One Last Transfer...

I don't know exactly what to say. We just got Transfer Calls this past week. I AM STAYING! Which comes with mixed emotions, mostly positive, but I am getting another companion... Elder George from London Canada will replace Elder Wasden and be my last mission companion. 

I don't know him very well, he came in the same day as Elder Robins. I am excited to work with him, but am really going to miss Elder Wasden. We've been together for 3 transfers. Its been a blast. We came in with different ideas and things, and at the beginning it was a bit rough. We both agree that 3 transfers ago, had we had a choice we wouldn't have picked eachother as companions. But looking back I can honestly say that I wouldn't have chosen any one else. Its been alot of fun. :-)

I am however still looking forward to this next transfer, there is a lot to be done. Things are running smoothly, but could always be better, starting with my bike but that is a different story... ;-)

We had a pretty busy week, Monday was completely full, we went and visited a castle out in Leutkirch with the Buchanans which was awesome. Tuesday I was on exchange in Dornbirn with Elder Moon. SO MUCH FUN. I love working with Elder Moon. It is really interesting we went to the same Highschool, but never really met each other. We have become pretty good friends out here. We have only worked with each other on 2 exchanges, but we have a really good flow back and forth. We spoke German the entire exchange, which is something not easy to do with new missionaries, and it was WAY FUN.

Thursday was transfer calls. We got up and started the day as normal, and I got the feeling that I would be staying. Between that, and the experience the week before I wasn't overally tense that morning. Poor Elder Wasden. He was really tense. So I, being the good companion that I am, decided to a bit of fun. :-) 

The phone has a fake call function on it. when you press the down arrow button 4 times, it sets off a 10 second timer, after which it simulates a phone call from an unknown number. The funniest part is, President Miles usually shows up as unknown on the phone... ;-) For those of you who think this was mean, I need to clarify that it was by no means mean, this is the kind of companionship that we have. :-) 

Anyway, I did it, the phone rang, Elder Wasden JUMPED snatched the phone and answered it. Nothing, he looks at me who is smiling very widely and yeah... it was really funny. The phone call came at around 9.20 or so. Elder Wasden will go to Heilbronn and be a district leader there. Crazy.

That pretty much was the biggest highlight of the week. We had another fantastic lesson with Vladimir, at the end of which we set a baptismal date for the 14th of December. He is really excited. As part of the lesson (before we talked about baptism) he mentioned how past mistakes had really been haunting him, and how he wished those feelings could go away, and start new. We taught about Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit was really strong, we set the date and he is excited to work towards it. :-)

Jason is doing splendidly well. Being from China we were worried how he would accept the word of wisdom, because typically they like to drink strong green teas in China. But he accepted it without any problem. He made the observation that commandments are really love from God, that just like our parents want us to have happy lives and give us rules to help us progress, God also gives us these commandments to help us be happy and make progress. He is doing really really well and is making steady progress. :-)

We also got to meet with Courtney again this week, he is an American, we met him awhile ago but haven't been able to meet up with him for awhile. We went so that Elder Wasden could say goodbye. We had a great time. He has a really neat story about him becoming truly converted to Christ. Him and his wife are very strong Christians. We had such an uplifting conversation, its way fun to talk with them. At the end we showed him a Mormon message, the one about the boy and the bike. He liked it a lot and said that he was going to immedieately post that on his facebook account. He is way awesome and we hope to talk with them some more.

I am excited to get into this new transfer. We have seen so many miracles and I am excited to keep working and see more. God is blessing us so much. It takes work, its not always easy, but we are pushing forward. :-) I know that this is Gods work and we will see miracles when we just have faith, and work for them!

I wish you all a great week!

love,
Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Last Zone Conference...

Wow. I don't have too much time to write today. This week was COMPLETELY packed. Monday was P-day, Tuesday we drove with the Buchanans to Singen to have a quick District Leader Training meeting, Zone Training Meeting (3 hours long) Interviews (3 Hours long) Spend the night in Singen (ISlept on the floor with no pillows or blankets. It's made me much more grateful for the warm bed that I have.. Then the next day Have a 1 hour District leader Meeting followed up by a 6 hour long Zone Conference. It was incredible and very uplifting. :-) For My interview with President Miles I got a new Temple Recommend, Which is all there was time for. I had the interview in German. SO COOL. :-)

Zone Conference was amazing as always I love them so much. There used to be one part in particular that I really enjoyed and that was the testimonies at the end, which are given by all the missionaries who are going home before the next Zone Conference. This time I was in the program. I never ever ever thought that would happen. It didn't really hit home that I have really been here two years until I walked up to the Microphone. 

What made it the worse, was that Elder Chapman bore his testimony first, and started crying, Then Elder Davies likewise. Two missionaries who have become great friends, then I am supposed to get up and bear testimony. I managed not to cry but I was choking up the whole time. Back when I first arrived you bear your testimony at your first Zone Conference and at your last. My first Zone Conference was when I was in Dornbirn. My last one was in Ravensburg. SAME DISTRICT. That was hard. At least we aren't in the same Zone as we used to be, if we were in Winterthur I would have lost it. Elder Davies first area was Singen. So he was the most emotional of the (5) (Elder Gubler and Wilson followed after me). It was incredible however. IT was an incredible experience those two days. After that we jumped on the IRE SPRINTER back to Ravensburg.

