Week 57 - Happy New Year1

Dear Family and Friends - Happy New Year!  Tell me all about your Christmas! I'm attaching pictures of some of what we did. Christmas Eve we went to Sis Walsh's house . It was Sis mMcmanama's (companion) and Elder Guzik's (serving in my ward) birthday, so they picked lasagna for dinner and we had yummy chocolate cake. We got up on Christmas and opened presents, and then went to the Blatto's home. Sister Blatto is a member, her husband is not and her kids aren't baptized (age 9, 7, 5), but we have a great relationship with their family. We watched the kids open presents and found a few there to open ourselves, and had bacon and french toast, and that's where I skyped my family from. We were allowed to watch one movie, so we went to Sandy's house and watched Elf :) and had MORE cake. Then dinner at the Kleinleins', ham and potatoes and roasted brussels sprouts, yum. We visited some older members, Eugene and Bill, who were home alone, then back to the Kleinleins for an hour or so of games. It was an excellent holiday :) I love Christmas because everyone is so receptive to the Spirit. A couple of weeks ago, a member in the ward was sad because there had been some tragedies in his neighborhood. He asked us to go around and give copies of the Book of Mormon to all of his neighbors on his street. No big deal, right? It just so happens that he lives in a mansion, and those neighborhoods are not known for being horribly accepting of the gospel. But the elders in our district came with us to carol, and we passed out almost 20 BoMs in one night! We started going back to follow up last night, and ran into one girl (Claire) who actually wasn't home when we caroled, but who is best friends with the Kleinlein's oldest daughter and is searching for religious truth. We told her we were actually going back to their home for dinner and games tonight, and she has since been invited to join us! What a tender mercy.

Best part of the week: Got to go through the temple with Tina Klein (she got baptized in Irondequoit 2 days before I flew out here last year) and see her sealed to her deceased husband. Then that afternoon went through again with a couple in our ward here, and saw them sealed. The temple is such a blessing! I can think of no greater blessing than my covenants and my family. I love you guys!

Also, I got to give a talk at a missionary farewell yesterday. It was on how I will be a better member missionary because of what I learned on my mission. I was surprised at how much easier it is getting to speak in front of crowds, since I usually just teach small groups of people.

Please pray for the Perry family. The baptism is off and Sister Perry is back to attending the Catholic church with her boys. She is feeling really conflicted and could use your prayers. Thanks for your prayers for Scott and Kathryn; we have grown really close with them this week. It's been a rough one for both of them and for their relationship, but they are both pulling through. She got a priesthood blessing yesterday and I think it was a big testimony booster for her.

Gotta run, I love you all and hope you enjoy the new year!

With love,  Sister Schank

My Christmas tree and presents

A Merry Christmas with Sister Walsh

Week 56

Dear friends and family,

What a remarkable week! I never cease to be amazed at the blessings of the Lord. Thank you for your prayers, especially for Sue. We attended a relief society Christmas dinner this week, and afterward she told me the she has received confirmation to move forward and work toward the temple with her family! Two days later we taught them again, and the boys are preparing to be baptized Jan 5. Scott is still off cigarettes, and the boys (especially Joshua) have made remarkable spiritual progress. It's evident in their desire and understanding. They went to Primary on Sunday even though they were a little nervous, and have been reading the scriptures on their own. They are holding their first family home evening this week and are so excited.

I also got invited to two endowment sessions and sealings for two different converts, Tina Klein and Tracy Grampp. (Tina is from Irondequoit and Tracy from Amherst). So excited!

We also got to meet with both Scott and Kathryn this week. I like Kathryn more and more. She came to all three hours of church this week and we got to go to a Christmas concert of Scott's (he's part of a Lutheran choir... beautiful! and reminded me of going to concerts with dad) and sat next to her. Please pray for Scott this week that he will have a desire to keep commandments, and Kathryn that she will recognize the truth.

We also got to bring Chris to a baptism this week, and he is praying to know if that is what God wants for him. Chris is a little slower, but loves God so much and will do anything he asks. He's been to church for a few weeks now. :) We also had an 18-year-old Mohamed come to church this week; his family is Muslim so we'll need to get him interviewed by a member of the mission presidency and he's YSA age so we probably won't teach him much anyway, but he's a very nice kid, and happy to share the gospel. We met him and his friends at a convenience store this week, and all held hands and I said a prayer RIGHT in front of this guy fixing his engine. Haha, it was a different kind of experience, but anytime a new investigator says they want to pray, we'll do it!

Nancy & Elaina also came to the Relief Society dinner, and it was awesome. They met a ton of their LDS neighbors, and want to come to church once Elaina gets a Sunday off work. We are bringing the elders with us this week because they say their house is haunted, so that will be interesting... I'm excited to start teaching them more and help them to learn and keep the commandments. :)

Oh, we contacted Jim this week and he and his wife were very nice. He wants to just watch the DVD and read some of the Book of Mormon this week and see what he thinks, so I'll get back to you on him in a week or two once we contact him again.

Just lots of little miracles this week with timing and getting appointments, little stuff like that. I know that the Lord is so aware of us, and so much a part of this work! I love you all, and hope you are enjoying the Christmas season. Remember, it is all about Jesus Christ!  

With love,

Sister Schank

XOXO

Week 55

Dear family,

What a remarkable week! I never cease to be amazed at the blessings of the Lord. Thank you for your prayers, especially for Sue. We attended a relief society Christmas dinner this week, and afterward she told me the she has received confirmation to move forward and work toward the temple with her family! Two days later we taught them again, and the boys are preparing to be baptized Jan 5. Scott is still off cigarettes, and the boys (especially Joshua) have made remarkable spiritual progress. It's evident in their desire and understanding. They went to Primary on Sunday even though they were a little nervous, and have been reading the scriptures on their own. They are holding their first family home evening this week and are so excited.

I also got invited to two endowment sessions and sealings for two different converts, Tina Klein and Tracy Grampp. (Tina is from Irondequoit and Tracy from Amherst). So excited!

We also got to meet with both Scott and Kathryn this week. I like Kathryn more and more. She came to all three hours of church this week and we got to go to a Christmas concert of Scott's (he's part of a Lutheran choir... beautiful! and reminded me of going to concerts with dad) and sat next to her. Please pray for Scott this week that he will have a desire to keep commandments, and Kathryn that she will recognize the truth.

We also got to bring Chris to a baptism this week, and he is praying to know if that is what God wants for him. Chris is a little slower, but loves God so much and will do anything he asks. He's been to church for a few weeks now. :) We also had an 18-year-old Mohamed come to church this week; his family is Muslim so we'll need to get him interviewed by a member of the mission presidency and he's YSA age so we probably won't teach him much anyway, but he's a very nice kid, and happy to share the gospel. We met him and his friends at a convenience store this week, and all held hands and I said a prayer RIGHT in front of this guy fixing his engine. Haha, it was a different kind of experience, but anytime a new investigator says they want to pray, we'll do it!

