Week 50: "Let's be real."

Happy Transfer Week!!
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. :)

Week 48: Meetings Galore

HEYA!!! :) Happy Monday! And happy 11 months....? Wut. Don't ask me how that happened becaaaause I don't know!

I know you all have seen the weather....no, I haven't been in or seen a tornado yet! Although we have had some pretty good conditions for them! We are definitely feeling the protection from your prayers - so thank you!

It was such a joy to see the family yesterday! Oh how I LOVE you!!! I loved sharing our testimonies with each other and just feeling of your bright bright Spirits. Thank you for your love and your consecration to the Lord and His everlasting Gospel. Your examples motivate me on the daily :)

A few times last week, we witnessed a few families reject the Gospel. It broke my heart for them! I just wish I didn't have such great weaknesses and could have the best words, the most powerful testimony, to help them see just a little glimpse of the ETERNAL happiness with their FAMILIES they are willfully declining. We must do everything we can, so that their agency is truly the only thing standing in their way of accepting the Gospel. I am grateful my family is eternal, sealed by the power of Jesus Christ.

This past week we had a LOT of meetings. Lots and lots. Interviews with President Bell and Zone Training. When you are serving in the farthest area of the mission, that travel time adds up, let me tell ya! Anyway, so our time to work was a little slighted this week which was a bummer, but this week is going to be SO much better, with lots of time to work work work!
I am so grateful for all the meetings we have had though, I felt so uplifted and inspired in every single one of them, accompanied with an even stronger desire to work harder and be better.

Especially during interviews with President Bell and the trainings from the his Assistants. Ya know how people always say that we need to prepare for special meetings in the Church? Especially General Conference and such? Yeah, well, I decided to come prepared to that meeting and now I have a testimony of preparation! So. I read what they said to read, I pondered on my mission during personal study that morning and came with questions to ask President Bell. It made the world of a difference. I felt the Spirit so strongly as President Bell and I discussed the topics I had brought with me. I know he is inspired.
As the Assistants to the President gave their trainings, they asked time and time again for us to reflect on our missions. On the miracles. On our experiences. And the tears just flowed. One of them asked me "Sister Shumway, I see that you are already in tears, why do you love your mission?" haha thanks. I could hardly respond. I. Love. My. Mission. And all that goes with that. All the trials, all the tears, all the hard hard hard hard times that make the miracles so so sweet. I love what my mission has done to me, what the Atonement has changed in me, and I know I can never go back to what I was and who I was. The gist: I love my mission. :)

I love all of you and hope you have such a fabulous week! I feel your love, I feel your prayers, thank you so much!

Con todo mi corazon y mi amor,

Hermana Shumway

When the Elder's put your groceries away....

Volunteering at the Poker Run!!

I saw CHARLA!!!! :D

Week 47: "Be intense and change forever."

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY on Sunday to all the beautiful mothers :) I hope you have a very special day! The Lord loves His precious daughters!

Thank you to almost the whole Inman family for their letters! For Jesse who sent me one individually then to Jake and Torie for sending me letters due to a Surprise YSA activity! And also to Branden Maben for also sending me a letter in the YSA activity :) I LOVED it! As I'm sure all of the other missionaries in the stake did! You're the best! Thank you to Bronte for the Paris postcard! Thank you for thinking of me :)

Happy Birthday to my dear big sister Cara!! Have an awesome day on Sunday, Curah! Love ya!

Alright, now down to the nitty gritty. I hope you all had such a good week last week!!! Our week was pretty crasy. I fell off my bike 3 times....so that was good! Gave us some really good laughs :)
Cool miracle! So as a mission, we have been promised by a general authority that if we talk to 10 new people every day, our baptisms will quadruple! So. Sister Rosell and I have been going hard to do that every single day. As well as invite for baptism at least twice every single day - one invite each. So. We had some extra time one day this week and decided to use it to contact new people - we call it "going fishing" because of course the Lord will always bless us with more "fish" or people to teach. So we were going fishing and no one was answering their doors/didn't want to talk to us or hear our glorious message of the truth of Jesus Christ. So we kept moving forward and had time for one more door! We knocked and met a young man who loves Jesus Christ. Instead of doing the normal routine, I decided to switch it up. Instead of jumping right in, we asked him a few questions about himself and expressed our love for him and God's love for him. We brought in the Gospel and we gave him a Book of Mormon. As Sister Rosell was inviting him to be baptized, I was looking down at a card writing our information down and when she finished, I looked up and waited for his response. You could see the light in his eyes as he accepted to follow the Savior. We were about to move on and the Spirit said to me: "why aren't you going to invite him for a specific date?" and I said "well, I dunno!" haha so I did it and he accepted that too! We are excited to go back and meet the rest of his family :) I love that the Lord blesses us with these miracles to help us recognize continually that His hand truly is in this work - of course it is, because it's His! :)

