Week 73

Hi :)

My birthday was awesome! We had district meeting and interviews with the President. Everyone look forward to interviews because President is kinda like the closest thing we have to a parent who we can actually see and he is really busy so it's really the only one-on-one time we get. Also, he knows EVERYTHING. In between, my roommates were awesome and surprised me with pie! (We had like 3 cakes for Sis Killen's bday last week and were kinda caked out). We also had site meeting out at the Peter Whitmer Farm that night. I really really love that place, and haven't got to spend a lot of time there on my mission. The Spirit is particularly strong down there. BUT the best part of my birthday was that Kathryn got to go to the temple for the first time to do baptisms, and I got to go see her and do them also! It has been a long time since I have done baptisms, but the best thing ever was seeing Kathryn in the temple. The gospel is so cool!! I felt so blessed to see someone I love so much, who has come so far and been so richly blessed by living the principles of the gospel.

Other than that, it honestly hasn't been a really extraordinary week. It has been a good week though. I've had some great tours at the sites. It is such a blessing to be able to meet so many different people. I worked my last shift at the Whitmer Farm yesterday :/ That was weird. I am really going to miss it, but I am working on remembering everything! We have been really busy this week but somehow have kept busy without teaching lots of lessons :/ Everyone keeps cancelling. Steve has had a rough week but we had a really miraculous lesson on Monday that was very Spirit-led. His walls were way up but we felt inspired to send him some seemingly-random reading for beforehand and it was exactly what he needed. Lizz is doing pretty good but has been busy and we haven't seen her in church for awhile. Yep! I guess that's my week :) It has been so so good. President said in my interview with him that obedience is directly correlated with love, and it is love that makes us happy. That just made sense to me :) I am obedient and I serve so I feel love, and I am happy. It all boils down to being really simple.

I love this gospel! It's true :) Joseph Smith is a prophet, and the Book of Mormon is the word of God. His commandments bring us peace. Covenants bring forgiveness. Love brings us joy. It really is that simple. I love you all!

Sister Schank

Week 72

Such a good week!! The best part was Saturday; Sister Brown, McManama, and I got to go out to Amherst to visit for a couple of baptisms!! Dawson got baptized in the morning (we taught him and his mom Sandy, who has been LA since she moved to the area until recently), and Kathryn in the afternoon. There are very few people (besides you of course) that I love as much as the people in these pictures. The sister missionaries sang at Dawson's baptism, and I got to give the talk on baptism at Kathryn's. In between, we ate at Sister Walsh's (the one who fed us on Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve) and visited Bill. :) After Kathryn's baptism all 5 sisters here went out for real Buffalo wings at Duff's. We also got to see Scott (who is doing so well!) at both baptisms. It was a glorious day.

Lots of miracles have been happening in our area as well! We are so busy we hardly know what to do with ourselves! It's a great problem to have as a missionary :) We've been at the sites quite a bit, which is just... awesome :) Oh, we went on a grove tour with Bob Parrot, the caretaker of the Grove. I don't know if you remember me talking about going on one last year, but I remembered a lot more this time, having a little bit of a foundation from last time. I learned a lot of really cool things (which we'll have to talk about at a later date because I haven't had a chance to upload those pictures yet), but the coolest thing really is the Spirit in that place. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith in that Grove to open the dispensation of the fulness of times. How lucky are we to know that?! I think in some ways I kinda expected that my mission would be full of big events that would strengthen my testimony of that principle, but really as I think about it, the only way anyone comes to really, truly, deeply know that is through study and prayer. That is how I knew it before my mission, and how I still know it now. :) And I am grateful to know that Heavenly Father loves us enough to restored the truths, ordinances, and authority of Jesus Christ’s Church.

