Holy toledo, it is so nice to be writing you guys right now! I miss you guys so much I can hardly stand it but it has been incredible here. I seriously feel like this is my second home! The CCM (Lima MTC) is GORGEOUS!! I hear crazy animals all the time and the trees look like something from Dr. Seuss! Oh and my companion is the best too! Her name is Hermana Robinson and we are very different but we work so well together! Gosh, I just love you guys though!! I hope everything is great at home! Oh and as you are ALL wondering ... THE FOOD IS TO DIE FOR! I seriously look forward to every delicious meal (no surprise there)!!! Oh and my district is incredible too. The guys are hilarious, seriously like a big group of brothers, and they call me Hermana C-H-U-mway! My Peruvian teacher calls me that and we all crack up every time.
The language is coming great (who would have thought high school Spanish would be so helpful????) and I can now bear my testimony and say a prayer in Spanish, WHAT????? That probably is not that impressive, but hey, it's something! I am trying so hard to learn the language though and I seriously pray soooooo much!! Prayer is incredible!! And if you guys ever doubt that your Heavenly Fathers loves you ... DON'T! He loves us more than we can even comprehend and that is such a blessing! Every day I have difficult, frustrating moments, but I know I can do it because I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and gives me so much strength! I honestly don't think I could do this experience without knowing that! The gospel is TRUE family!!!
So I had my Pday today and we went to this supermarket and they had Oreos! OREOS!!! Talk about a blessing! Now you might be thinking, Allyse, are you gaining a lot of weight from all that delicious food and Oreos? I am proud to say nope!! I actually have lost weight if you can believe it because my companion and I work out every day because I make her run laps around the CCM with me and we run stairs 15x! Woohoo!!! Hermana Shumway is coming home ripped! Just kidding, probably not, but I seriously love working out in this humidity!
I only got to briefly go over your emails ... but love that you keep hearing SHAKE IT OFF on the radio!!! AHHHHH!!! Gotta love Tswizzle! She randomly came up in a conversation with my district and all the guys love her! Oh and my district is all going to Piura, except for my companion, so I now know a lot of elders that will be on my mission! Woot woot! They are hilarious and we had a testimony meeting the other day after a devotional and they all shared about their different backgrounds--some extremely hard, some easy, some not wanting to serve a mission, but yet they all are here in Peru, giving their time to the Lord. They are soooooo great!!! I just love them all, in a hermana and hermano type of love, like not inappropriate love, ha! We all just help each other grow and learn the language together!
So I taught my first lesson in Spanish the other day with my companion (to some Peruvian teachers), and she is completely, like that is not an understatement, COMPLETELY fluent in Spanish, and we work so well together! Let's just I say I might have not understood anything she was saying and said Si! like the whole time, but it was so fun!! The funniest part is when I think I know what she is saying and then I pipe in with a few Spanish phrases (thinking i´m a genius and patting myself on the back) and then everyone looks at me like I´m nuts! BEST MOMENT EVER!! That probably happens let's say... 100% of the time. Ha, I am trying my best and someday I´ll be a Peruvian!! I seriously already love the people! Oh and we´re going proselyting on Friday! Yipee!! That is going to be quite an adventure! I´ll have to tell you how it goes next week! Ha! How are you guys though??? Sounds like the family is doing superb and all is well in good ol´ Utah! I love you all!!!!! A whole lot!! I hope football is going great Lovey and you are getting some incredible tackles and I hope school is going well for Parker and Chariton!! And I hope Emily and Justin are having a great time in school and living the adorable married life! I pray for all you guys every night and wish you guys the absolute best!! Mom and Daddy I hope you guys are doing incredible!!! I seriously can´t thank you guys enough for raising me in the gospel and teaching me to do what´s right. We are so blessed!!!!! I love you Mom and Daddy!!!! And thank you for all of your support!! I feel all of your prayers and know that I am exactly where I am supposed to be!
