Talk to you next year.

Well howdy. 

What an amazing pleasure it was talking to you Mommy and Daddy with an occasional appearance of Ashton, Jens, Mckay, Aunt Audrey, Uncle Blaine, Uncle Scott, Adriane, and other people to pixelated to tell who they were! Haha. Time flies so I´ll see you sooner than you know it on mothers day. I can´t believe it has been a year since I received my mission call and such. crazy. Here´s my letter to the President that pretty much sums up my week:

Hello President! Merry Christmas!! 
I have to ask forgiveness of this past week´s numbers. I didn´t feel good right after getting home christmas night and got a cold which i am still recovering from. Energy in any form has been absent, but I hope to return to the work tomorrow as today I feel about 85% recovered. About :)

We didn´t have many missionary experiences this week as I detained our companionship to our home but we did have a wonderful acting out of the Nativity with a less-active family and their three boys. Their oldest son of 9 years was José, the mom was Maria, the dad was the narrorator, the 3 year old a shephered and their 9 month old baby was Jesus of course :) I played a sheep, the angel and a wiseman while sister austin filmed. we brought sheets and blankets for the costumes and were able to give them the video right after we filmed. I know they will love watching it when they are older. We also acted out the story from the Book of Mormon´s point of view, the three year old being Samuel the Lamanite and the older son being a person that believed him and went to follow him and sister austin was a wicked person that tried to throw stuffed animals at Samuel. It was a blast. 

The last few days that I have been sick I have started to read Jesus the Christ. I am almost to page 300. Other than the amazing fact that because I know portuguese I have been able to understand or decipher a lot of the bigger or "smarter" words that Talmage uses a lot I have come to understand so much about Him and the context of things. There are lots of hard english in this book, take the word "antediluvial". I would have had no idea before the mission and the context of the sentence does not explicitly confirm it´s meaning. The prefix is just like the word "antes" meaning before, and "dilúvio" in portuguese is flood. So "before the flood". Anyway, that part has been fun while reading. But my LOVE for the Savior has grown so much too as I have been studying Him from Jesus the Christ along with reading down each of the references in the guia das escrituras. Wow. I did not and am sure I still do not nor will not in this life perhaps fully understand who He is or what He did for us. But I want to know as much as I can and grow that love and devotion for Him that will hopefully carry over into my work as a missionary. 

Love you President. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. 
Sister Shumway

Unfortunately my time is already up. You are all awesome. God is real and He loves us and our choices do and will always have consequences, good (blessings), or bad (natural consequence of the choice). 

Love you all. Talk to you next year. bwahah.

Sister Shumway

Re: Feliz Natal!! {em vez de Boas Festas que é ridículo e egoísta, e destrói o verdadeiro significado de Natal.:}

Merry Christmas:)

love, Elder ETE

On Mon, Dec 23, 2013 at 8:02 AM, Eliza Shumway <eliza.shumway@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Happy Christmas Ron! Happy Christmas Harry!

Merry Christmas! 

man it´s kind of sad that i don´t have two chirstmases on the mission. I LOVE saying FELIZ NATAL to every soul that walks by. They rarely say it back, but they all say "Obriagado, igualmente" at least (thank you, likewise) (And then they know we are not Jehovah´s witness. Hallelujah.) But Mom´s probably happy I only have one. At least I have one :) I´ll get home right before Thanksgiving next year. 

We had a SICK (cool, unless you take in the context of how many desserts there were and then yes, you could have gotten sick) Christmas party in our branch this last weekend. CHRISTmas on the island of São Miguel baby!! Nice and SuNnY but we do have to wear a coat most of the time. nah nah. 

Just remember, we don´t worship Santa Claus. So if you have more pictures up of him than the Savior, fix that. 

Love you all. 

Sister Shumway

Feliz Natal!! {em vez de Boas Festas que é ridículo e egoísta, e destrói o verdadeiro significado de Natal.:}

Happy Christmas Ron! Happy Christmas Harry!

Merry Christmas! 

man it´s kind of sad that i don´t have two chirstmases on the mission. I LOVE saying FELIZ NATAL to every soul that walks by. They rarely say it back, but they all say "Obriagado, igualmente" at least (thank you, likewise) (And then they know we are not Jehovah´s witness. Hallelujah.) But Mom´s probably happy I only have one. At least I have one :) I´ll get home right before Thanksgiving next year. 

We had a SICK (cool, unless you take in the context of how many desserts there were and then yes, you could have gotten sick) Christmas party in our branch this last weekend. CHRISTmas on the island of São Miguel baby!! Nice and SuNnY but we do have to wear a coat most of the time. nah nah. 

Just remember, we don´t worship Santa Claus. So if you have more pictures up of him than the Savior, fix that. 

Love you all. 

Sister Shumway

Hey friends and family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA OERTLE!! Love you. 

Holy canolie it´s been a YEAR since I opened up my mission call (December 19th 2012). I also hit 7 months this week on the mission (December 15th 2013). 

I have figured out the key to happiness on the mission. Other than the obvious, exact obedience, thinking that sleeping at night is no more than a nap and P-day is really just that, preparation day, not a "day off" like I must have thought that it was for a while are really the ways to be happy. It really is just that, a full time mission. FULL TIME aka ALL THE TIME and nope you´re not here for you. Yes you grow and stretch and bear your testimony but you are not there for you. You are here for other sons and daughters of God.

I found an interesting note in some binder in my house someone had written. Those of us who could have easily served a mission and simply chosen not to will have to stand before the judgement bar of God and explain to the people that would have accepted the gospel had YOU served why they were deprived of or taken longer to find or accept the gospel of Jesus Christ on the Earth. bam. go on a mission. ;)

Send me your testimony okay? I need some testimonies for a special purpose of mine :)

Well this week went by seeeuuuper slow which is weird. IDK. Our baptism got pushed to next week. Sofia feels she needs a little more time to get over not being able to smoke socially or in stress. At church yesterday though Sister Austin said she thought she heard her grumble something about wishing she had gotten baptized yesterday haha. At least she´ll be even happier this week at her baptism. She´s incredible and gorgeous and fun. love her so much. We did have 2 people at church though. Her Paulo. Which apparently meant we had half of the zone number which was 4 people in church. I wonder what happened. First week of the transfer is always hard. 

K well i have nothing to say. sorry. i´m boring. 

"Go away, read some books." ~nacho libre. (the book of mormon of course. já sabe.)

Sister Shummers.

ps the picture is my 7 month portrait i took yesterday. enjoy. 

haha. anyways...

sorry every once in a while i click tab and then enter and it sends off my letter before i´m ready. 

now that you all know how i feel, which is GREAT, i will explain to you how you can feel the same way. 

