Week 56: Miracles Happening Everywhere

Hello, friends and family!

This week was SO great! Besides some run-ins with thousands of angry fire ants and a super hot apartment, it was excellent.

We have seen a ton of miracles! Our investigator Steve is in Toronto right now for specific training on how to fly a particular aircraft. He has been trying to quit chewing tobacco for some time now. We've been sending him text messages of passages from the Book of Mormon for him to look up, but he's been doing a lot more reading than just those selections. He reads (or has his iPad read to him) the Book of Mormon during P.T. and throughout the day. One night he read a lot before he went to bed. The next morning, he woke up without even having a craving to chew! He's continuing to read daily and still no cravings. What a miracle!

Another miracle: back on July 4th, we were walking around and we saw a lady named Lynette. She had a lot of really false ideas about the Church because of different things she heard about the Mormons that her church had told her. When we corrected her understanding, she felt a lot better about us but was still too hesitant to let us teach her more. We left her with a Book of Mormon though, and decided to call back in a while and see how things were going. Well, we called her the other day and she had read all the way up to Mosiah (the first 150 pages or so of the Book of Mormon)! She loves it! She was very impressed with how it's all about Jesus Christ, it is similar to the Bible, and it is easy to understand. She agreed to meet us at a member's home down the street so we could talk to her more about it. Unbeknownst to us, before our appointment she did some Google research to see what a visit with the Mormon missionaries was like. The article she read "warned" her that we would be inviting her to be baptized. She came to the appointment determined to reject our invitation. However, as we taught her the message of the Restoration and the importance of the Book of Mormon, she felt the Spirit and accepted the invitation to be baptized anyway! That was a miracle too.

So many good things are happening here. We should be seeing 6 people entering the gate of baptism in September and October together. In fact, I'll be surprised if we don't. The Lord has provided us with so many great blessings and I feel so blessed and honored to be able to help these people learn the true and restored gospel and live the Doctrine of Christ.

Other stuff:

We had zone leader/district leader council meeting up in Knightdale, near Raleigh. We woke up just after 5:00 am to pick up our district leaders and drive up to the building. It took us even longer to get back because we had to drive up to the Raleigh stake center to pick up a cactus, which one of the sister missionaries in our district forgot to take with her from the transfer meeting earlier in the week. The meeting was really good, though, and it was really neat to see a lot of these younger missionaries taking on the Lord's call to assume leadership positions. One other neat thing is that there are now 4 zone leaders from Davis high... me, Elder Simmons, Elder Jake McRae and Elder Fry. It was neat to get a picture of all of us together.

Let's see, what else?... Oh yeah, how am I doing? Uhhh.... pretty good I guess. Nothing has changed medically but I'm just doing what I do! The days have been rough but I feel good about being here so until something changes for the worse I'm not planning on changing my mind.

Hope all of you are doing well! I love the restored gospel of Christ. I'm so grateful for the Book of Mormon, which restores the plain and precious truths of the gospel that were lost over time. I testify that the Book of Mormon is true, that Jesus is the Savior, and that there are living prophets today with all the priesthood keys necessary for the salvation of the human family.

Write me!

With love,

Elder Schank

DHS Darts - Elders Schank, Simmons, McRae and Fry

Week 55: Surprise Transfer Information

Hello, friends and family!

So we got the news on who is and who isn't getting transferred from our zone on Tuesday. It turns out that I'm staying here in Hope Mills! And I'm super excited about that! I was positive that I was getting transferred because in our mission it's rare that someone will get transferred before or after working in their current area for 4.5-6 months. (But I guess I served in my last area for only 1.5 months, so I probably really shouldn't be as shocked as I am.) What's even rarer, though, is being with the same companion for more than 2 transfers. But of all the companions I could possibly have, who better to go 3 transfers with than the one-and-only Kyle Bruce Simmons?!?! Can't break up the Davis Duo! We're super excited to stick around together, especially because we have so much great stuff going on right now! We have four investigators who will be getting baptized mid-September, and I am SO glad that I can stay and be here for it.

