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

Making Commitments is Awesome!

Dear MOM and everyone else,

Ha ha love the costume. This Halloween we had a district meeting in the evening and that went pretty well.  I dressed up as elder Dunn and Elder Dunn dressed up as me. Our meeting was focused on how investigators, missionaries, and members must feel in the process of conversion. I led the main discussion on feeling the spirit and teaching by the spirit. I committed the Elders in the district to thinking of commitments to extend to investigators before they teach. This will allow the investigators to act and feel the spirit on their own and even lead to conversion experiences. 

It sounds like there is a lot going on at home especially with callings and church functions and activities. I bet Justin was a stud during Halloween and I bet y'all made some pretty sweet pumpkins. I almost thought of carving one but could not find the time. I hope Dad's finger is okay. That's sad to hear about the Christmas gift exchange stuff but we should definitely continue it with our family.  I have a gift I am working on, even though it may come later,  but it will get there eventually. 

This past week was great.  There were seven investigators at church on Sunday and we are super excited for all of them. This Saturday will be the baptism of Mike and also a woman named Melissa and her three daughters. We are so happy for all of them and the amazing step that they will be making. Halloween went very well and I can now tell that fall is finally starting to come. I am super sorry - pictures will come next week.  I have my SD card but there isn't a slot for it on the computer. For My Christmas "wish list", I would say an electric razor, GPS; and the traditional chocolate orange and socks are always wonderful. Thank you for the notes from the Stake Conference and that scripture.  I always love hearing about those things.

Love,

Elder Shoemaker

"The CUBE"

Joshua TX and the Currant Bush

Dear family and friends,
This past week has been so amazing -one of the craziest and best weeks.
We had transfers and I moved to the wonderful country area of Joshua,
TX. Here I get to live with members out behind their house in a
converted barn. At first I was shocked but now it is my favorite
apartment. It is called "the cube". It has everything that we need and
nothing more. Lets just say it is pretty small. Ha ha. The ward here is
so great. It is small but very welcoming and so friendly - I love it. My
new companion is Elder Dunn, he is from California, and my favorite
thing about him is he is very friendly and has a major love for the
scriptures. He is also a convert to the church and I truly have a
major respect for converts.
Ever since I have been here things have been hopping so
quickly. We have tought a lot and have helped so many people in so
little time. Also, Sunday was absolutely amazing. It seemed like
everything there was all directed towards me. There were also 9
investigators at church - the most I have ever seen in any of my areas.
They were all excited to be there but not as excited as me. This area
is booming and we have been blessed in so many ways. There are 5
people that will be baptized on the 10th of this month and we just met
one of them just this past Friday. His name is Mike he was being
taught by other missionaries but came down here and we had dinner with
him and his member girlfriend and committed him to being baptized.
They already have plans to be married in the temple and Mike is super
ready.
It was so exciting to here about all the stuff at home. I feel like I
was just in Webelos with Alan yesterday. Wow! There is going
to be a new Stake. I am also super excited to really see the efforts
the ward is putting into the youth. It was that part of my life where
I really made the decisions that have affected where I am now and I am
so grateful for my leaders. This week I was thinking about Austin
Stephens. Is he doing okay? Also, could you send me his address as I would
like to write him. I was also wondering if there would be any way I
could borrow the GPS? This area is super big and it would really help
to keep us in our mileage limitations and also allow us to work this
amazing area even better.
I just want to let y'all know that my last area was very hard. There is
a talk by Hugh B. Brown I may have mentioned it before, and it is called
"The Lord is the Gardener", and I feel like I am the currant bush. I was
cut back and now I am here in this area to grow how the Lord wants me
to. I am doing very good and building up my defenses so I can continue
through my mission super strong.
I will send pictures next week. I love yall so much! thank you for the
scriptures Dad. I have been writing them down and actually two weeks
ago I used one as a main scripture for district meeting.
Love
Elder Shoemaker

October 22nd. 2012 - HOPE

Dear Dad and family,

 

Sorry I missed your letter last week. That is very exciting about your test and I was not surprised to hear that you passed. I bet you are also getting a very good workout with your biking.  The other day I was thinking about how long you have been biking to work.  Ha ha. That mission statement list and your studies sound so great. One thing I would definitely add to the list is obedience.   That is something that is very stressed out here in the mission. One statement that my trainer told me was obedience brings blessings and exact obedience brings miracles. That hope quote was just what I needed.  This past transfer has been one of the toughest. Me and elder Stanworth get along great.  The work here has been hard though. I however have learned a lot here and I HOPE that this area will benefit from me being here. Also, as I will be transferred this Wednesday to the Joshua area in the Fortworth zone as the District Leader, I hope I can grow there and trust in the Lord as the gardener.

 

One thing that I was wondering is if you would be able to send me an absentee ballot so i could vote?  It may be too late but hopefully I can get it. My new address will be 924 Conveyor Dr. Joshua, TX 76058.

 

I am always very excited to hear from y'all.  I will be sending some pictures in a separate email. I wanted to end today with something I came across in my studies that stood out to me. It was an article about talking about our church life with others. This is from M. Russel Ballard. "Rather than simply responding to a series of random questions, it might be helpful to first take 30 seconds to establish a foundation. That can be as simple as explaining that we embrace Jesus Christ as our savior an accept the Bible's teachings about His birth, life, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection. We also believe that the Christian world departed from the truths Jesus taught in the Bible and that the Church he established needed to be restored." This is something I am going to try and use in my missionary efforts but it can also be used at home with friends and family when talking about our beliefs and helping people know we truly are Christian.

 

I hope y'all have a great week and I will make sure and let you know about my new area.

 

Love,

 

Elder Shoemaker

More blessings than you can receive...

Dear mom and the rest of family and friends,

The women’s retreat sounded like it turned out great and the women sounded like they had fun. I bet the variety show was a crack up and had everyone laughing. The leaves are changing colors here too. It is actually very comparable to home here besides the humidity and winter is the best week of the year. It is cooling down and will make the days a little less sweaty. It also sounds like working at Lewis and Clark is going great I feel like I was just getting dropped off there for first grade with Mrs. Reynolds and crying all day ha-ha. It also sounds like your calling in young women’s is truly inspired the youth leaders have a major affect on the youth’s lives. It really helped to shape me into the kind of person that could go out and serve the lord.

The mission age change was so inspiring and will be so good for families and for the church. It will allow sisters to get back at an age that does not feel too old and for young men it will majorly increase their knowledge and get them prepared to get a good education. It was really weird - it feels like my learning might have paused out here but I have learned so much more than I ever have before. I am very excited about Justin being able to go out sooner too!

I would like to share a spiritual experience that I had before my mission. This goes out to anyone that may struggle to pay tithing and also all those trying to save up for their missions. (Justin, and other youth). My last summer before my mission I had just earned a pretty good amount of money, as I was looking at how much I had in the bank.  I calculated how much I still needed to earn and I still had quite a bit left to go to be ready. I had been doing good on paying tithing and I had set aside my tithing already. It was really hard to go and give it to the bishop but I remembered the blessing promised in Malachi 3: 7-12 - more blessing than you can receive. That next week I had so many people call me to help them out with what I did for my business, that I had to decline some of them. The next months I earned more than I needed and the wonderful members of the ward also contributed to my mission fund too. Thank you everyone that allowed me to work for them so I could come out here and serve the lord.

 

 

Love,

Elder Shoemaker