Good morning. It was a little strange to email on aThurdsay But that
shouldn't happen again hopefully. Haha yeah she does a great job at
that. You got that game for Christmas! It's super fun and funny to
play. Maybe send me a video or two of you guys playing it. Yes that is
a real gun. Jon recently bought it. It is getting pretty cold. The
electric blanket is still in my bed and is on most nights. I am
feeling fine. Sometimes I do get frustrated and miss home every now
and then. I'm pretty sure I will be getting transferred too. Yes I
have met some great people here. I'm glad that I've been able to be
here in this area. Crazy to think that I will have spent a fourth of
my mission here.

I'm anxious to get that package. I love getting packages. Thanks for
all the great things in there. They will definitely come in handy.
Thank you for the razors. Yes they are expensive but you do get what
you pay for. They last a good while too. I doubt they will last until
I get home.

That's great that Lila is finding another hobby. How did she get into dancing?

Sounds like you had a very eventful thanksgiving. I had forgotten that
Daren and his family were building a pool before I left. I'm assuming
that it is finished now. That sure is a scary moment. Do they have a
fence around their pool? Maybe dad might be able to use my old phone
that you love so much? I had a pretty good thanksgiving too. Had
several meals and desserts. Wasn't able to play in the turkey bowl
cause a new rule came out and we weren't allowed to.

It is a new stage of life for all of us. We are all growing up. I have
some of those same feelings. I remember riding bikes together and
swimming together. Those were good times.

Sister Gibson did come to church yesterday. I was really happy she
came. I was a little worried though because she is really shy and not
too many people were talking to her. But I tried my best to talk to
her and introduce her to people. I hope she can kick the smoking habit
too. But it can be really hard for some people. I was glad that porter
and chance wrote me too. It was great to hear from them. Hopefully
they write me back. I've been talking with Elder Lewis too. Pretty
much weekly. Haha yeah I smile every time I see his Facebook profile
picture. That was such a long time ago too.

I'm glad you got to meet Elder Ostrom's parents. Sounds like you guys
had a great chat. And yes Elder Ostrom has struggled with most of his
companions in the past. I'm glad that I am more tolerable than they
were. Yes Elder alstroemerias does like to drive fast. But in his
defense that road we were on was a 25mph road and it honestly
shouldn't and it was pretty hilly. So about the ramen. There is a
family that feeds us every other Thursday and gives us leftovers and
other foods and every week they include a box of ramen and we really
just don't eat a lot of it.

Haha yeah the primary program birthday wishes were fun. I struggle
sometimes to know what to say on a video so Elder Ostrom coached me
through it.

1: Our plans for this week are to do missionary work basically.
Nothing special. Friday there is the annual Christmas party for the
branch.
2: I kind of want to be transferred because of some reasons and also I
don't because of some reasons. But more importantly I think it's just
time to move to a different area.
3: Hopefully I can get the package is a week or two.
Sorry to hear about Sister Whiz. Keep me updated on her status. I'll
keep her in my prayers.

Hi dad, great to hear from you today. Thanksgiving went very well. I
am very thankful for the food. Thought I'd send a quick message to mom
for her birthday. I hope she liked it. What was it like to meet Elder
Ostrom's parents? I also heard that WF football won the state
championship. Good for them. Also congrats to ALA for winning their
championship too. Did you go to both of those games? Good job for
being the hero on thanksgiving. I'm sure that was pretty scary for
you. Glad everybody is ok. What kind of phone are you getting? What
did mom get for her birthday? She's 42 right? She doesn't really look
any different. Haha that's funny about porter. Did you talk to him
afterwards about if he enjoyed the talk?

I hope everybody had a great thanksgiving. We sure had a great one. We
had about 4 meal appointments. I tried my best to not eat too much at
each appointment. I did struggle a little bit on the last one though.
We were able to be with some amazing members on thanksgiving. Our
branch is awesome for letting us come over on thanksgiving.

