Christmas and a Transfer!

  Last week I went to go buy a Christmas tree for our apartment. So I went to this place where the boy scouts were selling trees. Guess where the trees were from? !

Our tree looks pretty good with lights and presents under it. I'm excited to open the packages I've gotten.

    .

    I am getting transferred on Wed. so I don't know what we will be doing on Christmas day or what time I will call you. But I will be sure to call your cell phone.  Tell Aunt Stephanie I said congrats!!  

   

    I will be serving with Elder Hardt (Heart) in Lawton, OK.  That is in the same zone that Texas is in. I will be able to go to Texas on exchanges.  There is still a lot of work that needs to be done in Texas, and some of the missionaries down there are struggling. When Elder Ali'ifua left me, he went to Texas to help some missionaries out. There has been a history of slacker missionaries in Texas, but a few years ago, it held the record for the highest baptizing area in the mission.  So there is a lot of potential there!!

    I am sad to leave Moore.  We have an investigator (A____ who is so close to getting baptized! She just wants to think about a date while she is on vacation over the next few days.  I hope I can come back for her baptism.  I am going to miss teaching her. 

 Building the trust of others is so important! I like those scriptures you sent. I can see how that has worked with A___. You can tell when investigators trust you by the way they act in lessons and if they keep commitments.  It is also very important to build the trust of the members. We saw that a ton in this ward when we told them what our goals were and our vision for the area.

    This week  has been so busy. We spent two days with some seinor missionaries, moving new stuff into our apartment and moving other stuff out because the AP's are moving into our apartment by Wed.  The AP's were too busy to help us because they are opening up a new sister missionary area in the south zone. The Moore first ward will have the AP's and the Sisters in it.  We are starting to see the big wave of missionaries begin to come!!

      Elder Naisbitt (my trainer) goes home tomorow. It is sad to see him leave. I love that guy.  He'll be home for Christmas.  He lives in Hooper UT,  a small town outside of Ogden.   We are going to visit him in the mission home tonight before he leaves in the morning. 

      Good stuff is happening!  There is always work to be done!     Time is flying by for me!  This was probably the fastest transfer of my mission.   Elder Hanes and I had a lot of fun together.

                           I'll Talk to you on Christmas!

              Love Elder Shumway

Elder Foy

I saw Elder Foy!  

We stopped by the church to get some papers from the AP's who were at their Ward Halloween Festival. I was standing by the door in the gym when Elder Foy walked in. I saw him and recognized him but I didn't know who he was (he had some 5:00 shadow). I stared at him as he walked by. He glanced at me and then did a double take and stopped to ask me if we knew each other.  Haha! It was funny.  It didn't take us long to figure it out. (my name tag gave it away)  Our roles were reversed; he was in street clothes and I was the missionary. It was crazy! He was only there for a couple of days to visit family and we were only there to pick up a ward roster.  What are the chances?

Thanksgiving Week

This week was super busy!  We tried working very hard to accomplish our goals early in the week because of Thanksgiving, but even after a full week of effort, we fell short.    Thanksgiving day was a blast though.  We had an exchange with the assistants on Wed and they spent the night that night.  In the morning, we went to one of the nearby high school turf fields and played in a multi-ward turkeybowl.  There were times when the game got very intense. Some of the members would argue with each other about the rules or what actually happened.  Okies get very intense when it comes to football.   

After that game, we went to a park by President Taylo'rs home to play football with he and his family. That game was way less intense.   I played on the line with President Taylor. There was one play in the game where Elder Hanes slipped and fell when he was going up against President on the line. President Taylor fell on top of Elder Hanes and pretended like he had tackled him.  It was very funny. 

   

          We had a Thanksgiving dinner with some members in our ward at about 2:30 and then right after that, we had another dinner with a Seinor office couple and some other missionaries.  I ate way too much!    I was so stuffed!

          
        It is cool to see how true the scriptures are and how accuratly thay apply to our lives today. Every week I watch scenes from the scriptures play out before my eyes....as we work with investigators, and ward members. It is unbelievable. But I gain a lot of insight from the scriptures.  I love the scriptures.   

             

  Love Elder Shumway

Elder Bowen Visits!

This week was great!   All of the Zone Leaders met at the Moore stake-center for our meeting with Elder Bowen, of the Seventy. The meeting was very motivating. He expects a lot out of us.

      Elder Bowen came the next day to inspect our CLEAN apartment.  President Taylor came the morning before and joined us for companionship study. It was great!  He wanted to inspect our apartment before Elder Bowen came.   He told us that Elder Bowen was going to check everything, even our planners and also the area-book.  But when Elder Bowen came the next morning with his wife and President and Sister Taylor, they just looked in our closets and cabinets and bathrooms and then talked to us. It was awesome!   He asked us some questions and he taught us about the importance of keeping our apartment like the temple; in good, clean condition so that is can be a place of revelation during planning and studies. A place that that keeps us apart from the world.   It was cool. Then he gave us each a hug, but it wasn't like any usual man-hug. It was like he was my Mom or my Grandma. He hugged us for a long time.  The spirit in our apartment was SOOOO strong and you could feel the love radiating off of him.