We also have been busy teaching this week. Steve is doing great. We taught Holle once and she cancelled our return appointment, saying to come back in a few weeks, so we will see what happens there… Finally get to see Carol today which is good. We stopped in on Jenny again this week and she was home but her kids were not (they speak better English than her and she wants them around to translate), but she was really touched that we had remembered her and came back as promised. We gave her a Spanish restoration pamphlet and said we’d come back on a weekend. We went to the Allgood home to teach Alissa yesterday and that didn’t work out super well because the landlord came by, but just as she had to leave, Lizz came down and we got to teach her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (lesson 3). We talked a lot about baptism and she recognized that she has changed a lot for the better since she started coming to church, and said that she wants to be a member! She still has some concerns about promising to keep the commandments and wasn’t ready to set a date, but she is really open and we see the Holy Ghost working on her heart and I think that as she learns more about the commandments that concern will dissolve. We also started teaching Katie (20 y.o.) this week; the elders have been teaching her for a long time and she’s had all the lessons but hasn’t come to church so they are transitioning into us teaching her as well so we can help her get to know women in the ward. I really like her and we set a date yesterday for May 4…which as I’m typing this I just realized in my last Saturday as a missionary, so that would be cool. :) Also, one of the senior site couple elders called us late last night. He was checking out at Sear’s and his cashier said “Are you Mormon? I’d like to learn more about that.” And she lives in Canandaigua! Her name is Jacqueline, and we plan to contact her today so hopefully that goes well. :)

Oh also, we went to the Family History Center yesterday… we had plans to bring someone with us but they had to cancel so we decided to just go anyway to see what resources there were and how we could prepare people to come. So cool! Mom, have you used FamilyTree yet? It is a really awesome website. I had dug out the four-generation chart you printed out for me and was able to fill in enough information for myself to link back to ancestors from the 1500s. There are some pieces that are still missing on my tree that I know we have somewhere… I’d love to get into it more when I get home :)

Speaking of home, that is getting closer :S <-- mixed feelings. Do you have my flight itinerary? Sister Brown says she got hers a long time ago, but I haven't seen it at all and I need to let the mission office know if you haven't heard about that. Anything specific anyone wants from New York? Cool mother's day gift?

Oh, health update (joy). My doctor took me off dexilant because it was kinda working but was giving me headaches. He’s putting me back on ranitidine at a dosage twice as high as last time. I’ve talked to a few other doctors (members) I know about that and they think it’s a good idea so I filled the prescription this week. I’m waiting a couple of days before I start taking it just so I can have a fair comparison between no meds and the ranitidine. By the time we know whether it works, I will be home and we can make further decisions from there.

Well I need to get going I guess, but I love you all a bazillion and I'm so proud of everyone! Hearing from you all after conference was the best! I am trying to get back to every one of you, even if it's just a couple each p-day.

Life is good. I am happy. The gospel is true. “What else matters?”

Be happy, be healthy, be safe, be good. I love you all! 

Love,

Sister Schank

2 Timothy 1:7

Celebrating Sister Killen's birthday. I love my roommates!!

Dawson's baptism 

Lunch at the Walsh's in between baptisms

Kathryn's baptism

Real Buffalo Wings at Duff's 

Week 71

Thanks so much for the pictures and letters! I got them last night and it totally made my day :) Everyone is growing up and I'm so proud! It has been really rainy out her but pretty much, it's heaven :) Between the sites, a training meeting from the President yesterday (focused on testifying and goal-setting), and general conference and all of that, I feel soooo lucky. Even luckier to know that home in Utah is also a heaven on Earth. I am so grateful for all of you. Each of your letters was really wonderful, and I especially enjoyed hearing about all of your favorite conference talks! My favorite was Elder Bednar's talk on chastity... holy cow, talk about powerful! It made me really excited to go out and preach the truth with unapologetic boldness and love. I also really loved Elder Holland's talk; his talks are always good but this time around I really resonated with his words. I know I have faith but as a missionary especially I face tests of faith every day and it was such a good reminder to me. :) Also, I loved the missionary theme, and the theme of having strong, Christ-centered families, homes, and lives. I was really lucky, we had site shifts on Saturday AND Sunday, but at the sites I was at, the sessions were largely uninterrupted and I was quickly able to catch up on everything I missed (including Priesthood session). I took tours immediately after the session ended both days. Good timing :)

To answer some questions in those letters, my health is doing okay. The medication has been kinda-working but it gives me headaches every evening. I just got a call from my doctor's office this morning saying they wanted me to try Zantac (ranitidine). Which I have already taken, and it did nothing :P The lady who called said it might be a different dosage or something, but I'm skeptical. I'll consult with Bro Boyle (who gave me the first ranitidine prescription), but probably I just won't fill the prescription and will wait til I get home.

