CHRISTMAS TIME IN TALARA

Shumway Crew,

First off … HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUSTIN AND DADDY!!! Hope it was the best!! I love you both!!!!!!

Well ... Christmas was just about the best day ever talking to the cutest family on planet earth. I MISS YOU GUYS … but want to thank you for all of the incredible support and love! McKay … you are my example with the mission prep you are doing with your pals! Keep it up and study and strengthen your testimony all you can! You will never regret it. And ... tell your pals to not question the mission, JUST DO IT! No matter where they are at in their life spiritually Heavenly Father needs them and loves them! Also, Em and Justin and Parks and Cass … you are just TOO CUTE!!! You guys kill me and I love you all! Chariton you are just always the sweetest guy on planet earth. I sure do love you and can’t wait to give you a big hug champ! Mom and Dad … I LOVE YOU BOTH … and thank you for helping us all get to where were are now in our lives. You are both pretty stinkin’ incredible!

I thought a lot about what you asked me during our call about something I learned or would have changed in these last six months and I think this phrase in my scriptures sums it up: You only regret the chances you didn't take. That couldn't be more true. Sometimes we are too scared to do something, or we don't feel ready ... but we should take chances and shoot for the challenges because those are the times we grow most. So what I what I learned these last few months is just that: TAKE MORE CHANCES! It is worth it.

So this Christmas time here in Talara was beautiful … and hot. Yes ... I prayed for snow but nothing happened. But it was fun being next to the beach! On Christmas Eve we went and sang in the main plaza of Talara. We had made matching skirts as hermanas and the elders matching ties. Turned out classy, right? We sang Christmas hymns, a special musical number of a compilation of catchy Christmas songs in English and Spanish, and contacted everyone that gathered around to watch! We received many references that night and found many new families! After our district got invited to a member's home to eat a typical Talara Christmas Dinner, which includes noodles, paneton (a huge round bread with fruit snacks in it), chicken, and you guessed it ... RICE. It was delicious! It is actually pretty sketchy this night so we made sure to get back at a decent hour. (9:30pm was the rule for all missionaries! My comp and I crashed (well more like I accidentally fell asleep as I sat down on my bed for a sec) when we got home and got a good night sleep prepping for Christmas day!

Christmas morning we woke up around 6:00am and headed to the beach as a district to have a gift exchange. We had a quick gift exchange ... I received nifty binoculars to see the beach better and bubbles and took some beautiful beach pics! Then we got back in time for our studies, 8:00am-9:00am personal study, 9:00am-10:00am comp study, and then had our weekly planning which filled up the rest of the morning. Then we ate lunch with our pencionista and went out to our lessons. No one was home which is pretty typical on Christmas … but we were able to contact many people in the street. Then we went to Skype with our families! Lights went out right when I got on but luckily they came back on a little bit later. It was so great seeing you all! Then we came home, planned, and went to bed.

And that sums up Christmas Eve and Christmas in the mission! It was fun and such a treasure being a representative of my Savior Jesus Christ during this time.

Also, we had our Leadership Counsel this last week. We learned a lot about faith and trusting that we can work miracles. It was wonderful being in a meeting with the zone leaders and President Rasmussen and his wife. They are all such examples to me and are such powerful missionaries.

Our Zone Meeting was also this last week. As Hermana Leaders we had the chance to teach a part of the meeting. We discussed the importance of setting goals and I testify of this principle! Wow ... it has helped me SO MUCH in my mission and overall in life. It gives you a vision and a goal you want to reach. Our Zone Leaders Elder Antonio and Elder Rojas also helped motivate us as a zone to not lose faith. It was a great meeting!

Our Branch here in Talara is hanging in there. Sadly, this last week it was the lowest church attendance they have seen in a long time. It might be because of the holidays because everyone travels, but my comp and I realized we need to step it up a notch! We are thinking of new activities, ideas, and ways to help this branch grow into a ward. It has been hard, and even stressful at times, but I hope to leave it better then I found it!

