Hey Lila! It's great to hear from you. Lucky you get a break. Here it's seems like we never get a break. I unfortunately never saw the blood moon cause it was really cloudy last night😩. Patriarchal blessings are really awesome and I wish I got mine earlier a cause it would have helped me a lot more through high school. Just have that in the back of your mind if you ever feel like you want to get yours. Everything's going great and it's not cold yet, but next week we have to start wearing sweaters.
Love you Elder Shumway

Dad,

Today is a great day. Some other elders have their washer and dryer broken in their apartment so they have to come to our house and do their laundry. But today our washer broke! So we called our landlord and he said he would just get us a brand new washer and dryer! So we get a new washer and dryertomorrow. And the ones we have now are super old and it's only a matter of time till they brake. So yeah so far it's been a pretty good day.

The pope did draw a huge crowd but it didn't get over here though thank goodness. Thanks for updating me on all the sports back home, we never know how it's going. And I'm the only one who cares in my companionship. Elder Lewis could care less if he knows or not. Good luck with the grass.

Love you Elder Shumway

Mom,

I did receive a package from her. I would love to write her a letter. Can you give me address? This week has been interesting. We've been really busy and a lot has happened. Happy to hear that Sam's party went well and he is now ten years old. Firehouse sounds good right now, but I haven't seen one out here yet. There are also no in-n-outs out here either and that makes me sad. And balloon popping brings back memories. 

That's to bad about sis slade. They need to get her better! That's probably really scary when that happens. It's a good thing that she was able to get her sight back that morning. 

The teaching is going okay. We have some people that when they make an appointment and we confirm it with them earlier and we go and knock on their door and they aren't there, it can be really frustrating. But that lady that we found after we fasted is probably our biggest hope right now. My day is like never ending work and now breaks. Especially this week cause I was on exchanges with the district leader and the zone leader on Tuesday andWednesday. And they like to go hard! Yeah I'm never t feeling super awkward anymore.

1: I would love some more winter stuff like a long sleeve shirt and a hoodie. 

2: My shoes are doing just fine, but I can already feel them wearing down.

3: We mow our yard every other week.

Love you too, Elder Shumway

Hey Carson, thanks for writing. Yeah it's different out here too. School isn't the best, i remember just how you feel. Just keep going.
Love you gotta go
Elder Shumway

Sis Slade,

Greetings from 70 degree as the high in reading, Pennsylvania! It is starting to get colder here, but not insanely cold yet. We have to start wearing sweaters free general conference. The leaves to have pretty fall colors, but they're not changing quite yet. I think in about a month or two they will be. I can't wit for that cause I've never seen it before because Arizona doesn't really have fall.

My mom has been telling me a little bit of what was happening with you. I know that this is a huge trial in your life. I'd like you to watch a video that we have been sharing with people lately in our ward because a lot of our wars is made up of older people with health problems and I think it will help you. It's called mountains to climb by president Henry b eyring. It's a Mormon message no it is really awesome. I hope that can give you some comfort. And I want you to know that I've been praying for you and have been fasting for you as well cause I know how much of a great friend you have been to my mom.

And I do have some pretty awesome parents. They both have great hearts. That's funny that you cursed in front of the bishop. If I was him I would just laugh it off too. Good job on going to the temple. There is not a better place in the world to be. It is the house of the Lord. Keep trying to go again. 

the first couple of weeks can be pretty tough on a missionary. But I'm getting better and we are starting to have success in the mission so I will definitely have some good things to say. Thank you so much for writing me, i really appreciate it.

Elder Shumway

P.S. Who is this Brandon guy?

9-21

This past week went by really fast. I can officially say I've been out for a month. It feels pretty great. I can feel that I'm getting more and more adjusted to being a missionary. 

So yeah I have poison ivy. It's pretty bad. I got it because last Friday and Saturday we had a service project. The project was picking up trash along a road. Now this road isn't like one in Arizona. There's the road but you look on both sides and it's just jungle. And sometimes I would have to go in that jungle and grab some trash and because of that I got poison ivy. And it's so itchy and scratching only makes it worse. But it's healing pretty well and hopefully will be gone in a couple of days. 