Nancy & Elaina also came to the Relief Society dinner, and it was awesome. They met a ton of their LDS neighbors, and want to come to church once Elaina gets a Sunday off work. We are bringing the elders with us this week because they say their house is haunted, so that will be interesting... I'm excited to start teaching them more and help them to learn and keep the commandments. :)

Oh, we contacted Jim this week and he and his wife were very nice. He wants to just watch the DVD and read some of the BoM this week and see what he thinks, so I'll get back to you on him in a week or two once we contact him again.

Just lots of little miracles this week with timing and getting appointments, little stuff like that. I know that the Lord is so aware of us, and so much a part of this work! I love you all, and hope you are enjoying the Christmas season. Remember, it is all about Jesus Christ!  

With love,

Sister Schank

XOXO

Week 54

It has been incredible how everything has worked out in the last couple of days! We have felt very led by the Spirit, and can see Him softening hearts that we haven't been able to reach. Our days are being filled with appointments, and our appointments filled with the Spirit. We are finding the root of people's concerns and helping the to come to Christ from healing. People are progressing immensely in between appointments, and others are being prepared and placed in our path. Scott P. quit smoking this week, and has desires to baptize his children! Sandy is taking steps and setting goals to come back to church, and Scott M. has brought his girlfriend to church a few times now. We were able to teach her Saturday for the first time (separately from Scott) and she is so prepared. We taught Scott the ten commandments  and it has been amazing to see his faith grow. The Blatto family invited us over to decorate their tree this week, and also for Christmas morning. We are developing a good relationship with their family. Sam has been hearing a lot of things about the church and is realizing it will take significant life changes, but is still willing to investigate and find out for herself if this is true.  We took Marriah and her dad (who's not a member) to YW in Excellence last week, and he met the bishop while she met her peers. It has been amazing! I love being a missionary. :) We still face rejection, and cancellations, and bad weather (it's beautiful and warm today though!), but those things seem to melt away in comparison. 

I'm so excited for the Christmas season! There is a big christmas campaign the church is putting on (although I think that article is talking about NYC). Take a look at mormon.org/christmas and decide how you can best utilize the website and the Christmas season at large to spread the gospel and help those who need it to feel the Spirit. 

I have taught the plan of salvation a lot recently and also taught gospel principles on final judgement/kingdoms of glory this week, and I am so grateful for a family who makes and keeps covenants. There is NOTHING more important to me than my covenants, and I KNOW that covenants kept strengthen not only individuals, but families. I love you all and hope you are happy. Thanks so much for writing, you brightened my week!

Love you,

Sister Schank

Week 53

So happy to hear you had a great Thanksgiving! I thought of you a lot this week, but I really am so glad to be out here! Lots of miracles this week, the Spirit has really directed us in where to go and what to say. The holiday was fabulous, a woman in our ward named Sister Walsh takes good care of the missionaries and she had us over for dinner. It was really enjoyable and delicious. :) It was good to be with friends and to just focus on everything we're thankful for. I loved having a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, too! The holiday was awesome. We baked like 80 pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and delivered them to pretty much everyone we know that was struggling for one reason or another. We uplifted spirits, got appointments, and strengthened relationships. We also caught a lot of people at home that are hard to reach :) We have had a focus on being Spirit-led this week, and we saw so much success in doing things the Lord's way.

Some small miracles of the week:

We found Chris, a former investigator who for some reason is not in our area book. He came to church on Sunday.

We had an amazing first lesson with Jack (the one who came to conference with us) and he is so prepared!

We felt that we should drive to Courtney's (a former investigator) on a whim and caught her at home. I don't know how many times I've tried her door and she's never home! We have an appointment for this week.

Scott is very seriously thinking about getting baptized :) 

Marriah is starting to open up and trust us

The Spirit is working on people's hearts! It's nothing we could do ourselves :)

I need to get moving, but I'm glad you got home safely. I've been praying for you all week!

Love you more and more,

Sister Schank

Week 52

I applied as an EFY counselor today so this email will be short. The three pictures attached pretty much summarize the big parts of my week: training at the Peter Whitmer Farm, Sister McManama's first time at Niagara Falls, and took Sandy and Dawson to Palmyra (or rather, they took us). Other big news is that Scott has made some huge progression this week and is looking into being baptized once he finishes the Book of Mormon (should be by New Years at a rate of 3 chapters/day). He brought his girlfriend to church and we've started teaching him the commandments. It's been rough with the Perry family recently but we are meeting with them tomorrow and hopefully it will go well. We are teaching a couple of restoration lessons this week that I'm excited for, and... Sam has a goal to be baptized December 8! I don't know if you remember Sam; she's a single mom who we haven't been able to teach in forever but we just dropped in last night and by the end of it she had a baptismal date. I love the Plan of Salvation :) and so does she! It's amazing how she can recognize truth instantly. She really is one of those with "believing blood." Love her.

I'm excited for Thanksgiving; we hare having it with a member named Penny Walsh. Her two daughters have moved out so she's on her own and is having all 6 missionaries over for Thanksgiving dinner. I am so excited! Haven't had turkey on Thanksgiving in years! :D

I love you all and hope you are enjoying yourselves! 

Lots of love,

Sister Schank

Week 51

It has been a week of miracles out here. We went from 3 to 6 progressing investigators, which is exciting. We've been able to meet with some people who have been hit-and-miss for a long time, and it's been a blessing.

Got to visit the Palmyra sites with Bill, which was REALLY awesome. He's really starting to understand the significance of the temple. We are excited to get him there to do baptisms and also to get him going on family history in the not-too-distant future.

Scott is making a lot of progress and is recognizing his growing faith and also answers to his prayers, through the Spirit and also through dreams. He's still not sure how he feels about being baptized, but he's making progress.

We are really excited to teach the Perry family tonight about the Plan of Salvation. We are talking about how baptism is an important goal, but focusing on preparing the family for the temple. We prayed a LOT in companionship study today and are excited to invite their whole family to prepare for a Christmas Day baptism! We are hoping Brother Perry will be able to baptize his boys on that day. I love their family. :)

Things are going well with my companion. We have had really different previous mission experiences so we are still working on figuring out how to mesh everything, but we love each other and are trying our best to be unified :) We had a great zone conference this week and will be visiting Palmyra again this week with a less-active and her son (Sandy and Dawson).