     The next day we went to Norman where we had Mission Tour Conference. It was sweet. Elder Bowen gave a 4 hour training without any notes. All he had was his ipad (scriptures).  He was very bold with all of the missionaries.  He was not afraid to call anyone out.  That is exactly what our mission needed. There are lots of missionaries who are starting to slack off. Mostly because there are so many young missionaries in our mission.  And there are going to be way more young missionaries added soon. The zone leaders are responsible for the growth of each missionary in the zone. We have to hold them accountable to help them all rise to their potential, to become leaders so that they can train or be a district leader or replace us.   I had an interview with President Taylor this morning and that is pretty much all that we talked about.

      We had a baptism this Sunday!! His name is Andy. He is a funny guy. He just recently started dating this girl like 5 days ago and she sat in on a lesson with Andy and also came to his baptism. Now SHE wants to be baptized!!!!     We have been focusing on working through peoples "networks."  The people who are interested in the gospel have friends. (A lot more friends than we have.) So we work through the people who have connections.  like Andy and his Girlfriend. We just need to be sure that she is converting for the right reasons. 

     I'm excited for Thanksgiving. We will be playing in a Turkey-bowl with President and Sister Taylor, their sons and some other nearby missionaries.   It will be fun.  

       We are Improving a lot in working with the ward and the branch. Good things are happening!

                           Love Elder Shumway

New Missionaries!

 When I first arrived in the OKC mission, there were 114 missionaries. When I was still a newer missionary, we moved from 114 to about 124 missionaries.  When I was in Norman, there were some inspired changes made where President Taylor split the mission from 5 zones to 8 zones. He thought that it was better to have less people in each zone so that the ZL's could have more personal ministering opportunities with missionaries in their zones and more proselyting time in their own areas. 

 Little did he know that there would be a flood of 86 new missionaries coming to our mission between Dec 2012 and March 2013. 

  But now President Taylor is relying on the Zone Leaders to help figure out where all these missionaries are going to go. We need 43 new areas to put them in. 43 new apartments. 43 new phones and we need to decide which companionships will have cars / who will have bikes and  which new districts will be formed! 

 It is pretty crazy.  Good things are happening but it is going to be hard work trying to work it all out smoothly.  The mission will have doubled since I came here. We will have about 216 missionaries in the OKC mission by the end of March or April.     I think the Lord is hastening his work.

        We've been working hard with our investigators. Some of them have dropped us and don't want to continue taking the lessons. It is always sad when they do that.

        This transfer ends on Wed. Elder Ali'ifua is getting transferred to Wichita Falls, TX. The same area I served in.  On Wed I will be getting Elder Hanes as a new ZL companion. I know Elder Hanes very well. He was a spanish speaking missionary in Norman when the tornado hit. We helped do clean-up together.  I'm going to miss Elder Ali'ifua. He has taught me a lot. He goes home in about a week and a half to sign his scholarship to play football at Utah State.  You should look for him on TV next year!

       

                  My address is:         2204 S Santa Fe #201

                                                    Moore, OK   73160

-Love Elder Shumway

General Conference

SO... is Tanner going to go on a mission right after high school?  That is the craziest thing I've ever heard announced in General Conference. Is Sheralyn going to go on a mission? Or is she going to get married?

       I loved Elder Eyring's talk in the Priesthood session. It helped me know some other methods of helping others as a leader.  I also loved Elder Hollands talk. He always uses the Bible and I think that is awesome!

       I recieved permission on Saturday to go to the baptism of one of the investigators I had started teaching in Norman.  She was the investigator we had that had a tornado go right through her apartment comlpex. She also had to wait for her LA member boyfriend to get divorced and active and married to her.  So it took a long time.   Since I was with Elder Guinto until now.   

When I showed up to the baptism, I noticed that my name was on the program to give a talk on baptism. No one had told me about that. Hahaha!   but luckily I had studied repentance and baptism in PMG that morning.  I gave a nice, short talk before she was baptized.   

I loved my short visit in Norman. I was able to see many of the great members in the Norman 2nd ward. I love that ward.   I was able to talk to Brother N. I helped his wife get baptized when I was in Norman.  I love that family and I could see the Love all over his face when we recognized each other.  It gave me a small glimpse of how the Gospel brings people together in unity. Especially when you work hard together to help someone make changes in their lives, repent, and follow the Savior's example.   Our mission has been focusing on finding and baptizing families and future families and I feel very accomplished because Brother & Sister N. just had a baby girl. He showed me pictures of her. It was AWESOME.

       Elder Ali'ifua and I are having a lot of fun together. He goes home in about 6 weeks so we've got to work hard for the last bit of his missionary life.

       The weather has cooled way down. It is actually cold now. This morning there was Ice on the windows of the cars.  

       I've been sick for the last couple of days too. It's not fun.  Hopefully I get over it soon. I think this is the first time I've ever been sick on my mission though.

      

    -Love Elder Shumway

       I was transfered to Moore OK. It is a city that has been nailed by many tornadoes  Including the famous May 3rd Tornado. This city is blended in with the South part of the growing Oklahoma City.  Elder Ali'ifua and I are the zone Leaders for the South Zone. Elder Ali'ifua is Polynesian and the most MASSIVE elder in our mission. When he goes home he will play football for Utah State. I think we will have fun together.

