Episode 17: Elder Schank Hurts

Dear friends and family,

I have like pretty much no time to write this one so it's going to be reeeeeeeally quick.

Andrea's getting baptized on Saturday and we're super pumped to go to it. Even though she's not our investigator any more, it'll be an amazing experience for Elder Peck and I.

Ashley is solid and wants to be baptized on the 17th.

Virgil is faltering in his decision to be baptized. But we can't be too upset, because his solution (which he came up with by himself) is to read, ponder, and pray. Which is exactly everything we would tell him to do. Do you have the faith that the Lord will answer his prayers? I do. Please pray for him. We love him so much and we know that what he needs more than anything in his life is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving was pretty much just another meal in a member's house. Nothing too exciting. 

Please keep me in your prayers. I am having a really hard time with the pain in my body. I don't know why but it's getting worse and worse, and it's spreading from my knees to almost every other major joint. It's really hard to stay focused and I'm struggling to not get distracted and discouraged. PLEASE pray for me.

I love you all and I hope you're doing well. Please keep in touch! Emails are fine... I just can't email you back unless you are family! :) Hope your Thanksgivings were great and I hope to hear from you soon!

With love,

Elder Schank

me posing with the ECU pirate outside of Walmart

Elder Simmons gave me the Mean Green Fighting Machine tie

Episode 16: Virgil Gets a Testimony

Family and friends!

 

I have been so excited to write this update. We have been witnessing miracle after miracle this week. Unfortunately, I have 13 minutes to tell you about it. Here goes:

 

Remember Virgil, the guy in the wheelchair who can't read that well and has been investigating a ton of other churches? Well on Thursday we taught him again and it was the most amazing and spiritual experience I've had on my mission thus far. We had a plan to teach him the Word of Wisdom. As we met him on his porch, he extinguished his cigarette in a beer can he was drinking from and invited us in. As we talked, he told us how bad of a week he was having and how he was drinking just to try to get his mind off of things. After a prayer, we taught him about the Word of Wisdom. He was discouraged. Everything we were teaching him not to do, he was doing. We explained to him that the Word of Wisdom wasn't our commandment but the Lord's, and we testified over and over again about how God is literally his Father and Jesus Christ, his Savior. We promised him that because of their love for him, they would help him overcome his addictions if he were to ask for their divine assistance. As we testified of how much he was loved by Deity, he began to tear up, then cry, then weep uncontrollably. We allowed the Holy Ghost to teach him and bear witness to him of our words through the medium of silence. After a while, I asked him what he was feeling. He explained a sensation of relief, peace, and comfort. He revealed to us that he had felt that feeling before, and that every time we have taught him, he has felt the atmosphere change. He told us he has never felt that feeling ever before in his life, but with us. We testified that that feeling of peace was the Spirit testifying that our words were true. He wept again, and I couldn't keep tears from falling down my own cheeks. He committed to live the Word of Wisdom. We asked him to set a date to stop smoking by. We were hoping it would be a week and a half later. He told us he wanted to stop smoking by Sunday... three days later than our visit with him. He also told us that he knew that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's true church on the earth today, and that he would be baptized on December 10th! I wish we could take credit for all that happened there, but I know that the Spirit worked right through us. I literally felt like God's mouthpiece. It was so easy, yet so powerful. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be here and be an instrument in the hands of God!

 

Another miracle, and I'll wrap this one up. Weeks ago, our good friend Bro. Warren missed a flight out of the Greenville airport. He called us up and asked if we wanted to meet him at the Hardee's (the Eastern equivalent to Carl's Jr.) across the street from the airport for lunch. Heck yes we did. So we met him there about 20 minutes later. By the time we had gotten there, he had already become friends with the cashier. When we arrived, we made our order, and, as we were talking to her, he explained to her that he could see that she was such an amazing spirit and that she could really benefit from our message about Jesus Christ. Later, she circled around our booth several times as if she wanted something. Finally, she stopped and very timidly asked what our message was. We told her about the basics. We particularly felt that we should teach her that the gospel blesses families. As we did so, she began to cry and explain that her family was broken in pieces. We promised her that the message we shared could help her take the pain away. At that moment, she was needed at the cash register. She explained that she had no car, no phone, and that she was living with her sister, and that she would like to learn but didn't think it would work out as she rushed to help the line of new customers. When we left, we gave her our card.