The next day was Thursday, We had scheduled an exchange and were to be in Lindau at 10, which means we needed to catch a train at 9. We got up and studied as normal, then as we were getting ready to head out the door, I notice that a pocket in my bag was open, and my wallet was gone. I panicked way bad. I knew that I had it in the train, because I had bought a snack from a vending machine in Singen at the train station and put my wallet into my bag. 

So I panicked and started looking around the apartment frantically, and getting more and more upset and stressed as time went further. I stopped and prayed. After that I got up, and looked a bit but it was obvious it wasn't in the apartment, and must have fallen out sometime in the train. I called the DB lost and found and reported the wallet as lost, and that is all I could do. With the panic we missed the first train and pushed back the exchange one hour. I had come to the decision, that I couldn't do anything about the wallet in that moment, report it to DB and pray that I would get it back that is all I can do. (As well as block the credit cards). We exchanged and I felt peace, that everything would be ok, and we had a great exchange! We had two fantastic lessons with Jason and Vladimir. It went really well. I am glad that I put that out of my mind because if I had been worrying about the wallet it may have very well ruined the exchange, and lessons.

Jason and Vladimir are both doing really well. Jason bore the coolest testimony about prayer during that lesson. He says that he has noticed a change since he has started meeting with us. He said before he used to stress out a lot about various things, but now he just thinks "Hey I have prayed, I don't need to worry anymore" and then he feels peace. He is a computer programmer and has been working on an intense project for Chrysler, and on Sunday he said that he would be completely full this week and not have too much time because of the project. 

Then on Monday night he called us and told us " I have some great news! I finished the project today!" He went on to describe how he had prayed that morning for God to help him out with the project, that he could finish it earlier and he finished it that very day. And said that he knew he got it done that day because he prayed and God helped him.  WAY COOL MIRACLE! He has an incredible testimony of Prayer. He had never prayed before in his entire life until we met him. It was neat because in that lesson, after he told us that he doesn't worry about things as much I told him how I lost my wallet and needed to pray and also got peace that everything will be ok. It fit really well, maybe that was why I needed to lose it.:-)

Vladimir was so excited to meet with us that he called and confirmed the appointment a couple days early and then the day of to make sure we didn't forget. :-) We had a fantastic lesson, he had watched a few General Conference Talks, and like them a lot. We started talking about the plan on Salvation and he loved it a lot. He is taking up everything we teach like a sponge. We could have been there for HOURS. He loves talking with us. We only stayed for an hour though. At the end he asked us how we are so happy and positve all the time and asked it it was possible for him to also be that way. We promised him there was. 

I am so excited to teach him about the gift of the Holy Ghost and read with him about it. That is exactly what he wants. I am so excited for him. Sadly he didn't come to church though, he called me that morning saying that he couldn't sleep all night long because he was feeling really depressed and all of the bad things that had happened to him were haunting him and that he was very tired and needed to sleep. But he wants us to come and visit him on Thursday. We recommend watching some mormon messages, praying and reading in the Book of Mormon when he was feeling depressed. He liked the idea, and at one point in time he was feeling depressed, he told us that he prayed and felt peace. :-)

Things are going really well. Losing the wallet was hard, and at the same time I was feeling so incredibly stressed out about these upcoming transfer calls. I have never wanted to leave an area, but I have never felt so strong about it before. This week there was a point in time where I was feeling so terrified of transfer calls that it was consuming me. We have seen so many miracles here, and we have 4 really solid investigators at the moment, who will all most likely be baptized with in the coming month, and after struggling for so long and after finally getting this far being transferred would be SO INCREDIBLY HARD. 

The wallet thing happened about the same time. I wanted to talk to President Miles (during my interview)  and request that I stay for my last transfer, but I didn't end up doing it. At the end, Peace finally came through praying, as I was praying about the wallet and the upcoming transfer, a scripture ( I think I mentioned it a couple weeks ago) came back to my mind "Lass dir an meiner Gnade Genügen". Let my grace suffice you. -2 Kor 12:9. That really hit me in that moment, and it has changed me. Everything that was causing me stress over the past few weeks, I was able to let go. I don't know how things will turn out, but I am going to do everything that lays in my power, and will trust God in doing the rest. 

Even if I get transferred and never see the Wallet again, even if I am going to need to go about the process of getting a new Visa and everything, I know that everything will be ok. That God has a plan, and that he is there and will help me. It may not go as I want it to. It may not be as planned, but at the end, I will be happy. I know that. Deuteronomy 8:15-16 

I wish you all a fantastic Week!

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

STAKE CONFERENCE! And a new bike.....

Well, I must say first off that my thoughts about repairing that bike was me being really optimistic and not wanting to need to buy another bike. But I took it into the shop and they said that it couldn't be repaired and commented how the bike was actually meant for people much shorter than me (the frame didn't really indicate that other than the fact that I found it strange that the mount for the seat sat so low (which is why all the Elders in the past have pulled up the seat so incredibly high way past the point that it should have been moved. Then there is me, who isn't exactly the smallest Elder in the Mission and after nearly 8 weeks of me it gave up the ghost...) 