So far we have found one new investigator named Angelo. He is 15 years old and we found him knocking doors. He just casually let us in but now seems to really have interest in our message. His Dad was even secretly listening from the kitchen, so maybe we might start teaching the whole fam! You never know! But we will keep you updated on him!

Overall Talara is doing great! We are not seeing all the results we want right now but we aren’t letting that get us down. It is killing us that we don’t have many investigators but I know that if we are obedient and work hard we will see miracles.

I love this work! This was my second Christmas in the mission and I am set on staying for a third (just kidding Mom.). It is just the most incredible and rewarding work in the world ... even when it is hard. I love my Savior and I love wearing his name on my shirt every day.

I know this church is true and I know that Heavenly Father loves us all so incredibly much. Be good and do what's right! Here we come 2016!!!

XOXO, Hermana Shumway


It's Christmas!!! Me and Hermana Valencia

Caroling in the plaza as a zone ... we had these nifty skirts made for the hermanas and festive ties made for the elders

Selfie in the plaza

Christmas morning on the beach for our gift exchange

Breaking out the inner gangsta with my comp

Gorgeous view

So sweet to see this dear member family waiting to Skype their hermana serving in Colombia … made my heart so happy

Skyping with the family!!!

Just painting a house

Putting our gangsta faces on ... hahaha

Another pic of my beautiful comp Hermana Valencia and I

Mission Council with the President

Having fun taking pics ... I love all these missionaries so much!

Our district

District shadow selfies ... I love the beach!

Overlooking my beautiful city Talara

"El Cristo" that overlooks the valley

My foot next to "El Cristo"

On the viewing deck of "El Cristo"

Me and Hermana Valencia with "El Cristo"

The plaza

I met this little monkey who wanted to hold my hand

He was such a cutie

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM PERU!

Final call from the mission with Hermana Shumway. She is doing absolutely fantastic in Peru!!! As expected ... she is friends with everyone, finds joy in everything, loves her new Peruvian family, is incredibly happy, and shared with us that it is a privilege to be a disciple of Christ. We learned that she will be flying home to Utah on March 9. HUZZAH!!!

TRUDGING AROUND IN THE SAND ... I LOVE MY NEW AREA TALARA!!!

(EMAIL SENT DECEMBER 21, 2015)

Shumway Crew!

MERRY CHRISTMAS friends and fam! Cannot believe that this will be my last skype with you before I come home … time has flown by way too fast here! We are stoked for this incredible Christmas time because everyone has such a desire to hear more of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are contacting EVERYONE we meet, are sharing the video "Ha Nacido un Salvador", prepping for our Christmas Day caroling, and also on Christmas Eve night we are going to the Plaza or Centro here in Talara and singing songs as a zone! Should be a busy Christmas!!!

So you know you are new to an area when you don’t even spell the name right. I AM CURRENTLY IN TALARA ... with an “R”. Ha … sorry about that! But man I love this place. Every day I walk out and see the beach in the lower part of Talara. Many of our areas are covered in beach sand so we trudge around in the sand most of the day … AND I LOVE IT! We actually went to the beach today for our P-day and then played soccer along the shoreline.

Also, I failed to mention that I am an Hermana Lider (Sister Leader). I take care of about four companionships of hermanas in our mission, go on splits with them, help them in their areas, and work with the zone leaders and president to make sure we are all working efficiently as a mission! It is wonderful, but man I feel so inadequate. It is my turn to be an example and teach these incredible sisters about this marvelous work. I sure hope I do it right … but man it will be so fun too! This week we will have a leadership counsel with President and the other leaders. 

Well, I am still getting to know Talara! Our area is HUGE and at times I am not sure where I am at, but so far I love it! We are starting from scratch in this area because they left ALL of their investigators before I got here. It has been hard because so far we don’t have many investigators, but I know they will come! We are knocking A LOT of doors, which is fun because we get to share this message with many people. 

