Muscles

 I had a lot of strength training in the past two weeks. Physically, emotionally, spiritually, and even though there were uncomfy moments, I know I came out stronger (even if I can't quite tell yet). I'll start with the physical ones 'cause they're the funniest. 

 

We get to serve at a local food pantry/soup kitchen once a week and last week we were given the task of getting the lid off of a 5-gallon bucket of oats. Now this bucket was military-status bunker food storage and it was indestructible. Sister Foster and I wrestled with it for literally 20 min before we FINALLY managed to get the lid off. The funniest part is, for the next three days my HAND muscles were SORE. I DIDNT KNOW HAND MUSCLES COULD GET SORE!!! Who knew?! 

 

Just about the time my hand muscles were recovering from last week's trauma, Sister Foster and I decided to utilize the can of bear meat that one of our friends gave us after bear hunting a couple weeks ago. Well, it turns out our friend is WAY stronger than us and screwed the lid onto the jar so incredibly tight that we could NOT get it to budge! But we are not quitters. So we tried everything. Rags for better grip, tapping (or smacking) the ring with utensils, hot water, etc. It just wouldn't budge. It wasn't until a little bit later when I was waiting for the red (almost purple) half-circle mark in my palm to fade that I noticed I had given myself a BLISTER from trying to unscrew a can of bear meat!! What the heck?!?! Eventually we did manage to get the water hot enough and wait long enough for the lid to loosen, but BOY was it a process. (For those of you wondering, bear meat just tastes like beef. I couldn't tell a difference). 

 

The next experience from this week strengthened my patience. And you're gonna need patience to read this next paragraph, cause it's gonna take a sec. At 3:00 in the morning last Wednesday, I woke up to an obnoxiously high-pitched beeping noise. My first thought was the CO alarm, but after listening again I only heard two beeps, not four. But there was no way I was going back to sleep with it chirping like that every minute or so, so I went to investigate. After checking the two OTHER alarm systems on the wall, I found the culprit: a box-thing plugged into an outlet in the kitchen. I had noticed this little box before because some previous missionaries had left a stickie note on it that read "do NOT unplug this unless you plan on destroying it" so I had never paid it any more attention. Turns out this little CO box only lasts for 7 years before it gives up and needs to be replaced, and we just so happened to be lucky two who were there for it's tragic end. After looking a little closer (and losing some of my hearing in the process) I discovered a catch 22. In order to get the beeping to stop, you have to take out the batteries, BUT the battery compartment-thing was not only screwed shut, but it was also only accessible by unplugging the box from the wall. So what happens when you unplug it from the wall? It doesn't beep anymore. Instead, it SCREAMS ONE PAINFULLY LOUD AND OBNOXIOUSLY HIGH PITCHED SCREECH. I literally sat there on the kitchen floor at 3:00 in the morning glaring at this thing for a good 20 minutes. Finally, I resorted to a temporary fix until morning when my thinking skills were less asleep. I wrapped the box in about 4 layers of packing tape and added two rags to top it off. Less shrill, but still loud. Unnecessarily long story-short, in the morning our landlord brought us a new one and we figured out how to get the batteries out of the old one to shut it up. I learned how to be patient with things that aren't in my control (or at least things that are taking me a really long time to figure out how to handle). 

 

I don't have the time or space to write all of the little spiritual learning moments I had this week, but I want to make sure y'all know how much I LOVE being a missionary!!! My heart has been bursting this week with gratitude and love for my Heavenly Father and this gospel. The way people's faces light up when you tell them that Jesus Christ visited people in ancient America and that they recorded it! The direction and confidence that people find in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! The happiness and JOY that gets magnified in people's lives when they start living it!! I have firsthand seen each of these examples this week and IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY!!!!! 

 

I love you all so much! I LOVE the Book of Mormon, I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I love laboring in the Lord's vineyard, and most of all, I love the Lord! 

 

 Sister Shumway

I LOVE to See The Temple!

I don't even know where to start! I am literally SOO blessed!!! In the entire mission, I was the only sister missionary that got to accompany the other missionaries to go through the temple for their first times. Wow. I feel so undeserving of such a miracle!! But I will never ever stop cherishing the memories and moments I got to spend in the temple this week. Because we were on the opposite side of the mission from Nashville, we got to spend TWO nights in the mission home with the Graham family! I LOVED seeing the Grahams in their own family atmosphere as parents and real people, I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!! 

 

The other sisters we got to go to the temple with are SO kind and energetic and I really needed the social re-charge this week. I know that the Lord knows me and knows exactly what I need even better than I do. 

 

Sunday was pretty sad for us this week. Our friend Jacob was going to be getting baptized, but he had some last-minute doubts and fears and decided he couldn't do it. It was quite heartbreaking. But we have a wonderful and supportive branch who are so understanding and still willing to work with us after all the effort they put into planning and organizing Jacob's baptismal service. 

