12/17/12 - Christmas call next week -

Dear Mom and Dad, and everyone else,

There is so much to tell this week. Me and elder Moses planned it out -our calls for Christmas day.  He will call home to Utah at 10 Texas time and I will call at around 11 Texas time which I think is 9 for y'all  We will have to keep the talk time to 40 minutes so be prepared for flying time. I will definitely think of some questions for y'all but i will definitely be open to questions for me.

I am glad to hear that moms surgery went well and that she is already getting up and moving around. There is actually a less active member and her non member husband we have been working with, she had a knee replacement on the 12th,  the day after your surgery. It was definitely good for this family to see the ward reach out by providing food for them and we were also able to visit them in the hospital. He is really opening up and so has she. Hopefully they will be at church in the next month.

The Christmas lights look so great the tree looks amazing too. Our apartment is pretty well decorated and I used the tree that you sent me. Thank you so much for the gifts they are really helping out already. The GPS is used every day all day to help us get around and we have been using the Nerf guns to have wars in the morning for exercise. 

We are currently in a car but we will also get out on the bikes about once a week. The weather is mild and a little cold but not cold enough for me. Ha ha That is super crazy what happened to the awning.   As soon as I caught a glimpse of the picture I knew exactly what happened. 

This week has gone pretty swell- on Saturday I started to get sick around lunch time but we still went out and we received so many blessings. We left at lunchtime and did not return till 8:20 to have a short dinner before we planned for the next day. I also received the Mission letter from all of you and it was so great to read it. They were given to us at a zone conference to read. That letter has been a source of inspiration for me and will continue to be.  I was bawling when I finished. I was so proud to hear about your achievements Justin and how well your journal writing has been going along with you reading preach my gospel. I too have upped my quality of journal entries and have started an in depth study of preach my gospel. It is such an amazing source of knowledge and will greatly benefit you in preparation for your mission.

I will be talking to y'all soon and next week I will not be able to write since the library will be closed but you will hear from me on Christmas.

I love y'all so much am excite to hear your voices

Love, Elder Shoemaker

December 10, 2012

 Dear Mom and Dad,

    Wow I cannot even fathom how old I am.  I feel so immature right now that I am basically 20 Years old! I am glad that y'all have been able to relax from the vacation that y'all had. I am excited to see the pictures and also hear the details of the trip. I am also excited for the seasonal packages and definitely how they will even more help the work move along. I am also excited to talk to everyone on Christmas and answer all of the unanswered questions that you have. I will be calling from the mission phone on Christmas and I have been told to figure out where you will be on that day so I can make the call :)

      Our door contacting has actually been going very well.  There are always the experiences where people do not want us there but we have met 3 or 4 very good potential people this week from door contacts which is better than normal. Joshua is filled with very kind people and is a very good area to knock on doors. One person that we actually found that way is doing super great and rode with us and the ward mission leader to church early so he could come to church.  He waited in the lobby and read his colorful Book Of Mormon along side with his bible. The ward has done a great job fellow shipping him and he loves it. Also the recent converts in the ward are really loving the change in their lives. At first, it is foreign but with their friend from the ward they are strengthened. Most of the recent converts here were introduced by members helping them out even more. This past weekend the 26 year old daughter of parents who joined the church a year ago has brought her parents back into the church strong and has been super excited through her teaching process. 

I am excited for the Christmas decor and I will send some pictures next week of our decked halls ha ha. I love y'all so much and I encouraged y'all to strongly focus on the true meaning of the Christmas season.  As a missionary it allows us to focus on the true purpose. I would recommend looking on mormon.org/christmas it is amazing what the church is doing. I hope you all have a great week and make sure to bundle up.  It is 35 degrees here soIi am sure it is cold at home.

Love Elder Shoemaker

The Christmas Spirit of the Gospel

Dear Mom and Dad,

    Wow!  I cannot even fathom how old I am.  I feel so immature right now that I am basically 20 years old! I am glad that y'all have been able to relax from the vacation that y'all had. I am excited to see the pictures and also hear the details of the trip. I am also excited for the seasonal packages and definitely how they will even more help the work move along. I am also excited to talk to everyone on Christmas and answer all of the unanswered questions that you have. I will be calling from the mission phone on Christmas and I have been told to figure out where you will be on that day so I can make the call :)

 Our door contacting has actually been going very well.  There are always the experiences where people do not want us there but we have met 3 or 4 very good potential people this week from door contacts which is better than normal. Joshua is filled with very kind people and is a very good area to knock on doors. One person that we actually found that way is doing super great and rode with us and the ward mission leader to church early so he could come to church. He waited in the lobby and read his colorful Book Of Mormon along side with his bible. The ward has done a great job fellowshipping him and he loves it. Also, the recent converts in the ward are really loving the change in their lives. At first it is foreign but with their friend from the ward they are strengthened. Most of the recent converts here were introduced by members helping them out even more. This past weekend the 26 year old daughter of parents who joined the church a year ago has brought her parents back into the church strong and has been super excited through her teaching process. 

