March 2 Letter

Dear family and friends,
I am NOT overexagerating (I think I just butchered that word. Dad would you help me out with that?) with the subject of this e-mail. I have seen some pretty crazy things on those scooters. The other day we saw two gordas on a scooter and the gorda on the back was feeding her baby (without a blanket) on the scooter. I thought to myself...I am DEFINITELY not in the states (or anywhere near it) anymore. I can't believe I forgot to tell you all about mission conference!!!!! AGH! What was I thinking? I'm so sorry! It was amazing! I was asked to conduct the music and it was fun because I saw all the missionaries that I traveled with to Argentina. They are all healthy and well. A little sunburned, but what are you gonna do? It was so fun to see them! Anyway, Elder Jensen of the 70 was there and Elder Zivick with him. Elder Zivick is an area 70 I think. It was so good! They wanted to personally shake hands with every missionary in the room! We all went in a line, they wanted our name and where we were from. Elder Jensen was first, Elder Zivick, Hermana Olsen, Pres. Olsen, and a Stake President of one of the areas in Cordoba capital. When I shook Elder Jensen's hand I said, "Hermana Shumway from Arizona." He smiled and said, "The famous Shumways from Arizona." It was so cool! It was awesome to have them both there. Elder Jensen can't speak spanish so well. I wonder where he learned...? Anyway, unfortunately, I can't tell you everything he said because I don't have my study journal with me, however, I can say that since then I definitely have a different viewpoint on the responsibility I have as a missionary. I just wonder somtimes...how many people would get baptized if they knew that every moment of ours is trying to figure out how to make their lives and the life of their family better? This is the most selfless thing I have ever done. No wonder missionaries don't want to go home at the end of their missions, every second they spend here is thinking about someone else. Why would you want a different life after this? Speaking of not wanting to go home, our zone leaders called us last night and told us of another miraculous blessing from fasting and praying and enduring to the end. My zone leaders are so capo, seriously, I think I'm in the coolest district/zone of my mission. Anyway, they said they had rejection after rejection (again like the last time) and people were being so mean. Elder Hill said he was starting to get frustrated and a little bit sarcastic with the people he was talking to. Elder Jacob said he kept his good spirits (haha). They were walking in a street and they had enough time to do one last contact. The had knocked all but one house, at the end of the street. They saw a woman carrying groceries and decided, "why not?" Elder Jacob said he didn't feel like even doing the contact at this point. However, they introduced themselves and asked if they could go with her to her house and share their message with her. She said they could and the followed her to the house that they hadn't knocked. Her husband was standing in the doorway and when he saw them, he shut the door. Not a good sign. They asked if they could share it with her and her family. She was unsure what her husband would think, but walked in and talked to him and they said when they met him he was way nice. Very talkative and they taught their whole family, a family of 5, an awesome lesson 1. They called my comp and I, no lie, immediately after this because they were so excited. When we find families and we tell them, they scream "YAY" or "WOOHOO" at the top of their lungs so we did that for them this time! The power of prayer, fasting and enduring to the end. I regret to inform you that we didn't have anyone in sacrament meeting this week. Meaning Olga now has to attend every sacrament meeting until her baptism and Valeria's baptism will not be in March. Sad day...however, Thursday we found a family! Javier, Fernanda and their son Bruno. We didn't have a lot of time to teach them, but we gave them a short overview of lesson 1 and gave them a lesson 2 pamphlet. We were supposed to have another appointment with them Saturday, but Javier had to travel for work. He sent us a text message saying he had to go out of town and would call US to let us know when a good time would be to come by. DANG IT! NOOOOOO!!! ¿Por que?!!!!!! So...we'll see how that goes. We're going to find a family this week!!!! We're so excited! =D the experience our zone leaders are having have really made me think twice about how I can improve personally as a missionary. Am I a missionary or am I somone dressed up as a missionary doing missionary things? Hopefully not the latter. We were a little disconcerted Saturday morning during study time when our zone leaders called to tell us that Elder Jensen was looking at the numbers for our mission right now and had told our assistants and the president that we aren't baptizing in this mission like they used to and that some changes needed to be made. We all did a fast and kept in mind these three questions: What does the Lord expect of us in our area? How many baptisms will the Lord permit us to have in March and April? What do we need to do to accomplish the will of the Lord? We had a LONG discussion during companion study yesterday about these things. We'll see how this goes. Keep praying for us. Thank you for your support. I must be going now. I really will try my best to get pictures sent to you but the closest area to print pictures is a 30 minute walk to centro. Not fun. I will try though I PROMISE!!! I've been wanting to, but I'm sorry...missionary life just doesn't always permit that. =) Love you all! Happy Birthday to Aaron on the 12th and Race on the 17th! I'll be sending you cards...hopefully. I think I might have to make them. Anyway, have a good week! LOOOOVE you!
Hermana Shumway