TEACHING, REJECTION, AND TOTAL HAPPINESS

(EMAIL SENT JANUARY 19, 2015)

Hey Fam!!!

Oh my heavens, this week has flown by. We have been busy, busy, busy but it has been so great!! 

Gee Whiz Facts:

1. My comp is learning English. Here are some great quotes from the week:

     " I am immersion in water."  - She spilled water on herself

     " Que arriba, hombre." - Her version of What’s up in Spanish

2. A little kid in our ward drew a pic of Hna. Fernandez and I before Hna. Fernandez left for her new area. It ended up with me being a huge giant, and a tiny baby Hna. Fernandez. Yup, that explains me here, A GIANT.

3. I am in love with alfajores (I hope I spelled that right). If you dont know what that is, look it up and make it. They are Mmmm, mmm, good.

Sounds like you are all doing superb!! Mom and Dad I love you to pieces, thank you for your emails!!! Tell Grandpa Shumway I say Happy Birthday!! And Brothers and Fam - thank you for the little notes!! MADE MY DAY!! I love you all to the moon and back! Hope you are all doing superb!

So to start, we have three investigators with baptismal dates! Cosme, Miguel, and Sergio. Cosme is our new investigator, and boy is he incredible. He has a lot of questions, and many doubts, but he is so willing to learn. We had a lesson early this week with him, and his friend who is a member, and it did not go too great. We were all over the place, and he had a lot of questions and overall the spirit was not there. But we scheduled another lesson. We prayed really hard that he would feel the spirit and feel that it is true, and the truth is we went into the lesson pretty nervous because we had planned to challenge him to baptism. So the lesson started (we were teaching about the Restoration) and it started out okay. But then we got to the part about Joseph Smiths experience in the Sacred Grove. My comp explained the basic details of Joseph Smith (14 years old, had a question, went into the woods to pray, etc.) and then looked at me to say what Joseph Smith wrote about this moment (I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head...). It had been a long time since I had said it in Spanish, and so I seriously thought I would forget it. But it was incredible. Amazingly I said it all correctly, looking at Cosme straight in the eyes, hoping he would feel it is true. After my comp and I both testified of that experience in the Sacred Grove and of Joseph Smith ... Cosme started to cry. I seriously have never felt the spirit so strong in my entire life. It was amazing. We then testified of the Book of Mormon, challenged him to baptism (worried he would say no) and he said, YES. It was incredible. So now he has a baptismal date for 28 of Feb. We are thrilled and I hope he continues to desire to learn more! We seriously feel so blessed to have three people that are preparing to be baptized. I know that sacred covenant will be such a blessing in their lives, and we cannot wait for February. Miguel continues to progress and is so great. Sergio has had a few family problems lately and is struggling a little but wants to learn more. But overall we feel very blessed, and so excited!

Right now we are trying to learn about our new area in San Ramon. This week we visited a lot of less actives, and have received a lot of help from the ward too. But we decided the other day that we wanted to find new investigators in that area. So we knocked on SO MANY doors, preaching this incredible gospel, and the truth is we were rejected ... A LOT. But, we found a few new incredible investigators. One is called Diego. He is 20 years old, is catholic, but his uncle and aunt are members. He is studying in a catholic school right now, but wants to learn more about our religion. We have a lesson scheduled with him later this week! We are super excited! We have a few other lesson scheduled with other new investigators and I will let you know how it goes next week!

Overall we are doing superb. I love my comp, she is hilarious and loves to work hard. We have a goal to talk to 150 people this week. And we absolutely are going to do it!!!

My counsel for the week is to read the Book of Mormon EVERY DAY. I have grown to absolutely love that book. We can always learn something new and be uplifted! I KNOW that book is true, and I love testifying of it. 

It is burning hot here right now, every day is a new adventure and workout, and I have grown to LOVE drinking water. Ha, I seriously have never felt so happy in my entire life!!!

I love you all SO MUCH!!! Keep doing what’s right. Trust in your Heavenly Father. And look for opportunities to serve and share this amazing message with the world. 

