Week 40

Dear family,

This week has been a lot like Kenny's it sounds like... great, but not super eventful. We did a lot of service this week... gardening, moving/packing, and volunteering at an old folk's home carnival. It has been really special this week just to be able to work towards loving others as Christ would... seeing them through His eyes and trying to get to know them and make them feel how important they are to Him. We have been asked by multiple people in the past couple of weeks if we are angels, and I know that is because of the Spirit that people can feel testifying to them of God's love. We are here as authorized representatives of Jesus Christ, and the more I come to understand what that means, the more I want to help and serve and love. Every person we come in contact with needs this gospel! I feel so blessed to be able to play a small role in that. I can't believe how fast the first half of my mission has flown, but I am so grateful to every one of you who is supporting and praying for me. Love you all!

Love,
Sister Schank

Week 39

Dear family,

This week has been awesome. The Lord is providing us with so many miracles. It has been amazing to see that as we set goals in faith that are reasonable but stretch us, and then we work our hearts out, He really does sanctify our efforts. It was getting to the end of our week this week, and there were some goals we really wanted to reach. We ended up teaching 6 lessons in one day that we didn't have appointments for, getting referrals we didn't expect, and finding two new investigators (2 doors in a row!). One new investigator and one old one (Bill, who only needs to come to church in order to get baptized) walked into sacrament meeting on Sunday, which I have NEVER had happen, and the meeting was AWESOME for investigators (the way luck has it, we always end up talking about something super deep when they come, but not this week). We even had someone invite us over to lunch after church, which gave us the last lesson we needed to meet another goal. It was super incredible seeing the way the Lord has provided.

Things are going great with Sister Brown and I. We are on our way to the temple right now, which is exciting. We decided not to spend so much energy as we'd need to training for the half-marathon, but we are still running farther than I ever had before most mornings, so that's good. My ward mission leader is a doctor and I met with him about my reflux this week and he gave me a prescription for a different kind of histamine blocker that hopefully will work better. So doing alright there. Things are going so great and I am so happy to be a sister missionary in Buffalo!

It's a busy morning so I need to go, but thanks so much for all your love and support. And Prayers. I'm so proud of all of you and grateful for your examples of putting the best things first in life! Love you!!

Love,
Sister Schank

Week 38

Hi everyone :)

Quick before I forget, I have a
NEW MISSION OFFICE ADDRESS!!!:
460 Kreag Rd
Pittsford, NY 14534

Anyway, about my week... HARRY GOT BAPTIZED this week! The ward was super supportive and even though we had to have it early on a Saturday morning the Relief Society room was packed. Lots of people participated and Yaneri was awesome and brought like 4 non-member friends who we hope to keep in touch with. It was so touching to see him making that covenant with the Lord and how that is going to bless him and his family. They are planning on the temple in a year and I want to be there! Sister Brown and I are already making travel plans ;) It's amazing because I've only been in Buffalo for 3 weeks now but I already have so much love for that family. After the baptism, we got to travel out to the sites with their family. We saw the Hill Cumorah and Visitors Center, the Joseph Smith Farm and the Sacred Grove, and the temple grounds. The Spirit was strong and it was cool to see how it affected him. He has a testimony of this gospel! After his confirmation on Sunday, I could see a difference in him. He has been cleansed, changed by the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And he is now a member of His church! It just makes me think of our family and how happy I am that mom and dad have always based our family on the gospel. It really does bring the biggest blessings and peace.

Aside from the baptism, it really has been a week of miracles. Either Sister Brown or I (or usually both) have been sick every day this week, and we got cancelled on for the majority of our appointments. In fact, EVERY appointment for three days in a row. BUT the Lord had a better plan, and it has been amazing to see Him go to work in our area. We are working hard on talking to more people every day, because we have been promised by our mission leaders that as we work towards talking to 10 new people EVERY day, we will start finding at least 3 new investigators a week and having 1 baptism each month. The Lord is really placing people in our path and as we are trying to do our simple part, He is providing miracles. Even though we were sick and busy with the baptism, we had more referrals, new investigators, and "other" lessons taught this week than any week in my whole mission. I am still not really sure how that happened, but I think last Tuesday night is a good example.

