003 - Miraculous Physical and Spiritual Healing

In this episode, host Donald Kelly talks to Jonathan and Audra Pankrez’s experience with miraculous physical and spiritual healing. 

-Jonathan and Audra have seven children between them and were together 15 years before they got married.  As blessed as their life is now, their individual lives started very differently. 

 -Jonathan grew up in a place he nicknamed The Badlands in North Philadelphia. By 7 his father was no longer in the picture and by 12 he was working to purchase clothes.  In 9th grade, he was finally expelled and at 17 was emancipated from his parents and went to Texas with a lot of rage to get clean from drug addiction. He was also suffering from a severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. 

-Audra had a difficult childhood as well, with her parents divorced and her mother a severe alcoholic.  

-After Jonathan and Audra got married and despite arguments loud enough to have the police called, they are still together. Why did Audra stick around? Jonathan could be just as sweet as he was sour.  Unfortunately, not knowing which version of Jonathan she would get was hard to live with and the couple would find themselves separated in the house and sometimes, in different homes, just to get a break from Jonathan’s rage. Even the neighborhood kids knew about Jonathan’s temper, especially when it came to their lawn and their car. It was a reflection of his OCD. Jonathan and Audra are happy to report that now, these days are long behind them and a distant memory.

-What changed? Kenneth, their fifth son, got very sick around middle school. The doctors wanted his colon removed but Jonathan knew this wasn’t the answer.  As it turned out, an endocrinologist accidentally discovered that Kenneth had a very slow-growing cancer in the stalk of the pituitary gland and pineal gland in the brain, a bifocal brain cancer. The course of treatment for their son would cause many arguments and they didn’t know if they would last as a couple. At this point, they were in a common-law marriage because they’d been together so long but not in the eyes of God.  

-While Kenneth was sick Audra and Jonathan met their first missionaries. One of their other kids was trying to fix an inner tube on their bike when the missionaries came up and offered to help. They told the missionaries they could visit anytime but had zero interest in conversion. 

-When Kenneth was well enough to go to high school, he’d barely had any friends because he’d been in the hospital.  When the missionaries said he could go with them, Kenneth was very excited to be part of the young men’s group. 

-When Jonathan and Audra finally started thinking about going to church Kenny was in and out of ICU and his prognosis was bleak. There was even talk of in-home hospice care because despite national conferences being held about Kenny’s prognosis they were at a loss. 

-At one point when Audra was in the waiting room, she was told that the family had visitors and twenty-five men from Kenny’s Young Men’s group were at the hospital. The missionaries came to do a blessing, anointed Kenny with oil, and the young men came to pray. National conferences were held about Kenny’s prognosis and they were at a loss. 

-On Valentine’s Day Kenny was scheduled to get baptized and his birthday was shortly after, coinciding with a CT scan for the cancer growth in his brain. He was supposed to hear his results on a Monday but the doctors called Kenny the Friday before on his actual birthday, not wanting him to have to wait on the results.  They couldn’t find cancer or a tumor anywhere on the MRI. 

-This healing in Kenny started to also transform something in Jonathon.  Regardless of the rage he had previously known, his love for his kids was always there. When he was baptized Jonathan wanted to drown whatever he had previously been.

-At this point, however, a few more years would go by before they met more missionaries, even though they were friends of the church.  During a move, they were driving when they came across two missionaries filling their water bottles and Audra was eager to get them cold water and a snack instead. As they talked they felt compelled to ask the missionaries to follow up with a call once they got settled into their new town, which they did. They had grown out of their current church and were looking for more. 

-How has their life changed since becoming part of the church? They have learned to count everything as joy, even the hard times. They know that Jesus Christ healed their son and their hearts. 

-Jonathan recommends you find a proper teacher that has the proper knowledge and authority. 

-Audra says to follow the simple commands of the Bible and the teacher does not speak during the testing and it would help her to know that.  

-Knowing Jesus helps the Pankrez family walk happier because they know they aren’t walking alone. They know Jesus is true and real and in control.  And Jonathan’s OCD? That’s gotten better too. 

If you’d like to get in touch with Jonathan and Audra, you can email Pankrezfamily@gmail.com. 

MUSIC CREDIT: Audio Jungle

(Note: This podcast is not an official podcast of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)