Helllooooooooo
FAMILY!!!!!
Sounds like
things are once again superb at the Shumway Home!! LOVE ALL OF YOU!!! Keep
being incredible!!!
So to start, I
HAVE ONLY A FEW DAYS LEFT HERE!!! WHAT?????? Early Tuesday morning
Hermana Shumway will be headin´ to go preach the gospel in Piura!!! So nuts!
And just a heads up that this may be my last email for about a week and a half!
I am not sure how soon they will let us email when I get to Piura. So just try
not to forget that I LOVE YOU GUYS for a week and a half, alrighty? I seriously
cannot even express how excited I am to actually start serving! My Spanish is
definitely not incredible, and I am still learning so much, but I just know
that it is going to be the most incredible thing sharing this incredible work with
the people of Piura!
This week has
been really great at the CCM! We might have a little too much fun
here!!! Earlier this week my district and I were studying new words, and
each of us were supposed to think of a new verb and a hand sign to go with it
to show the class. I thought of the word “conquistar” because that means to
conquer and I thought that would give us a little motivation that we can
TOTALLY CONQUER any trial that comes at us. My hand signal was crossing my arm
over my chest... no idea where that came from... and I demonstrated it for the
class. THE NEXT PART WAS HILARIOUS. Slowly, everyone started pounding their
chest and said conquistar ... and then ... conquistar, CONQUISTAR, CONQUISTAR.
No joke, we all started, in sync, pounding our chest and
chanting CONQUISTAR! It is officially now our district cheer. When we
play soccer, are studying and need some pumping up, or just randomly, we will
all start chanting! Oh my heavens, it is HILARIOUS!! That probably
makes no sense, but hey, I thought I would try to explain it!
Another
highlight of the week is I cut an hermana´s hair (don´t freak out fam) because
she really wanted shorter hair, and me being so willing to be SERVICEABLE,
offered to give it a go! I HAVE NEVER LAUGHED SO HARD IN MY LIFE!!! I was
terrible, and I had no idea what I was doing ... but have no fear, I constantly
kept reminding her that all was well in the back of her head. I tried to
remember all the things my hairstylist would do to my hair but pretty
much I just winged it. My favorite person on planet earth, Hermana
Frame (an hermana in our room) held the trash can and I did the cutting.
The great thing is it doesn´t look to bad! Just a little random layers here and
there, and a few uneven spots, but she is still smiling so it must not be that
terrible!
Also, I sang
at one of our devotionals. SURPRISE!!! I seriously was scared to death,
and was not planning on doing it ... but they needed someone for a musical
number, so me and Hermana Frame offered to sing a duet, and then our district
would join in in the chorus. It ended up being a lot of fun, but a little
frightening singing in front of all the missionaries! But always a great
experience!
At
another one of our devotionals, we ended up watching a devotional from the
Provo MTC, and it was Elder Uchtdorf speaking. One of the highlights was when
he talked about the apostle Peter and when he denied Christ 3X. And then he
talked about how Peter from that point on, desiring to never experience that
moment again, became one of the greatest missionaries. The overall point was
what kind of witness are we? Are we like Peter when he denied the Christ,
or the incredible witness he was after that moment?
Two other great
one-liners:
- Develop a reputation as someone who is fearless.
- If you want to punch Satan in the mouth, preach the gospel.
I also want to
let you guys know that I placed my first Book of Mormon today!!! It was our
P-Day, and as a district we made the goal to proselyte as we were going to the
store. So ... we were walking to the store, spotted a few people, and we all
got super nervous and I wanted to act like I wasn´t scared, so I
grabbed my companion, Hermana Robinson, and we walked over to a lady walking
her dog. We got rejected really quick … BUT, me being the determined person I
am, wanted to try again. So my comp and I walked over to a man talking to his
friend that had her little kid with her. We were just talking about super basic
things, and then we slowly eased in to who we were and what we believed. We
started talking about the Book of Mormon and it really surprised him when he
heard that it testified of Christ in the Americas. He then became super
interested, wanted to learn more, and we gave him a BOM! It was one of the most
exciting, thrilling moments I have ever felt! And the gift of tongues is so
real too! I was able to talk a lot and bear my testimony, and that is a
miracle in itself! I just cannot wait to get to Piura and experience this every
day! I absolutely know it will be hard, but it is the most wonderful feeling
when you share this gospel with the world! I JUST LOVE THIS WORK!! If anyone is
doubting whether or not to go on a mission—don´t. I just love this gospel!
I don´t have a
lot of time left, but overall just know I love you and am doing great!! I
wouldn´t want to be anywhere else! And my mission scripture Alma 26:12 has been
a blessing every day!
Next email you
get, I will be a missionary in Piura!! So crazy!!! I love you all and you are
always in my prayers!
Grandpa J. - I
LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART!!! You are getting three fingers up, spelling I LOVE
YOU, from here in PERU.
XOXO – Hermana
Shumway
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