We had planned to try to contact an investigator named Bill last Tuesday, and he wasn't home. We decided to try to contact a potential investigator in the same community, and he wasn't home either. BUT we did find Bill, and taught him in his front yard. AND we found a new investigator who was standing in his driveway across the street from the potential's. And talked to another 3 people we hadn't anticipated finding. If Bill had been home when we first got there, we might not have found Mel (driveway man). A couple days later, we realized we hadn't knocked any doors and were running out of time. We had set a goal to knock at least 5 doors a day, even on days full of appointments. We turned down a random street, thinking no one would be home in the early afternoon, and we found a new investigator and another young man who we can follow up with in the future. We ended up having to leave after 4 doors, running late to an appointment but grateful for the guidance we'd been given.

Hope all is going well with the family. Sarah, I'm proud of you! You're going to do great in college! Actually, I'm proud of all of you. Thanks for your examples to me of putting the gospel frist in your lives. I know that when we put the Lord first, everything else gets taken care of. My favorite scripture of the week is 3 Nephi 13:34. He really will take care of us when we trust Him. I love you all!

Love,
Sister Schank

New Mission Home Address

We just received an email from the New York Rochester Mission office (see below) regarding a change of address.  I will try to keep Christa's mission apartment address current (click "mailing addresses" on the right) but for those who are more comfortable sending things through the mission home take note!  Thanks,  Lynn

Dear Parents,

Please be informed that the New York Rochester Mission will be moving the mission office on

August 27, 2012.   The new address will be:

Sister Christa Schank

New York Rochester Mission

460 Kreag Road

Pittsford, NY 14534

We have been informed by our current mail carrier that mail addressed to the Perinton Hills address will not be forwarded to our new address unless it has New York Rochester Mission on it.  Mail that comes without of the name of the mission could be returned to sender.  We want you to be aware of this change so our missionaries will receive their mail.  Please be a aware that packages that come  to the  Perinton Hills address  after the above date will only be forwarded if they come First Class or Priority Mail.  If packages are sent by Parcel Post, UPS, Fed Ex or media mail, they will NOT be forwarded to our new office.

 Love

 Mission Office Staff

Week 37

 Dear friends and family,

I just found out I have been on my mission for 250 days today. That is

a long time! Seems so crazy. My halfway point is in a couple of weeks,

but I don't think about that so much. We are "always in the middle"

(Pres Uchtdorf)... and I don't want to think about coming home yet.

The work is going excellent out here. Harry is getting baptized this

Saturday! He is 73 and has such a cute family who will be so blessed

by this. His wife, Yaneri, is like 36 and has been less-active pretty much her

whole life until recently. She is on fire and wants to get to the

temple. They met in Honduras, where she is from, and have a 4-year-old

named Ashley who is SO cute. I LOVE their family. In the weeks leading

up to a baptism, you spend a lot of time finishing up the lessons,

checking in with them, helping them learn how to keep commandments

they struggle with, helping them prepare for the baptismal interview

and the ordinance itself, planning the baptism, getting members

fellowshipping them, taking them to the church history sites if you can, and in this

family's case, helping them pack up because they are moving soon. It

has been so fun to get to know their family. Yaneri speaks a little

English and is mostly deaf, but she is SO sweet and wants to live the

gospel with everything she has. She makes a lot of sacrifices and they

are at church EVERY week even though she doesn't hear/understand most

of what is going on. Sister Brown and I have started sitting next to

her in at least one meeting each week, writing down what the lesson

is about and answering any questions. It has been so wonderful to grow

to love them and serve them so much.

We are also working with a lot of women in the ward who have each

dealt with different hard trials in recent years and are trying to get

to the temple... either to get back there, or to go for the first

time. It has been such a blessing to feel the Lord's love for them and

to see their determination and sacrifice. I know that temple blessings

are worth ANY sacrifice, and it is wonderful to be able to work so

closely with these women in their desires to come to the House of the

Lord and to feel the Spirit and the blessings there.