It's going to be an interesting transfer. We're getting another companionship of senior missionaries (Elder and Sister Corbett from Orem, UT) and another companionship of sister missionaries, who will be working in the Hope Mills 1st and 2nd areas. Not only does that make us a 5-companionship district (which is huge) and the largest zone in the mission, but we will also probably have to start sharing investigators and meal appointments with them. I have to admit that I'm not looking forward to that aspect, but I am really excited about having another couple of hands to help convert this city to the restored gospel of Christ, which is way more important than a few more fancy dinners a week, anyway. :)

Alright, and now for the highlight-reel review:

On Tuesday, we had deep-clean day, the first one in a long time. Ugh. It was pretty gross spelunking deep into the bowels of our fridge and whatnot. On the bright side, we did a little rearranging of furniture and the place is less dusty. Plus, Elder Simmons found a Darth Vader toy above the kitchen cabinets. That's always a bonus.

We found out that Steve & Karen's 10-year old daughter, Carlie, wants to get baptized too, which is really exciting. Her little brother, Bubba, turned 4 this week and we were invited over for part of the party. We ate some awesome food (Karen is a master at cooking) and met the extended family, which I think was really good and helped them to feel better about the fact that Steve and Karen are going to join the Church. Steve had to leave for Toronto on Saturday night for some flight training, but before he left he gave his cans of chew to Pres. Hales, a friend of his in our ward, as a sign that he was done with tobacco. When he got to Toronto, he told us that tobacco was $18 a can and there's no way he's going to buy any, so we were super excited about that. With him gone, that left Karen to take all 4 kids to church by herself. Which she did. That was huge! It was so exciting!

We got a referral from the elders over in Greenville (the same ward I used to serve in!) who told us about a less-active young single adult, Nitza, who moved up to Fayetteville into our area and she wanted us to visit her. So we did. And it turns out that she has two younger siblings who are members of the church and a younger 10-year old brother who was never baptized. We found rides for Katrina, Jerome, and Trevaughn to get to church while Nitza went to the YSA branch, and they all really enjoyed themselves. Trevaughn wants to get baptized. Awesome.

Our third investigator we found is a 70+ year old lady named "Kitty". She went out to St. George a few weeks ago to visit her recent convert-sister and got really interested in learning about the Book of Mormon and the restored gospel. We started teaching her this week, too. So we found three new investigators this week!

Yesterday we went to visit David, our investigator with one leg, in the hospital. His knee above the leg that was amputated got infected and swelled up really bad. He's doing alright though, and he actually asked us if we could come by tonight and teach him. I'm looking forward to that.

We also went by two adult less-active new-move-ins. Actually, one of them used to be a member. They are siblings. We taught about the Atonement, and both Jennifer and Chris seemed really touched by the message. Jennifer wants us to come back and teach her more, and they both said they wanted to come to church on Sunday! Since they just moved in and haven't touched their scriptures in a while, they don't know where their copies of the Book of Mormon are. Elder Simmons had given the blank copy he was carrying to David because he didn't bring his to the hospital, and I was packing my personal copy, which is my baby. We've been through everything together! I've invested so much time into marking it up with a specific color-code, and it's worn like an old baseball glove. I figured we could just stop by in a few days to give them a copy, but Jennifer wanted to do some reading that night, and I felt prompted to let her borrow my own copy. I told her that she could borrow my copy (but only if she took reeeeeally good care of it) until we could get her her own. She was really grateful and I felt good about it even though I'm anxious to get it back. I was on a spiritual high all night long after the lesson. It was so powerful, and it was really easy to teach, too. I know that that has nothing to do with my teaching skills, but because we did little else than ask inspired questions, read from the Book of Mormon, promise blessings, and testify of truths. The Spirit that was invited because we didn't get in the way did most of the teaching.

