Monday, January 25, 2016

Hello everybody. It's Elder Shumway writing from what seems like the
North Pole. There is so much snow! It snowed so much last week. It was
crazy. People say that this storm broke records and that it's even
worse than hurricane sandy which hit a few years ago. In New Jersey
it's really bad cause it warmer over there and all the snow will melt
and it will flood a lot. But the snow is great because we have a lot
of opportunities to serve.

On Saturday night we were teaching Kory. They also fed us dinner which
was so nice of them cause we didn't even schedule that it was just a
teaching appointment. Anyways as we are about to leave they walk us
out to the road and there is just snow everywhere. We then see a woman
standing next to her car and she looks like she is really cold. She is
standing next to her big car and has a shovel and she looks like she's
about to shovel out a parking spot. So we offer to help. At first she
said that she didn't have any money to pay us but we told her to not
worry about that. We talked to her as we were helping her shovel.
After we got a spot for her we asked if we could come back tomorrow
and help some more and afterwards share a message with her. She did
that would be awesome. So we did just that the next day. Not to
mention both these days we weren't allowed to drive so we had to walk
everywhere and we walked about 8 miles each day in the snow. But it
was worth it.

The next day we help her, and her name is Angela and we shoveled out
her entire driveway so she could get in. We taught her the
restoration, she took it very well and we gave her a Book of Mormon
and told her to read it and pray about it to know if it is true. She
said she would. Bro Moore was able to be in that lesson with us.

Today we had a snow ball fight with the Exeter elders. That was a lot
of fun. We also would slide off the roof and land in a big pile of
snow. That was also a lot of fun. Right now we are on our way to do
some more snow shoveling.

The church is true, serve others miracles will happen and everything
will be okay in the end. Love you all and miss you.

Love Elder Shumway

Hey Lila. You said no? I am going to speak next Sunday. I am going to
speak on missionary work, not sure how I'm gonna pull that one off.
You're first time it is pretty scary, but you get less nervous after a
while. Sorry to hear about Sam's car. At least he was always in the
top three. Yum cafe rio, we just came from Sam's club and had some
food there. Well during my week it snowed a lot and the it seems like
I shoveled all of it! I'm so glad we live where we live so we don't
have to shovel snow. We haven't built a snowman but we did have a
little snow ball fight. And we slide down off the roof onto the snow.
I'll send you that video. Elder Selby is great he is super happy these
days because of the snow. Me not so much. He is my favorite companion
so far.
Love you too and miss you
Elder Shumway


Yep there is a ton of snow! I don't like the cold. Yeah church was cancelled unfortunately. Cars were grounded on Saturday and most of Sunday. But we still just walked. We have been shoveling a lot of snow. We had a cool finding opportunity on Saturday which I will tell in my weekly email. I have been able to stay warm for the most part. We will watch out for black ice. Elder Selby is driving and he know what he's doing cause he used to drive in snow a lot in Washington. They aren't doing a very good job plowing the roads especially in our neighborhood. I feel fine about sitting in the passenger seat while he drives. 

Teaching is going ok. Could be better but we are trying our hardest. Yeah we get along pretty well. That's awesome that he got baptised and Shannon Kendall got married, Where did they get married? Yeah those darn dogs barked and could be annoying for a open house. 

Sorry about the pool. It does look a lot better. That probably would be the best for the pool to hire Scott. If that happens tell him I say hi.

I did get the package. I really liked the Star Wars theme. Thank You for the money, I do need money every now and then. Thanks for sending Sis Smith an apron.She is awesome. 

I have not made a snow man. We did just come in from having a snow ball fight. What we did was helped people shovel snow. I cannot throw snow balls like Like Buddy on Elf, unfortunately. 

I can't believe that it has been five months either. I will do my best to send more pictures. Usually just my iPad to take pictures. 

Sorry to hear about Sam's pinewood durby
car. At least he was in the top three every time. Yeah Elder Selby got to skype in to hear his brother open his mission call. He's going to a mission somewhere in Africa. 