The Lord is there! He's aware of us and He loves us. Thanks for all your love and support. I'm convinced you're the greatest family ever! Love you bunches :)

Sister Schank

Week 50

Dearest family,

Thanks so much for your email updates and snail mail. Becky and Sarah win the prize for making Sister Schank's day this week when the mailbox gets checked. :) Some fun events of the week:

-We were told we had to cancel all our Tuesday appointments and stay in because of the hurricane and then the weather was nice enough to go out. Tried to set up other appointments, which all fell though. Tracted a street in the light rain, found a new investigator named Rodney! We are meeting with him for the first time tomorrow :) Also got in touch with the Perry family, who we are really excited about! They were member referrals until the members found out that the parents were actually baptized 10 years ago in Ireland! They moved pretty shortly after and lost touch with the church, but still have strong testimonies and want their two boys baptized :) We are meeting with them for the first time tonight.
-We switched p-day to Halloween this week and played sports with other missionaries at the church building. I am still a little sore lol.
-Stake conference this weekend! It was excellent, and the theme was on preparation. Specifically preparing youth to serve missions, temporal preparation in light of Hurricane Sandy, and preparation to attend the temple/spiritual preparation by attending the temple. The Second Coming is on the way! SOOOOO much recently about missionaries, temples/family history work, and temporal preparation.
-We got to go on our Relief Society temple trip this week. We happened to schedule an ASL session. Pretty much the coolest thing ever. I learned SO MUCH being able to watch the translators and read the closed captioning. I really love the temple. :) The Lord is trying to teach me recently just to trust Him. He has provided for others in the past, and He will guide me too—I just need to be patient and listen.
-Officially transferred Melissa and Patrick over to the Buffalo ward elders. We are sad not to teach them, but the elders will do a great job and I'm so excited for their family. We got to sit by them at stake conference. :)

Other than that, it was just a busy week! We have a few investigators we are just about ready to drop, and a few more that look like they are finally starting to progress :) And a handful of inbetweeners. We are also working with a bunch of less-actives right now... in particular, we get to meet Marriah for the first time this week. She's a 15-year-old in the Orchard Park ward and is just kind of in a delicate situation right now and is responding better to sisters. We're the only sisters in the stake, so we get to start teaching her! We are also planning on going to Palmyra with Bill this week! (Last week's trip was rescheduled because of the storm.) The weather is supposed to be nice this time... well, nice for November. I couldn't believe it, today and yesterday we walked out to our car and saw little snow flurries! I'm still a little bit in denial. Excited for the holiday season, though. We have some members that have plans to take good care of us and Thanksgiving, and I am super excited to proselyte throughout the Christmas season. :)

Health update: Doing pretty well, sniffles almost gone. I've been off stomach meds for probably a month now and have been sleeping on an incline, but still feeling chest pressure and at times general or sharp pains. Dr Boyle is doing his homework this week, including talking to a GI specialist at the hospital he works at. So we will see :)

Love you all to pieces!
Sister Schank

Week 49

I don't know how closely you've been following Hurricane Sandy, but it's a tropical storm coming up the coastline that is supposed to collide with another front right over New York State. They have already shut down all transportation in NYC. We don't really know for sure how far west it will come, but it could go out as far as Columbus, OH. So President Christianson wanted us all to email our families to let you know that we are safe (they are already getting phone calls from worried moms). We are going straight home from here and will probably stay there until Wednesday late morning. I haven't been able to watch the news, obviously, so all I'm getting of this is word-of-mouth, but I guess better safe than sorry.

The week has been fabulous. Melissa and Patrick came to a baptism that the YSA branch had Saturday, and they were really touched. Both they and Scott actually live in the Buffalo ward, so we had to see if we could transition them this week (we were so sad!) Melissa and Patrick said they will try attending the other ward, but we are going to keep teaching them for the next couple of weeks until then (this coming weekend is stake conference), and Scott said he preferred to stay in this ward at least until he is more sure about being baptized. So we still get to teach him too. :) The Primary program was Sunday and it was excellent. :) I love hearing pure and simple truth from the mouth of babes. They bring the Spirit so strongly! Michael said he'd come to a fireside with us yesterday, but ended up having to take his dad to the hospital... we're sad he missed it, but excited he had a desire to come! (He takes his mom to Catholic mass every Sunday at the same time as our church...)

Our ward is so awesome at missionary work. We've been working with ward members a lot more recently and a few have friends they want us to meet this week. :) We had our ward Halloween party Saturday night, and it was AWESOME. I met probably 12-15 nonmembers and less-active members I'd never met before, and was able to introduce a few who are usually hit-and-miss to Sister McManama. About half a dozen families brought nonmember friends to introduce to the missionaries. That party was probably the busiest 2 hours of my week! We have a lot of ward members to follow up with now. :) Working closely with ward members really is the key! President Christianson actually told us recently he wants us to pretty much phase out tracting and spend as much time as possible working with members and less-actives. We are seeing lots of success as we work to do so.

We also had a great training meeting with Buffalo & Rochester zones last week. President Christianson gave an AWESOME training on the gathering of the House of Israel, and our role as children of Abraham. Each of us who have joined in the Abrahamic Covenant have a joint responsibility to gather in Israel's descendants, those with "believing blood." It really changed my perspective on what it means to find "them that will receive you" (D&C 42:8). He's also talked a lot lately about D&C 88:73 in connection with the recent missionary announcement. "Behold, I will hasten my work in it's time." It is so exciting to be a part of God's work in this time when his gospel is spreading with more urgency than ever before. I am grateful every day for the honor and privilege to be a part of it.

I love you all, and pray for you many times each day. Thanks for all of your love and prayers.

XOXO/ Sister Schank

Week 48

Family!! It has been a really great week. Sister McManama is AWESOME and we have been blessed with a lot of work to keep us busy! My health is doing pretty good, I've been off meds recently because my stomach is behaving itself most of the time, and I'm mostly over the coughing, just some annoying sniffles left. I guess the best way to summarize the last week would be to talk about each of the people we've worked with and how they're doing. Whirlwind version:

Patrick and Melissa- unmarried couple, walked into church a few weeks ago (with a coworker whose daughter is a member of the Young Single Adult ward). Have now come to 3 sacrament meetings in a row and they brought his kids (Aiden-8, Isabelle-10) yesterday. We asked last week if they wanted to learn more and they said YES but that they were really busy this last week. We are teaching their whole family tonight!! They don't live in our boundaries, so still trying to figure out if we can keep teaching them or if the stake president will make them move to the Buffalo ward. Neither of us have ever taught a whole family before on my mission, and we are so excited.

Scott- Believe it or not, he actually also walked into church the same day as Patrick and Melissa. And he also lives in Buffalo ward's boundaries :( We've taught him 3 times now and he is AWESOME. He has a lot of knowledge but is working on building his faith. He actually walked in because he wants to make things right with a new member in Rochester stake he has wronged. The Spirit is so strong when we teach him, and he has a lot of questions that are very to-the-point, but he is okay with the fact that we can't know everything right off. His faith is building and it is amazing how much of the love of God we feel for him as we teach. He was uncomfortable praying the first time we met with him, but by the second meeting he'd read like 100 pages of the Book of Mormon and immediately accepted the invitation to say the closing prayer. By the third time (3 days later), his prayers sounded much more comfortable and he is starting to feel like Someone is listening. We have invited him to be baptized and resolved a concern he brought up, but still don't have a date with him (yet).