Those we are teaching are doing so so well. Investigators and less actives alike are progressing so much and we are so blessed :) I know the Lord is leading us to those who will accept this message of the fullness of Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

So. ELDER HOLLAND.
On Saturday morning, as a mission we had the incredible opportunity to hear one of the Apostles of Jesus Christ - pause for a sec and ponder on that - teach us and share his testimony with us. I'm not sure what I could say to describe how that experience was - it truly was just...intense. The Spirit was so strong as I felt his witness that that man, although he is just a man, is called, chosen, and ordained of God. Not because he chose to be, not because he wanted to be, not because he has a degree from some seminary, but because the LORD ordained HIM. As the Savior says to His disciples in the New Testament: "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you." I could feel and I know by the witness of the Holy Ghost, that his apostleship is as real as the original 12 Apostles of Jesus Christ. As he shook my hand and as he looked into my eyes, I did see just a man, but a man who had been given keys or authority, as Peter has, a man who has developed the attributes of Christ and that has become his character. I learned so so much from him. And I will forever be grateful to my merciful and kind and loving Heavenly Father for blessing me with such a divinely inspiring experience.

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lord's kingdom on the Earth. I know that we have a living breathing prophet on the earth today who receives revelation directly from Jesus Christ. If you want to know too, read the Book of Mormon. Everything goes back to that book. As it says in Moroni 10:5, as you read and pray about the Book of Mormon, "by the power of the Holy Ghost you may know the truth of ALL things." We all have this sacred privilege to know God's absolute truth of all things. We all have been given this sacred promise. Miracles await as we exercise our faith and do as Moroni and James have instructed that is "ask of God" :)

I love you so so much :) Thank you for all of your support and love that you continuously show me. Have an incredible miraculous week!

Con todo mi corazon y mi amor,

Hermana Shumway

Guymon Pioneer Day service! Helping set up for the rodeo!

At the corner of Oklahoma and the panhandle
on the way back from the meeting with
Elder Holland! haha, we had to take a picture.

Week 46: Guymon is now Holy Ground :)

Last week had a miraculous start and continued to be miraculous all the way through so of course that was wonderful!!

I can't believe I forgot this last week, but Happy Anniversary to the cutest couple I know, my Mommy and Daddy! Hope you are enjoying your time in Hawaii!!

Thank you to the Sorensen Family for your Easter package! I finally got it from Garden City and I loved it :) I can't believe Shay is going to be 8....I...I just can't believe it. Thank you to Shay and Ashley for the letters :)

So one of the greatest miracles of my mission happened on Monday night. We had a super great start to the Pday missionary work beginning with calling a member to have a member lesson - which was suuuper awkward, neither of us had ever done that before, but it turned out to be something that the member really needed to hear - then having a successful lesson with a less active, then we felt like we needed to go contact an investigator who isn't really progressing. So we did and her sister-in-law, Roseann, opened the door. She tells us that Sherry, who we meant to visit, was sleeping. Then Roseann just starts talking, and keeps talking, about her life, about her struggles, about her worries, everything. Just spilling it all out saying "I don't even know why I'm telling you all of this! For some dumb reason I trust you girls!" She never let us inside, but she stepped outside and kept talking! Expressing her concerns about religion and feelings towards God and just kept going! We testified of Jesus Christ, of His love and His power. We asked if she believed God sent us to her. She said yes, and she knows she is supposed to learn something from us - "you weren't sent here to talk to Sherry, you were sent here to talk to me!" :) We invited her to read the Book of Mormon and be baptized. Miraculously, she had been talking to her kids about getting baptized the other day! She accepted to be baptized on May 16th :) She is awesome. She is looking for answers and she will find them as she continues to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it.
Sister Rosell and I were floored. She was testifiying to us at the end of the visit about how much she needs us right now and how she knows this is God reaching out to her and we were just bawling - we could not believe the miracle. After 3 weeks of just short glimmers of light and so much darkness, finally Heavenly Father released the flood light :) We just hugged and cried all the way home, on bikes, in the rain. We are soooo grateful :) Then we found out she doesn't live in our area....or even our mission.....haha BUT! We worked it all out and we're allowed to teach her and she can be baptized in Guymon!!

