"And What's Your Name, Mary?"

Happy two-month mark!!!!! Sheesh! Has it really been 2 months already?

This week started off with the BEST southern storm I have ever seen!! (granted I have only seen about three so far). The lighting is constant and the thunder is so deep and loud and lasting, and the rain just pours out of the sky - I LOVE IT!!!!  

While we were tracting this week, we met this super sweet lady and she told us her name was Mary. Towards the end of the conversation, as she was starting to shoo us off her porch, Sister Jacobson got a little carried away with the tracting dialogue and re-asked her what her name was, but remembered it as she asked so she ended up saying: "What's your name, Mary? Oh! It's Mary!" That lady laughed so hard, it was hilarious! She laughed for at least three minutes straight right there on her doorstep. At least we were able to make her day with laughter if not with the truth of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ!

Anyways, I've been saving the best for last:  TRANSFER CALLS!!!!!!!!!!! 

It was so exciting. The anticipation was the best part, honestly. Sister Jacobson was super stressed about it and I have never seen someone pace so much before. She just walked in circles around the apartment the whole time. 

So. Here it is. The big news: I am . . . . . . 

Staying here!

WHEW! I didn't think we'd ever make it! Yup, six more weeks in Sevierville. :) But Sister Jacobson is leaving me and I am getting a new companion for my second half of training! Her name is Sister Rackley, and I don’t know anything about her, but I'm excited! :) AND I get to be designated driver! Woot woot! Got my TIWI card and everything, I'm official!

I love the work that I have the privilege of being a part of here in the Tennessee Knoxville mission. I can't wait to push myself further and farther than I've ever gone before. I have learned very personally this week that my Savior loves me. I've always believed it but now I know it. 

I love all y'all!!! Talk to you next week and yuns have a good one!

-Sister Shumway 

P.S. I love the letters from everyone! It helps to know how much love and support is cheering me on from home :)

Power-ups with the Sister Training Leaders

We found adorable baby ducks! But nobody answered the door so we couldn't hold them

Typical Southern weather?

"Sister Subway!"

This week started off with splits! (Not the gymnastics kind 'cause there's no way I could ever do those) we went up to Maryville (pronounced "mur-ih-vull") to help our Sister Training Leaders out with some finding in their area. Sister Farmer and I were tracting together and getting to know each other, and we realized that we already have a mutual friend at home! Shout out to Kate Hardman!!! I love how small this world is, especially in the church. I really love sister Farmer and I can't wait for Power-ups (24 hour exchanges in our area) which start tonight. :) 

Wednesday was the absolute most amazing miracle filled day EVER. We left the apartment to start the day off with some good ol' tracting. The very first door we knock on is a sweet couple with their baby who are both considerably interested in the message we have to share about Christ's church being restored, and they invited us back. Not just for a lesson, but they offered to feed us dinner!! We had only met them 2 minutes before! I know that the Spirit is powerful and real, and has been preparing these two hearts to recognize truth when it knocked on their door. None of the other doors even opened to us on the rest of that street.

Later, we were privileged to teach a wonderful woman we met last week about the plan of Salvation. As we began the lesson with our pre-earth life with Heavenly Father, she began to get excited and said "This all feels so familiar!" Now in preach my gospel, they talk about people like this. But I always thought that was like, best-case-scenario, and didn't ever really happen. That whole lesson, she just drank everything in and hung onto every last word we said. I just couldn't believe how ready for the gospel she was! The whole time I was thinking to myself: "I've read about people like you! And you're real!"

Later that night, we taught the restoration to another lady we met last week. After sharing Joseph Smith's first vision account, we gave her a moment to process all the information and she said "Well I have to believe it. Why wouldn't God do what He has been doing since the Old Testament times?" It makes my heart soar when people can recognize the simplicity and truth that carry the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. 

To make Wednesday even better, we had dinner with the Strickland's. I don't even know how to begin describing how funny they are. Brother Strickland kept calling me "Sister Subway" because he couldn't remember Shumway. They both have the most authentic southern accents and we spent half of dinner learning "southern sayings" from them. 

To top Wednesday off, Julia called us on the way home and told us that her fiancé was finally ready to pick a date for the wedding! We are SO excited for them and Julia is over the moon excited for her baptism! 