BE EXACTLY OBEIDENT AND SHARE THE GOOD NEWS. we gossip enough about bad stuff so why don´t we stop doing that and tell people about the GOSPEL!! I had a sad realization yesterday that when i go home i won´t really be able to walk up to some RANDOM PERSON ON THE STREET WHOM I HAVE NEVER BEFORE SEEN and say (especially not in portuguese) HEY my name is sister Shumway, this is my comp, Sister (insert name of current comp here) Austin, and we are disciples of Jesus Christ and we have a special and important message about Him and how He continues to talk to us today through prophets. What is your name number address.... so we can come bother you later? (that is a summerized version and doesnt have our bubbly personalities included.) haha PSYCH we are gonna bother you with HAPPINESS!! haha that just totally made me sad because it brings SO MUCH JOY to be able to just DO that and when i am home it will be harder to do that. Of course i will always do it just in different ways i guess. haha. anywhosies...

THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME AND I am happy for you all cuz i am in a good mood today on P-day. sorry for being such a party pooper these last few weeks for some reason my bad mood day has fallen frequently on monday. But today i am happy and i´ll let you all know that. 

THE PARENTS OF OUR RECENT CONVERTS GOT BAPTIZED THIS WEEK!! Conceição and Adriano are the parents of Lurdes Cruz who was baptized at the beginning of the month and it was sooo cool to see people who are already in their 60´s decide to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized with someone holding the authority of God. hahahaha i am laughing because i am happy and giddy and full of JOY. i never understood Ammon (i think it was Alma but sis austin said it was ammon but i don´t remember) when he fell down because he was so happy i always thought that was a bit much... but haha you TOTES feel it on the mission! you get so happy you just gotta at least sit down!! it´s weird. it´s fine. 

Sofia is AMAZING. I don´t know if I have mentioned her before but she sought US out. The elders who where in our area before they were switched out for sisters (it´s called a pink wash) had knocked on her door and given her a pamphlet and just now, months later, she came to the church and thankfully a member was there to give her our phone number. She wants to be baptized! At first just cuz we said we have the authority to a valid baptism but yesterday at church she says she really loves it (which she had said she hates church haha even after she said she wanted to be baptized she didn´t want to come to church, but just because she hadn´t been to the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS hehe) We were so blessed to have an awesome fast and testimony meeting for her to see and then a mind-blowing gospel principles class about the Holy Ghost for her to soak up the spirit in AND the aweome single lady in our branch who is her age had a day off from primary and could sit with her in relief society. MIRACLES. thank you heavens. 

Letter to ZE PRES FLUCKIGER (flew key gur):

Olá Presidente :)

Tivemos uma boa semana. Batizamos os pais da Lurdes Cruz, Adriano e Conceição. Foi uma grande bênção. 

Para uma prenda de natal, se faz favor posso ter a permissão para escutar a musica do Rob Gardner no CD que se chama "The Lamb of God"?  Estou muita grata que podemos escutar a musica do EFY e queria agradecer por isso. 

Devemos fazer exercício de manhã no Domingo também, não é? Com cada missionário eu já falei sobre isso eles dizem que no domingo ainda levantam as 7h mas não sintam que é necessário no Domingo. O que você disse? 

Podemos usar Google Maps com autorização dos líderes de zona para buscar aonde fica a rua de um pesquisador?

Eu só queria elogiar o Bispo da ala de Mem Martins, António Suzarte. Ele é um homem de muito amor para os membros lá. Tem muita diligência em cumprir com o chamado dele e ajuda cada membro a sentir o amor dele por causa do caridade que ele mostra. Foi um grande privilegio meu de servir as pessoas em Mem Martins baixo dele. 

Quero elogiar o Presidente da estaca de Oeiras, Miguel Ribeiro. Ele pertence a ala de Mem Martins e foi um grande privilegio conhecer ele e o serviço que ele dá aos membros e não membros na zona de Oeiras. Ele se importou conosco como uma dupla e nos aconselhou em como ser mais feliz na missão e queria que nos soubéssemos do qual importante é que nos seguíssemos cada sussurro do Espírito Santo, porque foi assim que os missionários acharam a família dele e como ele achou muitas famílias na própria missão dele. 

Quero também elogiar o Presidente do distrito dos Açores, Ricardo Resendes. Nós aprendemos do grande sacrifício a vida dele tem sido para a obra do Senhor e para os membros aqui nas ilhas. Ele conheceu a igreja no juventude dele e serviu uma missão e aquela missão ainda está a continuar hoje em dia. Sou tão grata ter um exemplo como ele para minha vida pessoal, quer ser como ele e servir o Senhor com toda minha mente, coração e força.

Amo te Pres! Agradeço por sua presença aqui nos Açores com o Elder Dykes da setenta! Foi uma conferência incrível, e sai de lá com mais fé e esperança que tudo será bem! Continuarei a trabalhar com diligência! 

Hello President :)

We had a good week . Baptized parents of Lourdes Cruz , Adriano and Conceição. It was a great blessing .

For a Christmas present , please may I have permission to listen to the music of Rob Gardner on CD called " The Lamb of God " ? I am much grateful that we can listen to music from EFY and wanted to thank you for it .

We do morning exercise on Sunday too, is not it? With every missionary I 've talked about it they say they still rise on Sunday 7am but do not feel that is necessary on Sunday . What did you say ?

We can use Google Maps with the permission of the zone leaders to find where is the street of an investigator ?

I just wanted to commend the bishop of the ward Mem Martins , António Suzarte . He is a man of great love for the members there. He acts diligently to comply with the call and it helps each member to feel his love because of the charity he shows . It was a great privilege to serve the people in Mem Martins beneath him .

I want to commend President stake Oeiras , Miguel Ribeiro . He belongs to ward Mem Martins and was a great privilege to know him and the service he provides to members and non-members in Oeiras area . he cared about us as a companionship and advised us on how to be happier in the mission and wanted us to know in which important is that we follow in every whisper of the Holy Spirit , because that was how the missionaries found his family and how he found many families in his own mission .

I also want to commend the district president of the Azores , Ricardo Resendes . We learned of the great sacrifice his life has been for the work of the Lord and the members here on the islands . He found as a youth the church and served a mission and his mission is still continuing today . I am so grateful to have him as an example for my personal life , i want to be like him and serve the Lord with all my mind , heart and strength .

Love you Pres ! Thank you for your presence here in the Azores with Elder Dykes of the seventy ! It was an amazing conference, and comes out with more faith and hope that everything will be fine! I will continue to work and do so diligently !

I would love to get abby´s letters i know she is going home soon but if i could get those i would love it.

Thanks for the package mom! i´m excited to get it. i didn´t think you were going to send me one because i didn´t say what i wanted haha i´m so dumb i am sorry. all i really want are some of those erase by friction pens that Dad had (hey dad! love you!) 

And if someone would do a quick scope of the house and see if they can find my dvd case of all those movies on two discs that i bought right before i left i would really appreciate it. i realized i hadn´t really packed that safely away. it has some good ones on there... the ron clarke story and alligator pie. (childhood). Ashton or mom would you make sure thats safe and found and sound? heh. thanks. ;)

k well i love you all. I hope everyone who reads this paragraph will send me their home address. i want to be able to send you a letter. and send me a letter! :) for christmas. i PROMISE i will write you back. i have decided i do not hate letter writting so much. i have my whole life. if you ever got a letter from me CHERISH IT and know that i freaking love you cuz i never have liked to write letters and when i send you a letter from now on, STILL CHERISH IT because i still love you but at least it´s not an overwhelming burden for me heh heh. I live on

 Rua do Paim nº 82 1ESQPO 

Ponta Delgada, São Miguel Portugal 9500

 or the mission office is 

Rua Jorge Barradas nº14C

1500-370 Lisboa Portugal 

LOVE YOU 

Sister shumway

yo.