 

Sometimes the Lord asks us to do things and sacrifice things that we aren't really willing or wanting to. But He knows us. He knows what's best for us. He loves us and everything He does is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. I know He lives! I know He loves! I know He is very involved in our lives, whether we know it or not. I love the time I have to serve as a laborer in His vineyard, I love Tennessee and North Carolina, and I love the Lord!!! 

 

-Sister Shumway

The Anticipation is Killing Me!

 This week I saw very clearly the miracle of conversation happening with some of the people we are teaching. I know with my whole being that I am not the one who convinces or converts people to the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Holy Ghost does! It was when our friends were studying on their own when they had some of their most Spiritual experiences. When they took action on what we shared with them and decided to try it for themselves. I cannot describe how happy it makes me feel when they are so excited to tell us about the experiences they had studying the Book of Mormon or how much their testimony grew when they found themselves defending their faith to other people. Bearing a testimony they didn't realize they had! It was such a happy week!!!! I love these people with my entire heart and soul! 

 

We got to soak up the last little bit of warm weather this week before the chill really sets in. I am so grateful for this beautiful planet that God has blessed us so generously with. As much as I want to go to Space, there is breathtaking beauty all around us, sometimes I just have to open my eyes a little bit more to see it. 

 

Okay. This week wasn't super eventful, but NEXT week will be the BEST WEEK OF MAH LIFE  so far. I'm sure there are even better weeks in the future, but ya know, time will tell. Next week will consist of exchanges with the sister training leaders, interviews with President Graham, A MAGNIFICENT TRIP TO THE TEMPLE when we get to spend two nights in the mission home, and a baptism. I LITERALLY CANNOT CONTAIN MYSELF. 

 

So. Stay tuned. 

 

I love the Lord so very much!!!! I hope y'all know that I mean it! 

 

-Sister Shumway 

Life's a filet of fish... uh... yes it is!

 I've had that song stuck in my head all week, probably because life IS a happy song and I do have everything I need right in front of me. 

 

So sorry about not sending an email last week! Our mission has officially entered phase 2 which means we can go into members homes for brief, socially distanced and masked visits, as well as teach in people's home AND gather as districts on P-days again!!! So last Monday was way too much fun to write an email. But now I have 2 whole weeks to catch y'all up on! 

 

I don't normally share a lot about the people we are teaching, (I think it takes waaaaay too much explaining to understand all of their backgrounds and progress, so I usually just skip it) but our friend Chris needs prayers! He was introduced to us by a less active member of the branch because he was not feeling the Spirit at his church and felt that he needed direction in his life. Since then he has gained a beautiful testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and has sacrificed so much to prepare himself for baptism. We are so proud of him and his progress! He is trying to overcome a smoking addiction right now and we would really appreciate it if you kept him in your prayers this week. He has made a lot of progress this past week and just needs one more push to completely quit! 

 

HOW AMAZING WAS CONFERENCE?! Wow. I am so grateful for the living Prophet and Apostles. My favorite quote from conference was from Rebecca M. Craven's talk. She said, "I hope I have changed since yesterday." How amazing is it that change is possible? And even more miraculous: change for the better! Change that brings you CLOSER to God! Change that lasts! We have an indescribable gift from God called the Atonement of Jesus Christ which is the reason change is possible. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want us to change! Mosiah 3:19 describes just some of the qualities that we should strive to obtain by changing our natural man into a saint through the Atonement of Christ. With a list like that, it's gonna take a while! But God knows that and because He teaches us line upon line and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, it will take some time. We must be diligent in changing a little bit every day. I have seen change in myself, it's pretty gradual but it's definitely there. I am eternally thankful for the Atoning sacrifice of my Savior Jesus Christ that has made that change possible. And because I want to continue growing closer to Him, I hope I have changed since yesterday.  

 

On Thursday we went to go visit one of our friends who hasn't been answering our phone calls, and it was actually the first time I've met him in person (lol it's the last week of the transfer! #gratefulfortechnology). He is absolutely hilarious!! He introduced himself to me as "The Reverend Leroy Brown of the church of what's happenin' Brothuh!!" It is so interesting to me that he knows the church is true. He believes it all (he called Porter Rockwell one of his heroes! Never thought I'd be talking about modern-day Samson with an investigator). The only thing that he is letting stop him from uniting with Christ's church is his beer and tobacco. It makes me so sad! But how often do we do that in slightly less obvious ways? We let just that one show or just this one kind of music get in the way of allowing the Spirit to fill our lives more abundantly. The Lord usually asks us to sacrifice the thing we least want to let go. For Abraham it was Isaac. What is the Lord asking you to give up for Him? 

 

We had transfer calls on Saturday! Nothing happened to me and Sister Foster, we both get to stay here in Brevard! 

 

I love this work so very much. I know that it is His work and moves forward no matter what happens to the world. I found a quote that I really love this week: "When God gave you a calling He already factored in your stupidity." He knows us! And STILL trusts us! I love this work, I love you all, and I love the Lord!

 

-Sister Shumway