New Year's 2015

The Mexicans get pretty crazy here during holidays, so on Dec 31st we had to got to our houses at 6:30pm. All day on the first of January we couldn't leave the house except to eat with an hermana (Sister in the branch).  On the first of January there wasn't anybody in the streets because they were all sleeping from the crazy night before. So we spent our New Years in the house. We didn't have any water for two days to shower, wash dishes or even flush the toilet! It was a pretty interesting New Year.

They have a tradition here that in the first 12 seconds of the New Year if you eat twelve grapes and think about a desire for each month, then they will come true.

 So my comp and I did that at midnight and it was kinda fun. 

But once the clock hits 12:00 it looks and sounds like the city has broken into WWIII because almost every house top shoots off fireworks and the people also shoot off guns like crazy. You can tell the difference between the guns and the fireworks because the guns are sharper and they shoot them off in a pattern. It's crazy because it sounds like the whole world is just fighting... but for a guy who likes gunfire, it is a pretty awesome way to celebrate the New Year. I could hear pistoles & rifles, but also machine guns. Pretty Funny.

My companion is from Vera Cruz Mexico but he is very young and super scared to be away from his Mom. He was freaking out that people were shooting off guns. But don't worry because it is safe here too. I'm OK and everything is great. I hope all is well with you and the little girls at home. 

 Love ELder Shumway

Eating Corn on a Stick makes me feel like Nacho Libre for REAL!

Christmas 2014

Hola, Familia!

Speaking with you in English via Skype was the HARDEST thing I have done so far on my mission!
I am surrounded by Latinos every day. Once a month, I see other English missionaries at Zone Conference, but when we are together we speak a mix of English and Spanish, often changing languages mid sentence. Trying to speak to you in only English was extremely difficult!

I received my Christmas stockings the Monday after Christmas. My companion spent 10 minutes touching the American Candies in his stocking. He couldn't stop looking at the Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and Brownies!

Gotta Love POP ROCKS!

(My Trainer....and my Trainee)

My new companion is not well prepared for a mission. He didn't know how to iron a shirt and he has very little knowledge of the scriptures. He hardly knows ANY scripture stories or basic gospel principles...but we are working on that. 

Training!

I just learned that I will be training a new companion beginning Dec 17th.

PLEASE PRAY FOR ME!

I just received the package you sent! (It only took 9 weeks to reach me, but it doesn't look tampered with.) I can't believe it cost $22 to send! That's a LOT of tacos in the street.

It said "Happy Birthday"...so I might just wait to open it on the Savior's birthday, since it is getting close. Thank you, Mom!

(This is a glimpse of our entire apartment. It is one room with two beds, two study desks, and a kitchen sink. We have a small bathroom off one side. We feel really lucky to have TWO sources of running water in our apartment. Most of the homes we visit only have one source of running water.)

I haven't gotten used to cold showers yet. My comp HATES it when we don't have money to buy gas to heat the water. I just shower with the cold water, but my comp uses our iron to heat up a bucket of water, then showers with that. I did it once or twice, but found it just made me dirtier.

This past week we didn't have much success because it was the day of the Virgin of Guatelupe. All of the Catholics go crazy, so we couldn't leave our apartment the entire day. They love fireworks here. In celebration, they are constantly shooting off fireworks, from morning until late at night. They also shoot mortars off of every house top...but they don't explode into beautiful colors....they just explode. It looks and sounds like I am living in the middle of WWII.

We were walking down the street one evening before the holiday, and one of these mortars was shot up in the air above us. When it exploded, a burning piece of it almost hit my companion. It was pretty funny because he literally had to duck out of the way.

Merry Christmas!

Love, 

Elder Shumway

Our little Branch

Well the Spanish really clicked this week and the work is going good. We ate the most spicy thing I have ever eaten in my life this week! It was like a beef soup with beans. I ate two bowls but I was dying because it was so hot!

We had our first baptism this week and it was pretty cool. The font was full of nasty water so we spent the morning trying to drain the water but the pump didn't work. We used buckets to haul all of the water out of the font, then cleaned and scrubbed the whole thing. It was kinda fun. But then the boiler didn't have any gas so the water was super cold. It was cold for me (doing the baptizing)....and I didn't even have to get immersed!  Our investigator, Rodrigo didn't mind too much because he was so happy. I had to baptize him twice because the first time he tried to come back up super fast because it was cold, but the second time was good.

Church is different here. Our church leaders are late to church and it seems the presidency doesn't have any idea what hey are doing, so when we went to confirm Rodrigo, they all looked at me to do it. But my comp told me that the branch president does so I hadn't memorized the words. My comp gave him the spirit. Then when the sacrament started there was only one priest to bless the sacrament, so I went up and blessed with him. 

Church is super funny because the member of the presidency that is conducting calls people out of the crowd to lead the music or say a prayer. This week we are trying to get the Branch Presidency to have a branch counsel with us so that we can have more help from the ward. 

We went to visit the Mexico City Temple.

I am not sick at all and the street food is still delicious. Sometimes the members give us fruit that they wash with the  water but it doesn't make me sick, so all is well. Thanks for everything! 

Love Elder Shumway

Trio

There are four missionaries in our branch and they are all latinos except for me. I haven't served near another American (guerros) but i like it that way. Sadly, one elder had only been in the mission two weeks when he found out that his Dad died. He just returned home to Equador to take care of his younger siblings.So I was in a trio for a few days with two latinos and it was pretty fun. We where the Three Muskateers, but we live in a little room that is the size of my bedroom. With our bunk bed and two little tables to study, it is almost the entire house.