You are always in my prayers!!!

XOXO - Hna. Shumway

Sending my love to all of you!!! (especially Grandpa Johnson - three fingers up from Peru)

Me and my new companion Hermana Salamanca ... she is so great!

And yes ... we work hard and play hard

Sending love to the Ashton Family ... thank you for the Christmas goodies!

NEW COMP, LEADING MY AREA, AND PACKAGES FROM HOME

(EMAIL SENT JANUARY 12, 2015)

FAM!!! 

GEE WHIZ FACTS of the Week:

1. In a lesson this past week with Cesar I offered to say the opening prayer to the lesson. I said the prayer, and after Cesar looked to my comp and said, "I could understand it this time." WOOT WOOT! But the only thing is, he couldn´t understand the hundreds of prayers I have said before?... Oh no.

2. We visited a family this past week, who were investigators in the past. We wanted to check up to see how they were doing, and as we were sitting down in their house talking to the daughter and wife, the dad walks in. And he was drunk. We didn´t know this at first, but we found it out as the following phrases were said: My comp looks like some animal from the amazon, he told us we are not just kind but the most beautiful people he has ever seen, and every fact possible about mangos. Yup, we won´t be passing by their house anymore...

3. There is a man who pushes his carts of fresh fruits around our area every morning yelling out the names of the fruits. To this day I have no idea what fruits he is selling, but I thought that was pretty cool. 

4. I once again saw chicken feet. But they were being sold in the market today...  

Alrighty so we had cambios this week!!! AND... I am staying in this area! My incredible comp Hna. Fernandez is leaving to go serve in Sullana and my new comp is called Hna. Salamanca! She is hilarious, and is just so great! She is also from Chile. I will send you a photo next week of her and I!

But the even BIGGER news, is I now have a bigger (that is an understatement) AREA! What happened is they closed the area down of the Elders, I don´t know why, and the Elders were transferred to different areas. The area of the Elders is HUGE, and I am now in charge of their area, and also the area I had before. This is going to be a little bit of a challenge. To start, I have to help my comp learn about our area, while learning how to navigate in this new area, and balance the investigators and families we have now with the investigators and families of this other area. Oh baby, this is going to be a workout, but I have always liked to take on hard things, so BRING IT ON!! I can do this!! But if you have a chance, please say a little prayer for me here and there, I´m going to need it :)

Also this week we have two investigators with a baptismal date!!! The first is Miguel Vegas, who is the friend of a less active we are teaching. He is so incredible and has progressed so much! The other is Sergio Chirito. I don´t know if I have written about him in the past but he has a little girl, and is also a friend of another less active, Cesar Mio. They were both references and are now preparing to be baptized. I hope and pray that they will continue to progress and prepare for such an incredible day! They are both so wonderful and I know that the church we be such an blessing in their lives. For now they are happy and excited to learn more, and it literally is a miracle we found them!

We aren´t teaching Licet and her Mom anymore. They asked if we could give them a break for a little bit, because too many things are happening in their life. The same thing happened with Family Montinegro. This was really hard for my comp and me, but we are going to keep in touch, and I hope that someday they will accept this gospel!

Overall, we had a week full of things. A Zone Conference, new comps, new investigators, and I am now leading my area!

These next few weeks are going to a challenge, but my new comp and I know that if we are obedient, diligent, and trust in the Lord, we can do it!! 

I love you all and keep being incredible and choosing the right!! Everyday is an opportunity to learn and be better then the day before! I know this gospel is true and I will forever be grateful for the support you all give me! LOVE YOU!!

XOXO - Hna. Shumway

P.S. Oh and I GOT YOUR PACKAGE!!! Thank you thank you thank you!!! Oh my heavens, I love you ASHTON FAM, and I cannot even tell you how much I miss you!!! Thank you for the chocolates, they were just what I needed! Mom, I LOVE THE PJS and the See´s Candy, oh my heavens, THANK YOU!!! Oh and tell the Sjoquists I got their letter too and thank you so much!!!

