December 28 Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

I would like to start this e-mail with a story. Grandpa Shumway would know better the statistics of missionary work in Western Europe, but this story is awesome!

A long time ago there were two missionaries in West Europe. I don't know if you know, but it's hard to baptize in Europe, it's hard to get into doors in Europe, or so I have heard. One day, two missionaries that had a little extra time after doing all of their 'TO DO's' decided to pray and ask the Lord where they should serve.
They did something interesting. One went into one room to pray and the other went into another room. When they had finished, the first missionary had in mind one street and his companion another street. To their surprise, these two streets crossed. They dedided to go to the intersection of the two streets. Upon arriving there, they saw a door that caught their attention. They knocked, they entered and began to teach.
They hadn't taught much of the first lesson when the father of the family stopped them and said, "Two nights ago I had a dream. I was separated from my family by a gully. They were calling to me to join them, but I decided to stay with my friends on the opposite side. At this point in the dream, an angel appeared to me and said, 'in two days I will send you two messengers of the Lord Jesus Christ' and I saw your faces."
We can never say the Lord doesn't know us.
Elder Ringwood of the first chorum seventy came to our mission and spoke to us today. It was an amazing experience. I have never been so aware of the Lord's love for me and His awareness of what's going on in my life. I learned soooo much today and I'm so excited for these next 3 transfers so that I can continue edifying my mansion upon the foundation of my Savior and Redeemer. I'm so excited to learn and grow with the people I teach here in Argentina. They deserve the best. They are our Heavenly Father's children.
I loved when he quoted Elder Holland and said that everything we want our investigators to experience, we must experience first. He also said that our chances of helping our investigators follow Christ is greater when WE are following Christ. They can see and feel when we aren't. He said that our converts want for us what we want for them: to endure to the end.
There was a man who had served his mission in Japan (his missionary name is Elder Evans) and had decided years after to go back to vacation there with his family. He had asked that one of his converts meet them at the airport. In the car, it ended up being the man that had served there, his convert and his convert's dad. There was a strange feeling in the car, a weird mood. It was as if his convert had something on his mind.
Right as they were to arrive at their destination, the convert turned to him and asked, "Elder Evans, are you still active?" Brother Evans was able to confidently reply that yes he was still active and was the bishop of his ward. He said that the mood after he replied completely changed. The mood was heavy, the convert didn't want to ask the question because he was afraid of the answer. How uplifted he must have felt to know that his missionary was still living and practicing the things that he had taught him to do. Wow.
I feel soooooooo tired spiritually from all of the things that I have heard and felt today. I'm ready to go to bed...or study the scriptures...C: I finished the Book of Mormon on Thursday and oh my stinking word I love it! I think in January I'm going to start again. In English and in Spanish. Isn't it so wonderful to know? To have two witnesses that Jesus is the Christ? I know that I always give my testimony of the Book of Mormon, but there is so much in that Book that it is impossible to learn everything in one lifetime from it. I hope to some day be able to quote scriptures from it like Grandpa Shumway. He's amazing! Maybe that's what I'll work on this next time around!
Juana's baptism went smoothly and she was sooooooo happy she cried. She's so great and I'm excited to see what she brings to the ward. So many have fallen in love with her spirit already. It was cool because our zone had put the goal to baptize 12 in December and we baptized 16! WOOHOO! We're becoming better missionaries! C: I love you all so much! Have an amazing week, everyone!

All my love,
Hermana Shumway