September 28 letter

Mis Queridos,
How was everyone’s week??? Ours was GRRREAT! Lots and lots of amazing experiences and tender mercies of the Lord. Shall we begin?

Wonderful experience #1:
On Tuesday, my companion and I had an appointment at one of the far points of our area with a woman who’s an atheist. Because of how far it was and with contacting everyone we saw in the street, we got there a little late. She was there and we tried about 5 times to get her to let us in and only sing a song to her, but we had no luck. =( Hello…if you’re not interested, tell us in the street so we don’t walk an hour to your house and find out you don’t give a darn! On our way back to the middle of our area for our lunch appointment, my companion sees a house and says, “Hermana, there’s a family in that house and we’re gonna go in and teach them.” I was more than willing to oblige to accommodate the sudden change of plans. We asked the woman (Cristina) if we could come in and sing her a song. We did and it was beautiful and the spirit was there and we gave them an amazing lesson one. The man (Carlos) told us about his back problems and how he’s going to need to be operated on. We offered to return with priesthood holders to give him a blessing which he agreed to and we left. They’re an amazing couple! When we went back the second time, Carlos wasn’t there, but we talked a whole bunch to Cristina about the Book of Mormon and we prayed with her about it and after she had her turn to pray, with tears in her eyes she said, “Yes, I believe this is a book that can help me.” It was beautiful!

Wonderful experience #2:

Our interviews with the president on Wednesday were amazing and of course soooo uplifting! I love when that time of the transfer rolls around! In mine we talked about the experience my companion and I had on Sunday with patience and everything and he said, “You just have to remember that many people will accept this message, but only the Lord’s elect will accept the commitments and follow through with them.” That’s why in our mission we put a lot of emphasis on extending the baptismal commitment in the first appointment with people so we know who will progress and who won’t. The president also told me that when we get to the point of the day when everything falls through, our plans, our appointments, everything, is when we need to pray and say, “Where do you want us to go?” Also, Hermana Olsen told me that we should be very specific when we pray for that and say, “Heavenly Father, we are ready to find a family, where do you want us to go to find it?”
We did a practice of entering a house with our district leader, one of our zone leaders and one of the assistants with the opening phrase of, “Hello! Do you like music?” We “knocked” their door and just started to sing and went into their house without permission. We finished the first verse of How Great Thou Art and the elders were completely quiet. We talked, did the shpeel and after they said, “Hermanas, that was perfect. We had a whole plan of how we were going to stop you from coming in, but once you started singing, you brought the spirit right when you came in the house and the spirit was there so we couldn’t say anything. DO THIS IN YOUR DOOR CONTACTS!” Well, that night, we did it and we got into a house! The woman was really really hard hearted at first, but Heavenly Father softened her heart and we set up another appointment with her! =)

Wonderful experience #3:

After planning on Thursday, we were way late to the appointment that we had with Estela. I saw a woman working outside her house and she lives about 2 houses from Estela. At first I thought, “oh, she’s busy, she’ll use that as an excuse. Then I thought, “yeah, we can’t talk to her, she’s only 2 houses from Estela and we’re already late.” As we were about to pass her, much to my companion’s surprise because she almost ran into me, I thought, “what the heck, I’ll talk to her. The worst she can say is no.” We stopped and said, “Good evening! We have a song that we’d love to sing to you. Do you like music?” She responded that she did and my companion asked, “can we come in for a little bit and sing the song to you?” She said, “sure! If you want.” We walked in, sang the song and asked her how she felt. She said she felt a lot better than what she was feeling. She said that she’s usually really hard hearted to things like what we do, not very open, but she said for some reason, she walked outside to clean, she didn’t need to, but she did. She saw us and she told us that before we even talked to her she could feel something and that’s why she let us in.
We taught her an overview of lesson one because we didn’t have much time and introduced the Book of Mormon. She told us that she felt something very very different with us. That she’s been going to church for years and years and has never felt like she felt with us. We asked if she wants to have these feelings with her all the time. She said yes and my companion right then and there extended the baptismal commitment: “When you feel and know that this is true, will you be baptized in this church?” She accepted! We even prayed with her and after her prayer, she told us she felt a fire in her heart. I LOVE THE SPIRIT!!!

Wonderful experience #4
Everything on Friday fell through, I’m not kidding either…EVERYTHING! By the evening we were sooooo tired and just burnt out. However, because we are so optimistic C: we took the president’s advice, said a prayer, and as we walked said to ourselves: “Hablar con todos, hablar con todos (Talk with everyone)!” We were knocking doors in a darker street and all of a sudden, I felt like I did not want to be in that street anymore. My companion asks, “Hermana, where do you think we should go?” I said, “I don’t know but I really don’t want to be in this street anymore.” We talked to about 5-10 people. My companion stopped the ninth person, a mother that looked like she just came from Hollywood, her daughter and their dog. They just kept walking and didn’t acknowledge her at all. However, behind them was a mother, her dad and her two kids. I said in my little head, “oh look! A family!” I talked to them and we followed them to their house even though they told us they had no time, we said, “It’s okay, we’re only going to take 5 minutes!” We went in, began singing a hymn and halfway through the first verse the thought came into my head, “Hermana Shumway, why are you singing this song? This woman has young children. DUH! Sing I am a Child of God!” When the first verse ended, I said, “Uh…we’re changing the song.” We sang the simple but very powerful child’s hymn and answered a few of their questions along the lines of lesson one and things like that and asked if we could come back. They agreed and the mom asked if we would call beforehand because she really wanted her husband to be there when we came back. We thought, “uh…yeah sure.” That’s music to every missionary’s ears.

As you can see folks, the Lord, after much tribulation pours out his blessings. It’s hard to leave it up to the Lord after all we can do because sometimes it takes a while for the blessings to come. It was surely an amazing week!
To answer your question Dad: This crazy country does not have a fixed weather. It’s suppose to be spring time, but a HUGE storm rolled in on Saturday at about 6 and it got real cold real fast. My comp and I were completely unprepared and freezing by the time we got back to our apartment that night. It was so hot on Saturday, but it turned out to be an absolutely freezing night and day all through Sunday. That kills us as missionaries, but some have compassion enough to let us in their houses.
WOOHOO! Conference is coming! Be prepared! My zone leader, Elder Ringwood, has a dad in the 70 and his grandpa is Elder Nelson of the quorum of the 12!!! They are both speaking this conference so be ready! C: I would really appreciate if all of my siblings including my in-laws and my best friend wrote me about what they learned from conference. Actually, it’s a requirement. Would it kill you, siblings, to write me ONE long e-mail? Share with me your thoughts and the spirit you felt! Speaking of the spirit, it’s totally not where we’re e-mailing right now because the guy who’s running it is listening to music that is less than agreeable. I feel very contentious right now…sad day…I am a child of God…
Anyway, I must be going! I hope you all have a wonderful week! Please prepare yourselves to receive all the personal revelation possible in the conference! It’s going to be soooo awesome! I love you all! I’m grateful for everything. I’m grateful for the knowledge that our Heavenly Father is preparing us for eternal life with him every time we find ourselves in a rut in the road to eternal life. It’s a wonderful thing to know and to know that you know isn’t it?

All my love,
Hermana Shumway