. We were able to talk to him and get his phone number, and figured out that he normally is in Burgenland for the week and only in Wien on the weekends. But just only happened to be in Wien right then. We were able to get the information to the Wien 2 Elders and they should have been able to call him and make an appointment. :-)

Something else that was cool (this week is full of stories like this) but after finding those two names (the other one had interest, but is so busy, she said call her in a month and she hopes things will be a bit more calmed). Elder Chapman generously (said super sarcastically, because the other option was calling every single kontakt in the phone (200+ names that I didn't know)  decided to go through the area books while I made phone calls. He pulled out a number of records of people that he though we should go by on. All we had planned left for the day (it was Sunday) was to study (we are supposed to still have personal and language study on Sundays). 

I looked through the names and got the impression to go by on them right then. So I told Elder Chapman, and we decided to go by on them, as well as a couple of the potentials we had found that week. Well long story home this family, whose record I saw, was home, and we made an appointment out for tomorrow at 2 :-) ( they were busy at the moment and couldn't meet).  This week is school break here, so we should be able to meet with them all. :-)

Now getting to transfers, Transfer calls are this Friday. The past two transfers in Austria have been mild, meaning not many people have moved, and a lot of people have been with there companion for 3 or 4 transfers. We are also starting to get into the new wave of missionaries (imagine this, normally every transfer we lose 8-12 missionaries and gain 8-12, now we start to lose 8-12 but gain 25 to 30). Which means we expect a big change up here, and because Elder Chapman and I have both been out over a year... well we both think that the chances of us staying together are very slim. 

We think either he will go and I will train, or that I will go somewhere and he will get younger companion. But we shall see, it wouldn't be the first time that I would be surprised at Transfers. So we shall see what the future holds. But either way things are going amazing well. the Zone is exploding with baptisms and baptismal dates. So far since the beginning of the year, 10 people have been baptized. Out of the 10, 6 are from the Wien Zone ( if only we could have made that 12 and 8 respectively... ). Its neat. Things are going well. :-)

Anyway, that ought to do it for this week. I love you all and wish you a great week! 

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Oh, before I forget, P-Day last week! We went to the cemetary here in Wien and saw some really cool things. Among them, the graves of Beethoven, Mozart and Ludvig Boltzman ( A FAMOUS CHEMIST!! :-)) I will attach a few pictures from it.

Elder Chapman had fun posing me, so we took a bunch of pictures here, are a few. :-) Yes I was really super excited to find this, incase anyone is wondering. You will need to show Mrs. Snow a few of these pictures.

Caption to the first one:

YES!!!! CHEMISTRY IN VIENNA!!!! 

2nd: need no explanation ;-)

3rd: The equation which he is know for. 

I love you all! Take care

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

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