You have a great week too, love Elder Shumway

Hey Carson. That's too bad the cardinals lost. I was really hoping
that they old win. Volleyball coming up? Thanks for reading my
letters. Hope your having a good time too.



Tuesday, January 19, 2016

So this is actually my weekly email. I was super tired last week. So
an update on the bathroom. Everything is back to normal and everything
works. We were so thankful for that. Now we don't have to stand in
that dirty water while we shower and are now able to use a working
toilet. Hopefully nothing else breaks in our house for a while.

So this last week has been pretty good. We gave three other people a
date to be baptized. That makes it ten. Danielle is going to be
baptized this Saturday. Unfortunately we might have to drop some of
them other people cause they are not keeping commitments. They say
they will do all we ask them but they just don't. The most frustrating
thing is when they say they are definitely coming to church and you
get to church save them seats and they never show up! But the church
is still true.

So a cool experience we had. We were walking down the road and we were
about to go to an appointment we had. We are on our way and the I hear
someone say "sir!" And I turn around and there is a man in his row
home and yelling at us to come in. So we go over and we knock on the
door and they let us in. His name was Jose, he called us in cause he
wants to stop drinking. He doesn't know too much English so we simply
taught the restoration and after the lesson we called the Spanish
Elders and sent the over there to talk to him. They did and they gave
him a Book of Mormon and they will keep working with him.

So it snowed on Tuesday. It was so cold. We were driving in a snow
storm on the way to an appointment we had. It was so weird. It was
like my first one ever! And the next day was so freakin cold! We
walked just about all day and me being an Arizona boy I was freezing
and my companion who is from the state of Washington isn't even cold.
And it's going to snow this weekend. I am not looking forward to that.

The Lord has definitely put us in places where we can talk to people
who are prepared to hear the gospel. We got a referral a little while
ago and we set up an appointment with them and we taught the the plan
of salvation. We invited the to be baptized and they accepted. They
are a family of three. I am really excited for that.

I love being on my mission even though there are good and bad times.
It's also cold here if I haven't mentioned that yet. But seriously I
am in the best mission in the world. We have a temple coming soon and
it is going to be awesome. The church is true!!

Love Elder Shumway


Mom, 
The teaching is going a lot better. We are teaching a lot more
lessons. I was tired and I did not want to write sweetly email. I
might make that a thing every now and then. Yeah the tub is not
usually like that, but it's all fixed now. We already cleaned it. It's
been fixed for almost a week now.

He is a nice guy. Wow you are just getting so many new friends on
Facebook because of me. Yeah that is to bad for Elder Murphy, at least
he gets to be with his family for a little bit.

No I didn't like them I wasn't able to sleep that night cause I was
too scared. How old is Hannah now? I think we should go when I get
back and I want to see with my own eyes what I was so scared of.

Thanks for the package coming soon. I do feel like I've lost a little
weight. Thanks for outing that money in the bank for me.

Wow Jill is awesome. That's so nice of her to do that. She should come
over here and come clean our house. Well it's not that dirty. We do
have a few dishes. The carpets were just cleaned on Friday, so that
was good. The bad part is that our landlord threw out 3 of our lamps
and now it's a lot darker in our house. I guess they were a fire
hazard.

If grandpa needs to do it again I would love to see him. Oh and get a
free lunch. The weather is going to get pretty bad here looks like.
This Friday and Saturday it's supposed to snow a lot. I'm glad I'm not
surrounded by snow yet just like Elder Coon is. We did have a little
snow storm on Tuesday. It's was my first one. I'll send you a video of
it. The weather does look awesome in Gilbert.

1. I have not used the hot hands yet.
2. Well there not really baptisms, they are just people with a date.
We now have ten total. Some of them I'm afraid we are going to have to
drop though cause they aren't keeping their commitments.
3. My favorite thing is that he is my first companion that is
coordinated and will play basketball with me. He is also a super
obedient and hard working missionary.

Yum taco salad sounds super good right now. I would just love some
care rio too. Have fun at that party and also I guess tomorrow is my
five month mark! I miss grandma too. I'm sure she is super happy right
now.

