Hey!
Well this last week has been pretty dang interesting.
I've officially been in the mission field for over 100 days. I think day 100 was Saturday. I finished the 12-week infield training program yesterday. That means I am now officially a bona fide TRAINED missionary. The purpose of the infield training program is to prepare the trainee, if he is called, to be able to train an incoming missionary. Well, I guess it's fulfilled it's purpose because on Thursday I got a phone call from my mission president. Now, phone calls about transfers and important things like that usually come on Saturday. If they come on Friday, you know it's a big deal. So when we got called on Thursday, we knew something crazy was about to happen. President Cotterell said, "Elder Schank, the Lord has called you to be a trainer." I said, "Seriously?" He responded, "That's what I said when He told me!" Ha. Ha. He assured me that if the Lord called me, that means I can do it. I'm excited but I'm really nervous; I still don't know a lot of the how to's here, and I am way more unfamiliar with the area than I would like to be. But I know I can do it. I think it will be a huge learning experience for me.... I have always learned best by teaching, anyway.
On Friday our ward and the neighboring wards had a trunk or treat. Halloween here is pretty scary business, so we celebrated it early with the two wards and reverse trick-or-treated: the adults sat in a big rectangle around the cultural hall as the kids went around to collect candy from them. We joined in the line with the kids, but instead of accepting candy---well... we may have accepted a little... :)---we handed out new pass-along cards that had important questions like "Where do I go when I die?" and "Can I live with my family forever?" on them to the adults and challenged them to do missionary work themselves. It turns out that one of the adults wasn't a member and I guess our handing her one of those cards was the final step to her wanting to learn more! The missionaries in the other ward will be teaching her, but I'm just really glad that we could go and get candy and still be effective. :) Oh yeah, we also dressed up a little bit... pictures included.
We had to stop teaching our good friend Grant. He's such an awesome man, but, even though we've had 28 lessons with him, he's not ready for baptism yet, he says. So we're giving him more time to read the Book of Mormon and mull everything we've taught him over in his brain, and then come back in a little while. At least we'll see him each week at church. He loves coming! He believes the Book of Mormon is true and everything, but I don't think he understands the significance of it. He learns really slowly (hence the 28 lessons)... I guess it takes a long time for old dogs to learn new tricks. We keep praying for him and hope that something will change and he can join the church!
We had our stake conference in New Bern, by the shore. It was a really big deal because our stake was the first stake in North Carolina, and this year marks its 50th anniversary. There's a picture of me looking off into the distance over the water... this is what happens when Elder Westley starts getting artsy-fancy with the camera. :)
We're STILL looking for people to teach! I know there are people out here looking for the truth but they just don't know where to look. They're out here somewhere. I know it. We just haven't found them yet!
Let's see... I think that pretty much covers all the good stuff.
So I found this scripture this morning in my studying. It's a quote from Captain Moroni who, like me, writes home to inform the recipient of the message of his situation, anxiously hoping to receive a letter or two in reply. Nephi says to apply the scriptures to ourselves, so here I go:
"Yea, great has been your neglect towards us. And now behold, we desire to know the cause of this exceedingly great neglect; yea, we desire to know the cause of your thoughtless state" (Alma 60:5-6).
Haha just kidding. But seriously. I really would like to get a letter from you! All of you! :)
I love you all and hope that things are going well at home. If there was ever a time I needed your prayers, now would be the time. My joints are getting gradually more painful, and it's not just my knees anymore. That, on top of having the responsibility of training a new missionary and still trying as hard as I can to find someone to teach and not having a single baptism yet... let's just say I would love it if you would include me in your prayers.
I love you all and I pray for each of you every day, often by name... and that takes a while! :) I encourage you, no matter who you are or where you are in life or what you are doing now, to think, right now, one way you can grow closer to Jesus Christ, and commit to yourself right now to do it. I promise you that if you accept this challenge, you will be blessed, because I know that He "is the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by [Him]" (John 14:6).
With love,
Elder Schank