On Friday, we revisited our friend at Hardee's after helping Bro. Warren move some furniture. She came by where we were sitting, pretending to be cleaning tables, to talk to us. We invited her to church. She said she would like to come. We told her we could get her a ride for 8:30, and she gave us her sister's address. Almost immediately, opposition arose. A man sitting at a nearby booth suddenly became very attentive and showed her a picture on his phone of a different church, and told her that he recommended that one. She had to go back to the cash register, but he stayed and talked with us. He was a minister (at a church besides the one he recommended) and started trying to Bible bash with us. He kept telling us that we were going to hell and that the Bible teaches that we were false prophets because we taught that our salvation is dependent upon faith AND works, not faith alone. He was calm and collected, but we could easily see the anger in his eyes and that he just wanted to contend. We bore testimony that we knew our message was true and we left.

On Saturday, we got a message on our phone from our friend, who had called from her sister's boyfriend's phone, that she would still like to go to church and would be waiting for a ride at 8:30.

On Sunday morning, during ward council meeting, we got another phone call from her asking if we could still get her a ride to church. We told her that there would be someone there to pick her up. Apparently they had a hard time finding her house, because she called us AGAIN at 8:45 and told us that no one was there to pick her up! Her ride finally got there, though, and she made it to the church right at the beginning of sacrament meeting. Elder Peck, Virgil, and I waved to her as they all walked in a little late.

She loved the meetings and felt really good while she was there. After church, we taught her about the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ and, somewhere along the way, she revealed through many tears that she had been wronged many times by abusive family members. We taught her, again through the powerful influence of the Holy Ghost, that her pain could be relieved through the power of Christ's Atonement. In the end, she smiled as she committed to read from the Book of Mormon, pray to know if it and the rest of our message is true, and be baptized as she gained a testimony of the church. Again, it was nothing we did: it was all the Spirit's work.

 

I have a testimony that God does His work today; that Jesus is the Christ, the Great Atoner, and the Redeemer of our souls; that His church has been restored in these days through living prophets with His authority; and that He is the way to happiness.

 

I hope all of you are doing well! I love you very much and hope you have a great Thanksgiving! Hope to hear from you soon! I often wonder how each of you are doing and I pray for you every day!

 

With love,

 

Elder Schank

Episode 15: Elder Schank Swallows His Pride

Dear Friends & Family,

 

This week has been interesting, for sure.

 

First of all, we had the opportunity to teach Andrea again. It went SO well! We taught her about where we came from and why we're here on earth (the first 2/3 of The Plan of Salvation), and the commandment of the Word of Wisdom. She committed to live the Word of Wisdom, even though she really likes her sweet tea! (Sweet tea is, like, THE thing here in the south. Everybody drinks it.) She is the most prepared, most ready, and most solid of any investigators I have met thus far on my mission. We love her to death.

 

She came to church again and loved it. During the last hour of our ward's church meetings, I was asked by the young single adult branch to play the piano for their sacrament meeting, so I did. It brought back memories of good times in the young single adult ward I was a part of in college: how much I was strengthened by my outstanding peers and how much their love and support had blessed my life.

