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
