Hey Lila. Yep it's the last week. The year has gone by so fast. What
kind to f dance class will it be? It was a lot of fun skyping.
Mother's Day is only about 5 months away so not to far. The hard part
it from Mother's Day to Christmas which is 7 months apart. Next
transfers are January 6th. I don't think I will get transferred. I
will miss elder Murphy, he is a great missionary. Lucky you got to see
Star Wars! Have you seen part two of mocking jay yet? Ugh Gecko Grill,
I miss that place. Mexican food in s so much better in Arizona than it
is here. I am excited for 2016. It gonna be called my white out year
cause I'll have a white shirt on this whole year. It's gonna be a
great year.

Love Elder Shumway

I would agree that it was the best. It was definitely my favorite part
as well. Saying goodbye was hard for me too. That last part I was
trying not to talk to much cause if I started talking I would cry more
and I didn't want that to happen. I wish the call was longer, it went
by so fast.

How was brunch? You obviously has crapes again. Did you juice any
orange juice? I wish I could have some. It is just so good. Out here
they don't grow oranges and you can't find a great tasting orange
juice out here. Carson might have a nice scar above his eye. It might
look pretty cool. It will look like he got punched! Aren't hover
boards like a thousand dollars each? Sis Smith showed me those
pictures as we were eating lunch. That is smart not going to the ER
cause they will charge you.

I loved the packages and gifts. I like that shirt a lot too. It's good
motivation.

Oh so that's who sent it. I did get it. I didn't really understand it
because there was no like from so an so. It was just from Santa
clause.

You saw Star Wars! Lucky! I will like it? I will like it in about 19
months or so. I don't need to ask Carson. I've already got a list
going.

Those are great goals. Especially the temple one. I wish I could go to
the temple. Some people don't realize how lucky we are back home. I
was one of them. We are so blessed to have a temple so close by. We
don't even have one in our mission yet. We either have to go to
Washington DC or to Manhattan. Which are both crazy far away. I want
to work on to also be more grateful. I also want to not gain a lot of
weight. I didn't tell you in the call on Christmas, but I've gained a
little weight. I'm over 200 pounds now. I want to get that number down
this year and keep it down.

1: We opened a present. There were different things in it. Lots of
candy, I got superman socks, and a Star Wars key chain and a few other
things.
2: Christmas Eve we were out doing missionary work in Reading. People
were a little more friendlier that night.
3: I don't know if we have to be in early.

Love Elder Shumway

Week 16

It is so hot! Yesterday it almost got up to 70 degrees! This winter is
so winter. There should be snow on the ground but there isn't. I have
mixed feeling with this. I want to see snow and I want it to be
colder, but then that means we have to work in it and we have to drive
in it. And that will not be fun. I do also want to have some snow ball
fights.

This week with the work was a little slow. On Saturday all of our
appointments fell through. We did find a really solid investigator
though and she said she would read the Book of Mormon and we also gave
her a savior is born pass along card and she said she would visit the
website. She owns a clothing store in Reading and she's given us quite
a few ties and the previous time we visited her we got sweaters. Not
just any normal sweaters, we got sweaters that you could see Bill
Cosby wearing. Will send a picture next week.

Also Dontá didn't get confirmed in church cause he was in Philly all
week. He had a few rides but they all fell through. It seems like
someone doesn't want him to be confirmed, I wonder who it is. You
could probably guess. But he will definitely get confirmed next week.
But he won't be able to go inside the temple on Saturday p, which is
when the ward is planning to go. So he can just stay at the visitors
center and that will still be a great experience. And even just seeing
the Washington, D.C. Temple will be amazing. When he went to Philly he
saw the temple there.

So the title for this week is chickens on the road because as we were
driving to an appointment there was a truck load of chickens on a
truck. I thought it was awesome so I took a video of it.

Also when we were in Reading this week we were waiting for an
investigator to get home cause we had an appointment with them and
they didn't show up! This happens a lot on the mission. Anyways while
we were waiting we made friends with some cats. One really liked me
😊.

Anyways love all you and hope you all have a great Christmas coming
up. I also invite everybody to check out Christmas.mormon.org and
check it out it's an awesome website that talks about our saviors
birth.

