The News From Oklahoma-  Week Monday Jan 6 to Sunday Jan 12, 2014


 Hi Family and Friends-

Another blog and it hasn't even been 3 months!  Part of my new years resolution.  I'm just letting you read my journal (minus all the names- remember I can't include that).  This is part of my new year's resolutions.  You might decide it's too much to read-  you won't offend me.   But I'll have a great record- with pictures- of some of the things we did.  

Hope everything is OK wherever you are-  we love you - and pray for you.

Love,

Sister Shumway

 Monday Jan 6, 2014-  Mission Leadership Counsel

It was a cold day-  I think our low was 10- and the high in the teens.  School was canceled because of the ice on the roads, so we decided not to do a neighborhood service project, for the first time in months.  The Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders came in a little later, but we enjoyed a nice dinner together and then an evening of training about leadership qualities.  It is such a pleasure to be with such remarkable young people.

 Tuesday Jan 7, 2014-  Mission Leadership Counsel continued

Up at 5:30 for breakfast at 6:45.  Some of the missionaries helped me cook.

We had 5 hours of training this morning- the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders doing most of the training.  It's impressive. 

Lunch at the mission home about 1:30pm.  Then there are just so many details to be taken care of -  things to be sent out to the zones, we always take a picture,  individual interviews for some leaders, and I had a few that needed to talk about medical issues.  This was the first time President Shumway didn't interview all the companionships together- probably the only time that will happen.

Then everyone heads back to their areas-  they are dedicated leaders and they are all determined to help their zones do great missionary work and improve in any way they can.

They love to be together!

Our beautiful missionaries!  We adore them!

Thursday  Jan 9^th 2014- Happy Birthday McKay!!

I was up by 5:30 to be ready to leave for Miami Oklahoma by 7:30.  Got Abby on the bus and made the hour and ½ drive to Miami to spend the day with 3 Sisters- a tri-panionship.  These are some of my best missionary days!  I love it!  We had companionship study and then went out to teach.  These Sisters are on fire!  They have so many investigators right now they are having a hard time teaching all of them.  I got to meet two of them.   One is a new investigator who already has a baptism date.  She prayed for the first time today, with help from one of the Sisters.  She held our hands and afterwards she stood up and hugged us and cried.  The Spirit was bearing witness to all of us of the truthfulness of the Gospel and that the Lord loves her and is so mindful of her.   It is a remarkable thing, a great blessing, to watch the dawn break as the Gospel comes into an investigator’s life.

Friday Jan 10^th 2014

President Shumway and I were up early and off to the Tulsa East Stake Center for our monthly mission broadcast.  This has been one of our creative endeavors.  Just another way to get in front of the missionaries.  The Friday after our Mission Leadership Meetings, the Zone Leaders pull their missionaries together for Zone Training Meeting -  10 zones in 10 different places all over our mission.   After the opening song, prayer and recitations, President Shumway and I speak to all of them via camera on the computer.  I’m going to admit I really don’t even know how they are doing it.  It takes them an hour to set it up, and it always works!  So I guess I don’t need to know-  these missionaries are so smart!

This was a special broadcast to us-  President Shumway and I have been praying and talking and planning.  We are trying to receive some inspiration about how we can move forward now with the 250+ missionaries in the OTM.  The hastening made the size of our force explode.   All of our indicators went up too, but we know we’ve got to be constantly working to help our missionaries  stay strong, obedient and motivated to do the Lord’s work.  Their work  requires huge effort.  They have to want to do it and find joy in it – and they do. 

I spoke about “climbing mountains” and President Shumway spoke about the 5 anchors that get us up the mountain-

1. Put your armour on every day-  obey every rule whether you agree with it or not!

2. Pray constantly and earnestly for the Holy Ghost to be your constant companion.

3. Make your mornings a spiritual experience (get up on time,  use personal and companionship study as a sacred time to prepare)

4. Don’t go in early-  stay out till 9pm  (all your effort-  all day!)

5. Stamp out all negative thinking  (positive thinking-  don’t let Satan  influence your thoughts)

That was the basis of his talk.  He had felt so inspired about these things and also used them in our last zone conference.  They are having a huge impact on our mission already.  We have had dozens of emails from the missionaries telling us of the miracles they are having from doing these things.