Anyway, so I talked to President Miles and he told me to try to buy another bike from Marcus, who we bought the bikes from in the first place. Long story short, Marcus was about to shut down for the season and didn't have any more bikes. But was able to bolt the seat in place. But here is the thing, the frame is meant for people much shorter, and because we were missing that extra two inches that the mount provided, it was WAY SHORT. I got on it and my knees were nearly at my chest as I rode. Elder Wasden saw how pitiful I looked and (he having not nearly as long of Legs as I do) decided to switch me bikes for the week. So now today we are going to go on a bike hunt for another bike which is durable and within budget. Sweet. And knowing my luck, what will happen is that we will find a bike, I may get to ride it for 2 days or so and then its going to snow really hard, and we will be unable to use the bikes... 

From Monday night till Tuesday night we had an exchange. It was rough. All the appointments fell out and even after nearly 4 hours of contacting no one wanted to speak with us. District meeting was good though. :-) 

Wednesday. Going into the day we had 5 appointments set up! Then shortly into the day 3 fell out, but we kept the practice teach appointment with sister Schmelz. Which was great, and we met again with Prosperi. We had a good discussion about faith and how to gain it using Matthew 13 and Alma 32. Prosperi is way awesome! He understands a lot. He understands that the only way to gain a testimony is through prayer and guidance through the Holy Ghost. Something neat though that happened that morning, on the way to our first appointment (with a polish man in Weingarten ) we were on the way there and were talking to people on the street at this point in the day there weren't too many people out and about. We talked the first person we saw and for some reason something about the conversation just felt off. 

Talking to people on the street has been really something that has been bugging me because I feel like I could do better. I had been pondering about that during personal study that morning. I wasn't feeling too much of a personal connection with the people I was talking with and I didn't know why. And I was trying to do better. One of the things that came to my mind was to listen, pause think and then answer, instead of trying to just shoot out a blatant answer or testimony. 

We talked to the next person, we mentioned who we were and that we were talking about God. He quickly said that he didn't believe that there was a God and that he had no interest really. We asked why, and he said that he had been through so many hard things that there couldn't be a God. We paused and spoke and told him that bad things happening is not evidence that there isn't a God, because Jesus once said "he maketh his sun to rise on evil and good and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust". And then I ( with Joel 2:13 and Isaiah 57:15, 18-19 in mind)  bore testimony about how God knows that bad things will happen, but only wants us to turn to him, humble our selves so that he can heal us. 

The Spirit came, I felt it, and he felt it, and I could see it in his eyes. He gave us his phone number and address and we made an appointment for Friday. That was the best street contact I have ever had. Its not easy to do that, and I don't know exactly how to keep doing it, but I know its possible, and I know how a street contact can be. Now the trick is to be better at it. Granted of all topics that I could have picked having had much hard times and having been comforted myself, this topic was very close to my heart in that moment and I think that really helped. Had I not had such hard time these past few weeks, maybe that would have never happened. Who is to say, either way I am INCREDIBLY grateful for the that which I have learned and experienced.

We also experienced a wonderful miracle on Thursday. I mentioned awhile ago that there was a couple from Markdorf that tried coming to church but couldn't find it so they went back. Well Adrienne texted us and wanted to meet with us, so we brought the Buchanans and we went. We get there and she runs out and give sister Buchanan a hug and shakes all our hands and we walk inside and talk with her a bit. Its rough, she is from the Ivory Coast and French is her mother language. She speaks decent German but it is still rough. We talked to her a bit and found out that she is actually a member of the church! She was baptized and shortly after had to move to a different city down in the Ivory Coast, where the church wasn't at. After several years she met her husband (who is German) and later moved to Markdorf. She hasn't had any contact with the church for over 10 years. Until Elders Kingery, Wasden and I got the refferal from the Kontanz Elders and when they weren't there, we knocked on a few doors in the area. 

She was so THRILLED to see us that second time. She is going to visit Family back in the Ivory coast and leaves this Saturday. She won't come back till January 10th. Ouch. But we managed to stop by on her on Saturday to bring her some cookies we made. She was even more happy to see us that time that she immediate embraced both Elder Wasden and I. She gave us her e-mail and skype information and said that she wanted to keep in constant contact when she is there. She is so incredibly happy to have found the church again. And I can't help but sit back and marvel and be so grateful for God and his great mercy. This is by no means the first time that has happened it happened in Munich once, and now twice here with Elder Wasden and I. We would have never ever found her, if we hadn't received that refferal. Markdorf isn't exactly a big place and it wouldn't be my first choice to do missionary work in (although I must say I LOVE MARKDORF we are there a few times a week and I have come to love it.) 

I am running out of time again... :-P Time is not my friend. But I did want to talk about Vladmir (the one guy who we found on the street that I mentioned). We went and visited him and had an incredible lesson. We started out by asking him what he expected from us/ what made him want to meet with us. And he told me that the scripture I shared really touched him and that he wants peace and real happiness. As you can tell by the name he is from Kazakhstan, and he isn't kidding when he said that so many terrible things have happened to him. We read in Alma 32 about how he could find out for himself it these things are true. We read verse 42 and asked him what he thought. He said almost with tears in his eyes that is what he wants. We talked about peace and healing from God. It was powerful. We invited him to read Alma 7:11-13 and 3 Nephi 17. I am way excited for him He has a lot of interest and really wants to come to know God. 

