A Giant in the Land

Loving the Lord's work!

Being a district leader is a lot of responsibility. However, the missionaries in my district are pretty obedient. I am really blessed to be a leader here in the farthest part of the mission because when there is space between the elders there is less apostasy. I will use the “Three Legged Stool” Dad taught us in my district meeting. We are working hard to lift the district, zone and mission.

Last Sunday I was presented to the ward during church. Again the Bishop destroyed my name. I don’t know why they can’t pronounce my name---it is pretty funny. So here in el Barrio Chapingo, I am Elder “Chuay”. Some of them call me Elder Samuel. But its alright because I love this area.

I went to visit some of the Aztec ruins last week called Teotihuacan. It was my second time going there but this time I understood more of the tour.Teotihuacan is pretty awesome. However, there  are also ancient ruins from before the Spaniards. We work all around them.

The area is pretty dead which means there is nobody to teach right now but little by little we are finding some. When I showed up here there were not any investigators  because the previous companion didn't like to contact people. 

We have been working hard and we found 3 new investigators in our area this week. We hope to see them progress in the coming weeks.

We take showers with buckets of water and walk a lot in the rain but it is fun.Everything is great here in Mexico. It rains a lot and we often get stuck super far from home in the afternoon in a heavy rain without jackets….but the memories are great.

I ate a quesadilla of cow brains this week ... it was not too bad.

A cool experience that happened this week is that we went to search for a less active family that lives way up in the mountains in a village called Santa Catarina (my comp doesn't have a very good memory or sense of direction, so we were lost for a time but we eventually did find them. I already know the area better than him). But this family is super poor and doesn't have money to come to the church. They live in a one room hut and they have chickens and dogs that just wander in and out of the house as they like. The Mother shared an experience where her son was attacked by a dog and died a bunch of times. the kid still remembers his life after death experience and can describe what he saw in heaven. He has huge scars all over his neck and back, but he is healthy and can run and play. It is amazing to see how happy and content the little kids of this family are even though they don’t own anything. I found it sobering to see such poverty,  but I loved visiting them because it just proves that people can have abundance in their live and still not be happy, yet these little kids live in the dirt without beds, and are the happiest kids I have ever met.

Gracias por todo mama y te quiero mucho. Siempre estan en misoraciones y espero que todo esta bien con la familia y miss Daisy. Elder Shumway

Elder Shumway

2nd Area

I had transfers Monday and I am now serving in the Barrio Chappingo (Chappingo Ward). My area is enormous! I am the district leader of four companionships, but the distance of my district is so huge that I still haven't met my elders in person. My companion is from Torreon Coahuila and his name is Elder Hernandez. He also doesn't speak any English and we have been on our missions for the same time. 

You would not believe how big my area is (22 Miles long). I think I went from the smallest area to the biggest in the mission (new and old areas outlined in yellow. Tanner’s new area is ⅓ of the whole mission area. The Red outlines are the Missions in Mexico City).

It’s pretty funny because my first day we went to work and I asked my companion a little about the boundaries. He said, ¨Look where ever you want, to the mountains and everything, that is all yours and more. Just go where you want and baptize because it is all your area.´´
On Thursday we walked for an hour to eat dinner with members, and then we walked an hour back to where there are actually people to teach. We wasted three hours just for food, but we did get to know each other pretty well. My comp has a horrible memory so he doesn't remember anybody he has met, or any of the little pueblos (towns) in our area. We are doing a lot of asking around but in one week I've gotten to know the area pretty well. (Actually only 5% OF THE AREA BECAUSE I HAVEN'T SEEN THE OTHER 95%!)

We spend most of our day either walking or in a combi (a combi is a little van that does circles in a route) and we take these to go to little pueblos or towns in the mountains. I love it here! I can go where ever I want in the mountains to look for people to teach,... but its also very expensive to pay for all of the combi rides. We are also learning how to work with strategy. We can’t just plan lessons wherever we want because it’s an hour to each pueblo, so we work in one little city or two each day depending on where we are going to eat that day.

The area is super cool because there are springs of water in the mountains and a lot of history about the king of the Texcocans, Nezahualcoyotl. When I get home I can tell you all about who he is.

Mt Tlalok

The streets are almost all cobblestone, resembling little walkways in the mountains. However, there is also a huge plaza three blocks from my house with McDonalds and Walmart. The only problem is that we are super pobre (poor) because we use all of our money in the combis.

This week I will take some pictures and send them to you so you can see where I am living right now. It is awesome. In this ward they are strong and the converts are awesome and there is even an active ward mission leader so I am excited to work here.

Love,

Elder Shumway

1st Transfer

I just found out last night that I have transfers tomorrow morning so I packed my bags and sadly,  the trio will come to an end tomorrow. The people here have become my little Mexican family. In my little branch here we didn't have very much success but I do have one convert who is super strong and her family is also starting to show interest in the church. Her name is Veronica and she just got baptized last month but yesterday in church she signed up to feed the missionaries this week. I will miss it here.  

