Last day of September... already?!!!

Man, this whole month and transfer have gone by in a blur. Wow. Well, the amount of dry cleaning that I need to accomplish this week is significantly less than that of last week, which means the week was a success ;-)

It really was a great week though, hard, as they usually are, but great. Monday, just before leaving the apartment to go to our appointment we got a text which cancelled it. Ok. Awesome, so instead we decide to walk out to visit the Weißenrieders, Mercedes (mother of the family) has been to church a few times and has really liked it, we just haven't been able to make out an appointment with them, and they just got back from a 3 week vacation. So we walk there and talk to people as we go. We walk all the way there (probably a good Kilometer at least), Mercedes wasn't home so we turn around and walk back. We had some great conversations though which was awesome, then we got the bikes and bike to the Buchanans to give President Buchanan a blessing, which I always enjoy doing. 

Tuesday we got up at 5:45 so that we could buy a train ticket and leave at 7 to go and do an exchange with the Zone Leaders, Elder Chapman and I stayed in Ravensburg and had WAY to much fun. Elder Chapman, is the same one that was with me in Wien. 

We were supposed to meet a Filipino lady at the internet shop at 3. She ended up getting there early, and went for a walk. We arrive at 3, and wait five minutes, and because of the bar next door playing a ton of rock music, we decided to go walk around and talk to people. She must have arrived just shortly after that, and because we were talking to someone we didn't notice, and we came back at about 3.15 only to be told by the man at the front desk that she had been here and left. :-( 

At that point in time, we got the bikes and rode to West Stadt. Poor Elder Chapman. West Stadt is at the top of a LONG and STEEP hill. I made it up just fine, seeing as I have ridden up that hill 20+ times by now, but it wasn't so easy for him. We gave sister Pabel a blessing, and went to stop by on this Filipino lady (she lived up in that area). We went by, she let us right in, and we talked to her for 20 minutes (we only intended to be there for 5, share a thought, say a prayer and make out an appointment where we could bring a someone with us, but she likes to talk.... a lot.)  Anyway, we said the prayer and I made out a time to return tomorrow afternoon to meet with her. That was great. Nothing really overly exciting happened on the exchange, we went to Markdorf to visit with the Micov family but they couldn't meet :-( So we spent some time contacting people there and then came back home. But it was a blast being with Elder Chapman again, sharing stories and things. It was a lot of fun. 

Wednesday, after we exchanged back we met with Atta at our church building, he is from Iraq but can speak fairly decent German. We had a good conversation with him, and we invited him to come to church, which he did on sunday! :-) 

Thursday was completely full. We did our studies, had lunch then biked up to Baienfurt to meet with Lother (the less active who was baptized 40 years ago but has since been in active and no one knew about him) We had a much better conversation with him this time, gave him a Book of Mormon and will probably stop by in a week or so to see how he is doing. So that was in Baienfurt. 

Then we went back to the apartment and called a few people before biking up to Grünkraut to meet with Courtney. That was awesome. The bike up there is nearly entirely up hill, one hill being INCREDIBLY STEEP. That was hard, especially since my bike refused to shift down to the 1st gear (on the front, the back worked just fine), I ended up not making it up the hill. But we bike all the way there and had dinner with him. He is American, (the quarterback for the Razorbacks that I mentioned to you before) from Virginia. He talked to us on the street, and invited us to come have dinner with him and his wife (who sadly wasn't there, she went back home to help out a cousin who was in a very rough situation). That was so awesome with him. He has a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and we had a very open conversation. 

He made us a dish which he calls "Big dude food". It was good, Tortellini, which was added to some tomatoe sauce and cheese baked into a casserole. Really simple and easy. :-) But good. It was great, the food, the atmosphere the conversation everything. He trusts us a lot, and asked us questions that he might not have otherwise asked, and yeah. I have said it a lot, but good, spiritual, open, fun conversation with him. I am excited to go back and talk with him more. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he was excited to read in it. During the conversation we talked about faith, and we invited him to read Alma 32. He is very open to talk more and has really wanted to talk more about Christ, but hasn't had anyone really to do it with. 

Then we biked all the way to the church for Gemeinde Rat. We made it in just under 25 minutes ( taking into account that we were stuck at lights for about 5 minutes of that) WE WERE FLYING. It takes about 30 minutes with a car, and we made it in 25 with a bike ( granted we don't have to worry about a speed limits in the bike lanes) It was down hill the whole way. :-) 

We had a neat experience at Gemeinde Rat as well. Over my time here, we have tried to take the opportunity and tell as many people as possible about the miracles and all the cool things that we see (that was pretty much my entire talk that I gave last Sunday). People have slowly been getting more excited about missionary work. Its been wonderful to see. At Gemeinde Rat we did the same, and then one of the members started talking about her Granddaughter how she wanted to be baptized, but wanted her dad to baptize her (who is inactive at the moment) she (Sister Trautman) had been talking to her (Jasmin) about it, and wants sister Trautman wants Jasmin to  baptized by her Grandpa, and what more Sister Trautman really pushed strongly that we teach her instead of her going to Young Womens (Sister Trautman is the Young Womens leader, and Jasmin is the girl of young women age in the ward) she said that it would be better for her to be taught by us than learn some of the young women things at this point in time, because she can't do much with it at home. She asked us three times and recommend that we teach her (we said yes of course) but, that kind of thing hasn't happened in the past. 