One of the sisters yesterday (in the area that is exploding!) on my visit told me she wondered why everyone said missionary work is so hard-  you just do everything you are asked to do and miracles happen every day.  

I had another sister call me to tell me they had decided to be “super obedient” today and make their morning “a spiritual experience”.  They felt directed to follow up with some media referrals and amazing things happened.  One man, whom they had never met before, but at some time had previously had missionary lessons asked them if he could be baptized!  They were thrilled!

I’m so grateful to know this is the Lord’s mission.  If we just will listen, He tells us what to do!

Saturday Jan 11^th 2014

Our preparation day and for the first time in weeks, we actually used it that way- washing our cars, organizing and catching up with some things. 

I got to go with Abby early this morning for a private tumbling and cheerleading lesson.  She has been working out in a gym for the last 4 weeks and is preparing for Jenks High School cheerleading tryouts next month.  She is the cutest cheerleader you’ve ever seen!  I LOVE watching her!  

Found an hour to catch up with some medical issues with the missionaries.   I had spent 3 hours yesterday afternoon sitting at my computer I was so far behind.  Today I can finally see that I might get a handle on this!   This is another thing that makes me so grateful for the Lord’s help.  What do I know!  A missionary calls to tell me what health concern they have, and I just wait and open myself up to the feeling I know will come that tells me to get them right to the Doctor, or to take an ibuprofen and go to bed.  I have to trust that feeling-  it’s always right.

Friday after the broadcast, President Shumway and I went to pick up a man that was supposed to come with us to the mission home for a lesson.  We have been working with him for a very long time.  He wasn’t there-  so disappointing.   But he called me later and again today to tell me he will come to church with us tomorrow.  I’m praying that happens-

Also had a great conversation this morning with Abby’s gym coach about the church.  He said he would like to join us in church tomorrow!   I’m always hopeful.

Sunday Jan 12^th 2014

Well-  my two friends didn’t come to church- I’ll keep working with them!  I went early to pick up a recent convert and her two girls for church.  She wasn’t ready and was very depressed and upset.  She didn’t come to church.   It was our ward conference today and it seemed like every word that was said would have been encouraging and helpful to her.  That’s the way it is- she’ll never know the blessings she missed by not being there.  But I was able to go get her and her girls after church and bring them to the mission home for dinner with the assistants and the one of our senior couples.  (Sister Linda Shumway and her companion had their investigator to dinner again!  So great!)   We watched “The Testaments” with the little girls-  they asked tons of gospel questions- I was so happy-  and the feeling was wonderful.  The recent convert asked President Shumway for a blessing.  She felt much more calm on the way home, and we had a great conversation.  I challenged her to prepare for the temple and she expressed the feeling that she really wants that. 

So, the end of another week, or the beginning, however you look at it.  And this next week is already full of appointments and missionary activities.

Hope your week is great too!  There are always so many blessings in all of our days and weeks!  The Lord loves us and the gospel is true.

 HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE

SHUMWAY FAMILY!

 January 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy New Year!  Hope your holidays were wonderful.  Thank you for the many cards and letters from your families- we loved hearing from you.

Day one of our mission started with us on the run and it has never slowed down, but it seems like the last few months have been turned up even one more notch!  The hastening means moving a little faster and so we're running at top speed!

December 2013 was filled with missionary work and activities.  We had a wonderful zone conference the first week of December.   On our second day we had to pack 7 hours of conference into just a few hours in order to end early and try to beat the ice storms home.  Two very tense hours driving on ice.  The next couple weeks our weather was crazy-  ice and snow and cold.  Abby and Taylor had several days with their schools closed because the roads were so bad.  

This has truly been an Oklahoma winter-  lots of severe weather!  

Oklahoma icy winter wonderland!

Autumn just couldn't let go of this one!  Beautiful!

Bushes in front of the mission home weighed down with ice!

The weight of the ice broke branches all over town and pulled down some power lines.  Some people were out of power for several days.

