Sam's Mission To Zambia Blog: August 6, 2018

From Mom

Dear Sam,

I've really started to miss you lately. Like, a lot. I know my emotions are usually delayed but seven months is taking it a little far, don't you think? Haha. Anyway, I've been listening to your playlists while I run and it's really helped. I like your rules about listening to music; upbeat, good lyrics, good message. (When Sia came on and sung "I've got stamina," I started to believe it. Lol!) On Saturday, I ran 8.3 km and it felt great (although I am sore today). It's really fun to train with Shannon and Stephanie because we send encouragement to each other and let each other know how we're doing. It helps to have encouragement along the way.

I think the highlight of the week was surprising Dad two days before his birthday. Steph was going to be here and I secretly invited Grandma and Grandpa Smith and Liz and kids to come. So last Monday, I took Dad for a walk when Gma and Gpa told me they were close. While Dad and I were gone, the travellers arrived and Steph, Josh, Ben, Abby, and Mia quickly put up decorations and blew up some balloons. Gma and Gpa hid their car in the garage, so we came home through the front door and Dad didn't know. We walked in and everyone jumped out and yelled "SURPRISE!" And he was surprised. We had an old fashioned birthday party for him. He is 48 years old and the years keep getting better and better.

We've been spending time on LYR, which is in two weeks. Wish us luck. Dad is talking on GRIT, or the ability to persevere especially when times are hard. This means we've been having lots of conversations at home about it. Other words we've used is "gumption, determination" and "mental toughness." We watched the movie "Cinderella Man." It's an older one but you should put it on your list of movies-to-see when you get home. It's about a boxer in the 1920's who's in line to win the heavyweight championship and he's making a lot of money but he breaks his hand and declines in ability until they revoke his license. Then the Great Depression hits and he and his family have to move to the slums. He tries to get work as a labourer but essentially him and his family are starving and they're barely hanging on. He's doing all he can to keep his family together and finally he is reduced to getting welfare and begging people for money. Anyway, his manager gets him one last exhibition fight which will earn him $250. It's not a good match but he's so desperate for money that he takes it, knowing the opponent is going to beat him to a pulp. Against all odds, he wins and starts professionally boxing again and what happens to him after. It's a good movie about GRIT. His only goal was to keep his family together and suddenly he becomes the best fighter he's ever been. He fights with broken ribs, he fights with an empty stomach, he fights when his opponent is taking low blows because he knows these fights are keeping his children from starving. It was a good example of GRIT.

Another highlight of the week is our garden (well, it's my highlight anyways although it may not be for anyone else), which is starting to produce. Beans, zucchini, carrots, peas and the Patrick's raspberries (they asked us to pick them while they were away on holiday). On Saturday, I had to ask everyone to come help pick beans because there were so many. They wanted to complain but didn't. Haha. We have beets, squash, corn, cucumbers and potatoes to still look forward to. It's really nice to have Josh home and he is willing to let me boss him around. We've been raking and planting grass seed to the final bald areas of our yard. He also dug up a substantial boulder on the corner of the new garden, so I'm glad he's around! Hopefully when you get back from your mission we will have the yard mostly landscaped. It's taking awhile.

Yesterday, I was talking with Kalli Rice, who works at Classic and knows Meg Wilde, who you know from Zambia. Apparently, when Meg tells people she just got off her mission to Zambia, everyone asks, "Do you know Sam Smith?" She said if she had a dollar for everyone who asks her about Sam Smith, she'd be rich. Hahaha. So no one has forgotten about you in the Classic world. Oh, and Meg has a boyfriend already so you can't set her up with Josh (although I know you tried.) Josh is following in your footsteps though, by setting up Ben on a date with Sarah Driessen. Sarah just returned home from a visit with family in Spain and Josh was talking to her. He asked her why she hasn't gone on a date with Ben yet and she said she was just waiting for him to ask, so Josh said, "Well, why don't we just set it up right now?" I'm not sure if Ben liked it too much but apparently they are going to the movies on Saturday. Ha!