The missionaries for a long while have not had a good relationship with the ward and it has been hard. But now they are so much more open to us, we have become apart of the ward, We mentioned that we had a lesson the next day and needed a way to get there (the Buchanans couldn't drive us) and Brother Trautman was THRILLED. He showed up early to pick us up, we arrived well before the appointment (he was speeding) and had to wait a bit, but he was way excited to come with us. THIS HASN'T HAPPENED AT ALL IN A VERY LONG TIME. Years probably. The appointment fell through last minute, but that didn't lessen the excitement at all. That has been the largest blessing by far of serving here, is witnessing this change, even from when I arrived till now (though I was not the beginning of it (I count the beginning when Elder Hyatt was transferred here and then the Buchanans). It has made huge strides! 

And though we are frustrated at every corner because with every attempt at trying to meet with people (Satan has a huge grasp here right now, it makes it hard. We have lost so many of our investigators to anti Mormon literature, friends and others who say things about us completely false, every single time we find someone cool we hit a dead end one way or another). But we are making steady progress, step by step, and are seeing miracles with every step. It is truly like a sunrise, slow and stead we are seeing light finally come back. It will be awhile before it's noon day, but we are well on our way.  We still have a long way to go, but we are seeing a change in the branch, the members feelings toward missionaries, and the success we are having with investigators. It is miraculous. (Note later: Jasmin, got in an argument with her mother and as of right now is not allowed to have anything to do with the church... I told you, Satan has a good grasp, and we have a ways to go...) But we are continually moving forward with everything that we can, and doing everything that we can do, and I know we will be blessed, someday Satan's grasp will be broken, and we will have a flood of people ready to join the church.

It is to that goal that we are working. And we will not stop. It takes patience, humility and work, but no unhallowed hand will stop this work from progressing. Of that I am convinced. I know it.  Having Atta come to church was the first step, he is the first investigator to come to church in who knows how long. Other opportunities are opening up, and even if they come to some end, through them we will find new ones. I know this Church is true, I know that we are lead by a living prophet today, because a Boy with a question stepped into a grove of trees, and started a sunrise of truth throughout the earth. I am so grateful to have a part in the sunrise, as we constantly move forward line upon line, here a little and there a little. 

I wish you all a fantastic week!

love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Broken chains, missed trains & mudpuddles......adventure

 

Man, this week was absolutely insane! Crazy, hard, but we saw miracles.

Tuesday, we were going to do an exchange with Dornbirn 1, but then Elder Sumsion got a notice that he needed to go pick up his German Visa in Freiburg, and so we did a last minute switch up and exchanged with Dorbirn 2. I stayed in Ravensburg with Elder Morey, and Elder Wasden went to Dornbirn with Elder Moon. We were going to have an appointment with the Kunz Family, but that was cancelled early on, and then David (our new GML) texted us and wanted to do a GMK with us. Since we were going to be at the church anyway, we agreed and met him there. Since Kunz fell out we wanted to visit Frau Koch in the hospital. She isn't a member of our church, but when her friend visited from America she brought her to church. Here to Ravensburg, which was weird because Ulm was MUCH closer. But then as of only a few weeks ago she became VERY sick and was transported to the Hospital in Ravensburg, and because she knew Elder and Sister Buchanan/missionaries she wanted us to visit her and give her a blessing. If her friend didn't take her here, who knows what would have happened. Anyway we wanted to Visit Frau Koch, and invited David to come with us. He had to go take care of something first but said he would me us at the hospital. So we arrive there and wait for him give him a call and tell him to meet us at the main entrance, he says he is at the main entrance. We look around and talk on the phone for another 3 or so minutes before we realize that we are at two completely different hospitals. Woops... It would take him more than 30 minutes to make it to where we were. So That did work, we stopped by and said hi, but couldn't stay because we had no one with us.

We then decided to go to Friedrichshafen and go by on some people there for the remaining few hours of the day. We did, and walked around talking to people, to little avail. Now here is something cool, last year when I came to Ravensburg on exchange there was a lady in Friedrichshafen that we visited. I didn't remember her name, the street name or really anything, I just knew how to get there. But I really wanted to go visit her. Not having her in mind at the moment, I looked at the names and picked out 4 names of people who lived in an area of Friedrichshafen, it was only upon arriving that I realized that she was one of the 4 that I had chosen. She was the only one who was home and with whom we talked, but it was a great experience. It turns out that her son tragically died about 5 months ago, and she started crying as we spoke to her. When it was right, I bore testimony of eternal families, and we had a good conversation. In the process of the conversation she mentioned specific lines that come out of our church hymns, and I asked her about it, and she pulled out a couple protestant song books that had the songs in there. "I need thee every hour, How Great thou Art, and (later) God be with you till we meet again" In disbelief I sang the melody of the songs and she joined it a bit, and confirmed that they were the same. She told us that she hasn't sung at all since her son died, I offered to come back with the Buchanan some time and sing with her, and she said that she would really like that. :-) I hope to also introduce her to songs that she wouldn't have such as "Where can I turn for peace" or "I know that my Redeemer lives" I think she would appreciate them. But that was neat!