Man that is probably so frustrating. I hope she can get better and go
back to her normal self. It's good to see that she had a few days of
relief. And what a coincidence that it happened to be at her daughters
wedding.

Heavenly Father does have a plan for us. There's a really awesome
Mormon message by Elder Christofferson, it's probably one of my
favorites it's called the will of God. I encourage you to watch it it
is super good. It gives me a lot of comfort.

Love you, Elder Shumway

Hey Lila. My new companion is awesome. His name is Elder Selby. He is
an adrenaline junky. He will do anything crazy. My week was good, very
busy. Good to hear your not sick anymore. Thanks for emailing me. Have
a good week.
Love Elder Shumway

Hey Carson. Glad to hear you are doing good. I heard that you are now
teachers quorum president. Make sure you magnify your calling. You'll
do great in volleyball I'm sure. Tell me how the team does this
season. Nice you'll be on varsity. Trek is so much better than getting
a license. A license isn't even fun to have. I loved trek, you will
love it too.
Love Elder Shumway

Hey sorry I didn't email you last week. We were busy with the plumbers and being stressed out because of that whole situation. Sorry to hear some of you are sick. You think it's cold out side over there? Here it's 21 degrees outside! I heard the cardinals beat the packers in overtime. I think Seattle got creamed last night by the panthers. I'm happy about that. Will the cardinals play the panthers next? Yeah I have an awesome companion and we are seeing success. That's great that Carson is now teachers quorum president. I was happy to hear that sister slade did better those few days. I'm sure mom has been super stressed because of her and Lisa's son. I didn't hear anything about that here. I don't think anything will happen here, we are pretty far away from Philly. Hey have you seen the new movie "creed" yet? I guess it rocky training apallo's son. 

Love Elder Shumway



Hello Sam. Yep dad did tell me that the cardinals won. That is just
awesome. Have fun at the birthday party. You have a good day too.

From Elder Shumway


Monday, January 18, 2016

Hey sorry I didn't email you last week. We were busy with the plumbers and being stressed out because of that whole situation. Sorry to hear some of you are sick. You think it's cold out side over there? Here it's 21 degrees outside! I heard the cardinals beat the packers in overtime. I think Seattle got creamed last night by the panthers. I'm happy about that. Will the cardinals play the panthers next? Yeah I have an awesome companion and we are seeing success. That's great that Carson is now teachers quorum president. I was happy to hear that sister slade did better those few days. I'm sure mom has been super stressed because of her and Lisa's son. I didn't hear anything about that here. I don't think anything will happen here, we are pretty far away from Philly. Hey have you seen the new movie "creed" yet? I guess it rocky training apallo's son. 

Love Elder Shumway
The teaching is going a lot better. We are teaching a lot more
lessons. Last week I was tired and I did not want to write weekly email. I
might make that a thing every now and then. Yeah the bathtub is not
usually brown like that, but it's all fixed now. We already cleaned it. It's
been fixed for almost a week now.

Elder Selby is a nice guy. Wow you are just getting so many new friends on
Facebook because of me. Yeah that is to bad for Elder Murphy, at least
he gets to be with his family for a little bit.

No I didn't like the dancing cats at Organ Stop Pizza.  I wasn't able to sleep that night cause I was
too scared. How old is Hannah now? I think we should go there when I get
back and I want to see with my own eyes what I was so scared of.

Thanks for the package coming soon. I do feel like I've lost a little
weight. Thanks for puting that money in the bank for me.

Wow Jill is awesome. That's so nice of her to do come clean the house. She should come
over here and come clean our house. Well it's not that dirty. We do
have a few dishes. The carpets were just cleaned Fridayy, so that
was good. The bad part is that our landlord threw out 3 of our lamps
and now it's a lot darker in our house. I guess they were a fire
hazard.

If grandpa needs to come out this way again I would love to see him. Oh and get a
free lunch. The weather is going to get pretty bad here looks like.
Friday and Saturday it's supposed to snow a lot. I'm glad I'm not
surrounded by snow yet just like Elder Coon is. We did have a little
snow storm Tuesday. It's was my first one. I'll send you a video of
it. The weather does look awesome in Gilbert.