I FEEL GREAT

Happy to be a missionary.

I read the most amazing thing in the most random place. I found a book of artistic piano pieces in the bench at our branch. Songs of Everlasting Joy by lynn s lund if you´re curious. But before each song is a little paragraph or two about the song or something. Before the song Come, Follow Me was something so special and I am so thankful that Heavenly Father let me find it out of the blue. I took a picture of it and I´ll write it down here. 

"Two thousand years ago, Jesus left his Father to come to earth. He left behind a state of incomprehensible power, infinite majesty, and indescrible glory and took upon himself the body of a helpless, finite, mortal infant. We know that this was foreordained so he could pay the price t save us from our sins. but do we also remember the other purpose for his coming? in him we would be shown forth the only perfect pattern of mortal life. in all his life he never sinned. in over thirty years he never once gave way to any thought, any word, any action that was leess than godlike, less than perfect. in all history the only one man of all men could point to his own life and, with perfect confidence, say to others: `Look to me for your model. Follow my example.`" 

wow. Those words hit me so hard. I love things like this. Things that help me know who Jesus is better. I love Him more and more everyday. Truly so much more than a Hero. Our Savior and Redeemer the Lord, Jesus Christ. I love also what PMG says about the word redeem. I´m translating this so it´s not that great but it says to Redeem means to liberate, to buy, or rescue, just as we free a person from jail paying their bail. The redemption refers to the atonement of jesus christ and freeing us from sin. the atonement of jesus redeems all humanity from physical death. through the atonement those that had faith in Him and repent also will be redeemed from spiritual death. 

This is my letter to President Fluckiger this week. 

Este semana foi boa. Mas, pensamos que aquela mulher, Lúcia, que estava pronta a ser batizada com aquela passado cumprido, fugiu. Não esta mais a atender o telemóvel nem mensagens e tentamos passar a casa dela mas ela mora numa studio apartamento muito alto no prédio e não tem campainha.. Estamos preocupadas que ela de repente não quer mais. Vamos ver o que acontece. Por enquanto pensamos que o batismo esta cancelada. 
Sei que a única maneira que eu posso estar feliz é para dar TUDO para a obra. Preciso mesmo ser melhor nisso. Preciso parar de pensar quando volto para casa vou... fazer isso ou aquilo. Sei que nunca estive tão feliz de que estou agora, compartilhando o evangelho. Isso é felicidade real.

This week was good. But we think that woman, Lucy, who was ready to be baptized with that long past, ran away. She doesn´t answer the phone or answer the messages and we try to pass her house but she lives in a studio apartment in a very tall building and does not have doorbell .. We are concerned that it suddenly no longer wants anything. Let's see what happens. For now think that this baptism canceled.

I know that the only way I can be happy is to give ALL to work. I really need to be better at it. I need to stop thinking when I come home I will do this or that. I've never been more happy than I am now sharing the gospel. That is real happiness.

I am currently in Ponta Delgada on the island of São Miguel in the Azores or Açores. We have a beautiful chapel here for our branch. There are two more little groups on the other sides of the island and ours is the biggest as it is the biggest city out here. We have an awesome little branch out here. The branch members though have had some drama and no one wanted to sustain any branch member to be a branch president so they brought in a senior couple and Elder Phippen from American Fork is now the branch president. They are awesome, he and Sister Phippen. We are so blessed to have them. But all the drama is so fun. Don´t complain. ever people. it doesn´t help anything. that is part of long story that i don´t know. haha. anyway. 

Here it´s just as nice and warm as mid September but super rainy. We love the work here. It´s slow (not so many people are interested in learning more) but it´s fun. Yesterday it POURED down on us and we were soaking wet when we went back to the church for branch movie night. We were going to watch Emma Smith My Story but something didn´t work so we just ended up watching Joy to the World which is a movie us missionaries give out to people around Christmas time. I hadn´t seen either before so i was fine. The other missionaries though were bummed the other movie didn´t work out cuz apparently that´s one we watch a lot. At least it´s seasonal and not something we watch all year long. 

I´m happiest when I obey. I need to give up my little disobediences. it is SOO HARD.. Shouldn´t be though. I´m just so proud. i need to give up on myself. to give up myself. to give myself. working on it. I know i can be the happiest when i listen to the spirit. the spirit we have pretty much all the time as missionaries is incredible. i feel like i am drinking it in all the time. especially when i choose to be obedient.  I didn´t realize before getting out here how easy it is to just disobey. there is no one making you be obedient. Its just you and your comp. You can choose to slack. you can choose to work hard. You can choose to stay too long in the house or something and no one is there to yell at you besides your conscience and the lack of the spirit. That´s the worst part. 

K well ya know the deal. the church is true and we the people in order to form a more perfect union establish justise ensure domestic tranquility provide for the common tithing.. anyway yeah pay your tithing people. it´s not worth it to NOT. i´m greedy so i pay my tithing that´s what i tell people. well members that is. but i have a STRONG testimony of tithing and the temple out here is taking forever just because people are not paying their tithing. but anyway do your part and give GOD back just 10% of the 100% that He gave you. hah. i am also praying to not be so scatterbrained. i like birds. birdbrains. i´m tired. 

good day mates. 

sis shumway

 

the church is true duh.

miracles are TOTES POSSIBLE. we had 6 people in church this sunday!!!!!! THANK YOU HEAVENS.

cool story. way back in July with my other comp (SIS GOMES<3) we contacted these two girls on the street. we thought they were friends as they totally didn´t look at ALL alike but turns out they were sisters. she sent us a text giving us their phone number to call them back later. They said their mom was super catholic so she probably wouldn´t be interested but they said we could call them back. (they are 13 almost 14 and 15.) They didn´t answer their phone the few times we called back so we thought they just weren´t interested and were ignoring us so we left them alone as they were just two cute teens. WHOA were we wrong. SO like 2 almost 3 months later Sis kropf and i are running to an appointment but i see one of those two girls and what turns out to be their mom standing nearby where we had contacted them 3 months before. (it´s crazy we hadn´t even seen them around for such a long time as we are always in that area) and i remembered her and was like, hey, you remember me? what was your name again? Inês! é claro! and we met her mom, Teresa. Assuming she was super catholic still and being in a rush we stupidly just gave beijinhos (the two kisses on the cheek greeting everyone does here) and ran away (silly sis shumway´s fault). The next week or two we saw Teresa and her other daughter Iara on the side of the road again. (Divine intervention.) We were then smart and got her contact and said a prayer with them and marked another day to come by. Turns out she´s ELECT and so are her two daughters and another daughter we hadn´t met yet, Vanessa who´s 21. Teresa says we are her answer to her prayers and we feel SO thankful we can help her. Her husband who she´s trying to divorce is an undeserving violent alcoholic and apparently can be very dangerous. But we are so happy we can be the means of bringing the fullness of the gospel into their lives.

