I miss you all but Christmas was fabulous. Elder Bednar was our sacrament meeting speaker on Christmas! I hear that most of his talk has been previously published (just not as tailored to missionaries); Google "the character of Christ" by him—it was really good. :) We had a yummy dinner and a nativity program and watched A Christmas Carol and a fireside and sang carols and opened presents, but the highlight for me was definitely that sacrament meeting. First of all, it is just cool when 2061 missionaries get together in one place for any reason, let alone to worship and renew covenants. Second, Elder Bednar rocks. (Are we allowed to have favorites? Because he is mine, followed closely by Elder Holland.) I will probably eventually forget everything that was said in that meeting, but I will never forget the way I felt when that man bore his testimony. He is a prophet of God, called to help lead the true and living Church on the Earth today. As he bore his witness of Christ, I felt so much joy, peace, and love. My companion and I talked about it later and could only describe it as too much happiness to fit inside of us. The true gospel brings joy that I have never comprehended except through it. That's why I'm here!
"Here" is now New York. We flew in yesterday and went straight to the mission home. President and his wife are AWESOME. Yummy lasagna dinner, an orientation meeting with papers to sign etc., and a late interview in my pajamas before bed. This morning we ate some cereal and yogurt and were off to see some Church history sites. We started off in the Sacred Grove, then to the Joseph Smith home, then the Hill Cumorah. I got to stand where prophets, angels, and God Himself stood, all before noon. It was really awesome.
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| Me with President and Sister Christianson |
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| Moroni statue at Hill Cumorah |
In the Sacred Grove, we had some time to ourselves. Our President Christianson wanted us to pray and to decide "what kind of missionary we want to be." I thought I would start reading in JS-H, since I was at the place Joseph describes there. I had an "aha" moment when I got to verse 20. Joseph is commenting on the opposition he had throughout his life, and attributes it to the fact that the adversary knew that "I was destined to prove a disturber and an annoyer of his kingdom." THAT is the kind of missionary I want to be. I want to be so obedient, so hard-working, so full of the Spirit that from the time my feet hit the floor every morning at 6:30 AM until 10:30 at night at bedtime, I am annoying and disturbing the work of our common enemy. I want to be on the offense in the battle we are fighting with sin and darkness. I believe that there was a talk given on "being a disturber" in the YW general session five or six years ago, and I like that idea. :)
Another cool experience: we got to have a testimony meeting in the Joseph Smith home, in the very room that Joseph was visited by the angel Moroni for the first time. It was very powerful. The restoration was important because it restored necessary truths, but to me it was most important because of the restoration of priesthood keys. Covenants can be made and ordinances performed because this power of God is on the Earth. Miracles happen. To me, the greatest and most important miracle is that of revelation. The priesthood enables us to have a living prophet on the Earth who communicates with the Lord in behalf of the Church. We receive many blessings and warnings through him. The very best part of revelations though is that we don't need to rely 100% on the prophet to speak to God for us. It is important that we sustain and follow him, but it is also important that we develop our own relationship with our loving Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Through the whisperings of the Spirit (usually through our thoughts and feelings), we can receive direct answers to our prayers if we are listening and if we are inviting that Spirit into our lives through righteous living (continual repentance). What a blessing.
Next we went to transfer meeting, where I met my new companion. Sister Chatterton is awesome and so sweet. I was a little bit nervous about who my trainer would be, but she is very nice and a good, obedient missionary. We will get along great! :D I'm in the Webster zone, Rochester area (I think my terminology is right there). We are living in Irondequoit (sp?) with the sisters there. Sister Cox will be in my apartment with me, along with her new comp, Sis. Wall. She and Sis. Chatterton were comps the last two transfers, so this will be fun. :) We went to Delicious Doughnuts for lunch, and I had my first experience with New York pizza—delicious. :)
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| My trainer, Sister Chatterton |
My p-day I guess is Monday, but apparently the library was closed yesterday due to Christmas so here I am. Let's see what else... oh we are right along the bay of Lake Ontario, so we will be crossing it most days. I have a dinner appointment already for tonight, which should be fun... I feel a little bit like so far we have been on vacation since everything has been planned out for us, so I'm excited to go out and be a missionary!
Well, I guess that is about it for now. because I am running out of time. Thanks again for all you do! You are in my prayers. I will update you again on Monday!
With love,
Sister Schank