The next day we had a follow up lesson with her, where she asked so many questions and introduced us to her friend Melissa who wanted to meet with us after Roseann told her all about our meeting the day prior. She is now preparing to be baptized on May 16th as well! Miracles happen when the people we teach KNOW without a doubt we are representatives of the Lord, Jesus Christ :)

Miracles continued to follow as we found a few new families to teach who are all looking for a church and looking for truth. A family we met Friday, who let us come back Saturday, attended church on Sunday and also invited members of their family to come too! So that was super awesome :) We have several progressing investigators and lots of progressing less active members. The work is moving forward here in Guymon, Oklahoma!!!

This week we also did SO MUCH SERVICE. Oh my word, so much service. It was awesome! We met with a few different people in the community who could point us towards the service opportunities and we are so excited to get involved! This weekend is Pioneer Days in Guymon - probably just as big of a deal as Gold Rush Days is in Wickenburg, everything revolves around it - so we are helping a bit with that, we wish we could help more, but our little trip to Wichita this weekend to hear Elder Holland kinda threw a wrench in that! Of COURSE we are so stoked beyond comparison to hear and see Elder Holland in the flesh, but we are also bummed we are missing that SOLID opportunity to meet SO many people and tell them about our message about Jesus Christ :)
This week for service, Sister Rosell and I did the concession stand during the Guymon Community Theatre's show for Pioneer Days! It took us back to our performing days and it was so much fun :) We also were able to show the love of Christ to someone in desperate need as we helped them around their house. I just love ministering - when people think there's no hope, I am so grateful that I can testify of Jesus Christ and bring that hope back :)

It was a crazy week, with so much walking, so much serving, and so many miracles!!
This week is going to be even better as we prepare to hear an apostle of the Lord speak. I hope and pray I will be prepared to receive the revelation the Lord needs me to receive in order to help the Guymon Branch and my investigators reach their potential and also to know what I need to do to become a better servant of Him :)

I love you all so so much!
I hope you have such an awesome week!

Con todo mi corazon y mi amor,

Hermana Shumway

Sister Rosell and I!

Serving at the GCT!!!

Week 45: Dynamite Guymonite

I cracked up when Elder Shurtleff, a senior missionary, said that this week! haha I thought it was so clever and creative so I had to share it with you!

Thank you to Rizek for the letter this week! I appreciate it so much!
And thank you to everyone else for all of your prayers and your love :)

This week, was a little tough, with some obstacles and trials coming up, but Sister Rosell and I are keeping the faith up and our discouragement low :) We know Heavenly Father is just preparing us for a miracle - it's coming, and it's coming big! We just gotta keep working diligently, being exactly obedient, and inviting all to come unto Christ :) We had a great week, nonetheless with many less actives coming to church who hadn't been for a lonnng time and lots of spiritual experiences!

I will share a couple of those spiritual experiences with you!

So earlier this week, I think it was Wednesday, we visited a member of the branch named John who has muscular dystrophy. His story is so cool. Missionaries were teaching him, he wanted to be baptized, but because of his health he was not able to be baptized himself. So I'm not sure exactly what or how it happened, but someone else got baptized for him! Like as proxy! Very cool story. Anyway, we went to go visit him, and he can't really respond back to us so we and the Elders were just chatting with him. Sister Rosell shared her favorite scripture about how although we are weak, we can be made strong in the strength of the Lord. After she shared that scripture, I testified of the Savior and the Atonement to this man about how Jesus Christ can transform us and uplift us. After I finished, we sat in silence and I just looked at John, this man who is bedridden for life, yet knows his Savior and the power of the resurrection...and I just started to cry. The Spirit was so strong in John's little room in the nursing home. It was one of those moments when you know Jesus Christ lives and He is real. I am so blessed to be able to testify of Him every single day :)