 

During our study time after church, I was thinking about Andrea and what we can do to help her the most. The answer came, but I wasn't happy about it. I felt strongly that we should turn her over to the sister missionaries to teach. The way that the missions are set up here, we (the Greenville 2nd elders) are supposed to teach everyone in our ward boundaries, the Greenville 1st ward elders are supposed to teach those in their ward boundaries, and the sister missionaries are supposed to teach people living in assigned parts of each of our wards, as well as the young single adults, ages 18-30. Well, Andrea is in our ward boundaries, but she is 20 years old. I knew that she would benefit most from attending the youngs single adult branch so she could meet people of her own age, in her own stage of life, but that would mean we would stop teaching her and turn her over to the sisters. I knew what we had to do, and I knew I didn't want to do it. As I continued to mull this over in my mind, I remembered the words of Brigham Young, who said to one of his prideful friends, "Whose kingdom are you trying to build? the Lord's, or [your own]?" I began to feel foolish and selfish! The work isn't about me, it's about bringing others to Christ and helping them! Peace came as I remembered and inwardly expressed gratitude for the even stronger words of our very own Savior: "Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever" (Moses 4:2). As Elder Peck and I came together for companion study, we discussed whether or not we should continue to teach her or let the sisters take over. With a little reluctance, but knowing that we were doing what was right, we agreed to turn her over to the sisters. I am so grateful for the perfect example of Jesus Christ in all things!

 

We have also had the pleasure of working with another investigator, Virgil. We met with him on Tuesday, and he was so close to "dropping" us... he's been investigating other churches for a while (which is fine with us---how is he going to find the true church if he doesn't have an open heart and mind?) and it sounded like he was going to tell us that he didn't want us to meet with him anymore. But, we talked things over and he agreed to let us keep meeting with him. On Friday night, we went to his house to read with him from the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 32. He is learning how to read; it took us about half an hour to read through and explain the 9-verse chapter to him. We talked about the importance of scripture study and prayer; Elder Peck began to also talk about eternal families. I was slightly confused---it kind of had nothing really to do with what we were talking about at all. But as we continued to teach him about how families can be together forever, he began to be emotional. He told us that before we arrived at his house, he was really nervous. We could tell... his hands were shaky and it was difficult for him to maneuver his wheelchair when we arrived. But, he explained, after we finished the prayer and began to read, he felt comforted and peaceful, though he didn't understand why. We testified to him, with smiles on our faces, that he was experiencing a growing testimony, that the Holy Ghost was teaching him that what we were teaching him is true. He asked that we continue to come and help him learn how to read from the Book of Mormon and teach him what it says every Tuesday and Thursday!

 

He came to church on Sunday, as well. It was kind of a miracle getting him there. It just so happens that there is an active non-member in our ward (yeah, I don't get it either) who has a van with a wheelchair lift on it, and he was willing to come with us to pick up Virgil for church. Virgil loved it... he said he felt that peaceful, comforting feeling again. We continually help him to recognize the Spirit when he feels it.

 

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. I love it so much. I can't think of anything in the entire world, all-inclusive, that has brought me more joy than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

P.S. We also found two new investigators.
P.P.S. Please write me! That would just be awesome!

 

With love,

 

Elder Schank

Episode 14 - Elder Schank Starts Training

Hey everyone!

 

Wow! This week has been pretty crazy, and all (and by all I mean mostly) with good things!

 

First of all, my new companion arrived from the MTC! His name is Elder Peck! (Picture attached.) He's from Highland, UT. He's ready and rarin' to go. He's here for all the right reasons and is so excited to be here. He is very missionary-minded. In fact, I'm trying to teach myself to get used to his constant singing of scripture mastery songs. He wants to baptize everyone. There have been a few times where I've had to hold him back a little so he doesn't hurt himself. It's pretty entertaining. He's DYING to go tracting, and I'm still trying to convince him (a week later) that tracting is the LEAST effective thing we could do, besides doing nothing. We biked the couple miles to the hospital and back to give a blessing in the pouring rain, and he loved it. It's like he wouldn't calm down. After wringing out my slacks and changing, we had to do some weekly planning insided and he just wanted to get back out there and talk to people. He's just so enthusiastic and energetic that it's hilarious. He's got that "new-missionary-fire" in him. I know it's definitely not sugar, because he doesn't eat it, which is good. He's getting me to think about going off of sugar myself.

 

 

 

The training has been going well. There are some times when I feel like HE is training ME. The leadership responsibility has really helped me to grow, though. I feel much more confident as a teacher and my skills have improved drastically. Thank you for your prayers. I know they have helped. I can also feel a difference in my joint pain. Again, thanks for your prayers.