This past week has been pretty good. Sister Kaufman and Sister Gibson
both came to church yesterday. I was really happy that they came. They
both are progressing well. Our last appointment with sister Kaufman
went really well. We taught her about the prophet and we watched a
couple of his talks from past conferences and towards the end of the
lesson Sister Kaufman says that she does believe but she still needs a
little more time to get baptized. Her husband Brother Kaufman is
trying to prepare on receiving the priesthood. They also are both
pretty heavy smokers and it's hard for them to quit. Sister Gibson is
doing well. We have a date for her to be baptized which is Dec 10th.
It's tentative right now because she too has a smoking issue. We will
continue to help both of them as much as we can.

It is getting quite a bit colder and the Christmas season is here too.
I'm grateful for this time of year so we can celebrate the birth of
our savior. If you haven't seen it yet there is a great video the
church has made about Christmas, I encourage you to watch it. It is
called #LightTheWorld and it is really good. Will probably be one of
my favorites.

Hope everybody has a great week, miss you all and stay warm.

Love Elder Shumway

This is Kory and Bro Moore. Awesome members in the Reading ward. I used to teach kory and now she is baptized.

Hi dad, great to hear from you today. Thanksgiving went very well. I

am very thankful for the food. Thought I'd send a quick message to mom
for her birthday. I hope she liked it. What was it like to meet Elder
Ostrom's parents? I also heard that WF football won the state
championship. Good for them. Also congrats to ALA for winning their
championship too. Did you go to both of those games? Good job for
being the hero on thanksgiving. I'm sure that was pretty scary for
you. Glad everybody is ok. What kind of phone are you getting? What
did mom get for her birthday? She's 42 right? She doesn't really look
any different. Haha that's funny about porter. Did you talk to him
afterwards about if he enjoyed the talk?

Yeah it snowed last weekend. Not very much though. It was only a
couple of inches. The snow is gone now, but it's still rather cold. So
you got your new phone! That's great, I'm excited for the things that
I will get now uiin my package. No it doesn't really make me home sick to get pictures during the week. I'm feeling
fine. Sometimes I do feel homesick but that's pretty rare. I'm not too
worried about driving in the snow, actually I don't know yet cause I'm
probably going to get transferred to a new area next transfer and I
don't know how the roads are there. Here it wasn't too bad. Then again
there wasn't that much snow.

Sounds like a very eventful seek. Lila sure has turned into a dancer.
She seems to enjoy it a lot. Is she going to pursue doing that? High
school football seems to be winding down now. Dad told me that
Williams field football is going to the championships.

Is chandler still in the MTC or is he in the field yet? Wow sams last
primary program. How do you feel about that? We had our primary
program last week. It went very well. Lots of cute little kids here in
the branch. Sounds like you had a good time at G and G's house. I feel
so bad for Gregs family. I wish they could be more involved. I'm sure
the group there is a lot more smaller. That was nice of grandma to
bring you your new phone.

I trust that dad will figure out the problem on the tracker

too. He is good at fixing
things. I would love to be taught by Carson on how to drive stick.
I've always wanted to learn. And when I learn I will definitely pick
up treasures as you put it.

Sister Gibson is doing well. We've been meeting with her pretty
regularly. She didn't come to church last week because she was sick.
She says she will be there this Sunday though. We may have to push
back her baptism date because she smokes. I probably won't be there
for that. Transfers are Dec 13

I got an email from both porter and chance. I've responded to porter
but not chance yet. Braxton has definitely come home. If he hasn't
he's been out for a very very long time. That's great about Ashley
being called to the Pittsburgh mission.

I will be anticipating a package soon. I always love when packages
arrive. Thanks for not getting the disposables. I really appreciate
it. I don't need any gloves or scarfs. I already have a pair and they
worked out really well last year.

I do enjoy Elder Smith a lot. Elder Ostrom was nearby passing out
programs like me. Well we were just talking with each other. And he's
just awesome. Elder Tuttle is in Delaware right now. I don't see him
very much. Haven't served around him at all on my mission.

Wow that's a lot of sickness going on back home. I hope everything
will turn out ok. Hopefully the Whiz family can stay hopeful.

Yes today is thanksgiving and also our Pday. We mainly just have meal
appointments with members today. Did you every run the turkey trot?
Hopefully you all have a great thanksgiving.