     Our mission has emphasized finding Families and future families. When Elder Callister came and gave a training, he said "Go to the mini-vans!"   We focus on finding families and future families.  We cover a ward and a singles branch. The family ward starts at 9 and we leave a little early to go up to Midwest City where the singles branch starts at 12. I've never been to a singles ward or branch before. It is super fun to be a missionary there.  We had a baptism yesterday in the singles branch. It was great! 

       A cool miracle happened on Saturday. We returned a missed call from an unknown number Saturday night while we were planning. Andy, the young man on the other end of the line said to us  "I'm thinking about converting."   We were shocked to hear this. People don't just come to you and ask to get baptized. You have to go out and find them. So this was a huge shock to us. We invited him to church and arranged a ride for him. The members of the singles ward are great member missionaries.  Andy came to church and stayed for the baptism afterwards. We called him that night to ask him how he liked church and he said that he loved it and that it was better than any other church he had ever been to. We felt like we should set a baptism date with him over the phone right there....so we did.  He has a baptismal date for Oct 28. The Lord Has blessed us.

               Love Elder Shumway

Happy and Working HARD!

I've been a lot happier while on my mission. I've found lots of joy that comes from the "little" things in life. You don't have to listen to cool music to be happy or drink beer or do whatever people do nowadays to be happy.  I don't do any of those things and I'm the happiest I've ever been! It's cool. 

   

If we apply the principles of the doctrine of Christ, we can change our desires to be more similar to the Lord's. This happens through the power of the atonement. If you live the gospel, you are happy. We should never let our agency take over.  One cool thing about living the doctine of Christ is that it brings OUR will in line with the Lord's will. Plus we are blessed as we do these things. I think I've been blessed a lot.  

      Elder Cobbley and I have been working pretty hard. We've been having lots of success. We have been inviting more people to be baptized and now we have three baptismal dates set with people.

       

   There was a cool thing that happened yesterday.  Each week we do a planning session for the whole week ahead of us. We set goals in faith and make our plans to achieve those goals. So last Thursday we set a goal to find 4 new investigators. By the time Saturday ended, we had found four new investigators but when we planned for Sunday, we didn't want to set a goal to find zero investigators so we planned to tract so we could find one. 

   

     So we were tracting yesterday and were having a hard time talking to people. (There were some NFL games on that people are more interested in.)   We were just walking down the street trying to feel where we should go to accomplish our goal.  We each had a prayer in our hearts looking for direction to find this person.   As we walked down another block, we saw a car in a driveway that stuck out to both of us. Elder Cobbley jokingly said  "This house will be our new investigator."     So we knocked on the door. A large, old man came out and immediately knew who we were.  He called us his "Mormon friends." As we talked to him, we found that he had almost joined the church when he was younger but didn't because his Grandpa, who he was living with at the time wouldn't let him.    We prayed with him and we have an appointment to come back and teach him.

       .....And we were able to meet the goal we had set for that day.

      I think it is a cool story. There is a lot to be learned from it too.

Love,

Elder Shumway

A Wild Week

 Just last night we knocked on a door and a lady answered. We did our door approach and then she asked "Are you part of Mitt Romney's campain?"   Of course we told her no, but then she just turned around, walked back inside and shut the door.  Ya, we get political feedback every now and then. I think usually the people who don't like Romney always bring it up.

   This week is a lot cooler than it has been. It's a nice 96 degrees out. I never thought that I would think it was cooler.  I miss the good old 60 degree weather in Oregon...with some nice, sprinkly rain. I could use some of that sometime soon.

    Our zone had four people baptized on Saturday. It was awesome!! Zone leaders report numbers every Sunday night. Things like how many new investigators found, less actives at church, baptism dates and who was actually baptized.  Last night I was talking to the spanish district leader about the baptism dates in his district. He told me that one of their dates had dropped because one of their investigators broke up with her boyfriend who is also an investigator. No one knows where she went. Mexicans get in family arguments easily. She must have told her family something bad about him, because some drunk Mexicans drove by him a couple nights ago trying to shoot him. He got shot all the way through his shoulder. He is still alive, and he still has a baptism date.   But Satan is trying to get him.  It's a crazy story huh?

    The south side of OKC is super ghetto. There are a lot of gangs there and trigger-happy Mexicans.   Only a tiny bit of the south is in our area.

    On Friday night we recieved a call fron the assistants telling us that there was a lady in one of the hospitals in our area who wanted us to give a blessing to her step son. We showed up and met her in the ER waiting area. Her son had been involded in a car wreck. The car he was in swerved, rolled 6 times and was hit by a semi.

 We had to wait two hours for the doctors to let us know when we could go in to see him. Finally we were able to see him and give him a blessing. His head had been damaged so badly that we weren't allowed to put our hands on his head. It was a sad sight to see. He was very bloody and had lots of wires and stuff hooked up to him. he had a bolt (like the one frankenstien has) going into his skull.  We put our hands on his arm and gave the blessing.

 His Mom has been texting us and updating us on his health. He went through seven hours of surgery the next morning and the doctors said it was unlikely that he would live, but he is still alive and now they are saying that he might walk out of the hospital when he's better.  Isn't that crazy?!

