Gobble Gobble!!

Area:  Independence, Missouri
Companion:  Elder Tu'akalau

Happy Thanksgiving week!  I loved all the cabin pictures and everything, it's so beautiful and there is nothing like getting some pictures of true snow and pine trees from home.  It never gets old!  Yeah it's beautiful here, but in a different way.  Keep up the good work and don't get cabin fever! ;)

Well, thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes and everything!  I truly do appreciate it.  I got the box actually right on my birthday!  Which is probably good because it may have been open before then if it hadn't... For my birthday I was actually in a meeting at the mission office.  The meeting was actually for missionaries who will be training next transfer!  Yep, I was kinda freaked out too when I got the news.  It was actually a potential trainers call so I may or may not be training.  Elder Tuakalau has been here for 4 transfers so he will probably be leaving this Thursday and if he does, I will probably be training a new missionary, or finishing up training a 6 week old missionary.  We will find it all out tomorrow when transfer calls come. 

 

My comp is the best and actually took me out for ice cream at Applebee's for my b-day.  We were hoping Freddie would be there (Trying to kill 2 birds with one stone).  Turns out, he was there!  We had a great conversation, some delicious dessert and a great birthday.  What was really cool was when we went to go pay the bill, someone else had already paid for it!  We truly are blessed as missionaries! 

 

We found this new girl this week.  Her name is Autumn and she lives in the same house as Woody, which makes it easier to teach them.  The first lesson we had with her the spirit was so thick in the room and we put her on date for December 13!  We invited them to a baptism that was on the 22nd but she didn't show up.  We also invited them to church and they said they would come but, surprise!  They didn't.  So that was kind of a bummer but we have another appointment with them today so we will figure things out.  Our only worry that we have is if they are truly being sincere.  I think that will show soon if they stop keeping their commitments. 

 

My favorite funny moment this week?  It would have to be when I went on exchanges with Elder Brinkerhoff.  After we were done working and heading home, we decided to stop by this tiny lake that is next to their apartment and check out the ice.  Well we started chucking rocks into the middle and breaking the ice into pieces and having a great time!  We made a video and as Elder Brinkerhoff was videoing, he almost stepped into the lake and was about to fall in!  We had a great time and it was nice to loosen up a bit!  

Well, that's about all I got!

Love you all and have a great Thanksgiving!!  I know I will, I'm eating at the Tonga's home, yay for Polly food!

Love, Elder Shoemaker

My Birthday campout! 

Thats what I wanted for my birthday was to go camping, so we put up our Christmas stuff that we found in the closet and brought out our mattresses and camped out!  It was a pretty fun and chill night. 

Heres the lava lava pics you wanted mom!  

{He's wearing the mission shirt I had made for him for his Birthday! -- so GREAT!}

The WEATHER slapped me in the face!

Area:  Independence, Missouri
Companion:  Elder Tu'akalau

Ahhh shoot, I forgot to get lava lava pictures..... next week!!  :D

OK, before I forget, I think I'm going to buy a new bike next Monday if that is ok.  The bike I have now just isn't working and it's a borrowed bike from another elder.  I have another one that was given to us by a member but its made for a little kid....  Not working to well.  There is a Trek bike store here and they have some nice bikes.  I just wanted to get a price range from you and make sure it's OK.  The decent bikes range from 400-500$.  Let me know if that's too much and I'll keep shopping.  I just want to get a nice one that will last and I can probably sell it to another missionary before I leave and get most of the money back at the end of my mission.  :)

Well, we got slapped in the face with the weather!  It ranges from 16-30ish degrees this week.  I honestly enjoy it a ton!  I probably am going to buy another jacket or sweater today to wear under my big coat because the cold bites ya!  Especially with the humidity, it's like when we were in Boston.

 

It's crazy the Elder Thomas is home!  Doesn't seem like it's been two years.  Maybe I'll gain some of the mission height too like he did! ;)

I'm feeling better now, just a small cough that pops up every now and then.  The meds have been helping a lot!  My birthday plans are going out to breakfast with the AP's because of the AP's birthday is the same as mine so we are going to celebrate together.  Then we are going to work the rest of the day!  I'll be watching for the box, those are the best! 