Picture of my district ... they are all so great!

 Elder Lucas, me, Hermana Fernandez and Elder Garcia

We take our calling seriously ... :)

HEAT, BROKEN TOES, AND A TEMPLE DEDICATION

(EMAIL SENT JANUARY 5, 2015)

FAMMMMM! 

Happy New Years!!!! So crazy that we are in 2015! A tradition here in Piura is to stay up almost all night dancing and launching fireworks! I learned about this tradition as I was happily sleeping in my room, when all of a sudden I heard a huge boom, looked out my window and saw fireworks going off EVERYWHERE at midnight (and all the way until 6 in the morning when I woke up)!! It was incredible! I have to admit I just about had a heart attack when they first went off and I may or may not have slept at all that night, but hey it is an experience I will never forget. 

So Gee Whiz Facts of the Week:

1. I think I broke two toes today (Sorry Mom and Dad) playing Soccer with our District. But have no fear, I am walking and it will heal in about a week, right?

2. Typical Food Day for Me - I eat Oatmeal for Breakfast and Yogurt and Granola for Dinner. With a huge Lunch in between with our pencionista! And then mangos throughout the day!

3. Cool Fact: Apparently in February it is the hottest time of the year in Piura. So the tradition is for people to throw water balloons at you while you are walking in the street. 

So here is the story of this week. To start we had another intercambio with the sister leaders (it is like what I did with Hermana Cardon). And my Sister Leader was Hermana Gozan. She is from Honduras San Pedro Sula (JUSTIN!!!), has 13 months in the mission, and she is incredible! It was great for me, because she didn´t know hardly any English, so it was great practice for my Spanish! Honestly, I have never seen a missionary that could testify with so much power. It was incredible seeing her share her testimony and literally helping every person understand that our message has so much importance! Oh man, she is just so wonderful. It was so great! And she could understand me too! WOOHOO!

Also, CESAR MIO came to church this week!!! Oh my heavens, it was a miracle! He is a new convert from earlier this year that didn´t want to come to church because he didn´t have church clothes. We have asked him over and over again, and he finally came! It was the best feeling walking into the congregation and what do you know, Cesar is sitting in the congregation!  We were thrilled! We hope and pray that he will continue to come! 

Also we have two new investigators! Their names our Miguel and Sergio. Both are references of less actives. Sergio lives with his parents and daughter. He is so interested in our message and wants to do all he can to have a happy life for his daughter! We have only had a few lessons with him but he is so willing to learn more about our message!! And this week we set a baptismal date for him for Valentine’s Day. We felt we needed to say it in the first lesson and he accepted! We hope he continues to feel the truth of our message, and will feel ready on this date, but overall we are thrilled for him!  Miguel lives with his parents and has so many questions about our religion. But after we answer his questions he always says something about how "that makes so much sense"! He is excited to learn more and we can´t wait to see where it goes!

So I have so GREAT NEWS!!! Our stake gets to participate in the dedication of the Temple in Trujillo in March! All of the youth are going to present some type of traditional dance for the authority that will come, and everyone says that the Prophet is planning on coming! Not sure if that is true, but isn´t that so wonderful!! Also the dedication will be broadcast in the stake center, so we all get to watch the temple being dedicated! I seriously need to work hard to learn this language so I can understand the dedication! But it is such an incredible experience for these people!! They now will have a temple that is only about seven hours away, and I have never seen so many members so overwhelmed with joy! This is such a blessing and it is incredible and we all can’t wait!

Overall, we keep on pushing on and I am excited for a new week! Every day I love these people more and more and it is incredible being able to share the gospel with them! A typical day for me involves blisters, dust in my hair, and rosy red cheeks but it is all so worth it! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! Thank you all for your support!!

Make every day better than the day before!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

XOXO - Hermana CHUMway

P.S. PARKER AND CASS - You are adorable!!! Keep the pics coming, holy toledo I love them!

P.S. SO HAPPY you got my letters! I hope they made sense. I wrote them super quick but I just wanted you all to know I love you!