We have been very blessed here in Ravensburg, and we have a lot to look forward to, and much to do. I am so happy to be here serving a mission here, and for the wonderful things that we are able to see. God truly leads this work, I know it. 

I wish you all a wonderful week!

love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

.... Wow what a Week...

Well, Even though there are 7 days in a week I will only hit up the highlights of the week. 

Tuesday, we had district Meeting in Dornbirn. :-) Fun as usual, District Meetings are always uplifting. Later in the days we had a lesson With a Man named Thomas Haman, he is a friend of Brother Stevens that Brother Stevens got to know through his business. He likes to ask deep questions and hear the answers from each one of us. It was a great discussion. We hope that he and his family will come to church at some point in time in the near future. Right after that I called Mariet, and She had time right then, so we went up with the Buchanans and were able to meet with her. She is doing well, she is just busy with work and apparently has a lot going on and wants time to get things settle before she gets baptized... But we will keep meeting with her and see what happens. 

Wednesday I went on Exchange back to Dornbrin and spent the day Bregenz with Elder Fox, who has only been here a couple of weeks. That was fun. He forgot the Map back home, but I knew were all the streets were (having spent a lot of time in Bregenz last year) and so I navigated us the whole day which is cool, but at the same time it is probably the biggest downside of doing exchanges down there. They assume that I know the area better than they do and often expect me to lead out on the exchange. I need to figure out how to overcome that. 

Saturday, the day after a German Holiday.... Stephan needed our help so we planned to catch a train to Markdorf and be there at 3 to help him out for a few hours then change and try to stop by on the Micov Family and the Kunz Family. We arrive at the train station in Ravensburg, only to be greeted by the announcement that our Train was cancelled. Ok, no Problem, we will just catch the next one, which should leave in about 8 minutes and we should still be able to get there. It turns out in that particular hour, that train didn't exist. Stephan doesn't have a cell phone, so we can't call and tell him we will come late, or that our Train was cancelled. 

We decided to catch the next train to Friedrichshafen and catch a bus to Markdorf. Well Long story short we missed the bus to Markdorf, and ended up getting to Markdorf at 4.00. We hoped that Stephan would try coming back to pick us up, but after waiting for 10 minutes we gave up and went and changed. I was a bit frustrated at the train for being cancelled because the connections really aren't that down here, so it took up an additional hour of our day to get there, and he probably thought that we blew him off because he doesn't have a cell phone. So we went to the Restrooms located in the center of Markdorf to change We now have much more time than we anticipated. Like I said I was frustrated at DB in the moment  (They aren't exactly known for punctuality and great service in this region).

 I cut my finger pretty bad in the WC which made me even more frustrated and then in that moment a scripture popped into my head, Joel 2:13: "...rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God..."

It is a scripture that I had become fond of, and it came back to me in that moment. In this part of Joel, Joel prophecies of a terrible war and catastrophes that will happen. Then verse 12 and 13 is God inviting us to turn unto him with our whole hearts, not to get angry and everything bad that is happening (rending your garments) but to become humble and turn to him (rending your heart) because "he is merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness [and he will turn away the evil from you]". It had already great meaning to me, but in that moment it meant so much more. Almost as if he were saying to me "Yeah, your Train fell out, you missed your appointment and have a lot of Free time on your hands on a day after a holiday, but don't get angry, just get humble and turn to me, and trust me". I took a few minutes to pray and try to re align my view. 

We went out and were able to stop by on the Micov family and bring them a pamphlet of the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, printed in Macedonian (the only the the church offers in Macedonian) and talk with them for a bit. That was great. Later on, we went by on the Kunz family. We haven't had an appointment with them in over 2 months they have all fallen out, and we haven't been able to contact them at all. Not knowing what to expect we said a quick prayer and then I rang the doorbell. They were there! And we had a great conversation with them for an hour and a half (the timing wasn't the best because all of their kids were sick and so one parent was always helping the kids get ready for bed while the other was talking with us, and then the would switch :-) ). It turns out that they have had some phone problems and have felt so guilty because something would come up, they couldn't make the appointment and then they couldn't contact us. They are really busy during the week, but we were able to meet with them that night. If we would have had the service project, that wouldn't have happened. It taught me a great lesson.

The next day was Sunday. It was a great day. Jason was there, as well as the Trautmans Granddaughter, which surprised me a bit, but we taught both of them and that was fun. Later on, we were supposed to have an appointment at 3 with a Sri lanken family here in Ravensburg, but they ended up saying that they don't want to meet with us. The Buchanan's were having pie with Derick and Jason, and invited us, so we got our bikes and started to ride. Those who have thought "Wow! Elder Christensen had a whole week with no bike problems!" Just wait. 

