Hello Everyone!
I hope things are going well in your lives. Things here are going pretty great.
I have been getting better and better at understanding people when they talk here. I still get a kick out of their accents, though. We've been doing a lot of moving recently. It seems like suddenly everyone is moving! Last weekend, we helped two families move from upstairs apartments to different upstairs apartments. This weekend, we helped one family to empty their house into two 26-foot-long moving trucks, after which we helped a different family in the other ward unpack another moving truck. I'm pretty sore from all of the lifting and carrying of heavy boxes and furniture, but it feels so wonderful to know that we have made a difference to these people. In some cases, the jobs couldn't get done without our help. The blessings of service that we have received outweigh by far the soreness that we're still experiencing from all that hard work!
Health wise, I'm doing pretty good. I'm covered with bug bites because our phone doesn't work in our apartment and we have to go outside to make phone calls each night, but that's not really a big deal! There are so many mosquitos here! And they're gigantic! I also went to the dentist this week to have a mouth infection cleaned out. After a stressful series of phone calls between the mission office, the mission president, my home in Utah, and the dentist office, we were finally able to get my SSN (I kinda forgot it...) and get in. I'm on an antibiotic now and the stitches in my mouth are driving me crazy, but it went really well and I feel a lot better than I thought I would. The infection has been quite the blessing, actually. Before the procedure, I was supposed to take an antibiotic. That led us to the pharmacy, which opened a huge door for us that I'll talk about in the next paragraph. When we went back to pick up another post-operation antibiotic, a man flagged us down at the same pharmacy and told us that he was an excommunicated member who was trying to make changes in his life after many years of alcoholism and illicit drug abuse. He was a way cool guy. He asked for the bishop's number, which we were able to give to him, and it sounds like we'll be seeing him in church pretty soon! Were it not for the infection, we wouldn't have been able to meet him or the woman I'm about to mention in the next paragraph. I also talked to a chiropractor in my ward about my knee problems. He said that he thinks lazer accupuncture will help. He offered to do the procedure for free! Depending on how much time it will take, I think I'll do it. If it's something that I can undergo without it interfering with my work, I'm going to give it a shot... we've tried pretty much everything else short of surgery. If it takes up too much time, though, I'll talk to him in two years about it. :)
We have been teaching a man named Louis (I can never remember who I've mentioned before) who has recently become fully active again. He loves us a lot and we love him too; he is the friendliest person I have ever met. He likes to go on exchanges with us, where he basically tags along when we go to teaching appointments. Exchanges are really important to missionary work, because there is a special power that is added to the work when members of the church are present. (Remember that!) We were on an exchange with him once, and we ended the exchange with a trip to the pharmacy to pick up an antibiotic. As we left the pharmacy, a woman pushing a shopping cart asked if we could help her. Of course, we jumped at the chance! As we loaded her groceries into her van and Louis helped her great-grandson get into his car seat, he began to talk more with her and they seemed like old friends. Then he explained to her who we were, and what we were about. He asked her if we could come by and teach her sometime. She said yes! Then he got her address and set up an appointment for the next day. Elder Westley and I were shocked and super excited... we try to do that all the time and it's a miracle if we can get people to accept us. Louis made it look way easy. The next day, Louis came on another exchange with us to visit her. She was very open, and didn't know anything about the Church at all. In fact, she thought we were the Jehovah's Witnesses (it seems like EVERYONE thinks that!). We began to teach her the first lesson: the Restoration of Christ's Church. As we taught her, she was so open and she became very excited when we taught her that there was a prophet today who received revelation for God's children! The Spirit was strong as we told her about Joseph Smith seeking to know the truth, and how he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. She accepted our invitation to read from the Book of Mormon and to pray to know if it and the message that we shared are true. We think she will be a great progressing investigator! The only real concern we have so far is that she is a member of a nondenominational Christian congregation who is pretty well-known for distributing anti-Mormon literature. But we think that her stubborn-ness and open-ness will help her to seek the truth about the Church from those who know best about it: us! :)
One of our other investigators, Grant, really wants to be baptized! He isn't technically a "progressing investigator", according to the definition in the Preach My Gospel manual for missionary work, but he is improving each day and getting a little closer to being able to be baptized. We can really see his countenance begin to change each time we visit him. Before, he just seemed like a normal old guy... now, there is a light about him. His testimony is growing. His thoughts are more centered around Christ. Once we went to visit him and he welcomed us in, saying, "Hey, fellas! I was just reading up about revelatory!" We asked him what he meant and he showed us a printed-out article by Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles about revelation. We were surprised! "Where did you get that?" we asked. He explained that he got it from us! We assured him that we didn't give it to him... the print-out showed that the article was printed after we last saw him. Oh well... I guess it doesn't matter where he got it, but we sure were excited to see him reading it! He's changing so much! A while ago we taught him about the word of wisdom (again) and invited him to not only strive to keep it by not drinking beer or coffee anymore, but also to dispose of the alcohol and coffee he had in his home. He made excuses to keep them, assuring us that he wouldn't drink them, but he needed something to give his friends when they came over, and, besides, he doesn't drink the whiskey and moonshine either... he just thinks the bottles look cool. However, last time we saw him, he told us that he would get rid of his alcohol! We were so proud of him! We didn't even bring it up! That's kinda how Grant works; teach him a principle a billion times, and a week later he'll finally get it. :) The last time we taught him, we taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ: that in order to enjoy eternal life with our Heavenly Father again, we must 1) have faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, 2) repent of our sins, 3) be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority, 4) receive the Holy Ghost, and 5) endure to the end. We read 2 Nephi 31 together, which pretty much outlines those 5 points. It was powerful and the Spirit was strong. He gave many of his own insights and it was very obvious that he has grown so much and he has really learned a lot! He's so close to qualifying for baptism... he just needs to kick the coffee habit and he'll be ready!
I've done a lot of studying about the Gospel of Christ (the 5 points above) recently. One thing that has hit me really hard is that while we can repent and change whenever we do something wrong, we cannot receive a complete forgiveness of sins unless we are baptized! That's something that I always knew, but I guess I didn't completely grasp it until just a few days ago during my personal study hour. That's why missionary work is so important! God wants all of His children to live with Him, but "there cannot any unclean thing enter into the kingdom of God" (1 Nephi 15:34). Because of the Atonement of Christ, all men can repent (change) and receive forgiveness... but we can only be forgiven if we are baptized by the authority of the priesthood. Think of those you know and love who haven't been baptized by proper authority. You want them to be saved, right? Alright... then go do missionary work! It doesn't have to be big... just go serve them... love them... be their friend, and show them who Jesus Christ is through your own example. I encourage you to read 2 Nephi 31. I am very impressed by those of you who have told me about the work you are doing to bring people closer to Christ... keep up the good work! I promise you that if you do missionary work and help other come closer to Christ, you will be happier, and you will be blessed.
With love,
Elder Schank