Wednesday, we needed to be at the church at 8 to let the electrician in to update the internet connection in the church. It was raining HARD outside. I grabbed my jacked and my bag, and Elder Morey and I started biking to the church. Only about 50 seconds into the bike ride, I became very well aware that the jacket that I was wearing was water RESISTANT, but not water PROOF. 7 minutes later when we finally made it to the church I looked like I had jumped in a swimming pool. Time for a new water proof jacket/ coat. ;-) we had studies at the church, and everything went alright for the most part. We were supposed to exchange back at around 3 which required taking a train at 2. But we left for the train station a bit late, and I was biking fairly quickly with Elder Morey right behind me the whole way ( I kept looking back, that is about all you can do when you are both on bikes) and I made it to the stop light to the trainstation, and eventhough I had only looked back about 20 seconds ago, Elder Morey wasn't in sight, I waited, assuming he was just a bit slow, or something, but couldn't see him, so I turned around and started biking back and saw him walk around the corner pushing the bike. The chain broke off. Luckily he wasn't hurt, but we then had to walk all the way to the apartment, drop the bikes off there, and then walk to the train station to see when the next train came. With weather delays it was going to take an hour and a half. :-P That put of the exchange a bit, and Elder Wasden and I made it back at around 5:30 went to the apartment really quick to drop off a few things and make some phonecalls and walked to the train station.We wanted to go to Oberzell to meet with a family we found going door to door on saturday. Normally it only takes 6 or so minutes to walk to the trainstation from the apartment, but even though we had 10, we still watched the train drive away while we stood stuck at a light. (Keeping in mind we don't have bikes) It was then that I had the feeling we should take the bus to go to Weststadt instead. But the interesting thing was, I also had a specific bus station come to mind that we NEEDED to catch the bus from. I found that interesting but we walked all the way to this bus stop  and talked to people on the way. The last two people we talked to on the way there both had a lot of interest and we made appointments out with them BOTH. HUGE MIRACLE. 

We went to Weststadt, went by on Sister Pabel who was supposed to go in for surgery the next day, then walked down to another lady in Weststadt who was a friend of a member, and made an appointment with them for Tuesday and then caught a bus back home. It was just after 8 now. We get back to Ravensburg, and I was beat. I was exhausted. I wanted to go home, prepare something to eat, and put the day BEHIND ME. Just then Elder Wasden says to me, "Elder Christensen, lets find one more person". Time for a personal inventory with myself "Do I believe that God is a God of miracles?, Yes." "Do I believe that he can make one happen right now? Yes." "Do I have any excuses then? Nope. Dang it." And away we went. We talked to people for 35 minutes. and the longer it went, the more cold and rude the people got. Until finally we decided that it was too dark to continue finding. Exhausted, worn out and a bit sad, we walk up to our apartment, and nearly put the key in the lock. We say hi to someone walking down the street. "HELLO! How are you?!" Astonished at the perkiness of the passerby, we started talking with her. And we end up talking for 20 minutes. She is a student here in Weingarten at the Berufschule, which would be comparable to a 2 year college. She gave us her number and told us that she was open to talk more about God, and than ended the night. Absolute miracle. We hope to meet with her some time this week. :-) We were actually going to meet with her the next day, but then she had to cancel because she had a friend (Freundin meaning it was a girl) who was coming but then she told us that the two of us could join then if we wanted. Yeah, we pretty much got invited on a double date, but had to turn it down. :-( Single disadvantage of being a missionary. ;-) But later on ( Thursday) we went to Markdorf and met with the Micov family ( the one that I met in the bus) and had a great time with them! That was neat.

Friday night, all plans fell through, which allowed us finally to go to Oberzell and meet with the family that we found. We didn't expect to get in, just make out an appointment for the upcoming week. The father answered ( and because we first talked to the mother, we at this point were expecting to be turned down and sent away) and to our surprise invited us right in, brought us juice, and asked us about our church. We had one of the most fantastice lessons ever. He is Catholic, but is actually seeking a personal connection with God ( Which may sound funny, but one day I talked to someone on the street and he told me "I don't believe in Christ I am a catholic!" Being catholic is kind of like belonging to a group, it means nothing really other than be able to say it) We talked about prayer, and he said that at one point in time he could really pray with a sincere heart and had experiences where he knew God heard and answered his prayers. But says that in the meantime it hasn't quite been that way. We discussed further, the Spirits presence was very strong, and it was a wonderful lesson. 