I am excited for the Christmas decor and I will send some pictures next week of our decked halls ha ha. I love y'all so much and I encouraged y'all to strongly focus on the true meaning of the Christmas season, as a missionary it allows us to focus on the true purpose. I would recommend looking on mormon.org/christmas it is amazing what the church is doing. I hope you all have a great week and make sure to bundle up it is 35 degrees here so I am sure it is cold at home.

Love Elder Shoemaker

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

President's letter about Christmas Phone Call

Dear Parents or Guardians:

With Christmas coming soon, we know you are anxiously awaiting the opportunity of visiting with your missionary via phone. The missionary handbook states: “You may telephone your parents on Christmas and one other time during the year (usually Mother’s Day) according to guidelines from your mission president. Take care that these calls do not pull your thoughts away from your service…Keep them short (preferably no longer than 30 or 40 minutes).”

We hope you realize the handbook states this phone call mentions “parents.” Experience has shown that when brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, grandmas, grandpas and others are allowed to visit with missionaries during these calls, they will often take most of the time leaving little time for the parents. We have asked missionaries to keep these phone calls to 30-40 minutes. Please help them be obedient so we can receive the Lord’s help in this work. (Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21)

We would also ask that after your missionary has called that you erase their phone number. There is no need for you to have it and it can be too much of a temptation sometimes. Parents should not call or text their missionary. Please know of our love and appreciation for the sacrifice you make to keep your missionary on a mission.  Helping them be obedient will be a great blessing for all.  Your missionary should let you know in their email on December 17^th or 24^th of the time they will be calling. If a missionary’s parents are out of the United States, we have asked that parents call the missionary instead of the missionary calling the parents.

It is not necessary to call the mission office and correlate this.  If you have a preference of time or if you aren't not going to be home, you can let them know in your email.

We would also ask that you send any Christmas packages to your missionary’s apartment address instead of the Mission Office address. If you send packages to the Mission Office, it often times takes many days before they receive them so sending them to their apartment is much better. Transfers are December 5^th so you may want to wait until you know if they have been transferred. They can let you know on December 10^th when they email.

We love having your missionary son/daughter in the Texas Fort Worth Mission and we wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.

President and Sister Sagers

Texas Fort Worth Mission

FOUR Thanksgiving Meals this week!!

Dear Mom, Dad, Justin and Everyone,

Thank you always for your letters.  It is so great to be able to hear about the things that go on at home.  I am very excited for the cruise that you will be going on. Honestly, do not worry about making me trunky or anything.   I love it so much out here and I know that this next week I am supposed to be here and y'all are supposed to be out soaking up the sun and swimming with the fishies. Just make sure to send pictures of the family and also a sweet picture of the aqua blue ocean.

So, this week we have four people that have us scheduled for Thanksgiving dinner.  One with the bishop, another with one of the recent converts that was baptized last week, another with a part member family, and then the last with the Spence family - another part member family.  I will most likely be super stuffed and that day with be so great! There also was another baptism this past week for Kristy Jones.  She actually asked me if Ii would baptize her, which was such a great opportunity. She was going to ask elder Dunn but actually last Friday I got a new companion, Elder Moses.  It was a very fast change and we are working hard with our little knowledge of the area.  There was no problems with me and elder Dunn, it was just his time to leave the area.  Please pray for him and also me and Elder Moses in the Joshua area. 

Sad to say, but I will not be able to talk any longer at Christmas time.  The missionary handbook lets us know to keep the calls no longer than 40 minutes. I know there is so much to talk about but I know you all will understand. 

Just know, I will always answer questions, so feel free to ask them.  Here are some pictures.  Elder Dunn is the one that has the armadillo on his head and Elder Moses has brown hair.  The picture with the five missionaries at the conference last week is me,  then Elder Payne, then Elder Wilson, the missionary Elder Payne trained, Elder Williams, a new missionary Elder Payne is training now, and then also Elder Weaver the missionary Elder Wilson is training. Wow, I feel so old.   Ha ha.  They are all great missionaries and I am glad Elder Ericson helped prepare me to train so the mission can have good solid missionaries. There is also a picture of a cow to prove that we live in a barn, and also a drive-thru prayer.  Ha ha  - ONLY in Texas. Also pictures from the baptisms the past two weeks.

I love y'all so much and I hope you enjoy the cruise.  They are so great and I loved the time we had to spend on ours last year.

Love Elder Shoemaker

Clean and Bright, Perfect in White

Dear Dad and family,

This past week has been so amazing. There were 5 investigators that were able to make the step of baptism this week. It was such a cool experience.  During the baptism I had closed my eyes real quick to contemplate and as I opened my eyes I forgot that I had all my whites on. As soon as I saw my white pants I was struck by the spirit and knew that I can be as clean as my pants and also those being baptized that day would be the same. What a great experience!

This week on Saturday another person that we are teaching will be getting baptized too. There is so much more that I need to tell you all about but we just got back from a General Authority Conference, which was amazing, and just had a little time before our appointment to email. I will make sure to fill you in on that and the area more next week along with pictures. 

Love your son,

Elder Shoemaker