Hello family and friends in Arizona. Sorry I didn't write a weekly
email last week. Pretty hectic. This week it's a little less busy.
This week has been great. The highlight of the week was probably going
to the temple again! Not only did we go to the temple, Elder Lake who
had previously served in Philly took us on a tour. We went to a place
called Reading Terminal Market. It's basically like an underground
place that has a lot of stores. It's so big that in the entrance you
are given a map, like the one that they give you at like amusement
Parks. It was a very big place. With lots of great food. Not to
mention there was sooooooooooooooo many people there too. Never really
been in Philly to see how many people actually are in this city. As we
were walking around we saw a lot of cool things. I'll send pictures,
every now and then you'll find somebody singing or playing and
instrument on the side of the road. It was really hot too. I was
sweating a lot and I'm sure everyone else was too.

Well that was pretty much all that was exciting. Oh wait so Jon and
Lori are planning on getting married in a few weeks. They want to do
it before the transfer is over so both Elder Lake and I can be there.
And then the next day Jin wants to be baptized. We are almost complete
with teaching Jon everything.

I also forgot that on Friday I hit my year mark. I feel so old now.
This year has seriously gone by very quickly and I've learned a lot
since I've been on my mission. I'm glad that I have another whole year
to go. Hope all of you have a great week.

Elder Shumway

Dad,

Hello, every thing is going well here. That's great the Shumway family
was very much involved in church yesterday sayin prayers. That's great that you all
were willing to give prayers in church. Yea I'm not really thinking
about coming home too much. I don't really have a lot of time to think about
it. I try and make our days as busy as possible and not waste time.
Time seems to go by faster when we do it that way. We did go to the
temple on Saturday. That was a lot of fun. We also had some down time
so Elder Lake took us on a mini tour of Philly. It was super hot but
it still was fun. I was wearing new pants. They are from the Salvation
Army. I will need to send things home once winter is over. Mainly my
winter gear. So until then I should be good.

Teaching is going pretty good. The best success we are having is with
Jon and Lori. Jon is doing great. They want to get married in a few
weeks. They want to do it before transfers so that Elder Lake and I
can both be there for that. We only had Jon come to church yesterday.
Crazy experiences, we did go to a place called Reading terminal market
in Philly. That was a bit of a crazy experience. It is a huge place,
filled with restaurants and stores and people selling things. Lots of
good food too. Not to mention also a lot of people. I'll send a
picture of it in my weekly email. Samuel the lamanite is a great
story. He must of had great courage to stand up to the wicked
nephites.

That's great that the Lambriggers came over. Family history is
something very important. I'm glad that you've recommitted to do more
family history work. Let me know how that goes.

Love Elder Shumway

  Braden, Read moms first! 

first i want to tell you that on saturday i got to ride the driving mower and that was pretty fun. Okay here is the really awes some part so you know the book how to be the best at everything well there is part in it where it tells you how to hypmitize a bird. so i did it and it worked it was so where'd but so awesome . i also think i'm going to be taller than mom so when you get back you are going to be amazed when you get home.

  love sam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sam,

I did read moms first. She said you had something awesome to tell me.
Really you had two awesome things to tell me. So you hypnotized a bird
huh? How did you do that? You're going to be taller than mom? I'm not
too surprised moms not very tall anyways. Haha just kidding, but
really she is kind of short. I'm sure you are going to be pretty tall
when you're older. Hopefully not taller than me. I'm sure I will be
amazed.

Love Elder Shumway

Mom,

Happy Monday. Yesterday was a pretty good day. The only investigator
that came to church was Jon. Put that's ok cause he's awesome! Also
some members of the Reading ward came to visit me because one of them
is leaving for College today and wanted to say goodbye to me. They are
great too and awesome friends. They were going to bring Dontà with
them but that unfortunately fell through. They said they might be able
to come again next week and bring him then. I really hope that
happens. I would love to see Dontà. How did your lessons go yesterday?
That's a good topic to teach about. People over here need to be taught
that lesson about how marriage is important.

