Hope everybody had a great Christmas yesterday. I know that I did. I was able to Skype with my family for an entire hour. I'm grateful I was able to do that. It has been almost two weeks here in Cambridge and everything is going well. This past week has been pretty hectic. We had a Christmas conference in Cherry Hill, New Jersey Wednesday. And on Tuesday we slept over at the zone leaders house and got up really early in the morning to get to Cherry Hill on time. The conference went really well. We were able to receive our Christmas gifts and packages. I was definitely spiritually edified by all the things that were shared. I'm grateful for this Christmas season. Our mission president shared a great story about Christmas and its really good. I think I might attach it to the email. 

As far as the work goes, it goes a little slow. Slow but sure, we have a few investigators that are slowly making progress and we are also trying our best to find new people to teach. I know that Heavenly Father will bless us with people to teach if we reach out and find them. Anyway that's all from me. Hope everybody has a great new year!

Love Elder Shumway

Mom,
It was a great Christmas yesterday. I loved our call yesterday. I've
turned into such a cry baby. I don't know what it is. Probably the
stress and lack of sleep. Yeah I don't think it would be good to
invite Carson from next door. I would maybe like to see some friends
like porter or Teryn. Maybe next time. There is only one more left. I
remember last Christmas too. I was at the smiths with Elder Murphy.
That was a long time ago. This next one will come soon. It's only five
months this time.

I was Elder Lake's favorite companion? Really? Ok, sounds good to me.
I don't really have a favorite companion I think. The one that I got
along with the most was Elder Ostrom. I miss him a lot. I wish I was
still with him. All you can say is Wow huh? I know what you mean. We
had some pretty rough parts in our companionship. Yep that's how Elder
Lake was with me too. A little slow. I'm glad he talked about Jon. I
miss him a lot. He's become a great friend of mine and I love him. I
miss Lori too. She is really sweet and awesome. I pray for them a lot.
I hope they stay faithful.

So I've only been to the thrift store once. We helped move stuff
around basically. Bigger things. For a reward is usually food. Elder
Fifita says that we usually get bacon, which is fine with me. It's not
a rule to go to Philly but it's hopefully implied cause we were called
to the Pennsylvania PHILADELPHIA mission. I think we should all at
least serve in the city we were called to. But I'll see. I could go
there and I could not.

That's great that Sister Whiz came to church. Did she lose all her
hair? I hope and pray that she will heal. Sounds like she is doing
good. Am I right? I'm sure you sang Christmas songs in the choir? I
will be expecting to hear from the Whisenant family.

Ah Paul! He is really an awesome guy. He is talkative. He's also
pretty lonely. He loves alone and doesn't have a lot of family. He is
not retired, he actually has three jobs and works a lot. The area is
small in numbers but people here do like the missionaries.

Thanks for the video from Elder Ostrom. I miss him a too. He is so
funny. He's really goofy. I hope to see him after the mission too.

Sounds like you guys will have a fun week coming up. Have fun and be
safe. Make sure you capture the moments that Sam and Carson cry.

I am doing ok. There have been times that have been really hard. I'm
glad that I am making some sort of impact back home. Everybody looks
so different. They look so grown up.

Haha that's a great request from James and I can also agree to that.
That's one thing that I miss is authentic Mexican food. He wants a
bean burrito? That's it? He gotta get what I like. I'm sure it's still
delicious as I remember it. A new one opened? Sweet, even closer to
home!

I did like all my Christmas presents. I've gotten a gift from Jill. It
was a subway gift card which has already been used up. I don't think I
received anything else. Actually I did receive a letter from the
carpenters. I need to write them back. I did get the cards from the
ward. Those were great. So many of them. How come some of them had a
question mark saying who it's from? I'll take a picture of my lashes
and send it to you. They really are nice pants. The branch gave me
some cash for Christmas.

Love Elder Shumway

Hey dad. It was great to Skype yesterday. It was the highlight of my
day too. Yesterday we had a couple of appointments with members. Haha
I love Paul. He's a really great guy. Mom sent me a picture of him
wearing his Bro Lake name tag. Yeah Elder Lake isn't the best at
public speaking. Did he have a large ward? I have made some life long
friends out here and I'm glad that I have and I care and love them
very much. Thanks for the updates and future updates on how things are
going. Have fun at Mormon Lake. But not too much fun that you never
want to leave. Tell Cindy and Dave I say howdy and thank you for the
Christmas gift.

