Dear friends and family,
I hope you had a merry Christmas and that you felt the love and peace of the Savior on that special day. I testify that He lives and loves us. My testimony of that has grown so much this last week. There are a lot of struggling people in this town. One of them is Frank, an older gentleman that we've been teaching. I haven't even been to his house yet because everytime we've seen him it's been in his hospital room. He has diabetes and it's really messed up his feet. In fact, one of them was infected really bad so they had to amputate his lower leg. Last time we visited him, he had been out of the surgery for only two hours and he was in a lot of pain. He called the nurse in and told her he wanted more medicine, and she said she couldn't give him more because they gave him the strongest pain killer and he couldn't have another dose for hours. I'm sure I speak for Elder Clegg as well when I say that we wanted so badly to be able to help him. We knew that there was nothing we could do to take his pain away. But I knew there was Someone who could. We gave him a priesthood blessing and I could feel the Lord's love for Frank. After the blessing we discussed the feeling of the Spirit that had filled the small room. Frank thanked us and said "I can already feel a difference in my pain." I also know that because of the Savior and His Atonement we can have our pain alleviated and even removed, in some cases. I testify that Jesus Christ knows what it is like to lose your right foot. He knows of the pain of the recovery. I also know that because He has felt that exact pain, that He alone can perfectly empathize with Frank to help him through this time.
I also know that because of Christ we can all have our pain lifted. Whether you are a lonely widow, a frightened soldier, a dying patient, a discouraged missionary, a troubled criminal, a sorry sinner, or just a normal person with normal problems, I know that you can be healed through the Atonement of Christ. I know this because I have met all kinds of people with these discriptions and I have seen how the gospel of Jesus Christ has helped them access the Atonement and find relief to their minds, bodies, and spirits. I know the Redeemer lives!
Our week was very slow. So many people are on leave to see their families for the holidays. On top of that, there is a sickness spreading around the entire city and it seems to have gotten into every home of the few families that are still here. three of our seven investigators are in town and two of them are sick. The other one is dealing with a lawsuit concerning the custody of her child and despite our promising that a message about the gospel will help she hasn't allowed us to come over yet. We contacted a lot of referrals, though, which is good. Anyway, I don't have a lot of great stories about lessons or proselyting because not much has happened.
Christmas was pretty good. We got to eat breakfast on Christmas and dinner on Chrismtas Eve and Christmas day with members. My favorite part about the whole holiday was sharing a message with the families who fed us about the glorious news of the restored gospel and how we can give the gift of missionary work to members. And of course getting to talk to my family even though it's only been a couple weeks since I've seen them. It was especially great to be able to talk to Christa this year.
Other exciting news: we have a new addition to our backyard buddies. We've been getting so much food from members (we get fed about every day... except for during the holiday season, apparently) that we can't eat all the leftovers and goodies they give us before some of it goes bad. So we've been putting the bad food on our back deck for the 11 stray cats that live in the woods behind our house to eat. At first when I heard about this tradition I thought the past elders were pretty stupid, but when I realized that the cats were already coming I figured, "Eh, what the heck" and so I've been throwing my cold pizza crusts out onto the deck. The other night we found out that not only the cats have been loving the food when we peeked out our window to see a big fat possum chowing down on some stale pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. He was huge! Since the 11 cats already have names, we decided to name him, too. We call him Pachus the Possum, named after the king of the Nephite dissenters in the Book of Mormon. Kind of a weird name, I know, but we found it in the pronounciation guide in the back of the book. We looked up who Pachus was in the index, and he seems like a varmint himself so we figured it would be a good name for our possum.
Yesterday in church one Sis. Bluth (a sister missionary in our ward) and I performed Dad's arrangement of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" for cello and piano. We were kind of nervous because we only had one day to put it together and the cello we got was a 3/4 cello, which Sis. Bluth had to adjust to, but it turned out really great. She played beautifully and I was really pleased with how I did. Our ward loved it, too, and they're asking for more!
This morning I had a great experience. A week or so after I returned here from Utah I felt like something was missing. I didn't have the Spirit as strongly as I remembered having it before. I have been doing my best to be exactly obedient to the mission standards and the commandments, I've been working hard, and I just couldn't figure it out. Yesterday at church I realized that the biggest difference between now and then is that I haven't been reading as much from the Book of Mormon. Since I've been back, I've just been using it to supplement my studies, rather than focusing my studies around it. Today I got a fresh copy of the Book of Mormon and decided to start over with it and mark certain concepts with different colored pencils, like I did several months ago. I read the introduction and the first 9 chapters of the book, looking for references to Christ and His doctrine and Atonement. An hour later, when personal study had ended, I realized that the missing something had been filled in by the Spirit. I testify of the truthfulness and divinity of the Book of Mormon. I know with all my heart and soul that it is a book from God.
To every one of you that is reading this now, I invite you to read the Book of Mormon. It doesn't matter if you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint or not, and it doesn't matter how many times you've read it in the past. As a literal representative of Jesus Christ, I promise you in His name that if you read it with real intent, looking with faith to know how you can strengthen your relationship with Christ, that you will find what you are looking for. You have absolutely nothing to lose---I know from experience that this book will only bless your life. To miss out on the opportunity to read the Book of Mormon is to miss out on the blessing of coming closer to God. I know that the Book of Mormon is true because I have read it and witnessed it change my life and transform me into a better disciple of Jesus Christ. I have seen that happen to dozens of people as I've had the humble privilege to be one of two to bring them the book that the Savior wants them to read the most. I extend this invitation only because I love you and I know that by accepting it you will be happy and blessed by the Lord.
I am grateful to my ward at home. Thank you for your love and the support you have given to me. You are in my prayers and I love you all very much!
Again, I know that Jesus is the Christ, our loving Savior, Redeemer, and Atoner. I know that the fulness of His gospel and the authority to administer sacred ordinances was lost but has been restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. The work of the Lord is hastening.
I hope to hear from you soon! And I hope you have a great new year's eve! Don't do anything stupid because people that do stupid things on holidays make it so that missionaries like me have to stay inside all day!
With love, Elder Schank
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| Merry Christmas from Elders Schank and Clegg |