 The very next Monday we were involved in our Mission Leadership Conference.   Our service project for that conference was to Christmas carol in our neighborhood.  It was bitter cold that night but we had such a wonderful time.   Thirty three missionaries walked through the streets singing Christmas hymns.  We stopped at many doors and gave out Tabernacle Choir Christmas CDs.   There was such a special spirit.  One lady came out on her porch and hugged the Sister missionaries and cried.  Christmas brings out the best in people.   

Our angel Christmas carolers!

December 16th was a special evening filled with sacred music as we went to Jenks High School to hear Taylor perform in the Messiah.  There were two performance.  Taylor sang with the Trojanaires in the first performance and played in the orchestra in the second performance.   We were so proud of him and excited for him the next week when he was chosen to be a dancer and singer in the school musical-  Tarzan.   We can't wait for this!

A special outdoor performance with the Troganaires.  Taylor still has his blonde hair from football-  all the players dyed their hair for the Stake Playoffs.  They won!  Jenks took Stake again this year!

December 17th brought 10 new missionaries to the OTM.  They got in to Tulsa quite late as flights were delayed because of the weather.  They were exhausted!  So we fed them, trained them with lightening speed (I hope they remember any thing at all!) put them in bed and shipped them out the next morning.  Then we spent the day preparing for our returning missionaries who got home in time for Christmas.  Several of them had a little trouble getting home.  Their flights were canceled  when they had a layover in Texas because of the weather in Utah and they ended up staying a night in the Texas Dallas mission home.   Finally they all arrived home safely.  We were relieved.

Our beloved returning missionaries.

New missionaries at Christmas time!

President Shumway and I traveled out twice on two Sundays in December to speak.  We love getting to know the saints around the mission-  all wonderful people.  

And then it was Christmas!  On December 21st Jonathan, Sarah, and their darling boys and Matt arrived in Tulsa to spend the next two weeks with us!    We had so much fun together and we worked them like crazy.  We had given them so much responsibility to help with our special Christmas Zone Conferences.  It was like having extra mission staff for a couple weeks.  We wished they would stay!  But we did take time here and there to enjoy each other and our Christmas eve and Christmas day were very special with family, our two assistants, and our senior office.   On Christmas eve we sang songs, acted out the nativity and enjoyed all the Shumway family Christmas traditions.  On Christmas day we all enjoyed dinner together and were joined by a recent convert and her family.  It was a special day and very relaxed!

Monday Dec 30 through Wednesday Jan 1-   Happy New Year!

What an incredible week.  We traveled around our mission and had a zone conference every day!

This was our special “Christmas”  Zone Conference.  It’s an extra zone conference we have done twice now between Christmas and New Years-  part of our Christmas present for our missionaries.  It’s a time to have some fun with them and also do a little extra training.

We were traveling with Jonathan, Sarah and their four boys,  Matt,  Nathan, JiSoo and their little Jenevi, Abby and Taylor -  and our Assistants.  We had 5 vehicles loaded to the top with boxes and boxes of everything we needed for our conferences, and all our luggage!  It was an adventure!

All the boys were at the church by about 7:00 every morning to set up for the “Mama’s Boys” and I went running to Sam’s club to be there at 7:00am when it opened.  At each conference we fed the missionaries about 45 pizzas plus veggie trays, fruit, cookies and drinks for lunch.

From 9 am to 11am we played games with them-  dodge ball, and minute to win it games.

Then “Mama’s Boys” performed for an hour -  I hope the missionaries enjoyed it, but I loved  it!  It made me so happy to see my family singing and playing together again.

We had an afternoon of training, and then on to the next Zone Conference.  We traveled from Tulsa, OK to Springdale AR and then the last day in Springfield MO. 

We were all so tired when we finally got home on Wed. Jan 1^st at about 11:30pm, but what a week we

had!

January 1^st 2014-  OUR HUMP DAY?   -  Not mine!  I don’t even like the visual image!  A hump is a small thing, it’s easy to get up to the top and easy to get down to the bottom.  I visual my mission as a mountain to climb, and I’m about half way up to the top!  Every day requires my strict attention and all my effort.  I can’t get lazy or complacent.   You have to respect the mountain-  there are rules in nature and if you don’t respect those rules and laws you may suffer severe consequences.  The same on a mission- obedience is a protection for all of us. 

