FAMILY, CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

FAMILY!!!

This past week was so incredible!!! And can I just say that talking to you guys was absolute heaven!! I miss you all to pieces but am so happy to see you all are doing so great! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!!!

Gee Whiz Facts of the Week:

1. Oh boy … so this week, during a lesson with an investigator family, we asked to finish the lesson with a prayer. We asked the investigator if they would say it, and I couldn't hear the response, but the investigator was looking at me and talking, so I thought we were just having a normal conversation. So I just kept smiling and nodding my head at them (a typical conversation) and then all of a sudden they said Amen. Yup, they had been saying the prayer the whole time and I had been smiling and nodding my head to every word of their prayer.

2. I ate the sticker on an apple ... woops!

3. My companion was robbed in the markado (a bunch of outdoor stores all squished together)

4. It is Summer here in Piura right now … and burning hot!

So we had a great events for Christmas this week!!

1. We got to sing in a park called Plaza de Almas as a Zone! It was on Christmas Eve and there were so many people!!! We sang a bunch of Christmas hymns and then finished it with a bang singing Feliz Navidad and I Wanna Wish You a Merry Christmas! It was just great! 

2. With some ward members, we went to the house of the father who has the sick son, and the ward members gave him a priesthood blessing! It was such an incredible experience and you have to remember that this is an investigator family! We haven’t even really taught them yet, but the father had so much faith that the priesthood blessing would help his son! Such an incredible experience!

3. An investigator family invited us to eat Christmas Dinner with them. But the tradition here is to eat a huge meal at midnight on Christmas Eve … ssooooo we couldn’t eat with them. But we stopped by to wish them a Merry Christmas and I sent you a pic of the meat they had!! SOOOO MUCH MEAT!

Also, we have new investigators! It’s great because they are references from less actives so hopefully they can help us with their friends and accompany us to the lessons! We have contacted of few of the references and they are so excited to learn more. WE LOVE REFERENCES!!!

Honestly I just have to say that I loved being able to preach the gospel during Christmas. Man, it was hard being away from my family and from the snow (it is so hot here), but I feel so blessed to be able to share the message of our Savior with the people of Piura. So many people wanted to listen to our message this week. It was AMAZING!!! It is like all of their hearts opened up and they wanted so badly to hear about Christ and what he did for us. I love my Savior, and to be able to testify of him to the people of Piura is an experience I am never going to regret!

A missionary friend mentioned something that her mission is doing for the new year. All the missionaries are taking to the time to write a letter to Christ. What an incredible idea. Give it a try! 

I wish you all the happiest New Year’s and cannot thank you enough for your support! Make 2015 a year to remember! Do a little more for your neighbor, share the gospel, and change bad habits to good. We are so blessed to have this glorious gospel! Make every day a good one and have no regrets!

I love you all and thank you all for your support!!!

XOXO – Hermana Shumway

The pic is a little blurry ... but hopefully you can see all that delicious meat!

Carlita (our darling investigator who so badly wants to get baptized ... hopefully soon) with her parents - they are the family who cooked the incredible meat in the picture above and invited us to their Christmas Eve feast!

Some snapshots at our Zone Christmas Party

And ... another snapshot

Caroling in the park - saw two of our less actives Grecia and Gustavo (in a BYU Idaho shirt all the way down in Piura)

Our Christmas Eve caroling as a zone ... so fun!

A little festive fun for our study area

Today we had an epic water fight with another zone ... it was so much fun!!! (The pic is of just my zone)

My most favorite, heavenly meal ... Lomo Saltado! YUMMY!!!

MIRACLES, MORE MIRACLES, AND THE WARD CHRISTMAS PARTY

(EMAIL SENT DECEMBER 23, 2014)

Family!!!

Oh my heavens, I cannot even believe that I get to talk to you guys in two days! Holy toledo ... I am so excited!!! And it sounds like you guys are doing so great!!! Love you all and have the greatest Christmas!

This week was a week of miracles!