  

   Love Elder Shumway

Military Church

  This week we had an LTM (Leadership Training Mtg)  Tues through Fri. It was from 9 am to 4 pm each day. I learned a lot!!!! It was fun because I was able to see E Naisbitt and E Lott and all my other real close pals in the mission. I am so proud of Elder Lott. He  has been trainning for the last three weeks and I hear that his greeny is super solid. Maybe I will be a great-grandpa soon.  

During the four days of the LTM, Elder Lott's greeny (E Apadale) was running the area in Norman where I served. He was with another new missionary who had been out for about 8 weeks. Together they set 3 new baptism dates in the four days we were at the LTM!

    On Saturday, the Assistants came to pick me up. Each Sunday the AP's go down to Fort Sill army base (just north of Lawton OK) to teach lessons to the members and non-members on the base. They have a sacrament meeting in a big classroom on the base. I went this week to help them teach. E Fransen also went with us. We spent the night at the Lawton ZL's apartment and on Sunday morning we went to the base. 

  It was a cool experience. They have a sacrement meeting that is way laid-back. The group leader (like a branch pres.) wasn't able to get a video to work for the spiritual message of sacrament meeting so he called on us missionaries to give talks! We had like five minutes to think of what we wanted to talk on. I gave my talk on Faith, based off of Alma 32: 21 & 27and James 2: 15.  I felt good about the talk when I was done, especially since it was imprompu.  

After sacrement meeting, the four missionaries each taught a class on our own. I taught the third lesson about the gospel of Christ.  The lesson was very hard to teach to a bunch of non-member army dudes...and they all looked the same with their camo uniforms and buzzed heads. It wasn't the best lesson I've had.

After church there was a baptism for two of the soldiers. I conducted one of the baptism interviews for one of the soldiers. We watched them yell and march in the heat over to another building where the Church of Christ has a nice chapel and a ghetto baptismal font. I was asked to give another unexpected talk on baptism and the Holy Ghost before the baptism. Then they were baptised in the weirdest font I've ever seen. It wasn't even below ground level. It was raised.   Then they were confirmed.  It was a cool Sunday. I enjoyed going to Fort Sill and I will probably go again. 

   

    I hope y'all are doing good.

                -Elder Shumway

My 20th Birthday

I had a great birthday!  Guess what I did!   

I WORKED!!   

I was on an exchange with one of the district leaders, Elder Bleggi, and we biked our butts off all day! He is a good missionary. I think it was about 110 degreese that day with some humidity of course. It was a good birthday. We visited some less-actives who came to church yesterday, we found a new investigator and went to the temple to teach a lesson!

I opened the packeges y'all sent me; I love getting new garments!!  I also like the tie, and the colored pictures and notes from the little cousins, and the chocolate cupcake things and the pens! oh and the white shirts and note pad! I love getting packages!

This week has been the best week since I arrived in this area. We had a member-present lesson with a couple investigators that went very well. We found four new investigators and had four less actives at church. Hopefully we can continue exceeding these numbers.  We need to get more member-present lessons.
We went to the temple on Saturday and as soon as we walked onto the temple grounds the spirit hit Elder Bleggi and I at the same time. It was like a wall! We looked at eachother and knew we were both having the same feeling. It was awesome. I love feeling the spirit strongly.

I've been having a great time on my mission. I realised that I've almost been out a year and it kinda made me sad. I still feel like a new missionary and I don't feel like I've been out a year. Holy Cow, time flies.
    
Love ya'll
                              Elder Shumway

Hauling Hay

I have stopped to think about y'all bucking and hauling hay as I work in this heat. It makes me kind of chuckle. But, at the same time I wish I was helping. Partly because it is awesome and partly because it is not 105 degrees with humidity out there!   

    I was so nervous to be ZL that the day before transfers, while I was packing, I had to relieve myself from diarhea 8 times! (Embarrassing!)

I am alot more comfortable with it now. Elder Andersen is my companion. He is a good guy from Utah.   

    The ward we are in could improve a lot. We have already set goals and made plans to help the area and the zone members also.

      I am good friends with one of the AP's, so I am borrowing his bike for now. Maybe he will let me keep it because he goes home this transfer. His bike is definitely not from wal-mart because it is still in good shape after two years.

 

   My bike was destroyed. I left it in Wichita Falls.... in pieces.   It would be possible to get it back, but it would take a while and I don't think it is worth it. I wish I would've remembered about the two year warranty.

    

          My new address is         

   6438 N Warren, apt. #161

   Oklahoma City, OK 73116    

  My area is like basically downtown OKC. The biggest tower in OKC is in my area and the Chesapeak Arena (The OKC's NBA Thunder stadium) is in my area too. I think the bombing memorial is too.

I'm looking forward to my birthday box! 

Love y'all!

Elder Shumway

Big News!

  We recieved transfer info last night. I will be going to Quail
Creek as a Zone leader in the Quail Creek Zone. My companion will be
Elder Anderson. I don't know much about him but I have seen him around.
He is one of the only missionaries who parts his hair. That is all I
know about him. Haha! I'm excited. The Quail Creek Zone has the most
Sisters in it as well, and they are all in one district. haha! They
call it the relief-society district. It will be interesting having six or eight sisters in the zone.

