Sam's Mission To Zambia Blog: April 9, 2018

From Dad - Conference

Hi Sam.

I think I heard Mom say that you would be listening to conference this week-end. How was it? I remember conference being one of my favorite times on my mission. Amazing time to be alive when we have living prophets.

This week-end, Mom and I went on an overnighter to Edmonton. We stayed in the Westin Hotel downtown and had a great time reconnecting both with each other and with our goals for us and our family. Didn’t have to spend too much time on you knowing you are mostly in the Lords and the mission presidents hands. Keep the rules and you will be protected.

We had some funny experiences on our extended date. When we got to the hotel, the valet directed us to the parkade asking us to bring our license plate # to the front desk. So we did until we found out that the cost was $33 for the night! We quickly asked if we could move it after check in and were able to use my work parkade pass to get free parking. It worked out well as there is a nice crepe restaurant right by my parkade. We enjoyed a scrumptious dinner, where we realized half way through our entree that I was eating Moms Salmon and artichoke crepe and she was eating my cordon Bleu chicken crepe. We laughed that we had hardly noticed but both were so yummy we just kept eating !

After we walked down Jasper Ave to a bookstore (Audrey’s books) that we used to go to when we lived on 124 st for a book signing.

It was quite cold outside (Spring has decided to delay coming this year) so we had to walk briskly and
We found a couple of stops in the way back to get warm. The first one was the Wee Book Inn, a used book store. I thought we were only stopping to get warm but when I’d looked around a bit and then found your Mom, she already had a stack of books in her arms! So I didn’t want to be showed up so I found a couple myself. It reminded me a bit of our early years when buying books was our favorite thing to do.

The next stop was a Tim Horton’s for a hot drink. When we stepped inside we felt a little prickle go up our spine as it was a pretty sketchy crowd inside. Downtown Edmonton at 10 pm is a whole different world. From the gangster dressed black boys in the booth with low jeans and bandannas and outrageous caps, to the native lady counting out dimes to pay for her coffee that she promptly spilled to the short skirted, high heeled teenager girl, I was mentally planning my Kenpo-x moves to get Mom and I out safely! In the end, my intimidating presence protected us, and we hurried the rest of the way to the hotel alternately Burning and freezing our hands as we juggled books and hot chocolate.

I love the adventure of life with your Mom. She’s the best thing that ever happened to me. You kids are pretty special too.

Speaking of P90x, I captured a video of Ben and Cody and Mia doing Abb ripper. I’ll post it to google drive and send you a link shortly.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xaIzvTarWHsmju0DiDoltA-1kixGjwqx

I had a funny/frustrating experience on Saturday. I got an upgraded phone from work and so I had my old iPhone I wanted to set up for Ben to have a phone again (he lost the old boys phone). So I was resetting and erasing it for him to use and I ended up doing it, but then as I was looking at my phone, something didn't click right in my brain and I thought the reset had failed and that I was holding the old phone, so I reset my own phone! So now I have to re set up my own phone and have no pics to send to you :(. Maybe Mom can forward some or Josh or Ben.

We’re looking forward to traveling down for Stephs grad and busy with festival performances. Say a prayer for Abby and Ben this next 2 weeks.

Have a great week Sam.

Love Dad.

Reply From Sam:

I absolutely loved conference. It was my favorite part of this week. Just like you, I had the spirit testify to me that President Nelson is called of God and is leading the church.

I'm also thankful for the stories and for the video you sent me. It made me laugh because everyone was being themselves.

I love you Dad,

Elder Smith

From Sam - To Eternity and Beyond

This week has been an exciting week. Transfers happened and I got a new companion. His name is Elder Hansen and he's super cool and very gospel smart.

We've been able to get along very well. This week there are a lot of people that are preparing to be baptized. Two this week and 9 more in the next 6 weeks. It's going to be amazing. At ever baptism I watch I think about what I learned in the MTC: You change peoples eternities while on mission. It always gets me excited whenever I think about it.

Yesterday I was able to watch Conference. It was so amazing! I was able to feel the spirit testifying to me that Russell M. Nelson is the one called of God to be the prophet and lead the Church. 3 of my investigators came and had a great experience. I know this because one of the investigators that came called me in the evening and gave me a 7 minute thankyoumony on the prophet, the spirit and eternal life. It was kind of funny but I knew that he felt the spirit super strongly.

Today I got a mini quad and a mini hymnbook from the distribution center, something I've been wanting to do since I got here. I spent a lot of money and hopefully I don't need to spend this much money in one day for the rest of my mission. I had a shock this week because I was called as a district leader. Everytime I think of it the scene from The Best Two Years jumps into my head where Elder Vanpelt says "Just watch Elder, I'll go from junior companion, to district leader." I feel so under qualified but at the same time I feel like I got this. Mission life is really exciting. Every once in a while I think about what everyone is thinking about my life in Africa. Then I think about my life in Africa. It feels so normal but also so different at the same time. I feel like I've been here forever but it also feels like Everything is so different and weird. All in all, I'll figure it out in 21 months.

I Love and miss you all,

Elder Smith

Pictures:

-Me and my new Companion