SMASHING ROCKS, SHARING CARAMELS, AND FUN TEACHING ENGLISH

FAMILIA!!

Well, sounds like the open house went superb for Park and Cass. And all of my pals!! Tell Mads, Sierra, the Nelson family, and McKay's friends hey!! Love them all!!! And Strom Clark!!! THAT IS CRAZY HE IS HOME. Tell him I say hi and that I hope he is doing superb!

This week was a pretty calm week. Nothing crazy happened, except that I now have a swarm of sweet children that ask me for caramels all the time! They run from FOREVER AWAY just to receive a caramel from me. I don't even know their names and just call them amigos. We are all good pals now. It is the highlight of our day for my comp and I!

Grabiel is still struggling with family things right now. His family and friends don't want him to be baptized, but he does! And he doesn't know what to do. I can't even imagine how hard it would be to have such a desire to do something, but having everyone you love tell you not to do it! We are trying to help him out with many, many prayers, but it is pretty much in his hands now. We set a baptismal date for 13 of June. He didn't come to church yesterday so will probably move his date out a little bit. I will keep you updated. But he literally is incredible!! 

Family Alcalde continue to be amazing. They came to church yesterday and have now accepted a marriage date for the end of June. They are a little nervous with all of the changes that are happening, but told us that they love what they have seen of the church every Sunday, and love what they are learning. We left them a DVD of The Restoration to watch (which also includes a bunch of other videos about Joseph Smith and church stories), and not only did they watch the DVD, but tey then watched EVERY OTHER movie as well. The Dad, Jhon, said that he feels a lot more comfortable with everything after the videos, and it wasn't even our intention to have them watch them all. Talk about incredible! Also, they, for the first time are praying as a family. Heavenly is truly helping us out with this family. And their kids love coming to the English Class!

So ... talking about the English Class we teach ... Hermana CHUMWAY es la maestra! The elders always seem to forget to prepare a lesson... but oh man, my lessons are a hit! I am a horrible teacher (I KNOW ENGLISH … but for some reason I can't teach it very well). Mainly we just crack up laughing for most of the time, but it is so much fun. This past week we learned about colors and clothes -- woot woot! There are about 15 people present every week. And I think the treats I bring every week are a good motivating factor too!

We have our last Multi-Zone Conference coming up in a few weeks. It will be the last with President Rowley and his wife and I can't even believe it. We are sure going to miss them!

This week for our P-Day we celebrated the birthday of my compi!!! She turned 23 years old, and is just the cutest thing.

Also, we heard the news about L. Tom Perry and it just about broke my heart! I love that sweet man, and his family will definitely be in our prayers!

Well, I love you all, wish you all the absolute best in this upcoming week! Read your Book of Mormon every day, pray ALWAYS, and never forget how incredibly loved you all are by your Heavenly Father. 

Until next week,

Hermana CHUMWAY

Just smashing rocks like a boss ... I've got skills!

Me and my comp busy at work

 Today was my comp's birthday so I surprised her and decorated her desk

A pic to celebrate Hermana Ore's turning 23 ... she is just the sweetest person on earth!

El Libro de Mormon (check) ... orange backpack (check) ... positive attitude (check) ... let's do this!

Snapping pictures on a super huge bridge in my area ... over a river that doesn't have any water

FHE, THROWING EGGS, AND OTHER GOOD STUFF

Family!!!

First off ... HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!! And happy end of school (almost) Lovey! Have a superb summer break! And Justin and Emily - you two are just too cute. Parks and Cass - Hope your honeymoon and adorable marriage went SUPERB! Seriously, I teared up seeing the pics of you guys! LOVE YOU!! And Cass you are gorgeous! CHARITON - I cannot believe you saw one of my favorite people in the world. I LOVE YOU LINDS!!! Tell her I say hi! 

Oh and I am so thrilled you got my little package! I LOVE YOU ALL and love hearing that you are all doing great!! Still haven´t received your package mama, but I think this week it should arrive. 

This week flew by - AGAIN!! I seriously cannot even believe that we are almost in JUNE! This year is cruising by. So here is how my week went:

First, we had a FHE with Jimmy and his fam! A few ward members also showed up, and we had a great time playing games and eating Jell-o for dessert - made by our good pal Jimmy! We taught a lesson about Prayer, and I just about choked up in tears as I was ending the lesson with my testimony. I love the incredible opportunity we have to pray to our Heavenly Father. That truly is such an incredible gift we have. In my mish, there has been a lot of ups and downs, but prayer has been such a source of strength for me. 

