First SNOWFALL!

Area:  Kansas City, Missouri (Fleming Park Ward)
Companion:  Elder Monroe

 Hello family!

It was really great to talk to you all!  It was fun to see everyone and see how everyone has changed.  You all look so great!

Also, I decided that I would not buy the suit and just wait it out the 8 months.  I can make due, that money will be better used somewhere else.  But I did buy a new pair of shoes today. :)  Thank you!

We finally had our first snow this morning!  That was fun to see.

We had a crazy lesson with Heath this past week...  We went with our ward mission leader.  It started out really well but then Heath started saying some really not necessary things about Joseph Smith. Our ward mission leader was asking him where he had gotten that information from and Heath started to turn red, got really jittery, and stood up and said that he needed to go and pray in the other room. He came back and said that our ward mission leader had a really evil spirit and that he didn't want to talk to him any more.  So we just said a prayer with him and left.  It was a really weird experience!

That's about all that I have got for you this week since we just talked on Friday.

Love you all!

Elder Shoemaker

Amey, our recent convert, got this for her husband but it didn't fit him so she gave it to me!  Isn't it nice??  There is another member of the ward that is really good with tailoring clothing so I am going to have her do that to this baby.

 

We had a great Christmas!!  This Santa bag was left at our door anonymously.  The people are so kind to us here.

From our Facetime call on Christmas Day!  First family photo in almost 5 years....

Gotta love a lifesize Landon!

Facetime for Christmas

Area:  Kansas City, Missouri (Fleming Park Ward)
Companion:  Elder Monroe

Hello Family and Friends!

I don't really have to much to say because I want to tell you all the stories in person on Christmas!  I did have a pretty eventful week.

• Arm wrestling a drunk guy
• Visiting Kearney again
• Recording a new shoot for the zone.......and some fun other things!  

I'm excited to see and talk with you this week!

We will be face timing at our bishops house between 7-8pm Missouri time.  We are planning on being at his house at 7pm so it will probably be closer to 7:30pm-ish Missouri time.

Not really to much more to say...

Love ya!

Elder Shoemaker

The Angel Gabriel and a NEW companion

Area:  Kansas City, Missouri (Fleming Park Ward)
Companion:  Elder Monroe

Hello everyone!  This week was transfer week.  My new companion is Elder Monroe!  We were  in the same MTC zone so we have known each other since then.  We served in the Kearney 3rd ward together for about 3 months (he was one of the other sets that was there) and then I was his zone leader for another 3 months in the Farr West zone so we have some good history together.  We are super excited to be serving together and see what experiences it will bring.  We are still in the Fleming Park ward as well.

I don't understand Missouri weather...  Two weeks ago it was floating around freezing but for the past two weeks it has been in the 60's. It is supposed to drop here in the next couple of days.  We haven't gotten any snow at all, just a ton of rain.

This past week while I was still with Elder Behymer, we had the opportunity to go on a team up with a member of the stake presidency. We had a bunch of appointments set up that night with less actives and one active member.  We had one of the most spiritual lessons with him in this elderly lady's home who is really active in the church.  She lost her husband about a year ago and that has played a big part in her life lately.  We shared a message of God's love for her and she just broke down and was bawling the whole lesson.  The member of the stake presidency played a huge role in that lesson as he testified of how much she is needed and loved and how she is never alone.  That was a pretty sweet experience and I don't think there was a dry eye in the room.

This week was the ward Christmas party and it was polar express themed.  It was awesome!  We had one of our new investigators grandsons come and he is now an investigator.  It was really great to see how true fellowship and sincere care for someone can lead to much greater things.  The new investigators name is Jake and he is 11, he lives with his grandma, Becky.  We are teaching that whole family in that house.  There are also another couple in that household, it is such a great experience to be teaching this family.  They are RLDS and can see that their church is changing doctrine and moving a different direction so their hearts are open and ready to hear the gospel.  Jake has even expressed a want to be baptized already!