Needless to say, Wednesday felt like it was a week long with everything that happened.

Unfortunately, not every day is Wednesday. In fact, Friday was the worst day I've had on the mission. Every single one of our appointments cancelled on us, did not respond to calls and texts, and weren't home when we knocked on their door. We spent five hours of what we were planning on being lessons, tracting instead. It is so frustrating when not only do you not get to teach any of the lessons you planned for these individuals, but all those hours of tracting led to zero new people to teach. 

But it's okay! There's bound to be some days that are better than others. And apparently Wednesdays that are WAY better than Fridays haha. At least the week ended well. Sister Jacobson and I got to teach Sunday School! For those of you who went to Sunday School this week and remember the topic, you can imagine how silly it seems to have the two youngest people in the room who probably know the least about it leading the discussion. I'll just say that I am very grateful for how well people participated and contributed to the lesson and overall, I think it went pretty well. :) I LOVE teaching though, and Sister Jacobson told me she didn't enjoy it at all haha - I guess it's not for everyone!

This past week has been filled to the brim with testimony building experiences and I can feel and see the changes that are starting to happen as I give myself and my will the Lord. I know there is so much for me to learn and I know that as I strive to be worthy of the Holy Ghost's presence, I will be able to not only teach the powerful truths of this gospel, but I will be learning just as much. I don’t think that made very much sense, and I'm not so good with words, but I know that it's true. 

I love you all!!! And yun's have a good week!

Sister Shumway 

To Cough or Not to Cough

Almost one month in the mission field! That's actually kind of crazy. It has gone by so fast.

Anyways, I promised an eventful week! Here it is:

New missionary follow up meeting! Sister Jacobson and I got to drive up to Farragut and on the way there, we drove through Knoxville! She was SO excited when she saw the sun sphere because she's been in the Tennessee Knoxville mission for 17 months and had never been to Knoxville! It was so fun to see all the missionaries I came out with, I didn't really realize how much I missed my MTC companions until I saw them both. On the way back, we listened to a devotional called "Conversion of a Catholic Priest" by Bill Carpenter. 10/10 would HIGHLY recommend listening to it. I loved every second of it! It is such a powerful story.

We had a lot of our appointments cancel on us this week, but we did manage to commit Tim to come to church on Sunday, and he came!! Tim is 82 years old, is very hard of hearing, and loves to tease us in every way he can. I love it; he makes me laugh so much!! He is determined to read the entire Book of Mormon before he will commit to baptism, but he is realizing the effect it is having on his life and feeling the peace from his daily study of it. He is already half way through Alma! I was so happy to see him show up at church yesterday, we sat down with him and I explained the reverence of the Sacrament, and how it provided an opportunity for him to recommit himself to Heavenly Father and think about things he could be doing better. We made it through about half the Sacrament successfully and reverently, but then Tim learned over and dove into a not-so-quiet monologue about the first governor of Sevier county whose last name was originally French and spelled with an X but no one could figure out how to say it so he switched it to Sevier. (I had told him the origins of Shumway last week and apparently that's what he was thinking about during Sacrament haha!). Sister Jacobson and I were trying so hard not to laugh! I'm pretty sure the entire congregation learned about the French origins of the name Sevier. 

2nd hour of church was a whole other adventure. I've been fighting a little bit of a cold this weekend and I woke up yesterday morning with the stuffiest nose I think I've ever had and a throat as dry as Nevada. So as I'm sitting in relief society, I start to feel this cough coming on. I HATE coughing in public, especially when it sounds like a barking seal, and you know that all the ladies in there are going to worry about you being sick. I couldn't just step out for a moment to grab some water because we were sitting in the very center of our row. No escape! So I decided to try holding it in. You know what? Not a good idea. You see: holding in a cough is not only extremely difficult, but it sets off a viscous cycle that spirals out of control quite quickly. Having made the mistake of holding in my cough, my eyes began to water from the effort and border-line painfulness of it, which causes my already stuffy nose to become even stuffier as the water from my eyes has nowhere else to go. I then no longer had the use of my nose for air, but if I breathe through my mouth, the coughing urge becomes 10 times worse! I came to a crossroads. I could either: embarrass myself miserably by exploding with awful noises of sickness, OR I could sit there and suffocate until class was over or I passed out, whichever came first. I was already turning purple at this point so I resolved to just suffocate. Well, here I am writing all of this to you, so I clearly didn't die, but I honestly can't say how I survived except by a miracle from God. 