Lakesha- She has been super busy recently so Sis McManama actually hasn't met her yet, but we had an amazing lessons with her last weekend and she came to church!! And said she'd be back. She's in her last year of dental hygiene school, but is recognizing that the Lord helped her with her schoolwork this past week because she took the time to come to church. She has a 4-year-old Malachi who came with her, and she is talking to Malachi's dad and her sister about meeting with missionaries. She really considers what we teach, asks great questions, and accepts almost everything we teach immediately because she can recognize the Spirit testifying of truth.

Julie- She is a recent convert's sister and we've been teaching her and her two older kids. Turns out their dad isn't comfortable with us teaching the kids, but they are coming to the ward Halloween party and Primary program this weekend so we will still see them around AND Julie still wants us to teach her. :)

Mamie- I think I talked about her and her husband Lewis last week... She was really progressing after two meetings and then we went to the third one and realized that Lewis isn't the only one suffering from dementia :( So we're not teaching her anymore. We stopped by for a final appointment that we had already set up and she was already asleep but it was perfect because just as we knocked her daughter pulled up. She's really busy right now but potentially interested and we were able to give her a Finding Faith in Chirst DVD and our number. We did some contacting during that hour instead and set up a first appointment with former investigator and exchanged info with another man who wants us to call him this week. Tender mercies :)

Ursula- has been excommunicated for like 20 years but got rebaptized last Saturday!! Her baptism was very small, only the people participating were invited (we accompanied/conducted), but the Spirit was VERY strong. Her whole family was so happy, even those who are not members right now and it strengthened my own testimony of repentance and forgiveness in my life and the lives of others. Ursula is in her early 80s I think and came to America during WWII from Germany. She is so sweet and I was very grateful to be a part of that night.

I think that's most of the exciting news this week. We also had a little booth at a stake family history fair this past weekend. There were like 200 people there and most of them weren't members of our church. We met a lot of really nice people. :) I know I keep promising pictures but I forgot my cord this week... it will happen, eventually. I love you all and hope all is well. I pray for each of you all the time! <3

Sister Schank

Week 47

Hey friends and family,

Well let's start with the big news... transfer calls were last night! I'm staying, but Sis Brown is leaving me to go to Henrietta (a suburb of Rochester). My new comp will be Sis McManama, who is very cool. She came out 6 weeks after me, and we went on exchange once... and this is going to be a sweet couple of transfers :) The area is doing great. We started teaching an older woman named Mamie this week... she actually reminds me of the female version of Grandpa Clyde in a lot of ways. Her husband Lewis sits in, but he can't really see or hear us very well and it seems like he has some form of dementia. They are both really nice. :) We also got to teach Lakesha the Plan of Salvation this week... she is the dental hygiene student. She is super overwhelmed and busy and almost cancelled our appointment but we rearranged some things and the lesson went AWESOME and she came to church(!!) yesterday and really loved it. She has a 4-year-old named Malachi who is so cute and well-behaved and might even be in the Primary program in a couple of weeks. We don't have a return appointment with her because she's so busy, but she said she'll definitely be back at church and we promised her that by coming, the Lord would bless her to be able to juggle everything and with help on her tests this week. Pray for her!

We are on a little bit of a time crunch today because we went to the temple (90 min away) this morning and Sis Brown needs to pack and stuff, but I will for sure try to send pictures next week!  I love this quote by Pres Eyring from last conference: "The Lord’s delays often seem long; some last a lifetime. But they are always calculated to bless."

Love you all!
Sister Schank

Week 46

I missed my family this conference weekend.  However, I am SO grateful to have a family who loves hearing the prophet speak. And even though I've missed you, I'm also incredibly grateful to be serving the Lord out here. It's been a crazy week; EVERYONE in western NY it seems has been sick, including me. We had a TON of great appointments this week, and a whole day cancelled on us because of sickness. Of course I got sick the day after anyway, but we still had a full week of appointments and conference so I have been on lots of pseudaphed and ibuprofen and I'm on the mend by now :) It has been awesome to see the blessings in our area this week. We had the opportunity to teach a lot of investigators for either the first time or one of the first and it has been a huge blessing for me to be able to testify of the atonement and the restoration of Jesus Christ's gospel over and over again. Being a missionary really is the coolest <3 General conference was awesome; we actually had a new investigator named Jack at the first session with us which was sweet, especially with Elder Nelson's talk and also the talk by the 70 member that was on the Holy Ghost. We literally haven't even taught Jack the restoration yet (he was a sick cancellation last week), but he'd been taught years ago. He used to be a JW and has some confusions about the Godhead, and had asked about the Holy Ghost right before conference started. Whether or not he realized, I'm confident that talk was for him. My personal favorite talk I think was given in the Sunday afternoon session about faith... the one where he talked about Ann Jewel Rowley. Wasn't that cool? It reminded me how much faith she had... faith enough to perform a miracle! We wouldn't be here if her whole family had starved, but she had the simple faith that allowed Heavenly Father to feed her family, and I know that we can too. :) We also started teaching a woman named Lakesha this Saturday between conference sessions, and she is really searching and is excited to come to church with her little family next week! (She has a 4-year-old named Malachi and then Malachi's dad.) I never realized until maybe a month or two ago how many people have honestly never even thought about the fact that there could be a religion on Earth that contained 100% of the truth. She  hasn't been attending any church for about 4 years because she moved and there isn't a big Baptist congregation right now... they are in between preachers or something like that. I'm so grateful that this church is true no matter where you are! Running out of time, but the last person we taught this week that was new is named Scott... he knows about a lot of religions but doesn't have much real faith of his own, and is looking to make amends for some wrong he has done. We had a beautiful lesson last night with a couple from the ward about the healing that comes through the atonement of Jesus Christ. i am so excited for him to come to understand and apply that doctrine in his own life. He just turned 30 and this would make such a difference for his future.

I love you all so much and hope to hear from you often. Have an excellent week!

Love,
Sister Schank

Week 45

This. Week. Has. Been. Awesome. Don't get me wrong, we had days when it rained and all of our appointments cancelled, but we have seen miracles like crazy and the Spirit has been so strong. We are trying so hard to work with members in our ward and we got a couple of member referrals this week... the first was a sister-in-law named Julie and she had just been talking to her husband a few days before we knocked on her door about how they needed to find a church again. She has 3 kids and they LOVE us (the oldest is 8), and we are going back! The second was just an acquaintance from school who was interested in how her cohort had visiting teachers, and she said she'd love to  have two women sent to her to talk with her about Jesus. :) She is really searching to love and forgive and to learn more about Christ's gospel. Her English name is Stella (she's Korean). We found a FOURTH investigator yesterday at church... we literally had 5 people in 3 different groups walk into church who we didn't expect yesterday. We had only met one of them before. All but one have good connections with a member so we will hopefully be able to teach them soon. It was the other we set up an appointment with... his name is Scott and he is just searching to make some things right that he has done. It was cool to be able to testify of the Atonement to him and to see the hope in his eyes. We are teaching him at a member's home this week. :)

