Homecoming - August 22, 2013

Miracles

That Book of Mormon treck thing sounded sweet! Dad told me some cool storys about setting up some of the stuff in the woods and having his prayers answered immediately.

   Miracles have been happening more now in my mission than I have ever seen my whole mission.   This area I have been assigned to has completely changed.  We have been focusing on how we can controll getting miracles in our lives.  Or like you put it Mom, "pull down a miracle".   It all comes from Faith. If we act in faith (James 2:17)...if we do all that we can by acting in faith, the grace of God will flow into our lives. and that is how we let God help us or let God show us how to do His work. We are really just tagging along with the Lord in the first place.     If we act in faith. (excersise "faithfulness") the grace of God will make up for what we can not do, resulting in what we call a "miracle".  Miracles are awsome!!

     I could go on about miracles but I don't have time.  The first miracle that comes to mind is actually one that happened last night. We took a member out with us to visit some potential investigators we had found the day before. We had a member with us and a lesson planned (acted in faith), but both of the appointments fell through! It was near the end of the day and it would have been easy to tell the member that he could go home and rest and that we would go tracting or something.  But!!  We had a backup plan!  (another act of faith).  So we took the member with us to another potential that lived next door to this member. We hadn't talked to this man in a while, but we knocked on his door and asked him if he had time for us to share our message with him. He agreed and we went over to the member's home and taught this unplanned lesson. We quickly learned that he is very prepared for the gospel. So we committed him to be baptized on Aug 24th. He is excited for his baptism.

        We did all that we could to reach our goals and as we acted in faith, the Lord stepped in and provided a way for us to achieve the goals. It happens every time.  I love working with the Lord this way! These miracles make me feel like the Lord is part of our companionship and that he is right here working next to us.  It's awesome!

            -Elder Shumway

I'm Shrinking!

 We got a new mission president.  His name is president Walkenhorst.   Tanner can't compete with him. He is 7 feet tall.  He played Basket ball at BYU.   He is a great guy!!!  He has a terrific vision for our mission and does a great job inspiring everyone to catch the wave of his vision. I feel very close to him already.  He is very different from president Taylor, but they are both strong, spiritual leaders.      

President Taylor has had a HUGE affect in my life.  I will never forget the talks that we had and the lessons I learned from him.  

    Good things are happening.   We're starting a new transfer, and good things will happen this transfer.

   -Love Elder Shumway

This is Elder Charlesworth and I when we were hunkered down in the cellar a week ago. That was the day that another tornado went through OKC. It was headed straight for us but turned toward Moore again.

   We were in this bunker for a while and we were all listening to the radio to hear where the storm was heading.  We were with a part member family and it was cool because all the non members were the ones saying the prayers! The dad of the family was sitting at the top of the ladder, with the door opened so he could look out and watch the tornado coming. haha!!    ( He's an Okie.)

 I  think our disaster relief efforts were ended this week. All that is left to do in Moore is to bulldoze everything that is left. Most people have cleaned up and found all the things that they wanted or needed and now the city has a path 2 miles wide and about 10 miles long of cement slabs that need to be uncovered and someday re-built into houses.

   We have been instructed to go back to being full time proselyting missionaries. There are plenty of helpers still here though. There are tons of other churches and tons of red cross trucks and people from all over the country who are here to help. They almost have too many people for the jobs that are needed.

    Elder Charlesworth and I have been working hard this past week and have already seen the fruits of it.

Love, 

Elder Shumway

More Tornado Cleanup

 The highlight of my week this week was when Elder Rasband came to speak to our mission. He is so cool. He flew in  night and had some stories to tell about his first experience with tornadoes that night. That was the night that the mother and her baby were killed and the tornado went right  through OKC. Elder Rasband was with other leaders of the church as they tried to out run the storm in a car. Welcome to OK Elder Rasband! haha! 

   He had some great things to say to our mission. He told us that he had attended Elder Eyring's B-day party the night before, and he took some time to talk to Pres. Monson about his assignment to come to OK. Before he could say anything, Pres Monson knew what he was going to ask. President Monson knew about the devastation in Moore and he had three things for Elder Rasband to tell the members and missionaries in Oklahoma.  They were:

1) Tell them that I love them

2) Tell them that I pray for them

3) And tell them thanks for all that they are doing.

     I think it is amazing that the Prophet of God knows all the things that are going on in our lives right now. He is very aware of our situations.

     Elder Rasband also invited the state representative  to come to the last few minutes of our meeting.  Elder Rasband wanted to show him all of us (the entire mission) dressed in our work clothes (the yellow helping hands shirts).  He called us an "army of servants."  Elder Rasband demonstrated how to do missionary work in this situation. In front of all of us as he told the representative why we are all in OK and what we are doing here.  He told him "they're here to serve the people in Oklahoma".

      It was also very spiritual to see Elder Rasband and this statesman sit next to each other and share a hymn book as we all sang the closing song "Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel".    I felt the spirit very strong in that meeting. 

      After the meeting, we all went out and did Disaster Relief in Moore.