As far as your questions about my reaction to the integrated program... I guess when I failed the comprehensive and decided to come on a mission, I felt like I had given my best and had still not been able to succeed. I still wanted a masters degree, but before my mission I had talked with professors in a few other departments (public health, microbiology, math ed, etc.) I have desires to be more balanced when I get home, and I didn't succeed at that either... really at any point in college. Considering taking on something I feel that I failed at once before is a scary thing. I expected to be accepted in to repeat the first year, as I had performed poorly, failed the comp, and have had 2 years to forget everything. So when I found out it was second year, it was really overwhelming because I'd been doubting my abilities to succeed in first year material that I'd already taken before. Does that make a little more sense? I feel at peace about it, and I am really grateful for this opportunity, but I am still pretty nervous at the idea of taking on second year when first year was so difficult for me.

Anyway, back to missionary work. We had a cool experience this week on Tuesday. We had worked at the sites in the morning and had to be there a little longer than expected, so after studies we realized that we had half an hour left to fill. We had planned on going down to Canandaigua because we expected to have more like an hour, but it takes about 25 minutes to drive from our apartment into our area and back (since we live with other sisters, we live in their area. It is about 6 miles to get to the far north border of our area, and another few to get downtown where most of our work is found). We considered just saving the miles and sticking around the apartment, because it didn't really feel worth it to go way down there for the amount of time we would have. But we want to be diligent and we don't have a lot of time in our area as it is, so we decided to go down and just knock on a couple of doors of former/potential investigators. The first door we decided to knock was Holley, a former investigator. She opened the door and was gruff at first, but when she realized who we were she said that elders had met her three years ago, but never came back and she didn't know why. We were able to talk with her for about 45 minutes on her doorstep and gave her a Book of Mormon. The next day when we returned, she had read the introduction and had lots of questions about a living prophet. We taught the restoration and she is really interested, and we are going back Monday. So glad we took the time!

We have also gotten a lot closer with Lizz this week (she's Matt Allgood's stepdaughter, but is living with him and Alissa). We texted her during conference to ask if she'd watched any, and found out that her grandfather was dying. We were able to be there to support her both before and after he passed away, and taught her the plan of salvation this week. It has done a lot for her trust in us, and she has opened up a lot. She is keeping her commitments and we are seeing a change in her receptiveness. The funeral is today, and we have a dinner appointment at the Allgoods tonight, so we'll be able to see her again.

Steve is doing great. He is just like a sponge, and he was diligent about watching all 5 sessions of conference. He is mostly just struggling with discouragement right now, but we try to check in on him through text/facebook every couple of days while we're at the sites, and the almost-daily contact has been a huge blessing in keeping him focused on his successes.

Okay last miracle and then I need to get off! We had a member family and then the bishop mention to us a less-active lady in the ward they thought we could visit. We'd stopped by before and she wasn't home. We stopped again this last Wednesday on the way out of Canandaigua and knocked... still no answer. But then, a car pulled up behind her truck in the driveway. Awkward! (There are a lot of streets out here where you can't park on the street so sometimes we just pull into people's driveways, even if we don't know them, as long as we won't be there long.) Anyway, we walked up to the car... in the rain... and she got out and her ride drove away. We introduced ourselves and she let us in (the only good thing about rain while contacting is that you look so pathetic that more people will let you in) and didn't have time just then, but said we could come back. I really don't think she would have answered her door if she had already been home, but the timing/situation (while kind of awkward and not my idea of ideal) was perfect.

Something I've been thinking about recently is what a blessing it's been for me to be able to call/contact referrals from my area but also all over the country at the sites. I would invite everyone who is reading this to think about someone who needs the gospel at this time in their lives, and then invite them to learn more! If you want to invite them yourself that is great, but the really easy peasy way is just to let your local missionaries or any visitors center missionary (ahem) know their phone number and why you love them and I/we would love to give them the opportunity to choose for themselves. I have really gained a testimony of giving people the opportunity to exercise agency. :)

Okay, gotta go. Love you all a million! Thanks again for writing.

Loooooove, Sister Schank

Week 70

Is everyone excited for general conference tomorrow?!