Hopefully I'll be feeling better soon! 

I have loved this month and a half of my mission with all of its ups and downs. I know that as time goes on, those ups and downs will get deeper and steeper, but as long as my faith is firm in my Savior (which it most definitely is, don't worry) I will be able to learn and grow from it all. 

Sister Shumway 

Water bottles that Mom sent this week

"Oh Geez, Please Go Away"

I thought that was the funniest response to seeing two missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the doorstep! I laughed all the way to the next house!


Anyways, I realized that I totally forgot to mention the best part of last week in the last email, so we are going to flashback for a second here:

ZONE CONFERENCE!!!

Yay! My first Zone Conference! It was so full of the Spirit and I learned so so much. The most powerful part was President Pickett's testimony of the Book of Mormon. The conviction with which he testified of the reality and truthfulness of the people, prophets, and teachings contained in that blue book helped solidify mine more than I thought another person's testimony could. President Pickett is a spiritual giant. 

When I first arrived. I asked one of the APs to describe President Pickett in one sentence. He said "His testimony is as big as his hands." Which is saying something! No kidding, the guy has the BIGGEST hands I have ever seen! It's almost painful to give him a firm handshake because I cant even grip his hand. . . it's more like a handsquish than a handshake! 

Okay flashback over :) 

This week felt really slow. We didn't find very many people to start teaching, and people we already are teaching aren't making as much progress and we would like to see. It is so sad to see people feeling the spirit, and learning so much, but thinking that life is "too busy" to read from the Book of Mormon or come to church. Let me tell you that life is NEVER too busy for spiritual growth. 

In more exciting news: Julia came to church this Sunday! She has come to church twice before, and loves every minute of it, but she lives way down at the south end of the ward boundaries, about 30 minutes away, and has to get rides from ward members to get here. The Releif Society President has been so supportive and kind in helping us out with this. She is more than willing to give Julia rides, but she has ward council 3/4 weeks of the month. She is the only other ward member who lives as far south as Julia does. But, it will all work out. "The Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." 1 Nephi 3:7 

After teaching Julia about the priesthood and priesthood blessings last week, she asked if she could have one! So after church, the ward mission leader and previous ward mission leader gave her a blessing of healing and comfort. It is beautiful to see the amount of faith she has. After the blessing, she was simply glowing. She is so ready to be baptized. She has even already started paying tithing! I love her so much!

 I had the opportunity to bear my testimony in Sacrament meeting, and I'd like to share it with you. My testimony and love for this gospel are stronger and deeper now than they've ever been before. I know that the fullness of the gospel has been restored to the earth. Joseph Smith was a prophet called by God to open this, the last dispensation. Joseph Smith translated the ancient records that are now the Book of Mormon, and I know that each page of that book is full of the testimonies and prophesies of real people who lived and breathed and had daily struggles just like you and me. The Book of Mormon does teach us about the character of Christ, and by applying the lessons I've learned from it, I have felt a closeness to my Savior and Redeemer that couldn't have come from anything else. Joseph Smith stood for what he knew to be true, even when his brother was killed in front of him and he knew the next bullet was his. I will stand for what I know to be true, and I will never forsake my testimony of this Gospel. My Heavenly Father loves me so much that He has a perfect plan for me. A plan of happiness, a plan with direction, a plan of love, a plan of salvation. My favorite part of the week is the opportunity I have to take the Sacrament. Jesus Christ died for me so that the plan that Heavenly Father has for me will work. I can think of no greater act of service than the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He died for me. I don't ever want to take that for granted. 

This upcoming week will be much more exciting, I promise. We have new missionary follow up meeting AND interviews with President Pickett :)

See y'all next week!

P.s. sister Jacobson just locked the keys in the car, so we are stuck at the post office for the next hour. . . WooHoo!!! What a way to spend P-day :) 

Not a "fan" of the humidity

Pretty self-explanatory 

President Pickett's hands!