I am going to skip Saturday, because I am out of time, but Sunday was an adventure... So we arrive at church at around 9:10 or so. About 5 minutes later I get asked to prepare and bless the sacrament. Sure, I love doing that. Then about 7 or so minutes later I get asked to translate the meeting ( the talks and testimonies) to English. Sure, also something that I have done a lot of and enjoy. Then about 6 minutes later, it because known that one of the speakers, who was assigned for a 20 minute talk wouldn't make it. So I get asked to take up 10+ minutes with a talk. That was at about 9:28. It has become SO much easier for me to give talks and to speak since I was on a mission, so I wasn't overly concerned, until I realized that I had no topic and no time to prepare, because I had to bless, and translate. Elder Wasden and a good friend of the 2 councelors in the bishopric who was visiting bore their testimonies, which I translated, then I walk up to the front still having no idea what I was going to say.This is where another miracle occured. The promise in Doctrine and Covenants 100:5-6 (as well as D&C 84:85, Matt 10:19-20, Luke 12:11-12) was fulfilled.  I stood up front, I had the feeling to read D&C 58:3-4 aloud I did, and then I had my topic, and the words came, I was supposed to shared all the experiences of the week, how things didn't work out, at first, or so we thought because we couldn't see Gods will with our eyes, but how the blessings CAME. It was one of the most wonderful experiences I have had. I had NO IDEA at all what I would say, and in that very moment, it was given to me what I should say. I am so grateful for that. I took up 11 minutes or so, bore my testimony and that was it. That promise is really true. I know it, I experienced which has only strengthened my faith that much more. :-) 

I know this church is true and that it is led by a living prophet today. I know that We cannot always see with our natural eyes Gods intended purposes for us, but if we put our trust in him, he will bless us because only after much hardship do blessings trully come. I know that is true. I know that God loves us and that everything with work together for our good, if we just TRUST HIM. I am so happy to be here and be able to continue to work more!

I am out of time now, but I wish you all a great week!

love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen.

P.S. so later that day we went to visit Sani, and as we were leaving the building to get our bikes, the grass was really wet, and because out bikes were in somewhat of a ditch, I slipped and fell and got coated in mud. some residents there were washing out a rug, and all the water had drained into the grass. They felt so bad, and were handing be paper towels. The lady grabbed a bucked off water and wanted to douse me with it to get the mud off, her friends talked her out of it. Thank goodness. I used my hand though to was a bit of mud off then went home and changed. I have some dry cleaning to take care of now aside everything  else. MISSIONS WOULDN'T BE NEARLY AS FUN WITHOUT A LITTLE BIT OF ADVENTURE ;-).

September...I still can't believe that

Well, I don't know exactly where to begin. This week was actually really good. That being said, nothing actually went to plan however. :-) But that is alright. We had 9 appointments fall out on us this week, but we did keep 4 so, I can't complain. :-) And we saw some neat miracles.

Tuesday was the first miracle, we had district meeting in Dornbirn, which went well, had a great lunch and drove back. The plan was to have 2 teaching appointments and then meet with a less active that night. Well we get back only to have both of the first appointments cancel on us. So we decided to bike out to Baienfurt, a city in which we had a few potentials which was a good 7 or 8 Kilometers away. That was good, we went by on all of them. All but 1 answered and all but 1 had no interest... :-(  But we went to the last one (the one who ended up not being home) and as we were about ready to ride away (being a little bit down in spirit) her neighbor walked outside and started talking to us. 

He claimed to know everything about the church and went off saying some things that were mostly true about the church, but not completely. He at first didn't seem interested at all but then we talked to him some more and made an appointment for the following day, as we were leaving he asked us "could you imagine that I actually used to be a member of your church?". He told us that he met with the missionaries over 40 years ago and was baptized. I asked him why he left and he said we would discuss it the next day. That was neat, had our appointments not fallen out, had we not been turned down by all the others and just happen to arrive at the perfect time to meet Lother, then we would have never met him. 

We then rode back to Ravensburg, and walked out to visit a less active member with whom we had an appointment. On the way we talked to a few people on the street, and found someone who used to meet with the missionaries and was almost baptized, but couldn't give up drinking. We will be meeting with him tonight. Then just as we were about to go knock on the door of Marcel, Elder Wasden said " I have a feeling that we need to walk over that way" We were early, and had time so we did. We walked across the street and walked past a house and I started talking to a man sitting on his front porch. We talked for a bit about Jesus Christ and the gospel, and he invited us back the next day at 7 pm to meet with him and talk more. 

Then we went to Marcel's and had a fun conversation. :-) He played football for awhile for the Ravensburg Razorbacks, and because Elder Wasden and I had also played football, that was pretty much the whole conversation. We got to know him well and it was a lot of fun, and at the end he asked us if we could come back and visit him again, which is neat because before he wasn't all that excited, so to speak, about meeting with missionaries. 

Wednesday, the appointment with Lothar fell out and was rescheduled for the following day, and later that night we went to Herr Guth (the man that we found) and he wasn't there. But on the way there I had a strong feeling to go knock on some doors at the house across the street. So we did, and the third person that answered was a Russian lady, who was waiting for her daughter, but hearing the voices (THAT WERE DEFINITELY NOT HER DAUGHTER ;-)) She came to the door and started talking with us. Long story short she is searching for a new apartment and was worried how, when she found the new apartment, she would get everything moved, she had help last time but she wouldn't this time. When we talked to her, one of the first things that we said, after we mentioned who we were, and what church we were from, told her that we go around and help people through service, garden work, moving etc. Her face all of the sudden lit up and she was absolutely THRILLED when we told her that we would help her move, and knew others who would be willing to help as well. That was a HUGE MIRACLE. 