On the way up the hill all of the sudden with out warning the seat fell out from underneath me, nearly throwing me backwards off the bike. The uppermost part of the frame which fastens the seat and pole to the frame snapped off. Not repairable except through welding... I don't just mean that a small part broke off, a good 2 inch long ring of the frame broke free, and with it the seat fell off. So my bike is... dead. I don't know what to do right now... :-P It has great brakes, wonderful pedals, steers really smoothly and has a wonderful oiled chain, just no seat... At this point I just thought to myself "rend my heart, not my garments, rend my heart, not my garments..." :-)

So we spent the rest of the Sunday walking around trying to visit some people. No one was home and the people on the roads were being incredibly rude. One thing that I ought to also mention that over the past week, Satan has really been working hard on me, and it has been getting worse and worse. Every possible thing that Satan can use is has been, stressing me about things, wearing me down, with every possible angle, Highlighting many many weaknesses. 

2 Cor 12:7-10 ( I will only put in verses 9-10)

 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 

10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. (bolding and underlining added)

The difference between the King James and the Martin Luther here is only a slight one, but in Verse 9 in the Martin Luther it says "LET my grace be sufficient to thee". 

Later I thought of D&C 98:1-3 

1 Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks;

 2 Waiting patiently on the Lord, for your prayers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and are recorded with this seal and testament—the Lord hath sworn and decreed that they shall be granted.

 3 Therefore, he giveth this promise unto you, with an immutable covenant that they shall be fulfilled; and all things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for your good, and to my name’s glory, saith the Lord. (bolding and underlining added)

Essentially, Hard times will come. There is no question, and there is nothing that we can do to stop it. But we can change how we react to them. If we humble ourselves and let ourselves be satisfied with his grace (which may mean that things don't work out like we want them to) everything will work together for our good. Our Weakness will be made manifest, to keep us humble, Then our Weaknesses will become strengths. 

With this e-mail, the number of remaining weeks I have left in the mission field is now a Single digit number. Could I really expect anything else than to have it be the most difficult time? But I know that God hears my prayers. I know that even though things don't always go as planned, that everything will work toward our good. I am still learning more about "rending my heart, and not my garments" and still have a long way to go until I can say that I am really can let Gods Grace be sufficient, But I am working on that, and I trust that God will help me get through it. I am grateful to be a missionary, to spread the Gospel and to come closer to my Savior, who descended below all things. 

I am grateful for his atonement, and the promises he has made to me. I know he loves me, and loves all of us. And that "the gates of heaven are open unto all who believe on Jesus Christ the Son of God" (Hel 3:28) That is why I am here, that is my goal is to help as many as I can feel that love, and be able to one day return to God.

I wish you all a wonderful Week!

Love,
Elder  Ryan K. Christensen

Oktober wird jetzt bald vorbei... SO KOMMISCH

October is over now....SO WEIRD

With the end of this upcoming week, we will be in November. My head is still spinning, and I am still trying to figure out where all the time has gone... 

But we had a fantastic week this week! 

Monday. EPIC FAILURE ON MY PART. So, I don't remember if I have said so much about the current bike that am riding. Before me, the bike was named Black Beauty, but like to name it broomstick because of the seat... it has nearly no padding and for the most part it may be an inch and half wide, maybe. Anyway, It needed some repair work done, the steering was starting to get a bit rusty, so I needed to take that apart, one of the pedals broke, the chain needed to be oiled, and the brakes tightened. ( I seem to always have brake problems). 

So I spent some time fixing the bike I took it nearly all apart oiled it up and put it back together (and I only had 2 screws left over!! ;-) ) No, everything was put back just fine, but I decided that it would be a good idea to raise the handle bars a bit, too make the ride more comfortable. So I did not problems. I proceed and tighten the brakes, oiled the chain, replaced the pedal (on a side note, I don't know why I am having all of these bike problems, maybe this is just God's way of subconsciously letting me know that my destined career is not that of a Surgeon, but of a bike repairman ;-) ). I get it all put together, and don't have any time to test ride it to make sure everything works properly, because we need to leave. So we pack up and ride up the hill toward the Buchanans. I notice that the bike is acting somewhat strange, but I didn't think anything of it, until we were going back down the hill... It turns out that I couldn't raise the handle bars as easily as I anticipated, and that I had left a gap which allowed for some wiggle room. 

This showed it self as we started to bike down the hill, the bike started to shake, so I pulled the brakes to slow me down, upon applying just the slightest pressure to the front brake the bike shook violently almost lost control and I about wrecked. The back brakes worked fine and caused no effect. Sweet! Good thing I tightened those today! Well about 20 seconds later as I pulled the back brake to slow me down, I heard a snapping sound and all the sudden the brakes didn't work. The back brake cable snapped.   And I wasn't even halfway down the hill yet... So now I am gaining speed down this hill, and if I so much as touch the brakes, the bike is going to lose control and I will wreck. Super.

 I made it back safely to the apartment, without any harm. More to show Gods matchless preserving power than any sort of skill I could possess. Needless to say we were done with the bikes for that day and spent the rest of the evening on foot. :-) The next day, I returned the handlebars to their designed height. Elder Buchanan stopped at Real and bought me a new brake cable, I installed it and ever since then the bike seems to be working really well. But stayed tuned till next week to find out what more chaos Elder Christensen can have with a bike...

