January 27, 2014

Dear Family,

So i'm getting pretty excited for the month of January to be done with. I always remember that Grandpa Shumway hated January because its just a month when we are all poor after christmas. And especially that he didnt want to pass away in January....February 3rd was a perfect day...i'm excited for that day. It'll be a great time to remember Grandpa and the little memories I have of him. Ill wear his tie that i have of him and buy myself a pink cookie in remembrance of him :) I think its next monday isnt it? I hope you will all remember him that day. Sometimes i just sit back and think about gramps. Also, when i have a bad day on the mission...i put his tie on and it ALWAYS makes me feel better. I can feel him protecting me here on the mission. He was a great man....I miss him but I know he's a missionary angel right now.

So this week was a pretty busy week!! We had exchanges 3 different times during the week so that was exhausting. I worked with Elder Bergman from Washington, Elder Jaramillo from Mexico City who actually played linebacker in high school so that was a fun day, and Elder Villela from Guatamala who is one of the assistants here in the mission. So yeah lots of work this past week!! Elder Tenorio and I capacitated again to the zone and we talked about how we can get the members more involved with finding people that we can teach. It was great, ill send some pictures! 

Also on wednesday we had a meeting with president Bird and the stake presidency to talk about the missionary work in the stake. The stake has about 8 wards and 4 missionaries as zone leaders. So we have growing here in the mission cause usually its just one companionship for each stake. But we are growing a ton! It was fun to talk about what he can do to do even better!! Also it was hilarious cause after the meeting we walked outside and some member gave me a football and president was like hey lets play catch! haha it was sick, and it just felt good to throw a ball again. I took a video of us playing so you can see it when i get back! President was a QB in high school, he's got a good arm!

Also funny story. So right before we got the offices which is actually the stake center for our zone, we took a taxi to get there. I sat in front and i gave elder tenorio my duffle bag that i had with me to him in the back. When we got dropped off. I noticed that elder tenorio didnt have my bag and i was like Elder! wheres my bag?!?! hahaha. We noticed it was in the taxi and i just dropped all my stuff and started running like Bolt chasing after that taxi. I was hoping elder tenorio was behind me because i cant leave him, but i was kinda man he left my bag so i was like screw it! and i left him haha, as i was getting closer to the taxi..the guy thought someone was chasing after him so he got scared and took off really fast hahaha. I was like BROTHEERRRRR!!! He heard me and finally stopped and i got my stuff, haha and slowly elder tenorio comes running behind me! haha it was so funny and just so fast how it all happened!! It was always hilarious because when we got back to the offices, everyone was like freaking out because of how fast i just took of and started running after that taxi man. I dont mean to brag, but it was actually pretty cool hahaha. 

Also guess what?! Remember in tamaulipas, Elder Bautista and I were teaching that lady named Guera?! yeah, she got baptized on saturday with her son! And Elder Tenorio and I were able to go! Guera will always be one of my favorite people that i've ever taught! I hope you can all meet her one day! She was so happy on her baptism day and just loved it! I just wanted to cry during the baptismal service! It was also great to see everyone!

But anyways, yeah, it was a good week. I love you all and hope all is well :)

Elder Needham