THE FINAL COUNTDOWN ... THREE WEEKS UNTIL LA NOCHE BLANCA

Shumway Crew!

It is always the best hearing from you sweet people. First off, I just want to tell you all that FHE with the Ashton Family looked like a hoot! Those cute little guys are getting so big, and man, your dodgeball war looked pretty epic! And all of my Darling Shumway Crew … I LOVE YOU ALL!!

We are doing wonderful here in Chulucanas. The people sit outside enjoying their delicious mangoes every day ... the sun is FLAMING ... and our legs are covered in dust every day. I heard you got some snow … would you mind sending me a few flakes? But really … all is great here in the land of Chulucanas.

Gee-Whiz Facts of the Week:

1. Because it’s mango season ... and without fail ... when we knock doors from 6:00pm-8:00pm ... we receive a mango from someone. They might not want to listen to us but they are willing to give a mango! The people here are so sweet!

2. I had a cold this week. Ugh.

3. We made cookie dough together this week … just bringing a little bit of America here to Chulu.

This week was another energy-filled, happy week! Me and my comp are just so happy all day long and many people are a little shocked by it at times. I LOVE MY COMP!!! She is a superstar and we are just working hard and coming home whipped. This week we did a lot of following up with our investigators.

Raul is struggling a little. He has not come to church, and is praying for answer and says he doesn’t feel anything. Is reading his Libro de Mormon but doesn’t know what to think at this point. Pray that he gets an answer because we need a miracle at this point!

Orieta is probably the sweetest person ever. We showed up to her house for our lesson and she had the seats all set up and ready for us. We gave her a Libro de Mormon and she is ready and excited to read it. She believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet, but it is just hard to accept a different religion in her life. And she didn’t come to church either.

Merliy and Fernando and the WHOLE Crisanto FAMILY. Yup! We are now teaching many of the family members. They are the ones that came to the Noche Misional. They liked it so much that they had plans to come to church the following Sunday, but never came. But the great part is we are now teaching his parents and they are ready to be baptized. They listened before to missionaries, but stopped because he had many health problems. Now he is a lot better, and they are realizing that they need this message in their family. Their names are Paula and Fernando. So now it’s a family thing!

Reina and her family are struggling at this point. They have not been keeping up with their commitments and have never come to church. In fact none of our investigators have come to church. We are teaching great people that love what we share, but then no one comes to church. And to get baptized, the investigators have to come to church at least three times. This is our challenge in this area. We have fasted the last two Sundays for this, and so far we have no one. And now we are down to the final three Sundays before the NOCHE BLANCA, meaning … if no one comes to church next week then we won’t be baptizing anyone for this incredible night. It is a little stressful but we are not losing faith.

Each day as we leave our apartment we tap our White Christmas sign that is above our door and we are trusting that if we do our part Heavenly Father will help us. To help us not lose faith we share a miracle with each that day in our nightly planning. Every day we see miracles and most of the time we don’t recognize them … so we are looking for the miracles E-V-E-R-Y D-A-Y!

We also had Zone Meeting this week to help motivate us to keep on working hard. I know that the leaders of the mission are so inspired. And I know that the leaders of this church are inspired. It is an incredible work.

Keep going strong. Don’t lose faith, and never lower your beliefs for the world. This message is true, and it is exactly what we need to be happy. There is no other way to feel real, pure joy.

Something that really touched me this week was seeing my new convert Leandro bless the sacrament for the first time. This work is real and incredible!

I LOVE YOU ALL!! Off to another week!

XOXO, Hermana Shumway

My little friend ... PANCHO!

He's my little pig convert ... love that cute thing!

Zone Meeting ... me and Hermana Thomas

Zone Meeting ... me and some of the other gringa hermanas

Zone Meeting ... all of us together

Making cookies ... yummy!

I LOVE MANGO JUICE!!!

A pic of my feet after ... get this ... JUST THE MORNING! This isn't at the end of a long day ... it is how they look by lunch time! #piuralife

How we decorate our room ... Christlike Attributes ... all the things we should aspire to be

Photos of all of the sister missionaries that have served in Chulucanas ... I made three new additions that show me and my comps

Look what is above our DOOR ... WHITE CHRISTMAS! A reminder as we prep for the 12 of December NOCHE BLANCA. We tap that every day as we leave ... BOOM!!!