Love Elder Shumway

Good morning and happy Monday! This week has been pretty good. Well
I'm in Cambridge, Maryland right now sitting in my apartment emailing
you. I've been pretty good. Weather sure is weird here though. My
companion is from Tonga, he hasn't always been faithful/active in the
church and has had a past involving gangs. He has a couple of tattoos
of his gangs signs. His really cool though. He's not fake like a lot
of missionaries are. He tells it like it is. We are getting along. I'm
glad we are cause he's a pretty big guy and I don't want to get him
angry. My address is:5236 Primrose Court #201 Cambridge, Maryland
21613. Oh thank you aunt Juliet! I will be waiting for it. And we are
able to receive packages here. It's a lot more safer. Cambridge is
very far from the mission office. It's almost the farthest area in the
mission. I would love some more pants. Is that 36 in the waist? We
don't have a lot of things near our apartment. No prison this time but
we do love next to a mental hospital. On the other sides are just
fields. Yeah Elder Fifita has been out a while. He will go home next
transfer. I will probably be his last companion. He is from Tonga. The
work is slow here. It's winter and the work is slower in the winter.
This area hasn't had a baptism in like 6 years. The branch only had
about 20 people show up for church yesterday. It's a very small
branch. One thing that is exciting is that there is a fairly recent
convert that loves the missionaries. His name is Paul. We went out to
dinner with him one night this last week and he says that he lives to
talk to the parents of missionaries. I mentioned to him that my mother
loves to hear from people here. Is that right? Would you feel
comfortable with talking to Paul over the phone?

It's not as cold, but it makes up for it with wind. We are so close to
water that it's usually windy. And some cold and wind are my favorite
things in the world. Yesterday morning was really nice, but that soon
changed to really cold. We are warmer because we are closer to the
ocean I guess. I'm relieved that I won't have to drive in it as much.
People do say they get snow here but not as much as PA does. So I'm
glad about that. That crash last week, we did stop and help. Everyone
was fine. They were stuck on the guard rail a little bit and tried to
help them get out. Eventually they got out.

I am sad to leave Pottsville too. It was a hard goodbye but it will be
ok. I know I will gain new relationships in my next areas. Thank you
for sending gifts to the people in Pottsville.

Sounds like everyone will be very happy with their Christmas presents.
I know I will be. I will be getting my. Christmas package on
Wednesday. We are going to New Jersey for the Christmas conference and
that where it will be. I'm also very excited for next Sunday.

So I'm thinking to do it at 12:00. So it would be 10:00 where you are.
Does that work?

Did President Derrick get to go in the Oval Office?

Lucky! You get to see Dave and Cindy! Tell them I say hi. I emailed
Cindy a week or so ago and haven't heard back. Of course I shouldn't
be talking cause I too take forever to respond to her. I hope they are
doing ok with not being able to see their grandkids. I do remember the
year they brought all those Christmas presents. I don't remember
having the beef dish. Sounds good to me though.

You took social media away for a year? Wow! How did you pull that
off!? It can be a wast of time but it can also be used for good. It is
nice to see what family and friends are up to.

I don't know how Elder Ostrom's companion is doing. I'm going to email
him later today and find out. His new companions name is Elder Rose.
He's a pretty new missionary. Im also curious to see how they are
doing. Elder Ostrom has struggled a lot with past companions.
Hopefully this one will be better for him.

That's a crazy story about the truck. I'm glad that everything turned
out ok though. You'll have to tell me more about it on Sunday.

It's actually a hamster. And it's just one of the members in Pottsville.

1: My area is pretty cool. Work is struggling a little bit. Branch is
really small.
2: Elder Fifita is from Tonga, he is 22, been on his mission for about
22 months, he's also served a lot in Philly.
3: The member ship is ok. Lots of less active people, but that's not a
surprise. But members still take care of us here. People here consider
themselves to be southerners.

Love Elder Shumway

Hello everybody. Hope everybody is having a great day today. Here I am
in Cambridge, Maryland. Don't have too much to report on. This week
has been a lot of getting to know different members and investigators
here. We have a couple of investigators that have potential. My
companion told me that this are a hasn't had a baptism for about 6
years! I hope to break that! My new companion is Elder Fifita. He is
from Tonga. He has been out for about 22 months.