Till next time, Elder Shumway

Yes we are having a very mild winter. I guess it's call an El Niño winter. I'm still not convinced that it snows here. People say it does, but there isn't any snow and it's the middle of December! Speaking of barbecue, it's not that great out here. People say that it's the best, but really it is so much better in Arizona. I remember corn hole. I played it a few times, was never really good at it. It's cool how it's cold there. You're pretty lucky. I remember doing service for sister Jensen and we had to do the same things. Good for the cardinals, just wait the time that I go on my mission the cardinals win the super bowl and I'm not able to watch it! All the leaves on the trees here are already gone. Yeah make sure it works. I'm not to sure how to do it but I'll figure it out. I would like to do it around 11:00am which would be 9:00am your time.

Love Elder Shumway 

Hello. That's great that you made a blanket for her. I'm sure she is
grateful. I feel so bad for her. I wish she could be her normal self.
Is there anything I can do to help? I really pray for her often and
hope she will get better.

I had an okay week. It was a pretty slow week. We did find a solid
investigator though. And that's were we got those sweaters. Our
investigators name is Ana. She owns a used clothing store in Reading
and she said that we can buy some and she would give us a good deal.
Elder Murphy said they look like something that Bill Cosby would wear.
Yeah we were over at the smiths and they fed us lunch and sister smith
noticed that I'm a little under the weather and she gave me some
oranges and we also helped decorate some cookies with them. I've
pretty much told you everything I know about him. Things are going
well still.

I got the package on Monday and the cookies weren't totally broken up.
They were still good. Sister Wojcicki did like the apron. Why do you
always call her sister w? I haven't opened them yet. I'm waiting till
Christmas. The citrus survived just fine.

That's great that church went well. It's probably larger than our
ward. It's been super hot here! It's colder there than it is here!
It's ridiculous! People keep saying that it snows here and s cold and
I haven't seen it yet. I think they're lying.

Dontá is doing okay. Haven't seen him in a while. He didn't get
confirmed yesterday cause he was in Philly all week. Haven't found
anybody, except for Ana. Tell the sisters that I said hi. Dave and
Cindy are very nice. You should invite them to come over Christmas
morning. They sent me some Oreos, some Gillette stuff, oat meal, and
some other stuff.

1: Well we are planning around 11:00am. Which would be 9:00am for you.
2: My Christmas plans are to skype with you guys and got to people's
houses and eat there food.
3: We got Bill Cosby sweaters and we wore them. And we got some cat
friends this week.

Love Elder Shumway

Hello grandma, thanks for giving me a short note. I love getting emails from you. I was thinking about Jacob and wondering how he is doing. My companion was in the marines so he can understand what might be happening to him. Good job for gage. What songs are the girls playing? I would love to get a video of them playing the piano. I can't wait for the new calendar. I love when those come out. I have this years still in the wall and I love looking through it and all the great pictures. I do not mind getting a late Christmas present. Thanks for supporting me in my mission. I miss you a lot and can't wait to talk to you on Christmas.

Love Elder Shumway

Hey Lila. I'm excited for Christmas too. I don't know what else to say. Bye

Happy Monday everybody. Elder Shumway here with another installment of
the infamous weekly letter. Things are going great her in the PPM. The
weather is getting colder. Every morning there is frost on the ground
and it makes everything all wet. And our car is no exception. We've
had to get out the ice scraper and scrape ice off of our windows.
Hasn't started snowing yet though.

This week we had our ward Christmas party. That was a lot of fun. Lots
of food and got to mingle with a lot of people and Santa was there.
Elder Murphy and I got a picture with him. Forgot to tell him what I
wanted for Christmas though. All I really want is to Skype with my
family.

Last night Dontá got baptized. Everything went great there. He asked
me to give a talk on baptism and I told the funny joke. I said that I
feel like a short cow in a tall field of grass, I am just utterly
tickled to be here. I got a few laughs. Got that joke from my fat and
ugly friend Jimmy Carpenter. Next week in sacrament meeting he will be
confirmed.