We are also teaching this guy named Heath.  He is searching every religion and I mean every religion for true answers.  We are having a great time teaching him but sense some insincere questions that have been planted into his head by friends.  He is a great guy and we love teaching him.  We will see where progression goes for him at this point.

On Saturday we decided it would be a good day to go out to a little town of population ZERO on the outskirts of our area.  I have never been there and there are a bunch of people on the ward roster that I didn't know who lived out there so we thought we would go and meet them. Turns out that everyone who lived out there were all less active and not really interested at all in hearing anything from us.  There was even one lady who yelled at us to get off her property and then proceeded to take our pictures as we were walking away (I didn't know we looked that good!) to give to the police (since we caused so much heartache I guess...).  Some people are just out there to be angry and they will find anything to be angry about.  Can't we all just be happy?  :-)

We had a great stake conference this Sunday with the Kansas City Stake.  There were some great talks on personal worth, sustaining your leaders, and about just being a good active member.  Our stake presidency is just amazing.  It is really cool be able to work so close with them on such a consistent basis.

As we were at transfers one of the sister came up to me and said, "the Dukes say HI!"  That was pretty cool that they were up at the Liberty Jail.  It is a small world!

Well, that is about all I've got for you this week!

Love you all!
Elder Shoemaker

While at the Christmas party I got recruited to be the angel Gabriel
because I was the only one that could fit into the white pants they
had.  That was an interesting experience!  Haha!  This is also Elder
Monroe, my new companion!

Joy to the World

Area:  Kansas City, Missouri (Fleming Park Ward)
Companion:  Elder Behymer

Hello family and friends!

This has been a great week!  I don't really have to much to say since I sent an email last Wednesday.

We had a great experience last Friday with going to a nursing home and playing music for the old folks there.  I still had the Cajon so I was able to bring that and play for some of the songs as well.  They all really enjoyed listening to the music.  A 95 year old man pulled out his harmonica and started playing with us.  It was great to see him enjoy himself like that.  He had just enough wind to get the reeds in the harmonica to vibrate, but he loved every second of it!

I did receive both Christmas boxes this past week.  Thank you so much! :)  I am also sending a box home with some stuff in their that I don't need right now, so if you could just stick it in my closet that would be great.  Also, their is the gifts for Meghan and for Josh in it.

Oh!  You should invite Mason over for the Christmas phone call.  It would be great to see him as well.

Today for P-day we are heading to the Kansas City Zoo with the whole zone.  It is our last P-day before transfers so we thought we would go out with a bang.  Elder Behymer, my companion, is going home this week which is crazy!  This is the first missionary I have killed.  It has been a good experience!  He has set a great example for me.  He is finishing strong and hasn't slacked off one bit.  It really has been great to see.

How do ya'll like the Christmas devotional?  I thought it was fantastic!  We were able to watch it with our assistant ward mission leader and his wife and less active boy.  It had such a great message and the music was fantastic as well!  The organist was going ham the whole time!

Well, That is about all I got for ya this week!  I guess we will see if I get transferred, I probably won't but it is a possibility.  I'll send you a picture with my new companion next week.

Love you all!
Elder Shoemaker

Thank you for the wonderful "Christmas from the Cabin" tree!

All Mission Selfie

Area:  Kansas City, Missouri (Fleming Park Ward)
Companion:  Elder Behymer

Hello family and friends!  This has been one eventful week with many more to come this week.

For Thanksgiving we had three full meals...  It was a killer!  We ate with the McCarty family, Amey our recent convert, and the Taveli family.  I had so much gratitude for everyone who was so willing to give during this holiday season.  They treat us just like family and we always enjoy ourselves.

Today, we are heading to the temple!  I'm actually typing up this email on the drive over to the temple, aren't iPads just so sweet?  We are going with Amey and a couple members of the ward to do baptisms for the dead.  We helped her get some of her family names for today and this should be a fantastic day for everyone involved.  I'll send some pictures as well today.