Later that night, after we got back to the apartment I decided to call a few people, see if we could get a hold of anyone to meet with during the week. And I ended up texting Stephan Beck, someone who we had tried to meet with for a long time, but he cancelled a few times and then we lost contact. I just sent him a text asking him if there was anything we could do for him, and he almost immediately called me and said " Wow you asked me at the perfect time, I need help tomorrow building my Barn in Markdorf". Cool. He subsequently invited us to breakfast and to talk a bit about God. He has some really interesting ideas... He knows the bible well though. But it seems his biggest fascination is with the sections like Ezekiel 1 where Ezekiel essentially describes (what appears to be) an airplane that he sees in a vision. And other places where ancient prophets tried to describe our day. Really cool things, not so much about God though. It was interesting. 

But later that day we had a fun time in Markdorf helping build his barn, he has some land down there with sheep and chickens and a garden. He is working toward being completely self sufficient, or getting to that point. Anyway, we had a really fun time with him and helped him space out the beams for the roof. Luckily its a really small barn ( I wouldn't call it a barn personally, more like a shack but I won't hurt his pride ;-)) It was fun. A lot actually working with wood again, and having some tools back in my hand. It was good. :-) It was good and he was impressed with our desire to work and to help others. We will hopefully be able to return sometime this week and help him some more. 

Wednesday we had an Exchange with Dornbirn. I brought Elder Sharp (from Sydney Australia) here to Dornbirn and we had a good time. Yup. He is from Australia. And he knows Elder Stokes too. It's fun hearing the Australian accent again. :-) We spent the day going by on a few people before going to Institute, to hopefully meet with Mariet, who I contacted again for the first time in months only a few days earlier. Sadly she couldn't stay for us to talk with her, but she loved institute and wants to come back (the only problem is, is that she doesn't have a ride...) She wants to be baptized, but doesn't have too much of an inner drive to do so (more of, yeah sure, if it is convenient, and I am able, why not?) so we will need to talk with her some more before she can get baptized. 

Thursday, nothing overally exciting happened, except for having dinner with the Stevens family, which was delicious as always. I ate WAY TOO MUCH. Mostly with desert she made Germ Knödel, which I really like, and so I two of them and was stuffed then Sister Stevens offered me a third one. I said I was so full that I couldn't eat another. Then she teasingly/provokingly said "Elder Christensen, you don't have much time left on your mission, this might be the last time you can have real Germ Knödel". After sitting there quietly a few seconds, I took another one. :-P  I love this branch so much, I mentioned the changes that I have seen since I arrived and the relationship with the members has gotten only better. We have become members of the branch, and have such good relationships with the members.

Saturday and Sunday. These two I want to specifically mention. We spent Saturday morning doing an "Area book finding day" with the Buchanans, after which we had GMK with David, and then went to Help Jason put together his furniture. That was way too much fun. Making mistakes and having to take it apart and start over again. Afterwards he made us Chinese food... Then we had a lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, about baptism. And he accepted and really wants to be baptized on the 23rd of November! He is so great. He feels the spirit when he prays, when he is with us, and he wants to feel it stronger. He lives only a couple houses away from David, and David now has a car, so he brought him to church. He had a great time at church. 

Jasmin Trautman was also able to come, so we taught two separate investigator classes. :-) Jasmin will probably be baptized sometime in December. She can only come to church every other week with her Grandparents, but wants to be baptized. :-) So we will teach her and prepare her for baptism. :-). Later after church once the members had mostly left (we needed to wait for Elder Buchanan to finish a meeting) I sat down and started playing some Hymns. Specifically one of my current favorites "O Bleibe Herr" (Abide with me). It has 4 verses in German, sadly the English is missing the last one, which is my favorite.  Sister Trautman and Jasmin came in and we started singing together in 3 part harmony. It turns out that "O Bleibe Herr" is also Sister Trautmans favorite. :-) We have really gained a good relationships with members here, it's so cool to see. I started playing another hymn, and wasn't quite playing it with the correct style, so I got a bit of a private piano lesson from Sister Trautman. It was cool. At the beginning of my time here, that wouldn't have happened, but it has changed so much. 

Later we had lunch with the Buchanans, Barluschkes, Jason and Derick. Then we had to leave because they played card games, but that was INCREDIBLE. Jason now feels very comfortable with the ward, and has some friends. Things are just going really really well. We are seeing many miracles and wonderful things are happening. God is answering our prayers. He truly is protecting us and guiding us. Things are getting better and better. Its wonderful to see. I know that God loves us. 

Anyway, my time is now up, I wish you all a fantastic week! 

love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

It was a good week. :-)

I don't have anytime anymore to really say much, we are short on time today with much to do, but I would like to just report that the week has been really good. It came with it's usual struggles (fallen out appointments etc.) But overall it was good.

Tuesday we were able to meet with Justice and Christine as well as Jason. It was great. Justice, who has cancelled the past 5 appointments because he was called in to go work, this time told them he couldn't so that he could meet with us. He also took notes as we were talking with him. It was cool. :-) 

Later that night we met with Jason at the church and had a short but fantastic appointment with him. He told us that he had started to pray personally, and when he prayed he felt peace and confidence. SO COOL!! He likes to pray, and was excited to get the book of Mormon in Chinese. He said the closing prayer at the end of that meeting and I about cried. It was the neatest feeling ever. 