(We visited some ancient ruins on our Preparation Day.)

This is my district at the Aztec ruins called Teotihuacan. My comp is the one with a red and white shirt. His name is Elder Utierrez and he is from Chile, but we just found out that he is being transferred on the 17th. 

I have gotten used to cold water for showering. We haven't had gas to heat the water for a month and my comp hates it, but we don't have money to buy gas. I just shower with the water, but it is super cold. My comp however uses our iron to heat up a bucket of water, then showers with that. I did that once or twice, but it just made me dirtier.

I haven't received your package yet but i do receive a lot of letters. Thanks everyone! The letters make it here in about a month. Thanks for the love!

This is a picture of our chapel:

The cultural hall (basketball court) is outside at the back of the building.

The people here can't pronounce my name. When I tell them how it is pronounced,...they all freak out because "way" is a bad word. (It is spelled differently, but sounds the same.)  I think i am going to tell everyone in my next area that my name is Chamoya. "Chamoya" sounds close to the way they say my name, but it is also the name of a fruit that they eat with candy.

All is well here in Mexico. I love the food, the people are funny and I am learning the language very well. I have become used to only eating once a day. It helps stretch what little money we have. Mexico is awesome.

Thanks for your love and support.

Elder Shumway

Dogs and the Metro

No I didn't play the piano this Sunday in church. I practiced, but I can only remember how to play 3 songs... and I can't play the same three songs every week. So yes, one of those little simple hymn books would be nice.

Our church building is like a prison, surrounded by a metal fence. All of the buildings here are like that with all of the windows barred and locked.

All of our mail gets delivered to the mission office because we can't receive mail at home. Once a month or so we pick it up. Our house is ghetto and only a small room, but the more houses I visit, the more grateful I am for our little room. A lot of people only have running water in one place in their house and they use a hose or buckets to get water to the bathroom or kitchen. We always offer to wash dishes for people after a meal, but washing here is really hard because they don't have running water. My house has a shower and a sink with running water so it is really nice.

Last Monday we had to go to the office so that I could get a year long visa. You would not believe the metro here! It is like a subway system. We went in the morning, rush hour. There are different sections for the men and the women because it is so crazy... but it was also scary. The metro cars are packed super full with people... more full then you can imagine, but at every stop, 5 more people manage to get in. They push and smash, and others help push them in. The doors close right on the people, but keep closing until somehow the people manage to morph in with the others. Even the police help push and smash people into the cars. It was the craziest thing! Finally my comp and I got the guts to squeeze ourselves into one of the cars. t was super funny because it is like sardines being compressed into a can.... but they were all shorter than my shoulders. I haven't really felt tall until I was on the metro. It the thing crashed, I don't think anyone would have died because we were all packed so tight that we couldn't move.

But then someone in the middle needs to get off! They fight and wiggle to reach the door, they crawl between everyone's legs, all while more people are trying to get ON! It was defying the rules of science, like a cup full of water yet they keep adding more water. Then suddenly, everyone gets off and it is an ocean of people ascending these stairs at the station and going their different ways. It is crazy! 

We offer service at every house we go to, such as washing dishes or giving their dog a bath. Some people actually took us up on this offer this week and we washed 3 huge dogs! It was nasty.

Everywhere I go, I am the only white person. It is super funny because there are the same ten people that know English and whenever they see me they say" Hello, good morning or how are you today?" But this is all they know. Even the police when they drive by say it to me. Super funny! 

We have our first baptism coming up this week. It is a man that we met my first day here in Mexico. He really wants to serve a mission, but has a child, so he can't. We explained to him that every member is a missionary and now every night that he is available, he puts on a button up shirt with a  sweater (he even carries a backpack with nothing in it)  to go with us on visits as a member missionary. After he is baptized we could have the best stats for lessons taught with a member in the mission!

This was also a bad week for dogs. My comp likes to run from them because they chase you. He likes the adrenaline rush and thinks its funny.... but he always goes running first and they get ME because I am behind him. Three little white poodles chased me this week! It was scary, but it is really scary when a big, nasty dog is chasing you! I did get nipped by a dog hiding under a car, but it didn't break the skin. So don't worry, Mom. I am safe. 

Love Elder Shumway

Living the Life of Nacho Libre!

Every one here thinks that my name is Chinese because they pronounce it "Chum-wee." Every day I get asked if I am from China or Japan.

I was almost attacked by a dog this week for the first time, but we got away. Most of the dogs don't care about us and walk next to us or we step over them, but this one came at us from under some apartment stairs. We ran up the stairs, but when the person we where visiting wasn't there we had to go back down to face the huge dog! We used our backpacks as shields and ran from the dog. Now I know that scripture power is a real thing!"

It has rained and thunder stormed almost every day this week. On Thursday a bolt of lightning struck really close to us. It was super scary because the light and the noise happened at the exact same time!

When it starts to rain is the best time for missionary work. My comp doesn't really like the rain but I do because we help people bring in their clothes and cover their little taco stands. Everyone is at home so visiting and contacting is super easy when it s raining.

When we are in a hurry we ride in these things called moto taxis which is a little wagon behind a motorcycle. The pizza delivery guys ride motorcycles too. It's funny. Sometimes I just start laughing because the people here are all like Nacho Libre! My comp doesn't understand.

The most popular things from Nacho Libre are the little bicycles with a huge cart on the front for carrying the "Lord's cheeps" and the corn on a stick. Watch that movie as a family and that is my life with a million more people and houses. I hope you had a good two weeks with baby Scott, and I love all of you.

Elder Shumway