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