mission call....

The wait was over and on Friday night the Christensen house was full of family, friends one large map, a middle aged mother who had aged ten years in the last two days, and finally one very anxious college student.  All predictions were noted on a large map and then the envelope was opened...

The Alpine-German Speaking mission.  We all took a minute to figure out just where that was.  It is a recently reorganized mission that comprises Southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.  A little background on Ryan is he is a German fanatic.  He has had German in school the past four years, and is constantly mumbling German phrases around the house that always sound like someone is sneezing or clearing their throat.  He answers questions in German and then gets frustrated when I don't respond.  I tell him that if he wants my attention, he needs to speak in our native tongue.  So to say he was overwhelmed and thrilled is an understatement. Out of five countries in the world that speak German, he is going to four of them.  If you didn't notice in the video, he mentioned he has been reading the Book of  Mormon in German this past year and the night he received his call he was finishing the last chapter.  I got teary when he said that, and to see him a bit choked up didn't help my waterworks one bit!

 

We were all so grateful to have had so many people over here and also supporting us from a distance.  We had cell phones on speaker, video chat and facebook all going simultaneously.  Ry leaves on January 18th, and I'm glad to have him home after this semester for the holidays.  It's a bit daunting to think of all the things we need to accomplish in the next few months and with him not here at home some things will be a bit of a challenge.  I am excited for this opportunity he will have to travel to a place he already loves, and get to share something he loves even more.