This is the last week of the transfer! Sis Kropf and i have been together two so we are going to make this last week the BEST EVER as we will most likely be separated. It has been a JOY serving with her and she has taught me more than i have taught her as her trainer.

We went to a fun touristy spot in our area that sis kropf hadn´t been to yet and we ran into two different mormon couples! HA! they both took pictures of us and are going to send them to my mom´s email. haha! We are a peculiar people! And you can totally spot us mormons in a crowd! we have a LIGHT that is the LIGHT OF CHRIST!!

I love what my cousin said this week in his email home (this is from Beau Walker serving in the Philipeans who´s been out a year) :

"The longer I am in the field the greater the need I feel to share the gospel with others. Even though many people don't see the importance of it and don't care, they will thank us on the other side for trying to help them. If people only saw us as people called to help bless their families, what big things would happen. But satan is good at distracting people. So very good. That's why we gotta be on our toes at all times."

the italicized part is what hit me the most but all of is was true and awesome. I need to open my STINKIN MOUTH more often. I have such a hard time with stopping people. pray for me to not be such a coward eh. thanks. hah. My companion is a PRO though, so she stops the people and then i can talk to them after they are stopped haha. we have been a great team. I think this will help me in the future though, of getting past the first scary part of stopping people and just thinking even if they don´t want anything they´ll thank me later. It´s almost always a rewarding experience even if they aren´t intersted in learning more! The people here are usually pretty nice at least and we make new friends all the time haha :}

This is what i sent to my mission president: in Portuguese and then in google translated english: (by the way researchers is what google thinks investigators are. hah.)

olª
este semana foi OTIMA em termos além de numeros de liçoes e novos pesquisadores, MAS tivemos 6 na igreja para minha primeira vez! ensinamos com membros quase cada lição que tivemos (que foram poucas) mas foi incrivel!! Uma mae e suas 3 filhas crescidas e uma familia (mae e pai casado) com dois filinhos que foram!! FOI MESMO UM MILAGRE. A mãe das 3 filhas disse que somos anjos que responderam as orações dela (nem somos) mas é mesmo incrivel ser a resposta da oração de alguem. e o casal (uma familia portugesa) estao a orar como familia cada noite conjunto com a leitura do livro de mormon! UAU. a filha com 7 anos é mesmo otima, ela sempre relembra os pais para fazerem as coisas que nos pedimos e ela sempre quer que nos voltassemos mas nos so podemos ver a familia delas nos dias de sabado por causa do trabalho do pai. Mas! somos TAO abencoadas!! e Teresa, (a mae dos 3) disse que ela vai ser batizada mas nao se sente pronta para a data que nos surgimos (26 de outubro) mas vamos continuar a ajudar-la.
Sis Kropf é incrivel! que pena que a treinadora dela nao estive uma muita boa ajudora mas eu amo ela e eu tento fazer minha melhor mas há sempre muito espaço para melhorar.

hello
this week was GREAT in terms of numbers as well as lessons and new researchers , BUT we had 6 in the church for my first time ! teach members with almost every lesson we had (which were few ) but it was incredible ! A mother and her three grown daughters and a family ( mother and father married ) with two filinhos they were ! WAS EVEN A MIRACLE . The mother of three daughters said that we are angels who answered her prayers ( or are) but it is amazing to be the answer to someone 's prayer . and the couple ( Portugesa a family ) are praying together as a family every night by reading the book of mormon ! WOW . daughter is 7 years even exellent , she always reminds parents to do the things we ask and she always wants ubiquitous but in so we can see them in the family day Saturday because of his father's work . But ! We are so blessed ! and Teresa , ( the mother of 3 ) said she will be baptized but does not feel ready for the date we came up ( October 26 ) but we will continue to help her .
Sis Kropf is incredible ! what a pity that the coach was not one of her very good ajudora but I love her and I try to do my best but there is always room for improvement .

Re: You Know You´re a Missionary When...

Hello, and Talofa lava.. god bless you everyone.

Love, Elder Ete

On 9/2/13, Eliza Shumway <eliza.shumway@myldsmail.net> wrote:
>
>


NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

When you hit send before writing the message.

Haha sorry folks that´s not embarrassing at all. 

What I was going to write were a list of things that happen that make you know you´re a missionary. I think of more every day but here are some I wrote down. 

 

1. Instead of thinking up facebook status updates, you think of email subject lines and write them down to send out on P-day. 

2. As a sister you wear the same hair do for two weeks in a row or no hair-do at all. 

3. You give up on make up and call mascara "good enough"

4. Your comp laughs at you in the morning and tells you how you talked in your sleep about something from Preach My Gospel. (true story.)

5. You cry for your investigators because you don´t know how to help them or because you have to teach them about the Law of Chastity after having lived together for 8+ years and already have kids. 

and many more on channel four. 

I just wanted to take a second to apologize. This week I have realized how easily I have let things come out of my mouth or through my fingers that have really offended people. I really hope that if I offended you that you can forgive me and let Christ´s example of forgiving the people that killed Him rub off on you and forgive me for offending you. sorry that might be a guilt trip too heh heh but i really feel terrible for anyone I have offended and hope you will forgive me. 

I have realized how truly synical I am and realize that more and more every day. I really need to humble myself and let things just sink in and take and accept and apply them how they are. You really have to be humble to accept the gospel. The gospel is not for proud people. It can´t be. And the atonement of Jesus Christ can´t work on us if we are not humble. In our pride we don´t give up our sins, which means in the end we will end up having to pay for them ourselves when we could have given them all to Him,  who IN REALITY already paid for them. We have to be humble to accept that this is how it is. The Plan of Salvation IS real. We have to be humble to accept that yes, indeed, one day we WILL be judged for our actions. We WILL stand before our God, the Omnipotent and Creator of the Universe and the only Person in the middle pleading for mercy for us will be Jesus Christ. But if we do not ACCEPT HIM, Jesus Christ, He can do NOTHING for us and it will just be between each one of our pitiful selves and GOD. God LOVES us but there IS a law of JUSTICE that DEMANDS a punishment for every wrong done and we can not live with our Loving Heavenly Father if we have not been purified of those wrongs though the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I am growing to love more and more the verse in Ether, chapter 12 verse 27 that says "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." I am thankful that I was born into this church because if not, I probably would be too proud to have accepted it or even cared to learn about it because it is hard for me, even now, to accept everything as truly REAL but it TRULY IS. 

If anyone reads portuguese here´s my letter to our mission President, Pres Fluckiger. 