 

We have an awesome new investigator named Andrea! Elder Westley (my previous companion) and Elder Kyle Simmons (friend from high school) found her while we were on a companion exchange (that basically means that Elder Simmons and I switched areas for a day). They found her while she was babysitting at someone else's house. She mentioned that it scared her that there are so many churches and versions of the Bible, and when they told her that they could teach her why that was so and how she could find out which church was true, she agreed to meet with us and learn more. On Saturday, Elder Peck, our good friend Bro. Warren, and I met her at the church to teach her. She was asking all the right questions and giving all the right answers. Before we knew it, we had taught her the first lesson (God is our Loving Heavenly Father, the Gospel Blesses Families, God Reveals His Gospel in Every Dispensation, Christ's Earthly Ministry, the Great Apostasy, the Restoration of Christ's Church through Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and Pray to Know Truths) and the third lesson (Only through Christ can we have a Remission of our Sins, Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End), and she committed to read the Book of Mormon, pray to know if it is true and to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet, come to church on Sunday, and BE BAPTIZED on December 3rd, if she comes to know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's true church. I think she's gonna go all the way!!! We are so excited for her. She loved church yesterday and we'll be teaching her the Plan of Salvation on Saturday.

 

Another interesting thing that happened this week is I got a letter from a family in my home ward in Utah, informing me that they have relatives in North Carolina who are members of the Church but are inactive. The family in my ward was hoping I would be able to serve near their relatives while on my mission. Turns out, they are in my ward boundary! Elder Peck had a similar experience... his sister told him that if he ever served near ECU campus while on his mission, that he could go visit her friend, who attends ECU. Guess what? ECU is in our proselyting area! It just goes to show you that the Lord really does inspire our leaders to bring us to areas we need to be in.

 

I know that Jesus Christ lives and loves ALL of us! I know the Book of Mormon is true, and, that if we live according to the principles taught in it and in the Bible, we will be happy and worthy of eventual eternal life.

 

I hope to hear from you soon! Let me know how you are doing! I love you all! :)

With love,

 

Elder Schank

Episode 13: Elder Schank Gets a Big Phone Call

Hey!

 

Well this last week has been pretty dang interesting.

 

I've officially been in the mission field for over 100 days. I think day 100 was Saturday. I finished the 12-week infield training program yesterday. That means I am now officially a bona fide TRAINED missionary. The purpose of the infield training program is to prepare the trainee, if he is called, to be able to train an incoming missionary. Well, I guess it's fulfilled it's purpose because on Thursday I got a phone call from my mission president. Now, phone calls about transfers and important things like that usually come on Saturday. If they come on Friday, you know it's a big deal. So when we got called on Thursday, we knew something crazy was about to happen. President Cotterell said, "Elder Schank, the Lord has called you to be a trainer." I said, "Seriously?" He responded, "That's what I said when He told me!" Ha. Ha. He assured me that if the Lord called me, that means I can do it. I'm excited but I'm really nervous; I still don't know a lot of the how to's here, and I am way more unfamiliar with the area than I would like to be. But I know I can do it. I think it will be a huge learning experience for me.... I have always learned best by teaching, anyway.

 

On Friday our ward and the neighboring wards had a trunk or treat. Halloween here is pretty scary business, so we celebrated it early with the two wards and reverse trick-or-treated: the adults sat in a big rectangle around the cultural hall as the kids went around to collect candy from them. We joined in the line with the kids, but instead of accepting candy---well... we may have accepted a little... :)---we handed out new pass-along cards that had important questions like "Where do I go when I die?" and "Can I live with my family forever?" on them to the adults and challenged them to do missionary work themselves. It turns out that one of the adults wasn't a member and I guess our handing her one of those cards was the final step to her wanting to learn more! The missionaries in the other ward will be teaching her, but I'm just really glad that we could go and get candy and still be effective. :) Oh yeah, we also dressed up a little bit... pictures included.