This week I had a great experience. On Friday we got a referral, we went and knocked
on the door and no one was home, but we left a card with our number on it. And on Friday night we discussed how we have been struggling finding people. So we fasted on Saturday hoping that something would happen. So nothing happened that day and we were really sad so during planning that night we got a call and it was the referal that we tried to visit the other night. She called and asked for a Book of Mormon and also wanted to know when church was. We told her and the next day at church she was there and we were so excited. So hopefully we can get her to progress. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she had a lot of questions about the church and we have scheduled an appointment with her. So I'm really excited about her. 

I love being a missionary. Even though it's hard and awkward all the time the experiences are amazing and I can feel myself changing. My testimony of the restored gospel has strengthened so much. You really find yourself when you are in the service of others.

Love Elder Shumway

9-21

Dad

Where's my pic of the rat? I would love to see it. This week was pretty interesting. On Friday we got a referral, we went and knocked on the door and no one was home, but we left a card with our number on it. And on Friday night we discussed how we have been struggling finding people. So we fasted on Saturday hoping that something would happen. So nothing happened that day and we were really sad so during planning that night we got a call and it was the referal that we tried to visit the other night. She called and asked for a Book of Mormonand also wanted to know when church was. We told her and the next day at church she was there and we were so excited. So hopefully we can get her to progress. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she had a lot of questions about the church and we have scheduled an appointment with her.
See yaElder Shumway

Hey Aunt Jill,
I am just fine. But I do have a little problem. I am allergic to
poison ivy! Last Saturday and Friday we had a service project with the ward. The project was picking up trash along some roads and these roads aren't like the ones in Gilbert. There is a road and on both sides it just looks like jungle! and we would sometimes have to go in that jungle which is full of poison ivy and grab some trash and I had to do that. so like a couple days later i broke out with these really itchy things and at first I thought they were from bed bugs and I got really scared but it was just poison ivy stuff.

It is cooling dow quite a bit. After general conference is when we have to wear sweaters. Then it will really start getting cold in November. Then it will start snowing!!!! Im getting better with missionary life. I am feeling less stressed, that is probably the best blessing. I am feeling more and more comfortable. Ive learned that missionary work will make you exhausted!! I am always just so tired. My mission president is pretty awesome. I have only been interviewed once by him and that was in the mission home. It was really cool cause
he like already knows who I am because of Skyler. Members are feeding us, but not every meal. My teaching pool has gotten bigger since I've been here. We have a few people we feel are ready to receive the gospel and be baptized. I do need some non missionary shoes cause i never brought shoes to do service in. But ill probably get some at goodwill soon. Yeah I have a really big yard. I had to mow it today.
It's just me and my companion living here.

Thanks for all the support and I will keep smiling. :)
Elder Shumway

9-21
Lila
It's weird when somebody called me by my first name. I'm not used to it. Love you too and miss you too. Things are getting a lot better. I feel very comfortable now. The culture is very diverse. The city of reading is very poor and its rally ghetto. Especially at night, it's really scary at night. There is a lot of people that speak Spanish. Right now we are teaching a man who is all tatted up and he seems to be really interested. We also have a few more potentials that seem really interested too. The leaves are still all green. It's getting colder, after general conference we have to start wearing sweaters.
Right now it's 67 degrees and is raining. I had to mow our lawn today and it took a long time. That's a cool story about that rat, that's probably one you'll never forget.
Until next time, be safe and have fun.Elder Shumway

9-21

Mom

Here I am. I am doing well still. I have just anytime during p-day to email. I do have some pictures. I forwarded something to you that the mission puts out every once in a while and it has some pics on it. I do have some other interesting pictures i will send you. 
I don't think there is any place around here that could do that. But don't worry cause I'm getting plenty of food. So I have some interesting news. I guess I'm allergic to poison ivy. Last Friday and Saturday we had a service project picking up trash along some roads. These roads are not like ones in Gilbert. There is the road and on both sides of it there is just a jungle. And it is filled with poison ivy and sometimes we would have to go in that jungle and get trash that was in there. I'll send you a picture of it. But there is a lot more than that. Love you

9-21SamYeah I know your birthday is soon. You'll be turning ten! Jump street sounds like a lot of fun. Make sure you have fun and take advantage of it now cause one day when you're older you'll have to go on a mission and fun stuff like that isn't allowed. I haven't had any truly disgusting food. I've had a lot of okay food. Thanks for writing Sam.It's always great to hear from you.