We later got a hold of Herr Guth, who didn't really remember us at all, and didn't want to meet with anyone of any christian church at all (he was even a bit rude to us about it...). But had we not found him, and came back to at 7 pm. Then we would have never met her. (She works nearly everyday, and had we even been 5 minutes later, she would have been gone). And we will help her move when she finds a new apartment. And we have a few Russian members of the ward, who she would probably love to meet, and I think we may have a chance to introduce her to the church a bit through service and members. :-) That was neat. 

Thursday we spent with the Buchanans visiting potentials and less actives in Tettnang and Friedrichshafen/Markdorf. We were able to contact some less actives who never were contacted before! That was neat. We also got a hold of the Kunz Family and made an appointment for tomorrow night at 7. :-)

Friday was great. It was the only day which we didn't lose all our appointments. We met with Justice and Christine,  and Mary, as well as had weekly planning. Later that night the Buchanans offered to cook us dinner and have a planning session (we usually have a planning session with them on Friday nights to co-ordinate the work for the week). But we both felt that we needed to visit some people. We did, to no success. But we made it back to our apartment at 7.56 pm 4 minutes before we had planned to have language study. So we decided to use the 4 minutes and talk to some people. I prayed for a miracle. 

The first 2 people we talked to, had no interest. But on the 3rd time we talked to two Africans who both speak french. One spoke English (aside from French) The other spoke German, we offered them a card with a Book of Mormon on it because they didn't have too much time. One of them when he saw the name of the book, recognized the name of the church, he had attended the church services when he was living in France, and REALLY likes the church. He gave us his address and phone number and we made an appointment for this coming Thursday to bring him a book and talk about the church. :-) That happened within 4 minutes. HUGE MIRACLE. I was so happy! 

Again, had we not gone by on these people and returned home with those few minutes( which we wouldn't have, if we would have gone with the Buchanans) we would have never found them. We turned down dinner with the Buchanans (WHICH IS NOT EASY BECAUSE SISTER BUCHANAN IS A GREAT COOK) but it felt right, and we were blessed. 

Saturday everything fell out, and we ended up going door to door in Oberzell of all places where we found a German family who wants us to come back on Wednesday, and a Romanian girl who is interested in learning more German and getting a book of Mormon. :-) 

It was a week of finding, what more can I say? It was hard, but overall now that I reflect back on it, It really was just God taking us in the right direction, to find more people to meet with. I am so grateful for that. 

Yesterday was an adventure. Half of the branch got stuck in the Elevator just before the meeting was supposed to begin. :-) There are two elevators, the main one for people, which is neat because it is made entirely of glass, and is cool, but temperamental, and another one used mostly for loading of furniture and pianos. The first one was out of order, so the members that needed the elevator used the other one, and got stuck in it for about 10 or 15 minutes... :-) Literally half of the branch was in the Elevator. 

I gave a talk yesterday as well, that was interesting. I had forgotten about it until Saturday morning, so I took a few minutes in personal study that morning, and then finished it Sunday morning. It was only supposed to be 10-15 minutes long, but the speaker before me only took 5 minutes (when she was supposed to take 10- 15). So I stood up and spoke for a little more than 20 minutes. :-) I had my talk adjusted so that I could take as little as 10 and up to 20 minutes if needed. I gave the whole 20 minute talk, and then we sang and the High councilman spoke. That was cool. My topic was the 5th article of faith, which is about being called through prophecy and by the laying on of hands, so I tied that into the restoration, about why it was so important, priesthood keys to perform ordinances etc. Then the high council man spoke about the restoration and temple work. It just fit together really well. And I am so grateful for the spirit in guiding my words, and helping me prepare my talk in a small amount of time. :-) It was great, to end the talk I quoted the words out of the hymn Sehet Ihr Völker.

 "Sehet ihr Völker, licht bricht heran! O hört ein Engel, bringt euch den Plan. Hell wie die Sonne, leuchtet die Bahn Jeden nun Himmel an! O wie Herrlich von des Himmels thron, strömt dass licht, die wahrheit nun hervor. Höret die stimme, Hell wie zuvor, heute an Welten Tor."

I get goosebumps everytime I think about it. For my talk I thought a lot about the darkness of the apostasy as opposed to the wonderful light which the gospel brings. 

"Behold ye people, Light is breaking forth! Oh, hear the Angel bringing you the plan. Bright as the Sun, its lighting the way for everyone toward heaven. Oh how Glorious from Heavens Throne, pours out the light truth! Listen to the voice, its as bright as before, today at the worlds gate."

That is a rough translation, its much prettier in German because it all rhymes. :-) 

I know that this Church is restored, I know that we are led by prophets and Apostels today. I know that after the long night of darkness, light finally broke forth, and what a wonderful blessing it is to have it in our lives today. I am so happy to be here and searching for those people who are only kept from the truth because the know not where to find it (D&C 123:13). What a blessing!

I wish you all a wonderful week!

love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

I survived! :-) and went to a Professional American Football game! :-)

This week has been crazy and awesome all at the same time. :-) Well, Monday we 2 appointments during the day and, so we flipped our P-day around and spent the evening at the Buchanans, which allowed me to finish up on the essays and take care of some other things. Sweet. 

