Week 14 - Drinking From a Spiritual Fire Hose

This week has been crazy. First of all, zone conference. Our mission president is awesome, and so are our assistants and zone leaders, so zone conference was naturally also awesome. It's kind of like drinking from a spiritual fire hose for 6 hours, but it was really uplifting and good :) We also were able to take our recent converts to the sites, which was a great experience. It is so cool to testify of the restoration in the place where it all began! We were also able to attend the temple this week with the sisters in our apartment. So beautiful! What else... oh we got dropped by our one investigator the night before we were supposed to teach her. Turns out things like that seem to happen a lot. Satan is working hard to keep people from the truth! We worked at the BoM publication site Friday morning, and my friend Ann vom Lehn (from BYU) dropped by. She is leaving for her mission to Cambodia on Wednesday, and it was great to see her! I got to give her a tour, and she brought me cookies :) I have been getting questions about visitors so I talked to my mission president and here is the deal: it is against church policy for missionaries to have visitors. However, we are kind of in a special circumstance with the sites thing. I am allowed to tell you where and when I am working. If you come, I can give you a tour as long as it doesn't conflict with my normal missionary work. But when the tour is over, I'm still a missionary. So as long as those things aren't a problem and as long as it doesn't cause me to get distracted I can see you if you visit the sites here. It is supposed to be insane around pageant time and I wouldn't even be able to give you a full tour probably because I think missionaries just get assigned to stations and then tour groups move through. Hope that makes sense!  

Palmyra Temple in the Winter

Sisters Wall, Madsen, Schank and Chatterton at the temple

Peter Whitmer Farm - where the church was officially organized on April 6, 1830.  The farm and visitor's center were dedicated 150 years later as a church historic site

visit from Ann vom Lehn (BYU friend)

 Sorry this isn't very long (again!). Someday I will write an email as long as Kenny's (okay let's be honest; probably not. He's got a talent.) :)  Thanks for everything you are doing to support me out here. Love you all lots!

<3/ Christa

Week 13 - Stretching

It seems like a lot has happened this week. Missionary time is so weird... everything is lengthened. I can't believe this was all this week.

On Thursday, the mission had a leadership training. This time it included trainers, so all of us who are being trained ended up on splits with each other. So here I am, an 8-week-old missionary, driving our minivan into Webster and Irondequoit to teach and find with two week-and-a-half-old missionaries. It was a blast. I was very nervous. But it was good! We had some good contact with people, and even found a new investigator *woot!* This sounds like kind of a big deal, but actually it is a REALLY big deal because she is the first investigator found in Webster since I've been out in the field. So, VERY exciting news. She is 94 years old, and very Catholic. I guess it never really clicked with me that people actually pray to the virgin Mary until she brought hers out, sitting on her walker, along with her rosary prayer she recites each day. It's gonna be interesting, but we are very excited to teach her.

On Saturday, we got to work our site shift down at the Whitmer Farm. It's almost two hours away from our apartment, so we don't get to do that very often, but it was awesome! The Peter Whitmer log home is the place the Church was first officially organized on April 6, 1830. They have the little log home there, and also a chapel where the Fayette ward meets. One wing of the chapel is a visitors center, with displays and a gallery talking about the organization of the modern church, and about dispensations and church organization throughout history. The point is pretty much that the church today is headed by a prophet after a time of apostasy, just as it has been in past dispensations, and that today's church is organized the same was the church was when Christ organized it when He was on Earth. Pretty nifty.

Okay, running out of time, but I also taught gospel principles this week! I have always dreaded the thought of teaching Sunday school, but the Spirit was there and we had some really great participation going. I got lucky because the lesson in the manual was on prayer, which is a pretty easy one to teach, but I was really grateful it went so well. The Lord is stretching me and making me learn every day! I got a call today asking me to sing (like, possibly a solo) in zone conference tomorrow! Aah!

Anyways, gotta run. I love you all, thanks for all you do. Miss you!