Cool story this week.  We were at dinner with one of the members and they took us out to eat at Applebee's.  While we were there a guy sees our name tags and says, "hey, I used to go to your church!  I want to start coming back to church!"  He then gave us his phone number and address then walked off.  We contacted him this week and he is amazing!  His name is Freddie.  He truly is prepared by the Lord and we are so grateful to have a new investigator.  We have been working so hard to find and the just plopped him into our laps! 

Woody is still keeping his commitments but hasn't come to church yet. :(  We are still working with him to get him baptized.  The last lesson we had with him.... his dad was there and he had a little bit more than his 2 cents to put in about baptism.  They were both baptized Baptist and he doesn't understand the whole Restoration and priesthood authority.  So we now have that to get around, but Woody will be baptized! 

We had a great Zone Conference this week, my first one!  Pretty cool to see some of the other elders I came out with and how they are doing. 

It's crazy, I hit my 3 month mark this week!  What the?!

 

What scripture really meant a lot to me this week?

Alma 48:7-10,17

 

I love those scriptures because they show me an great role model, along with the role models I already have in my life.  It shows and reminds me how my testimony should be if I want to stay on the straight and narrow.  It also shows me priority's that should be important in my life and what I should be protecting.

 

Thats about it for the week!   Love you all so much

Elder Shoemaker

Of Course We Did!

Area:  Independence, Missouri
Companion:  Elder Tu'akalau


Hiya folks back home!

Man, these weeks have just been flying by!  But the days go on forever... If that makes sense.  It hasn't helped being sick for the past two week with a cough and cold.  So I'm still trying to get under wraps and junk.  Sounds like the Ranch House is moving right along and keeping everyone busy and on their toes.  Yay for new beds!  I actually just got one out here too because my last one was a hunk-o-junk!  Makes a big difference. 

That's so sweet of Emily and Sister Orr to take you out to lunch!  It's pretty weird to think back to that time and think of what I was doing.  Her day to leave is coming up faster and faster!  If you stop by their house just tell her good luck from me and to not stop writing me haha!  I'm going to have to give her some crap, in a loving way, on her crying because she tried to with me!

Oh man, I bet the Alex Boye concert was sweet!  I remember going to his concert and how fun it was.  I'm sure it just gets better every time.  Yay for well behaved puppies!  Sounds like they are learning!  Do you still have that trainer coming and teaching them at the house?

The recipes have been great!  Thank you so much.

So this week we still haven't found any new investigators. :(  But we are working on it!  We have been pushing a lot with the less actives and trying to reactivate them.  We actually just got a new ward mission leader and he is a really good guy and a hard worker as well!  He has been pushing on working with the less active families as well so that's what we have been doing.  Woody is still progressing and keeping all his commitments!  Except it has been hard to get him to come to church because he works the weekends.  We are still working with him.

This past week it was Elder Tuakalaus birthday!  We celebrated it by going to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch and working hard!  Also, on his birthday we were riding bikes to a less actives house and we were just about to pull up and he smacks a pothole and his bike flips completely over and he jumps off and lads on his feet!  It was so funny!  We think the less active saw him through the window but we are not sure. Haha!

So we have this family in our ward, the Tongas, and they are basically like our grandparents.  They really love us and feed us all the time.  The husband is actually the Patriarch for the stake.  So while we were over there for dinner one night and they gave me a sweet lava lava!  Why don't Americans wear those things regularly?  they are the most comfortable things!  Pictures of Elder Tuakalau and I in them are soon to come! 

Your question, did we act upon the spirit this week?  Of course we did! :)  We have actually been trying to contact they less active guy ever since I have been here with no luck.  So one night we were walking home and my comp felt impressed to stop by his house and low and behold he answered and let us in!  He actually took us back to his shop and showed us all his wood projects he does.  He is a really nice guy and we were able to invite him to church and set a return appointment for this week. 

 

My favorite scripture for the week:  John 16:33!

Love you all and thank you for the continuous support!

Elder Shoemaker

We got to go to the Kansas City Zoo this week!

You Only Mission Once!!

Area:  Independence, Missouri
Companion:  Elder Tu'akalau


You Only Mission Once!!  A phrase my companion taught me this week.  Hes a pretty silly guy!  One thing that I learned from him since I have been his companion is to just chill out!  You all know how I am and I just like to go go go and get the job done.  Well that's what I've been working on is not being so uptight and just have fun with everything!  The Polynesian culture really emanates through Elder Tuakalau and it's awesome!  I may come back Polly...  Surprisingly we have quite a few Polly's in our ward too.