9-14
Lila
I did get the calendar. Sounds like school is going great. The weather is getting colder and people say it's starts to rain a lot in September and October. It rained a lot Saturday. I'll send you a video of that. The leaves haven't changed colors yet. Everything is so free here. My companion says if Pennsylvania had one more inch of rain a year it would be considered a rain forest. I'll send a leaf when they really start to change colors. Miss you too, love you.

09-14

Dad,Yeah our house is on Las Vegas drive. I am excited to get that package. I will usually just send you emails. It's just easier for me cause we are just so busy and I have no idea where a post office is. It is different from Gilbert. This week there was some more people that came to church. We invited a bunch of people to church and most of them said they would go but none of them came! I was so upset. Cause they said they were coming and they didn't! But we will keep inviting people and investigators. We are trying to meet with a lady who seems to be really interested but she was one of the people who didn't come to our sacrament meeting. But she did go to one later. We did have an appointment with her later but then she canceled on us, but she rescheduled for tonight. So that was good.Love youElder Shumway

09-14

Hello mother. My week was okay. We had a lot of appointments cancel this week. We did a lot of street contacting and tracting. We also went on exchanges and the was interesting cause I went with elder Torres who is a Spanish elder and he would speak Spanish a lot and I would have no idea what he was saying. 

I knew you would stock me. Our house is old, and small. But our yard is huge, but during the winter we won't have to move it because there is snow instead. It's only me and elder Lewis that live here. Right now elder jolley and oldroyd are here and want to do their laundry here and go to the store with us.  Our house is two story but we never go to the second floor cause it's hot up there. The house finally got ac a few days before I got here, but it only works on the first floor. It's starting to get colder though so I hope the heater works well.

Thanks for telling me about sis slade. Hopefully she will get better. I am praying for her here. I love the temple too. I haven't been for a little but and I can feel the difference in my life. I can't wait for the philly temple to come. 

Great to hear how Carson is doing and that he is making good decisions. I never had any worry for Lila in school, she is really smart. I'm not suprised that Sam chose fishing. It was pretty cold yesterday, the high was about 69 degrees. Thanks for sending me a package, a lot of other elders get packages and it makes me jealous.

1. Do you get feed every night by members?

A: no not every night we did get fed last night though.

2. Is the weather getting cold yet?

A: it is starting to get colder. Elder Lewis says October is sweater weather and then November and December is jackets.

3. What is your favorite scripture you read this week?

my favorite was 2 Nephi 26:23

A: there's one that we have been sharing quite a bit because we have a high amount of older people with health problems. It's ether 12:27.

I think I'm alright right now but I might need some things in the future.

Love you too, 

Elder Shumway (:

Elder Jolley

Hey everybody. It's me Elder Shumway. Sorry I didn't send an email last week we were just really busy and I wasn't able to send one. But I am this week!!!

These past few weeks has been really interesting. Pennsylvania is so much different than Arizona. There is no circle k or sonic or in-n-out and that makes me sad. I'm here in my first area, I'm in reading, Pennsylvania. I've heard that it is the second poorest town in the United States. And because of that you would think that people are humble and would want to listen to us, but no one really wants to talk
to us and everybody smokes! In the city people are all squished together and there is a lot of diversity here. The roads are horrible and it rained a lot on Saturday and every road seemed to be flooded. It's starting to get colder and I don't like it! October is when we have to break out the sweaters. But that's not for a couple of weeks.

Cool experience this week. I was on exchanges with a Spanish elder and we were street contacting. We had been talking to people all day. Then we go to this street that is popular for having drug dealers on it and this man who's name was mister Leon comes up to us! He was really nice
and he wanted us to share a scripture and just talk so we did. We asked him if he would like our card but he didn't want it. He then gave us a hug and we were on our way. This is a weird experience because usually we are going up to people and this man comes up to us. Hopefully that will happen a lot on my mission.

