Dear Friends and Family,
This week was SO great! Good stuff all over the place! I hope you are all doing great and are hitting the ground running in the new year.
Despite the fact that our week included New Year's Eve and New Year's Day (no proselyting on the 31st and for half of the 1st), a zone training meeting in Wilmington, and a doctor's appointment for Elder Clegg in New Bern, we taught a ton of lessons last week! And they went really well!
Carlos is doing so much better with quitting smoking! He's almost there! I love Preach My Gospel, but sometimes the needs of your investigators just demand that you make up a lesson from scratch. And that's what Elder Clegg and I did with Carlos and his family. We noticed that he had a powerful desire to quit smoking, but he wasn't letting his desires turn him to action. So we created a lesson for them that we hoped would get the ball rolling and help him to act. We started out by telling the story of the Brother of Jared and how the Lord commanded him to do something really hard (crossing the ocean to settle in the promised land). In order to keep that the commandment, the Lord gave him a lot of answers to some of the questions he had (how to build the barges, how they would get air, how the barges would be steered, etc.). However, the Lord also gave the Brother of Jared the responsibility and opportunity to come up with a plan to solve other problems by himself (how to provide light in the barges). As the Brother of Jared thought up a "gameplan" and presented it to the Lord (ask the Lord to fill stones with light), his faith and humility increased and he was not only rewarded with his desires, but he received many other unbelieveably amazing blessings. Then we related the story to Carlos and made a gameplan with him. We handed him a pad of paper and a pen and invited him to write things down that he would do to quit smoking. We invited his family to also make a gameplan of things they could do to support and help him. They have placed their gameplans in their home where they can see them, and things have changed remarkably since then. They get along better, they communicate more, and---let's not forget---Carlos is really close to quitting cigarettes completely! We're helping out, too. We call him everyday to follow up with him and ask him if he smoked; Elder Clegg bought him sunflower seeds and cinnamon gum to help him quit; and I bought some pictures of Christ for them to hang in their home (since that really helped bring the Spirit into my room in my college apartment). The Lord is helping out too... Carlos suddenly got sick and just can't get himself to smoke! The Lord answers prayers in mysterious ways, that's for sure!
We had a couple lessons with Frank, our amputee-investigator. We taught him about the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost and resolved a bunch of his concerns about being baptized. His concerns had everything to do with practical and medical things (how we would cover his stump, what he would wear, how he would get in and out of the font, etc.), and after we resolved all of them he accepted our invitation for him to be baptized. He has a lot of faith! He will need to make a lot of changes in his life, but we know that if he exercises his faith the Lord will help him and he can receive the blessings of being baptized by someone with God's authority. Unfortunately, he got shipped off to Kinston (out of our zone) for rehab, and he won't be back for another 3-6 weeks. We had the missionaries in Kinston go give him a visit, and he seemed to enjoy it. Meanwhile, we are building a wheelchair ramp for his trailer. That should be fun.
We had a lesson with Amber and her less-active husband Luke. It was the first time I've been able to meet them. They seem to be really progressing, but it's obvious that Satan really doesn't want them to be heading this direction. In the last two weeks there have been issues with her custody over her son and her first husband, a tree fell on Luke's head, and an abscess appeared really close to her eye. They are staying strong though. The lesson we had with them was a rough one because her aetheist 15-year old sister, Lexi, was there... by force. Her parents (who haven't even met with us ever) made her go to Amber's for the lesson, and it was very clear that she couldn't care less about God and would rather be anywhere else. We'll see where that takes us. Amber said that her dad has a lot of questions about the Bible... he thinks that it was slowly corrupted somewhat over the years because of man's translation. We couldn't keep from smiling when we told her to let her dad know that we have an answer to his questions. She was really excited and it seems like this answer is something he has been looking for for a very long time. He should be at our next lesson with Amber on Wednesday.
Our lessons with Ted were amazing. He is so great! He just came back from leave after being with his family for Christmas for a couple of weeks. He had a lot of really deep questions, but we were able to answer all of them and he not only understood the answers, but he loved them and thought they made so much sense. His first question was our belief in the Trinity, and he was actually smiling when we explained to him that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are seperate beings but one in purpose because it made more sense to him than the beliefs he had been brought up on. He also asked us if he could be baptized without living the law of chastity because he was in an active immoral relationship with his girlfriend. We told him that he couldn't. He surprised us when he said that even though it would be hard to change the nature of the relationship, he would begin to live the law of chastity now because he wanted to be baptized worthily and not do anything wrong. He even has a desire to go to the temple. He's on fire! The only problem is, he and his other infantry buddies are always training in the field and he doesn't know his schedule beyond a few days at a time. He has been trying to talk to his officers about a day he can be baptized but they aren't being cooperative in telling him his schedule. After he's lived the law of chastity for three weeks the only thing stopping him from being baptized is actually finding a day to do it!
This morning we went to see some pretty neat military memorials in our area. Their was a memorial for troops in Beruit who got attacked and killed by suicide bombers, one for the Vietnam war, and another for September 11th. It was pretty neat. I found the names for quite a few Schancks and Shanks on the glass for the Vietnam war memorial. Please pray for our troops... I know and love quite a few of them!
One thing I love about my mission is it has really helped me understand the importance of making goals and it has taught me how to reach them. I've been doing really well at mine so far... I've been writing in my journal everyday even though at first I hated it, I'm eating healthy, and I'm getting better at catching myself when I lack charity. I feel the Lord's help as I "set goals and make plans" (as Preach My Gospel always says) to improve. I know that as we create a goal or a "gameplan" that if we have faith in the Lord and allow Him to touch our plans to reach our goals, then He will help us and even bless us with excess. It worked for the Brother of Jared, it's been working for me, and I know it will work for you! Whether your goal is to get in shape, to get better grades, or to read the scriptures better than you have in the past, I know the Lord wants to help you. I know that He has given us some of the answers to accomplish our goals already through the restoration of the Gospel. One of those answers is the Book of Mormon. I never get tired of testifying of its truthfulness because between each email I write my testimony of it grows stronger and I have a deeper conviction of its divinity with each week that goes by. Most importantly of all, I know that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah and the Savior of the world. I also know that He will come again, and it will be soon.
Please pray for Carlos to have help to quit smoking; for Frank to respond well to his rehab and to be able to return soon; for Amber to heal and be protected so she can continue to progress without any more problems; for Lexi to have her heart softened; and for Ted to find a day when he can be baptized. Please also keep Elder Clegg and I in your prayers; I have been hurting lately and Elder Clegg has a problem with his abdomen. It is very likely that he will need to return home for surgery, and soon. I know that the prayers of the faithful work!
Also, good luck with the next semester, all you college people! And congratulations to Whitney and Chris on being sealed in the temple! I'm happy for you!
I love you all and hope that I get to hear from you soon!
With love,
Elder Schank