Funny story, just a little while ago we were in Walmart and we were
about to check out and we had bought a case of water and I
accidentally dropped it. So I bent down to get it and I heard a rip. I
ripped my pants! It was really embarrassing. Thankfully nobody was
laughing at me as far as I can tell. But the other Elder were laughing
at me.

Anyways everything is going great out here. I'm literally loving my
mission. I know this Gospel is true and I love sharing it with random
people that I meet. Thank you everybody for supporting me. Love you
all.

Elder Shumway

Happy Monday. Great to hear that we still have our spot in church. I\

figured that's how the ward would split. Where are they gonna put that

ward? Speaking of Andrew, I haven't heard from him in a couple of

weeks. I guess he forgot to put me in his email list. I'm sure he's

doing just fine. I see the weather over there on my iPad and it does

look cold. A little colder than it is here.

I did get those boots, bro Wojcicki gave them to me. Haven't gotten

the package today. I love getting packages. Thanks for not being upset

with me. I felt really bad and frustrated, cause nobody really cares

if I sent my emails. I love Mondays as well.

I'm glad I like my companion too. The best thing about him is he keeps

to himself and doesn't do or say dumb things. He only has about 4

weeks left actually. He goes home January 5th. That's weird that Elder

Lewis' mom contacted you about that. Elder Lewis never really said

those things to me.

Thats awesome about Jacob. Hopefully he will do well at that. I do

also wish he went back out on his mission.

1: Yes he got baptized last night.

2: I do have milk.

3: I haven't put my storm windows in , I don't know what to do.

Love Elder Shumway

Dang good for the dbacks. Who did they trade for him? Or was he a free agent? My week was great. The baptism did happen and everything went according to plan.i didn't know that the Eagles beat the patriots. Good for them. I heard that the panthers have already clinched their division. I have the boots and they are really nice. The weather here is around high 40s and low 20s I believe. Every morning now there is frost on the grass and it makes everything white. But I am staying warm. I kind of figured that's how they were going to split it. I also heard about Jacob, I wish him well. I think we might get a little tree sometime and put it in our house. Things are going great here. Things have gone by fast.

Love Elder Shumway

Hello Grandma, I enjoy your letters too. I try and write every week if I can. I heard about James' accident. I'd rather take my poison ivy over a cut up knee. Sorry to hear about grandpas accident. If they total it will he get a new one? Great to hear about Jacob. He will do great in the Air Force. I wish him luck and that is a really good job he has. Doesn't seem like he has to do a lot of manual labor. That is good. Thanks for emailing me grandma. I wish I could write a longer one but I gotta go. Love you

Love Elder Shumway

week 14

Hey mom, I would like to start off by apologizing. I'm sorry I did not email you last week. The truth is that we never even were at the church for very long. Elder Lewis had to do a lot of things and he had to pack. So I'm really sorry. Thanks for not being mad at me, I hope you understand, that day was just super busy. 

Thanks for telling Bishop that I paid a full tithe. Haha yeah I did have ketchup on my plate. Sister Wojcicki likes ketchup a lot too. I could see you and her being real friends if you met each other in person. Thanks for saying I'm a good boy. My week went pretty great. I think it's because of the lack of Elder Lewis. I'm kind of glad to be rid of him. He honestly wasn't a very good trainer. Not to boast of myself but I think if he would have gotten somebody who was not as prepared as I was the other Elder probably would be very lost. At transfer I was talking to all of my buddies who I came out with and they all loved their trainers and I was probably the only one who didn't like mine. 

Anyways, I did get fed plenty on thanksgiving. We only had two appointments. One a meal and another one for dessert. Sister Wojcicki showed me the picture of you guys at the turkey trot. I knew you were there cause of the shirts. Great job on doing it well. We also got to exercise thanksgiving morning. We got to play in the turkey bowl. I really took advantage of that cause it's been so long since I've played football. I haven't sweated like that in at least a month and it felt good! I made some really nice catches too. 