I know that this gospel is true and that if you work hard and obey the rules then miracles will happen. Till next time every body.Elder Shumway

I got caught "praying" for a long time

 And this is a picture of my companion.

1st house

906 Las Vegas Dr
Temple, PA 19560

Lila and Sam
I miss both of you too. I'll try and send ore pictures later. I wish I could go swimming. Thanks for sending me a turkey trot shirt. I wish I could go to the movies. Keep working on your young women stuff. My companion is Elder Lewis he is from Tucson and he can be really quiet sometimes, but he is a great companion. We are mainly trying to find people to teach and also teaching less active people.

Love you, Elder Shumway 😎

Mom,
Thanks for thinking about me. My area is different. In the city there're these "houses" that are very strange. They are super small and they are everywhere. They are about three stories tall and every time I walk into one I smell cigarette smoke. People here don't really even acknowledge us. All the people we try to contact don't want to listen to us.

I actually don't live in an apartment. I live in a small house. It's one of the three in the whole mission. This is good and bad. Now I have more room, but I have to clean all that room. We also have to mow our lawn. Elder Lewis says that it's easier in the winter cause the grass is underneath a bunch of snow. The house is really old too.

The ward is super small and full of odd people. They are a little different from back home in Gilbert. We probably only had about 50 people come to church yesterday. Same with school and priesthood. Only 6 people were in my Sunday school class and there are only about 5 young men in the whole ward. And in priesthood there is about 15 or so men. But everybody is very kind. People always give us
food. We did some service the other day and they repaid us by feeding us and also giving us bags of food. It was so nice cause they are older people and their health is not very good and they were just really nice to us.

My companion is Elder Lewis. He's from Tucson Arizona. We
aren't that much alike. He was a hard gamer back home and doesn't play any sports. Usually he's pretty quiet and is on his IPad a lot. He is really good at being in lessons though, he knows his stuff. He's been it for almost a year and he's never trained before.

The teaching could be better. Like I said people don't really want to talk to us. But some people do. This past week we have been trying to find new investigators and also visiting less active families and also members for dinner appointments.

Haven't gotten really anything great to eat yet. I've eaten a lot of pizza the last couple weeks of days. Hopefully I can get an awesome meal soon. Will send pics later when I'm at a computer.

Dad,

That's cool that she was in your mission and now here son is in mine! Hopefully you can find a picture. I'm doing alright, just seems like I'm super tired all the time! The past few days have been interesting. This past week we've been super busy. Me and Elder Lewis have been trying to contact people. Mainly less active families and our investigators (who never seem to answer their door or call us back). But we keep trying. I think we'll have to be doing a lot of finding this week, hopefully that goes well. My first day here we only had one appointment. It was the Dragons (that is really their name). They are a less active family but are wanting to come back to church. They fed us pizza (which I have had so much of since I've been here). They also fed us this strange fruit, it looked like a watermelon on the outside but it was yellow on the inside! But it was still super delicious. There house was kind of like a hoarders house. It smelled really bad. 

These past couple of days we have been doing a lot of service. We helped an older couple who has really bad health organize a bookshelf and then we took the books that they didn't want over to the church and left them there for people to have. We also helped another older woman do some landscaping work. It was mainly getting rid of some bushes and trees. A lot of them had thorns on them so both me and elder Lewis have cut up arms. 

Church was interesting yesterday. There are not many members. The benches weren't even close to being filled. There was probably only 50 people in attendance. Hopefully we can get that number up higher.

Bradens first Sunday

 Dear Elder Shumway,
>
> Elder Shumway has arrived in the Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission.  I have attached a pictures of him with President and Sister Anderson.  He will be serving in the Reading 1st S Area of the Reading Zone and his companion is Elder Lewis.  We look forward to serving with Elder Shumway in the PPM.
>
> Have a great day,
>
> Sister Sasser, Secretary
> Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission
> Phone: 610-356-0824
> FAX: 610-356-0869
> E-mail: 2011484@ldschurch.org