Staying in Joshua for another transfer

Dear Mom and Dad,

Wow!  It sounds like the cruise was absolutely amazing and a very good experience to see what life is like in other places.   I love all the pictures so far and I did get the notes last week. Oh my goodness! Justin is so tall and looks pretty handsome. Also, that cave river looked super cool and I bet snorkeling was absolutely amazing. It looks like y'all got plenty of sun and had fun dancing and doing the activities on the ship.  Were there a lot of Mormons on the ship like last time? Ha ha I would not be surprised.

I hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving.  I know that I did and we ended up having three Thanksgiving meals on the actual holiday and then two others before the end of the week. We had one on Sunday after church and I got food poisoning very quickly afterwards and we had to stay in the rest of Sunday except the BYD that we got to speak at  - which was amazing.  I had the opportunity to speak on the spirit and related it to a conference talk that I had read earlier that week by David A. Bednar, relating the spirit to the rising sun and also flipping on a light switch. Sometimes the spirit gives us a direct answer but other times it is gradual like the rising sun.  Both build faith and we all have our different experiences.

Joshua is doing so great. We are finally getting the area down and found out this morning that me and Elder Moses are staying in the area another transfer. We actually have another baptism this Saturday and we have been finding more and more people to teach.   I would like to end with an experience. I was writing in my journal November 30th and started off with Wow! That's tomorrow... and I just started getting choked up and very emotional realizing that I will have been out almost a year and I feel that it has whizzed by.  I thought about what I have accomplished so far and what I still want to become. I am scared how fast this next year will go and I certainly love being out here. Yes, I cannot wait to be home but at the same time I would love to be a missionary forever too -  and that is exactly what I plan to do when I get home. 

I love y'all and am excited for the wonderful family strengthening vacation you were able to have.

Love, 

Elder Shoemaker