It is important to stay strong to the top of the mountain.   But really, the end goal of reaching the mountain top is not nearly as important as the progress of each individual day.   I’m climbing with other climbers- we are tied together so if one of us slips a little we are all still supported.   My relationship with those other climbers is critical.  We can save each other’s lives. 

We’ll all reach the top of that mountain, and we’ll never forget the time we spent together working toward it. 

Ok- maybe that’s a little silly-  but my mission is a mountain!!

Thursday Jan 2, 2014

We all spent the day re-grouping.  Laundry, some grocery shopping, and Jonathan, Sarah and Matt preparing to leave the next day.  It was our last day together.

Friday Jan 3, 2014

What a melancholy day!  Jonathan, Sarah and kids, and Matt left this morning early to travel back home.  We’ve had two weeks of hard work-  missionary work- and fun together.  It’s just been pure joy for us. 

So it felt pretty sad to hug them goodbye.  They’ve had such an impact on our mission!  Our missionaries loved their wonderful “Mama’s Boys” show.  And missionaries just love to be around a family and we were happy and proud to share ours.

We didn’t have more than a minute or two to be sad.  We had to get right to work.  So much to catch up and we have Mission Leadership Council on Monday!  So we had a meeting with our assistants and then I ran to Sam’s Club and then to the office and met Scott there.  Then home quickly to cook dinner for 15-  we have a senior couple going home tomorrow.  This was their farewell dinner.    They have worked so hard.  Elder _____joined a men’s prayer group that had breakfast once a month and the people in the community- many who had false ideas about Mormons- got to know who Mormons really are and had great respect for these senior missionaries.  They taught many, many people, found less actives, and did countless service projects.   Senior couples have a profound impact on a community because, at least in our mission, they stay in one place and become well known.  People love and respect them, and listen to them.  We are truly going to miss them.

Saturday Jan 4, 2014

A happy missionary day!  A recent convert in our ward, has two sweet little girls, one age 9-and one age 8-  and they were baptized today!  President Shumway baptized the 9 year old and our Bishop baptized her sister.  Another great thing is that four of the mother's friends came who are not members of the church and they are coming to Sacrament Meeting tomorrow for the confirmation! 

After the baptism everyone came to the mission home for BBQ pork – a light supper.  We all enjoyed it and the girls were so excited.  It was a special day.

Sunday Jan 5, 2014

Brrrr!  It is cold here!  It snowed last night and the temperature dropped.  The high was in the 20s and the low is supposed to be about 9 degrees.  Then it will get even colder some time this week and we are looking at freezing rain- again!  This is the craziest weather place.  So much different than our very mild winter last year.

Some of the stakes and wards cancelled their meetings today because of the weather-  the roads are so slick.  And school is cancelled tomorrow-  again.  The buses can’t come into the neighborhoods on the slick roads.  This is our 4^th day missed this year because of weather. 

Our ward did have meetings and I was so glad.  The sweet little girls were able to be confirmed.  Our Bishop gave them beautiful blessings.  It was so rewarding to see this family making some important steps.  It has been such a struggle for them.  It’s taken many missionaries, and many ward members supporting them for every small step they’ve taken. 

Tonight- what has become our tradition for our Sunday dinner-  the office staff, our assistants, and often, our New Haven Elders for dinner.  I love it!  We  also often have an investigator or just someone who needs to be here.  It feels like family around our table and I’m so grateful for that blessing.   Tonight we were minus Sister Linda Shumway and her companion because they were having an investigator come to their apartment for dinner- hurrah for them!  I’m so proud of them-  they are wonderful missionaries!


So that's it for this installment.  I still can't believe anybody really wants to read this- but it's been a good exercise each day for me to record the many things I have to be grateful for.  I'm climbing "the mountain" and I'm loving it!  The gospel is true and any and every effort we make to share it is worth any sacrifice!

With Love,
Sister Shumway