Also, we had another FHE and threw a little fiesta for Elder Haws for his birthday! The tradition here is for your birthday they throw eggs at you! HA! It´s way too great! I had no idea what was happening when everyone began to throw eggs at him, it´s terrible but so hilarious! He loved it!

Oh and the Family Alcalde continue to progress! We finished teaching the Restoration, and they took it really well! I always get the nerves when I teach that lesson because it can be hard for people to understand at times, but it honestly went so well! I think I was praying the entire lesson in my head that they would understand and feel the truth of what we were teaching. Also, we talked about marriage too. They understand that they need to get married, but told us they are going to talk about it together. But the mom was just beaming the whole time, and her husband too! And their kids want them to get married too! We were so glad that they took it well! We are going to set goals with them tonight. 

But the bummer of the week no one came to church Sunday. Grabiel, Family Alcalde, and our other investigators all said they would come, but no one showed up! We were really bummed. But we know that everything happens for a reason, and are crossing our fingers for next week! 

Grabiel told us this week that he wants to be baptized, and he feels that it´s true. But it is so hard to change the religion of his family, and he doesn´t want them to judge him. That’s the only thing holding him back now! Please keep him in your prayers. But he has been doing great and continues to progress!

There is a lot of excitement here about the temple in Trujillo. Trujillo is about 5 hours from Piura, and the members are thrilled to have a temple so close! Everyone has been going to the puertas abiertas these last few weeks, and a bunch of members spoke about it in church Sunday! And many have said that the prophet is going to come to dedicate the temple in 21 de Junio. It really is an incredible time for the church in Peru! They now have 2 temples! And the youth from our stake are going to dance in the cultural celebration for the temple. It´s so wonderful!

This last Sunday our Bishop shared something in Sacrament Meeting that really hit me hard. He quoted Boyd K. Packer and said - If we truly understand what we are learning, we should see changes in our life every day. That´s not the exact quote, but it was something like that! He went on to say that if we really understand the gospel, we should constantly be changing, improving. We are working for exaltation, and that is not an easy goal. It requires constant changes, and a desire to improve every day! And I just loved that!! 

Well, I LOVE YOU ALL!! Tell Emily Nelson I love her to death, and she is incredible, and Jentry and Rachel too!! Oh and tell MADS I love her so so much!!

Thank you a million times for all of your support! Until next week!

SILTW (Something I learned this week) - Life is so much easier if we are willing to give up our bad habits, and do good. 

SIGF (Something I am grateful for) - Joseph Smith. His faith and courage to ask God for the truth is an incredible example to me! Thanks to a 14 year old boy we have the true and restored church of Jesus Christ. 

XOXO, Hermana Shumway

I wore my nametag out and had to get a new one

Another picture from our service project for Hmno. Fidel

Here he is holding one of his guinea pigs 

 Painting the outside of his home - it was so great!

He loved our great work and gave it a successful thumbs up

Ready to go preach the gospel - let's do this!

FHE with Jimmy and others he invited to join us

Two of the little girls that I love so much - aren't they adorable?!!

NOCHE DE CINE, PAINTING, AND KNOCKING DOORS

(EMAIL SENT MAY 18, 2015)

FAM,

First off -- PARKER AND CASS -- you two beautiful people are adorable!!! Loved seeing pics from the wedding! PLEASSEEEE keep them coming!!! I seriously just love you guys and hope your incredible day was perfect ... with rain and all!

This week I wanted to start with a quote THAT I LOVE (thanks mama):

"Do something that is hard each day and smile about it."

Isn't that just superb. If we applied this phrase everyday we would run out of things to be mad or frustrated about. We would learn to look at everything in such a positive way. Definitely am trying to apply this to my mish!! 

We had transfers today. And my compiii and I are sticking together for another transfer. This was such a blessing for us, because we are seeing many changes in our area, and we still have so much to do! 

This P-Day we made good ole' Krusteaz Pancakes with the elders from our ward, and the hermanas that live above us. It was a pretty laid back P-Day, but so much fun! I sent a few pics. 

This week we had a ward mission activity. It was called NOCHE DE CINE. And it was a real hit! We watched the movie Meet the Mormons (If you haven't seen it ... see it ... it´s incredible) and our focus was to introduce the world to who we really are and what we believe! And so many investigators came! Even a group of teenage boys that we randomly contacted in the street as they were playing soccer. And our investigator family - Family Alcalde - came too! THEY LOVED IT. So much that they... CAME TO CHURCH SUNDAY. Can I just say that seeing them in church was such an incredible blessing!!! They told us that they probably wouldn't be able to come, but they surprised us and came, and stayed for ALL 3 HOURS. And the ward members were superb too and helped take them to all of their classes. It was incredible. And tonight we have a Family Home Evening planned with them! The only trial with them is they aren't married. But tonight we are going to put a huge emphasis on marriage and also a little about the Book of Mormon - two things SUPER DUPER important. I'll let you know how it goes!