Wow Elder Murphy, he's probably my favorite companion so far. This is his last transfer so I'm gonna "kill" him. He is super chill. He doesn't say a lot and I like that. He keeps to himself and I do too. He is from Seattle and for a long time he has been a service Elder in the mission. Before he came out he was in the marine core reserves. He has a pull up bar and sometimes I see him do some and he cranks them out! He is really humble and can be really funny sometimes. We are getting along great and the work is getting better(I think it's because I'm not with Elder Lewis).

I know it was your birthday on Wednesday and I have a surprise for you later in this email and I think you'll like it. Speaking of family history and temple work, a new rule just came out that you can only go to the temple if your less than two hours away from it and we are more than two hours away! Now we can't go with Donta(just figured out Sunday that that's how you spell his name) to the temple anymore! We also have a recent convert who is almost about ready to take his endowments out and now we can't go with them! That made me mad and upset.

Yeah Donta is gonna get baptized. We are going to make daily contact with him so we make sure he is not smoking. Thank You for the prayers. Also thank for the Christmas package. I can't wait to get it. Another thing I also want for Christmas is another sweater. Her address is 444 Hoch road in Blandon, PA.

1: I'm good with hand warmers. I haven't used any yet because it has been surprisingly warm.

2 I would love some boots.

3: I would probably love some cookies, cause then I can put them in milk.

Love you, Elder Shumway Hello everybody. Elder Shumway here doing his weekly email. This week
has been pretty great. I got a new companion. His name is Elder
Murphy. He is really great. He is super chill and this is his last
transfer. This week has been really great and also a little gross.
I'll mention why later.

Donta(which I just found out that's how you spell his name) is going
to be baptized on Sunday. He says he is ready to be baptized. It's
gonna be great. I think he is totally ready. This next week is when he
is going to stop smoking. We are going to go over there everyday and
make sure he is not. I'm pretty confident that he won't.

So this week has been pretty gross because we have found two dead mice
in our kitchen this past week. One of them was a little hard to get
off the floor because some blood was sticking onto it. It was really
gross. I will send pictures.

Something cool that happened this week is we found a really solid guy
on the streets of Reading. His name is Miguel and we showed him the he
is the gift video and he really liked it and then we told him that the
church of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth and that there
is a prophet on earth today. He was really interested and we have an
appointment with him in Tuesday.

I love being a missionary. I am really loving my mission. Things are
going great here. It is getting colder, but it's not snowing yet. I'm
kind of glad, cause it is not good to drive in snow and ice. I know
that this is the work of God and I want to serve him with all my
might, mind and strength.

Elder Shumway

Hi, my new companion is doing great. He is really cool, he is so easy
going, probably because this is his last transfer. It's ok, I didn't
even write last week. The holidays sure are different. Sorry to hear
that desert ridge lost. That game kind of sounds like the state
championships last season with Williams field. Just out coached and
the players were just too good.finally the ward is splitting, I'm sure
it has gotten really large. Tell me where the boundaries are next week
so I can know who will be in our ward. Good for the cards. I'm hearing
here that they are doing really well and that makes me excited. I saw
that picture of the family at the turkey trot. That looked like a lot
of fun. I'm excited to talk to you. I'm not sure how it's going to
work either, but I'm sure the mission will let us know. Yeah I will
need boots. It's not even showing snow for the next two weeks. So I
don't know if I should try and look for some yet or just ask for some.
I sent mom a special gift in my email to her about her birthday, I
hope she liked it. It's cold here but it's not snowing, but it's not
that cold. I'll keep up the good work. I think Elder Murphy and I will
be more successful than my previous companion.

Love Elder Shumway


Hey Lila that's okay, I probably wouldn't of been able to respond to
it anyway. Sorry to hear about your homework. I saw that picture of
you guys running the turkey trot, that looked like a lot of fun. Great
to hear about your teacher that you didn't like left, I had a few
teachers that I didn't like also. This week has been pretty great, I
got an awesome companion and we have been working hard. We've talked
to a lot of people. My companions name is Elder Murphy. Yes he was
really a marine. I can't wait for Christmas too, it's gonna be great.