Also, Bill's baptism was on Saturday! It was amazing. We sung I Stand All Amazed for the opening hymn and he just started crying. Me too. The Spirit was very powerful. After the ordinance, he changed into dry clothes and the first thing he said was "I did it!" He was glowing :) It has been amazing to see how the Spirit has changed this 82-year-old man. The Primary children provided the musical number which was so cute, and the prayers were offered by an investigator and a less-active member who is recently returning to church. It was so relieving to see everything fall into place; the night before the baptism Bill had lost his phone and his car was in the shop... we had felt like we should drop by and we're REALLY glad we did because I don't know how he would have gotten to the church if we hadn't known to call a member for a ride. He was confirmed in church yesterday which was also really special. I'm excited to see him progress in the priesthood, and he is already excited to hold a calling. :)

THEN, there was the relief society broadcast. The Stake RS put on a huge activity and dinner from 5-8 before the broadcast, in true RS form. It was incredible how many hours must have gone into this thing. Pretty much no one we invited ended up showing, but there were a couple of less-actives who came and they were fellow-shipped and clearly touched. I am really going to like this new general RS presidency; they talked about families, covenants, and the power of the atonement and really brought the Spirit. All of my favorite things :)

Let's see, other miracles... oh, remember Paul? He's the one who is halfway done with the Book of Mormon already... we set a baptismal date with him! He's shooting for Oct 27. :) We haven't taught the Word of Wisdom yet, so we may have to push it back if that's a big problem, but having a goal to work toward does wonders in helping investigators to progress. We also knocked on a former investigator named Jack's door for the umpteenth time and he not only opened the door but invited us right in! We didn't have another female with us and he's a single guy so we had to make another appointment rather than teach him on the spot, but it sounds like missionaries just had a hard time getting in touch with him for awhile and he slipped through the cracks. He is excited to be taught. :)

That is going to have to be it for this week. Give Kenny lots of hugs for me! Love you, Elder! <3 The rest of you, too ;)

I love you a million bucks!
Sister Schank

Week 44

Dear family and friends,

This has been a busy week with our investigators.  Bill is doing great! The last couple of weeks he has really just stunned us with his progression. He came to church yesterday even though he'd had very little sleep the night before (remind me not to get old, okay?) He has been coffee-free for I think 5 days now, and says he doesn't even want it anymore(!) Funny story---we went to teach him the other day and his dog was going crazy...he usually barks a lot but calms down after about 5 minutes and he just wouldn't be quiet this time. We finally figured out that a friend of Bill's from his old church had stopped by with a cup of coffee, and Bill fed the whole thing to the dog! Hahaha, totally something Bill would do. He and the dog apparently used to share coffee, and poor Bailey wasn't used to the whole thing! We just smiled and testified that living the Word of Wisdom helps us to feel the Spirit :) His baptismal interview is tomorrow, and the ordinance should take place Saturday morning. We are so excited!

We taught Michael and his 90-year-old father Vince last Monday night. They are an interesting pair.  Michael is a devout Catholic and isn't planning on converting, but has told us he wants to meet with us because his father is Atheist and he thinks we can help him regain his faith in Christ. Even thought Michael isn't ready to admit it, he asks a lot of questions that make us think he really is searching for something more. He's been given several Book of Mormons in the past 40 years, and is a little more than curious. So we'll see whether that goes anywhere.

Another interesting case we've found with the Book of Mormon this week is with a new investigator named Paul. We haven't had the chance to teach him anywhere but his front porch yet, but he's read half the BoM in the last 2 weeks! He says he can't put it down. Very exciting! He plans to have a list of questions for us when we meet up again this week.

We've been sharing a message with a few families in the ward recently on how angels are preparing people to hear the message of the gospel (see Alma 13:24, 16:16-17). We are asking them to fast and pray with us for them and us to find people who are ready to be taught and baptized. It's been amazing to see how our prayers and finding efforts have been so fruitful lately, and in the past 2 months we've gone from 2 or 3 investigators in our teaching pool to about 10 at any given time. We feel very blessed, and are starting to shift our focus now on getting these people to progress in the gospel. They all say they are interested, but many of them are too busy to read, come to church, or meet with us regularly. We know that if we can just meet with them a few more times and help them to see that the gospel of Jesus Christ will HELP them through their difficulties, rather than taking away from their efforts to improve their lives, they will have a greater desire to progress. So that is the focus of our prayers this week. If you could also pray with us, that our investigators will have desires to make and keep commitments to come unto Christ, we would love that.

Overall, things are going well. We had two investigators (Bill & Pam) and two less-active members at church this week, which was exciting. Our efforts to involve members more, especially in less-active work are proving fruitful, and we are excited to see how we can get the fellowshipping ball rolling with the baptism and the RS broadcast this weekend. It is making me really realize how I can be a better member and visiting teacher when I get home!

Love you all!

Love,
Sister Schank

Week 43

It has been a really amazing week. We have been working really hard as a companionship at becoming "Preach My Gospel missionaries"... making sure we are doing everything we can to help God's children in our area come closer to Him and live His gospel. For a couple days it was feeling a little overwhelming, like we will never be good enough, but we had a really cool experience yesterday. Elder Anthony Perkins, our area 70, was on a mission tour and half the mission met with him yesterday. he and his wife were fabulous and the Spirit was strong throughout the meeting. In preparation, we were each asked to prepare a short talk individually and a lesson as a companionship. Of everyone there, Sister Brown and I got called up to role-play teaching the law of tithing. In front of half our mission. And the mission president. And a general authority. We were really nervous but decided just to focus on the "investigators" and their needs and it went great :) Elder Perkins actually used the words "best I've seen" and President Christianson only had one small comment (I said gold plates instead of brass :P). And we learned a lot from the role play as well. It is so cool that the Spirit knows what we need, and I really felt like the Lord was just reassuring us that we are doing okay.

That experience helped in a teaching appointment we had last night as well. For the first time in probably my whole mission, a contact of ours called US to set up an appointment. (Also his name is for real Michael McClain. And he's musical. Weird?) We were a little worried about his motivations, but the lesson went really well. He seems really sincere and we were bold enough that he knows our purpose (to invite and baptize) and what he needs to do to find out for himself. I'm grateful for what we learned about teaching people, not lessons, in our role play because I really felt the Spirit both as we testified and as we gave him opportunities to testify. Hopefully things go well there.

Bill is doing great! It seems like ever since the first vision sunk in with him, he is retaining and understanding so much more! He didn't make it to church because of a medication mix-up and he slept in (he's 82, mind you). Today is supposed to be his last day off of coffee, and then he is ready to be baptized next weekend! It has been so cool to see a change in him. Not that he was a bad person before, but the Spirit is really... sharpening him. It is making him more aware, and giving him a reason to be happy. It is amazing to feel a part of the love God has for his children as we teach.