One of my first days here we found a cute family that had apparently listened to the missionaries some time ago. The kids are the most interested, a cute teen named Alma (15 years old) and her darling little brother Nahum (8 years old). Nahum is a little fireball that knows A LOT about Jesus Christ and is probably one of the most spiritual little kids I have met. He LOVES our message and wanted to come to church with his older sister this last week but they went out of town for the holidays. But we are excited to start teaching them. They are still newbies but they seem great! And they are so sweet and invited us to lunch right after the lesson. It shocked my comp because they never wanted to listen to us before. Looks like a miracle!

But overall, I am loving my area. Talara is beautiful and it is not as hot as my other areas which is heavenly. We are excited to share this incredible message with the people of Talara this week, and I know we will see miracles!

I hope you all have the most incredible Christmas! Share this message with everyone you know! It is so needed right now.

I know our Savior lived, died, and was resurrected for every one of us. I know he lives now, and loves us! I know this is his gospel, and it is the most incredible message in the world. It brings true happiness!

LOVE YOU ALL!! And MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Talk to you on the 25th!

XOXO, Hermana Shumway

PS – Dad a little kid thought you were a spy because you went to England for two years. Cute right? 

PSS – Sweet little Nahum said that the thing he hopes most for in his family is Noah’s Ark ... which doesn't make any sense. Love him!

I am so grateful to be serving here

Lots of pictures of our P-day on the beach … it is so beautiful here!!!

My heart will always be in Peru ...

Such a beautiful place

Another angle of the coastline

Pure happiness

Our zone

Missionary life is just the greatest!

Here is a picture of my room here in Talara

My new companion is awesome ... I love Hermana Valencia!!!

Having fun with the other missionaries

Picture with our President (in the back middle) and his cute wife (in the front in the aqua) during our leadership training

CHRISTMAS VIDEO FROM THE PERU PIURA MISSION

And even a little cameo from Hermana Shumway around 1:21 ... Merry Christmas!

https://vimeo.com/149403854

GOODBYE CHULUCANAS ... HELLO TALARA!

Shumway Crew!

MERRY EARLY CHRISTMAS from the Piura Mission! This last week our wonderful President and his wife threw a Christmas Party for the mission. It included the classic movie “It’s A Wonderful Life”, many classy and hilarious Christmas games, and a delicious Pollo a la Brasa. We all made Christmas ornaments for them and it was just a blast! We sure do love them. Also on the mission blog there are videos from us missionaries! Go and check them out! There are five in total videos and I am in one of them.

Well ... I got transferred and am currently in my new area. It’s called ... drum roll ... TALARA! Not sure if that’s how you spell it but it is right on the coast by the beach. It is a cute town about two hours out of Piura and I love it already. My darling new comp is Hermana Valencia. She is from Lima and will end her mission this transfer. She is my pal who has been in many pics throughout my mission. I will take a pic and send it to you next week. And if you can even believe it ... I end my mission the transfer after her. ONLY TWO TRANSFERS LEFT!!! This is going way too fast ... it’s heartbreaking ...

And leaving my last area was probably the hardest thing I have ever done. But I want to let you a few of the blessings and sweet moments this last week. To start, 80+ people came to church this last week. That is the highest church attendance I have seen in my entire six months in Chulucanas. It was a miracle, and many were less actives that finally returned to church. I honestly could not believe it! Some of the people who came included Hermana Carola, the kids of Familia Febres (the ones we made a Christmas tree with), Danuzka (a 13 year old less-active that decided to come to church alone, because her family didn’t want to come), and my convert Leandro and his darling family. I wanted to tear up. We took a big pic of the branch. Also I gave a talk about "Being A Disciple of Christ" as my final goodbye. My comp and I then sang a mix of Christmas hymns, starting with "Cantan Santos Angeles" (I FORGOT THE NAME IN ENGLISH ... sorry!), then "Oh Come All Ye Faithful", and ended with "Silent Night". It was a great way to finish off all my adventures in Chulucanas. Later that night I said my final goodbyes and we just all cried. It was most difficult saying goodbye to my convert Leandro. He has come leaps and bounds from when I first met him six months ago. He is now a faithful member of the church that has a goal to be sealed for time and all eternity to his wife next August. I am sure going to miss this Chulucanas Crew.

