Week 20: "At least you have a toe to stub!"

Happy birthday to my nephew Brendon this week!!! Love you little bud! Keep rockin Kindergarten and soccer!!

AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!! Woot! I love Halloween. Please enjoy all of the festivities!!

Thank you to Elder Sam Alger and Melissa for the letters!! And thank you to Mom and Dad for my Halloween package! I loved it all :) AND! Thank you to Sister Michelle Neal and Tyler for the little note! I loved coming home to it!

So. This week I have been thinking all about my 8th grade volleyball team, where the subject for this week comes from. Mrs. Murkley would always tell us to be positive. She would always say, "when you stub your toe, just be grateful you have a toe to stub!" hahaha such an exuberant lady... anyway, that has been on my mind a lot this last week because I had an ingrown toenail on my big toe and on Wednesday I got some minor surgery on the little guy! They numbed it with two syringes full of anesthesia (it was super huge from all of that stuff) then they cut my toenail in half, yanked it out and cut out some of my skin on the side with the ingrown toenail in it. It bled a LOT. It has been pretty painful, but don't worry, they told me not to walk on it. My thoughts: "ummm I'm a missionary...?" so, of course I did anyway! :) First time in my life I have taken prescribed pain pills and antibiotics! On my mission - who knew?! I'll attach some really cute pictures of it :)

I keep forgetting to tell you that we went to Texas Roadhouse with some members of the branch a couple of weeks ago and they told me to put a pencil in my mouth to learn how to roll my Rs and it worked!! I looked like a fool, but I did it, and it's getting better! They always tease me because I can't do it....that's okay! I'm getting better :)

I ate a moldy pepper at a member's house.....yeah. It didn't look moldy but the inside definitely was...that felt good. haha! We have learned never to eat ANYTHING off of our ward mission leader's table. baha!

Some other random things about Topeka....
The sidewalks aren't right next to the streets...there's like a random space of dirt/grass between every road and the sidewalk. That's not how it is everywhere, right? No, it's not. I remember now!
Another interesting thing: NO streets are well lit.

As far as the Topeka missionary work, it is just goin along! Sister Seigfried and I were very successful in our finding this past week and we found a couple members that are ALWAYS willing to come out with us to lessons and they are AWESOME!! We are excited for this busy week ahead with appointments, the ward Halloween party, zone conference and tons of other fun stuff!

I love you all so very much! Thank you so much for all you continually do for me, please always remember that there's a little missionary in Kansas who just really appreciates all you do for me.

Con todo mi corazon y mi amor,

Hermana Shumway

YAY for Halloween package!! Thanks mom and dad!!

I just thought this was kind of funny:)

Before anesthesia....

After....(the black is the cauterized blood!)

Super cute, right?!

Minor Med!!! Will forever be a place close to my heart ;)

Kevin spray painted his hair.......silly boy.

As it looks now.

Week 19: "Mexicans be like....'comida'."

Hello my wondrous family and friends!

This subject for this week is a quote from a young man in our branch hahahaha we were talking about Mexican Parties and he randomly just said this. We DIED laughing. It was pretty funny. We are invited to eat a LOT throughout the day. I love to eat, and eat a lot, but sometimes it is a TRUE struggle to eat all the offer me. These people are just so generous!

Thank you to my Mom for the letter, thank you Kaden, Brendon and Landon for the wonderful drawings, I love them and they are currently hanging up in my room :)
Happy 9th Birthday to my oldest nephew, Kaden this week!!! :D I love you so much and hope you have such a wonderful day! Aunt Audge will be thinking about you lots! :)

This last week was an emotional one. Saying goodbye to Sister Hymas was TOUGH. Oh how I love her. My new companion is Sister Seigfried from Houston, Texas area. Taking over the area has been stressful, but it is getting better! I know that Heavenly Father will bring things/people to my remembrance, just gotta be humble enough to listen, hear, and do!

We had an AWESOME Mission President's Devotional yesterday where some recent converts bore their testimonies. It was SUCH a spiritual experience. Something I definitely needed - perfect way to end my week. It buoyed me up to go out and FIND the people looking for the gospel and take them by the hand and help them come unto Christ.

Sorry, I can't really describe how powerful it was, but the Spirit was so tangible. It made me think about how much I love the Gospel. And then I wondered if the people I'm teaching know how much I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I made a decision to do better at being ME and making my love for the Gospel and this restored church more apparent when I teach. Because I really do love it.
I'm grateful for the hard experiences that bring me closer to Christ and help me develop a stronger faith in Him. :)

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! Thank you for all you do for me!

Go to the Phoenix Temple Open House and go see Meet the Mormons!! Share the gospel. Flood the earth with goodness :)

Con todo mi corazon y mi amor,

Hermana Shumway

Week 18: "Hi, I'm Sister Hymas!"

HELLO MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!

Thank you to Mackenzie Berry for the letter and to my wonderful mother for the 2 packages and to Eric Schofield and VANESSA Schofield for my AMAZING package!! I really really appreciate it and love all of you oh so much! Thank you :)

Shout out to everyone still emailing me - thank you to you too :) I love hearing from all of you!