I hope everybody will have a great Christmas. I am very excited for
Christmas. I will be able to see my family again. It's been quite a
few months that I haven't seen them and I'm really looking forward to
it.

Love Elder Shumway



Hello, happy Monday. New area is pretty good and so is my new
companion. I guess tonight is the Dayley family Christmas party. Were
you glad that you got the barbecue sauce? That's good no one decided
to jump on the pool. Thanks for the sports updates, too bad about the
cardinals. There's always next year. Tell Dave and Cindy hello for me,
and also I wish them a very merry Christmas. That's a crazy story
about the truck. Mom told me about it a little bit. Good thing you
were able to get it back. It is a strange story though. Hopefully the
trailer will be sold soon. I'm excited to Skype on Sunday too.

Love Elder Shumway

Good morning. Yes I am in the move. I'm excited to go to a new area
and meet new people. I will miss the people in Pottsville a lot, I'm
glad that I was able to serve here. I definitely have made some life
long friends. Glad the weather is nice over there. It's pretty cold
here. There is a couple of inches of snow on the ground right now.
Yesterday we saw someone slide across the road and hit a guard rail
pretty hard. Thankfully everyone was ok and all that was lost was the
bumper. Congrats to the bulldogs for getting the championship! I'm
excited for Christmas too. Very exited to Skype with my family. It's
less than two weeks now. I always enjoyed those school Christmas
concerts. I'm sure Sam will do well. That's a great message by the
speakers yesterday. There are times when those decisions present
themselves. I to need to sometimes make better decisions, I think
everybody does.

Thanks for the sports updates. I wish the Cardinals would do better!
I've heard that the cowboys have a really good team this year. Good
job for the Giants! I'm glad people are wondering how I'm doing. Tell
them that I say hello and thanks for thinking about me. If there are
comfortable with it they are welcome to email me. I will respond.

Love Elder Shumway

 Happy  Monday everybody. Hope everybody is doing well and is staying
warm. There has been several days this week that it has snowed and it
has been fun. I do get a little more wet than I would like, but I do
enjoy the snow most of the time. I however do not like to drive on it.
Yesterday the roads weren't salted after it snowed and I was a little
worried about us. As we were driving to an appointment we saw a car
coming the opposite way of us crash into a guard rail! Thankfully
everyone was ok and they just lost their bumper. After that we tried
to go a little slower.

It's been hard to say goodbye to the people here in Pottsville. I am
truly going to miss this place. I've gained some great friends for
life. Sister Gibson is doing ok. She wasn't able to come to church
yesterday she said she was sick. We saw her yesterday and I was able
to say goodbye to her. I told her to keep listening to the
missionaries and to keep doing the things they ask her to do.

I know where I am going and who my new companion is. I am going to a
place called Cambridge, Maryland and my new companion is Elder Fifita.
I am very excited to go there. I've heard some great things about the
area and also about my new companion. I'll email next week and tell
you how things are going.

Love Elder Shumway

I'm glad you guys enjoy the videos. I am being transferred. And I do know where I'm going. I'm pretty sure I'm going to Cambridge, Maryland and my new companions name is Elder Fifita. I have taken a few pictures of the neighborhood and my apartment already. I'm excited for the packages that I will get. I will most likely get them tomorrow at transfers. What will my siblings be getting for Christmas? 

It was good to say goodbye. It was also pretty hard. There are some great people here that I am really grateful for. Sending some things to people would be great. I will give you some addresses. I'll keep it to 5. I think people would really like a towel, Lori really likes hers. 

Sounds like the choir did really well. It's is fun being in a choir. I look forward when singing in a choir. It's also a lot of fun when you sound really good. I'll see what time for Christmas. I don't know what time they have church in my new area. We can discuss time next week. 

Good luck on getting up in the morning and going to church. I'm glad that I haven't been able to wake up that early for church here. I think the earliest it's been here was at 9:30am. I'm sure everyone will get used to it eventually. How's president Derrick doing?

I will miss the baptisms of some sisters. That's ok, I'm glad that I was able to be used in this short period of time. I will sure miss them. Mason has been avoiding us for the most part and it doesn't seem like he has any interest anymore. I don't think that I will reach out to him.

It is easier to play games with older people. Catchphrase is a lot of fun. You did tell me you got the other game that Caleb Call has. I remember playing that game and laughing a lot and having a great time playing it. 