Miracle number one - A few days ago we had Lunch with the Bishop. We asked if he had any references for us that we could contact during the week and he gave us a family. After one of our citas with an investigator, we were walking to our next cita and remembered that we needed to contact this friend of the bishop. We decided to pass by really quick before our next cita and we were walking down the street and an person we had contacted in the street about a month ago stopped us and begged for help. He broke into tears, and told us he needed God. He told us his son was diagnosed with a rare disease and the family was heart-broken and didn't know what they were going to do. He asked if we would just come in and say a prayer for the family to help them! We walked in and about 20 members of this family were sitting together crying and mourning for this sweet 12 year old boy. My comp and I said a kneeling prayer with the family and shared a little about the plan of our Heavenly Father. We sang Silent Night, and the father asked us if we could stop by their son in the hospital and offer a blessing. We said that we would ask members of the ward to offer it and we will be visiting them this Christmas. This was an absolute miracle for us. When we had contacted this Dad, he did not want to talk to us and literally had no interest at all. But in this moment he had so much faith and such a desire for our Heavenly Father. The spirit was so strong during the kneeling prayer and the family couldn't stop thanking us. This is just such a miracle that this even happened because honestly, without the reference of the bishop, and our random desire to pass by and visit the friend, this experience would never had happened. Everything happens for a reason and I know without a doubt that Heavenly Father is guiding this work. This family would like us to visit again, and are possibly future members of the church! What a miracle!!

Miracle number 2 - 12 investigators came to our Ward Christmas Party!! 12!!!!

Miracle number 3 - Walter Romani came to church! This is an investigator that we have been praying and fasting would come to church! He always gives us excuses, but this last Sunday, he showed up with his daughter! A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!!!

This week we also got to sing in the mall with two zones of the mission (about 35 missionaries)! It was so much fun!!! We had a special musical number where a few of us missionaries sang in English and Spanish! It was just so great and President came with his family too!!

Also, we had our Ward Christmas Party and that was so wonderful too! A tradition here in Peru is to eat Paneton (like bread with fruit snacks in it - so weird but amazingly so delicious) and Chocolatada (like hot chocolate) and we did that as a ward! We also had Santa Claus and a bunch of activities and a program of the birth of Christ! I just love the members! Overall we are busy and enjoying this wonderful time of Christmas here in burning hot Piura! I love it!!

I am so grateful to have this time to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. I know that he lives. I know that he is our Savior and Redeemer. I love my Savior with all my heart and I hope we can all remember him this Christmas and that he is the greatest gift of all. I hope we can all think of what we can give to him in return this Christmas whether it be an act of service, love to others, or sharing the gospel! I love this gospel and I love being a missionary!!

Thank you all for your support and prayers!! Have an incredible Christmas!!

Hermana Shumway

Sorry my letter is so short this week!! I will tell you more in two days!! LOVE YOU FAM!!!

Tell the Saffells and Wrights thank you for their letters!!!

Hermana Fernandez and I with two of the awesome missionaries (dressed up as two of the Wise Men) in our zone - Elder Lucas and Elder Garcia

The ward members recreating the Nativity ... it was so incredible!

Our zone with Presidente Rowley and his wife

Having some fun with the elders in our district

My comp and I with Presidente Rowley and his sweet wife

Holy hannah ... eating this frozen yogurt was like a little bit of heaven!

Total happiness eating this delicious creation!

FISH BONES, SPIDERS, AND PRIESTHOOD BLESSINGS

(EMAIL SENT DECEMBER 15, 2014)

Familia!!!

Sounds like you are all doing so great!

This Week’s Gee Whiz Facts:

1. We ate some delicious fish with a member family earlier this week, and by the time we all finished the meal, I looked around at everyone else’s plate and say they all had piles of bones. Looked down at mine and realized I had none. Woops! Pray for me.

2. Was teaching a less active family about the BOM, and the mom was doing great with her reading recently. We asked her if she had any questions and she said, "Oh, I don’t understand any of it, but everyone should read it, it’s great!" For some reason that was so funny to me! We love their family!

3. Primary Program was this past week. SO CUTE! Didn't understand it, but it was still so adorable!!!

But I seriously feel like this week has flown by!!! And in T-minus one week and a half I will be talking with you guys over Skype!! SO crazy! I cannot wait! So I have some incredible news! My sunburn has healed completely! And that is a miracle. So mom you remember that one time I got super burnt after skiing and had blisters all over my face. Yup, that was Tuesday morning (Sorry parents, SUNBLOCK is now a every day thing, I PROMISE)! But my face was in so much pain, I couldn't sleep, and I didn't know what to do medicine wise because everything is in Spanish and I couldn't understand the instructions. So … I decided to ask for a priesthood blessing. That night the elders in our ward came over and gave me a wonderful blessing ... and it was a miracle!!! The next morning, the blisters were almost completely gone and I felt almost no pain in my face. Priesthood blessings are so real. After a couple of days my face was back to normal, and after many cold showers I feel great now! I can absolutely testify of the power of priesthood blessings. It was such a blessing that the burn healed that quickly and I just feel so blessed to have the priesthood.