1: I'm not really needing anything right now. Just keep remembering me
and emailing me and getting ready for Christmas.
2: We do spend time outside but not too much. Last year when it was
really cold we spent a lot of time outside unfortunately.
3: Daylight savings time this time of the year means that the clock
goes forward one hour. The first night you get one extra hour of sleep
but after that it goes back to normal. Also it gets darker earlier.

Love Elder Shumway


Oh yeah and happy birthday.

Also the Ostrom family is in town and they tried to stop by this last
week and you weren't home.

Elder Ostrom doesn't know if they will come back. His moms phone number is 801-616-0649

Hello everybody. Hope everybody had a great week this past week. I had
a great one. We were able to be instructed and taught by Elder Cordon
of the seventy. He's a fairly recently called seventy, he was called
in the April 2016 conference. He taught us some great things. We had a
great discussion. He introduced two questions to discuss. The
questions were, who are we? And what are we called to do? He shared
some great insight. I liked how he talked about how we need to be sons
and daughters of God and not of men. Referring to the natural man
which is an enemy to God.

This weekend was stake conference which was awesome cause I got to go
down to Reading, PA and see some of the members in my first area. It
was great to see them. I am so blessed to be in such great areas with
great people. I'm grateful for their examples and their friendship
towards me.Saturday night there was an adult session at the stake
conference. Jon was asked to say the closing prayer and he did really
great. We were really proud of him.

This week we also set a baptismal date for sister Gibson. I don't
think I've mentioned her. She is a lady who called up our branch
president and wanted to come to church but she needed a ride. A ride
was able to be provided and she came to church and loved it. We were
able to get her contact info and have met with her twice already and
she has a baptismal date for the 10th of December. Please keep her in
your prayers. She is reading the Book of Mormon and is keeping her
commitments. She is doing great.


Love all of you hope you have a great week this week. Don't be afraid
to email me back, I will respond.

Love Elder Shumway

Mom,
Yes another week has flown by. I have no idea how many weeks I've been
out either. I think I have less than 40 left though. I'm sure you will
be counting down soon enough. Miss you too. My week was pretty good.
It is getting colder over here but it's live able for now. I'm glad
that there is still no snow on the ground. The reaction to the
election here is mainly positive. Here in the rural area of PA there
is a lot and I mean a lot of trump supporters. I'm sure in places like
Philly there's more Hillary supporters because of the big city.
Unfortunately we aren't allowed to talk about politics like at all
with people which is a bummer. But it also causes a lot less stress
probably. Yeah I heard there has been some rioting in Philly don't
know the specifics though.

Sounds like you had a very busy week. Thanks for all of the pictures I
got. I really like it when it happens. So Lila is now 14 that's crazy.
I'm sure you were SUPER COOL at the birthday party. So McCall got
married huh? That's great. Tell her congrats from me if you already
haven't. I'm sure Lila really appreciated you giving her some advice
on some dance moves. You are an amazing dancer!

How did chandlers farewell go? I'm sure he did great. How did the
primary program go? Also the lunch with the Dayley family? Where you
able to get your new phone?

That's a lot of money. I'm sure Carson was not happy about payingfor driving school and accident.
Maybe that will teach him to be more careful on the roads. The brakes
aren't working at all on the Tracker? That's strange, I hope dad can fix it. That's
surprising to hear that coming from Carson that he likes the Tracker. What changed his mind? I do
not know how to drive stick, I've never done it before.

So this weekend was stake conference. So church was technically in
Reading. Which is a little bit of a drive away and none of our
investigators wanted to drive all that way. So no one came. The lady
that came to church last week, her name is sister Gibson. She's really
awesome. We've been able to meet with her twice and set her with a
baptismal date for  December. So she has members of her family who
are members of the church and she has always admired them. She has
always been interested in religion and has grown up catholic. She says
that she doesn't agree with some teaching in that church and thought
she might try going to the Mormon church. She somehow got the number
to our branch president and wanted to come to church. So she came and
loved it. Thankfully no one said anything stupid in fast and testimony
meeting, usually someone does. She loved the meeting and the people
and the branch fellowshipped her really well.