 

 

 

We had to stop teaching our good friend Grant. He's such an awesome man, but, even though we've had 28 lessons with him, he's not ready for baptism yet, he says. So we're giving him more time to read the Book of Mormon and mull everything we've taught him over in his brain, and then come back in a little while. At least we'll see him each week at church. He loves coming! He believes the Book of Mormon is true and everything, but I don't think he understands the significance of it. He learns really slowly (hence the 28 lessons)... I guess it takes a long time for old dogs to learn new tricks. We keep praying for him and hope that something will change and he can join the church!

 

 

 

We had our stake conference in New Bern, by the shore. It was a really big deal because our stake was the first stake in North Carolina, and this year marks its 50th anniversary. There's a picture of me looking off into the distance over the water... this is what happens when Elder Westley starts getting artsy-fancy with the camera. :)

 

 

 

We're STILL looking for people to teach! I know there are people out here looking for the truth but they just don't know where to look. They're out here somewhere. I know it. We just haven't found them yet!

Let's see... I think that pretty much covers all the good stuff.

 

So I found this scripture this morning in my studying. It's a quote from Captain Moroni who, like me, writes home to inform the recipient of the message of his situation, anxiously hoping to receive a letter or two in reply. Nephi says to apply the scriptures to ourselves, so here I go:

 

"Yea, great has been your neglect towards us. And now behold, we desire to know the cause of this exceedingly great neglect; yea, we desire to know the cause of your thoughtless state" (Alma 60:5-6).

 

Haha just kidding. But seriously. I really would like to get a letter from you! All of you! :)

I love you all and hope that things are going well at home. If there was ever a time I needed your prayers, now would be the time. My joints are getting gradually more painful, and it's not just my knees anymore. That, on top of having the responsibility of training a new missionary and still trying as hard as I can to find someone to teach and not having a single baptism yet... let's just say I would love it if you would include me in your prayers.

 

I love you all and I pray for each of you every day, often by name... and that takes a while! :) I encourage you, no matter who you are or where you are in life or what you are doing now, to think, right now, one way you can grow closer to Jesus Christ, and commit to yourself right now to do it. I promise you that if you accept this challenge, you will be blessed, because I know that He "is the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by [Him]" (John 14:6).

 

With love,

 

Elder Schank

Weekly Update: Week 12

Hey!

 

This last week was a really interesting one. On Monday, which is normally our preparation day, we woke up at 5:30 to go to Kinston for our zone conference. Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Presidency of the Quorum of the 70 was there... and I think I wrote about it in my last email. In short, it was awesome. I attached a picture of my zone with him. (Elder Jensen is the one in the middle with the glasses. My mission president is the one to his left. I'm standing behind my mission president. My friend Elder Kyle Simmons is the second one from the left, on the back row. Some of you may also know Elder Morrell [7th from the left on the back row] and Sister Johnson [the sister in the white and pink on the right]... both of them are also Davis Darts! Woohoo!)

 

 

 

On Tuesday we shopped for food and emailed home because we didn't have time after the zone conference.

 

Things were pretty normal again on Wednesday and Thursday, but on Friday we drove to Apex to go to the Raleigh Temple. It's so small! But it was still a very wonderful experience and I'm really glad I could go again. I miss being able to go once a week. When we finally got home, we had our preparation day... shoot hoops... play piano... write letters... the usual.

 

On Sunday, our investigator Virgil (the one with muscular dystrophy in the wheelchair) came to sacrament meeting! It was the annual primary program this week, when little children sing and speak as the main meeting that week. I could tell that Virgil was very touched by the meeting. The Spirit was strong as the children reverently bore testimony through word and song, and it brought tears to his eyes. He was very impressed with the Latter-day Saint children. The primary program made me miss home a little bit... there were about half as many kids involved as I'm used to seeing, and Becky was not among them, but I still loved it.

