Elder Shoemaker - the Younger...

After studying and working hard through a year at USU, our oldest son, Joshua, took a leap of faith and decided to submit his "papers" to serve a full-time LDS mission.


Keri and I have always prepared and encouraged our boys to serve, but ultimately the choice is still theirs.


On June 16th, 2011 he received his call, signed by the prophet, President Thomas S. Monson! It arrived during our annual "Cousins' Camp" family reunion, which was being held in Ovid, Idaho, near Bear Lake. I had to work until Thursday, so I brought the sealed envelope with me to the reunion.


On Friday, June 17th, we all gathered together, along with two local missionaries serving in the Montpelier area, to watch, on the edge of our seats, as Josh opened and read the call!


He kept himself and all of us in suspense, by only revealing one line of the letter at a time, reading slowly, word by word. He finally came to the part which said, "You are assigned to labor in the Belgium/Netherlands Mission," where he would be speaking Dutch! Cousin's were screaming, Mom & grandparents were crying, dad was filming, Josh had an ear to ear grin as the reality of the surreal moment began to sink in.


There was great rejoicing in Ovid, and no doubt, beyond!


Josh spent the next three months working, to save (and spend) some money, and preparing spiritually for the "Best Two Years" of his life, scheduled to begin September 21st as he entered the MTC. During these three months, Keri spent hours and hours helping fill out paperwork, including passport and visa applications, doctor and dentist sign-off's, FBI clearance, letter of Apostille, etc, etc.. Time is of the essence, as some of these applications cannot be submitted until a previous application returns! It is no wonder that many missionaries do not have their passport and visa finalized until after weeks in the MTC - sometimes not until a day or two before departure.

Keri also helped work our way down a long checklist of clothing and supplies required for each missionary, while at the same time, making plans for Josh, er Elder Shoemaker's farewell. Josh was progressing well with his spiritual preparations, but some days he seemed to hang on to his teen-ager mentality a bit too much. Keri and I exercised great patience and faith, as we put our trust in God to help successfully get Josh to the MTC!


Weeks and months of preparations culminated as the farewell and reception came off nicely, and we made plans to drive down to the MTC, on September 21st.


The whole family drove down, where we shared a nice lunch at the Orem Spaghetti Factory.


We were a bit early, so we waited near the temple until the appointed arrival time.


We drove through the gate, and I'm sure that, by this point, Keri was more nervous than Josh!


We were greeted by sidewalks lined with friendly missionaries waving as we drove ahead to our assigned stop.


We arrived and were immediately met by elders who allowed for a very quick good-bye.


They then whisked Elder Shoemaker and his luggage away to his MTC home! Although we missed him already, Keri and I breathed a huge sigh of relief that he was now in the Lord's hands, and embarking on two years of life-changing service.


After two months of intensive language (Dutch) and spiritual training with his MTC companion, Elder Wright, Elder Shoemaker boarded a plane and was on his way to Europe on a 10-hour flight! Keri and I were able to speak with him during his layover in Portland, then we tracked his intercontinental flight on the internet.


The very next day, President and Sister Brubaker had already posted a picture of Elder Shoemaker, showing him safely at the mission home!


Elder Shoemaker received his first assignment, in a "quaint" little apartment, serving with Elder Schulte, in the city of Gent. I told Keri that I had predicted his first companion, because I found the mission 'blog maintained by his parents in Indiana and showed it to Keri, two days before we found out who his first companion would be!

Josh struggled a bit the first week, battling a nasty cough and cold - not to mention a bit of culture shock. From all that we can gather, Elder Schulte has been a great trainer for Josh, no doubt drawing from his own experience to help Elder Shoemaker adjust to mission life in a totally foreign land. The members in their area are also very helpful and supportive of the missionaries! In Gent, the primary language is Flemish, somewhat related to Dutch, but still very different. Fortunately, they found opportunities to speak and even teach in Dutch, and of course, some in English.

You can follow Elder Shoemaker's letters and adventures on Elder Shoemaker's Mission Blog which we have set up and which Keri updates regularly!


*(Click "Play" then click "Pause" to allow the video to fully load first, to avoid buffering delays.)
I just felt a need to update this 'blog, since we just had the awesome opportunity to video chat with him on Christmas morning for 40 minutes! Here is a video which I edited together, including some from that video call.


We experience blessings daily from Elder Shoemaker's service. His service has a great influence in the lives of many, including our extended family here in the States.


We know that he is being watched over, and pray that he will be an instrument of service in God's hands, to not only build himself, but bless the lives of countless people in his mission.