Elder Lake says that it's brother Halverson who was his teacher. I'm
not sure if that's how you spell his name. Elder Lake does remember
brother Bentley a little bit. Never was taught by him though. Small
world. Things are going better. But they could still be better. I
don't know if I told you but Elder Lake is now senior companion. That
means he gets to drive and make more decisions I guess. It's his first
time being senior companion his whole mission. It was going to his
head a lot at first but now he's calming down a lot more, thank
goodness. He's not the bet driver unfortunately. He's getting better
though. Yes my release date is August 22nd of next year. I figured it
out because my previous release date was the 15th. Since the MTC got
extended to 3 weeks for English speaking missionaries. Missionaries in
the field would have an extra week on the mission, only for those
speaking English though. So at the end of my mission I will have
served more than 2 years!

I'm glad your feelings are not hurt. Thanks for understanding. We are
told not to friend or to accept friend requests from family members
and close friends back home because it can be pretty distracting. I've
heard that a lot of the Amish live in Lancaster county which is west
of reading I believe.

Have not talked to Mason for a while. Still not really sure what to
do. I keep offering to Elder Lake that we should just go and knock on
his door but he still doesn't want to. I'm glad I have a family that is

rooted in love and in the gospel. I've seen so many broken families
out here and it makes me so grateful for my family.

Yep we went to the temple again on Saturday. Lori is really nice. They
are awesome people. They are progressing really well. So for my shirts
I don't need anymore short sleeves. We were going to wear our suits
and I just wore a long sleeve. When we got to the temple it was really
hot so I just rolled up my sleeves. That was my new suit. It's really
nice I like it a lot so far. So for them getting married they are
tentatively thinking the 16th of September and him being baptized the
next day. That's a Friday and a Saturday. They are doing that cause
they want both Elder Lake and I to be there cause transfers will be
the 20th. Yes we will be going to the wedding.

So the iPad thingy it wasn't the thing that I needed but it is
something handy that I can use. The one you sent me is one that I can
hook up an HDMI cable and plug it into a TV. The other one that I
wanted that elder lake has is one that looks very similar but it has a
port where you can put your SD card from your camera and transfer your
pictures from your SD card to your IPad. I would enjoy one of those as
well. But no huge rush. I can just use Elder Lakes while I'm with him
for the next month or so. I have not worn the tie yet. I'm looking for
a day that I can. We are asked to ware professional ties. I don't know
if I'd call the tennis tie a professional one. I'll see if there a
time where it's appropriate to wear. I'll be sure to take a picture. I
will be sending a thank you not home today as well.

Don't think I know that missionary. He's been home for a while seems
like. Who's wedding reception did you go to?

Sounds like the Dayley family is doing well with Jacob coming home
soon and Colten leaving soon.

Wow Cason and Colten are already coming home? That flew by. And they
are going down to pick them up. There's quite a few families of
missionaries that do that here as well. I'd rather go home first. I'm
sure they are very excited. I wonder how much those twins have
changed. Tell them I say hi if you can.

Thanks for keeping up with the family history work back home. Has Dad
been more involved with that recently? I would love to go to the
temple and do a session. Hopefully in a couple of months I can. That's
a crazy story about our ansersor killing a bear. I don't think I would be that brave. They
sure had to live tough back then. I'm proud that my ancestors lived
through that time and we have their stories that we can learn from.

Hopefully the Broderick family can be more comfortable soon.

Wow that's great for Michael Taylor. I'm sure he will be a huge help. What
about some other young men? Like Teryn and Josh? And Garret? Where are
their mission calls. We've gotta have young men come and replace us.

Favorite moments in the mission. Well I've had a lot I think. There's
not just one that I would call my most favorite moments. I love going
to the temple. And also going to a baptismal service. Sometimes just
being with members who've I've now gained a friendship with and also
with other missionaries. These are probably my most favorite moments.

Hardest moments. Don't want this to sound cliche but the hardest
moments are the times when my companion and I aren't getting along.
Missionary work doesn't get me upset. The hardest moments are times
where I'm trying to learn patience from a person that I am with 24/7.
It's a interesting experience.

I will be expecting letter from everyone. I will be especially anxious
for Sam's letter.

Love Elder Shumway

*Thanks for letting me know about Taryn, Garrett and Josh. That's a funny story about porter  roll playing with Kymber before his date,HAHA. Sorry I didn't tell you I was senior companion. It really isn't that big of a deal.

*Where's my emails from my siblings? I want the good news from Sam.

*Haha sorry for the short joke about being short. Hope you forgive me. His letter was great. Are they in school? Yep former elder Murphy is working at the temple. It was really cool to see him. He kind of snuck up on me, it was really awesome to see him.