Hello everyone!
From what I've heard, it sounds like a lot of you have had a great holiday season between Christmas and New Year's Eve/Day. I really have pretty much no time left, so this one will be pretty short.
The other night we went to contact a potential investigator. He wasn't home, but his brother was smoking on the front porch. When we explained our message to him and asked if he was interested in learning more about it, you could tell he was trying to scare us and shake us up a bit. In my past life, he probably would have done a really great job at that. He was this big black guy with a ribbed tank-top on, tattoos all up his arms, gold chains around his neck, and he kept blowing smoke on us. He told us that we were false prophets and "wolves in sheep's clothing", and that Satan is literally walking on the earth to tell us what we should say to people. He said it was too late for us to repent because the world will end in 2012. He told us that everything we believed was an illusion... that we aren't real men because we live in "the box of your Mormon Bible" (the Book of Mormon). But HE was a real man because he lives in the world and isn't fooled by the illusions... he used to be a crack-head and kill people for a living. We kept trying to explain our message with testimony. The first time, it didn't work very well, and the second time didn't work either; but on the third time, I looked him square in the eye and smiled and bore powerful testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, the reality of my calling as a representative of Jesus Christ, and of the existence of His prophet on the earth today. He was silenced. I know that the power that attended me was given from the Savior. I didn't have power of myself to say what I said with such touching force. I'm grateful that the Lord watches over and helps His missionaries to do His work. We left the man with a handshake and a kind "good night" and went home.
Yesterday morning we cleaned up pine straw off of the church lot. The stake president asked us to get on the roof and rake it off. Seriously. It was awesome.
I know that the Savior lives and loves us. I know that His gospel has been restored through the living Prophet, Joseph Smith, and that there has been a Prophet ever since him. Today's Prophet is President Thomas S. Monson. I know the Book of Mormon is true.
I hope you are all doing great and I hope to hear from you!
With love,
Elder Schank
North Carolina Raleigh Mission
6508 Falls of Neuse, Ste. 100
Raleigh, NC 27615
United States