Yesterday we had our all mission conference over in Independence! That was a great time!  We received some great training on the doctrine of Christ, the Sabbath day, and the Book of Mormon.  We were invited to read six pages of the Book of Mormon a day and we were promised that if we did that for our whole life that we would not fall away from the church and that we would always have a testimony of the Book of Mormon.  So, I invite each one of you to give it a shot!  Try to read six pages of the Book of Mormon each day until you finish it, it should take you about 12 weeks to finish it.  Your testimony and understanding of the doctrine of Jesus Christ will explode!  :D.  We received some great insights on the Sabbath day as well that provided some great things to think about.

• The Sabbath day has been set forth from the beginning of time for a reason, why?
• Why was the sabbath day "Hallowed?"
• The overarching message of this past general conference was keeping the sabbath day holy.

They are teaching this so evidently because ithas become and is becoming a huge problem in the world.  The Sabbath day has become a great day for shopping sales, extra work time, and a great day to get the things done that didn't get done throughout the week.  As members of His church, we are to be that light and beacon to the world and to not follow what the world teaches.

During the conference we were also able to do a zone talent.  All the zones in the mission put one on and some were really funny!  Some also were very spiritual.  We sang a song from the forgotten carols called, "I can not find my way/three kings" and it ended up going really well!  We got a lot of compliments on it from everyone.  I was also able to sing a short little solo which was supper nerve wracking!  It was a good growing experience for me.  I was also able to find someone who had a Cajon, which is a percussion instrument.  We put it in at the end of the song and it added a lot to the energy of the music.  We also took an all mission picture around the Christus statue as well that I am excited to see.  The photographer also took a selfie with us as she was 20 feet up in scissor lift that she is going to send to Salt Lake.  She said she thinks it is the first all mission selfie taken!

Justin and Regina didn't come to church on Sunday because they had to take some family back to Sedalia who were over for Thanksgiving.  That means that they can't be baptized this Saturday, so we are still working with them on setting a new date for them to work toward. Other than that they are doing really well!

We had an amazing lesson with Spencer and Angela this past week as well at the visitors center in Independence.  We went through the display of God plan which is based on the plan of salvation and they both really enjoyed seeing that.  Afterward they had a Polynesian choir Christmas program that was really cool to watch!  Angela is from Hawaii and she was singing right along with it.  They sang most of the songs in Hawaiian and in Samoan.

That was about our week!  I'll send some pictures and a short video as well of me jamming on the Cajon.

Love you all!

Elder Shoemaker

Thanksgiving Leftovers!

Wonderful Birthday Week with a Baptism

Area:  Kansas City, Missouri (Fleming Park Ward)
Companion:  Elder Behymer

Hello everyone!

I have had a wonderful week!  Amey was baptized!  The baptism went very well and there was a good turn out from the ward.  She is a fantastic lady and will do a lot of good within the church.  Her father baptized her which was really great to see his excitement to do so.  Her progress in just the few weeks I have known her has been amazing and she continues to surprise us.  

Thank you so much for the birthday box!  It was a great boost in my day, as they always are.  I do have a picture for you...  Oh, and yes, you can go ahead and send the christmas box and both socks.  Elder Behymer will be ok, he will be home for Christmas anyway!  

 Justin and Regina came to church this past week!  They are still on track to be baptized on December 5th.  We are so excited for their progression.  Also, we are working with a part member family and Spencer and Angela came to church.  Spencer is the member.  We taught them a lesson on Sunday that went very well and had them both in tears by the Joseph Smith story.  Things are looking up for them.  We also had another lady named Connie come to church.  She has been investigating for awhile but can't be baptized because of some circumstances.  

For Thanksgiving we are having dinner with Bishops family.  We also were invited to about 4 other dinners.  I think we will be well taken care of that day!  Hopefully I won't blow up...

I have a special request for my room at home.  I would love the picture "Oh Jerusalem" in a frame above my bed.  :)  My favorite picture!   