   I am nervous to be a Zone leader. I have no clue what they even do.
   Here is somthing funny though; when I became district leader, my
Zone leader (Elder Phillips) trained me in what I needed to know and how to
minister.  Now I am becoming a Zone leader and the AP's will train me.
Elder Phillips is now one of the Assistants so he will be training me
again!  I think it is funny.


  This week has been OK. We didn't have too much success finding people
but we met with most of our investigators and less actives this week.
It is hard to get people to come out with us because there are six
missionaries in this ward and each companionship is always trying to
get members to go out with them.

     The work is hard and the weather is hot.  ( the last few days it
have been over 100 ).  And sadly, my bike has been retired.
Before my mission I bought a schwinn from Wal-mart. It has been a pain
my whole mission. Slowly it has fallen apart. In Elk City the gears
stopped working. In Norman the brakes stopped working and the petals
were stripped. The bearings in the pedals and wheels were shot. It
could barely still roll. Then the shifter stopped working. So one day I
tried to fix the shifter so it would work with the gears. Somehow I
was able to get it to work so we left the house to ride to an
appointment. I rode my bike for about 20 yards when the shifter siezed
up and caught on a spoke. The rotating spoke pulled the derailer all
the way around and snapped the chain!


     It was a tragic day. I knew that my bike would die one of these days but this was soon.   I took
all of the pieces of the gears and the shifters and brakes off of the
bike so that I could see if it was all fixable.....but that is when I
realized what a mess I was in and that nothing on that bike is worth
fixing or paying for.  It is totalled. I don't have any pics of it.
Maybe next week I will send some pics.   But I might need a new bike.
Hopefully I  can get one from the mission office that a missionary
left behind. Next transfer there is a missionary going home that is
leaving his bike. Hopefully I can use that one.


Love ya'll


Elder Shumway

Texas...Here I come!

            Texas is way different from Oklahoma. We went to eat at a member's

house and they are the biggest fans of THEMSELVES. Anything that is

Texas they love. They all love guns, big trucks, big hats and cowboy boots. 

 I didn't think it would be much of a difference just crossing the Red River but I was wrong.

           There is a lot of work to do here in Wichita Falls. LOTS! There is

one ward in the whole city, and this ward has six missionaries in it.

            I live in a house with my comp and two other missionaries. There are

two districts here. The other companionship in our house has the other

district leader in it. I also have a seinor couple in my district who I

haven't met yet.

        At transfers President Taylor gave me an assignment. He told

me that this area had the highest baptizing numbers in the mission

just a couple years ago. They led the mission in baptisms by far. That has changed and the ward needs to build faith in the missionaries and mission work so he is trying to send some good missionaries here. So I have some big shoes to fill.

           In the past there have been some kind of disobiedent missionaries here. 

(It would be very easy to be disobiedent here because of all the

missionaries, and it almost feels like a different mission because it

is in a different state and it is such a long way from the rest

of the mission. 

          I came to TX with two other missionaries who are

shotgunning an area here. Shotgunning is a term used when both

missionaries in an area are replaced by two other missionaries.  None

of us knew how to get here. Me, Elder Clontz and Elder Small were in a

Dodge minivan with bikes on the back. It was a funny scene

because both of them are massive! They are both 6'4" and one

weighs about 250 and the other  270. they are the funniest guys

ever. Elder Small is from Fiji and is super hilarious.

  

      I love Texas. It is awesome.  Elder Zerkle, my companion, is a funny guy. 

He is from Vegas and likes to race dirtbikes in the desert. He was

companions with Elder Lott in the MTC. We have already had lots of fun together.  

      Just the other day a man answered the door when he was completely naked!  We had no idea what to do so

we just gave him a card and left.  Yesterday a big storm snuck up on us

when we were walking around. We ended up running through the rain to

our house where we could stand under our awesome porch. Rain was pouring

down and we were soaked. Lightning was hitting the ground everywhere.

It was an amazing storm.   It is so, SO, SOOO, SOOOOOO hot in Texas. I can't believe that the difference from Norman to Wichita Falls would be so much. It is way more humid here and WAY hotter. I'm so glad I have that camelback you sent! 

I would die without it.

   The address to my sweet house is    

1704 McGregor Ave
       Wichita Falls TX 76301

Goin' to Texas!

 Last night we received transfer calls! They are always exciting.  We found out that Elder Lott will be Senior companion with his new companion in Norman. I will be leaving this district and my new area will be 
Wichita Falls, Texas. 
Isn't that cool?!
I've always wanted to go to Texas. 

My new companion will be Elder Zerkill. He was Elder Lott's MTC companion. I will be the district leader of the only district down there, and I will be living in a four man apartment there....

(that makes me wonder how focused the Elders are down there.) 

I am excited but I will miss the district here so much, and the ward and just Norman overall. I love Norman!   

Mother's Day Call

We enjoyed a sweet call from a VERY HAPPY Elder Shumway.

He mentioned repeatedly, "I love my mission!"


He is working hard, striving to be a good district leader, being obedient (he reminded us he had to get off the phone at one hour.)...and LOVES being a missionary!

He commented that the days FLY by because he is so focused on missionary work, studying and preparing to teach weekly district meetings.

