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