1. I have not used the hot hands yet.
2. Well there not really baptisms, they are just people with a date.
We now have ten total. Some of them I'm afraid we are going to have to
drop though cause they aren't keeping their commitments.
3. My favorite thing about Selby is that he is my first companion that is
coordinated and will play basketball with me. He is also a super
obedient and hard working missionary.

Yum taco salad sounds super good right now. I would just love some
care rio too. Have fun at that party and also I guess tomorrow is my
five month mark! I miss grandma Shumway too. I'm sure she is super happy right
now.

Man that is probably so frustrating for Sis Slade. I hope she can get better and go
back to her normal self. It's good to see that she had a few days of
relief. And what a coincidence that it happened to be at her daughters
wedding.

Heavenly Father does have a plan for us. There's a really awesome
Mormon message by Elder Christofferson, it's probably one of my
favorites it's called the will of God. I encourage you to watch it, it
is super good. It gives me a lot of comfort.

Love you, Elder Shumway

Monday, January 11, 2016



Yes it is still rather warm. I also say that too, that I brought some of the weather back home over here. Winter does seem to be coming though.Wednesday it is  supposed to have a high of 27!! I'm not to excited about that. Hopefully it snows soon, I'm ready to start believing people when they say that it snows here.

My companion is Elder Selby. He is from Spokane, Washington. He is my third companion from Washington. I do like him, we get along really well. He has been out as long as me, we came out together and were in the same MTC group. So that would be a little more than four and a half months. It was interesting sending Elder Murphy home. He had a lot of mixed feelings going home I'm sure. He wanted to see his family, but he didn't really want to go back to the marines. He only spent about four days with his family. He told me that he would get home on Tuesday and then have to report on Saturday

Wow I can't believe the Flygare twins are coming home so soon. Where did the time go? Don't  come get me please. I would rather just me come home to you. I like my home, it's different out here. 




Sorry work is getting rough. That's a tough situation. That truly is a miracle. Cherai
is definitely improving. I'm sure that the hand of the Lord was there. She definitely needed to be there. I'm sure she will get better. 

I will be anxious to receive the package. Could you tell me when you deposit that check please, so I know that I have more money?

Some tender mercies that I have noticed is that ever since I have been with Elder Selby we have had 7 people commit to be baptized! One day we set up dates for 5 people. Haven't played basketball lately, but I will today. The smiths address is 838 Maiden Creek Rd Fleetwood, PA 19522.

Teaching is going great, we had an awesome week this week. We did really great on lessons and got to be in a lot of people homes. I heard from grandma that grandpa was doing that. I was kind of hoping the same thing. But it is just a little bit out of his way. 

Yep we are getting a new mission president. Really all I know about him is that he is younger. Love you too.

Elder Shumway

Monday, January 4, 2016





Good afternoon, it's really cold and windy here. So the cardinals lost yesterday? Who did they play? I guess a few coaches have been fired. I hear that chip Kelly is no more for the Eagles. That's too bad for those Arizona teams. Still have the same calling, that's good. We got a new ward mission leader yesterday and I'm really excited because I didn't like the last one and this one I know will be a lot better. I wish I could do more family history here. New Year's Eve we got to stay out until 10:00 as long as we were with a member. I didn't hear any fireworks, probably because I was dead tired and was asleep. Good to hear that Carsons eye is doing well. Haha yeah, sister smith thinks that I don't like vegetables for some reason so she always makes a big deal out of it when I eat some. 
Love Elder Shumway


Hello mother. It's pretty quite here too. Usually in the mornings it's very quite. Sorry that the break is over. I wouldn't be excited to go back to school either. I wish I could get a break. But I can't.

Actually I'll say no thank you to the citrus cause I haven't even touched the ones you sent me because I've been so busy. Can't wait for the calendar to get here. I would love to see new pictures of the family. 

On New Years we went to the Wojcickis for also a raging party. We had dinner and stayed with them for a while and talked. Oh yeah and those pictures are pretty funny. It was a lot of fun.

