Hi dear family and friends,
Here are just a few snatches from my journal in the past couple months.  Don't know if any of it will be interesting to you.  We've been working hard!

Wednesday May 22- Friday May 24  Transfer Week

Oh my!  24 new missionaries plus 5 visa waiters (they will go to other missions after their visas arrive).   So we prepared to feed, have housing ready, documents ready, cars and bikes ready,  everything ready- for 29 missionaries!  It is something to see that many get off the plane! 

We went through the routine pretty smoothly – the new in, and 15 returning home-  always very emotional for us.  It is so hard to say goodbye.  We love them and they leave a hole in the mission and in our hearts. 

Saturday May 25, 2013

This has been a pretty wild day-  I got a little nudge from the angels one hour before my alarm went off.  They know I have too much to do to stay in bed for 7 hours!  So I should be so grateful for the 6 I got, because the 3 nights before that were 4 hour nights as we worked our way through transfer week.

Some of our senior missionaries moved out of their very smoky, stinky apartment today.  They had only been in there about a month, but they just couldn’t handle it any longer, so they moved and the new one is a real improvement. 

Abby, Taylor and I spent a short time helping with the move and then hurried home to be here when one of our returned missionaries came to visit- he was a Zone Leader just before he left so we knew him well-  and we love him.  He brought his parents and stayed to visit for an hour-  wonderful for us and our assistants too, who were his friends.

We rushed around all day- trying to get ready for our Zone Conferences starting next week.  But tonight we took our kids, our assistants and two other missionaries to dinner.  At dinner we met a nice lady who gave us her contact information so the missionaries could visit her. 

Just before that I was at the store and a man walked up to me because he saw my tag.  Without me saying a word, he began a conversation with me about religion and it all ended in him giving me his contact information for the missionaries.

After dinner I had to go to Walmart, and the checker took a look at my tag and said, “I like that!”  He began telling me that he felt like there should be unity in religion.  He didn’t think there should be so many churches, but that God would want us all to belong to the same church!   Then he asked me if he could come to mine!!  Yes, he can!

He gave me all his contact information and he will come to church with us in a week. 

Every morning I pray that the Lord will allow me to be a missionary-  and every day he just throws people in my path.  I have so much gratitude that He allows any of us to be a part of His work-  His sacred work.  I love to be a missionary!
 

MISSION LEADERSHIP COUNCIL:  Monday and Tuesday June 3-4 2013
We put all our Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders to work on Taylor's Eagle Scout Project!
We worked for a few hours out on the driveway and back yard of the mission home and then had a barbecue and training afterwards.  We finished 2 tied quilts and 8 fleece blankets.  We were so grateful for their help.  It was a combined effort of 75 hours!  And Taylor is only just beginning his project, so he will have several hundred hours of donated service by the time he is finished

 

Monday June 10, 2013

 I sat at my computer for about 4 hours trying to catch up with all the missionary medical concerns-  calling to set up Dr. appointments, calling missionary medical with insurance problems, talking with missionary’s moms, and recording and filing everything so there are complete records of everything that happens with the health of a missionary.  I truly enjoy the daily contact I have with the best missionaries in the world!

President Shumway called to tell me he had interviews from 8:30am to 5:30pm today with no breaks.  Our missionary force is getting so very large-  we have all had to “hasten” our efforts.  He called me just after he finished.  He was driving two hours to the zone in Sprindale AR to start interviews tomorrow.  Nine days of traveling about the mission doing interviews for nearly 250 missionaries.  He loves it!

A Story:

Just sent off my last monthly medical report to Dr.______ and his wonderful wife.  They have just finished their mission and are home in Salt Lake City.  We have grown to love them so much-  very caring people who worked so hard to support our efforts to keep healthy missionaries.

As part of the report they always asked if I had a medical "miracle" to share- and this was the story I shared this month- 

To Dr_______: 

My last missionary miracle to share with you-  I was wakened one morning early at 4:00am with a phone call-  one of our Elders was in severe pain.  He said he had almost called an ambulance but his companion had talked him into calling me first- thank goodness!  He said his pain was mostly in his stomach, but it went clear through him to the back.  I was a little groggy and probably a little confused too- he had called me earlier in the week before with symptoms of stomach flu- nausea, diarrhea and dizziness.  I was trying to remember that and trying to think how it could be related to his current pain.  It wasn’t making sense to me, so I told him to lay down and rest, that I would call you and call him back in a few minutes. 

I didn’t want to call you at 4:00am- I was feeling uncomfortable about the whole thing, so I began doing what I do so much of here- I began to pray.  I told Heavenly Father I knew He knew what was wrong with the Elder and I begged Him to help me know what the problem was, and He did- immediately.  Something popped into my mind.  I knew I should ask the Elder if he had quit his exercise when he was sick with the stomach flu and if he had started again in the last day or two.  This Elder is very strong- he has a serious workout using weights.  He told me that was exactly what had happened.  And then I knew he was having muscle spasms in his back. 

I told him to get in a hot shower and point it at his back- take 800mg of Ibuprofin and rest.  Two hours later he was much better and later that day a member chiropractor in his ward did some kind of adjustment for him and he felt much better! 

It would never have entered my mind to ask the Elder about his exercise.  I was so grateful the Lord would give me that knowledge and give it to me quickly.  I didn’t have to wake you up, but more importantly, both the Elder and I knew that the Lord had just given us a miracle.  To some it may seem like a silly thing, but this Elder was having excruciating pain and he needed relief quickly. The Lord loves his missionaries!

Sunday June 23, 2013
Yesterday we tearfully said goodbye to Spencer, Tara and kids, Abby and Taylor too!  Spencer, Tara and family had been here to visit.  They are returning to Utah with Abby and Taylor who will stay for a few weeks to visit there.

  The house is strangely quiet- it was such a blessing to have Spencer and Tara here- and we loved the little voices.  Our grandkids had changed so much in one year, and we know it will be a very long time until we see them again.  We are also really missing Abby and Taylor-  though they probably haven't thought of us for a second. It makes me realize how important they are to our "family" mission.  And besides that- we love them!

So that's enough for this post-  our work goes on- there is always so much to do!  We love our missionaries so much and love our mission!  This is a beautiful spot on the planet and we are grateful the Lord sent us to this part of his vineyard.  We love the members too!  So many, many wonderful missionary minded people who support the work of salvation.  

We are looking forward to the big missionary meeting tonight-  coming from President Monson.  Elder Nelson said at our training that this would be the biggest missionary meeting of this dispensation!  Wow- we're excited and our missionaries are too.   

Love you all and miss you so much! 

Sister Shumway