Knots in a Rope

(This is a portion of this weeks letter Paul sent to Elder Shoemaker about his five-mile swim in the Columbia River this past week - GREAT MESSAGE) 

 

As we swam, I learned another "swimming lesson".  Forest fires burning in the Northwest have brought a lot of smoke in the air so its hard to see long distances.  We hadn't completely covered the route we were taking before so we weren't sure of the exact path we would take.  I was the navigator and decided to take the journey a step at a time.  There were familiar landmarks I could see that helped guide us along the way.  The first landmark was the bridges I've driven over many times.  As we swam under the bridges, we stayed clear of the huge pillars holding the bridge spans as we were concerned there might be dangerous currents or turbulence.  After the bridge, I could faintly make out the next landmark, a large tree on the far end of Bateman Island.  Even though the smoke was thick, the landmarks safely guided us along our journey.  The next landmark was a navigation marker that was just downstream.  From there, I could see the shimmer of the sunlight reflecting from a building at our final destination.   We followed the landmarks and finished our trip safely and without getting lost or off course.  It reminded me of how we can successfully navigate ourselves through life.  As we identify our destination, there will be acquaintances, temptations and situations that could interfere with our trip like the smoke that clouded the landmarks on our swim.  If we have landmarks along our way, we can stay focused on those to progress through life.  Maybe some of those landmarks might be graduating from college, having a joyous marriage, ongoing spiritual fulfillment or any number of other things.  Having landmarks along our life journey can help us weather the turbulence that we all will ultimately suffer and help us emerge better than if we were just foundering along in life without purpose, goals or aspirations.  As we identify landmarks, we have a guide to follow and hopefully bring lasting joy and happiness as we base our landmarks on enduring values and principles.

Hope this can be a help to you as you navigate!  Have a great week, Elder!

 

Dear family,

 

Wow!  It sounds like the fires are really bad and are affecting a lot of things. That is crazy to hear about the ash on the trampoline and plants. I love your analogy Dad.  That is so important that we have landmarks to direct our paths and give us happiness along the way. It is really cool.  Maybe I can set goals as my landmarks and use those to help me continually progress out here. There was an analogy that came to my mind one day. I am not sure if I have shared it yet. Anyway, it is about knots in a rope. We go throughout our lives (the rope) and we get to the knots that may discourage us and possibly stop us from progressing. However, with those knots in the rope it give us something to grasp onto and build off of allowing us to build and even have a better grip to help us become better.

 

I finished the Book of Mormon again and it was so amazing. I did a challenge given to us from the Mission President and it really has helped me to gain an even stronger testimony of the truthfulness of it. I love the Book of Mormon and I am so grateful for the opportunity to share it with others. This past week we had a meeting for all of the district leaders. I do not know what it was but it was so amazing and I learned so much from it and it really helped me to see the importance of missionary work. It is not just to baptize people but it is to go out and serve how Christ would.  I have really learned to love the people that we meet every day. However, I will still go out and help people make the step of baptism in their lives. We should be helping two or three people make this step soon and come closer to their Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

I hope y'all are doing great and if I am ever in danger,  y'all will know as soon as possible. I am really loving it out here.  I miss my family but know that you are all being taken care of while I am gone. I have been purging my mind of trunky thoughts and have seen the success from focusing on the work.  I found that I can progress as much as I can and no one can kep that from happening. We are doing great here in the Temple 2nd ward and this area is finally starting to show the success from turn around that has happend from the Lord preparing the people here.

 

I have decide that I will take a weekly picture every Sunday and send it home each week.  I think it will be cool to see the difference between now and later and have a weekly picture of Elder Shoemaker. Thank you for your prayers.

 

 

Love, Elder Shoemaker

Elder Stanworth Gets a Rough Welcome

Dear Family and friends,

Sorry if todays letter is short. I had 6 different emails in my inbox this morning. 3 from family, 2 from President, and from one of his helpers. I thought I would let y'all know so you do not have to find out from the mission. We got rear ended this week.  Elder Stanworth and I are both okay and no one was hurt in the accident. Things have all been taken care of and the church in on the ball and Sister Sagers just called to make sure we are still doing okay.

It sounds like so much is always going on at home.  It  is so crazy how Erica and Kenzy are continuing on in their lives. It is so weird. I feel like I just was in elementary school with them. I cannot wait to see where Tanner (Cousin) is going on his mission. My guess is Texas - Fort Worth - the best mission in the world.