Also, our air conditioner is still broken. I'm super tired because on Saturday night our apartment was 89 degrees and it wouldn't drop. At about 11:30, we moved our mattresses into the front room because it's a little bigger and had our little fan on full blast. By about midnight, we ate a couple Fudgsicles to try to cool off and then probably finally fell asleep around 12:30. It was a long, hot, sticky night. But it's all good. Living in a sauna makes us stronger.

I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ, following His death, had many "plain and precious truths" and His authority removed from it but that those truths and that authority have been restored to the earth again and that His church is once again on the earth. It is organized and founded on prophets and Apostles that receive continual instruction for His people, just like how it was when He was on the earth. The Book of Mormon is the fulfillment of the prophecies that ancient prophets have foretold would bring back those missing truths. Jesus Christ is the Messiah and our Savior and friend. I know that to be true! :)

Hope you all have a great week and I hope to hear from you soon!

With love,
Elder Schank

District Meeting with the Fayetteville District - Sisters Welch, Johnson, Tillman, Elders Brinkerhoff, Young, Simmons, Green, Lambert, me, May

Week 54: Same old, same awesome

Hello, friends and family!

Nothing drastic really happened this week. Actually, Elder Simmons just leaned over from his computer and said, "Hey, did we do anything exciting this week?" We both drew a blank. We need to do more exciting things. But I guess it doesn't really get more exciting than helping people change their lives so they can receive the Atonement and all its eternal blessings, right? :)

We have been teaching a great man named David, who is a friend of some of our ward members. He's a very humble country bumpkin who is completely prepared. He's been reading several chapters of the Book of Mormon between each lesson, he's read a lot of the Gospel Principles manual we use in Sunday school, he came to church about 5 times before we even started teaching him, AND he's trying to memorize all the Articles of Faith. He lost one of his legs some years ago and has a really neat prosthesis instead. His other leg was getting infected, but the infection stopped spreading after he was given a priesthood blessing. He's doing a great job and is on track for being baptized on 15 September. We are all so excited!

We also started teaching a family who are friends with a family in our ward. The parents names are Steve and Karen and they have a bunch of little kids. They're a great family. The senior missionaries in our area began teaching them and we've been asked to come in to help with the process. Steve flies with the Golden Knights and has been all over the place with the Army. In fact, while he was in Afghanistan a while ago he started learning the gospel and has been kind of investigating it for the last 10 years. He already knows the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet and he is doing such a great job. His wife, Karen, was a lot more reluctant at first. That is, until Elder & Sister Brown and their friends, Bro. & Sis. Hales, taught them about the Atonement. Karen said she felt a unique warmness permeate her body in a way she's never felt before. When she recognized it as the Spirit, she completely changed and now seems to be just as interested as her husband. They are working towards baptism on the 1st of September and we're excited for that date, too!

Other than that, not a whole lot of new things have developed. I guess one interesting thing is that our air conditioner went out. It's been between 84-86 degrees for the last 5 or so days. Actually, it's been more hot and humid inside our apartment than outside of it. It's made sleeping tough, but we sure are excited to get out of the apartment and get back to work! :)

Also, we found a giant moth.

I know the power of the Atonement is real and that Christ lives. All men and women can repent and be strengthened to change because of that sacrifice.

With love,

Elder Schank

Week 53: Elder Schank's Big News

August 6, 2012

Dear Friends and Family,

I've got some big news. But for dramatic effect, I'm going to talk a little bit about this last week before I share it with you.