Yeah!  So I was able to get both boxes and I appreciate it so much!  I've been using my GPS watch to track my morning runs and my progress.  I have really been working on my 1 mile time and doing some sprints.  It helps with the sports aspect out here, P-day sports can get pretty crazy!  Gotta be fit and ready!  The GPS works great as well!  We can actually get around to new houses now!  Thank you!

Yeah, the Kansas City temple is pretty small, but it gets the job done!

So Carlos is gone officially and Araley is still here.  Araley is Carlo's dance student and they are good friends.  But, Araley hasn't been returning our texts or calls so I think she was just listening to us because Carlos was.  Now that she is gone she lost interest.  Too bad!  

Woody is doing great!  We put him on a soft baptismal date.  Nov. 15.  He is only on soft date because he is going to talk to his dad about getting baptized.  So we are waiting on that and praying for him too! 

 

I'm super excited about the cabin!  Send some pictures after you go there Thanksgiving weekend.  I would love to see it in the fall.  

Super cool how SV band did at BOA!  They are really getting up there.  Good for them!  Band was some good time!

Well that's about all I have this week!

Love you all!!

Elder Shoemaker

PS:  You asked what I want for my bday.  I Really just want my baseball glove and an extra baseball glove too so I can play catch and stuff.  I would also like my harmonicas that I have put in one of the boxes.  And that BOM too. :)  Love You!!  Thanks!

PPS: Oh, and Elder Tuakalau said Josh can just fill up the ipod with good music for when he get home.  Cool Cool.  Tell him thanks again!

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"

All the chili samples we had to judge!

 ~~Happy Halloween~~

Me and Elder's Tuakalau, Brinkerhoff, Vaniman (DL) at the temple this week!

He was asking all the right questions.....

Area:  Independence, Missouri
Companion:  Elder Tu'akalau

Family!  

So, some more house keeping items!  ya ya!  Thanks for sending the GPS Mom, can't wait to get it!  It's hard to know where addresses are around here because there isn't a very good system, just street names.  It would also be sweet if you could send my running watch (you might have to dig through my boxes...), some good healthy easy recipes, and for some reason the headphones you sent don't want to work on the computer but everyone's earbuds work on them so it would be cool if you could send a pair. :)

Sounds like things are going great back home!  I'm excited to see what the computer room will look like when you get all the new flooring in.

 

So, I'm still chilling in the Independence South Zone with Elder Tu'akalau!  We have been working really hard this past week and really getting to work and bettering ourselves.  We get along so well now that we know each other a little better.  We are always joking around and stuff, I've got some pretty funny pictures and videos of us. 

Carlos and Araley are doing great!  We taught them the Plan of Salvation and it brought back memories to Carlos and he might have been baptized in Cuba when he was 9 so we are trying to figure that out.  We have another appointment with them on Tuesday at the Visitors Center so that will be good.  They are actually bringing along another guy for us to teach!  Pretty cool!

So my favorite teaching experience this week would have to be with a 15 year old boy named Woody.  We actually found his Dad's name in our area book and have only ran into him one time, but yesterday we knocked on his door and his son came out.  We started talking and he was so interested.  He was asking all the right questions, where did we come from?, what is repentance?, what's the Book of Mormon?, What makes you different from other churches?..... and stuff like that.  He also said that what we had talked about really hit him, but he said not like a punch, but in his heart...  Yeah this strengthened my testimony that God really does prepare people to hear our message.  We have another appointment with him this Tuesday as well!

So we have been trying to find people still, so we decided to go tracting in a trailer park near by.  We had a ton of people yelling at us that we couldn't solicit there but we would just tell them weren't selling anything, just spreading a message about Jesus Christ.  When we said that they all just drove off.  haha!  I was able to hand out my first Book of Mormon by myself out there!  It was a lot better than the last experience I had that's for sure.

 

Oh, and the Putman family moved because of a job she got so we aren't teaching them anymore. :(  But they may move back when she gets a car. 

 

I'm am really learning a lot out here and learning how to communicate with strangers a lot better.  It's pretty cool!

So that about all I got this week.

Love you all!

Elder Shoemaker

Elder Tuakalau taking a nap during personal studies :)

(Elder Shoe is sportin' the handmade crochet hat from his Aunt Kristi!)

