Hi Friends and Family,
I'm not sure I really needed to send this part of my journal - most of it was spent with some of you. The week previous to this was the week of our transfer and just before that the terrible accident with our missionaries. I am still in the process of trying to write that up, and I will share it with you when I finally feel like it is alright to do that. The last 3 weeks have been full of heartache and blessings and great joy also. I'm grateful the Lord has sustained us with his Spirit. We have surely needed it. I'm realizing more and more how very dependent we are on Him for everything.
It was the most amazing gift to see so many of you and be able to give you a hug! It'll keep me going for another 10 months! There is still so much more work to do.
Most of all- I want to thank all our children for the fabulous work they did in preparing everything for Matt and Eliza's wedding! I just showed up and enjoyed it! Dad and I will never adequately be able to express our gratitude to you for all you did, have done and will continue to do so that we can serve here. You are the best!!
With much love to all of you,
Sister Shumway, Mom
September
1, 2014
Got up
very early to be in Rogers AR for our Mission Leadership Council. Hard to be away from Abby and Taylor on Labor
Day, but Aunt Joey will be there- our
hero. Transfers were last week and this
week we have many new Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders. It was a somber bunch- our mission is still trying to move beyond
the sadness we feel at the loss of Sister Vea.
It's just going to take some time.
The Spirit was very present today as we had our training about the
doctrine of Christ, prayer, giving bold invitations, planning, and several
other things. We also had President _____ in attendance- one of the Stake
Presidents from Springfield. He is a
psychologist and came to help our mission leaders understand how they can help
and support the other missionaries as we all work through our loss.
We love
these missionaries- if it's possible-
our love for them has even deepened through the past difficult weeks. We realize how precious each of them is and
how fragile life is. This has been such
a scary thing for us.
On to
Springfield- we will visit every
zone- all ten- in the next two days, to
have a short memorial service for Sister Vea and to make sure they are all
alright.
Tuesday
September 2, 2014 Matt's Birthday!
This was
a whirlwind day. Along with our
assistants, we met with two zones in Springfield, MO, traveled 1 1/2 hours to
St. Robert to meet with their zone and then 1 1/2 hours to Houston, MO. to talk with the West Plains Zone. Then another 3 hours to Joplin, MO so we can
be ready to go again in the morning.
At each
stop we spent about 45 min to an hour and had a short memorial for Sister Nancy
Vea. Today was her actual funeral in
Utah and it seemed appropriate for us to do this today. Our assistants had prepared a beautiful DVD tribute with pictures and
music for the missionaries to view. It was
very touching. President Shumway and I each spoke and told the many miracles
and tender mercies we have seen in the past couple weeks associated with the
passing of Sister Vea. It was a tender,
sober time with our missionaries. Many
tears shed. Tomorrow we will visit the
other 6 zones. It will take us all day,
but it certainly has been worth the effort to bring some peace and closure for
our missionaries, and to help them see how this experience can be motivation to
be better missionaries- more fully
committed.
Our
hearts have been so full of love for our wonderful missionaries as we have
traveled around.
Thursday
Sept 4, 2014
Went to
bed last night at 1:30 and got up two hours later 3:30am. Spent all day with Taylor flying to Seattle
WA. We got here some hours later and two
time changes. It was the strangest feeling to leave the
mission without President Shumway! The General Authorities have given me special permission to leave the mission and attend our son's wedding. Family truly is very important.
This is going to be a difficult week
for President Shumway. He is so busy and that's good- his heart is going to be so
sad to miss Matt and Eliza's wedding.
Spencer
and Tara and kids picked us up at the airport- this is so much fun!
And we went straight to the Knowles home. I was so happy to finally
meet Eliza's parents and family face to face. They are incredible
people- a strong, righteous family. What a blessing for Matt!
Matt and Eliza had
pictures taken at the temple all afternoon,
and I went with them to help carry things, take a few pictures of my own
and be a support. The pictures were amazing! The
Seattle temple is absolutely beautiful and Matt and Eliza are a very
handsome couple together- and obviously very much in love. That makes a
Mom happy!
Jonathan and Spencer
and their families are here! Cabe and
Jana are here somewhere and Spencer and Taylor went to a Green Bay pro football
game tonight. Jonathan is picking them up and
then going on to get Nate from the airport late. We should all
be together by late tonight. And another great surprise! Matt and Becky are going to be here- oh that made me so happy!
I took Matty to some little Vietnamese
place for dinner. He was so very tired but
excited and I'm excited for him..
Friday
Sept 5, 2014
Matt's
wedding!! A beautiful sunny Washington
day for a wedding in the Seattle temple.
The grounds are spectacular! I
got a phone call from a missionary at 6:00am here (8:00am) in Oklahoma, and it
woke me up and Matt too- so neither one
of us went back to sleep. Matt was too
excited. I got up and dressed. He had breakfast
downstairs and I talked with him a bit .