Other than that, all is well. I'm still getting the hugest kick out of the kids in Primary. Yesterday we had a sharing time about prayer and I told them a series of scripture stories about Jesus and what we could learn from him about praying and getting answers to prayers. I told the story of Jesus rebuking the wind then shared your Helaman's Camp story of your group praying, then the storm splitting around you. I shared my story of losing my van keys in the wilderness while picking blueberries in Ontario and praying to find them and then miraculously finding them. Then one little five year old put up his hand and said, "Yeah, like that guy who had 20 rocks and Jesus lit them up to bright shining lights!" (It was the story of the brother of Jared and 16 stones, but those are minor details, haha). I was just so impressed that this little kid was listening so intently then made his own connection about getting prayers answered. We then talked about getting our own answers and what they might look like. I shared the story of Enos who had to pray for a day and a night before he got his answer. "You gotta want it," I told the kids. There is one little boy who recently moved into the ward and when I told the story of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane asking God to make it so he didn't have to suffer for everyone's sins and explained that God said "no" but then sent an angel to comfort him instead, this little boy looked so intent with his eyes just shining. He said, "I know that! Sometimes God says "no" but then he makes it okay somehow." It really made me wonder about what kind of children are being born in this generation. They just seem so much more spiritually aware than any children I've ever known. It's fun to teach them. And I think they know how important it is to figure out your own connection to Heavenly Father. That guiding principle in my own life is vital to my well-being but it seems I learned it a little later than them. Anyways ...

I love you, Sammy Boy. So proud of you. Good luck with your new companion! We pray for you every day. We miss you, but know that you are where you need to be. I'll send pictures through Google Hangouts because I'm typing on this Chrome book and have no idea how to attach pictures.

Love,

Mom

Questions:

Do you find it to be very different with a Nigerian companion?

How long did the cold season last?

Exactly what area are you in?

What is the best thing about your ward?

Can you give us a typical day?

Reply from Sam:

Hey all,

Thanks for the amazing email Mom. I love hearing about the details

-It's not that different with my new companion. He's a really hard worker. That's my favorite thing about Africans, they are almost all really hard workers. Sometimes I have to work a little harder to keep up with him.

-Cold season lasted about a month. Then ended in a day. Now that i'm getting used to the heat. When I go home I'm going to die.

-I'm in Libala and I'm covering the whole ward boundaries because we are short of missionaries.

-And my favorite thing about my ward is the members. They are really fun and they feed us more then in my old area.

-A typical day is: Wake up at 6am, work out for 20-30 minutes while listening to talks or music, Breakfast of cereal made in Zimbabwe and yogurt as well as taking my Doxy(Anti-malaria pills) Then shower, get ready and study for 60 minutes, then plan for the day/companion study and leave the flat by 9am. We either have appointments almost every hour and lunch for 30-45 minutes. And if we don't have appointments we are street contacting, following up with other investigators/referrals, knocking gates or visiting members. We don't knock off from our day until 19hours(7pm) until 22h(10pm) we have lunch, update our area book and get ready for bed.

Hope this answers your questions. If you have anymore, let me know,

-Elder Smith

From Sam - The Joy of Driving

Sorry everyone I accidentally sent my other email early.

But this week has been busy. Transfers happened early and I started driving the truck. And with everything happening, my companion got transferred to become the new AP. And my new companion is finally an African. I had 3 white companions before so it's about time. His Name is Elder Odukoya from Nigeria. He came from Malawi so we had to go pick him up from the airport.

Because of early transfers I've been driving the truck lots and I have to admit, it's really fun to start driving again. The only difference is that I'm driving of the left hand side of the road and i'm shifting gears with my left hand. It's kind of funny how my body is automatically thinking i'm of the right side of the road. On my first day driving I would start driving on the right side then move over when my companion would tell my I'm on the wrong side. and I would automatically turn on the windshield wipers when I would start to turn. But, it took me about a day to adjust and now it's normal.

That was pretty much my week. I'm loving Zambia so much. and this week it went from cold season to Hot season in one day. Now it's too hot and I'm now complaining about how hot it is instead of how cold it is. I'm learning everyday that if you complain about your circumstances you will always be complaining. The two things we can always control is our Attitude and our Effort. Everything else we can't control, maybe we can influence it but never control it. The only thing you can complain about is your Attitude and your Effort. But if you complain about those things you are the one at fault and should stop complaining.

I love you all,

-Elder Smith

Pictures:

-Me and Elder Odukoya