First of all, Happy Mother's Day (a day later)! I hope that it was a good one and that everyone was able to have a great time talking with their moms like I was. :)
This week has been amazing! I've been all over the place.
On Tuesday I went on an exchange back up to Fayetteville. I was working with a trainer who has been out for almost 6 months now. It turned out that there was a lot of disorder in the structure of their area, so we basically spent the whole day learning together how to improve his companionship's planning, goal-setting, and information-recording. Their work has already improved drastically.
Meanwhile, back in Hope Mills, Elder Farr, Elder Hewlett, and Elder Hoy (the missionary who I switched with for the day) were trying to contact people. They began talking to some people in front of their house, and the people weren't interested. However, there was a young man who was walking along the side of the road who saw them and immediately walked up to them and started talking with them. A few minutes later, the missionaries were in his home teaching him, his cousin, and his grandma about the Book of Mormon. He's an amazing investigator: he believes the Book of Mormon is true, wants to be baptized (he has a baptismal date set for 2 Jun), wants to get the priesthood, and wants to go on a mission like us! A few days ago we were teaching him about when the resurrected Jesus Christ visited the ancient inhabitants of America by reading 3 Nephi 11. As we read, he slowly took out his ear piercings and his tongue piercing. He told us he wants to start new---to start over. He really wanted to come to church yesterday but we couldn't get a hold of his parole officer for permission so hopefully he'll be able to make it next week. It's been amazing to see him change in just the few days we've known him because of the restored gospel. We'll be teaching him tonight about repentance and forgiveness.
On Thursday, we spent most of the day in meetings. We had a training meeting that took up the better part of the day. It was bitter-sweet because it was a wonderful meeting, but it will be President Cotterell's last training meeting with us. We'll all miss him so much. He's a great mission president. Afterward, Elder Farr, Elder Hewlett, and I grabbed a quick dinner from Sonic (and met the waitress, who wants to learn more about the gospel) and went to a stake mission coordination meeting. The first part was really neat because it involved just us, President Cotterell, stake President Cluff, and the stake high councilor over missionary work. The Spirit was so powerful. Afterward, we joined bishoprics and ward mission leaders from different wards and branches throughout the stake. They received great training from Pres. Cotterell and Pres. Cluff and Elder Farr and I also provided some training about why it's so important for investigators to attend sacrament meetings and how members can be more involved with helping them get there. At the last-minute invitation of Pres. Cotterell, E. Hewlett and I provided a musical number ("Lead, Kindly Light").
On Saturday night we went to Lumberton so Elder Farr and I could interview a family of 4 Burmese refugees for baptism. I interviewed the parents. The father passed the interview, but I could tell that the mother still hadn't repented of not living the Word of Wisdom yet. I wanted so badly to be able to "pass" her, and say she could be baptized with her family. After all, she had been living the Word of Wisdom for a whole week. I stared at the baptismal interview form for about an entire minute, trying to decide what to do. It was like my heart was fighting with my brain and it was a difficult and painful struggle. But, I knew that the Spirit had testified to me that she wasn't ready yet. It was so hard to do, but, through the translation skills of a recently-baptized Burmese convert, I told her that she still needed a little more time to prepare for baptism. I could tell she was pretty crest-fallen at that news, but she seemed to find comfort when I told her that I knew that God loves her and that she can get to the point where she can join her family in being baptized. It was a difficult thing for me to do... probably the hardest part of my entire mission, but I'm grateful that I found the courage to obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
And then, yesterday, after about 7 hours of church meetings, I got to call home to wish my mom a happy mother's day and talk to my family. It was great hearing their voices! I love them so much!
I know the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith and that the Book of Mormon is living, undeniable evidence that this is true. Christ can heal us from all sorrow and sin if we are obedient and try our best to follow Him! What a great message! :)
I hope that all of you are doing great, and I hope to hear from you soon!
With love,
Elder Schank