Well it has been a really crazy and good week. Now that it's April, our site shifts are an hour longer than before but we do have more sisters after last transfer and we have dropped/been dropped by most of our teaching pool so we actually had some finding time this week! Wednesday in particular, we had 3 appointments set up and all 3 fell through but we accomplished a LOT: tracked down some people we've been meaning to contact, found out that some had moved, found a few who are interested in us coming back, and were able to help an investigator who was struggling with self-doubt at just the right time (he had relasped with his smoking the day before). The sites have been really busy (well, except yesterday our shift was randomly dead) and I have met some really neat families. Cecil O Samuelson actually came through right before I got there yesterday... Also, Sister Chatterton and her family were there this week and I got to see her! She was wearing pants, and had a first name! IS that really going to happen to me next month? :S

Easter was great. We worked at the Book of Mormon publication site (suuuuuper busy) and then went to dinner with the Jacobsens, a family that has kind of adopted the missionaries. They gave us filled Easter eggs to bring home (picture below is my roommates and me with our eggs once we got back to the apartment). It really stuck out to me this year how Easter is not only a celebration of the Atonement and Resurrection, but it is a celebration of our belief in miracles, since the resurrection is really the biggest miracle of all! I'm grateful for everyday miracles in our lives.

One fun miracle this week was that I got a call from a guy named Nahshon... it took me awhile to figure out who he was but then I was so excited. There was ONE night last summer during the pageant that we got there late enough that the missionary parking was full and we had to park way out in the field with everyone else. On the way back to my car I saw a sister at the Spanish booth who I hadn't seen in awhile so I went over to say hi and met Shaun (turns out to be short for Nahshon). He was waiting for a friend of his who was talking to another missionary at the same info booth. Shaun (living in NYC) wasn't a member but his grandma had died like that morning and he just needed to get out of the house, so when his friend was walking out of the house to go to pageant and invited him he said yes even though he had pretty much no idea what it was. Anyway, I got talking with him and gave him a Book of Mormon. He emailed me and asked some questions and told me he felt something, but we lost touch when he switched email addresses. But he called and said he'd moved to Rochester, had met with elders, and is getting baptized! He was going to be baptized tomorrow but he got sick and hasn't been to church so it probably won't be for a couple of weeks, but hopefully I'll be able to attend.

On that note, Sister Brown, Sister McManama, and I are going out to Buffalo next week for 3 baptisms! Kathryn is being baptized in the evening, Dawson (Sandy's son) in the morning, and a child of record (I'm not sure who) in between. I am so excited!! I feel so blessed to have met these people, and I know some of them will be friends for life.

Oh, we also had the opportunity last week to help out with a missionary-themed youth conference. My companion and I were assigned to the group that got "called" to Seoul. We got to sit in on that presentation and then just talked for awhile about what it's like to be a missionary. As I spoke, I realized that most teenagers see missionaries as robots in some sense. I am so grateful that the Lord called me to this specific place at this specific time for MY talents and personality! I have found that I can be myself, and I can be my BEST self as I follow Him. :) Also I'm SO grateful for the opportunity I've had to serve. I have learned so much about following the Spirit and keeping my covenant to take on His name.

Other funny/random things. Sister van Geenen and I accidentally climbed up to somebody's third-floor apartment up their rickety fire-escape and knocked on their porch door. Oops! It was REALLY high! Thankfully no one was living there (he'd moved). That could have been a lot more embarrasing. We also found some time to walk in the grove this week (other 2 pictures). I've been on my new meds for two weeks now and I've noticed decreased pain (as in, it happens less often and I think less intensely). It's still not gone, and I do often get headachey in the evening from the meds, but it's only been two weeks so hopefully it works better and better. I haven't had a bad headache in probably 3 days.

I think that that's pretty much all of my new news this week. Everyone enjoy conference. I'd love to hear what everyone's favorite talk is! Remember to make it a revelatory experience by coming prepared with a humble heart and a question in mind! I know that the prophets/apostles speak for God and that we can know of His individual plan for our lives by listening to them.

I'd love to see Easter pics from the family also! Best of luck to everyone, I know that this is a really crazy time of year with school. Love you all!

<3/ Sister Schank :)