<3/ Sister Schank

Week 12 - Operation Diligence

Okay, it's gonna be a short one this week because I had a lot to read through and respond to this week. Big news: we have a new roommate, Sis Madsen. She is awesome, and working with Sis Wall in Irondequoit. Sis Chatterton and I are still in Webster.

We are still focusing on "finding" in Webster, which basically means we don't have a lot of people to teach... yet. So we do a lot of door contacting. But it's good, we are working hard and cleaning out the area book and really searching for those people who have been prepared to hear the gospel. They are out there.

Since it's a new transfer, Sis Chatterton and I have undertaken "Operation Diligence." You hear about how you can be the happiest when you are working the hardest and being exactly obedient in all things. Well, we are trying it out. Not that we were disobedient before, but we are stretching ourselves more to do hard things, to be efficient, and to fit in contacting time every day. When we have the option to take the easy way out, we are refusing to take it. We are talking to more people each day, exercising harder in the mornings, and even making our beds every day :) It's affecting everything we do, and we are starting to understand what it means to be "delightfully exhausted." It is not easy; there is never a break. But we are finding joy in putting all of our hearts, mights, minds, and strengths into the Lord's work. And He is blessing us! We are seeing multiple small miracles each day. I am trying to take on an attitude of "zeal" towards the work, and it is going great. :)

That honestly is about all I have to report for the week. Happy Valentines Day!

Sister Schank

Week 11 - transfer calls, testimony, & baptism

Quick update: transfer calls came in last night after we were all in bed. Sis Chatterton and I are staying in Webster, and Sis Wall is staying in Irondequoit and training :) it's going to be an awesome transfer. LOTS of finding... we need a teaching pool in Webster!

Our two remaining Irondequoit investigators came to sacrament meeting yesterday, which was awesome. The coolest thing was that they happened to make it on the week when we had two confirmations! The baptism on Saturday went great :) I am so excited for Sister Jean and for Cedric; the gospel will really help them find happiness in their lives and they are already involving themselves in the ward.

Sister Wall, Cedric, Jean, me, Sister Chatterton

It's funny... you hear returned missionaries talk about baptisms as the best part of going on a mission, and I always assumed that to be the way it is. It seems like in some ways, it should be a measure of success or of how enjoyable the mission has been. But... it's totally not. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the baptism. You can't really watch someone make covenants with God without feeling the Spirit and being happy. But I guess I expected something, and learned something else instead. Helping other people to come unto Christ is awesome, and baptism is an important (necessary!) step in helping them to fully access the atonement of Jesus Christ. But it's not the only way to access the joy that comes from bringing people closer to Christ. The baptism was special and really great, but looking back on my week, I was the happiest on Friday afternoon. I was at the BOMPS (Grandin bldg), just finishing my first tour I've given without a companion (in the winter we try to teach in companionships, but when the sites get too busy we have to split up). It had gone fairly well, and we were just wrapping up. The tour of the site ends in a gallery of paintings that outline big events in the BoM. I had the chance to teach and testify to this couple for the last 40 minutes, and this room is kind of the ultimate place to be able to testify of the Book of Mormon, of Jesus Christ, and of getting answers to prayers. I remember testifying and just feeling so... joyful. I couldn't stop smiling and I honestly felt like I was shining. I could feel the light of Christ as I testified of Him. It was the sweetest experience... even cooler than the baptism, probably. I was a little stunned when I first thought about this, but I really think that nothing makes me happier as a missionary than bearing testimony. Some of the hardest days aren't the days when I get rejected while tracting, they are the ones when no one answers their doors because we don't get a chance to testify. We actually sometimes will testify to planters, pets, or front doors just to keep our spirits up on a long door contacting day. I assume this isn't just true for missionaries... next time you are having a bad day, you should try it. Find someone to bear a short, simple testimony to. It works. (I hope it's clear that I really did enjoy the baptism. I never realized before my mission how big a deal baptism is. We CANNOT have full access to the atonement or the Spirit without it.)

Well I need to run and write my weekly update for President. Have a great week <3

Love,

Sister Schank