Next really awesome experience was one of those times when you know the Lord put you in the right place at exactly the right time. We were walking down the street and there was a young man walking down the same street with us! So of course we called out to him and started talking to him and getting to know him- his name is Michael. Turns out...he had gotten out of jail THAT DAY and wanted to turn his life around. We testified of the redeeming power of Jesus Christ and read a couple verses with him in the Book of Mormon. He loved all of it, so we set up a time for all of us to meet with the Elders the next day. When we went the next day, he was leaving town - we had met him on the ONE DAY he was in Guymon. The Elders gave him a Priesthood blessing of comfort and counsel. Although we only knew Michael for one day, it was awesome to see the Gospel bring light to his life and bring him closer to Jesus Christ :)

Next AWESOME thing that happened was the Elders had a baptism!! The Elders in Liberal, KS were teaching this old fellow named Pete for quite some time and he had the desire to be baptized, then he moved to Guymon! The Elders visited him on Tuesday and he was ready to be baptized that same weekend! Just this past Saturday! (Kiki and Starry anyone? haha! Miracle baptisms!!) Anyway, so Pete is an older gentleman, so it wasn't possible for him to be baptized in the regular baptismal font. The baptism was held...wait for it....in the YMCA pool!! It was so awesome. I loved smelling that chlorine, brought me back to swim team and lifeguarding days... :) Anyway, Pete was seated in one of those hydraulic seats on the poolside that lower people into the pool and the Elders and Pete's son were in the pool. His son said the baptismal prayer, then they all put their hands under him, carried him off the seat, then lowered him into the water, then back up into the seat. The Spirit was SO strong. I am so grateful for the power of the Priesthood :) Young or old, we all need baptism by the power of God on the Earth.

I am so grateful to be here and to be a part of all of these miraculous experiences :)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the restored church of Jesus Christ with the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. He lives. I am grateful to be a part of His work :)

Have an awesome week!!

Con todo mi corazon y mi amor,

Hermana Shumway


P.S. Elder Holland is coming May 2nd!!! :D

                                                                     Biking!! :D

Week 44: "We're not in Kansas anymore...."

Bahaha! Thanks Dorothy :)

Thanks to Elder Ringger for the letter this week! I loved it!

Well. This week was just great! It went by so fast! Disclaimer! I'm not gonna write super a ton, but it has been a great week! Of course, we had some trials, but the Lord never ceases to give us miracles as well :)

I got to speak in the little branch yesterday! I spoke on miracles and the greatest miracle of all: the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And because that miracle happened, every other miracle is not improbable. I love that thought :) because of the Atonement, if we have sufficient faith, anything, any miracle, can happen. We get to help out a lot in the branch - with teaching Primary classes and playing the piano, teaching the youth...it's awesome! The mission surely prepares you for the callings you'll have later in life! I am excited to work more closely with the branch and bring more people in :)

A member of the quorum of the 12 is coming to talk to the whole mission in May!!!!!!!!!!! Can you say STOKED. Yeah, gotta prepare really well for that crazy awesome experience!!!!!

Now a little bit about Sister Rosell! She is the youngest in her family as well! Youngest of 6 even!! She is 20 years old and super cute! She is from Orange County, California, but doesn't like the ocean. She's taller than me....not saying much.... She and I are really similar, I feel. We get along great and I love her!

We had a lot of very interesting conversations with people who disagree with our beliefs this week - for some reason it happened more than usual. It was awesome to testify of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the nature of God and Jesus Christ. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that testifying of the truth is so much more powerful than arguing. Sister Rosell and I were discussing how we just want to give everyone a little glimpse of how their lives could be with the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives - then they would understand why we just want so badly for them to read the Book of Mormon, come to church, pray about Joseph Smith, be baptized, etc so they can feel for themselves what WE feel. This is the TRUTH. Absolute TRUTH of Jesus Christ. Everyone wants it, everyone needs it. :)

We were able to meet so many families this week and help them get started in their progression in the Gospel - with a few of them accepting to prepare for baptism!!! I am grateful for the comfort the Gospel brings to families. Death has no sting, the grave no victory. We can and will experience the joy of the everlasting Gospel and the fullness of the Atonement of Jesus if we would just simply open our hearts and our minds to this glorious message of the Restoration.
I know the Book of Mormon is TRUE. It is the word of God. I know Jesus Christ is the Son of God. They are separate beings, but united in purpose. I love them! :)

I love you all! I hope you have a spectacular week!