I need to go for today, but quick medical update: My chest is doing a little better. I've been on these meds for almost 2 weeks now, and they are supposed to take a month to kick in fully. If they aren't solving the problem by then, I'm probably going to a specialist. For now though, the pain is pretty constant but very manageable. it's not getting in the way of anything I do, just kind of annoying in general. Other fun medical fact: I had minor surgery at the hand of my ward mission leader this week, at his kitchen table. :) Not a big deal, I've had a cyst in my right ear for probably a month now and he's a ER nurse so he just numbed me and drained it. It still looks pretty gross but it's a lot smaller and hopefully will continue to go down. Worse case scenario, we have a less-active dermatologist in the ward ;)

 Okay, really need to go. Thanks for all of the love coming by mail :) Love you all sososo much! Have an excellent week. <3

Week 42

This week has been a great one. Bill is really progressing. We talked with him about the baptismal interview questions a couple of weeks ago and his biggest problem was with Joseph Smith. It's not so much that he doesn't believe it, more that he wasn't REMEMBERING it... bless his heart, he's in his 80s, and sometimes it takes things a little while to stick. For some reason, the restoration story just took a few more times than most things. We slowed it down and read the first 26 verses of Joseph Smith - History with him early last week, and you could almost see the light bulb above his head flicker on. It was pretty cool to watch him realize what it means that Jesus Christ's church is actually back on the earth today. We had him over to a member's house on Saturday and watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration with him, and his testimony is really strengthening as he consistently reads the Book of Mormon and prays. We were REALLY excited when he came to church again this week and had a better experience than last time (he had a hard time hearing over noisy children the first time he attended our ward). But then we asked him what he was going do to after church... and with a very straight face, he said he was going to McDonalds to get a cheeseburger and a coffee. Haha, time to reteach a couple of lessons :) But he really is progressing, and we think he's on track to be baptized at the end of the month as planned.

Another cool experience this week: we got out of our weekly service at the nursing home a little earlier than normal, and made the conscious decision to keep our lunch to an hour like we should rather than take a little nap (missionaries are ALWAYS tired) and leave the apartment at our usual time. The plan was to contact a couple of potential investigators from our area book before a teaching appointment. We got to Paul's house at just the right time. He is really hard to catch because of his work schedule, and we have had a run-in with his wife before, who is NOT interested. Not only was he home this time (and his wife wasn't), but his friend David walked up right after we got there, and they are both really interested and requested copies of the Book of Mormon. We have appointments with both of them (separately) on Wednesday this week! It's cool when you can see such direct blessings from obedience.

Quick health update: I took myself off meds for a few days early this week before starting the new prescription, and it was better with no meds at all (but still not tremendously good). We'll trial the new drug for a week and if it doesn't improve, he's sending me to a specialist. It's beginning to cool off here, and we are listening to Christmas music for a change in the car, so it's feeling like summer is ending! I need to get moving, but I love you all and I'm grateful for such a wonderful family with a focus on what matters most. Have a fabulous week! <3

my district at the end of last transfer

In front of of one of the many painted Buffalo in the area

Half-way day!

Week 41

It has been a really excellent week. First of all, we got transfer calls this morning, and Sister Brown and I get one more together! We are excited to get some good work done both in Clarence and our piece of Amherst. Bill has really started progressing this week. He has been reading the Book of Mormon daily and he is praying specifically about the truth of it and also Joseph Smith. We set a goal with him to know it's true by Sept 22, and to be baptized by the 29th. I know that if he continues in his diligence, he will receive an answer by that date! Baptism is a commandment, and the Lord helps us with the things we need when we do our part and set specific goals. I'm really excited for him. :) We haven't had a chance to meet with Pam or Karen this week; Karen is physically in a lot of pain and on medication a lot, and Pam has a lot on her plate with a less-than-ideal family situation and recent unemployment. We can't really teach either of them consistently until they are in a temporal position to meet with us, so we've been praying a lot for both of them.

We found some pretty sweet new investigators this week though. Two of them are actually Baha'i, which is a religion that originated in Iran. Their beliefs are actually ridiculous close to ours, except that they aren't Christian, which is pretty interesting (they believe Christ was a prophet but they also believe in a modern prophet who restored the gospel in 1833, have a health code similar to the Word of Wisdom, etc). One of them is Iranian and has been Baha'i her whole life; I don't think she's super interested in converting. But the other one is just converting to Baha'i from Catholicism and still believes in Jesus Christ as the Savior. So, we're meeting with them this week and hoping that goes well. :)

We also taught a young mother named Sam for the first time. She is the neighbor of a ward member who moved out to Utah a couple of months ago and really appreciated her example, and met missionaries as they were helping the member move. We had our first lesson with her this week and she LOVED it. She was raised Catholic but had gotten upset at God when her husband died in an accident, and is now seeking a relationship with him again. She wants to learn about Him but doesn't believe everything the Catholic church teaches, and already shares a LOT of beliefs with us. It's crazy how many people don't know that there is a church that teaches forever families as part of their doctrine, or baptism by immersion only after accountability. Sam was particularly excited about the Book of Mormon. We explained the storyline with the pictures at the front of the softcover copies. I showed her the one of Christ visiting the Americas and testified of it's truth, and she told me she believed it. The Spirit flooded the room, and we got to explain what that feeling was. It was a really neat experience. Sam has an 8-year-old boy named Andrew and a 1-year-old Ally. They are probably the cutest kids ever. They want to come to our ward activity this week and hopefully church as well. It's amazing to see how prepared they've been.

The Grimsley family moved to Florida this week, which was sad. I am happy for them though, and I think they will do great in their new ward. Before she left, Yaneri met up with us and her boss, who she wants us to teach. We actually had three members this week who we are working with to get to the temple, who gave us referrals this week. We are meeting up with Tammy and her friend Kim tomorrow, and are really excited about it. Kim is recently divorced and got disfellowshipped for the divorce, so she is searching, and she is really cool. And she likes us a lot! So hopefully all goes well. It is so important for members to be involved in missionary work! We were reading a talk from conference 10 years ago this week, and we actually have fewer missionaries out and fewer converts baptized then we did back then, and I think it's interesting because general authorities said the only way we'll increase is through member missionary work. So that's a goal of mine when I get back. It has been really cool to see how receptive people can be that that people really are searching!

For example, we went to contact a former investigator this week and she had moved but a woman was sitting in the driveway. We talked to her and she was also recently disfellowshipped from the Baptist church for running away from an abusive marriage. She's new to the area and looking for a church. The scriptures talk about how these people are out there, but we need to be looking for them and willing to help them. The Lord is really preparing people and moving us and them so our paths meet. It has been a blessing on both ends as we do meet and seek to do His will.