Something interesting about being full-proselyting right now is that

Sister Brown and I are the only sisters in our zone. That is probably

pretty normal for most missions, but we honestly don't have that many

more elders than we do sisters, so in the North Palmyra zone for

example the elders are outnumbered. We work really closely with the

elders especially since we overlap areas with some of them, and it has

been really fun to be able to see these young men doing the Lord's

work and honoring their priesthood. The priesthood really is to serve

others, and even though these elders are young they are really

learning what it means to perform selfless service. We were blessed in

a simple way by their service this week, and I just wanted to share.

Our apartment has had one A/C unit all summer. It's in the bedroom,

which makes sleeping okay but doing anything else very warm. We have

tried getting another unit, but they aren't being sold anymore this

season I guess so we got an upright fan instead which mostly just blew

the hot air around. It was up to 86 degrees in the front room the

other day, and the elders caught wind of it. The other day, we got a

call that said they found an A/C for us and would be over in 10

minutes. It was fabulous; our apartment dropped 17 degrees in a day

and a half. We later found out that they had given us one of their

units, and that they now have a very hot front room! Despite all our

efforts to give it back, the unit is staying... but their example is

something I will remember even after it gets too cold for A/C.

Last thing. Our mission has a goal for each companionship to talk to

10 new nonmembers each day. The promise is that if we do this, we will

have 3 new investigators a week, leading to one baptism each month.

Turns out it is really hard to talk to 10/day when you have as many

appointments as we do, but we are trying by setting smaller goals to

work up to it. It has been amazing to see how the Lord blesses us as

we set goals in faith and then plan how we will accomplish them. Our

plans very rarely go through, but because we made the plans, the Lord

helps us to realize our goals. There have been many times when I know

that people have been placed in our path while on our morning run or

in line at the grocery store because the Lord knew we had desires that

we wouldn't otherwise have time to fulfill. The same thing with lesson

planning---we've had SO many lessons this week that we planned for and

ended up having to change last minute because of circumstances we had

no way of knowing about...  but because we planned, the Spirit filled

our mouths and we were able to teach with power. These experiences

have led to commitments, emotion, and progression with those we teach

that I don't know how we would have otherwise achieved. It is such a

testimony to me that He really is aware of us and that when we give

Him our all, He can magnify our efforts to what He needs.

The gospel is true! We are happy when we work hard to do the Lord's

will. I love the Book of Mormon because I know that it brings us the

strength and peace we need, no matter our situation.

Have a great week, all of you.

Love you mucho!

Your favorite sister missionary :)

Week 36

This. Week. Has. Been. AWESOME. Possibly the best week of my mission. Sister Brown is an awesome companion. It's cool, because we were MTC companions but it is evident that we have both learned a lot of charity, patience, and humility since then and it is so good for our companionship. Her last companion was also foreign (Chinese), we've been out the same amount of time, and we both have the same goals˜to work hard and be exactly obedient. We both love good food and adventure. This is the makings of something excellent.

Clarence is the coolest. It's pretty rich like Webster, but there are more old, fun, cute shops and a little more variety it seems. I live 8 miles out of my area and we are working in some of the Elder's area too because we've always had a car and there are a lot of women in the far part of their area (technically, our areas overlap and cover the whole Amherst ward which is made up of Amherst and Clarence, but we mostly stick to Clarence and they mostly stick to Amherst). The ward is awesome; lots of young families here for grad school; it feels a lot like a Utah ward. We had a Pioneer day ward activity on Saturday and it was REALLY well done. Our ward mission leader seems awesome and he's actually a doctor for a lot of the missionaries out here as well which will be good if I need my prescription adjusted or anything. I'm feeling really good for the most part recently. Sister Brown and I have taken up running (she's a 3-time marathoner before her mission but hasn't run in 8 months) and are contemplating registering for a half marathon in 8 weeks. The exercise is helping us both physically and mentally with the work.

