Hey everybody. Hope everybody is having an awesome 4th of July. Well
we got a new mission president last week. He is super awesome. His
name is President Randall. He came with his wife and three of his
kids. They were super funny. We had a zone conference on Wednesday and
they introduced themselves to us and it was super funny. Sister
Randall can be very sarcastic and it is hilarious. I'm super excited
for them to join the best mission in the world.

Something President Anderson would say is that without this mission
there wouldn't be any other mission. How crazy is that? In
Philadelphia the Declaration of Independence was signed as well as the
constitution. Which allows us to worship the way we can. And without
that the church would not be on the earth today. Also in this mission
the priesthood was restored. Which is also very important. So without
this mission there wouldn't be any other mission in the world. I'm
very proud of my mission.

This week I went on back to back exchanges. I went on Wednesday with
Elder Holden and it was my first day taking over the area for the day.
I had only been in this area for about a week and a half. We saw some
great people. On that day we had a pretty sweet experience. So it was
near the end of our day and I had felt impressed to visit a woman who
had just moved into the branch recently who is from California. So we
go over there and she lets us in. She was very nice. She said that she
knows her mother is worried about her going less active and she
promised us that she wouldn't. She also tells us that her fiancé is
actually interested in the church. And she invited us to come over for
dinner on Monday. She also explained to us that she thought it was
weird that we had shown up that night. She said that about 15 minutes
earlier the senior couple missionaries had stopped by and invited her
to the temple open house. And Sister Black (the Blacks are the senior
couple) said that we have two missionaries in the area and they would
love to stop by. And she had no problem with us stopping by. And then 15 minutes later
we knock on her door. It was a really interesting
experience. I know that that experience wasn't a coincidence.
Hopefully something great comes out of this.

The next day I went on exchange with Elder Dennis in Hazleton, PA.
Elder Dennis is a Spanish elder. Earlier that day him and Elder
Withers who is his companion got in a car crash. They were hit from
behind by a tow truck. It hurt their car pretty bad. So for the whole
day Elder Dennis and I were on foot. And since we are in a Spanish
area I have no clue what is going on and I can't talk to anybody which
was very hard. But I've gone on plenty of those exchanges and they are
always fun.

Well that about it. Oh wait no. I forgot to mention that my apartment
is right next to a prison. I will send a picture of the inmates
sitting on the steps.

Love Elder Shumway

Mom.
I haven't really noticed the humidity very much. I think it feels
really nice outside. Idk what I would rather have. Right now it's nice
here. But back home it's nice dry heat. I'm glad that you are still
enjoying the solar. I'm sure it keeps the house nice and cool. Thanks
for the pictures of what you have been doing.

Yeah we do have some things in common. Things are going well. He's not
really that hard of a worker. He does not play ball. We actually are
like really far from any other missionaries to play ball with. So we
are kind of exiled. Elder Lake is a huge nerd. Especially video games.
He just talked about video games all the time. And when I say he talks
he rally talks. He would just talk about a video game for two plus
hours straight. I try and pay attention but it's super boring to me.
And we do live next to a prison. It's pretty interesting. It is a
pretty safe place compared to Wilmington. That picture you saw must
have been old. So we get to our apartment through the back. There's
some steep stairs that we go up. We live on the 2nd floor. It is a
really old town. Lots of old stuff. We are the only two missionaries
in our area. The teaching is going ok. Elder Lake has been kind of
slacking for showing me the area. So I haven't met a lot of our
investigators. Also a lot of them are out of town anyways. We don't
tract a lot because in both of our opinions it's a pretty big waste of
time. I haven't seen any success with it on my mission and neither has
Elder Lake. We want to focus our efforts on working with the members.
Which a whole lot more affective.

That's great that their is a truck at home now. Sounds like a good
project they got going on. I do remember those seats that I use to sit
in. I thought that the truck was red? Did it get repainted? Is Lee
really serious that he wants his truck back?

IDK when I'll get the package. Hopefully sometime soon. You could send
it to the senior couple that is in the branch. I'll ask them if it's
ok first and then I'll give them your address. I don't think it should
be sent to our apartment cause it's not too safe. The senior couple
live in a safer apartment complex.

Our branch member wise who are active is around 60. But there are a
bunch of less active members. It could easily be a ward if everybody
was active. We are invited to more meetings because of how small it
is. The branch also trusts us a lot. I am in her stake again. That
would be sweet if she came up one time.

The other people in the picture is Nicki's sister and brother in law.
Thanks for feeding the sisters there. It's awesome when you are able
to go to someone's house and they have an awesome meal for you. So
thanks for doing that. How did that go? Grandma told me a little bit
about the getaway. Sounds like a lot of fun. You guys will definitely
experience some cooler weather. I need another flash drive cause the
one I bought out here in nearly full and I need another one. I do have
pictures on the other one.

1: I have been able to meet the Randall family. They are sweet.
President Randall is super awesome. Sister Randall is super sarcastic
and funny. They are a lot different from president and sister
Anderson. They also have three kids with them and hey are super cool
too.
2: We will be doing Pday stuff and probably watch fireworks. We also
have an awesome dinner appointment tonight with a recently moved in
member who has a fiancé that is interested in learning more about the
church.

Love Elder Shumway

Hi Lila. My new area is great. Lots of great people here. We try and eat at the sandwich shop once a week or so. Usually we go on Fridays cause they have awesome macaroni and cheese. Elder Lake is doing just fine. Still a huge nerd. I saw that you have been swimming a little bit with Sam, Annie, and Hannah. That looked like a lot of fun. And the pool looks really good too. Looks like a sweet truck. When you get old enough to drive are you gonna drive the truck or the tracker? How was it with the sister missionaries? 

Love Elder Shumway