Yes it was me who cut my hair. Elder Ostrom did have some part of it, the part of making fun of me part. People at church also made fun of me but I quickly got it fixed. It looks a lot better now. I think I have made the decision of what length to cut my hair from now on in the mission. 

I'm really jealous of your guys' phones. I don't have the best phone right now. It can't do a lot. I'm also really liking apple products. Mainly because of my iPad, it's a lot more faster than ordinary tablets I've come to find out. I want to see if I can trade in my iPhone 4s I got from Jon and see if I can get a deal on a 5 or a 6. 

Your rolls are delicious. I miss them a lot. Especially your rolls dipped in honey butter! I did like the treats in my last package they were really good. 

Haha I'm not surprised that you do go on my Facebook page. I don't post a lot of things. I didn't when I was back home. I guess I'm not too into social media. There's a lot of bad stuff in it and sometimes I just don't want to be apart of it. 

Yeah I will miss Elder Ostrom. He will also miss me too. He has said many times. He says it with a serious face too. Hopefully his family in Arizona can meet you guys one day. Yep Elder Lake is going home very soon. I think it would be good for you to go to his homecoming. Then maybe you can see what I had to deal with for 3 months. Haha just kidding....kind of. 

I do have memories of grandpa. I'm grateful for his example. I do remember that time he bore his testimony to us. I'm glad that he was able to do that. I miss him a lot and think about him every now and then.

Seems like sister Whiz is doing ok. Tell her I say hello too please. I assume everything has been going right with her. I pray for her recovery. 

I'm excited for Christmas too. I look forward too it every year. Especially these past years when I've been out. It's probably the best Christmas present I can get to Skype with my family. I'll try and look for who ever is taking pictures. Transfers can be a mess sometimes and a lot is happening and it's quick so I'll do my best. I also did here that there's a lot of missionaries going home and coming in.

Have a great Christmas break! Have fun in the snow. There snow here in Pottsville right now. Don't know how much I'll get in Cambridge since I'm pretty close to water and also it's more down south so we'll see. I would like another pair of pants. That would be awesome. I'm running out of pants that are still in good shape and fit me. I have about 2 1/2-3 good ones. Thanks for giving me some money in my account too.

Love Elder Shumway

This message was from Lori the Sunday before transfers

Please send something to these people

Addresses:

Stanley family, 2034 W Market St Pottsville, PA 17901

Hull Family, 525 Schuylkill Ave Tamaqua, PA 18252

Blacks(senior couple in Pottsville), 2100 W Norwegian St Apt 1H, Pottsville, PA 17901

Sparrow Family, 1020 Ridgeview Dr Orwigsburg, PA 17916

Myro Family, 146 Arnot St, St Clair, PA 17970

Murray Family(could you squeeze this one in please? It's the branch president), 34 Bryn Mawr Ave Pottsville, PA 17901

Sister Gibson and me

The Kaufmans

Happy Monday everybody. I hope everybody is doing well. I'm having a
great time here. This morning we woke up to a lot of fog and there was
some snow on the ground. The forecast calls for some more snow coming
up this week. Hopefully not too much snow. Anyways, transfers are a
week from tomorrow. I am pretty sure my time is up here in Pottsville
soon. I've been here for a while and I've had some great experiences
and some not so great experiences. But I'm ready and anxious to see
what else lies ahead.

This week has been pretty great. Missionary work here is going well.
We are continuing on working with Sister Gibson and Sister Kaufman. On
Wednesday we had our weekly lesson with sister Kaufman. We watched
parts of the BYU devotional by Elder Robbins call tasting the light. I
encourage you to watch it, it's a great talk. He describes a faith
spectrum and is ranging from 1-10. 1 being that your an atheist and 10
having a perfect knowledge of God. Sister Kaufman said she was an 8
which I thought was great. She said she would be higher but she hasn't
been baptized yet. Some great progress we are making with her. She
also came to church yesterday.

Sister Gibson is doing well. One day this week we helped her with
picking up garbage around the neighborhood. She lives around the
corner from us. We had a great time talking about different things and
getting to know each other better. She really is a great person. One
lesson we had with her this week we introduced the stop smoking
program. She said she wants to set a date for when she will quit
smoking. She originally said that she wants it to be Easter. Hopefully
she will be able to reach her goal.

