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