 

Not a whole lot has changed... still trying to find people to teach, avoid getting hit by cars, and help people come unto Christ. It's an exciting thing! I hope that you are all having great experiences at home! Hopefully something a little out of the ordinary (but safe) will happen soon so that I can have a neat experience to share with all of you. Please let me know how you're doing! I love your letters, even the short ones!

 

Love,

Elder Schank

Week 11: Zone Conf. w/Elder MKJensen

Hello everyone!

 

Yesterday we had an amazing zone conference with Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the First Presidency of the Quorum of the Seventy and his wife. Before the meeting we all got to shake his hand and when he shook mine he told me that he really liked my glasses. Awesome.

 

His instruction was amazing and inspiring. I wish I could tell you everything he said, but I obviously can't so I'll just share one thing. He talked a lot about faith and how Christ can help us in our asking, "Lord, Increase our faith" (Luke 17:5). We spent a lot of time together in Alma 32, one of my very favorite chapters in the whole Book of Mormon. We studied that faith begins with a simple desire. That desire instills in us a particle of faith. That little particle of faith is like a seed. If we plant it in our hearts, nourish it, and do not cast it out, the seed will grow into a mighty tree. A pattern becomes established. If we desire to believe, then act on our desire by experimenting on that belief, then make sure we don't cast it out, the end result is a growth of faith. I know that this is true because I have seen it applied time and time again in my own life. As we nourish our faith by doing the little things... reading our scriptures and praying each day as individuals and families, going to church each week, serving and loving others, keeping the commandments, etc.... I know that our faith in the Savior will grow and we will qualify for great blessings and miracles in our lives, "for it is by faith that miracles are wrought" (Moroni 7:37) and "ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith" (Ether 12:6).

 

Well, as far as things go here, nothing is super exciting. We're still trying to find investigators to teach, and we have a few that we're still teaching. Elder Westley and I are a lot more unified, and it's obvious in how effective we are and how much I enjoy the work. It's been tough, though. The sun goes down at about 6:30, and even fewer people want to talk to us after dark; so if we don't have appointments (and we usually don't since we have few investigators) then we just have to try to use that last 3 hours to do something effective. We're trying to see members more often and invite them to make a commitment to help with the work, though, so hopefully we'll be able to get a lot done there.

 

We've been teaching a man named Virgil recently, who is in a wheelchair due to some kind of muscular distrophy in his back. He can't read very well, so that's been a big challenge. We're going to try to get him an audio copy of the Book of Mormon so that he can gain a testimony of that wonderful book. He really wants to learn more about Christ so he can change and become a better person by repenting of his sins. He's been meeting with us, some Baptist ministers, and the Jehovah's Witnesses to find the truth. We have encouraged him to keep an open mind in all he learns and to pay attention to the feelings of the Spirit. We promised him that if he does that, God will lead him to the truth. Virgil was excited to come to church this last Sunday. We were excited for him; it would give him a chance to be fellowshipped and befriended by members, and he would be able to feel the Spirit really strong---besides, we haven't had an investigator in sacrament meeting for the last 5 weeks. When we arrived at his home to pick him up for church we were met by his wife, who told us that the night before he had fallen and spent the night in the emergency room and was not feeling up to coming to church. That was tough for us. We have been trying really hard and we can see opposition affecting all of our investigators! That opposition comes in all different forms, I've found: for some it's busy schedules with work; for others it's friends that are bad influences; for some it's even accidents like car crashes and falling... Pretty much anything that keeps them from progressing. We have been battling against the devil and all the opposition he has thrown at us and the people we teach, but we know that the message we share has strengthened their faith in Christ, and I know that it has strengthened mine!

 

I'm doing well. Fall here doesn't feel like fall. Everything is still green... the biggest difference is that the humidity is more comfortable and the temperatures have dropped about 15 degrees. But other than that... same old, same old. I hear that the fall is beautiful back home! I miss it a lot. I hope all of you are having a great time in your own lives and that everything is going well. I would love to hear from you! Please write me and/or send pictures! I don't have as much time as I would like to to respond right away, but I will do my best to get back to you!

 

With love,

 

Elder Schank