An awesome finding experience happened this past week. We were at the
Stanley home on Tuesday night having dinner and afterwards going to do
splits. Bro Stanley gets a call from a member in the branch asking if
he had an extra Book of Mormon. He didn't but thankfully we were there
and we were able to provide it. The man who wants it is a friend of
theirs and is really interested in the Gospel. His name is Allen and
soon we will be helping him to come to the savior.

Love you all, hope you are all doing well. Have a great week.

Love Elder Shumway

It does seem like thanksgiving was a while ago. I did have a great
thanksgiving. I'm grateful for the members here too. I've been in some
great areas with some awesome members who do take care of me.

Wow you are in a choir! What songs are you singing? Christmas is just
around the corner. What do you guys plan to do during Christmas break?
We should have church on Christmas. Here in Pottsville there will just
be sacrament meeting. I don't know what's going to happen in my new
area if I get transferred. I'll have to talk to you probably the
Monday before Christmas cause then I'll know if I'm staying or
leaving. We can also set up the time to skype cause I'll most likely
know when church is. I don't know where I will call from yet, it all
depends. I should be fine with Skype, I still have dad as a contact of
mine on Skype so it should work just fine. You didn't tell me that
church time has changed. We have been at 2:00 for a long time. Now
it's at 8:00am! Wow! Have fun getting up really early. It's easy for
us here in Pottsville cause we have the building to ourselves so we
can decide when church is.

Both of the sisters are kind of preparing for baptism. We haven't been
able to get sister Kaufman a date to be baptized. She is still
smoking. Our last lesson with sister Gibson we went over the stop
smoking program and she wants to set a date when she will quit. She
wants to set the date for Easter. We weren't too thrilled with that.
Sister Black while we were there said why don't you do it on your
birthday? Her birthday is January 7th, and then Elder Black said, why
not Christmas? So we are wanting her to bump that quilting date up
sooner so she can be baptized sooner. Unfortunately she has decided to
do Easter. She told me that yesterday at church. How did we meet them?
Well sister Kaufman is a spouse of a member and had been taught by the
missionaries before but the previous missionaries were very pushy and
that why she stoped investigating. Sis Gibson called our branch
president wanting to come to church because she has family members who
are members of the church in New York and has admired them all her
life. December 10th will not stand unfortunately. No work on Mason, he
has pretty much disappeared.

Games are always so fun to play. I wish we could have played more as a
family. Have you ever played the game catchphrase? I also have a mouth
piece for that game. It is getting colder. This morning we woke up to
a little bit of snow on the ground. So you ask those questions about
what did he say when he cut my hair and ask if I can get my money
back. I actually did it and I do t think I can get my money back
because it was free. It was a mistake I made while cutting my hair but
I have fixed it. I have spent a long time here.

I think Daren should really think about getting a pool. Especially
because of the little nieces and nephews. I'm sure dad enjoys his high
tech phone.

Looked like you all had a great time at the ward Christmas party. Oh
man cinnamon rolls are good. I haven't found any cinnamon rolls out
here that are good enough as yours. Also rolls, yours are the best.
I'm excited to get a letter from the ward. I do remember last years
and I still have it. It is really nice for everyone to do that. I
remember going to flip side, that was a lot of fun. You guys did stay
for a while and late into the night. Seems like you guys are doing
quite a bit of fun stuff.

I got on Facebook every now and then. We mainly use the messenger app
to communicate and have lessons with the people we are working with.
It is a great tool.

Elder Ostrom is a goof. He likes to make people laugh. We don't eat a
lot of ramen, we've actually been trying to give away some to some
members in the branch. We cook every now and then in our apartment.
Usually simple things like mac and cheese or a pb&j. Breakfast I
usually have a breakfast sandwich, lunch we usually do in the
apartment or at subs n such down stairs. Dinner we hope we have an
appointment if not we come home and eat.

Yesterday was grandpa birthday huh? I miss him a lot too. I was just
telling sister Gibson about him the other day and had brought back
memories of him. Sorry to hear about the death in the flygare family.
How is sister Whiz doing? Is she still in the hospital? I did include
her in my fast yesterday. I hope everything goes well for her.

Transfers are a week from tomorrow.

I'm excited to get another package. I've gotten the last one you sent.
Thank you for all those things. I ate those treats in like two days,
they were really good. Thank you for the tree too with all the
pictures. I would like $200 on my card.

Love Elder Shumway

Before I forget, I would love to have a copy of that story that we
always read together as a family. The one about the comb and the
harmonica. You know?