Anyway, about the contacts and Flonase,  it would be a lot easier if y'all could get them to me.  It is very hard to find extra time to do things like that. I could definantly use a long sleeve shirt and an extra pair of pants 32waist x 30length. Other than that, we are doing great.  Elder stanworth just got here this week.  He is from Delta, Utah.  We are here in the Temple 2nd ward still and working hard.  This week is already set up with a lots of appointments.

I hope y'all have a great day.  I am sorry my time is almost up and I want to send a few pics now that fall is here, and the computers we are using are unable to send pics.  I will get them to you some way though.

Love Elder Shoemaker.

Time is Flying

Dear Dad family and friends,

 

Oh yeah, it was definently hot enough this week. However this morning we came outside and it was first time in a while that it was colder outside than inside. It is showing signs of cooling down.

 

With the card thing, I was not suprised that you noticed that there was a purchase. I helped Elder Fa'onelua out.  He got a new suit and his parents had not sent him money for one yet. I have money back from that now so everthing is okay. I am going to try and find a bank soon so I can put the money back on the card where it should be. I was wondering though if you could order some contacts for me and address them to here. I tried the other day to use my insurance card and I could not figure out what to do. I also found my camera cord and will send some pics with my email. Thanks dad for watching out for me. My address will stay the same.  Elder fa'onelua is finishing his mission this week and I will be getting my new companion Elder Stansworth. He is a pretty cool guy. He was in my zone when I was in Stephenville. I will be excited to serve with him.

 

This past week has just flown by.  We have been working super hard and I even lost track of what day it was this week. Ha ha. Our Sunday was great.  The stake presidency came and spoke and there were also two investigators that were able to make it to church. One was a girlfriend of a recent convert. We met her this week and invited her to come and she did. We will be teaching her in a members home this week and will have a great spiritual lesson to help her to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized.

 

Thank you for the scripture from Ether dad.  I needed it. I actually had just read it this morning in my studies and I currently have two chapters left in the Book of Mormon. I have learned so much this time from reading and studying it. It was part of a challenge from our Mission President to go through and mark every reference to Jesus Christ; his doctrine, his words, and his atributes. It has been truly amazing and has really strengthened my testimony and faith in Jesus Christ.

 

Thank you dad and mom and everyone for your prayers. The last few weeks have been some of the hardest and best weeks, because we are so busy. It is exciting to see how the Lord allows his work to go forth and work so well. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve and I still have so much more to grow from. I hope ya'll have a wonderful week. Thank you for sharing about Brother Magee's talk.  It will help me from giving into peer pressure which there is a lot of out here with bending of mission rules and I have to always remind myself to remember my commitment is first to the Lord,  then the mission president,  and then the missionaries. That is from our missionary handbook.  I feel how important my calling is when I hear that, and I hope to remember it always. That is exciting to hear about your long swim and it sounds like the kayak is getting used efficaciously. Ha ha that is a new word I learned this week and I have bee trying to find a way to use it. I love ya'll and I will keep you in my prayers.

 

Love,

 

Elder Shoemaker

Soaring with the Eagles

Dear Dad and everyone,

Really really, I have been doing so good. I love it out here and I recently realized this week that Texas is okay. I am sorry for complaining how hot is was all of the time. It really is not bad. This week is forcasted with above 100 degrees but I am actually used to it. The work has been going great here.  We have been finding those who really are prepared to be baptized. We had a lot of investigators with baptismal dates that we had  to evaluate if were really ready and discovered they really had much more preparation. However, this week we have truly been finding the elect and I feel like I have finally broke through the ceiling so I can get out and fly. There was an experience that was shared at a zone conference about an eagle that was raised with chickens and acted like a chicken.  A kind soul bought the chicken and took it out of its comfort zone and to a high ridge where it could soar.  After different attempts at lower heights proved unsuccessful, he found on a high ridge the eagle saw it's potential. I feel kind of like the eagle and now know that the Lord can take me to that ridge and allow me to fly.

Anyway this past week we did meet with the students again. We have decided that we cannot fulfill our purpose there but as me and elder (Fa-own-A-looa) were praying as to what we should do about them there was one name out of the seven that just struck us. We both had confirmed answers and hopefully this week we will see the results of dropping the others and working with the student that we felt prompted was ready. Also, we contacted a referral that was from a member this week.  We taught him and he is so ready. Alex is his name. We went and were briefly talking before the lesson and he mentioned that the missionaries had invited him to be baptized before but he declined. He said however that if they invited him again he would accept it. He was so ready and one way we could really tell was that when we asked "What can the book of Mormon do for you?" he opened right to a page and read how the spirit will become part of him and cleanse him. Take note: The Book of Mormon He read out of was a blank copy, so apparently he has been studying the copy he has that is his own. Anyway, it was a really cool experience of how well Alex was prepared.