Elder Crowton (my District leader) and all of us at his "going away" steak BBQ!

I prayed for a trial....

Area:  Independence, Missouri
Companion:  Elder Tu'akalau

Family!

Sounds like you had a great time at "Meet the Mormons," Mom!  I loved it as well and it was very interesting to see how such different people all around the world can be so similar, and that is because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  What an amazing thing!  Looks like the cow milkin' was a good time.  I remember milkin a cow in my animal science class, I also got to do a rectal palpation.  Bet cha didn't get to do that? ;) haha!  

 

That's great that USU beat the Air Force Academy.  Good for them.   This city is blowing up with excitement because the KC Royals are only ONE game away from getting into the finals and that hasn't happened for 29 years!  Pretty cool and I now have my favorite football team and baseball team as well. KC PRIDE!  

 

Sounds like the pups are learning lots and will be nice and trained when I get home.  That's sweet that Josh got a new job.  Good for him, hopefully it will help you through school and such.  Josh, how's picking things up and putting them down?? I'm also excited to see what you are going to do to the house!  You will have to send pictures and stuff of when you start and finish. 

So most of the changes have already taken place in my mission and we will probably be getting iPads in December!  That is going to be awesome and all our numbers, emails, and stuff like that will be on them.  We are also allowed to go onto mormon.org for an hour each week to learn more about the website.  One other thing that is really cool about them is that we will probably be able to have all the mormon messages and gospel library and all that good stuff on them.  So that will make teaching so much easier and involving for investigators and kids.  I will have to purchase an iPad with my own money through the church because they load the iPads with all the church stuff for us.  So I'll probably just use my bank card for that.  I also will probably buy a GPS sometime soon unless you want to send me the one you have at home.  It makes getting around so much easier.  We have just been borrowing one from one of the missionaries in my district but he will be leaving on Thursday because it is transfers!

I won't be getting transferred and neither will my trainer.  We kinda got a solid hint from president that we won't be.  So I'm excited to be here another 6 weeks.  I just heard that this missions average weight gain is like 30-40 pounds because of all the Polly's so I've really been trying to watch myself. haha! 

 

The Putman family is doing great.  They are pretty solid and we are hoping to baptize Mariceo toward the beginning of November.  We were also able to find two new investigators this week through a family in the ward.  Their names are Carlos and Arely.  We took them to the Visitors Center (VC) and taught the first lesson and watched the restoration video.  Yeah, we got them both to cry.  They are very open minded and very receptive to the teachings so we are really excited.  We have another appointment with them on Wednesday so hope that goes well!  It will be really cool to teach someone from the very beginning, I haven't had that chance yet so I'm excited for that.   This last week I went on exchanges with the ZL's so that was fun.  I learned a ton about planning and not just scheduling to fill time.  We have to always be prayerful about that stuff.  It helps a lot with being an effective missionary. 

So we have been in a position where we haven't really moved much in the area with teaching, spiritually, and we haven't been too effective it seems like.  So I prayed for a trial...  I know, what was I thinking?!  Well, guess what?  I got one!  My companion and I for some reason had some contention and we weren't communicating very well and we were just on each other.  I know that trials were supposed to make you grow so I asked myself how this was going to make me grow?  I now realized that it taught me that I need to be more bold, but in a loving way just as Christ was.  I would just let things that bothered me slide all the time and it all just built up.  So, lesson learned!  :)

 

We had a great district meeting this week and after we went to lunch.  At lunch this guys came up to us and started talking to us about the church.  Through the conversation we figured out that he was RLDS and had some really weird beliefs.  He was getting supper sweaty and fidgety which was kinda weird.  Then he started testifying to us about some weird monster that the scriptures talked about and how it was just a computer controlled by Europe...  They he started yelling at us in the restaurant that Joseph Smith only had one wife.  He they proceeded to tell us that we were the great and abominable church and that his church would rise up at the last day and we were all going to burn.  It was pretty weird but a little comical and the same time!  I had to try and not to smile while it was all going on.  I think I'm starting to get better at not being to intimidated by people because if that would have happened back at home I probably would have just left, but here I wasn't even nervous and just bared testimony.  It works so well!  I look forward to many more of those experiences because I have heard they happen often.

That's about all I got!  Love you all!

Elder Shoemaker

My District!

I found this sign...and there really was a PIG!