Thanks for letting porter derrick know I want to hear from him. I sometimes think about him and wonder
how he's doing. Along with other people who I have hardly heard from
like Braxton and chance. I'm sure there are many more people that I
can't think of right now.

The meeting with the general authority was great. He is a newly called
general authority, he was called in April of 2016. He is from
Guatemala and English is not his first language. He had a very think
Hispanic accent. He wanted to speak Spanish with the Spanish
missionaries. The main thing he talked about with us where two
questions. First is, who are we? And what are we called to do? We had
a great discussion about those questions.

That sounds like a great story about the WF football team being such great sports. I like it when
I hear good stories like that. They let you know that there are still
good people in the world. I will be anticipating that picture.

One other thing that I need are razors. Now please don't get me
disposable ones. They don't get the job done anymore unfortunately. My
facial hair is gaining in abundance. So I need Gillette fusion pro
glide razors. They are a little more expensive but they get the job
done. That's what I've basically been using my whole mission and they
have been working great. I'll see if I can think of one more thing
before you send it. Yep I saw the wojcickis yesterday at stake
conference. I loved it. Especially seeing a lot of familiar faces.
That missionary I was standing next to is probably one of my most
favorite missionaries ever. That's Elder smith. Not my former
companion another missionary. Him and I cam our together. He's
awesome.

That's really sad news about sister whiz. How is the family taking it?
Have they gotten the news yet of what stage it's in? Keep me updated
with this. I will keep her in my prayers.

You have a great week too.

Love Elder Shumway

Dad

Good morning. Lila is now 14 years old. She sure does look different in the pictures you send me. Mom did fill me in on the party. Mom said Lila wanted you and mom to be there because you were cool. I remember getting all that free food on my birthday too. That was a lot of fun. What did Lila get for her birthday? Any gifts?

I heard from mom and grandma that chandler did well on his talk. He sure had a great topic to speak on. I hope he does well over there in Texas. 

Thanks for all your hard work on the tracker. Hopefully it will soon be back to normal. 

Primary programs are great. The spirit is always there and can bring myself to tears. I'm sure you and Sam did great in the program. 

Yep sister wojcicki sent that yesterday. We were door greeters/program passerouters. Here I don't do it a lot mainly cause of the size of our building. It's super small and usually we are in meetings before church starts. The mission I think does. I've seen other missionaries with young men and women. But they've only been with missionaries in leadership positions. 

Thanks for all the sport updates. Hopefully the diamondbacks can get things rolling with here new guys in charge. I hope they keep goldschmidt. He is a really good player and seems to have good morals. Hopefully the cardinals can finish strong the rest of the season.

We have one woman who we are teaching and have set a date with. Her name is sister Gibson. She came to church last week and loved it. She has a baptismal date for December 10th. We do teach new member lessons. Mainly to Rochelle and Jon right now. They are both doing well.

I'll see what I can do for the PA shirt.

Love Elder Shumway

Mom,
Halloween was pretty fun. Had a good time at the trunk or treat. That
was probably our only taste of Halloween. There are trick or treaters
in some towns. It's not as much as back home though. Also some towns
have trick or treating on different days other than Halloween. We
haven't been told whether or not to open the door if we have trick or
treaters. I would love to but since I'm a missionary I probably
wouldn't. Thankfully no one came to the door. There wasn't a lot of
trick or treaters out anyway. Sounds like you guys had a fun
Halloween. Sorry mom those candies are not yucky. I actually think
they are really good. Sounds like some good songs that Sam sang.
Thriller would of been a good one. I would totally work the tickets
for that much money. That's great the team is doing well. The football
team here I hear is doing pretty well. They are undefeated. Wow McCall
is getting married Saturday. that's exciting. Tell her I say Hello
and congratulations, wish I could be there.

Here you hardly ever see an unground pool. They practically don't
exist out here. It pretty funny. We have our primary program coming up
too. Not this Sunday but the next. This Sunday will be stake
conference in Reading. Carson got a ticket? Was it from the accident?

The trunk or treat was a lot of fun. I actually didn't get to eat any
food. I did get to eat some dessert, which was really good. Didn't get
to play musical chairs. For some reason they only did one round of it.
You're right it is fun to dress up like a missionary.

