Lots of New People!

We met so many amazing people this week!! I am amazed at the spiritual drive that still exists in the world. I know that the news of the world right now is pretty hopeless and depressing (lol and I don't even see the actual news), but I am here to tell you that there are still miracles happening! 

 

We got to teach a young woman who is only a junior in high school but has recognized that she needs to be closer to God. She is facing the obstacle of unsupportive and un-approving parents as she learns about the Book of Mormon and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Please keep Abigail in your prayers as she faces the decisions that lay ahead.

 

We have also met and taught an amazing couple who turned their lives completely around. Both of them had serious addictions but have been 4 years sober and are now starting a family and looking for God to be a bigger part of their lives! They have made such a huge impact on me in helping me realize that change IS possible. No matter how lost or dark a life may seem, the power of Jesus Christ can turn it around and bring out the Light of Christ that is in every single one of us. Randi, the wife, was even able to make it to church yesterday!! 

 

I love these people SO much!!! Tennessee has really truly stolen my heart. I don't have too much more to write about, but I do want you all to know how much I treasure the knowledge I am so blessed to have. I know that the Savior lives. I know my Heavenly Father loves me. I know that He has created a perfect plan of HAPPINESS for us. I know that the church that Jesus Christ established is once again on the earth. I know that we are led by a prophet of God! How amazing is that?! I know that we can have hope because of the Savior Jesus Christ. 

 

I love you all! I love Tennessee. I love wearing this nametag every day, but more importantly: I LOVE THE LORD 

 

-Sister Shumway 

Caterpillars, Fireworks, and Zone Conference

Sorry I didn't write last week! But now you get an email with two whole weeks worth of missionary miracles  

Last week we saw a pretty amazing miracle. We started a conversation with a lady who told us she was actually looking for a church to attend and wanted to learn more about what we believed! She asked if we could meet up somewhere and told us she lived in the Hartman Plantation apartment complex. . . . . . . Which is where WE live! Of our entire area, she lives in our same apartment complex!! Now, the complex is huge. There are probably 250-300 units, but this lady messaged us a few minutes after we told her we were living there too and asked, "Do y'all have a picture of Jesus taped to your door?" Turns out that not only is she living in the same apartment complex, but she lives EXACTLY ACROSS from us!!!!!!!!! The miracle part of this story is that even if we were allowed to tract, our apartment complex is extremely anti-anyone going door to door. So if it hadn't been for Facebook finding, this lady would not have been found! We were able to share the message of the restoration and give her a copy of the Book of Mormon, both of which she drank in and was planning on coming to church this Sunday! 

The fourth of July was pretty fun! It felt like it lasted the whole week. People were setting off fireworks pretty much non-stop from the 2nd and didn't stop until after the 5^th. I am so grateful to live in such a wonderful country. 3 Nephi 21:4 says, "For it is wisdom in the Father that they should be established in this land, and be set up as a free people by the power of the Father, that these things might come forth from them unto a remnant of your seed, that the covenant of the Father may be fulfilled which he hath covenanted with his people, O house of Israel." I am so grateful for the freedoms in this country that God has preserved so that the Gospel of Jesus Christ could be restored in its fullness! I cannot even begin to imagine my life without the gospel. 

This Wednesday was zone conference!!!! And we finally got to meet the Grahams!! They are both so amazing and funny! You can just feel the outpour of love that they have for the mission already. The conference was amazing (as always), I learned a lot about unity and consecration. One of my favorite take-aways from one of the trainings was "Never doubt that your contribution matters!" and it reminded me of a talk given in April 2017 by Elder Holland, "Songs Sung and Unsung." He can definitely express the principle better than I can so please go give that talk another read!  

Another miracle we saw this week happened when the Sister Training Leaders came by on Thursday and helped us figure out how to take our finding efforts to the next level in effectiveness. We have been having great conversations with people over facebook messenger, but have been having the hardest time setting up appointments when we could call and teach them more. But after the sister training leaders helped us, we've been able to set up an average of three appointments each day! We know that as we get to actually talk and testify to these people, the Spirit will be all the more powerful.

There were 16 baptisms in the mission just THIS week!!! There is no greater testimony that the Lord's work does not stop!!!! 

I love this work, I know the church is true! I love being a missionary, I love you all, and I LOVE THE LORD!!! 

-Sister Shumway 

I Milked a Goat and Ran out of Gas

Hello friends and family!!! This week was quite exciting. We have seen so many fireflies this week!!!!! I'm literally in love with the South. The storms this week have also been CRAZY. On Wednesday we had to say goodbye to the Picketts :( Literally so, so sad. They have both done SO much and made an incredible impact on the Tennessee Knoxville mission. But on a much happier note, the Grahams arrived today!!! We won't get to meet them until zone conference (which is TBA) but we are all so excited!!!!!!! 

We also hit day 100 of quarantine\not being able to tract. . . . if you had told me that I would be spending this long in a quarantine as a missionary, I probably would have cried right then and there. But the Lord blesses us with capacity when we do what He asks and this "quarantine" has proven that to me over and over and over. 

Do you want to know what else happened this week? I HIT MY ONE YEAR MARK! To be honest, it has all happened so fast and I feel like I’m trying to slam on the brakes so I can enjoy the last part as much as possible and soak in every possible experience I can, but the brakes gave out. They're gonzo beans.

I also got to milk a goat this week! So I can cross that off my bucket list. . . . We had a dinner appointment with a family who has a little mini-farm that's about 18 miles out of town. I specifically know how far it is because we were (I was) bad planners and forgot that the car was almost out of gas and we were already running late and I figured we would be okay with the little bit of gas left in the tank. But then the little orange gas light turned on right as we were leaving town. . . too late to turn back! The little gas gauge thing said we could 40 miles with the gas we had left, so I figured we could make it. Well, we were about halfway to the member’s house when the gauge gave up trying to warn me how far I could go and it just said "low." Yikes! Leaving me in the dark, the gas light has been on for 20 minutes by now, and we are 17 miles from the nearest gas station. We made it to the members house and just hoped we would be able to make it home later. . . We are truly blessed! 25 minutes and 17 miles after the dinner appointment, we limped into the gas station!!!!!!! BLESSINGS!!!!!! Moral of the story: plan out your life better. 

Anyways, I love this chapter of my mission. We have been so blessed to get to teach the restoration a couple times this week and each time, the Spirit has confirmed to me that Joseph Smith is a prophet; the Book of Mormon is true! God really does live and love us! I know that my Redeemer lives, and because of Him, I can live again too! Not only physically but spiritually as well. 

I love you all, I love my mission, I love Tennessee, and I LOVE THE LORD!!!!!!!

Chasing Turkeys and Real Church

TRANSFERS. I had to say goodbye to Sister Blair and Dandridge and that wonderful gigantic house. But HELLO to the sweetest Sister Allen and Lebanon TN! Lebanon is actually just 20 min outside of Nashville, and the farthest west in the mission. 

We have had quite a few creature encounters this week, I finally caught a lightning bug! His name is Thunder and on Thursday morning, Sister Allen and I went on a run and there's this vacant lot by our apartment complex. As we ran by it, there was this big, fat wild Turkey just sitting there watching us. So I chased it. And that's my story. Sorry it was super anticlimactic but I had you going for a while! 

The best part of this week was REAL CHURCH! It was so good to see real life members in such a large quantity! 

We are teaching some amazing people in this area, and I found out that one of the people I taught back in Jamestown got baptized this week! And I just want you all to know how much I love being a missionary! 

I love this state, I love this work, I love you all, and I love the Lord!!

-Sister Shumway