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

Good afternoon mom. I'm so glad I don't have to wake up that early.
Good job on taking Carson to school. I'm sure dad appreciates it. All is
well with me. How's sister slade doing? Is she getting any better?
How's Sadie? I guess instead of going on a mission she'll get
married. 

Danielle and Dante still have the date set for November 15th.
Probably the most exciting thing that happened this week was that they
came to church. Dante said he loved it and we aren't sure about
Danielle because she doesn't show much emotion. I'll make a video and
send it to you next week of my house. This week hasn't actually been to cold. It's
actually really nice. I did get the blanket and my shoes. I will need
boots soon but I don't know which ones to get. Doc martins are holding
in really well.

Elder Lewis said that our water heater went out a while ago. But the water was just
turned off cause I guess the bill wasn't paid. It's great to have
friends like the beesons who will come fix that for us. Wow an earthquake? I
didn't hear about that probably because missionaries live under rocks
and they don't know about anything. Hope Carson makes the basketball team. Is the
coach a cool guy? I remember mine wasn't.

The weather is pretty beautiful and nice. But it's going to start
getting really cold. Everybody says once November starts the weather
will only get colder. I emailed Andrew last week. He's awesome.

1: I have only had one ingrown toe nail so far and it's gone now. The only real injury
that bugged me was my poison ivy.
2: I have asked but haven't done anything about the text the lady sent you.
3: I would love to skype with you guys  at Christmas. But t actually gifts I'm not sure yet.

Love you too
Elder Shumway

Sam, I say hi back. I'm looking forward to getting it. I love getting packages!

Lila, I don't have to much time either. Sounds like Halloween was a success.
Heard you were a minion. That sounds really cool. You should have
gotten dad to be dr gru. I heard about dads burn hopefully he can
heal quickly. Sounds like school seems pretty fun. Have a great week.
Elder Shumway