On Saturday, our 10-year old investigator, Destiny, was baptized! It was really exciting. She is the granddaughter of a member in our ward, and we started teaching her several months ago. It was pretty stressful the day of the baptism, but the service turned out really well. First of all, the cleanup crew from another ward was playing basketball when we showed up to fill the font. When we told them we were having a baptism, they quickly started cleaning, but they were cleaning until long after the service was supposed to start. I say supposed to start because a lot of important family members were late (ranging from 1-30 minutes) so the baptism started half an hour later than we had planned. But it all worked out! Her mom, who is a current investigator, asked if she could speak after Destiny changed into dry clothes. She expressed her love for Destiny and told her how proud she was. Then she said that Destiny was a big example for the rest of the family because they want to be baptized someday too. (We're hoping sooner than later. :) ) The Spirit was really strong and we had some delicious food afterward. And, you guessed it, they gave all the leftovers to the missionaries. So we're going to do some damage on those leftover chicken wings after we email here with the other missionaries nearby.

We also had some good run-ins with all kinds of people.

•    We found three new investigators, all who have already committed to be baptized in September. It was a miracle.

•    We had at least 4 nonmembers who haven't started investigating (yet) at church.

•    We talked with a girl whose parents are less-active members and she was trying to save this giant spider. She was way into Animal Planet and was telling us all these facts about spiders and stuff. She was trying to coax it away from her house with a nearby hockey stick. When she realized that no matter where it went it could still bite her dog.... she stomped on it. It was hilarious.

•    There was a huge rain/thunderstorm. The thunder literally sounded like bombs were being dumped in our neighborhood. I'm honestly surprised it didn't break any windows because it knocked some things over on our shelf. It was LOUD.

•    Lots of other fun stuff that would take too long for me to write.

Ok, so you already know that I've been dealing with some crazy medical issues. I already had knee problems before my mission and since December of 2011 I've been experiencing back and joint pain for unknown reasons. Since December it's been growing worse and worse. Despite all kinds of tests, treatments, medications, and exams, nothing has changed and none of the doctors I've been working with know what's going on. We know a lot about what it isn't, but we don't know what it is. And it's just been getting worse and it's quite a painful ordeal.  In fact, it has reached the point where our mission area medical adviser, who is an orthopedic surgeon by profession, has pretty much given me all the advice he can and really can't help me any further. A lot of you know all of that, but what you may or may not know is that for the last month and a half my mission president and I have been considering releasing me from my mission a year early and sending me home. The last month has not only been difficult physically, but I have also been struggling emotionally and mentally in trying to decide what the Lord would have me to do. I was able to discuss the situation with my parents, and we talked for a while about all kinds of options and about why we are allowed to suffer when we are trying to be so good. Two weeks ago, my mission president told me that he trusted my decision and that if I decided to stay or go home that he would support my choice either way. Since then I have been spending more time on my knees than ever before and I have "struggled in the spirit" (see Enos 1:10), just trying to get some kind of answer from the Lord. For two weeks I prayed to know what the Lord wanted me to do. I told Him that it didn't matter to me what I wanted to do; I just wanted to know what He wanted me to do so that I could do it. It seemed that despite my constant and difficult struggles on my knees and the pureness of my intent, I wasn't getting anything. But, after about a week of praying I began to see my attitude improve and my mind suddenly began focusing on the work again and not on myself. The Spirit seemed stronger with me and I had a feeling that "everything is going to be okay." And it wasn't just a feeling, it was a quite assurance. Two days later I learned that over a hundred people had been praying and fasting for me. I know that many of you who will be reading this message are included in that 100+. I want you to know that your prayers and fasting have worked wonders and God has granted me, through your faith, a miracle. Thank you so much for your love and prayers; I can feel them from here. It brings tears to my eyes as I consider how loved I am by all of you family, friends, ward members, and others who I might not even know very well. My physical pain hasn't faded away, and I don't really see that happening anytime soon, either. But I feel completely different, and I think that this change is the type of healing I really needed. And that is why I have chosen to stay and finish my mission. Thank you. You have changed my life.

I testify that the Lord has restored His gospel upon the face of the earth once again and that it thrives today in its fullness. I know that the Book of Mormon contains everything we need to know to "gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come" (Introduction to the Book of Mormon). I testify that the Atonement heals in many aspects. Jesus Christ lives and is our Redeemer, and He knows our need and blesses us with afflictions to refine and sanctify us. I am a living witness that God "ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles" (Mormon 9:19).