Con todo mi corazon y mi amor,

Hermana Shumway

I finally got to experience BRAUM'S. I have been hearing
about this place my whole mission! It's sooooo yummy. I
guess they don't build a restaurant anywhere over an hour
from where they get their ingredients - it's allllways fresh.
Yummy, yummy, ice cream!

Bikes. Lots of bikes. In a small apartment. And the Elders! :)

Not sure why she has a sad face.....hmmm.
haha

Sister Rosell says this is what she pictures when she thinks
of Kansas, sooo of course we had to take a pic. :)  Just as we
were walking allll across Guymon back home!

Week 43

Hola!!!

Thanks Mommy for the letter and the package! I love you!!

The beginning of this week was pretty crazy trying to get everything together for transfers, but the Lord of course did not fail to show me some miracles before leaving Garden City.

So Tuesday, right before I was supposed to head out to Wichita with another Sister, we went and visited Xaviera in the hospital with her new baby! The Elders came too, to give her a blessing. It was SO powerful. The Spirit was so strong. In the blessing, the Elder said some very specific things that Xaviera has been thinking about lately. It brought her to tears. She has changed so much through the Atonement. Jesus Christ and His true Gospel has softened her heart more than I can describe and I will forever be humbled that I had the glorious opportunity of seeing that :) I will forever remember Garden City with such fondness because I saw the Atonement at work in so many lives!!

And now....I'm in GUYMON. Oh man oh man, I'm in Oklahoma, people! I am in the process of learning the area, of course, but I know I'm going to love it here. I am speaking tons of Spanish and learning a lot of Spanish, too! I know this will be a place of so much progression :) Sister Rosell is awesome! I'm excited to get to know her better :) Some quick miracles:

We are working with the Almeida family - and they watched both sessions of conference on Sunday by themselves!!! So awesome :)

We met a family last night who want to get baptized and change their lives!! We are excited to keep working with them :)

We met 2 women outside one day who are both really struggling with addictions. Sister Rosell and I committed to not eat chocolate if they would put down their addiction for 24 hours!! It was awesome! One of them did it! I love HELPING people come unto Christ.
I am excited to meet more members here in Guymon and truly serve them :)

Wasn't General Conference AMAZING!? I know that those men are called of God to lead Christ's original church. How grateful I am to know that and sustain them :) I invite you all to pour over the Ensigns when those messages are printed. Their words will keep up us firmly founded in Jesus Christ. They will guide us safely back to our heavenly home.

Happy Easter! Because Jesus Christ lives, it doesn't matter who you are, or who you were, He is here. He LOVES every single one of us and His arm of mercy is extended to all. How grateful I am for His infinite sacrifice that redeems so much more than sin. He gives me power to change and overcome. How I wish and plead with others to just make the choice to let Him in. He will not force us to love Him, to reach out to Him, to obey Him. But oh what marvelous things He can make out of us if we would just humble ourselves and let Him. I testify that Jesus Christ is the Creator of the world. He was foreordained from the beginning to be our Savior and how eternally grateful I am for His humility and complete submission to the Father's will. I love Him!!

I am grateful to be a missionary sharing the most important message this world has ever known, and will ever know. Family, friends, the everlasting, restored Gospel of Jesus Christ as found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is TRUE. This is real life. Real eternity! So much of the time we are just too casual about it. Eternal life hangs in the balance. Why are we afraid to open our mouths? Those around us need what we have :)

I love you, I'm grateful for you, have the best week ever :)

Con todo mi corazon y mi amor,

Hermana Shumway

Last time getting Panaderia bread in Garden!
Love these ladies :)

Xaviera and friends :) LOVE THEM!

Kansas in all its beauty!

ELDER Shumway!!

MTC buds!!

Suuuper small gas station on the way to
Guymon! haha the sign says "We don't
"accept checks". Not sure why "accept
checks" is in quotations.

Sister Rosell and I took away somebody's cigarettes!!
First time someone has let me do that!! :D
#missionmilestones.....