He hadn't ever prayed before we met him, we taught him how, he had done a few times personally and when he said the closing prayer... It was  SO COOL. The feeling that is. His prayer was different than the first time we met him. A bit more sincere and more real. We were supposed to go help with furniture on Thursday, but it turns out that he got the shipment date wrong and that it will be this coming Thursday. And then he got sick and couldn't come to church, but we will meet with him again this week. :-)

Other than that it has been a good week, we saw a cool miracle on Thursday when everything fell out (including back-up plans) we ended up in Friedrichshafen looking for a woman down there who had talked with the missionaries a while ago. She didn't live there anymore but while walking up and down we saw a guy outside and started talking with him. At the beginning he didn't have too much interest, but towards the end he took a Book of Mormon and said that we were welcome to come back another time. :-) That was SO NEAT. Everything fell out, and we some how wound up down there ( not really planning too) and we found him. We wouldn't have found him otherwise. Still learning patience and to trust the Lord, but I am getting better. :-)

With that, I need to end this e-mail,

I wish you all a great week!

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

Miracles!

I have VERY VERY little time, so I wish to share a few miracles that we saw this week, after a long week of difficult work. 

So, We had an exchange on Friday to Saturday, I was with Elder Thompson on exchange in Dornbirn. It went really well, and lucky for me, we were invited to eat dinner with the Stevens Family, a family that I ate with often when I was there. That was so much fun. :-) Anyway, we exchanged back on saturday, and saw the Baptism that Bregenz had. That was fun. And a fun fact was that she was talked to last year in september and took only a card, no information given, no interest shown. But was talked to again this year and this time she tried. She thought that she would never join the church and it would be useless, but she came to church one day, and felt the spirit so strong... that was the start, and now she is a new member of the church. It was neat to see. 

Later that day we were back in Ravensburg, and had nothing that we really could do, plans fell out, and we had to try something else. I decided to take the time to call some people, while Elder Wasden ( who is a pretty good artist) made a card to take to a less active member. There were so many people with whom I tried to get contact for a long time, who finally answered! That was incredible. We made SO MANY APPOINTMENTS OUT. It was incredible. 

And then, I got a call from a lady who we found about 2 and a half months ago. She called me and informed me that she and her husband wanted to come to church tomorrow, and needed the adress! I was blown away. That hsa been the hardest thing to get accomplished is get people to church. She and her husband live in Markdorf, which is 30 minutes away, and they wanted to come. SHE CALLED ME! I couldn't get a hold of her for 2 months and she spontaneously called us and said that she AND HER HUSBAND would come to church tomorrow. That was a huge miracle.

Then the next day, they didn't come. I was so sad, and couldn't focus ( I was supposed to translate, which didn't go so well) right after the closing prayer, my phone rings, and I look at the number and it was the family. I BOOKED IT out of the chapel into the hall to take the phone call. It turns out they were there, but couldn't find the church. Our church is in a building with a bunch of business offices, and they didn't recognize it. They drove up the road ( and on the same road there happens to be a Kingdom hall ( Jehovas Witnesses)) Luckily they knew that wasn't us, but not being able to find it, they drove home back to Markdorf ( I don't know why they didn't call earlier). I told them the address was number 5 but they were so sure. 

Anyway, they will come back next week!  Then as I sat down, I got another phone call. It was from Jason, another guy who I found but lost contact with. He had moved back to Weingarten and wanted to meet with us that day. He is from China. We met up, and had an incredible lesson. It was amazing, and he said the prayer at the end. That was the first time he had ever prayed. It was a very neat experience. We will meet with him a few times a week. On thursday we will go over and help him put together all his furniture, and then he will cook us chinese food. I am so excited! :-) 

He has a TON of interest. I am so excited to get to meet with him. It was a huge miracle that he called. And another miracle, is that he moved into an apartment which is rigth around the corner from our GML David. ( They are nearly the same age) I AM SO EXCITED!  That was huge miracle. Huge Miracle. Exactly what we needed. And because he lives so close, he will be able to come to church easily on sunday, and I can imagine him really enjoying it. 

That is all I really have time to write about... But I wish you all a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

A really weird week... But we had General Conference! :-)

My time is very limited for this e-mail, but, this week was very weird. Two back to back exchanges, a National holiday and General Conference...

Monday, was a normal P-day, with the exception that I made Mussaman curry for the Buchanans. :-) I found a little Asian shop here in Ravensburg and have been in heaven ever since. This time it is legitimately a Massaman curry, as opposed to a red curry with similar contents. :-). It wasn't the best curry that I have made, seeing as their stove is a bit more efficient than ours and I overcooked it a bit... but It was still good and fun to make. I still can't help but laugh how I come here to Germany on a German speaking mission, and learn to make Thai food. Something about that just seems ironic. I have learned how to make German food as well, and love German food, but I guess since I still don't get Thai that often, I get way excited about it... Weird I know. I have also come up with my own spaghetti Bolognese sauce. I have really gotten in to cooking since I have been, and enjoy it WAY too much, too bad as a missionary I can't make half the things that I want to make because of lack of time...