Thank you!

With love,

Elder Schank

Mormon 9:15-19:

15 And now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do no miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles.

 16 Behold, are not the things that God hath wrought marvelous in our eyes? Yea, and who can comprehend the marvelous works of God?

 17 Who shall say that it was not a miracle that by his word the heaven and the earth should be; and by the power of his word man was created of the dust of the earth; and by the power of his word have miracles been wrought?

 18 And who shall say that Jesus Christ did not do many mighty miracles? And there were many mighty miracles wrought by the hands of the apostles.

 19 And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles.

From Kenny's parents

Many of you have asked us about Kenny's health.  Thank you for your love and concern! 

Before Kenny left on his mission on July 20th of last year, he was suffering with sporadic knee pain that was aggravated by athletic activity (not that it slowed him down or stopped him from participating in sports!).  He had been to doctors before his mission, but initial x-rays and blood work came back clean, not showing any problems that concerned the doctors.  After arriving in North Carolina, the pain continued in his knees as well as his feet, especially after long days of tracting.  By December, the pain had spread from his knees to include pain in his lower back.  By February, the pain had continued to spread to his elbows, wrists, hips, and ankles.  He has been to see many doctors, and has had additional x-rays and MRIs taken, none of which has shown the cause of concern.  He has had more extensive blood work taken, which has consistently come back negative for any rheumatic disorder, as well as for any known genetic markers for other auto-immune diseases, such as ankylosing spondylitis.  The only thing his blood shows is slightly elevated cholesterol (which he blames on too much southern BBQ and hush puppies!).  Though the pain has grown to be intense and even keeps him from sleeping through the night, it has not kept him from working hard and being an effective missionary.  However, two weeks ago, the mission doctor informed Kenny that they have tried every test that they can think of, and if he does not improve "in the next two to three weeks" (about the first of August), he will recommend that Kenny come home from his mission early to recover.

Kenny does not want to come home.  His previous mission president (who returned home to Utah on July 1st) gave him a blessing of healing, including the comforting words "you will be able to complete your mission."  However, the deadline proposed by the mission doctor is fast approaching, and Kenny is feeling worse, not better (the stress associated with the idea of being sent home seems to aggravate the condition).  Kenny is praying for healing, and trying to exercise faith to receive the blessing.

We welcome your prayers in Kenny's behalf.  In addition, our family will be holding a special family fast for him this Sunday, July 29th.  If you want to participate in the fast, we would be so grateful.  We hope that he will be healed by the Lord; but if not, we hope he will at least gain an understanding of what he should be learning as well as how to take care of his body at this time.

It is a great thing to be a member of a loving, supportive family!  Thanks again for your concern,

Steve & Lynn

Week 51: Yep... Over the hump. :(

Dear family and friends,

Well... I never thought this would happen. Now I'm officially old. July 20, 2012 was three days ago (in case you didn't know), and that means that I have been a missionary for more than an entire year. Wow! I've gained a lot of fun, exciting, happy, scary, sad, crazy, and amazing experiences so far and I know the future has great things in store. I still feel so inadequate and inexperienced but I know that it's going to be a great next year.

I don't have much time so this is going to be short and sweet.

As far as the work goes, it's been really interesting. Our most solid investigator, John, dropped us, and he dropped us hard. He told us that he knows that the Book of Mormon is true and that he needs to be baptized and that the priesthood is restored and all of that. He knows Joseph Smith was a Prophet and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord's Church. But he said he can't get baptized because of some other obligations. It crushed us. After that, our teaching pool kind of blew up in our faces. In about a week we went from having 14 or so investigators to having 5. And 4 of those 5 are close to getting dropped.