UAU essa semana passou rapida. O treinamento da Sis Kropf esta indo bem. Ela me ensina mais de que eu ensino ela, e somos ótimas amigas. Sou grata por as entrevistas que foram realizadas este semana passada e o treinamento também. Nossa dificuldade agora é ajudar as pessas a cumprirem os compromissos. Estou lendo o capítulo sobre isso no PME e já sei various coisas em que nos temos que melhorar. Também usando nosso tempo com sabedoria, estou grata por o treinamento no conferencia de zona e o foco que foi dada nesse capítulo essa mês passada. 
Sis Kropf sempre ora para receber orientação do espirito. Então cada vez que ela fala «eu sinto que devemos ir por aqui» nos achamos pessoas novas ou alguma coisa fixe acontece. Ontem ela falou que deveriamos passar a casa que uma moça tinha nos dado como a casa dela mas nos passamos e a casa estava vazia e para vender. Mas ainda ela falou que deveriamos passar. E claro que ninguem estava lá mas enquanto nos estavamos a voltar um homem português saiu da casa dele e perguntou se nos estavamos perdidas (aparentemente aparecia que estavamos rsrs) e depois ele disse em ingês «vocês são Mórmons dos Estados Unidos?» e queria um LDM e falou que podiamos passar um outro dia. Sou grata por a dignidade da Sis Kropf para sempre receber orientação do Espírito e a coragem ela tem para sempre agir com o que ela recebe. 

k well you´re all awesome. But remember we´re all miserable worms too. It´s fine though cuz for us MISERABLE worms GOD CREATED the UNIVERSE and His work and His glory is to bring about not just OUR immortality, but also our ETERNAL LIFE. 

this has been the message from your weird sister friend in portugal, sis Shumway. peace out. 

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You Know You´re a Missionary When...

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sweet.

Well unfortunately my memory bank has been swiped and i don´t remember anything that happened this week. sorry. talk to you all later.

 

k fine. haha training miss america is going great, she has to be careful not to convert everyone with her face though, although that does help. haha one time she complimented this lady in the store on her hair and she replied with "eu gosto da sua cara" which means "i like your face" but in a not creepy way haha but in the moment she didn´t understand and just said sim! yeah! as we walked away i was cracking up and then translated what the lady had said and now it is a great inside joke with us. haha.

 

we are having two baptisms this weekend!! WHAT HO!!! A mom and her 8 year old son. She is the HARDEST woman to understand but we love her so much. the portuguese accent is already hard but with her i only understand 20 percent whereas with basically everyone else it´s 80 %, unless they´re brazilian to which it´s 99.99% or 100%. haha. But she´s such a blessing to us and we´re excited for her to be welcomed into the kingdom of God on the earth  this saturday. :)

 

My comp is freaking amazing. She´s on an "English Fast" which she felt in a prayer that she should do for a whole week. She doesn´t speak a WORD of english and even if we´re listening to a song that´s in English she won´t sing it just hum it. We´re all super impressed with her diligence in our district haha.

 

Man I´m so thankful for all this. It really is real. Jesus really is real and He LIVES and He HELPS us ALL THE TIME. The best way to live really is His way. We save ourselves from a lot of pain and problemas. é sério.  

 

the pic with my offspring and I holding up our fingers are how many months we have on the mission. Today is her 2 month mark and this Sunday will be my 4 month mark. Sweet. (for those of you who are new to the Sister shumway chanel with a new episode every Monday, Sis kropf is my "daughter", she´s my greenie that i´ve had the pleasure of training for the last three weeks. We get along super well and she helps me more than I help her i´m pretty darn sure.)

 

Love you all beautiful people.

Sis Shumway

 

 

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herrrroooo

sweet. 43 lessons this week. out of the park! (okay we had help from the sister training leaders who came and served in our area for a day so we had two companionships out on the loose).. but anyway. yeah. AND we had 3 people in church. which is huge. and technically it was 5 because Vera and her 8 year old son (and ADORABLE 4 year old daughter) showed up just at the end of sacrament meeting so we couldn´t count that but they enjoyed the other two classes. Man we are soooo blessed in our ward here in Mem Martins. SOOOO blessed. our members are ROCK solid and SOOO helpful as LOTS of them are returned missionaries themselves. MAN i´m so glad i am learning how a mission works so i can better help the missionaries in the future with their investigators.

anywhosies. 

we have a lovely girl from Cabo Verde who is in the process of deciding to get baptized. We invited her to get baptized and she said she would but then she got all quiet and scared looking. we asked her what was wrong and she said she´s worried about what will happen if she gets baptized twice (as she´s already baptized in the catholic church) we tried to explain to her that that won´t even be a problem but she said she wants some time to think about it. We told her to pray to find out what God´s will is for her. I love cabo verdians. They are so humble and all have so much faith in God and it´s not so tightly linked to the catholic church most of the time. most portuguese people are just like "i´m catholic" and expect that to shut us up. but oh no no! we use that as an invitation! haHA! "oh that´s so great! so you already have SO MUCH FAITH in God and Jesus Christ!" "yes i do" "well we would love to help you grow that faith (if it´s at all possible)" to which (the humble ones) say "oh yes i would love that" but all in all we just have to make a good first impression and then make friends, serve them and then share the gospel. 

Thanks for your awesome insights Noah. Mosambique is going to be awesome. There are lots of people here in portugual from there. SUPER humble and awesome. It´s a no-sister mission though. too bad. hah. you´ll have lots of baptisms though i´m pretty sure. don´t let that make you think you´re so hot. because it´s not us that do ANY of the work (or it shouldn´t be) it´s ALL the Spirit changing the people´s hearts. Get on earning some money okay? how many weeks before you leave? 10? and how much money do you have saved? point made. hah. jk. lerv yer.

well wow this 15th was my 3rd month mark. technically it was the 1st but my first two weeks didn´t count as i got to enter the MTC early and i ARRIVED in portugal the day my mission call said i was to enter the MTC. sick.

we went to visit a member in the elder´s area whom we love (who has come to our apartment at night once or twice to give me back massages hahaha my back has been challenged lately) and she has health problems of her own, with occasional seizures. we went to go visit her for a quick little pick-me-up as her husband is stubborn and doesn´t want to accept the gospel which gets her down a lot. But while we were there she had a really big seizure. I was thankful i kind of knew what to do and what her favorite primary song was so i could hold her down (she was strong) and help her not hurt herself while she had her seizure. her husband had just stepped out to go to the store so we called him on the phone and while he was on his way back we held her down and whenever we sang to her (Sou um Filho de Deus-i´m a child of God in portuguese) she would stop convulsing so wildly. The elders then showed up not knowing what had just happened we had called them before telling them to show up at her house for a snack if their appointment fell through, which, in this case, thankfully it did because they could give her a blesssing and a blessing on her house so that the Spirit could reside there. Her husband makes it hard but he´s not that bad. It was a pretty crazy experience but we love her sooooo much as she is soo fun and youthful even at 40. 

well feel free to send me goodies and love letters. 

Rua de Azenha nº32 2D

Mem Martins, Portugal 2725 

or send all your love in material value to the mission office if you prefer: 

Rua Jorge Baradas Nº14C

1500-370 Lisboa Portugal 

hah. love you all. 

sis shumway

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Re: missionary time.

please excuse my grammer and spelling mistakes. I am forgetting english. it´s fine.