I took 20 minutes to walk and run around the hotel, showered and all of
us- Spencer Tara and kids, Jon Sarah and kids, Nate, Matt, Taylor and me- got
ready for the wedding.
The
wedding was beautiful! It
was a happy experience for me to be with all my married children in the
temple. I was only sorry President Shumway couldn't be there to enjoy
it- these sacred times are such joyful occasions for parents. But it
felt so great to have Matt there(President's Brother) to be the
patriarch of the family for the day. And I was so proud of Jonathan who
acted as the escort and witness in place of his Dad. We have the
greatest family- we are so blessed!
Many, many pictures were taken outside after the sealing in the temple- Knowles family and Shumway family.
Then
we all went on to the most fun wedding luncheon I've ever been to! The
Knowles family has a membership at a beach club right on a lake. The
kids all got on their swimsuits and spent the afternoon playing on the
sandy beach and swimming in the lake. It was a beautiful, northwest
lake- surrounded by the evergreen trees with glimpses of Mr Rainier in
the background. Sea planes were taking off and landing every so often.
We even saw a rowing team (what do you call them) practicing for a
race.
We ate our lunch-
catered by a local mexican restaurant- under a pavilion. Perfect
temperature, very relaxed and so much fun to get to know the Knowles
family better.
Saturday
Sept 6, 2014 - Matt's Reception in Seattle
The Reception:
Brother
and Sister Knowles worked so hard to make it lovely and wonderful
in every way. Our family went early in the afternoon to help Eliza's
family decorate and set things up. They were so organized and had
everything ready so it wasn't hard at all. This was a double
reception. Eliza's brother had been married just before but had never
had his reception in Seattle, so they shared the reception and that was
just perfect.
I didn't know
more than a couple people as they came through the line, but it made me
so happy to see the love and friendship that so many had for the
Knowles family. They are greatly admired and respected by the Saints in
Seattle and so many others.
And Matt and Eliza were just glowing! Loved this day!
What
an adventure! 14 hours, two cars, 8 kids, 5 adults! They watched
movies, played games, we stopped 5 or 6 times to let children use the
restroom, and fed them a few times and we made it! I loved getting to
play with and talk with our grandchildren. We even had Primary in the car!
Jana, Cabe and Taylor got on planes early in this morning. Jana and Cabe to Pleasant Grove. Taylor to Oklahoma.
Monday
Sept 8, 2014-
This day
has been a day of extreme emotions!
This
morning I got up early here at Jonathan and Sarah's home- 5:30am.
Spencer picked me up at about 6:30 pm and took me to visit Brother and
Sister Vea in West Jordan. It has been
nearly 3 weeks since our Sister Vea's passing and her parent's feelings are
still very tender. I was bringing them a
box of notes and pictures from the Greenwood AR ward. Those saints there are so concerned for
them. They loved Sister Vea and they love
her parents. They also sent a cute book of notes and pictures from their
Primary, and I took the DVD our assistants had made as a tribute for Sister
Vea. We cried together and Spencer and I left. They are coming to OK again to go to AR and see the
Greenwood ward, not so much so that they can see where she was serving but so
they can comfort the people there. They are amazing!
Jana,Sarah,
Tara and I spent the rest of the day gathering things for the reception. At 6pm here came 40 or 50 returned
missionaries to Jonathan's home! I had
put information on Facebook telling all our returned missionaries that I would have some time on Monday night to
visit if anyone wanted to come. I had no idea so many would come! It was such a
joyful reunion for me and for them too I think.
they were so happy to see each other.
You probably couldn't call it a dignified event- there was so much
squealing and laughing and happy loud talk. It was like a family reunion. I can't begin to list all who were there-
there were even some parents. They stayed for
a couple of hours and I went to bed a happy woman. I can just imagine how much
fun we are going to have with all of them after our mission!
Tuesday
Sept 9, 2014
Today was
Matt's reception here in Pleasant Grove.
But it rained all day! Our
beautiful backyard reception was ruined.
Jon and Sarah and Jana and Cabe have spent the last months making their
yards bloom for this reception. We were
all hugely disappointed, but at the last minute we were able to pull together a
very nice reception at the church. I
called a wedding planner that we had used with Nate's wedding and
within an hour they had a beautiful backdrop for us and lots of lighted trees.
We had linens on the tables and wood chairs with yellow bows and lots of potted
flowers. So, it was so pretty. I recognized The Lord helped us with that as we only had two hours to pull it
off!
It was a
wonderful time for me to see many relatives and also people from our ward and stake
in PG. It was such a strange feeling to
be in Utah and still be a full time missionary.
I am ready to get back to Tulsa and get to work. There is much
to be done, and I am praying The Lord will continue to give us divine knowledge to know
exactly how to do it.