So the reason for my subject today....Sister Hymas is leaving me so this email is in part to honor her. :( Transfers are this week and LOTS of changes are happening. I'm in a different district and our zone is being split. Sister Hymas is being transferred to Dodge City to be a Sister Training Leader! I've been joking that I trained her to be an STL....if she can get through being my companion, she can do anything!! haha ;) just kidding... My new companion's name is Sister Sygfried and she will be joining me here in Topeka on Wednesday! So crazy that I'm done with training....

 Okay. Reason for the subject...for a couple of weeks, I would introduce myself as Sister Hymas on doorstep approaches. Don't ask me why, but I would!! Hahaha it made for a couple awkward moments as I say "wait no! I'm Sister Shumway!" and Sister Hymas would say "and I am Sister Hymas" hahaha they say we need to be unified, right...? Or something like that. haha

I am so grateful for Sister Hymas. She and I have really grown to be so close. We have so much fun together and she has taught me so much about how to be a missionary who works hard but has SO much fun. A lot of times missionaries can get stuck being robots, but the best way to share the gospel is to be ourselves!! I will miss her so very much, but I know that Sister Sygfried is exactly who I need right now to grow and become who Heavenly Father needs me to be :) I'm so excited for the growth that is about to happen!!

So this past week I had my first Bible bashing encounter! It was pretty interesting...the Spirit was NOT there....I opened the Book of Mormon, thinking to share a scripture, but I just couldn't. I couldn't read the Book of Mormon without the Spirit. It was awful. I felt awful afterwards. Meh. Anyway, thought I would share that milestone on my mission!

Soooooooooo something super legit happened on Friday. We had a zone training....Elder Jeffrey R. Holland sent President Bell a link.....for all the missionaries to watch....MEET THE MORMONS. It was AMAZING. Everyone needs to see this movie. It is 6 different stories of 6 different Mormons around the globe....a woman MMA fighter in Costa Rica, the naval academy football head coach in Maryland, a convert missionary mom in Utah and 3 others just doing their best to follow Jesus Christ. It is a FANTASTIC movie. I felt the Spirit so strongly while I watched it. I cried...I laughed... It was just another testament to me that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is so true. How cool it is that I get to be a missionary when the Church is really reaching out in the media - they made a MOVIE that was IN THEATERS for heaven's sake! It's incredible. I loved it. Everyone - PLEASE GO SEE IT. 

I used a lot of caps just then. 

I just love the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I love His Church.

I love being His missionary.

I love representing Him.

I love Him.

And I love all of you. :)

Con todo mi corazon y mi amor,

Hermana Shumway

Spanish Branch homies!! We are all being split up....:(

Random chickens in Little Mexico.

MEET THE MORMONS!!! :D The best!

Week 17: "How do you even spell Capita(o)l?"

Well HELLO!!!!

So wasn't General Conference unbelievably great beyond compare?!?! :D I had the wonderful privilege of listening to the Savior's apostles and prophet through a translator! YUP! All in Spanish! It was still so amazing. Haha talk about listening to the Spirit to know what to get from the talk - that's all I could understand!! haha just kidding :) I loved it. My testimony of living prophets has grown so much from being on my mission - that is definitely a true characteristic of the real and living church of Jesus Christ. How blessed we are to be able to hear from them! I hope you all had the opportunity to watch it!

We had interviews with President Bell this week and some trainings by his assistants. I learned so much, but also realized how much I don't know. I can't think of a better opportunity to learn and grow than a mission. :) My first field interview with President Bell went really well. I asked him some of my questions and he brought peace to my mind on a few matters! We talked about Helaman 5:12 and building our foundations on the Lord, Jesus Christ. I am working on focusing all I do on Him, strengthening my relationship with Him by getting to know Him better, and relying on Him and His Atonement for strength. I have a TON to learn, but I am excited to get to know my Savior - little by little, day by day :)

We had a CRAZY storm on Wednesday. The rain was INSANE we had to give a couple girls a ride home from Young Women - WAIT!!! I forgot to tell you all!! Sister Hymas and I have callings!! :) We are kind of the go-betweens between the English Primary and Young Women and the Spanish parents! It's fun, I'm still working on how to fulfill that calling, I feel like I could be doing so much more with it, but anyway, back to the story! We had to give a couple girls rides home and Sister Hymas was SO nervous to have all of those lives in her hands while driving. Needless to say, we were praying REALLY hard. Thankfully, everyone got home safely! And although there was talk of it - no tornado :) 

Sonia's and Jose's parents, Maria and Jose have SO many questions!! We've had so many interesting conversations with them this week. They came to the church to watch conference as a family and they said they enjoyed it! We still see them pretty much everyday. I am amazed at Sonia's and Jose's testimonies. They are so strong and it is such a blessing to see them share their newly found knowledge and beliefs with their parents. I love it. They are working to pray and read the Book of Mormon as a family. I just love that family with alllll my heart! We are working with a couple of other families too! This gospel of Jesus Christ really is for FAMILIES!!! It's just so great :)

Well, I love you all so very much. I thank my loving Father in Heaven every single day for such a wonderful family and great friends who support and love me as I strive to be His servant in the great heartland of Kansas.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lord's kingdom on the earth. My testimony of that has been strengthened again and again every single day. Ohhhh how I love it!!! 

Love you all con todo mi corazon y mi amor :)

Hermana Shumway

Stairs going to the top of the Capitol building. Pretty
insane....some elders and sisters were freakin out!!

On the top!

Look at that view! There may be some mountains out
there......;)

Crazy Elders!

Sonia and her little brother Kevin.