THANK YOU!

okay well i sent an email asking for the skype name of my sisters but
psychhhhh i just got an email from my pres. that i only get to skype for 10
minutes so i will just skype mom and dad and maybe you guys can facetime in
and i can see you some how, i dont know. my mission president is freaking
exhausting me.

Okay well this week will definitely be one that I remember forever. So S.
Claret and I have been really focused on being exactly obedient and working
so so hard. We are probably a little over the top and semi crazy with
things but we know it will bring miracles. well...

this week was awful! okay not awful but we were working so hard and having
seriously ZERO success. We kept saying we are just proving our faith but
towards the end of the week we were starting to drag and it was starting to
be exhausting the fact that nothing was working. Saturday night we were so
fed up that we finished off the night binging on hot dogs and milkshakes.

Lily didnt come to church and therefore will not be baptized, we found out
other investigators were only willing to listen to us because they liked my
accent, basically everything fell.

however we were still super obedient. during this we prayed for out goal
for baptisms for this upcoming month and we both came up with 8 and were
shocked because this is a crazy high number.

so yeah we were even more discouraged after this week of being more
obedient and working harder than ever and coming up with nothing. well God
always answers prayers...

Sunday, after no investigator came to church we were still discouraged but
we went to look up a less active and when we did we found three families
there, 6 people that we taught... completely the pure in heart! such a
miracle they have such a sincere desire. when we asked them to be baptized
they told us that they had already been baptized so we explained again
about the priesthood authority. they were like oh! yeah that makes sense,
we didnt have the authority so it doesnt count in gods eyes.... what the
heck?! we never get that kind of response!

after this we went and watched 17 miracles with the family i love, andressa
her sisters and all of them. it was POWERFUL! remember the dad who smokes
and came to church that one time? well he was there and after the movie he
talked and gave the last prayer... it was so amazing.

okay but about the movie, dont even worry that i was bawling through the
whole thing almost #noshame

and after when it shows the pictures of the people and talks about them,
with every town it mentions in utah they would ask me if its my town. well
when it got to jens nielson and bluff i was able to tell them about it and
i realized then and as i watched the film how grateful i am for the
sacrifices people made so that i could have the gospel in my life. i told
them about other stories and things about the pioneers and told them how
their actions today will affect generations because the actions of the
pioneers affected me, the spirit was so strong there it was a miracle.

after as we were walking home Sister Claret turned to me and said you are
so blessed to have such a great legacy, my parents dont even accept me
being on a mission let alone the gospel... BOOM put my life into
perspective.

So i just want to say THANK YOU mom dad and grandparents for teaching me
and giving me all the opportunities i have in my life.

Anyways i just really gained an appreciation for my ancestors and my family
this week especially being with S.C. who NONE of her fam is members she has
no one and so i am so grateful...

peace out my fam... skype ya soon!
Sis Shums

our binge on hot dogs and milkshakes.... and what can i say? Brooklyn will
always have a place in my heart.

CALVES!

Why helllloooo there! Im so jealous to see snow! even if it is only like an inch. 

Ays, i cant even describe to you how incredibly jealous i am that you got to go to my future husbands concert. im glad you aprove of him though and good to know he will be accepted in the fam.

for those of you who are confused my future husband is scotty mccreary. 

so this week... what can i say, i LOVE my comp.yes sag she is from brasil. i dont know how to spell the city so im not going to attempt but its the city of cheese and she is going to teach me how to make cheese bread... life doesnt get any better right?

i started out my experience of brasil semi frustrated at how different the work was from ny but now i realize it was just because of my comp and leaders. now that i have an awesome comp and an awesome dl life is great and the work is actually the exact same. 

we are going to create a new branch mission plan and get the members pumped to help. s. claret and i are so obedient but we have SO much fun together, she is already one of my best friends. 

dad she tells me i have problems like you always do when i dance hahaha. no i have not grown up yet.

its interesting because you would think a mission would make me more mature but i think it is doing the opposite. the tiniest things bring me such great joy and happiness. i act more like a kid everyday i think. and still when a lady starts breast feeding in public i start laughing... immaturity at its finest. 

but the obedience has brought miracles. this week we went to teach Lily. i have been teaching her since my first week here and we clapped at her fence and she comes out of her house and says, i received an answer to my prayers that i need to be baptized. well there ya go.its marked for may 10th 

the elders had a baptism so we took her and her sister to watch. but they live really far away and are old so we had to walk slow so we knew we were going to be late but everything here starts late so i didnt think it would be a problem but i called elder lapray just in case to tell him to wait for us and he said okay (i had to speak in english so lily wouldnt understand) well we were almost to the church when another elder calls and said she had already been baptized... WHAT THE HECK?! we walked all that way so she could see a baptism. things NEVER start on time here! i was so angry but when we got there elder lapray said that his comp didnt know how to baptize so it was better that she didnt see, it would have scared her hahaha #18yearolds

this week was way good though we have started doing a lot of noite familiars with the members here and our less actives and investigators and it helped a lot. yesterday was the most we have had at sacrament meeting since ive been here! 

I dont really know what else to say except yes chey i got your letter and mom i just got another letter from you and the story about grandpa in the hospital is so funny... thats just like him i can just picture him drilling the nurses and asking a how many acres are in a section (im also really proud that i knew that)

but other than that things are pretty normal. sag and ays i will try to swing something to skype you guys! 

oh and i have to tell you all... because i walk so much now i have calves!!! okay they are still tiny and nowhere near Shumway standard yet but im hoping with time... if i had only known in high school that all i had to do to build calve muscles was walk around with scriptures i would have ha. 

over and out

Sister Shums

The view from our church... 

We get really into our noite familiars... haha we are children.

okay so here for easter they have these giant chocolate eggs that are a big deal... coolest thing ever. well i waited forever for one to go on sale and it was the greatest day of my life.i dont know how to explain how awesome these things are.