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