Anyway, that was a random tangent, later that night we met with Marko, who is from Croatia, he called us a few days earlier returning my call that I had made about 2 months earlier. He is funny, I don't know if we will be able to teach him however... he has a really short attention span. Its fun though ;-). 

Tuesday we had district meeting here, then I went to Dornbirn on exchange. Long story short the exchange wasn't so good because we had no time. It was WAY too short. We only had an 30 minutes that we could do something before the English class they teach then we helped the other Elders out with a lesson. During the 30 minutes how ever I saw someone who I met last year and had given him a Book of Mormon. I talked to him for a good 10 minutes or so, then he said "I have something for you" He went up stairs and brought down a blanket still in packaging. He gave to me as a gift. That was neat. One of the jobs he did was maintaining the machines to make these blankets, they are worth nearly 50 Euro, but he gave it to me. That was really neat. It was fun talking with him, and I hope the Elders will stop by every now and again to see how he and his wife and kids are doing. He works from 4 am till about 6 pm  (two different Jobs) everyday, so he doesn't have much time to meet with us sadly...Next morning we studied and exchanged back. :-( 

Not what I wanted to do, but I couldn't change anything, from that exchange, Elder Moon went with me back to Ravensburg and we had the second exchange. That was a blast. Elder Moon went to Pleasant Grove High School, and though we didn't know each other we have a lot of mutual friends and its fun working together. We had a really really good rhythm working together in teaching and finding and talked to 3 people who would like to meet with us more. :-) It was great.

Thursday was a German's unification day. TOTALLY KILLED OUR WEEKEND. Holidays are taken very seriously here. Everything closes, and everyone goes home and spends the day with their family. Something that I think is really cool. But they don't like anything to disrupt that. So all the appointments fell through, and we couldn't go door to door, 1) because that is rude and doesn't reflect well on the church, and 2) we just get yelled at. But there is no one on the street. Sweet. We decided to move Weekly Planning to Thursday because it would be more effective. Then we went and left notes and some less actives houses inviting them to Watch General Conference with us. 

Friday. Because Thursday was a holiday Friday became a "Bruckentag" A day in which most people take off to be with there families for an extended weekend. we had 4 appointments lined up that day. Meet with Derick (member), Frau Kassner (potential), Justice and Christine, and Luhz (new investigator as of last week). Derick went just fine. Frau Kassner fell out, then we stopped by on a member in the area which no one had been able to meet with for a long time, and she was there! She invited us in and we talked with her for a bit, and made out an appointment to come back with the Buchanans to visit her. That was a huge tender mercy. The appointment with Luhz also fell out, but we will hopefully make that up some time this week. 

Saturday was LOOOOONG. We spent 4 hours biking around in the rain visiting every Investigator and Member we could to invite them all to General Conference. We almost were able to meet with Sylvester, a friend of Justice (Justice called us once from that phone, and I saved the number, and later realized it belonged to someone else). But he didn't have time, but said he would come to General Conference on Sunday. We obviously watched General Conference that evening and really enjoyed it.  :-)

Sunday, we biked around for 2 hours inviting others to watch general conference before entering into a 6 hour back to back General Conference Marathon. (Elder Buchanan's idea) Elder Wasden handled it well, but I was BEAT. None of the people that we had talked to/invited came. They may have watched it online, I hope so. I know one who was really excited about it, and I am pretty sure that he watched it, but no one else sadly. .-( 

But something really neat that happened that I want to specifically mention (having already mentioned the story of talking to sister Schmelz) was a cool story from Saturday night. Elder Wasden and I have decided that every night (as long as it is before 9 pm) we would talked to 5 or so people on the street or until 9, depending on what the plans were. That night we got back to the apartment at 8.15 or so and had planned to eat dinner, so we first went and walked around talking to people. There weren't very many, but we tried anyway. It was a long day, I was tired, and a bit sad because things that past few days were rough. I wanted to find someone. So I prayed for a miracle. 

Just then a car drove past and pulled up near a sign to park. I walked past and waved at the driver he waved back, but I didn't want to awkwardly stand there and wait for him to get out, so I was just going to keep walking and talk to someone else. When I got the feeling to turn around walk back and talk to him anyway. He still wasn't out of his car but I did it anyway. As expected it was a bit awkward, especially because he was parked somewhat illegally and I looked like a Police officer... but once I cleared that up we had a neat conversation with him and his wife. 

They are from Cameroon and speak English really well. I invited them to General Conference, they said they would come, we exchanged phone numbers and that was it. Exactly what I wanted, to find someone that night, and I prayed for it,and right there my prayer was answered. It was a really neat. He couldn't make it after all, but we will go visit him around the weekend hopefully and teach him a bit about the church :-). 

I have said it before, but God really truly hears and answers our Prayers. I know it. I have felt it, and seen it. He is there for us, and wants to help us through the hard times. I am grateful to be here and spread the gospel as a missionary!

I wish you all a great week!

love,

Elder Ryan K. Christensen

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