I was so happy when I read that she can talk a little bit. It's awesome that she is making some progress. I pray for her very often. Hopefully she can continue on making progress. It's crazy that Sadie is going to be married. 

I will thank these people. I had a pretty ok week. These past couple of weeks have been slow. Mostly because for a day we weren't in our area and that can really mess things up. Dontá (you always spell his name wrong)has been in Philly all week and haven't been able to see him, should come home today though. I do get a new companion tomorrow. Right now I'm with Elder Kester. He is really cool, mainly because he likes country music a lot and so do I. I hope I like my new companion too. I told the zone leaders that I wanted an athletic companion because none of my companions have been athletic. I have not been asked to train so I probably won't. 

I do not remember the Burrell family. I was wondering why you sent me that picture. That's cool, she is coming to a great mission. She will also go home with me, cause by next transfer I'll be out for 6 months. 

Love you too, Elder Shumway

Hello Lila. My week was ok, it's super cold and windy. I spent a lot
of time d I got missionary work. I wouldn't want to go back to school
either. It's good that your excited for the dance class though. Good
luck with ballet. Maybe you should go to bed earlier? I wish I could
go to bed earlier and sleep in. What books did you get? I am going to
miss Elder Murphy, he goes home tomorrow. I am excited to get a new
companion. That's gross that Sam just threw up. New Years I was at the Wojcickis and we
stayed up till ten and then went home and went to bed at 10:30. 😊
❤️ Elder Shumway

Don't be alarmed everybody. I didn't literally kill my companion. It's
missionary lingo. We say that our mission is our life. Since Elder
Murphy is going home that means he is about to die and since I was his
companion when he dies I am the one who killed him. So yep Elder
Murphy is almost home. He will be home tomorrow. That means I get my
new companion tomorrow. I have not been asked to train so I will
probably still just be a regular missionary, which is just fine with
me. I will do whatever the Lord wants me to do.

On Tuesday Elder Murphy went to the temple. So I got t to spend the
day with Elder Kester who is a companion of another Elder who went.
Their area is Easton,PA. They also cover a small part of New Jersey
called Phillipsburg and we went there and I can now say that I have
been to Jersey! In Jersey gas is so cheap! I saw a gas station that
was $1.75! Anybody who doesn't like the gas prices in Arizona come on
over to New Jersey and get really cheap gas. When we were over there
we met with a man named Randy Adams. He is a tall black guy. He is
less active and I can tell that he smokes a lot. He is very nice and
he likes to play video games. He said he would start coming back to
church.

How was everybody's new year? Mine was great. We got to stay out until
10:00 as long as we were with a member. Unfortunately I didn't hear
any fire works cause I was really tired and fell asleep before they
started. We did get to have an awesome dinner that night though and be
with some awesome members.

The night before we had dinner with a family of former investigators.
We were really looking forward to it cause they seemed like a really
cool family. The kids were awesome and so was the mom, they were all
great. The meal was delicious and there was great conversation during
dinner, but after dinner the dad started to say things about the
church. He told us that he doesn't come to church because he says life
is to short. Oh and he is also an ex communicated member. He was very
arrogant about everything and rude as well. I asked him if he still
thinks that the church is true, he said he did but he says he will do
everything in his power to not go to church. That night made me sad.
But afterwards we had a pretty good lesson with Kory. We talked about
the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we tried to set her up with a baptismal
date. But they first have to get married. We were pushing for February
13th for Kory to be baptized but they thought that was too soon. We
will continue on working with them, but we know that she does want to
be baptized. So that's good.

Another flippin awesome thing that happened was that the angel Moroni
was put on top of the Philly temple! I'm so excited for the temple! It
is just going to be amazing. I'm so glad that I was called to this
mission at this time. Honestly I am in the best mission in the entire
world.

Also for my New Years resolution I want to lose some weight and not stuff
my face with food all the time. I've heard that when missionaries make
goals like these that the opposite just happens and it is so true. I
have been fed so much food over the last few days it is crazy. Don't
be surprised if I come home a little more chubby than usual.

Have a great week love you
Elder Shumway