Our lessons with Grabiel didn't go too great this week. His friends are telling him a lot of bad things about the church, and don't want him to listen to us, so this week he has a been a little distant. It is so hard because he was progressing SO MUCH, and had a baptismal date this last Sunday. But we aren't giving up. We are praying that he will receive an answer to his prayers.

Also this week we thought we would try out knocking doors. It hasn't worked too well for me in the past, but it's always great to mix things up a bit right?? So we tried it out. Many people were real sweet and accepted what we gave them, and then quickly shut the door ... BUT others truly had interest! And we found some real keepers. We are pretty excited, and have set citas with them for the next week!

Something kind of exciting is this week we have a FHE with Jimmy and his cousin. Their goal is they need to bring a friend to the FHE, and we'll bring comida! We'll see how it goes! But they are pretty excited.

Also, we PAINTED THE HOUSE OF HNO. FIDEL. My compii has the pics so I will try to send them when she has a chance. It is too PERFECT and probably the most exciting house in the block. He is pretty tickled by it. 

So I thought that my new little thing for my blog and emails is I can write what I learned this week (SILTW), and something I am grateful for (SIGF)! I thought that would be a groovy idea.

SILTW: Everyone needs to feel loved. No matter who they are, how they act, or their circumstances - EVERYONE needs to feel loved.

SIGF: My family - yeah I know that´s kinda cheesy because you guys are the ones reading this, but I sure do love you guys, and I took for granted my time with you! Cherish your time with your families my friends, they truly are such a blessing.

Well, we are ready to get back on our feet and looking forward to a new week!

LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ALL!!!

XOXO, Hermana Chumway

Hanging out as missionaries is just the best

And we like to have some fun

Love these people so much!

Slicing up some bananas for our pancakes ... yum yum

Life is good

Pancake success ... we are super duper domestic

Another pic of our pancake and banana feast

MOTHER'S DAY, WORKING HARD, AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GRANDPA JOHNSON

(EMAIL SENT MAY 11, 2015)

Familia,

Wow, it was the absolutely best and HIGHLIGHT of my week talking to you guys yesterday!!! Mama - HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!! Hope the fam spoiled you to death because you deserve it! LOVE YOU TO PIECES!!! Parks and Cass - have the most incredible time this week!! SEND ME PICS ... and know that I am so thrilled and excited for you guys!

The sad thing is I don't have a lot of time to write you this week, BUT I will try to let you know in a quick rundown about what happened. 

So first, Grabiel won't be getting baptized this week. BUT, he feels more comfortable with the following week. He just has a few doubts right now, and doesn't feel like he has received the answers he wants. But we are praying really hard that he will get an answer to his prayers and will feel confident enough for his baptismal day. But he is still progressing like crazy, and loves reading his Book of Mormon. He started only a little bit ago, and is now in chapter 12. He is a champ!

Also, we didn't get to paint the house of Hno. Fidel, but next week we are set on doing it! I will send you pics of the finished project!

The family we found went to a ward activity!!! AHHH! It was a miracle because they haven't been able to come to church the last few weeks. We weren't present in the activity, but many people said that they seemed to enjoy it! It was on Mother's Day. But ... they are SET on coming to church this next Sunday, and we have a lesson scheduled for later this week. Also their kids love coming to the English Class we have in the church. (Me and the Elders are teaching them English - it's too great!)

And the truth is I don't remember what happened the other half of the week. But have no fear family, I will try my hardest to remember and next week I will update you on the details!

Tell Emily Nelson I love her and would love to hear from her if she has a chance!

Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GRANDPA J!!! One of the sweetest and adorable people I know! Love you gramps, and I love you with all my heart and send you three full of lots of love FINGERS UP from Piura!!

HAVE THE GREATEST WEEK!!!

XOXO, Hermanita CHUMway

FRUSTRATIONS, JOY, AND FINDING A FAMILY

(EMAIL SENT MAY 4, 2015)

The Shumway Clan -

Okay, it is a little nuts that it´s May! I can´t even believe it!! 2015 is CRUISING by.

So I just have to say that I am so excited to talk to you guys this Sunday!!! I feel like it was just yesterday when I talked to you for Christmas. CAN´T WAIT!! Oh … and Parker and Cass - CONGRATS on your upcoming marriage!! Wish, wish, wish I could be there, but hey, you two lovebirds deserve the best and I hope your wedding is PERFECT in every way!! SEND ME PICS ... okay??!!! Oh and tell Tuck and Cade that I wish them the best in their missions! Australia and Chile - THE BEST!! They are going to kill it!