A recent baptism for a woman they have been working with was also a highlight of his week.
Missionary work is very satisfying when you can watch people's lives change!

Tornado Season Opens!

WARNING: The passages you are about to read may be graphic.
Not for little children or weak minded persons......Just kidding.

   On Friday, after district meeting, Elder Lott and I got right to our missionary work. We had an appointment with a potential investigator. The lesson went well and he became a new investigator. We walked about 3/4 of a mile back to our apartment where we noticed the sky starting to get cloudy. We hadn't had lunch yet so we started to "eat us some food" in our apartment. We knew that a storm was rolling in so I decided to eat outside to watch the famous Oklahoman storm pass over.
   We had heard that the storm had a chance of tornadoes but Norman has been famous for NEVER being hit by one. EVER.

 Being in Oklahoma as a missionary we always hear about what to do and what you see when there is a tornado. While I was looking at the dark, nasty storm roll in I noticed the sky begin to turn green. It was so cool! The temperature was still about 80 degrees when the storm was over us. Then all at once rain started pouring down. POURING! It was raining sideways with big gusts of wind. Of course Elder Lott and I are still outside trying to watch the storm. Then the rain died down a little, just enough for us to see a large funnel cloud start to form in the sky. It looked like it was right above the building next to us. It formed high in the sky but quickly grew towards the ground.

 It freaked me out so bad because at the time I noticed it was a tornado, we heard the warning sirens go off and our phone started ringing. A member called us an was yelling "There is a tornado on the ground! Get inside NOW!" I was half tempted to say "Yah, I know.  I'm looking at it right now." But I didn't. Elder Lott and I quickly put on our bike helmets and huddled up in a tiny closet underneath the staircase in our apartment.

   We kinda felt stupid after the sirens went off and we were fine. But then the sirens went back on a couple minuets later! We had no clue where the tornado was so we went back in our little closet. Finally the tornado was gone and we went outside. There was no damage as far as I could see from the parking lot in front of the apartment, which was now a pond.

   Then our phone started ringing off the hook! I had to make sure all of my district members were ok and report to the ZL's. There was supposed to be another Tornado threatening storm roll through in about an hour so we got dressed into jeans and went with a couple other missionaries in the area to clean up by the north side where the tornado decided to sit on a few neighborhoods. The other storm never came around so we ended up doing service and looking at some cool damage for the rest of the night.

Notice the traffic lights are all facing the same direction.

   There was supposed to be a third storm the next day that was going to be "bigger and badder" than the first one so the whole mission was on alert. We did service all day on Saturday, cutting trees off of people's houses and off of cars and everywhere. There was some amazing damage.  The tornado was only an F2. The biggest tornado you can get is an F5.  Because most of the damage was knocked down trees, people think that it never quite touched the ground.  From the looks of the damage across town, it looks like the tornado  kinda skipped up and down at an angle right through the middle of town and the middle of my proselyting area.

    This experience was SO SO scary at first, but super cool and awesome too. I even was on the news while cleaning up on Saturday. There have been some cool sights. Some of our investigator's homes don't have roofs anymore. That's a big bummer because they will be staying at their relative's homes and in hotels until everything gets fixed.
  Being a DL during storm season is going to be stressful. Especially when a companionship in the district is way out in Purcell; out on their own. The last couple of nights I've been staying up way late calling and texting the district members, then following up with the ZL's and getting updated weather texts from Prez Taylor. I'm sore and tired, but this is an awesome experience. I'm so happy to be here in Norman. 

                   

   -Elder Shumway

NEAR MISS!

A tornado passed through Norman OK Friday, April 13, 2012.
Below is a map with the tornado's path marked in RED.
The yellow arrow is where Elder Shumway lives.

General Conference

General Conference was super good. I love watching conference as a missionary. There was a lot about families and parents. 

This week has been a pretty good week. Elder Lott and I tried to stay completely busy all week. We have been working very hard with our investigators. The spirit works sooooo well! My testimony was strengthened by the way the spirit can direct a lesson to perfectly meet the needs of the investigators.  I had an experience where we discovered the concern of a certain investigator who we have been working with for a while. Because we studied and prepared for her needs, we were able to answer her questions and show her verses in the Book Of Mormon that applied perfect to her and her family.

I'm exhausted! Sunday nights are so hectic.  That's when we have to call everyone and report numbers and talk about details, and then I have to call the zone leaders and talk about all of the missionaries in my district and how they are doing. Last night was crazy busy,  but I love the mission. It is a blast!! 

Yesterday someone left a cake on our door. When we went to cut into it, we realized it was a phonebook that someone had frosted to look like a cake! It was a good April fools joke. We are still trying to find out which member or missionary did this to us.

    All is well. Can't wait to get the package!

                                   -Elder Shumway

 

Flooding & Training

Today there were some famous Oklahoma thunder storms! For some reason I decided to take a run this morning in the heaviest rain and lightning storm I have ever seen. I probably won't do that again! The rain is still going on right now! It is cool. We have been driving around with Sister W____ (an awesome member who takes us places on p-days) and looking at the flooded streets. It is so flat in OK that when it pours cats and dogs, it just floods all of the low areas like little creek beds and roads and the bottom of  hills. It is awesome!There was a tornado in my old area, Elk City. I REALLY want to see a tornado!