Love Elder Shumway

Hello grandpa. Don't mind a joint letter at all. It is getting colder here. But people here say it's been really warm. It's been a long summer. It hasn't started snowing yet, so that's good. I did break in my long johns though and they work really well. Happy birthday to grandma I wish her the best. Sounded like a fun party too. Great job for desert ridge, sounds like they are doing really well this year. Sorry to hear about Williams field. That's a good idea to practice that. But the thing is I'm not the driver right now and I probably won't be for a while. Hopefully all winter I won't drive. We will be careful too. Glad to hear from you. Great to hear everybody is doing fine. I'm fine too.


Hey Grandma, happy birthday. Sounds like a fun party. I hope you enjoyed your birthday party. I wish I was there to celebrate it. How was thanksgiving? I heard my family went over and had dinner with you and grandpa. I'm sure the meal was delicious. It always was.

I heard about Lila's birthday party, that also sounded like fun. Glad to hear about gage and him playing football. I was invited to someone's home for thanksgiving. It was a great meal. After the meal we played some games with them. Great to hear about everyone's plans.
I hope everybody had a great thanksgiving. Love you grandma. Tell Bob and Margie I said hi and also grandpa.

Love Elder Shumway

Happy thanksgiving everybody. We have quite a few appointments on that
day and I'm really excited about that. Unfortunately Dante won't be
home that day so we won't be able to go to their house for dinner. But
there are other families that are signed up and I don't think that I'm
going to starve on that day.

Last week was a pretty busy week. I went on an exchange that was kind
of set up at the last minute. Elder Drake who is serving in a town
called Pottsville, he had to go to the eye doctor cause he thought he
had pink eye and it wasn't going away and the nearest doctor was in
our area and they had a lot of appointments. So on Thursday I got to
go to Pottsville with Elder Beach. We were very busy, we had quite a
few lessons. The most eventful part was when we were trying to stop by
some potentials in an apartment complex. We were having no luck so we
start heading back to the car and we get there and I look over and I
hear a loud BANG!! I see a car hit a light pole. It was really loud
and the bumper was in bad shape now. People started to come out of
their apartments and see what was going on and me and Elder Beach were
thinking that this must be a miracle cause now there are so many
people that we can talk to. But unfortunately we weren't getting any
luck with that either. So we just left after the cops showed up.

Friday we had transfer calls and my companion Elder Lewis will be
leaving and I will be staying. President really sounded in my last
interview that I was going to train but I never got the call from him,
so I guess I'll just be an rpm (regular proselyting missionary).
Transfers are tomorrow, I'll get to see who my new companion is!

I also found out this week that I am related to the senior couple
serving in our zone is related to me. We are like 4th cousins or
something. Their last name is Gardner and my Grandmas name is Gardner
too, so I started looking at my family tree and so was Elder Gardner
and we found out we share some relatives. So that was pretty cool.

Yesterday at church was really great. We showed Dante the baptismal
font after church and he got really excited. He says he is sticking to
it and wants to do it. He was upset that Elder Lewis has to leave
before he is baptized. He is making really great progress. He just has
to stop smoking. He is such a golden investigator!

I love being a missionary here! It's just great. It's also supposed to
snow a little by next week. I'm a little scared, but I'll be ok. I
know this work is true and that God is at the helm and we are his very
servants upon the earth. Love all of you and miss you.

Elder Shumway

Week 12

Hello everybody. This week has been pretty slow. We only had 7
lessons! It was weird we had a lot of people cancel and also they are
pretty consistent on setting something up and not being home. But it's
all good. I'm still out here trying my best. I do enjoy being a
missionary.

Last Tuesday we helped some people move an organ! It was really heavy.
But we eventually got it to the other house. Wednesday bro Moore had
his surgery on his neck. When he got into his motor cycle accident a
while ago they found a tumor next to his spinal cord near his neck. So
that crash not only hurt him but also saved his life cause I guess the
tumor is cancerous. But the surgery went well and we will probably
visit him sometime soon.

Also on Wednesday we taught Dante and Danielle the word of wisdom and
it was a really great lesson. They are both trying to quit smoking.
Danielle set November 15th as the date to stop smoking. She seemed
really determined. Dante said he would stop that day, but later on
Saturday he told us he smoked. He feels like he is addicted and he
knows he needs to stop. He also feels really guilty every time he
smokes and he never has before. We set him up with another baptismal
date. We set him up with December 6th. He really wants to be baptized.
Danielle said she's not sure anymore if she wants to be baptized. But
we will work with her and get her re-excited to want to be baptized.