So the truth is I can´t even remember what happened this last week. Ha! But I wanted to let you know that Grabiel has progressed so much!! We had a baptism scheduled for this next Sunday, but we are going to extend it one more week. He is incredible, but this week has been a rollercoaster of emotions. Earlier this week we had a lesson with him that didn´t go too great. He had a lot of questions about what he was reading in the Book of Mormon, and didn´t understand a lot of the things we were teaching. Overall, the spirit was not present in the lesson, and we walked out of it SO FRUSTRATED, knowing we had made a lot of mistakes. We passed by the next day to see how he´s doing, and he wasn´t home. At this point we were getting a little worried that we were losing him. BUT then, we passed by the following day with some returned missionaries from the ward, and he was home! We had a lesson planned to teach the Plan of Salvation, but as we began talking about how he´s doing, if he is praying, and how he feels right now with everything, he seemed a little distant. So I felt impressed to ask him how he expects to receive his answer to his prayers. He told us the truth is he doesn´t know. We decided to focus more in the Holy Ghost, and with the help of the newly returned missionaries, the Book of Mormon, and a lot of faith, it went INCREDIBLY WELL. At the end of the lesson he told us that he knows that this is a big change in his life, but he just feels good and that is something that he hasn´t felt in a while. He also is nervous that his friends are going to judge him, and his family too, but he wants to receive an answer, and knows that this right. HE IS AMAZING. We have a baptism scheduled the Sunday after Mother´s Day. And he came to church this last week too! We are so excited for him, and I know that if he sticks to it, and trust in his Heavenly Father he will receive his answer!! 

Also, WE FOUND A FAMILY!! The only problem is it´s in an area that everyone told us to be careful in, because yes … it's a little dangerous. BUT, have no fear, we only go when there is a lot sunlight, and are super duper careful. But this family is incredible. It´s a mom, dad, and their two children. They aren´t married, but they want to get married, and have strong values and are so united as a family ... something that is hard to find! We found them as we were knocking doors in this area, and left a pamphlet and they already have read it all and almost came to church Sunday but had a parent´s meeting with their daughter´s schoolteacher at the time of the meetings. But we are so excited! They are soooo interested. Keep them in your prayers that we can help them feel the spirit and that this message truly will bless their life.

I truly don't remember a lot from this last week, but I promise I will update you more when we chat this Sunday!!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE YOU ALL!! 

Keep on keeping on ... have an incredible week!!

Hna. Shumway

TEACHING FHE, TEACHING LESSONS, AND SWEET HERMANO FIDEL

(EMAIL SENT APRIL 27, 2015)

Shumway Familia!!

I sure do love you guys! And that list of people getting married from the 6th ward!!! WHAT??? In only 7 months everyone is getting hitched! Sooooo crazy!! Oh and good luck sibling with your FINALS. Always a little rough during that time, but I just know you are all going to kill it with your tests. And April is almost over! That month FLEW by!! And cannot wait to talk to you superb people in just a few. We haven´t figured out all of the dets yet, but I´ll let you know next week when we have it planned out.

To start, YES, we had our Family Home Evening with the Single Adults and our Investigators this past week. And about 20 people showed up!! It was a miracle. And our three investigators with baptismal dates came - Grabiel, Marlo and Alberto. And guess who gave the lesson!! Hermanita CHUM-way and her comp. All I can say is my Spanish and lesson was not perfect, but people were laughing and cracking up so it was worth it! And our investigators said that they really enjoyed it, so that was wonderful! 

BUT the sad news is none of them came to church. Grabiel couldn´t for his work, and Marlo and Alberto just didn´t come. It was a major bummer, and from the lessons we had earlier this week we felt like they are losing interest.

So after church, we were a pretty bummed. But in the afternoon we felt like we should pass by the house of Grabiel to see how he´s doing. We stopped by and he told us that he actually was watching The Restoration on his computer at that moment. We had NEVER even mentioned this video, but he was searching on Youtube looking up a Mormon message that we recommended, and then found The Restoration! Talk about INCREDIBLE! He said he loved what he had seen so far, and we set a cita for later that week. He is a miracle investigator. His baptismal date is in about 3 weeks, so I´ll keep you updated on how he is doing! But he is progressing so much!! 