Also, we had another service project this week. We cleaned a house which is actually their chapel in different area. It hadn’t been used in a couple months, so the scary news is I think there were at least a kajillion spiders ... big ones ... inside (have no fear, I didn't know how to say spider in Spanish so I didn't scream a lot when I saw one, because in reality, I didn't know what to do) but it was so much fun to clean it with my zone (I sent a pic)! 

Currently, we have no new investigators but our current ones have been making so much progress!!! Licet and her mom are still taking lessons, and her mom said that when she feels something, she will join the church. We ask her every time if she has prayed about our message and the Book of Mormon, and she says no. We are praying that she will do that and feel the spirit because once she knows the Book of Mormon is true, everything else is true!! That is such an important step! So keep her in your prayers that she will feel the spirit from our lessons and will pray to know if what we are teaching is true! 

Also Family Montinegro is our current investigator family! They are incredible and have so many questions! But that is so great, because they have such a desire to know if what we are teaching is truly the truth. We have a lesson with the tonight, and we are teaching them the Restoration! We hope and pray that they will feel the spirit, and understand how much happiness the gospel brings! They are such an incredible family, and mom, the kids LOVE the stickers you sent with me! They are just so great and we can’t wait to see where it goes in the future!

Oh and yesterday we had a meeting with our Area President! He is the presiding authority over many Latin countries and we had a huge multi-zone meeting with him with the wards and missionaries. It was incredible!! And the crazy part was he randomly called up our bishop (out of like 15 different wards) to come and share about his ward council. AND THEN … he called up all of the ward council members, INCLUDING the missionaries! So my comp and I, and the other elders in our ward walked up in front of everyone and our bishop shared our progress as a ward council. Oh man, my heart was POUNDING!! We all joked that if they asked for a missionary to speak, I would do it, because I don’t know Spanish so it would be more entertaining! Hahaha – it was so crazy, but I didn't have to end up speaking! But it was great to share our experiences as a ward with the different zones. 

Overall, I am doing great and very busy!! Every day is exhausting but so amazing! I love this work! I know I say that all the time, but I have felt so much joy from being a missionary!!! Right now I am trying to finish the Book of Mormon before the end of the year and am currently in the end of Alma reading about Moroni and his incredible testimony and power as a leader. I love the Book of Mormon and I challenge all of you to read that every day and cherish that time. We are so blessed to have that incredible book.

I love you all and hope you have the greatest Christmas in a week and a half! Do what’s right and no regrets!! 

XOXO – Hermana CHUMway

Cleaning the dirt and grime from the chapel ... and Spider Armageddon!

Holding hands with the nutcracker in front of the local mall

CHICKEN FEET, MY FIRST BAPTISM, AND SERVING IN THE SUN

This week I thought I would start with some Gee Whiz Facts:

1. I saw chicken feet lying on the street the other day

2. I accidentally told someone I was sick in the mind, meaning to tell them I was feeling sick (woops!)

3. One of our investigators thought that Dia de Reposo (Day of Rest - Sunday) was our P-day

4. I love Piura!

So to start … WE HAD A BAPTISM!!! It was our sweet investigator Jorge! My first baptism and it honestly was absolutely perfect. He was so nervous, but after the baptism he just had so much peace and couldn't stop smiling. We are so thrilled for him. I sent you some pics of that day!

To answer your questions from the past few weeks, we have two investigator families and about four other investigators. We actually had a miracle this last week with one investigator family. So as you know, we are teaching English classes and a family that we contacted in the street a few weeks back has been attending the class every week. But you have to know that this family is not taking lessons about the gospel because they said they are strong Catholics and don’t want anything to do with another religion ... only English classes. So this past Sunday, during a typical Sacrament Meeting, as we are singing a hymn, this family … AMAZINGLY … walks into the chapel and come and sit down by us. It was INCREDIBLE! They said that is was just because their daughter wanted to be with her friends (who are members) and that they would only stay for a little bit. They ended up staying for all the classes AND in Relief Society the Mom offered to bring two milks to our Ward Christmas Devotional. It was so CRAZY!!! We did not think they would ever listen to our message, let alone come to church, but we have a cita with them today (teaching the Restoration) and they can't wait to come to church the next week. It is a miracle! So they are a new investigator family. 

Also, this past week, my comp was so sick and literally could not talk ... which meant I had to teach all the lessons! It was a week I will always remember and amazingly I was able to do it! I have no idea if the people understood anything I was saying, but hey, it was a great experience!!

