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