We have a lesson with Marlo and Alberto tonight. They haven´t been reading, or coming to church, so tonight we are going to be really direct with them. It has been really hard with them, and tonight we are looking for inspiration because honestly we can´t figure out what we need to teach to get them motivated. I´ll let you know how it goes!

We haven´t finished painting the house of Hno. Fidel, but I should have a pic next week of the finished product!! He is a CHAMP. And mom, you remember that white shirt you sent me for Navidad, and I never ended up giving it away! The new proud owner of this shirt is Hno. Fidel. I found out he never had one, and so my comp and I prepared a little present for him and gave him the shirt, an extra scripture case I had, a bag I was given from a random person in the church one time, and some snacks! His face absolutely lit up when we gave it to him! He is ALWAYS giving us fruit and all of his food, and never receives anything in return. It was the highlight of our week to see his reaction when he received it. And this Sunday he came to church beaming in his white church shirt, with his bag and his scripture in the case! We love that man! I will take a photo next week with him.

This past week we contacted a lot of our contacts from the street and we haven´t found anyone who has lot of interest! That has been a little hard for us, but we are keeping at it! Hopefully next week we will have new investigators!

I have an interview with President this week and also we have a Zone Meeting! Oh … and the weather is a lot colder in the night now! I am actually using a jacket now! IT’S A MIRACLE!

Love you all soooooo much!

Have the most wonderful week!

XOXO Hna. CHUM-way

Sweet Hermano Fidel (The Mango Man)

Getting ready to clean the pen

The finished product turned out so great -- now it is super clean and organized

Me and my beautiful, fairy-looking companion Hermana Ore

PACKAGES OF LOVE, SERVICE, AND THE SPIDER TERMINATOR

(EMAIL SENT APRIL 20, 2015)

Familia,

Wow, love to hear about everything you guys are up to! LOVE the pic of our sweet little puppy, can´t wait to meet her. Also, brothers, I am pretty sure your little gaming fiesta was SUPERB, and filled with Chariton joyfully screaming and everyone cracking up with all of the jokes you all have! LOVE YOU ALL! 

To answer your questions:

- How are your eyes doing? SUPERB. I have to wear my glasses all the time, but hey it´s all good! But my eyes feel great now! At times I don´t even want to wear my glasses so I have to ask my comp who is waving at us, or if people are talking to me. Ha! I just wave at everyone who passes us now! 

- How goes the spider infestation? Those sweet things are officially all dead. We sprayed our whole apartment down, left to teach the gospel for the day, and returned to find them all dead. But officially I am not afraid to kill insects! Woohoo!

- Is your new camera working well? I love it!!! It is almost the same as my old camera! I am sending you a bunch of pics now!

This week was the BEST!! We had our good and hard days, but in the end we all learned so much and our very excited for a new week!! 

One special thing this week is we gave our sweet pal Jimmy a little Package full of Love. It was a Primary Book that simplifies the Book of Mormon with pìcs, food, and two photos of Christ. He loved it. That kid is such a stallion, we just love him! 

We had two investigators that came to church!! Grabiel, who has progressed so much, and Alberto. They both have baptismal dates for May! We have coordinated a FHE this week with the single adults and our investigators (because they are all about the same age) and we are going to teach about Joseph Smith and the Restoration. It is going to be so great!! But overall we have three people with baptismal dates, two brothers, and Grabiel. They have all progressed so much, but we are losing a little bit of interest from Marlo and Alberto. They are so wonderful, but it can be a little hard to find them at times. But overall, all is well!

We threw a little service project for our sweet grandpa, Hno. Fidel. We truly call him abuelo because he is so wonderful to us and has such a love for this work! We cleaned the pen of his guinea pigs that he sells and also of his chickens. And also we moved a lot of bricks around. He is just so wonderful, and we are going to paint his house this week! He has always wanted to do it and this week we are set on helping him out!

Overall, we are just falling in love with this area. My comp is incredible, and has taught me so much how to truly show people love. She teaches with such power and has helped me a lot. I love that sweet thing!! We laugh WAY too much. She is such a blessing for me!

LOVE YOU ALL!! Have another wonderful week!! Keep being incredible and always, always, always trust in your Heavenly Father. We truly can do anything with him at our side.

One thing I realized this week is that we can´t expect every day to be full of daisies and complete happiness. We need those hard times and little rocks in the road to help us remember that we need the help of our Heavenly Father … knowing that has helped me a lot this week.

Keep on keeping on!

Until next week,

Hermanita CHUMway!

Jimmy, Hermana Ore and me

He is such a little stud with an amazing future ahead of him

One of the little notes we included in his love package

Jimmy with his pictures and his present full of goodies

Just a little yummy breakfast I made for me and my comp