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
