Sam's Mission To Zambia Blog: September 24, 2018

From Mom - No Time to Procrastinate

Dear Sam,

So you know that snow we were telling you about last week? .... IT’S STILL HERE! This means that the moment the weather is even halfway warm, we need to get out and dig up the beets, clean the garage, wash the windows, take down the trampoline, put away the lawn chairs and in effect ... get ready for winter. This means a long long long cold season ahead of us. We checked the weather both in Lilongwe and in St, George and we might be a little jealous.

So? What are your first impressions of Malawi? How is it different than Zambia? What is your apartment like?

We’re really dying to hear about it.

Okay, news from home besides snow is that it’s the September birthday week for Ben, Mia and me. Mia had the traditional 12 year old birthday party. ...

Ben joined in on the fun, too. Haha. Then we took Ben out separately for his birthday for some new clothes (he was down to 2 pairs of pants), and he is now the proud owner of a pair of suspenders. 17 is going to be a good year for him.

I was lucky enough that Dad took me to Banff for my birthday. We hiked, ate good food and enjoyed the beautiful mountains and the colours that go with it.

So pretty. Of course, I fully recognize what a luxurious life we lead. It’s a life of abundance for which I am profoundly grateful.

And grateful, especially for you, Sam. We’re proud of you and your willingness to serve. In Primary today we memorized “when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.” And the kids did pretty good! I had one experience this week about that. I felt that I should go visit Annie Kruyer on Tuesday morning. I had a million other things to do but I dropped them and went visiting instead. I found out I couldn’t get to their driveway because the road in front of their house was all torn up and I discovered they’d been housebound for 10 days and going crazy. I had to park in the field out back and cross country hike to their back yard. It was a good visit and I’m so grateful I followed the thought to go see her. We were both strengthened.

Now we’re facing a week without Dad. He’s in Albany, New York for his work. I’m trying hard to finish the mud room so we have a place to hang our coats.

Can’t wait to hear from you! Love you!!

Mom

From Sam - Malawi (the Warm Heart of Africa)

Hey all,

I made it to Malawi and I'm loving every minute of it. Though I've only been here for about 50 hours. That's going to change soon to be a year and I'm going to wonder what happened with the time.

My major highlights of the week are getting an awesome Companion. His name is Elder Williams and he's super fun and very funny. I'm excited to serve with him. I had a mission leader training(MLC) and I learned so much about leadership in general and as a missionary. The best part was the training, but the food was a close second.

I learned how to do the Rubiks cube in a day being taught be a super talented missionary. And I'm living beside Elder Ellsworth, who was with me in the MTC, and it's pretty awesome.

My favorite thing about Malawi is everything. But I really like the language. As a greeting you can just say "Bobo", and they respond "Bo" and everything is said and done.I'm definitely taking this back home and i'm going to say it all the time. The people are great and we're teaching some pretty awesome people.

This morning the assistants were here with us and we played 3v3 soccer for like 2 hours and I was dying 10 minutes in. It's been a while since I worked like that physically. But I loved it. The biggest thing I'm adjusting to is the currency. In Zambia we would get 1000kwacha for our MSF and in Malawi we get 70,000-75,000kwacha in MSF. I'm still learning.

I'm in a different place but the work is still the same.

The church is true and there's no shame in that.

Dad, what's my line of Authority? Can you send it to me?

Elder Smith

Pictures:

-The Lilongwe Missionary leaders(ZL's and STL's)