Well the time came to leave, and we were in a bit of a hurry, luckily for us it is a straight down hill shot to our apartment, well mostly. Anyway, so we set off and our hurrying home, it is like 8:50 and is dark outside, but we are still going fast. Well it came to a point where there was a short fork in the path, only a few meters long, leading in to a left turn, I went left Elder Wasden and Kingery went right, and I ended up cutting them off ACCIDENTALLY as we came out of the fork. 

And now I must say, I am no engineer, no landscape designer or anything, but off all places to put a step, this had to be the ABSOLUTELY WORST PLACE EVER. I had somehow subconsciously always ridden to the right and to the left of the step, but never noticed it (like I said I question their usefulness) but it was late and night and at about 30 or so Kilometers an hour I hit the step (a good 5 inch tall) on my bike. And if hitting a step wasn't bad enough, my natural reaction was to squeeze the brakes. BAD IDEA!! The back tire came up and I very quickly found myself riding completely vertical over the front tire... Some how I didn't fall off, and managed to somewhat gracefully land it (as gracefully as I can get, for those who know me and my reputation with stairs, somewhat flat ground, and the occasional front porch ;-) ). 

I may have actually won some applause for my trick, if there wasn't the sound of an exploding  tire and me screaming "NEIN! NEIN! NEEEEEIIIN!" as I ride the bike completely perpendicular to its intended horizontal usage. Meanwhile Elders Kingery and Wasden are standing on the other side of the step with this indescribable speechless expression on their faces. Then when I landed and got up with out so much as a scratch, they just burst laughing and I had to walk my bike home due to a completely flat front tire. I have concluded from my experiment that the laws of physics are still in full force, even when you're a missionary. ;-)

That was Monday. Tuesday we drove with the Buchanans to Singen to have a Zone Training meeting. That was great, a long drive in the back of GW with the three of us still, but it was good. Then we met with the Micov family (the family who I met in the bus) and were going to go by on the Kunz family, but I ended up calling them and making out an appointment to come back on Thursday. We had a good time with the Micov family, there is a decent size language barrier, but we managed to read a lot of scriptures and teach them. I showed them the website, but there isn't much available in Macedonian. They don't even have a book of Mormon yet in that language. We will see what happens. 

Wednesday went by quickly. We met with Justice, Christine and Mary, and had a good discussion with them about the pre-mortal existence, and the fall. Then made it back home, had lunch and finished our studies at the church (between us and the Buchanans we are trying to take turns doing studies at the church so that we can have some open house times if people want to come in). Later on we met with Zohrab, and had a really good lesson with him as well, he likes to cut us off a lot, but this time we taught, the Spirit was there and he understood what we are saying and we hope he will read the Book of Mormon. We then met up with David Barluschke, who was just called to be the ward mission leader here. I am so excited, he is really awesome, is excited and has a VERY flexible work schedule and has offered us his help, even if its on a super short notice. 

Thursday was transfer day. That was interesting. Long story short, even though Freiburg is in our Zone, we still went to Munich to do the transfer. We had some difficulties getting there, our train needing to be cancelled, and we being upgraded to and ICE (instead of an IC) (Could very well be considered a tender mercy :-) ). Because our train was cancelled and we were late, Elder Wasden and I got off the train in Munich, said a quick goodbye and within maybe 10 minutes, were on a train back to Ravensburg. So much for lunch... But we made it back safely and Elder Kingery made it to Freiburg. 

Thursday night we met with Anastasia Kunz. Her husband was there, but was talking on the phone and didn't join in on the lesson. We had a really great time with her, her and her husband are both from Russia, they have three daughters, and have lived here for 7 years or so. I am really short on time now, but we found out that that Alex (the husband) doesn't really have too much interest because he works all day long, but Anastasia very openly said that she is VERY interested, that she is searching for the truth and needs God in her life, because the farther from God she is, the worse she feels. She is searching for the truth, and upon asking her how she thinks she will be able to find it, she said that she expects to feel peace and joy with it! 

The only hard part is, they don't have a car, and it is REALLY difficult to get to Ravensburg from Markdorf on Sundays. But she has so much interest that she says that she is willing to spend a night in Weingarten with a friend to come to church and see how she feels!! She wants to meet with us 2 times a week, so we hope to teach her on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She is really cool. They are a very strong family, she stays home, even if it means that they can't live in as nice of a place as they would like, or have certain items, such as a car, because she wants to teach her daughters to live morally and correctly. She says that if she were to work, her daughters would have to be in some sort of day care, and be much more susceptible  to the immoral and false ideas that are being put out today. We talked about how the gospel blesses families, and it was just awesome! I think I mentioned how I found them, I went through the area book, saw the name and really wanted to contact them, despite the missionaries not having such a great experience. And she seems to really be searching for the truth!! 