On Mon, Jul 29, 2013 at 4:44 PM, Eliza Shumway <eliza.shumway@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Hello fam fam.

 

Well where do I start.

 

This week had lots of highs and lots of lows.

 

We found an awesome girl, Kely, Friday before last and she got baptized yesterday:) (picture included) much to her mother´s chagrin however... she´s 23 so she´s fine but her mom didn´t find out until like an hour before her baptism because she works so much and she was not happy. Hopefully we can help her understand it was NOT a bad decision that she made.

This week we found lots of people to start to teach, all of which we invited to church and called probably too many times and so none of them came. (plus it´s at 9:30 in the morning and we didn´t really teach them yet so they don´t know why they should come yet... hopefully they´ll let us talk to them some more...) That really was hard on me that none of them came (about 10 had said they would come. Only Kely came and was baptized after church which was awesome) And I went into the bathroom at church and Rosa, an amazing brazilian lady who served a mission herself was in there and i started to complain about how much work we had did throughout the week and how no one showed up... just fishing for sympathy but to which she said frankly "don´t complain." and left. hah. i love her and soooo needed to hear that. I love brazilians.

 

This week I studied and grew to learn a lot more about my Savior Jesus Christ. If you guys can get a hold of the DVD "Special Witnesses of Jesus Christ" made around 2000 with Pres Hinckley and the apostles, I HIGHLY recommend it. I don´t think we take Jesus Christ as nearly as seriously as we should. I wrote in my `daily testimony` journal last night this entry that i wanted to share with you all.

I love my Savior. He is SO incredible. He was COMPLETELY obedient to Heavenly Father. He wasn´t some servant robot either though--He had so much love for Heavenly Father so He CHOSE to be 100% obedient and He knew of His divine calling to save mankind. There´s so much that can and should be said about Him but what´s most important at least to say right now is that we--no, I have to "come unto" Him (Matthew 11:28)--go up to Him--as best as I can as I learn about Him from the scriptures and profets and try to be like Him and apply His atoning sacrifice in my life. He felt how TIRED we feel along with everything else he felt--something I hadn´t realized before until I read Mosiah 3:7 in Portuguese. The word fatigue in porguese is `cansaço` which hit me as TIREDENESS and I cried on the spot. He felt how TIRED I am. I had never thought of it that way. And man has that made me love Him and feel like I know Him a lot better after that hit me. I love my big brother Jesus Christ. I look forward to the day that I will meet Him face to face. I hope I will live worthily, "D[M]B" as my mom always says (Do Your Best but do my best), so that it will be under good circumstances that I meet Him haha.

 

okie dokie. well I appologize to my grandma for the word `freaking` that i use a lot, I´m still thinking of another one that can mean the same thing and be more missionary appropriate haha.

 

Has Brantley gotten his call yet? Keep me updated on any mission call openings. Put Noah´s mission call opening on facebook or youtube and i´ll try to see if i can get permission to watch it.

 

LOVE YOU ALLLLLLLL

 

Síster Shumway

  

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Fwd: lovelies.

hey y´all.

sorry, you seem to have a friend who doesn´t love to write emails (me). Last week i didn´t even write one really. I´ll try to make up for it this week. 0.0

 

This next paragraph is an exerpt from my weekly letter to our mission president, Pres Fluckiger: (they aren´t normally like this, if they were i would have definitely given them to you too heh heh)

 

Feeling so blessed and loved by the Lord! Last night, after a full day of church, lunch with members, a baptism (our awesome Péricles) and choir practice, we finally headed out to work with a challenge from the zone leaders of 3 new pesquisadores at 8:45 pm. We really wanted to meet this goal but didn´t know we could as it was so late, but still we headed out with faith. But after talking to and at least handing out cards to everyone we could (which still was very few as it was late and no one was on the streets) we decided to start heading home. At 9:25 we passed a lady holding a cute 3 month old puppy and we asked if we could "dar carinho". We started talking to them, a mom and a daugter and they said that a recent convert of ours was a good friend of theirs. We asked if we could say a quick prayer with them to which they said yes to and motioned to a man standing nearby to join them. The dad was standing near by but we didn´t know he was with them. Sis Gomes said a lovely prayer asking for a special blessing on the dad as he was sick. The spirit was so strong. They then were more than happy to set up an appointment with us to which we will invite our recent convert and their friend. The Lord will bless us when we at least show faith in action!!

 

Well as our lovely quadruple was split up, Sis Duke and Sis Barlow being sent to open up a new area in the middle of the transfer (Sister Barlow´s last until she goes home), it´s just me and my mini-missionary here in Mem Martins. (Sis Gomes, a mini-missionary, just turned 18 and is just seeing what a mission is like and will be out in the field for one transfer, 6 weeks and she is my companion now. She´s from Angola but grew up here in Portugal. She´s a huge blessing to me.) We´re doing fine on our own so far, just learning as we go.

 

The Lord seems to love to bless us, even though we figure out every day things we are doing wrong, like staying in the house WAY too long when we should have been outside working or not filling out papers correctly or having no idea what we are doing. For a long time we had no one to teach so we just were outside looking for people to get their phone numbers and house addresses to continue to talk to and teach. We found to lovely african/portuguese girls (whom "african" love, get it) Arlene and Kelly on Friday though and then they went with us to an activity the Elders put on the next day, and then they went to church with us yesterday, and then to the baptism in the afternoon. We haven´t even taught them an official lesson yet haha. But they seem to have enjoyed what they have experienced so far and we plan on teaching them during the week and inviting them to be baptized this Sunday after church (as investigators only have to go to church twice before being baptized.. crazy i know but i get why now, baptism anyway is just the first step in the gospel, telling God you will follow Him as he cleans you of your sins)  

 

Did you get my post cards? I sent some home. Hoping they showed up.

 

My goal is to memorize a scripture in Portuguese every two days, but some take longer than others. I have memorized already Ether 12:4 (which is my missionary plaque scripture, how is that coming by the way?), Matthew 11:27, D&C 82:10, 2 Timothy 1:7, and am working on Alma 37:36 and Jacob 4:7.

 

I got my birthday package!! Thank you so much!! haha mom you´re so great. What did you have in mind when you put in the mini bungee cords?

 

The flash drive is okay, we took it to a computer fixing store after i emailed last, and got most of the pictures off that had been on there longer. I´ll take it back and see if they can find any more. I´m not deleting my pictures off my camera anymore! haha I´ll just put them on the flash drive like i have been doing and replace the SD chip when it fills up. Whew. (so I didn´t send it to you, so you won+t be getting it. haha.)

 

HOLY cow God loves us and is SOOOO patient with us. We are less than the dust of the earth LITERALLY. We have nooooo room to brag about ANYTHING nor think we are better than ANYONE as we are all pee-ons. hah. But for some weird reason God still seems to love us. And His hand is in the missionary work. Like really.

 

K i freaking love you all. Peace and blessings.

Sis Shumway

 

 

 

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Just your normal missionary week...

Or maybe not.