Love,
Sister Schank

Week 40

Dear family,

This week has been a lot like Kenny's it sounds like... great, but not super eventful. We did a lot of service this week... gardening, moving/packing, and volunteering at an old folk's home carnival. It has been really special this week just to be able to work towards loving others as Christ would... seeing them through His eyes and trying to get to know them and make them feel how important they are to Him. We have been asked by multiple people in the past couple of weeks if we are angels, and I know that is because of the Spirit that people can feel testifying to them of God's love. We are here as authorized representatives of Jesus Christ, and the more I come to understand what that means, the more I want to help and serve and love. Every person we come in contact with needs this gospel! I feel so blessed to be able to play a small role in that. I can't believe how fast the first half of my mission has flown, but I am so grateful to every one of you who is supporting and praying for me. Love you all!

Love,
Sister Schank

Week 39

Dear family,

This week has been awesome. The Lord is providing us with so many miracles. It has been amazing to see that as we set goals in faith that are reasonable but stretch us, and then we work our hearts out, He really does sanctify our efforts. It was getting to the end of our week this week, and there were some goals we really wanted to reach. We ended up teaching 6 lessons in one day that we didn't have appointments for, getting referrals we didn't expect, and finding two new investigators (2 doors in a row!). One new investigator and one old one (Bill, who only needs to come to church in order to get baptized) walked into sacrament meeting on Sunday, which I have NEVER had happen, and the meeting was AWESOME for investigators (the way luck has it, we always end up talking about something super deep when they come, but not this week). We even had someone invite us over to lunch after church, which gave us the last lesson we needed to meet another goal. It was super incredible seeing the way the Lord has provided.

Things are going great with Sister Brown and I. We are on our way to the temple right now, which is exciting. We decided not to spend so much energy as we'd need to training for the half-marathon, but we are still running farther than I ever had before most mornings, so that's good. My ward mission leader is a doctor and I met with him about my reflux this week and he gave me a prescription for a different kind of histamine blocker that hopefully will work better. So doing alright there. Things are going so great and I am so happy to be a sister missionary in Buffalo!

It's a busy morning so I need to go, but thanks so much for all your love and support. And Prayers. I'm so proud of all of you and grateful for your examples of putting the best things first in life! Love you!!

Love,
Sister Schank

Week 38

Hi everyone :)

Quick before I forget, I have a
NEW MISSION OFFICE ADDRESS!!!:
460 Kreag Rd
Pittsford, NY 14534

Anyway, about my week... HARRY GOT BAPTIZED this week! The ward was super supportive and even though we had to have it early on a Saturday morning the Relief Society room was packed. Lots of people participated and Yaneri was awesome and brought like 4 non-member friends who we hope to keep in touch with. It was so touching to see him making that covenant with the Lord and how that is going to bless him and his family. They are planning on the temple in a year and I want to be there! Sister Brown and I are already making travel plans ;) It's amazing because I've only been in Buffalo for 3 weeks now but I already have so much love for that family. After the baptism, we got to travel out to the sites with their family. We saw the Hill Cumorah and Visitors Center, the Joseph Smith Farm and the Sacred Grove, and the temple grounds. The Spirit was strong and it was cool to see how it affected him. He has a testimony of this gospel! After his confirmation on Sunday, I could see a difference in him. He has been cleansed, changed by the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And he is now a member of His church! It just makes me think of our family and how happy I am that mom and dad have always based our family on the gospel. It really does bring the biggest blessings and peace.

Aside from the baptism, it really has been a week of miracles. Either Sister Brown or I (or usually both) have been sick every day this week, and we got cancelled on for the majority of our appointments. In fact, EVERY appointment for three days in a row. BUT the Lord had a better plan, and it has been amazing to see Him go to work in our area. We are working hard on talking to more people every day, because we have been promised by our mission leaders that as we work towards talking to 10 new people EVERY day, we will start finding at least 3 new investigators a week and having 1 baptism each month. The Lord is really placing people in our path and as we are trying to do our simple part, He is providing miracles. Even though we were sick and busy with the baptism, we had more referrals, new investigators, and "other" lessons taught this week than any week in my whole mission. I am still not really sure how that happened, but I think last Tuesday night is a good example.

We had planned to try to contact an investigator named Bill last Tuesday, and he wasn't home. We decided to try to contact a potential investigator in the same community, and he wasn't home either. BUT we did find Bill, and taught him in his front yard. AND we found a new investigator who was standing in his driveway across the street from the potential's. And talked to another 3 people we hadn't anticipated finding. If Bill had been home when we first got there, we might not have found Mel (driveway man). A couple days later, we realized we hadn't knocked any doors and were running out of time. We had set a goal to knock at least 5 doors a day, even on days full of appointments. We turned down a random street, thinking no one would be home in the early afternoon, and we found a new investigator and another young man who we can follow up with in the future. We ended up having to leave after 4 doors, running late to an appointment but grateful for the guidance we'd been given.

Hope all is going well with the family. Sarah, I'm proud of you! You're going to do great in college! Actually, I'm proud of all of you. Thanks for your examples to me of putting the gospel frist in your lives. I know that when we put the Lord first, everything else gets taken care of. My favorite scripture of the week is 3 Nephi 13:34. He really will take care of us when we trust Him. I love you all!

Love,
Sister Schank

New Mission Home Address

We just received an email from the New York Rochester Mission office (see below) regarding a change of address.  I will try to keep Christa's mission apartment address current (click "mailing addresses" on the right) but for those who are more comfortable sending things through the mission home take note!  Thanks,  Lynn

Dear Parents,

Please be informed that the New York Rochester Mission will be moving the mission office on

August 27, 2012.   The new address will be:

Sister Christa Schank

New York Rochester Mission

460 Kreag Road

Pittsford, NY 14534

We have been informed by our current mail carrier that mail addressed to the Perinton Hills address will not be forwarded to our new address unless it has New York Rochester Mission on it.  Mail that comes without of the name of the mission could be returned to sender.  We want you to be aware of this change so our missionaries will receive their mail.  Please be a aware that packages that come  to the  Perinton Hills address  after the above date will only be forwarded if they come First Class or Priority Mail.  If packages are sent by Parcel Post, UPS, Fed Ex or media mail, they will NOT be forwarded to our new office.

 Love

 Mission Office Staff

Week 37

 Dear friends and family,

I just found out I have been on my mission for 250 days today. That is

a long time! Seems so crazy. My halfway point is in a couple of weeks,

but I don't think about that so much. We are "always in the middle"

(Pres Uchtdorf)... and I don't want to think about coming home yet.

The work is going excellent out here. Harry is getting baptized this

Saturday! He is 73 and has such a cute family who will be so blessed

by this. His wife, Yaneri, is like 36 and has been less-active pretty much her

whole life until recently. She is on fire and wants to get to the

temple. They met in Honduras, where she is from, and have a 4-year-old

named Ashley who is SO cute. I LOVE their family. In the weeks leading

up to a baptism, you spend a lot of time finishing up the lessons,

checking in with them, helping them learn how to keep commandments

they struggle with, helping them prepare for the baptismal interview

and the ordinance itself, planning the baptism, getting members

fellowshipping them, taking them to the church history sites if you can, and in this

family's case, helping them pack up because they are moving soon. It

has been so fun to get to know their family. Yaneri speaks a little

English and is mostly deaf, but she is SO sweet and wants to live the

gospel with everything she has. She makes a lot of sacrifices and they

are at church EVERY week even though she doesn't hear/understand most

of what is going on. Sister Brown and I have started sitting next to

her in at least one meeting each week, writing down what the lesson

is about and answering any questions. It has been so wonderful to grow

to love them and serve them so much.