On the bright side of things, this gives us way more time to find more people to teach and re-evaluate what's been going on in our area. It's like a new start that is exciting and refreshing and we know there's a lot of potential. We found a new investigator this last week and, even though we're still not too sure how interested Julia is, we are seeing things going in the right direction, and we're really happy about that. We know the Lord is blessing us as we seek out His help. Also, Destiny is on track for baptism on 4 Aug and her family is excited for her and we think they will be more serious about taking the lessons once she sets the example. (Plus, they're taking us out to Golden Corral tonight. I can't wait to get a hold of their chocolate "wonderfall". Haha)

We had some fun experiences, some more interesting than others. We had a couple doors slammed in our faces, which is actually pretty rare. And they happened on the same day! Oddly enough I get a kick out of it when that happens. I'd obviously rather have them let us in and be willing to learn, but it's pretty humorous how that happens. Also, we've killed three massive brown spiders throughout the week, one of which was hiding in the corner on the wall about 4 inches away from Elder Simmons pillow at 10:30 the other night.  Fun stuff. Another funny instance was the end of our first lesson with Julia, our new investigator. She's a really nice but very confident and rambunctious middle-aged lady. We ended with a prayer. She reached out to hold hands so the four of us (her, us, and one of the young men who came with us) held hands in a circle while she prayed a very unique yet kind prayer. She paused as she began to close the prayer, and I thought the next word out of her mouth would have been "amen", but instead I heard "I just love you boys!" I looked up and saw her inches away from me in just enough time to be ready for her to give me a big hug! Haha that's not something we're used to out here. We hug the other missionaries all the time but I haven't hugged or been hugged by a woman in over a year. Haha good times. I'm sure I've got quite a good amount of other stories I could share but I gotta run!

I know that the fulness of the gospel has been restored and that the church of Jesus Christ is founded upon Prophets, Seers, and Revelators (Ephesians 2:19-22). I know the Book of Mormon is true and that Christ lives and loves us. His Atonement is perfect, saving, and eternal.

With love,

Elder Schank

Week 49

Most of Kenny's letter this week was answering family questions.  Below is some news on his health that he asked us to pass on.  Thanks for your continued love, support and prayers!

Lynn




Transfers are on Tuesday, but I'm going to be staying here in Hope Mills. These will probably be my last 6 weeks here, and then I'll probably be off to a new area. Elder Simmons and I are really happy we're staying together for one more transfer.

Alright, I know you're anxious to hear about my health, so naturally I saved it for last. The blood tests came back, and showed nothing was abnormal. (Except my cholesterol is just a hair high... daggone hushpuppies. But even that isn't a logical factor.) The internist says he knows of nothing else to do, but he does know that it's not a rheumatic disease or disorder. I talked again with Dr. Smalley, the area medical advisor for the mission (he's an orthopedic surgeon by practice), and he reaffirmed that the internist was correct. ... I'm kind of just ranting so I'll cut to the chase. Basically if things don't start improving in the next three weeks... I'm coming home. Dr. Smalley says that the Lord doesn't want my mission to mess up my health for the rest of my life. Since it's just getting worse, he says that I will need to try to take care of it in Utah. So these three weeks are essentially what determines if I'm staying. Thank you for fasting for me... please keep me in your prayers. I'm doing the best I can to let the muscles in my back relax, and Elder Simmons is going to be helping me, but I have to admit I'm a little skeptical about it working. By myself, that is. I know that the Lord's will will be done. I don't really know what He would want me to do more than be a full-time missionary right now, but I have definitely learned through my mission that He works in some super mysterious ways. I'm going to be praying and trying hard to have faith and doing my very best to heal up, but with the attitude "Thy will be done." Unlike the last time I was worried I might go home (when Pres. Cotterell gave me that priesthood blessing), I feel comforted and at peace. I hope I get to serve longer, but I am proud to say I don't have any regrets... except I could be better at writing in my journal. I'm working on it.

Spiritual thought for the day: Moroni 7:33.

"And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me."

I know that that is true.
Elder Schank