   Training is the coolest job ever! It has been so fun showing a new missionary how to do work. My son is such a good missionary and is really starting to get the hang of things. I've had tons of fun with him. Training has not been as hard as I thought is was going to be. Elder Lott came pre-trained. He is a hard worker and strives to be 100% obiedent. I just have to awnser his questions about different situations. Training is a blast. He is a leadership missionary---I can already tell.

I have also learned a lot since I've become District Leader. I have to study alot more and work alot harder to find what the district needs help with, then I try to figure out how I can influence them and uplift them to strengthen their weaknesses. It is fun and satisfying as I learn more about leadership and missionary work.

 There are seven missionaries, including three sisters in my district.  It is hard to minister to sisters because they take things a little different than most boys. That's why it is so important to let the spirit help you minister to others. Somtimes it is very hard for me because I've realized ithe I go into a football coach mode when missionaries aren't doing what they're supposed to. But I hold myself back.

 I have gone to a couple meetings for trainers and new missionarys and I love listening to President Taylor! He is the smartest person and is very inspired. Being a mission president would be such a hard and stressfull job.   Being trainer and DL has helped me learn a LOT! It feels like I'm being trained again. It is fun going on exchanges with the Zone Leaders and learning tons from them. They are so cool, but they always give me homework. haha!
   We did have one baptism three weeks ago. I don't know if I told you or not. I've had one baptism in each area I've served in so far.
                             
  All is well and I'm having a great time.

         --Elder Shumway

Leadership!

Last Wednesday I was made a Trainer AND the District Leader!

High School NEVER stressed me out like this! We also had a baptism last Sunday and I had to give one of the talks in front of lots of missionaries and a large crowd. Talk about a stressful week!

 Being a district leader is hectic sometimes. My little desk is covered with papers and forms. I have to do weekly training and I am now responsible for all the missionaries in my district. That includes a set of sister missionaries. It is a little bit different making sure the sister missionaries are taken care of.....a lot different than elders. My responsibilities at District Leader makes going out and working seem like a relief!

It is super fun training a new missionary. He is from Cash Valley UT. He likes football and we have alot in common. I can already tell that he will be a good missionary. It is funny listening to him try to get used to talking to people on the streets though. It kinda reminds me of when I was being trained.

I'm working extra hard now, and still having a great time!

Luv,
Elder Shumway

A Cool Experience

I had a cool experience this week! We had just finished an exchange with my district leader and we all went to Braums for lunch. After I had ordered an awesome double 1/3 lb burger (it's better than Culvers...don't tell Dad) haha.   I went to find a seat. There was a girl watching an instructional video as part of her new employee training, but you could tell that she was one of those spiritually sensitive people. I wasn't going to talk to her because she was obviously busy with work, but she started talking to ME about the Salt Lake temple and how she lived in Utah but she wasn't allowed to go inside, etc. I offered her a Book of Mormon but she said "Maybe later when I'm not at work."

After talking for a little bit, I sat down and it didn't seem like anything would happen from that. But while we were eating she came up to our table and said  "Fine! I'd be willing to talk to you guys!"  She spoke as if someone had been nagging her about it for a while.  We got her info and set up a time to meet with her.

It is like the Lord just served a potential investigator to us on a silver platter (...or maybe a plastic fast food tray.) We were probably inspired to go to Braums by the spirit... AND our stomachs. If we follow the principles in the missionary handbook, then we can have that spirit with us constantly so it can nag and touch the other people around us.   (I'll also look at it as an excuse to eat out... haha!)

Tuesday we had Zone Conference. I love it because we get to listen to trainings given to us by our Mission President, the AP's and the Zone Leaders. They give the best lectures ever!  I always learn tons!

After zone conference one of the assistants told me that I had an interview with President Taylor.  I thought it was just going to be a regular interview that President has with every missionary every few months but it was a very short interview where he told me that he wants me to train a new missionary this next transfer!! I did not feel ready for something like this, but of course I accepted it. I am so nervous to train. I have a meeting to go to on Wed for all the missionaries training.  One week from Wed is transfers and I have to go early for another meeting just before the new missionaries come in. I am nervous.

We will be having another baptism this weekend on Sunday! Good things are happening! There was also another investigator that we have who was going to get baptized soon , but the adversary tries to screw people's lives up when he sees that they are trying to make good choices. We will see if we can help her continue to be strong.

Luv ya'll

Elder Shumway

Norman Oklahoma

While I was greeting people in my new ward on Sunday, a sister came up to me with her family and said "Is your Dad Scott and your Mom Wendy?!"  I was shocked and managed to say......"yeah."   Then she went on to say that she had lived in our ward in Madison when she was a young woman. Dad was her Bishop and home teacher and was super close to her during the hard times of her parent's divorce.  Mom was her Young Women's leader. Her last name back then was Foss. It was super cool. She knew a lot about me and I don't know anything about her. Haha! She says hi to you guys!!  

AND I HAD A BAPTISM ON FRIDAY!!! It was the BEST day of my life!!

I received permission from President Taylor to drive back to Clinton from Norman with my good old trainer Elder Naisbitt and one of my new zone leaders Elder Phillips.