Thursday I went on exchange with Elder Drake! I love that guy. Not
only is he so cool! We walked around reading a
lot and talked to a lot of people.  My mission is sweet! 

After that we went to the Robinson's who fed us pot pie soup.
That is pretty popular out here. It's long and thick pieces of noodle
and some type of meet in a soup. This one was delicious because sister
Robinson made it.

Friday night we had a not so fun experience. We helped a family move.
First of all it was in Oley which is really far away. When we get
there we knock on the door and we see a huge pit bull barking at us
through the window. It was really scary. Later I find out that she
doesn't like men and will attack them. And we can tell that they are
hoarders! We walk in and the smell of urine and feces just hits you
like a wall! It was disgusting! So we were not looking forward to it.
It took a long time. And they had so much stuff and they thought it
would fit in a small truck. Which it would not. It was also windy and
freezing cold.

Oh and Saturday night we got some food from some members. They dropped
it off at our house. One thing that was in there were some avocado
Popsicles. I have a video to show what we thought of them.

Anyways love and miss you all. The church is true! Goodbye!
 Elder Shumway

P.S. Anyone who wants to or even if you don't want to you can email me. 

Hi mom. This week was ok. We didn't have a very successful week. We
only taught 7 lessons. We had a lot cancel. But our zone had a total
of 40 new investigators this week. That party sure sounds like fun. I
haven't used any oils cause I've been pretty healthy lately. I have
gotten a few scars because of the poison ivy. But I just think of them
as battle scars. I won't forget about the oils.

Great to hear that the wedding went well. I wish I could have gone.
Who are the wrights? Oh and tell skyler to email president cause
president is wondering how he's doing and so am I. He hasn't emailed
me since I've been out! Any pictures of his girlfriend that I can show
president?

Lila does look so much older! Just from the picture you sent me she
looks really older. Did you play the balloon game?

We had the primary program here a couple of weeks ago. There aren't as
many primary kids here as there are over there. You should tell some
families to move over here cause we are really lacking people. I think
there's only 3 young women and we have 0 teachers.

Sorry to hear about Ben. I figured he came home cause he is no longer
on LDS tools anymore. Any word on Quinn Gardner? Or Jeff Maycock? Hope
they are doing great.

I actually went ahead and bought some Josh Groban music and also some
Michael Buble. I would love some David archuleta Christmas music.
Other than that I would love some money😊.

Ugh! I wish sister slade would get better! I will stay warm.

1: We only had seven lessons this week.
2: 1 Nephi 4:12. Pretty great one.
3: None that I know of.

Love Elder Shumway

Hey Lila! That's cool to hear you have a cool new friend that seems
very talented. I know Thursday was you birthday. I remembered that it
was. Man that food sounds really good. It's really hard to find good
bbq out here. People think that it's good but it's better out west.
Great to hear that the wedding went great and also the reception.
Sorry to hear about your science teacher. Hopefully your next teacher
will be awesome. Did you do the balloon game at your party? Sorry to
hear about all that homework. I didn't like homework either.

One thing that happened was we helped a hoarder move. When we walked
in the smell hit me like a wall. It smelled like urine. There was also
a lot of cat poop around. Not to mention they are hoarders. So that
made me really grateful that I've lived in a clean house. And not to
mention it was freezing cold to me.

Miss you.

Love Elder Shumway

P.S. You spelled Reading wrong.

Oh and maybe for an early Christmas present I would love some
Christmas music. Especially David archuleta and Michael buble. Please


Hey mom, I love you too. My week was pretty great. We are seeing more
and more opportunities to teach come our way. I love it! Wow Barney
park, I remember that place. I wish I could play softball one more
time there. Yeah sister Wojcicki (Erin) called you. I told her to call
you cause you guys could probably be friends if you lived near each
other. But yeah I'm glad she called you. The picture was me in the
hallway passing out candy and pass along cards to the kids. It was a
trunk or treat but that didn't really happen because it was raining
outside. I think either me or elder Lewis won't be able to go to
thanksgiving at sis Wojcickis house. Because tranfers are that TuesdayTuesday
and we aren't really sure who might be getting transferred. We had
interviews last Thursday and the last question president asked me was,
" so do you think you could train?" I told him maybe I could but I
will if it's asked of me.