Oh random funny side note to Parker--I got a Spain soccer jersey!! I thought that Parker would be happy about that!! I actually needed one too because all my workout shirts are always dirty from playing sports everyday! We have this huge soccer field at the CCM and volleyball court and I thrive off them!!! But people have to tell me all the time to not be so competitive (woops!) because when I spike the volleyball or play soccer I must be a little too into it! Ha--it´s the blessing of having all brothers!!!
I love love love being a missionary and love you guys mucho mucho!!!
XOXOX - Hermana Shumway
The language is coming great (who would have thought high school Spanish would be so helpful????) and I can now bear my testimony and say a prayer in Spanish, WHAT????? That probably is not that impressive, but hey, it's something! I am trying so hard to learn the language though and I seriously pray soooooo much!! Prayer is incredible!! And if you guys ever doubt that your Heavenly Fathers loves you ... DON'T! He loves us more than we can even comprehend and that is such a blessing! Every day I have difficult, frustrating moments, but I know I can do it because I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and gives me so much strength! I honestly don't think I could do this experience without knowing that! The gospel is TRUE family!!!
So I had my Pday today and we went to this supermarket and they had Oreos! OREOS!!! Talk about a blessing! Now you might be thinking, Allyse, are you gaining a lot of weight from all that delicious food and Oreos? I am proud to say nope!! I actually have lost weight if you can believe it because my companion and I work out every day because I make her run laps around the CCM with me and we run stairs 15x! Woohoo!!! Hermana Shumway is coming home ripped! Just kidding, probably not, but I seriously love working out in this humidity!
I only got to briefly go over your emails ... but love that you keep hearing SHAKE IT OFF on the radio!!! AHHHHH!!! Gotta love Tswizzle! She randomly came up in a conversation with my district and all the guys love her! Oh and my district is all going to Piura, except for my companion, so I now know a lot of elders that will be on my mission! Woot woot! They are hilarious and we had a testimony meeting the other day after a devotional and they all shared about their different backgrounds--some extremely hard, some easy, some not wanting to serve a mission, but yet they all are here in Peru, giving their time to the Lord. They are soooooo great!!! I just love them all, in a hermana and hermano type of love, like not inappropriate love, ha! We all just help each other grow and learn the language together!
So I taught my first lesson in Spanish the other day with my companion (to some Peruvian teachers), and she is completely, like that is not an understatement, COMPLETELY fluent in Spanish, and we work so well together! Let's just I say I might have not understood anything she was saying and said Si! like the whole time, but it was so fun!! The funniest part is when I think I know what she is saying and then I pipe in with a few Spanish phrases (thinking i´m a genius and patting myself on the back) and then everyone looks at me like I´m nuts! BEST MOMENT EVER!! That probably happens let's say... 100% of the time. Ha, I am trying my best and someday I´ll be a Peruvian!! I seriously already love the people! Oh and we´re going proselyting on Friday! Yipee!! That is going to be quite an adventure! I´ll have to tell you how it goes next week! Ha! How are you guys though??? Sounds like the family is doing superb and all is well in good ol´ Utah! I love you all!!!!! A whole lot!! I hope football is going great Lovey and you are getting some incredible tackles and I hope school is going well for Parker and Chariton!! And I hope Emily and Justin are having a great time in school and living the adorable married life! I pray for all you guys every night and wish you guys the absolute best!! Mom and Daddy I hope you guys are doing incredible!!! I seriously can´t thank you guys enough for raising me in the gospel and teaching me to do what´s right. We are so blessed!!!!! I love you Mom and Daddy!!!! And thank you for all of your support!! I feel all of your prayers and know that I am exactly where I am supposed to be!
Oh random funny side note to Parker--I got a Spain soccer jersey!! I thought that Parker would be happy about that!! I actually needed one too because all my workout shirts are always dirty from playing sports everyday! We have this huge soccer field at the CCM and volleyball court and I thrive off them!!! But people have to tell me all the time to not be so competitive (woops!) because when I spike the volleyball or play soccer I must be a little too into it! Ha--it´s the blessing of having all brothers!!!
I love love love being a missionary and love you guys mucho mucho!!!
XOXOX - Hermana Shumway
Thanks for posting her letters! It's fun to hear how well she's doing. We miss her like crazy!
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