  Today I am very sore form doing disaster relief back in Norman. President Taylor has been assigning different zones to go and assist stakes and wards as they do disaster relief.  Yesterday  was the second Sunday we have had a short sacrament meeting dressed in our work clothes, and after receiving the sacrament, we have gone out to perform service work for most of the day.

  We are building up our area as well. Good things are happening.

 Love Elder Shumway

Message of Safety from President Taylor, June 1, 2013

Dear Parents: 

Your sons and daughters are safe.   Thursday and again yesterday we experienced severe storms and additional tornados in our mission area.  Yesterday’s storms were more dangerous and destructive than Thursday’s storms.  Our missionaries were never in any danger on Thursday but yesterday caused us more concern because we had missionary relief crews out working in the morning.  As is my practice, I sent the work crews home well in advance of the approaching storms so they could be near their local weather contacts and shelters.  My practice is to personally monitor the storms and alert missionaries directly and through our mission leadership.  Local weather contacts are also very helpful to us. 

Based on preliminary reports, yesterday’s storms caused substantial new damage and sadly, additional lives were lost.  103,000 homes in the City (including the mission home) are without power.  The damage, downed power lines and traffic have prevented me from communicating with you earlier this morning.   We also had all our missionaries in South Oklahoma City this morning for a meeting with Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Presidency of the Seventy.  Now all of our missionaries are out working on tornado cleanup projects for the day. 

 The safety of our missionaries is our paramount concern and priority.  We will tend to them first and inform you once I have verified their safety and tended to other priorities related to the missionaries.

We are grateful for the Lord’s protection and your prayers.  Many miracles are occurring through these events.  The Lord truly does make all things work together for the good of those who believe. 

Warm Regards, President Taylor

Tornado Cleanup in Moore

 On Friday, nearly the entire mission was engaged in Disaster Relief efforts in Moore. It was so weird for me to go back there because I served there. Neighborhoods that I had tracted and places where I taught people were completely gone.  Moore looks like a third world country. It looks like a war zone. As if an army of bombers flew over and carpet bombed the whole thing. The destruction is almost two miles wide. Almost as far as you can see in any direction is destroyed.

  It is heartbreaking to see people stand in front of a cement slab that once used to be their home. They don't know where to start.  We have been doing tornado cleanup for the last four days straight. 

  We helped out in Moore, but it is hard to work there because there are police everywhere looking to arrest looters and robbers. There are lots of valuable things in the rubble of people's homes.  We spent all day Friday digging through rubble looking for requested valuables of an owner. She wanted her cat, her purse, a gun and a few other things. It was so hard to find things, but with the help of some prayers and diligent digging, we found everything she wanted except for the cat.  Miracles happen every day out there. The people who have lost their homes have great attitudes toward life. They realize that they have lost literally everything and so when we found little things like pictures of family and friends or important papers, they are so happy. They shout and laugh and praise Jesus. The lady we were helping kept saying: "The Lord is merciful, the Lord is good."  I love the people in OK.

    Most of our Disaster Relief efforts have been focused out in Shawnee, Little Axe and Newala. Those are little towns out east of Lake Thunderbird. They are in our stake and they were hit by a pretty big tornado as well.  We have been clearing trees and tarping roofs.  There was a man that we helped who had a pretty good sized farm, but everything was gone. The tornado went directly over his house and right through the middle of his farm.  All he has left is one donkey, a few geese and some chickens.  That area of Oklahoma has more trees than the west side of the state and you can see the path of the tornado because of the trees that have been splintered and flung elsewhere.

Serving the people in OK is the best thing ever though. Those Yellow T-shirts help a lot and there are many opportunities to talk to the owner of the house while the crew works. They are so humble and open to everything. 

 Yesterday we helped a man out there clear a lot of debris off of his property and off of his house. When we were leaving, he started to cry and thank each of us individually. It made me feel very united with him and all the other Okies we had served. I have learned that there is a great power behind serving others.  Mosiah 2:17.

     The Church has an incredibly organized way of doing Disaster Relief. (This isn't their first rodeo)  The church is very good and very fast at aiding others. The Church sent 7 semi trucks full of supplies for the relief effort. Bottled water, food and all kinds of supplies have been shipped in to Moore and Shawnee to feed the people without electricity and things they need. They have tons of food and water for the people doing service.    This all makes me think of D&C 35:12.   There are groups of people from Colorado, Kansas, Tennessee and Texas coming to help. There are tons of church groups who have their own t-shirt uniforms that swarm the sites of disaster. 

     President Taylor keeps talking about how these storms are huge in the preparation of 100's to flock to the church and for the church to stand as an Ensign to the world.  The good Christians in OK and the other parts of the "bible belt" will be the first ones to come flocking to the church.   

Today is transfer day. It was moved to today because of the tornadoes. I am getting transferred to Midwest City. It's just east of OKC. My new comp is Elder Charlesworth. We have known each other for a while. There is a lot more that happened this week, but I have to go for transfers now.

                            Love ya

                    -Elder Shumway