Oh, and before I forget, the Ravensburg Razorbacks had their final game on the season ON SATURDAY. We knew that the coach was an inactive member, but we didn't know much about him, there are some other less active members who have played for the team and we knew some people on the team, specifically the first string quarterback, who is completely set on inviting us over to his house to have dinner with him and his wife and feed us any american food we want. He is the coolest. (They are obviously Americans). They are the coolest. His wife goes to all the games and is one of the first people to give him a high 5 when he comes back from playing, they have a really strong relationship and it cool to see.  :-) 

But anyway, we talked to president Miles about it, and he thought it was a wonderful idea, to help show them that we really do care about them, and not just with the gospel. We went, and the coach and the players that knew us were REALLY excited to see us there. We got a chance to talk to the coach afterward, and hear about his conversion story and why he left the church, which is heart breaking. He told us that for the first time in 25 years he had prayed that day just before the game with the team. That was really cool. :-) He didn't seem quite comfortable with giving us his information (we didn't ask, but knew that missionaries had asked before and he didn't want them to have it). But we earned a lot more respect from him. And it actually was really good. 

We weren't there for the full game, just the second half. Its not quite the same as in the US. It cost us 4 Euro to get in, and it was probably less attended than your average high school game. It was really interesting to hear the whole game announced in German with American words through in there every now and again  "Touchdown" and  "interception". It was fun. :-) Ravensburg won 21 to 14! :-) 

It was a great week. And I would love to write more, but I am out of time. It was a neat week, we taught 7 lessons, felt the spirit, and are well prepared to continue to make progress. It amazes me how God is preapring people and putting them in our path, and blessing us so much. Its been a wonderful week, and I am excited for another! :-)

I wish you a great week!

love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

More Pictures

These pictures are from Ravensburg, they are from Elder Buchanan's blog who is serving with his wife in the same branch as Ryan.  He is great at taking pictures of the Elders.  It's a great tender mercy to this mom who longs to see her son who is far away.  

Great Week, Swiss bodensee adventure Almost getting to meet my German teachers Brother, WAY PAST CURFEW, and Transfer calls. :-)

This week was great! And we had the adventure of a lifetime! I'll post pictures.

 And I actually don't have to much time to write a long e-mail, so taking into account that a picture is worth a thousand words, I will post some pictures as a reward for my wonderful beautiful diligent Mother for spending who knows how long working on my College Transcripts. :-) I love mom, Thanks for doing that. :-)

Anyway, we set a 3rd baptismal date this week! That was awesome, but we found out that she doesn't live here, but is under Assyl in Padova Italy, just here for a short time (wanting to move to Germany however...) So I will refer her down to the missionaries in Italy who can hopefully teach her.

 We had a solid week and taught a number of lessons, saw miracles. IT WAS AWESOME. On Tuesday we had planned to meet with an investigator in Markdorf, then go buy on people in the vicinity. Well that morning we get a call in which the Investigator cancels the appointment (he has done this the last 4 times) because his friend just got really ill and needed his help. So that opened up our day. We decided to go by on some potentials in Markdorf anyway.

So we set out, it was a sunny day with some clouds in the sky, but I, having served here last year know how fast the weather can change, and know that I ALWAYS need to carry an umbrella with me. My dear companions however, despite being Eagle scouts, didn't come prepared that day. Sure enough we make it to Friedrichshafen and it starts to get really stormy. But we continue out to Markdorf and it starts POURING Rain. Luckily we were in a bus, but it was pouring.

On the bus ride, I notice that a man sitting just across the isle from me is trying to read my name tag, I look over and he immediately looks back at the window. Ok, so I turn to look out the window, for 30 seconds and turn back to see him leaning well out of the chair trying to read my name tag, I smile, take it off and give it to him so that he could read it, and he asks, "Are you protestant" I say no, and right then another lady walks up takes a seat not to far and was like "are you a sect?" (which here in Germany is equivalent to the meaning of a "Cult") So I start explaining to them what we are, and the conversation takes off with the lady and I talk to her for a good 10 minutes on the bus. She says that she has no interest in switching religions, but at the end she very happily took a book, and said she would read it. However she didn't want to give me her phone number.

Then I turn back to the guy and try talking to him, only to find out that he is from Macedonia and can't speak German, just then his wife walks from the front (where their two daughters were sitting) to the back to translate for him. She is also from Macedonia, but when she was a girl, her family fled to Germany during the war in her home country, and there she learned German. She went back later to Macedonia and had only been back a year, but her German was still good enough that we could communicate. I talked about exactly what we believe, they were excited and I was able to make an appointment to come and visit them. :-)

Long story short, we arrived in Markdorf the storm got worse, with Lightning and despite having much Faith in God, I decided that their is a reason God gave us the ability to think and reason, so we stayed under the pavilion and hoped to wait the storm out. The Buchanans were in Friedrichshafen and were almost done visiting someone, and they eventually came to our rescue, having a car, and we went and visited all the potentials that we wanted to. That was great, going through the area book I came across a record which I really wanted to visit. The phone numbers didn't work, so I did some "Research" (as Elder Buchanan refers to it) and eventually found their address and a new phone number. While in Markdorf, we stopped by and they were VERY interested and excited to have us come back. :-) We will visit them on Tuesday.

It is so great being here, God truly works miracles, with that family that I found on the bus (and the other lady that I talked to) and leading me to find that record of the family who want´s us to come back.

Thursday we helped moved a friend of Sister Hofmann, That was awesome. They needed our help with the heavy objects. You can imagine the joy we felt when we arrived and were greeted with the words "alright, lets start with the Piano". If you go to a help someone move and they say "alright lets start with the Piano" you know you're in for a fun day ;-). But we did, we moved that Piano (thank goodness it wasn't a grand piano) outside and up into the van. The whole time I was repeatedly reminded of the talk "Lift where you stand" by President Uchtdorf. :-) That was neat.