I am also going to try and write Chels and Spence so sorry for the shorter letter. It sounds like you trip to day will be great and it sounds like things are busy. I have seen your prayers mom and dad and everyone. I will make sure to keep you in my prayers too.

Love,

Elder Shoemaker

In the Service of the Lord

Dear Family and friends!,

Wow. It seems like BYD Sunday is every week but I guess not,  that is just how much time flys by out here.  I feel like I am going to be back at home tomorrow and it actually is legitimately scaring me. There is so much to do and so little time. This is helping me to realize that I need to keep working and use my time in the most effective way. I am excited that y'all got my letter and I hope the youth will learn from it. I am actually going to write a letter to the bishop this week or next too.

Anyways enough about that. Yes, Elder Fa'onelua is a rugby player and his coach is actually waiting on him to get back and play. My companion is very excited to be home but also wants to stay longer if he could.  He actually requested to stay longer too. We are doing great and enduring to the end. We are working as hard and effectively as possible. I actually looked at my planner for this week and there are already so many appointments set up throughout the week.  I have never seen it like this and it will definitely make this next week more effective than before. We were actually able to find 7 new investigators this Sunday. They are actually baptist students at the local university so we will see if they will progress as investigators. We will definitely be tested on our knowledge because their majors are in church history!

Well summer just whizzed by and school already started and a full on immersion into a crazy load of classes  Justin. Hopefully you will also be able to squeeze some fun stuff in there too. That is exciting about the presentation that you get to do dad - it sounds like fun. I am also excited to hear about Eric and continuing his missionary work. I hope I will be able to keep doing that and work with the missionaries in the ward too. It also sound like Austin and Justin are stepping up as role models in the ward and being good friends. By the way is Bro. Smith, Austin's dad, a member yet?

Thank you so much for all of you support and prayers.  I can see them taking effect in the missionary work that is taking place here, One thing that has helped me is truly relying on the Lord and promptings of the spirit. In Alma 26:12 in talks about Ammon boasting in his God. It also talks about how he is nothing compared to the greatness that has taken place. I hope y'all know that when we have this kind of humility it will help us to strive to be more obedient to living the commandments, and also one thing too, it will give you the strength to reach out and have real missionary experiences. I want to let y'all know that missionaries not only come to dinner to get food, but to also offer their services, not just to mow the lawn but to teach someone that we know who can use the gospel in their lives. The missionaries would love this. They may not be perfect but what they teach is, and everyone needs it. I love y'all. And I cannot express the joy I have being in the service of God.

Love,

 

Elder Shoemaker

A Change for the Better

Dear family and friends and all around ward family,

         Apologies if my letters have been short or impersonal, I will make sure to answer all questions and be more informative about the past week.

        I will start with this last week. It honestly started off very hard.  We started the week off with high expectations (which in the end it worked out) but they got shot down with two very ineffective days. We analyzed the beginning of the week and decide to just get out and work. We parked the car for a day and went out and WOW! - found so many people and flipped the week back over. We had Zone Conference this week on Thursday.  It was an all day thing from 9-4. There was a story shared about two fishermen. One who took all day for his fishing trip however he only fished for 2 hours because he took his time getting there and preparing to go. The other fisherman took all day too but was on the water with his line in the water as much as he could.  It felt like a slap to my face - not that I ever wasted time but I realized I could have my line in the water longer. I payed attention to what I was doing and focused on having my line in the water longer. One amazing example was the day after Zone Conference. We went to stop by some people's house but they were not home. There was a street close by called Brenda Lane. I had remembered seeing the name before and knew we needed to tract that street. Funny thing though - that street name was not on any records I looked at, but it was where we needed to be. We knocked three houses and at the third house was a lady that was outside that said "not interested" right away. However, we were persistent and talked to her more. We ended up teaching the Restoration to her and it was an amazing spiritual lesson. As we were finishing, her boy friend drove up hopped out and said right away, "okay you guys need to get out of here" I thought he was serious at first, then he laughed and said just kidding.  We then taught him the Restoration and at the end of the lesson he said there was something different about Mormons eyes and they both said they are excited to read the Book of Mormon. Anyway, we also found more people that were so ready to learn this past week. Me and Elder Fa'onelua were also able to teach the Sunday school class on Sunday and we also were invited to a Seminary Fireside to speak. I used part of what i have in my letter that i am writing to dad for the youth (by the way sorry I have been pretty slow on that dad.  I have been learning to manage my time and have been super busy as the District Leader and it has taken a while to get things strait with Elder Fa'onelua but now we seriously are getting along way better than I have with anyone.  It is so great and I will be very sad when he goes home) We currently have 8 baptismal dates set for the month of August.   It is so awesome. We have to make up for the last to months. Overall we had an amazing and trying week. If I could do one thing it would be to slow down time because things are going by way too fast.

