Week 40: Long Live the Tripanionship!

Hello, friends and family!


This last week has been pretty intense and there have been a lot of changes recently.


The biggest news is we have a third missionary in our companionship! His name is Elder Adam Hewlett from Centerville, UT, and he's been on his mission for a little more than 6 months. He's a great missionary that I've been able to get to know over the last three weeks since he's been in the area next to ours. I love him! We think it's pretty neat to have a Bountiful Brave (E. Farr on left), Davis Dart (me on right), and Viewmont Viking (E. Hewlett center) all in the same companionship. Go Davis county!

It's been fun, but tough. So far it hasn't been tough even with the three of us in the same apartment, just with the work. It's a bit harder to teach with unity when we are trying to work with three missionaries, a member, and the Spirit. I think sometimes our investigators get overwhelmed. But it has been great in our studies and planning because we have one more perspective in the group. It's also been pretty tricky because Elder Hewlett's former area, which is in another ward, is also assimilated into our area. So now there's three of us working in two areas. So that means we suddenly have a ton of investigators to work with, service opportunities to take advantage of, referrals to contact, ward members to go on exchanges with us, and miles to cover. And that is great... what a wonderful problem to have! But it's hard because we are all trying to give equal time to each area, especially because the situation will probably be back to normal at the beginning of June. So it's been stressful and we haven't been able to ride our bikes as much, but it's been fun and we've been really busy, which is great! :) One other neat thing is in order to move Elder Hewlett out of his apartment, we had to take all of the perishable food as well. Our pantry, fridge, and cabinets are completely stocked now, and that has been great. We also got him to join us on our sugar-fast to help Sis. Sheppard quit smoking. She hasn't smoked for about 2 weeks now! :) It has been wonderful to see how her study of the Book of Mormon has given her the strength to overcome the hardest of addictions. It never ceases to amaze me.


Yesterday was pretty great. We had 2 wards to attend (= 6 hours of church) and I got to interview someone for baptism. We got to teach a short lesson on faith from the Book of Mormon to a part-member family after they fed us dinner, which includes some highly-delicious funeral potatoes. After that, we rode with the Hernandez family (Sis. Hernandez is our recent convert) to stake President Cluff's home for a cottage meeting/fireside. We had 13 missionaries there and even more nonmembers, less-active members, and recent converts in attendance, and it was really great. The Spirit was strong as many of these people took turns bearing testimony and President Cluff taught about the story of Enos' conversion from the Book of Mormon, found in Enos 1. I really enjoyed talking to the different missionaries in our zone after the meeting about the good work they are doing and the miracles they are witnessing on a daily basis.


I don't really like talking about my back too much because I try not to think about it, but I'll give you a little update on it. Earlier last week I found a massive knot in my lower back on the right hand side and started kneading it out with my fist. Doing that gave me a softball-sized bruise, and the knot is still there, but it's smaller and my back has felt a little better since then. I'm starting to think that maybe the problem with my back is that there's just a knot in it that's been there since December and has gotten so bad that it won't just go away. So, I've been heating it every morning with a make-shift heat pack I made with some pinto beans, a hand towel, and some rubber bands, and then icing it with a bag of frozen corn as I study in the morning. I think it's helping. And also I'm planning on drinking more water, which should help as well. I'll let you know how that works out for me.


We went to a funeral earlier this week. The bishop of our ward invited us to come and try to talk to the family of a recently-deceased less-active member of the Church. It was the first funeral I've ever been to. It was pretty interesting. I think the three of us were the only ones singing besides the bishop and the chorister. Which I don't really mind, because E. Hewlett is an excellent tenor. The good news is we have an appointment to teach the daughter of the woman who passed away on Wednesday.


Well, I know that's not super exciting, but I don't really know what else to say. This week has been mostly busy just trying to figure out how to work in both areas and adapting to the new situation. But the Church is so completely and obviously true. There is no way---NO way---that the miracles I see every day could possibly happen if it weren't for that fact. Some people have suggested that these miracles are coincidences; others chalk it up to the desperation of our investigators; some have said that the change people make is due to just a new way of thinking. But I know the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in its fulness to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I testify that Jesus Christ is the Savior and has desires for all of us to come unto Him and learn more about Him and His plan of salvation through the Book of Mormon.


And, just so you know, I haven't got mail from anyone in over two weeks.

With much love,

Elder Schank