Yep I'm going to be in Pottsville for 6 months! I'm pretty positive
this will be my last transfer here. I'm figuring that I only have
about two areas left in my mission which is pretty scary. Not much is
happening with Mason. We were able to meet with him for a little but
at his home. He said he was going to be at church but he didn't show
up. So yesterday we had someone get in contact with our branch
president saying that she wants to come to church and would like a
ride. She has family who ar E members in New York. Sister Black picked
her up. She was really nice and she is actually interested! She really
enjoyed church too. So that is one way we find new investigators. They
show up to church. Sorry you are struggling with your coworker.
Reminds me of companionships. I agree with what you have said about my
companions. Elder Weisler who was my district leader last transfer was
a former assistant to the president and said some very similar things
to what you've said. I've had the majority of my companions be
missionaries that kind of struggle. I don't know why I'm so special in
being their companion. I just try to be there friend and try and get
along as well as possible. Elder Ostrom and I are still doing great.
Still getting along. This has probably been the best companionship
I've been apart of. So I actually won't be able to be in the mission
home my last day. President Randall if you remember brought his family
with him. He has teenage girls in the mission home which means we are
no longer allowed to go. So all missionaries who are leaving get to
cram into the assistants apartment for one night.

Cindy's food was really interesting. Nothing in it was really good.
The ice cream bars weren't very good. There were some freeze dried
tater tots which were really gross. I can't remember anything else
really cause we threw them away. I didn't let grandpa know that I got
his money. But that money has been spent already. I'll send him a
quick note today saying thank you.

That's right I recall that max is in the Arkansas mission. I'm glad
he's doing well. I wish I could hear from porter some time. I'd like
to catch up with him and see how he's doing. Glad to hear president
Derrick is still playing tennis. Abby is already going into high
school? I would love to teach you how to play tennis. It's super fun.
Haven't heard from Spencer in a while either. I hope he's doing well.
She hasn't read his letters? That's really strange. So the Coon kids
are going to ALA? Just Annie or Hannah too? I definitely remember Greg
Clifford. He's a great guy. He was always so nice to me and we had
great conversations together. That's great that you get to see him at
ALA. If you ever see him tell him I say hello.

Jon is still doing well. Lori can't get a job cause she needs her
birth certificate and she can't find it. I think it's mandatory for
Pennsylvania I think to have your birth certificate if your looking
for a job. Jon has his calling in the young men's presidency. Yep 2017
is getting closer. Daylight saving time just started yesterday.

Happy birthday to Lila. The big 14! She's getting so old. I hope she
will have a fun birthday party.

Yep the election is Tuesday. It hard right now because a lot of
people want to talk about the election but we as missionaries aren't
allowed to. It's just really frustrating. Especially being here where
there a lot of politician people and we are pretty close to Washington
DC. I'm sure we will know how it goes.

1: We are being visited by a general authority, his name is Valerie
Cordon. I think he's pretty new cause there's no talks or articles
from him. He will actually be at our mission conference Thursday
and also our stake conference Sunday.
2: Most of our appointment are with our recent converts and less actives.
3: So right now I am fitting well in a 38x30.
Love Elder Shumway

Hi dad. Today is going well. Hope you're having a great day too. I
feel your pain. People leave things out on the street here too and my
instincts kick in sometimes and I want to grab it, but I can't! I want
to continue doing it when I get home. The weather has been nice here
too. Not much to complain about. It's going to get colder though. I'm
seeing temperatures in the low 40s. Waffle ball sounds like a lot of
fun. I heard the cubs won the World Series. High school football here
I hear is going well. The high school team in Pottsville is
undefeated.

Two weeks from now is going to be our primary program.  Chandler is
leaving pretty soon isn't he. He's going to the Fort Worth mission
right? You guys are going to have some family dinner Sunday huh? I
always enjoyed when the family got together. So you have a part in the
primary program that's great. Don't mess up.

Yep sister Jensen went home last week. I'm not surprised that she did
that. Yeah I only talked to sister Jensen once. Never really served
around her a lot. I have a blog? I didn't know that! I'm looking
forward to Christmas too.

Love Elder Shumway