After 6 months of hard work, this area is just starting to progress. We set 9 baptismal dates in the last 2 weeks and the investigadores are muy potentes, (i don't know what potente is in english so you will have to google translate it - potente is powerful or strong) It is a little sad to leave the converts and investigators that you come to love, but the Lord needs me in another part of the mission right now.

Meet the Mormons just came out in Spanish. We gathered at a Zone Conference to watch it. It's a pretty good movie!

Enjoy the fresh air and green mountains for me.

Love Elder Shumway

p.s. the photo is of us cooking a type of taco called carnitas or tacos of every part of the pig that you can imagine. It kinda looks like garbage in the picture but it all tastes pretty good.... except for the pig ear, pig skin and nipples. But the nose is absolutely the worst part! One day I’ll cook carnitas for thanksgiving so you can try it. :)

6 Months!

 I feel like I am new here in the mission because I am still in my first area training my comp but I am actually coming up on 6 months. That's a fourth of my mission gone super fast! I am determined to make the last year and a half really count. Spiritually, I'll look like this body builder when I get home!

We had a pretty good week here in Mexico. I started offering English classes and I had 15 people show up for the first one. It was actually pretty fun. I don't think that anyone will actually learn how to speak English from my classes, but we do have a lot of fun. We have candy and everyone speaks in English,..... not very well but sometimes you can understand them.

The hot season is starting right now and it is SUPER HOT! The difference in the heat here and in Oregon is that the sun here hurts really bad! The sun is MUCH stronger here, and if you aren't in the shade it just kills you! (I've got some sweet tan lines from my white shirt!)  My expensive shoes are already pretty destroyed. From the outside they look pretty good, but on the inside I can feel all of the holes and rocks that are in them. But at least they look good on the outside.

Tell JoJo that yes I am still handing out candy to the little kids, but the bouncy balls ran out a while ago. I keep buying candy and the little kids love it. (My comp also likes to eat it.) Having been in this area for 4 months, I have gotten to know everybody. I have officially knocked on every door of my area, except for the buildings in the south of because they have security. All of the people here know me. I can talk to every street vendor and hobo that lives around here by name. There is one little old lady that is always hanging out by a fresh orange juice stand who calls me "her white boy." In Spanish it is natural because they have a word, guerro, that means white person. Every time we pass by she tells her friends or the people close to her that I am her guerro because one time I helped her carry her groceries. It's pretty fun to know everybody in this area, but I think I need a transfer.

Tell Miss Daisy that I say hi and that everything is ok. When I get some stamps I will write her a letter but I can't send anything right now without stamps. Everything is ok here and I love you Mom. 

Elder Shumway

Feeling the Spirit

 We had a cool experience this week. When I was with my trainer, Elder Gutierrez de Chile, we contacted a family that we felt were "chosen". However after a lot of time of teaching them and visiting them, they still wouldn't come to church. First because the mom was pregnant and then they had the baby, and there was just one excuse after another. We have spent a ton of time teaching them. 

One day with my new companion I decided that we were not going to visit them so they could notice the difference and recognize the absence of the Spirit. For 3 weeks we didn't visit them. until one day I received a message from them and they wanted us to go visit them. 

On the way to the visit I explained to my comp, Elder Avila de Veracruz, that we needed to discern if they missed us as missionaries or if they missed the Spirit in their house. He asked me how we could tell the difference and so I explained it to him in a very basic way. I told him that we would be able to tell. 

As we were teaching the lesson, the wife said that her husband had commented to her in the week that he always felt peace and calm when we were there, and that he missed the peace that we bring. This was the first clue that they missed the Spirit. Then the wife told us that in the 3 weeks we didn't stop by they started having problems in the family and one night they fought so badly that the husband had to sleep in his car. 

We read the story of Enos and his conversion, then set a baptismal date with the husband. It is amazing how the promises of preach my gospel and the influence of the Spirit can affect our lives. 

Thank you for everything Mom and all is well here. I love you and pray for you much.

 Elder Shumway

Working Hard

Today (Febrarary 2nd)  is the day of the Catholics' baby God, as well as Grandpa Clark's Birthday.

Last Monday when we left the internet cafe where we were writing emails, they were setting up a boxing rink in the middle of one of the busy streets. Later that night there was a real fighter like in Nacho Libre! I was cracking up! We passed by during the event, but I didn't take any photos. 

My companion tried cooking eggs this week but he has never done it before in his life! I taught him how to crack an egg and chop onions. (I was laughing inside the whole time). 

We are working hard and the Spanish is getting better. I hope all is well at home. What are the little girls up to? Tell them to write me and have Madi tell me about school. Thanks mom. I love you. Elder Shumway