There are so many great people to teach in Clarence! We are working with two older gentlemen right now who plan to be baptized in a couple of weeks. Harry is 73 and his wife Yaneri (rhymes with Harry, starts with a "j" sound) is just reactivating. They come to church every week with their 4-year-old daughter Ashley. Yaneri REALLY wants to get to the temple and it's so exciting to see their family working towards that. The Elders taught Harry once while we were at pageant and set a baptismal date with him... Funny story: We taught another man named Bill this week (82 yrs old I think) about baptism and I totally thought he was the one the Elders had set a date with so I "accidentally" invited him to be baptized on the same date and he said yes! Haha, the Spirit was there, so whatever works I guess! He hasn't been to church yet so we will probably have to push his date back but just the fact that he has a goal to work toward is awesome. We are also working with 8 or 9 less-active members right now and the ones I've met are so great. We've been blessed with a couple of new investigators this week too, and I just can hardly believe all of the miracles going on here! Clarence is supposed to be a slow area like Webster since it is so wealthy but the Lord is so richly blessing us right now. We are working as hard as we can but we couldn't "earn" all that we are receiving. It's all from the Lord and it's amazing what He can and has been willing to bestow.

To wrap it all up, today is my 8-month-mission anniversary... and Sister Brown's too, of course... so to celebrate, we went to Niagara Falls and had a picnic :) For real. It's only 16 miles from my apartment. So. Cool. I have also already had the best Buffalo wings you are supposed to be able to get in Buffalo area, and visited a few cute bakeries/chocolate shops. It is different being the only 2 sisters in the zone, and I miss the sites, but I really am just loving being here. The area is awesome, and we are working so hard. Never a dull moment. One of these days I will have time to finish unpacking, and it will officially feel like home, but I am loving the change of pace for now... it has been really good for me.

I forgot my memory card with the pageant pics on it (we'll try for next week), but I'm attaching some pictures from this morning at Niagara. Those buildings you see in the background are in CANADA. So cool. :)

Anywho, it's time for me to go. Keep me updated on Kenny. We (my comp and I) are fasting and praying for you, Elder! Love you and all of you! <3

Sister Schank

Week 35

Hello friends and family!   There is SO much to squeeze into this email...

First off, SISTER SCHANK IS GETTING TRANSFERRED TO BUFFALO! Not actually Buffalo, but in the Buffalo zone which means I'll be full-time proselyting (no sites). The area/ward is called Amherst but the city is actually called Clarence. My companion will be Sister Brown (from the MTC) and I am really excited about it. I was praying for a companion who will be exactly obedient and work hard, and I know that Sister Brown does both. That honestly is the highest compliment I think a missionary can get, and she deserves both of them. She also has a foreign, shy companion right now (she's Chinese), and we are both stoked to just get out there and give the Lord everything we've got. It will be excellent. :) I don't have a mailing address yet, but I will get it to you asap. For now, keep sending stuff to the mission office and I will get it eventually.

Okay, now pageant. Pageant is AWESOME. First of all, the performance itself is very cool. Really awesome effects and it tells the story of the Book of Mormon; let's be honest you can't get any better than that. The Spirit is there and so many non-members comment on how they felt and on the positive interactions they had with members also in attendance. One of these days our family needs to come out for the pageant. You would all love it and it is really cool to have a visual of some of the stories in the BoM. Think Quest, but with 800 actors and Broadway-style effects. Way cool.

Really the best thing about pageant though is the missionary tool it is. For members and non-members both. Most of the really awesome experiences I had were bringing members closer to Christ... the teenage boy who isn't sure about a mission, the hard-working mom of 4 little kids, the family with a speical needs sibling, the widower who is just feeling lonely... it is amazing how the Lord really can just fill you with love for these people and how there is a connection there. And then there are the non-members. The best was when a guy from Webster walked right into the visitors center! He was super interested and wanted not only a Book of Mormon but to be taught! He's coming to church next week and I've already taught him over the phone (since we were living in Palmyra) and we have another appointment this week. His name is James and he was a huge tender mercy.

Let's see, other updates. I saw Katie and we got to chat. The volunteers that come to help during pageant are AWESOME; mom and dad you should look into that as soon as you are able to get away for a couple of weeks. My health is doing better; the chest pain has spread especially into my left shoulder but I'm functioning and seeing another doctor out in the Amherst ward probably this week or next. I think that's all for now... love you so much! Thanks for all you do and especially all your prayers. The Book of Mormon is true, and it changes lives! And it's all because of the Savior. THAT is why the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith, and the pageant, and all of those things are important... because they bring us to the Savior Jesus Christ, and He can heal us. I love Him.

Love,
Sister Schank