MY LAST TRANSFER ... WHAT THE??!!!

Shumway Crew,

There is still snow in UTAH!! Love the pic Daddio! And McKay … you and Syd look great! Thanks for the pics!!

The big news of the week is ... CARNIVALES has started again! MEANING ... we just about got soaked many times this past week (until they found out we were missionaries) by a crazy swarm of kids with water balloons. The only bad part is they have stepped it up and put food coloring in the balloons ... always an adventure here in Piura. Also, we had a ward talent night this last Friday. A dance group performed, the relief society and priesthood performed a musical number, and a cute little girl sang a song. And then the missionaries took the stage. We presented many different numbers, but the one that topped them all was the "Querido Juan" (Dear John) Act. It is based off of another group of missionaries on YouTube … but it was so HILARIOUS!! I will show you the video when I get home because it is too big to send.

Also … so sad goodbye to darling Hermana Valencia. She is finishing her mission today and it was definitely hard saying bye. Received my new comp early this morning right after she left. Her name is Hermana Parks … she is from Utah and is a stellar missionary. She has about seven months in the mission and is so darling! It will be a great transfer together with two gringas taking on Talara. We are still Hermana Lideres.

Our area currently is struggling a little bit. This last Sunday NO ONE came to church. Still. We passed by our investigator Ortencia and it looks like she isn’t interested anymore. We decided we are going to leave her and focus more on our other investigators. Currently we have a good group of investigators that are slowly progressing. Here is the status of the people we are teaching:

Angelo and his Family - We are now teaching the whole family! The parents are married and their son Angelo was the first to listen to our message. His parents joined us in a lesson two lessons ago and now seem really interested! They didn’t come to church because the Dad started working again but we scheduled a lesson during the week when the whole family is home.

Acni and Jose - They are just the cutest family but it is difficult to find them. But this week we are stopping by and crossing our fingers they are home.

Carmela - Sad to say … but she is moving to Trujillo. But we are still teaching her the lessons and hoping to finish before she moves. She does want to receive the missionaries in Trujillo so that will be wonderful!

And there a few other families that we are just starting to teach. Also this last week many of our less-active families came to church! Familia Ortega, Jose y Mari, and David. It was such a blessing! In this following transfer Hermana Parks and I also want to start working with more less-actives of our branch. This last week we had a Worldwide Missionary Training (the last one happened about a decade ago) with the apostles and other leaders and they gave us a few new ideas of how we can work with less-actives. So we are going to put the plan into works.

Overall we are staying busy here in Talara … and I hope to make this last transfer the best transfer yet of my mission. This time has flown by WAY TOO FAST and I want to make every minute count.

What an incredible experience it has been walking in the footsteps of my Savior in my time as a missionary. It is a chance everyone should take because it brings the greatest joy.

Thank you for all your support! I received many Christmas letters this last week from back home and I love you all so much and grateful for everything! Thank you for all of your support and love!

On to another week … NO REGRETS!!!

Xoxox, Hermana Shumway

Swimming with the churres ("churres" means kids in Peru)

These little girls are so cute

Our Relief Society

My favorite little pal Arnold ... he is the little kid in between me and my companion

One last pic as a district

It's Carnivales again! Remember last year where they throw water balloons at you during that month. Here we go again!

Food from our pencionista ... yummy!

A pic with Family Ortega ... the mom has been a member for a year. Her baby is the cutest! We love their family. She washes our clothes.

Saying goodbye to my cute comp and the other missionaries

One last goodbye with my cute comp ... I am going to miss Hermana Valencia

Show de Talents (Dance group that performed) P.S. I have videos of our performance, I will show you when I get home

I am awkwardly scooting closer to this cute little kid with his mom ... he has a deathly fear of white people and no one knows why!!! Hahaha … he cried every time I looked at him. It was hilarious!