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 :)