So wow. Where do I start? Sorry if parts of this don´t make sense. There´s probably a lot of background information I have to leave out but I´ll do my best to make it understandable. Just know that I am safe and okay where I am.

We got mixed up in some child (and adult) abuse being done to our investigator, Ana Bela and her children by her boyfriend, Bruno, who was also our investigator. We showed up at their house Tuesday night right after he had just walked out (he didn´t see us going to their house) after beating them all up and breaking a broom over the 7 year old daughter´s wrists among other things.  So we called the Branch president who came over with one of the members, our branch mission leader who was also a policeman before, and then they called the police. But then the word got to Bruno that we missionaries had called the police. Needless to say it was not safe for us to walk around Beja anymore with Bruno still out on the streets (they can´t throw him in jail yet as there were no witnesses, just the poor child´s broken body, if we had got there 10 minutes before we could have been witnesses but I don´t know if that would have been good or bad) and now he thinks it was us that called the police. He sent us a scary threatening text and everything. But things are okay now with Ana Bela and her daughters, they went to the hospital and now they are in hiding and only the police know where they are, and we can know how they are doing through the branch president who can phone call them. We received an emergency transfer to Olhão, a city 3 hours away which is were we are now and will be for the next week to finish out the rest of the transfer until we hear where we will be going permanently (or at least it will be our area for however long, right now we are pretty much on splits with the sisters that were already here that know the city). They have to close our area in Beja for the sisters now, which will be the second time it closed for sisters, the first time being because of the gypsies. (I don´t know the story). Sister Almeida and I are SUPER sad. She has been there for three transfers (4 months) and has definitely had hard time with this. And I LOVE Beja too, but I´m not as attached as she is. We already miss our amazing members and another girl we have been teaching that the Elders took over since Thursday is going to be baptized. We hope we can get permission to at least go to the baptism and say goodbye to our members and recent converts.

Sorry for this lame email, besides the fact that we aren´t in Beja anymore I´m doing fine. Prayer works everyone. It´s crazy how immediately too. I´ve definitely seen that this week.

I love you all but unfortunately my time is up. I´ll let you know when I know where I will be living.

Beijos,

Sister Shumway

 

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MTC Time is Already Almost Done!

 

These two weeks in the MTC have gone by so fast. Because I lived in Brazil and already know my mission language, (Portuguese) I am in the Advanced Language group and I'm only here for a short time. I'm so blessed I get to be in the branch of mostly all International kids and/or those that already know their mission languages.  I head out to Portugal on Tuesday ! ! !

The MTC has been such a great experience. What we have learned in these short two weeks has been critical to have learned. I am already loving my mission.

 

 

 

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13 ways to make a good mission great

By Brian Stutzman

For the Deseret News

Published: Sunday, April 22 2012 5:00 a.m. MDT

Every week, hundreds of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints begin full-time missions. Everyone who volunteers is blessed. Those who apply themselves to true discipleship of the Lord Jesus Christ and serve faithfully have exceptional life-changing experiences.

There are many who serve “good” missions and then there are some who serve “great” missions. Here are 13 suggestions that can change a good Mormon mission into a great mission.

1. Start clean. You can’t fake worthiness. If you need to clear up something with your church leaders, do it before you begin your service. This will take courage (which is another attribute of a great missionary). Your bishop or branch president is a loving servant of God filled with kindness and compassion. As you repent, the Spirit can be with you as you begin your missionary service (see "We are All Enlisted," by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, October 2011).

2. Get in shape and start healthy. The work can require walking or bicycling long distances. Having an exhausted body at the end of the day can magnify even the slightest setback or rejection. Walk, bike or run regularly during the months preceding your service. If you have physical, mental or emotional issues, it is best to resolve them before you start your service (see "How to Prepare to be a Good Missionary," Elder M. Russell Ballard, Ensign, March 2007).

3. Begin with proper expectations. The Lord has called you on a mission, not a vacation. A mission is filled with long days of finding and teaching people. It is wonderfully rewarding but takes energy, time and work. It is called missionary "work" for a reason. It requires focusing on your mission and leaving the world of friends, education, sports and hobbies behind for a period of time. Missions require sacrifice, suffering and a Christlike attitude. The price can seem high at times but the rewards are worth it. A mission is one of those things that you will get far more out of than you put into it. Some of the rewards will be near-term, but the most important ones will be long-term.

4. Obedience is key. Your inspired mission president and other LDS Church leaders have established mission rules and guidelines. To be effective as a missionary and to have the Spirit of the Lord, you must follow them. If you happen to have a companion who is not as committed as you, seek ways to still remain personally obedient. Your mission leaders trust you to do the right things. It is far more important to be trusted than to be popular with others. One of my companions once told me to “be a blessing, not a blister” to the mission president and the mission leadership.

5. You must have the Spirit. Indeed, if you dont have the Spirit "ye shall not teach." (see Doctrine and Covenants 42:14) Your obedience, faithfulness and worthiness will entitle you to have the Spirit of the Lord with you to guide you and to testify to your investigators the truths you teach. Seek after the Spirit. Study and learn and invite the Holy Ghost to be with you. Remember the Spirit is easily offended and will not be with you if you disobey your mission’s rules. Elder L. Tom Perry, of the Quorum of the Twelve, teaches "Please recognize that while your teaching as a missionary may be persuasive, only the Spirit converts" (see "Raising the Bar," by Elder L. Tom Perry, October 2007).)

6. You must study. To effectively teach you must be prepared spiritually and intellectually. Make the most of your study time. Guard this precious part of your day. An effective teacher knows the material. Gaining a strong testimony requires study and prayer. Don’t ever sleep through your companionship or personal study time. You will receive the equivalent of a college-level education pertaining to the scriptures and the gospel if you use your study time properly.

7. Be bold. My favorite saying is “fortune favors the bold.” Successful missionaries talk to people. The scriptures say to “open your mouths.” Many are naturally shy. It takes courage, boldness and a bit of practice to be able to talk to and relate to people of all ages. With the Lord’s help it can become natural and easy. Being able to speak to strangers, small groups, and large groups is a valued skill in most of the world and will certainly be a blessing to you in most professions after your mission is completed. People love to talk about their family, work, and hobbies. Avoid discussing politics and talking negatively about the church or its' members.

8. Love the people. You will most likely be teaching people from all walks of life. This includes children, youths and the elderly. Learn what foods are popular and about local customs and pastimes. Know what is popular with children and youth so you have something interesting to them to talk about. This helps build rapport. As a child, I loved the missionaries who shared simple magic or card tricks with me and my friends.

9. Time management. Make the most of your time. To a young man, just starting their two years of service may appear like an eternity, but it will go by very quickly. Enjoy your service. Seize each day as a new opportunity to do the most you can do, be the best you can be and to live life to the fullest. Shed homesickness by immersing yourself in the now, in the today. Home and loved ones will be fine. In fact, they will feel the blessings of the Lord as you serve with all your heart, mind and strength. Keep focused on your primary duty of teaching and testifying of the Lord Jesus Christ and the restored gospel. Don’t spend large amounts of time visiting with the members unless you are actively teaching their friends or relatives.