We are also working with a lot of women in the ward who have each

dealt with different hard trials in recent years and are trying to get

to the temple... either to get back there, or to go for the first

time. It has been such a blessing to feel the Lord's love for them and

to see their determination and sacrifice. I know that temple blessings

are worth ANY sacrifice, and it is wonderful to be able to work so

closely with these women in their desires to come to the House of the

Lord and to feel the Spirit and the blessings there.

Something interesting about being full-proselyting right now is that

Sister Brown and I are the only sisters in our zone. That is probably

pretty normal for most missions, but we honestly don't have that many

more elders than we do sisters, so in the North Palmyra zone for

example the elders are outnumbered. We work really closely with the

elders especially since we overlap areas with some of them, and it has

been really fun to be able to see these young men doing the Lord's

work and honoring their priesthood. The priesthood really is to serve

others, and even though these elders are young they are really

learning what it means to perform selfless service. We were blessed in

a simple way by their service this week, and I just wanted to share.

Our apartment has had one A/C unit all summer. It's in the bedroom,

which makes sleeping okay but doing anything else very warm. We have

tried getting another unit, but they aren't being sold anymore this

season I guess so we got an upright fan instead which mostly just blew

the hot air around. It was up to 86 degrees in the front room the

other day, and the elders caught wind of it. The other day, we got a

call that said they found an A/C for us and would be over in 10

minutes. It was fabulous; our apartment dropped 17 degrees in a day

and a half. We later found out that they had given us one of their

units, and that they now have a very hot front room! Despite all our

efforts to give it back, the unit is staying... but their example is

something I will remember even after it gets too cold for A/C.

Last thing. Our mission has a goal for each companionship to talk to

10 new nonmembers each day. The promise is that if we do this, we will

have 3 new investigators a week, leading to one baptism each month.

Turns out it is really hard to talk to 10/day when you have as many

appointments as we do, but we are trying by setting smaller goals to

work up to it. It has been amazing to see how the Lord blesses us as

we set goals in faith and then plan how we will accomplish them. Our

plans very rarely go through, but because we made the plans, the Lord

helps us to realize our goals. There have been many times when I know

that people have been placed in our path while on our morning run or

in line at the grocery store because the Lord knew we had desires that

we wouldn't otherwise have time to fulfill. The same thing with lesson

planning---we've had SO many lessons this week that we planned for and

ended up having to change last minute because of circumstances we had

no way of knowing about...  but because we planned, the Spirit filled

our mouths and we were able to teach with power. These experiences

have led to commitments, emotion, and progression with those we teach

that I don't know how we would have otherwise achieved. It is such a

testimony to me that He really is aware of us and that when we give

Him our all, He can magnify our efforts to what He needs.

The gospel is true! We are happy when we work hard to do the Lord's

will. I love the Book of Mormon because I know that it brings us the

strength and peace we need, no matter our situation.

Have a great week, all of you.

Love you mucho!

Your favorite sister missionary :)

Week 36

This. Week. Has. Been. AWESOME. Possibly the best week of my mission. Sister Brown is an awesome companion. It's cool, because we were MTC companions but it is evident that we have both learned a lot of charity, patience, and humility since then and it is so good for our companionship. Her last companion was also foreign (Chinese), we've been out the same amount of time, and we both have the same goals˜to work hard and be exactly obedient. We both love good food and adventure. This is the makings of something excellent.

Clarence is the coolest. It's pretty rich like Webster, but there are more old, fun, cute shops and a little more variety it seems. I live 8 miles out of my area and we are working in some of the Elder's area too because we've always had a car and there are a lot of women in the far part of their area (technically, our areas overlap and cover the whole Amherst ward which is made up of Amherst and Clarence, but we mostly stick to Clarence and they mostly stick to Amherst). The ward is awesome; lots of young families here for grad school; it feels a lot like a Utah ward. We had a Pioneer day ward activity on Saturday and it was REALLY well done. Our ward mission leader seems awesome and he's actually a doctor for a lot of the missionaries out here as well which will be good if I need my prescription adjusted or anything. I'm feeling really good for the most part recently. Sister Brown and I have taken up running (she's a 3-time marathoner before her mission but hasn't run in 8 months) and are contemplating registering for a half marathon in 8 weeks. The exercise is helping us both physically and mentally with the work.

There are so many great people to teach in Clarence! We are working with two older gentlemen right now who plan to be baptized in a couple of weeks. Harry is 73 and his wife Yaneri (rhymes with Harry, starts with a "j" sound) is just reactivating. They come to church every week with their 4-year-old daughter Ashley. Yaneri REALLY wants to get to the temple and it's so exciting to see their family working towards that. The Elders taught Harry once while we were at pageant and set a baptismal date with him... Funny story: We taught another man named Bill this week (82 yrs old I think) about baptism and I totally thought he was the one the Elders had set a date with so I "accidentally" invited him to be baptized on the same date and he said yes! Haha, the Spirit was there, so whatever works I guess! He hasn't been to church yet so we will probably have to push his date back but just the fact that he has a goal to work toward is awesome. We are also working with 8 or 9 less-active members right now and the ones I've met are so great. We've been blessed with a couple of new investigators this week too, and I just can hardly believe all of the miracles going on here! Clarence is supposed to be a slow area like Webster since it is so wealthy but the Lord is so richly blessing us right now. We are working as hard as we can but we couldn't "earn" all that we are receiving. It's all from the Lord and it's amazing what He can and has been willing to bestow.

To wrap it all up, today is my 8-month-mission anniversary... and Sister Brown's too, of course... so to celebrate, we went to Niagara Falls and had a picnic :) For real. It's only 16 miles from my apartment. So. Cool. I have also already had the best Buffalo wings you are supposed to be able to get in Buffalo area, and visited a few cute bakeries/chocolate shops. It is different being the only 2 sisters in the zone, and I miss the sites, but I really am just loving being here. The area is awesome, and we are working so hard. Never a dull moment. One of these days I will have time to finish unpacking, and it will officially feel like home, but I am loving the change of pace for now... it has been really good for me.

I forgot my memory card with the pageant pics on it (we'll try for next week), but I'm attaching some pictures from this morning at Niagara. Those buildings you see in the background are in CANADA. So cool. :)

Anywho, it's time for me to go. Keep me updated on Kenny. We (my comp and I) are fasting and praying for you, Elder! Love you and all of you! <3

Sister Schank