The Eagle has Landed!

Hello Shumway Family,

                We thought you’d like to know that your son has arrived safely in Mexico City!  We are so thrilled to have him!  Thank you for sharing him with us – we will take care of him.

President & Sister Stutznegger

(Is the Chicken going to become a mission theme?!)

Who wants to play a game?

The MTC is a LOT different from doing farm work everyday. Sitting in class for 16 hours is rough, but we get to attend the temple once a week, which makes it survivable. I am learning a lot of Spanish and find it fun to speak fast and use more than 5 words in a row.

I was released from District Leader today and the new lead is a good Elder who needs the calling. I am a zone leader now.

I introduced our "Favorite part of the day" tradition at family prayer to the Elders in my apartment, and they really like it.

Thanks for the letters and the packages! I love them!

Here is a story Mom will like:

The other night we were doing an hour of personal study, followed by an hour of comp study, then an hour of language study. By the third hour I was really tired of being in the classroom.

I decided I needed to go outside and invited another Elder to come with me. This Elder has been struggling with Spanish. He has a hard time with memory, spelling and he can't pronounce ANY of the words in Spanish!

So I just invited him to go outside with me, and then I made up a silly little game where he had to conjugate or say Spanish words in order to cross a little walkway. It was a stupid game...but we had a lot of fun and played for an hour!

A few days later, he told me that he had decided to go home and he was going to leave after the 3rd hour of language study, but because I invited him to play that silly game, just he and I late that night, he decided to stay. 

I had no idea that he was feeling that way, or that the Spirit needed me. But I know that the Lord used my talents to make up games in order to keep an Elder on his mission.

One of our teachers told us a story about a 93 year old woman in his mission who was baptized. When she received her patriarchal blessing she was told that the reason she hadn't been introduced to the gospel earlier is because the missionary who was supposed to teach her didn't serve a mission. I hope that because the Lord used me as a tool in his hands, that this Elder will be able to influence the people in his mission.

My testimony and my Spanish are growing fast and I am excited to get to Mexico. My Visa came and I am ready to go! (Time here in the MTC moves very SLOWLY!)

From the MTC

8-24-14

Dear Family,

It is crazy how much we have already learned here in the MTC. In only 4 days, I have taught 2 lessons to our investigator in Spanish, and committed him to baptism. I can pray perfectly in Spanish and express my thoughts and feelings pretty well. We speak only Spanish in our apartment and it is pretty fun. For Sundays, we each write a 3 minute talk to give in Spanish. I think mine was pretty good for only being here 4 days.

I have been called as District Leader. My district is the biggest one in the zone, and also the coolest! There are no conflicts between any companionships, and we have a good laugh multiple times throughout the day. But we also stay very busy and spiritual. There are some Elders with amazing stories. Elder  _________ knew that he would serve a mission before high school, but couldn't be baptized until 18 months ago because of his family. However, his testimony is amazing!

My companion is VERY different from me, but I do my best to serve him and make his bed, and we get along fine. All of the other Elders in my zone are great. There aren't any problems and we are excelling faster than other districts. We set goals to memorize our purpose, D&C 4, and the first vision in English and Spanish. We are getting there!

Please send mail and packages! It is like Christmas when a letter comes! Some days, after studying so hard in Spanish, the distraction of a letter or package is much needed!

I love you and I'm working hard!

Elder Shumway

My roommates.

At the Airport

At 5:30 AM Elder Shumway said "goodbye" to his family and boarded a plane to SLC (along with an entire women's college volleyball team).

He reported to the Provo MTC at 2:00PM, 

Wednesday August 20, 2014.