10. Be grateful. Find all the good in life and in your mission. Learn from your companion. Each one will be different. Glean the positives from each. Whenever someone feeds you or shows kindness, be sure to say "thank you." Be gracious and be an example of the Savior. An "attitude of gratitude" will help make missionary service a very happy time. Respect others and find the good in all you meet. Avoid criticizing your companion, the local culture, investigators or the people you are called to work among. Be complimentary. We once had a missionary over for dinner who, upon walking in our home, loudly proclaimed, “Wow, something smells good!” and complimented my wife even before we sat down to eat. He instantly became a favorite missionary.

11. Be patient. A mission is a great place to learn patience. Sometimes the Lord’s timetable is not yours. Sometimes your companion or others will stress or annoy you. Approach things with love. Let the little things go and remember most things are little. I recall two missionaries who were arguing about whose day it was to take the trash out. They both refused and a petty standoff ensued. No one removed the garbage from their apartment for over two months! Both were stubborn and tried to make a point. Without being a martyr, a more loving and mature missionary would happily take the trash out on his turn as well as on many days that weren't “his” day. Rise above the little things. If you have to do most of the chores, you will get most of the blessings. You can serve your companion, even the difficult ones, just like you serve your investigators.

12. Don’t do dumb. I recall some missionaries visiting a historical religious site on a preparation day. Without much thought they were goofing around as a group of typical young people might normally do. But they weren’t typical young people. As full-time missionaries, there is a higher expectation and scrutiny. At the time, what seemed innocent and fun to these young people could have been interpreted by others differently if it were known they were missionaries from our church. Regular youths might be labeled as goofing off, but because these were missionaries on a preparation day, some might have felt our church had disrespected “their” religious historical site. This simple thing could have had serious and damaging effects on the reputation of the church. A good rule of thumb is this: Do not do anything or go anywhere you would need to remove your missionary name tag. 

13. Effectively find people to teach. Most LDS Church rosters have names of inactive families. On some occasions, in small or spread-out church units, there might be less active people on the rolls of the church the leadership has not met. These are prime opportunities for missionaries to meet and activate these good people. Visits here can often lead to also finding people to teach who are these members' relatives or friends. These relatives and friends are more likely to want to hear the gospel message than just an average person you find through door to door contacting. Inactive members have at one time felt the Spirit and were baptized. Perhaps their course of life has prepared them to be active again now. Perhaps they have a new spouse, had children or grandchildren or have a new circle of friend since they were baptized. Maybe their friends and relatives are prepared to hear the gospel message. Ask these less active members for a list of people they know that you can teach (see "Let Us Raise Our Voice of Warning," by President Henry B. Eyring, Ensign, January 2009). Friends and family members of inactive members can often be your primary investigator lead source. In some areas of the church, there are enough contacts you can meet through inactive members that door-knocking is rarely needed to find people to teach.

These ideas and other the “best practices” of other successful missionaries along with following the rules and guidelines set by the mission leadership, can help set the foundation for a mission being two of the best years. Remember this old saying, “you prepare 19 years to serve your mission, two years doing it and eternity reflecting upon it.”

Serve the type of mission that will give you an eternity of great memories to reflect upon. When you return home, do so knowing that you truly did your best for the Lord and his church.

Brian Stutzman served a mission in Virginia and is currently serving in his ward high priest group leadership.

Breathtaking Beauty from Entropy

En.tro.py /ˈentrəpē/ n: Lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder.

Found these here.

Abandoned Mill from 1866. Sorrento, Italy

Eilean Donan Castle. Photo by pboehi

Holey trinity by rustyjaw

Tunnel of Love, Kleven, Ukraine

Abandoned power plant cooling chamber. Photo by richard gubbels

Lighthouse

Goražde, Bosnia. Photo by Andrew Moore


The Hotel del Salto, Tequendama

Oval skeleton of the House of the Bulgarian Communist Party. Photo by Dimitar Kilkoff

Swallowed by Nature, Taiwan. Photo by cock_a_doodle_do

Abandoned Power Plant. Photo by stevenbley

Curon Venosta, Italy

Sunken Yacht In Antarctica

Underwater statue of Jesus, Malta

Under a blue sky. Photo by Sven Fennema

Winter sun. Photo by odin’s_raven

Scale. Photo by Voreas

Church, Gary, Indiana. Photo by eholubow

Herdman’s Mill. Photo By Martino ~ NL

Theater

The Abandoned City Hall Subway Stop

Arbutus. Photo by Burningphotography

Japan’s Abandoned Amusement Park

St Dunstan-in-the-East EC3R. Photo by yorkshire stacked

St Etienne by Jurg Roessen

Ivy Ruins by John Neville Cohen

Buchanan Castle Corridor by Bora Horza

#2357. Photo by Pheizy

Great white. Photo by andre govia

Abandoned railroad in France

Lawndale Theater

The very strange organ’s room. Photo By Bousure

Underwater City, Shicheng, China. Photo by Chinese National Geography.

Merle Spurrier Gymnasium Pool – University of Rochester, NY. Photo By cseward

Ghost Town of Abandoned African Diamond Mine. Photo by Chris Gray

Madame Sherri Castle Ruins, New Hampshire

Abandoned Railroad, Lebanon, Missouri

Abandoned Stone Cottage, Ireland. Photo by ~LeiraEnkai

Abandoned monastery, Belgium. Photo By odin’s_raven

Abandoned paperfactory. Photo by =schnotte

Abandoned Coaling tower in Macon, Georgia. Photo By Kirtsky

Abandoned Mill. Western Quebec.

Abandoned Construction of Nuclear Power Plant. Photo By brokenview

Chatillon Car Graveyard in Belgium

Jiancing Historic Trail in Taipingshan National Forest in Taiwan. Photo By T.-C

Abandoned theme park in nara dreamland, japan. Photo by michaeljohngrist

Clock tower

Old shack in a snow field, Idaho. Photo By James Neeley

Abandoned terminal at Nicosia Airport. Photo By eyesfutur

Milan, New Orleans. Photo By JustUptown

Abandoned church in autumn. Photo by *CainPascoe

Abanonded steam engine in Uyuni train cemetery, Bolivia. Photo By jimmyharris

Abandoned Coal Mine. Photo by *Camereon

Abandoned Building. Photo by Aurélien Villette

Abandoned train

Abandoned greenhouse. Photo by TammieBowdenPhoto

Castle Ruins, Loc Ard, Scotland. Photo by S. Howse

Broken Wooden Bridge, Pittsburgh

Abandoned water power station in italy. Photo by Sven Fennema

Abandoned bowling alley, Japan. Photo by Thomas Jorion

Abandoned Phosphate Plant.

The old retro bar in the abandoned Pines Hotel. Photo by Niki Feijen

Red Sands Sea Forts. Photo By slimmer_jimmer

Bennett School for Girls. Photo By milfodd

Gary Palace Theater Seats, Indiana. Photo By TunnelBug (Jonathan Haeber)