The sad news of this week  is that I am a RED TOMATO. Literally. Yesterday, the reason I couldn't write is because we had a service project in the morning. My comp and I had no idea what we were doing and, assuming we were going to clean the capilla, we didn't wear sunscreen. SUCH A BAD IDEA. We ended up cleaning an entire street that had so much trash for five hours in the SUN! Mom and Dad, I am going to have cancer when I’m older. I always wear sunscreen, but this day of course I didn't think to wear it. But have no fear, we pray for our skin in every companionship prayer and we will be A-Okay in about a week. But oh my heavens, I wish they had told us that we would be outside for five hours. All of the missionaries are SO RED right now! But it's all good!

Overall, I am doing so great and my Spanish is coming along! Like I said, it is really hard to be away from home right now. But, it has been such a blessing to focus so much more on my Savior, and share his incredible story every day. We have seen incredible things happen and so many more people that are willing to listen! I love being a missionary and I feel so blessed to have so much support from all of you!!! Have the greatest Christmas and remember what should be our main focus. The birth of our Savior was the greatest gift to the world, and I cannot tell you how grateful I am for that gift! I love this gospel, I love all of you ... so keep being incredible and do what's right!

XOXO – Hermana Shumway

Our Christmas Tree complete with decorations we made ... THANKS FAMILY ... WE LOVE IT!

My companion, Jorge's Mom, Jorge, Jorge's Dad and me ... BEST DAY E-V-A-H!

Some more pictures of the yummy food here in Piura

The day I became a red tomato

THANKSGIVING, TEACHING, AND LOVING LIFE AS A MISSIONARY

Family!!! 

I hope you are all doing so great!!! Happy Thanksgiving! Ha - I hope you ate SO MUCH delicious food!! Oh and can you let the Ashton's know that I received their darling card of sweet baby Benson (hopefully I spelled that right!!)! What a treat that was! Tell them I love them so much and miss their family, and that the picture made my day! Oh and I sent a card home with Hermana Cardon for you guys! Hopefully you will get it around Christmas!

So this past week had its up and downs! We didn't have the baptism this week. :( Jorge got a little scared and decided last minute that he wanted to move it to a different week. This was so hard to hear for my comp and I! We were so excited for him to be baptized and become of member of this incredible church, but we know that everything happens for a reason and that hopefully this week he feels more comfortable! He is so incredible, and he knows the church is true. We have moved the date so hopefully he feels more comfortable by then! Please keep him in your prayers! There is so much joy in the gospel and want him to feel that and be apart of that!

We have a sweet 14 year old named Lizet that we are teaching! She is the investigator that gave us a lot of references and approached us in the street wanting to hear about the gospel. She is so wonderful and I think one of the sweetest people I have ever met! We LOVE HER!!! She and her mom are taking the lessons and they have been so receptive and willing to learn more. Lizet has been coming to church with us the past few Sundays, but we really want her mom to come too! So hopefully this next week we can get her to come! We feel so blessed to be able to teach them though, they are great!

We also are teaching Family Ramonì! They are wonderful, and we love them so much!! The only hard part is they haven't come to church yet. Every time we teach them they say they feel so much joy and they feel the spirit, but they don´t understand the importance of going to church. So we hope that they might surprise us one of these Sundays and be sitting in the congregation ... but for right now the lessons have been going so wonderful with them! 

Overall, we have had a great week! The only hard part is many of our less actives don´t want to come to church! But we know that we can´t give up on them, and are working hard to help them feel the desire to come! 

I love being a missionary! This church is true, and I can´t even express how much I love being a member of this church! So much joy comes from the gospel!! I wish I could say it was easy being a missionary, but that wouldn't be true. But what makes it worth it is seeing how people find so much joy when they hear our message! They change their lives, and desire to do whats right, all because they want to feel the peace and love that comes from this church! Thank you so much for your support and prayers! They mean the world to me and I love you all so much! Always do what´s right and be willing to share your testimony! I can promise you that there is always someone that needs to hear what you have to say in you share it!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Love Hermana CHUMway!

Me with the other elders who all started our mission together - first cambio down!

Celebrating my comp's birthday

My comp holding the birthday letter I wrote in Spanish ... she could understand most of it

Picture 1 of the yummy food our pencionista makes for us

Picture 2 of the yummy food ... so good

Picture 3 ... everything she makes is amazing

 Taking a break with funny faces