 

(The missionary on the far right is Elder Fransen, Bryce's 2nd companion, 

and to the left of Fransen is Bryce's trainer, Elder Naisbitt.)

 

I was able to baptize Cheyenne and it was SUPER AWESOME!

     I forgot to tell y"all about an experience I had during my last week in Elk City. Elder Fransen and I went to a Catholic church on a Saturday night. We were invited to go while tracting so we took the opportunity. It was super duper cool. Lots of sitting and standing and sitting and kneeling and standing and then the preacher gives a super dry and boring talk. Then you sing and stand and sing and kneel and sit and then everyone gets in line to get bread and wine and then after the communion the preacher chugs down the leftover wine.  :)  It was super cool.

     My new comp is Elder Guinto! (gin-toe)  He is from Texas but his parents are Philipino.

The new address of my apartment is:    

1300 Crown Point Ave #17

 Norman, OK 73072

Love ya!

Elder Shumway

1st Transfer

I am being transfered to the Norman 2nd Ward! From what I've heard, it is a bike area. No car! I'm leaving my cute little silver, 2010 chevy colorado to go to an area where we don't have a car! haha. It will be fun. At least I will stay in shape.  

 

The OU campus is in my area and that is where I will go to e-mail each week. I'm going to miss Elk City. I love the country areas out here and I feel attached to the ward members.   But I plan on coming back to Elk City on Friday!!  We were planning on baptizing Chalene (*name changed to protect the innocent) on Sunday night but she relapsed. :( so we kept working hard with her trying to help her as much as we could! We set her next date for this Friday and she has been clean for the longest she ever has in two years. I feel so much love for the people we work so hard with. I am so excited to see her get baptized.

 

Yesterday we planned out the program for her baptism. She picked out who she wants to baptize her and who she wants to speak and all that stuff. She asked me to baptize her!! I'm so excited! It made me so SO happy to know that after two years of struggling with addiction and trials, she is going to be worthily baptised.  Maybe I can be there when she goes through the temple in a year.

   I am excited! Good things are happening!

 

Love y'all!

Elder Shumway

January 10, 2012

 I've been doing awesome. We plan on having a baptism this weekend on Sunday night, and I will be getting transfered to a mysterious area a week from Wed.

...............ok wait something really cool just happened. My companion and I are in the Elk City library E-mailing and a lady who was leaving stopped to talk to us. She asked me what was on my name tag and I said it has Jesus Christ's name on it. She had a huge smile on her face. Then she asked us why we were not in school and I told her we are full time missionaries for our church "the mormons". She was super happy to hear that and asked a little about politics. But then she said that she was super proud of us and that she has two daughters and a few grand daughters. Then she started crying and said that she has no sons. She said that when she saw us walk in to the library she thought how proud some mother must be. Still crying she gave me a big hug. I had no clue what to do or say besides "is there anything we can do for you?"  but she denied the offer and left.  Crazy. That all happened just a few moments ago. The people in Elk City are awesome!

   Elder Fransen and I are planning on having a baptism service for two people on Sunday night. They have been investigating off and on for two years! She has prieviously had big struggles with a smoking addiction. But by the way my comp and I feel, it is time to get her in the water. She has to be cigarette free for seven days to qualify for baptism. We met with her and her member boyfriend and her foster son last night and went over the 15 step, seven day stop smoking workshop. We committed her to do it. She seemed very confident in overcoming this massive monster of a habit. If she goes the entire week without smoking, she can receive the gift of the holy ghost after baptism and it will help her overcome trials like smoking. The gift of the Holy Ghost is somthing that helps us endure to the end.

    We will be visiting them almost every night this week to keep spiritually re-charging them. I know that she has the ability to do it but this is going to be the hardest thing she will probly ever overcome. As missionaries we are willing to do anything to help her. We are excited for this week.

    Last month I had the awesome opportunity to go to the temple!! That is very rare as a missionary. The first time I went was when the mission had temple conference. The entire mission split into two days. The southern zones went on a friday (Dec 6) to watch a video called 17 miracles and sit through trainings by Prez Taylor and go through the temple. Then the northern zones went on Saturday (Dec 7). and that's when I went. It was cool going through the temple. But the second time I went to the temple was with somone who was baptised a year ago and knows Elder Fransen. He wanted Elder Fransen to be his escort through the temple his first time.

We were told by other missionaries that we needed to be at the temple by 10:00 am. but when we showed up at that time, we found out by the front desk guy that the session wasnt till 1:00 that afternoon! However, we had the awesome opportunity to spend time doing iniatories. I had never done those for the dead before. It was super fun. It felt like we were just hanging out with a bunch of cool old guys. As we waited for others during the ceremony, the old men would always point out things that had been said and done and kinda let me in on little clues and revalations and stuff. It was way deep and super cool. We almost had the opportunity to do a sealing as well but had to go into a special meeting with the temple prez.  That day was awsome and we finished it up by eating out at a buffet.

When we got home for the night we quickly opened up our scriptures to chapters that had been suggested to us and studied about temples. Going to the temple is the best feeling ever. The rest of the day we felt spiritually energized!
    The mission is awesome and fun and we always get CHASED by big scary dogs, and we always get barked at by little ANNOYING dogs.
haha!

Elder Shumway