I don't really know what to say to the ward...  Maybe just share one of my experiences that has stood out to you that I have sent home.  Maybe one on the atonement?  You can use the phrase that I have shared before, "The mission doesn't change you.  The atonement changes you and the mission field is just a green house for change."

I don't really have to much more to share from this week!  Love you all! 

Elder Shoemaker 

 

 

Elder Behymer, Amey, Arron, Me!

 

Elder Shoemaker sportin' a few things that he received for this birthday!  Handmade hat and scarf from his Aunt Kristi, USU Sweatshirt and Rudolf socks!

Heavenly Father is just so good to us....

Area:  Kansas City, Missouri (Fleming Park Ward)
Companion:  Elder Behymer

Hiya!!

This has been a great week full of some amazing things!  Miracle are just so eminent in life if we just open our eyes and look for them. Heavenly Father is just so good to us.  We must be the spoiled children, because I sure feel like he is spoiling us!

With the world series here I couldn't help but join in on the celebration and buy a shirt!  I think I am now a KC Royals fan, sorry!  :-)  We just got over the craze of the BYU and Missouri game, I can't tell you how much blue we saw here.  I ran into a lot of people from Utah who came over here to see the game, pretty cool!  There was also a huge tailgate at the Independence Stake Center and Visitors Center. I even ran into people who came to our ward this Sunday who were from the Mendon area!  I gave them the inside scoop of where all the good hidden church sights are at.

We had the great opportunity to have interviews with President and Sister Vest this past week.  Those interviews have really helped me change my perspective on missionaries.  Sometimes I feel like all I see is a bunch of young missionaries who aren't doing what they should.  I forget to look at what good they are doing.  It can be hard to look past some of the conduct of the missionaries and focus on their hearts.  I am getting a lot better at having sincere love and interest for each missionary I have stewardship over and it has been a great learning experience for me.  The Lord seems to always put us in the areas where He knows we will learn and grow the most.  He truly is good to me.

Crystal is doing great!  We are really focusing on how we can help her first kick some bad habits.  They truly do take away our agency and tear us down.  We are working through some of the church programs with her and have some great ward support that can really relate to her. She is just the sweetest lady!  I asked her where she sees herself in 20 years and her response was, "I will be an old yoga lady that works in her garden all day."  Haha!  That helps you see the kind of person she is.  We have also really been focusing on raising her self worth and how she sees herself.  We left her with the commitment to write one thing she loves about herself everyday in the front cover of her Book of Mormon, we are doing it right along with her as well.  I really emphasized on how we are commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves, but how can we do that if we first don't love ourselves?  I absolutely love meeting and teach this lady.

Justin and Regina now have the same last name!!!!!!  They were married last Friday.  The missionaries have been meeting with them for about three years now and have been trying to get them married, but with their situation it was impossible.  The Lord provided a way for them!! They are still doing really well and are progressing very quickly again.  With a little firm love and a little push they are starting to kick the bad habits as well.  We have had some great lessons with them lately and they are on track to be baptized on December 5th!  They are already talking about how fun it will be to go to church and be a "real Mormon family."

Amey is doing very well (yes, that is how you spell her name :-))! She is getting baptized this Saturday at 10am.  She has come a long way and loves being called Sister "so and so..."  She has been pretty sick these past couple of weeks but she will come around here soon. It should be a great baptismal service.

 As I was studying this morning I came across this scripture in Alma 36:30 "But behold, my son, this is not all; for ye ought to know as I do know, that inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land; and ye ought to know also, that inasmuch as ye will not keep the commandments of God ye shall be cut off from his presence. Now this is according to his word."

I love how basic and simply that is said.  If you keep the commandment you are blessed!  If you don't, you won't be blessed and will also "be cut off from his presence."  The gospel is not complicated, Heavenly Father doesn't make it hard for us to be happy.  He wants us to be happy and to prosper and so He has created a simple plan and very basic way for that.  How blessed are we to be able to have that knowledge?  Isn't the gospel amazing?!

That was basically our week!

Love you all!!

Elder Shoemaker