They were incredibly grateful for out help moving the piano out of their old house and into the new one (That was a great work out!) luckily it wasn't too ridiculous, they lived on the ground floor in both locations. (nothing like "Mini Everest" :-) ). Sister Hofmann, who had seen me playing the Piano one day, told them that I could play, and because none of them could play they asked me if I wanted to play the Piano as the first person in the new home. Something that I may or may not have mentioned is that in my spare time (which I nearly have NONE of ) I have been trying to learn hymns. At the first it was slow, but now I have 10 hymns that I can play memorized and a number of others that I can play with the notes in front of me. So I played Church hymns, which they probably didn't recognize at all but it was cool. The Piano was very old I wouldn't be surprised if it was over 100 years old, as most of their furniture that we moved was well over that age. It was mostly there for look and not purpose and hadn't been played for many years, and was very out of tune, but the hymns still sounded beautiful none the less. Especially "Hark all ye nations", they like that one. After they walked out of the room to prepare something to eat Elder Kingery made the joke "I like the subtle brain washing". :-)

 Later that day we went on splits with Elder Buchanan, and we met with the lady that I met in the bus. That was awesome. :-) Friday was transfer calls. I am staying, and Elder Kingery is going to Freiburg. Which is sad but it's still in the same Zone, which is good. :-)

 Elder Kingery who is being transferred to Freiburg.

Elder Wasden who will be staying in Ravensburg.

On Friday night we were asked by the stake President to attend a stake Priesthood meeting in Winterthur. Here is proof that God loves us, we needed to go, but the Buchanans had to do apartment inspections, and would spend the whole day and make it there later in the day (in time for the priesthood meeting, but it would take all day). So we called around the ward to find a ride from someone. No one could take us, so we had to go by train and boat. Yup you read that right a BOAT. The only connections that would get us to Winterthur on time required a 45 minute Faerie ride across the Bodensee. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. I will post pictures of that. It was our "last adventure" as a three sum, and what a way to end it.

The Three of us together.

This was amazing, only under these circumstances would we ever have gotten to do that. No other missionary will ever probably do that again. Because Switzerland isn't in the Zone anymore only under the circumstances of a stake meeting without the Buchanans being able to take us, are we able to go to Switzerland across the Bodensee. It only can happen if you serve in the Ravensburg area, no other area in the mission needs to take a boat. That was awesome.

 Beautiful Switzerland

Romanshorn Switzerland

The meeting went from 7:30 to 9.30, and because we were nearly the first to arrive (the Buchanans picked us up from Winterthur Bahnhof) we were the last to be able to exit the small Winterthur parking lot and didn't end up getting home until 11:30 that night. It was approved, but it was LATE. The way we traveled, the fastest way back was a 10 minute Faerie ride across the bodensee from Konstanz to Meersburg which we caught at 10:35. Nothing like a ride across the Bodensee after Curfew ;-). It was fantastic.

So Elder Wasden and I are staying together, and are so excited. Our goal (and this is by no means out of reach) is to teach 20 lessons per week. We have 10 scheduled already and we have 4 additional families who should be returning in the next few weeks who we could then teach. :-) (Remember how I mentioned how there was nothing happening here? THIS IS A HUGE MIRACLE). I, being a district leader, have been able to look over the old numbers for the area, and solidly for the last year or more the most lessons taught in a week has been upwards of 4. No more. And we have had two back to back weeks with 9 and 8 respectably and coming up on a week with 10. This is huge, and I am so grateful to be apart of it!

We have been praying and fasting for miracles, and they are happening right and left. This Branch is going to become a ward someday. Despite it being on the point of being disbanded now, It will become a ward. AT LEAST. About a month ago I was pondering on the ward and the area, and God gave me a VERY STRONG impression that this area would blossom, and become a ward in a short amount of time. It being around 11.30 at night which this impression came I thought "I will write it down tomorrow". I was then instructed that I needed to write it down RIGHT THEN or else I would forget it. So I got up, and wrote down my thoughts in my Journal. But it's going to happen. I know it.

We haven't had a baptism here for 2 years, and before that it probably had been a good 4 or 5. But we currently have 2 active baptismal candidates and are finding people quickly. We hope to spark excitement into the branch, and to start something completely new. I am so excited to be here! I know this church is true, and that God leads us and will bless us as we go about doing his work.

 I wish you all a great week! love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

P.S.

So I forgot to mention, Mr. Embley's (My German Teacher)  Brother lives in Chur, which is in this stake. I have been wanting to meet him ever since, so I had hoped to meet him in Winterthur, but I found out that it was his daughters birthday and he couldn't make it. :-P Go figure. Maybe if I stay till November I can see him at Stake Conference! :-) Hence the "almost got to meet my German Teachers brother"

Miracles....need I say more.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I wish you a great week!

love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

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

Another Monday, More Miracles

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I wish you all a wonderful week!

love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Tender Mercies...Pictures!!!

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

This was on a ferry on P Day

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

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

No' en Woche isch vorbei gange'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I wish you all a great week!

love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

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