       I will be sending pictures this week with my letter that is written to the youth.  I just printed them off today. I lost my computer cord for my camera so I will have to use snail mail.  Surprisingly, the temperature here has been great  - actually cooler than it is at home, but the humidity makes it feel just as hot. It sounds like the ward camp out was fun but short at the same time.  There should be a better turn out with the breakfast idea. It is crazy to hear about all of the young women moving up going to college and Brianna and Cheyenne entering YW.   I will definitely have to make sure to wish Chelsey Happy Birthday and also I cannot believe they have almost been married a year. It feels like it was yesterday.

        Here in Temple we only cover the temple Second Ward. The members here are amazing we went on exchanges every day this past week besides Monday. We have also been super booked on dinners and I have been having to watch myself. We are luck though.  We have a work out room that we get up at 5:50 every morning to go and use to stay fit an healthy.

       I have had to do an evaluation of my mission lately.  I felt like I started off super strong,  then when I got here I was not growing as much as I wanted to.  I know it cannot be blamed on companions but last transfer was very difficult. Also the beginning of this transfer, but now this past week has really changed a lot of things. Me and my companion are getting along great and doing awesome. Thank you for the letters today.  It is great to here about missionaries lives being changed by their missions and mine truly has made me so different in an amazing way. I have to admit I have been slacking on my journal but that is going to change especially now that I have confessed.  Haha. Anyway, I am sure you noticed my progression slow for a little but all is well and I truly am getting lost out here and I love it.

Love your missionary,

Elder Shoemaker

The Lord "has our backs" and the work goes forth.

Dear Familia y amigos, 

WOOOOOOOOOOOW! Justin looks like a super stud. Make sure you watch him. All those girls are going to want to date him haha.

I bet Priest Lake was a ton of fun.  It looks like y'all had a great time out on the boat and also fun with bike rides and swimming. Did you know Priest Lake is my all time favorite vacation spot? Not to put aside Mexico because that was amazing, but I really enjoy Priest Lake. Anyways I am glad to see the pictures and I love actually being able to see mountains. -  haha.

That is very exciting to hear about the  class reunion (Sunnyside 82'). I bet is was cool to see where everyone is in life, and also sad to see what some have done with their agency. WHAT? Eric is already back that is so awesome I bet he has changed so much. My mission has changed me so much too. That is exciting to hear about the family Book of Mormon reading. One thing that has been so great being able to read the Book of Mormon over and over is that it has strengthened my testimony and has helped me to understand how I can help others gain their own personal testimony.

Well, this past week has been full of finding new investigators that are very sincere and have a lot of potential. We have been getting outside in the hot sun and talking to everyone that we see.  It has proven very effective and I am super excited to start working with new people, especially because of the fact that we found two families this week that we are starting to teach. It was kind of frustrating again as we did not have anyone come with us to church and we had very solid commitments from them. However, we have made the goal of inviting everyone to church and setting a high but reachable goal for sacrament attendance of non members this week. I am super excited and ready to go out this week and talk with every living soul and find, teach, and baptize. Elder Fa'onelua is an amazing companion. I have learned so much from him and have been able to find more ways to fulfill my responsibilities. An experience that was a very spiritual and a great learning experience happened this last week. As a result of turning in a mileage report late we found out we had to park the car until the report was turned in. I learned to be more organized and prompt. I also learned that the Lords work will continue to move. We had already planned for the next day when we found out this news and it was amazing to see that the appointments that day were centralized and withing walking distance. We also had an exchange for the evening to go to other appointments. It was great to see that the Lord has our backs allowing us to continue his work.

Hope Y'all have an amazing week.

Love Elder Shoemaker