Also, we celebrated an early Christmas before I left. Stopping by many members homes and giving them a small present from the missionaries. One of the most special experiences was bringing presents to Family Febres and their kids. Wenefel, Jairo, and Eileen were jumping up and down as they waited for the presents. They will not be receiving presents this year due to financial problems and we surprised them with a few Christmas decorations and some presents! We bought two soccer jerseys for the boys and dolls for sweet Eileen. It made me want to cry with how overjoyed they were to open up the one present they got. This family has taught me many things over these months and I will sure miss them.

And the Noche Blanca was this last week too. Sadly, we were not able to bring anyone to be baptized. It was heartbreaking ... but we went to support the other missionaries. And was I in for the biggest surprise. Three people ... THREE ... that I had taught in Los Algarrobos got baptized this day: (1) Diana, a sweet little girl that has wanted to get baptized for a long time, (2) Zoila, someone who has truly applied the atonement in her life to get baptized, and (3) Christian, whose wife has always wanted for her husband to get baptized. I sent you a pic with a few of them. Honestly, I could not believe it and it just made me feel so much love for this work. This work is done in the Lord’s time and what a joy it was to see those I have taught get baptized!

It was a great week ... and we even found a new family this past week! Guillermo and Liliana have been married for many years and Guillermo has always had a drinking problem. It is his addiction and he feels he has tried everything and cannot give it up. We shared with him that everything is possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. No matter how far down the road we are our Savior provided us a way out. He is so willing to learn more and wants to change. It was an incredible first lesson and honestly it was a miracle he even opened up to us so fast. I think the sweetest part was when he said the final prayer and he started to cry. Afterwards he told us he has never felt that way before and we promised him that this is what he needs.

Our other investigators are hanging in there. We have challenged many of them to baptism but so far everyone has said no. Even though I won’t be there to help them feel the truth of this message, I know that a seed was planted, and someday they will know it is true!

Overall I am excited to be in my new area. Man I am going to miss mi familia de Chulucanas. A lot of tears were shed these last few days but I am excited to take everything I learned in Chulu and help the people of Talara! I only have two transfers left of this ... and it goes by so fast!!

I LOVE THIS WORK!!! Love you all so much ... and have a wonderful Christmas!

ALWAYS choose and stand for the right!!!

XOXO, Hermana Shumway


Me and the cutest comp on planet earth

We made our own snowman ... hahaha

Our dinner as a mission to celebrate Christmas

Everything was so delicious!

Merry Christmas from two defenders of truth

Our President is awesome!

Photo op with the President and his wife ... I am so fortunate to serve with them

We had a white elephant gift exchange as a district ... my gift for someone was chicken feet

It was so much fun

Only in Peru can you give such awesome gifts like this ... I love this place!

Noche Blanca

My beautiful surprise ... it was so wonderful!

These little kids are all my bestest buddies

  
My Chulucanas friends are just the greatest

The family – these sisters are MY OFFICIAL SISTERS!!! Their Mom got baptized in the Noche Blanca too! I am going to miss all of them so much!

Oh how I love them!

They will always be my lifelong friends

My heart will always be in Peru with the people I love

Oh man ... I am going to miss them so much

They have forever changed me and have shown me the most incredible love

My comp and I trying to be awkward but cute

Hahaha … we crack ourselves up more than anything

My convert Leandro and Andrea who we rescued and brought back to church

This is my miracle family

What am I going to do without them? I LOVE THEM!!!

Merry Christmas for my sweet Familia Febres

We bought them Christmas presents because we found out they weren't going to receive any this year

New soccer jerseys and dolls ... they were so incredibly excited and it was the cutest thing. This is what Christmas is all about ... such a special time of year!