Elder Landon Shoemaker: It was hard to see him walk away......

Area: Independence, Missouri
Companion: Elder Tu'akalau

Heya Family!

Its great to get all your emails this week! Sorry it's a day late, we went to the temple this week and we had to switch our p-day to today to be able to go. I did get the Halloween box and all the stuff in there was great! I really appreciate it Mom and Dad, it really makes a big difference in my week when I get a little bit of home sent out here. :) So grateful to have that GPS too! It helps so much and makes us so much more efficient. I haven't gotten the 2nd box yet but maybe today or tomorrow? I'll let you know next week. The new bishopric sounds amazing! About time that all happened, what was it, 3-4 weeks??

So this week we lost Carlos, he moved to Miami until next year sometime so we are going to have the Elders down there teach him. It kinda sucks to lose him because he was such a cool guy! We are thinking that he wasn't baptized because of some of the dates and stuff just don't line up. Araley is still reading we think... We haven't been able to see her too much because she is so busy, hopefully this week we can put her on date tho! Woody is an amazing kid. So smart and very sharp. His Dad is very supportive but always reminds us that school work comes first and that if it isn't done he can't meet with us. We have another appointment with him tomorrow at the visitors center and are going to try and put him on date as well! My teaching is really coming along, but not without studying, hard work, and just doing it!

To answer your question, we didn't really meet anyone new this week but we did run into this old old lady on the street while walking named Fae. She was super sweet and reminded my a lot of Fae Larsen back home. She was out mowing her lawn and wouldn't let us mow it for her because she said it's the only thing keeping her young and she loves doing it. Anyway, she was just super sweet and she said she has seen us walking all the time and really admires our dedication. When she said that it was a good reminder that people are always watching us and especially while wearing the name of the Lord on my chest I need to be mindful.

This past Saturday we had a Ward Halloween party! It was pretty fun! It was a chili cook off and a trunk or treat. Of course, us missionaries were the judges of the chili cook off... 12 different types of chilis just don't sit to well at the end of the day. HAHA! But it was super fun none the less!

A couple of days ago we ran into this guy who came up to us asking to bum $2 for beer off of us. We wouldn't give it to him but we tried to share a message of the gospel with him. He wouldn't have it and wanted nothing to do with it because it was forced on him as a child. A funny comment that Elder Tuakalau made to this man -- if he thought there was something better in life for him rather than beer? The man answered, "Well, I don't have enough money for weed so I'll have to make do with beer!" It was way funny, but really sad at the same time. He said he didn't expect to live past this year. It was hard to see him walk away knowing that what we had to share with him could have changed his life for the better. But, everyone has their own agency.

Well, thats about all I have this week!

Love you all!

Elder Shoemaker

Elder Shoemaker (or Yans as we sometimes call him) enjoying some YAN YANS that his Aunt Kristi sent to him.

"Say Meow"