Sorry to hear about sister slade. I wish she would get better. I hope
they can fix the problem. Great to hear about Sadie. Torie told me
that a little while ago they went out to look at wedding dresses and
Torie thought it was weird cause she remembers us not to long ago
being in elementary school together and now Sadie is getting married
and I'm out here. It's just crazy.

Unfortunately Dante only came to church. The kids had fevers and
Danielle said she needed to stay with them so Dante just came. And we
are gonna have to punch back their date cause we need to teach them
more and they are really struggling with the word of wisdom.
Specifically smoking. So many people smoke here! The #1 thing that
people have a problem with here is smoking! They just say they can't
get off cause they are addicted and it's so sad cause they want to
quit but they can't. My spirit is good, I do feel happy a lot but they
are always times when we have really bad days and I'm not so happy.
Kory (that really how you spell her name, we figured that out just a
few days ago) is the girlfriend of Bro Moore who is a less active man
who got into a motorcycle accident some time ago. And he has really
opened up to us and Kory isn't a member and really enjoys it when we
come over. They've already fed us dinner twice and we are trying to
get some appointments going but her work schedule can be crazy
sometimes so it's hard.

I got an invitation to Katrinas wedding in the mail a little while ago to go to the
wedding. I don't think I'll be able to make it. Tell them I said hi
though and good luck.

Yep it's getting colder I think we are going to be in the 70s anymore.
I am using my blanket and it really is a life saver. I'm sure the
weather there is beautiful. Sorry to hear about Carson. Honestly I
think he would do way better if he payed volleyball than basketball.
He's just so good at volleyball.

I did write grandma and grandpa last week thanking them for all those
things. I probably should have responded sooner. What is she working
on?

1: No not yet, there's not to many here and if they are they are super
ghetto and I don't feel comfortable going in them. We also haven't had
much time. ( Have you gone to  a thrift store for boots?)
2: Money is going well. I'm just being a conservative person I guess.(Hows your money?)
3: I did not get yucky candy. I got delicious candy! A lot of it is
already gone.(Did you get the package?)

Good to hear that dad is healing up. Love you too and miss you. Can't
wait to see you guys on Christmas.

Elder Shumway

Hello everybody. Hope everybody is doing great. Heard there was an
earthquake in Arizona. I hope everybody is ok. Here it's getting
colder. I don't think we will see the temperature above the 60s
anymore. It sure is a lot different from home. But I like it. Snow
will start coming probably by thanksgiving. People here are saying
that this was a really long summer. But they have no idea what summer
really is.

This week we've been really busy. Funny story really quick. Last
Monday while we were playing basketball I had the ball and Elder
Holden was guarding me and I was trying to get a shot off. I set him up
by giving him a pump fake and of course it worked. So I jump up to
shoot and I guess while doing that Elder Holden pulled my shorts down!
We had a pretty good laugh. I'll have to get him back.

A cool miracle moment kind of happened. We had this lady who we were
supposed to teach and a month or so we dropped her because she could
never hold her appointments. But then last Thursday she texted us and
said she is serious and won't miss anymore. So we set up an
appointment and she was there! It was an awesome lesson and we have
another one tonight with her. She says she knows that what we have
told her is true. So it's only a matter of time before she gets
dunked(baptized)!

Anyways hope everybody is doing great miss you all. This gospel is
true and I love being a missionary.

Elder Shumway

Lila,

Hey happy birthday soon! I did get the package and it was full of some
awesome candy and it was delicious. The cards were also great. What
are you talking about I loved that movie. It was awesome. Great to
hear you're being great at school and trying to make friends. They
haven't gotten baptized yet and we are going to have to push back the
date. I am keeping warm. Love you and miss you too.

Elder Shumway