June 22 Letter

Dear Family and Friends,
This week flew by sooooo fast! I almost couldn't believe it! I knew it would because I knew we wouldn't have enough time to plan Hugo's baptism. It was so stressful because being senior comp for 1 is not the easiest thing I've ever had to do. It's not like a calling though. It's transfers and it's like, here we're sending someone who has less time than you in the mission, you're in charge, good luck. AGH! It's so stressful, I don't like it. I've learned A TON already but I don't like it. I was stressed the whole week with the zone conference we had, trying to work out the apartment situation so we can actually live in our area, planning the baptism and working out the budget for traveling this transfer. I know what you're thinking, "that's it?" Put all of that on top of the regular responsabilities of being a missionary and then imagine yourself being the one responsible if something goes wrong in the chain. Yeah...fun. This week, all things considered went really well. We had an amazing zone conference in Córdoba capital and I felt very inspired and pumped afterward. This is when slimy Satan steps in and messes with your plans. We had a meeting planned with our ward mission leader to plan the baptism. However, because we got home later than planned from Córdoba, we couldn't meet with him. We also had an appoitment with Hugo. We got on the collectivo and took the wrong one...again! Then we had to wait for 20 minutes in the middle of some place that I'm pretty sure wasn't safe because it had all the signs that told me so except for the one that said DANGER ZONE! In the process of waiting and not having signal on the cell phone, we managed to get a hold of Hugo to tell him we would be late. It didn't matter because he had something else he was doing and couldn't meet with us anyway. Needless to say, the stress and the process of the growth of the grey hairs kicked in at this point and I did NOT know what to do. I'm not usually one who loses their cool, if you know what I mean, but I was getting pretty darn close. When our district leader called that night, he could definitely tell that something was up. I told him everything and he made me do these ridiculous breathing exercises that managed to make me laugh and forget for .5 seconds about the stress I was feeling. The next morning he calls and tells me he received revelation for me. It was very profound, he said, "HAKUNA MATATA!!!!!!" What a wonderful wonderful phrase. Saturday morning when I woke up I wasn't feelin the good day. I knew it would be because of Hugo's baptism, but I have been so tired lately it's kind of taken over my body! Welcome to missionary life right? Took me 8 months of being a missionary to figure that out. That's right, today is 8 months for Hermana Shumway. Anyway, I learned a lot Saturday. It's kind of a long story so hang on! Hermana Brown (my previous companion) and I had both decided we wanted to go home before our 18 month mark instead of after. For some reason the whole week I had been feeling like I shouldn't go home early. I don't know why, it's not like it would be a big deal, but something inside me told me, "Don't go home early, you will feel guilty if you do." I don't know why I would feel guilty and I just kept thinking, no, I don't want to stay an extra transfer. I was also thinking, I can't go home later because Hermana Brown and I both would have to go home alone! No fun whatsoever! I didn't want to tell Hermana Brown that she'd be going home alone so I just made the decision that no, I wasn't going home a transfer late. Then Hermana Brown calls me on Saturday morning and says, "Hermana Shumway, don't be mad, but I don't want to go home early! I want to stay longer!" I had to laugh. I said, "Relax Hermana, I have been feeling like I shouldn't go hom early either. I don't know why, but I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you to get mad!" We had to laugh that both of us were feeling the same thing but didn't want to say anything. I can't believe we're still on the same wave length and we're not even companions anymore. Haha anyway, the first contact we made after getting off the collectivo that morning was amazing. The lady didn't listen and we didn't set up an appointment, but I almost started crying because I was so happy I made the decision to stay! It was so weird! When we were knocking doors, one of those people who only believes in science answered the door. He kept saying that God is an invention of man and that He exists, but only in us. When I told him it wasn't like that, he told me that yes it was, then I told him again that no it wasn't. In a profound way of course. =) In the middle of this tumult of opinions, I had a crazy spiritual epiphony: "It doesn't matter if he listens to me. The spirit can't touch his heart because it's too hard, but it doesn't matter because it's touching my heart, bearing strong witness that what I'm testifying of is truth." This is the first time in the mission this has happened and it was amazing. Really, that's the whole point isn't it? To strengthen our testimonies while trying to invite people to come unto Christ. Interesting... Anyway, Hugo was baptized Saturday night. It was a beautiful baptism. Not very many people were there, but just enough. Our ward mission leader gave a talk on baptism and I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. I feel like I did rather well with it =) It was a good end to the day. Very happy! Sunday....what can I say about Sunday? Hugo didn't come to church to get confirmed. He's been having problems with the mother of his kids lately and has been really sad. We picked up Yohana for church and Hugo passed us in his car with his daughter when we were walking there. I thought, "oh this is going to be a wonderful day!" When we got to church, Hugo's daughter gets out of the car, but Hugo does not and drives away. "That's weird," I thought. "Maybe he's just going to get Kevin (his son)." Kevin was there later, but Hugo was not. I talked to Hermano Miranda, the man who baptized Hugo, and he told me Hugo wasn't planning on coming. Here we go again with the stress. On top of that, Hermana Gonzalez and I had to give talks in sacrament meeting. My talk would have made sense had I not been worried about Hugo the whole time. We visited him after church and he asked us to excuse him, but he wasn't feeling good at all (emotionally). He said he didn't want us to see him fallen and that he doesn't like to pretend he's happy when he's not, but that he would be at church the following Sunday. I can't tell you how much I have learned and felt this week. I won't go back on what I felt on Saturday. I was totally on a spiritual high. The things that happened Sunday...I don't know why they happened, but I just have to keep my chin up and try to figure out what Heavenly Father wants me to learn from all of this. That's what missions are for right? Gaining a better eternal perspective so that we can apply that in our lives afterward. I know my Heavenly Father loves me and that there is reason behind everything that happens to us. That's what Hugo always says. That and "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." So I will choose to be stronger. Thank you for your love and support! Have a great week!
Con cariño,