Sister Rosell and I will both be staying here in Guymon, Oklahoma!! This next transfer is only 5 weeks long so that will just FLY by. We are excited for the trials and miracles that these next few weeks will bring :)
Weather update: We were on tornado watch one day this week! Didn't actually happen, just lots of wind and rain :) it came with a TON of warnings from everyone...to the little girls on bikes baha
Happy 20th Birthday to Chelsea Roo tomorrow!!! I hope you have such a good day and lots of people show you lots of love! They always do :)
Happy promotion to Amanda, Kylie, Tobie, and Brianna!! Happy graduation to Saydi, Courtney, and Julian!! I love you! Congratulations on getting old and making me feel super old! :)
Thank you to Courty for the graduation announcement!! It is hanging up by my desk! You are gorgeous! Thank you to Eric for the letter :) I loved hearing from you guys!
Here in Guymon we have seen SO much success with the less-actives, the members of the Church who have fallen away. So so much success. President Bell brought peace to my mind by reminding me that less active work is just as important as baptizing. Although every missionary wants to baptize, we know that will come as we truly build up and love this little branch here in Guymon :)
The Lord has led us to a few "lost sheep" as we have been walking and biking the streets of Guymon! A lost sheep in terms of, they joined the Church in one place, then they moved, but didn't tell the Church where they moved to, so they were lost! No one knew where they were in order to help them continue coming unto Christ. Seriously - there are so many miracles if missionaries will just put aside their fear and just talk to everyone. That is how we found one lost sheep named Esther who has been coming to church and the activities consistently since we happened to pass her outside one day! She is awesome and we love her :) I am grateful for her example of humility!
Last week we followed up with a few potentials from the week before and now we are teaching a few new families!! That, of course, is very exciting. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is best learned in families :) One of these families has accepted baptism for the 6th of June!! I loved what she - the mom of one of the families - told us the other day: "ya know, I don't know anything about your church, but I can tell when someone is real. I want to hear what you have to say because I know you truly do care." :) The title of this email comes from her - she is a crack up!! She is the "realest" person I know! And always says "we're being real right now!" haha I love it :)
I am so grateful the Lord has helped me to be "real". In Guymon I feel like I am learning a lot about being lovingly bold. I feel I have always been bold, but recently I have felt the necessity to be bold because I just want so badly for these people to understand the blessings that could be theirs!! This Gospel cannot be sugar coated. As Elder Holland said "this is Real Life. Capital 'R', capital 'L'." It says in Preach my Gospel, another quote from Elder Holland, that this is the most important path this investigator (someone learning about the Gospel) will ever walk. If they don't know that, at least we do! So often we are just too, too casual and too laidback. This is eternal life. We have the words of salvation! The Lord has called us to be bold. Dallin H. Oaks said in last General Conference that in this Church, the Church of Jesus Christ, we must be willing to offend. We must be willing to take that risk for the Savior. This is the truth.
I was asked to speak in church yesterday and I chose to speak on Lehi's Dream of the Tree of Life in the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ's Parable of the Sower in the Gospels - I invite you all to study those chapters and ponder on them! It was super enlightening for me! Deepen those roots of conversion by holding steadfastly to the rod of iron! The Book of Mormon and the Bible truly do compliment each other and strengthen my testimony of the Savior and His teachings.
I pray that we will all be willing to lay it all on the line for the Savior and His work and open our mouths at every opportunity... to speak miracles to all of our friends and family :)
Con todo mi corazon y mi amor,
Hermana Shumway
Video of the tornado watch day. Nothing too crazy. :)
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