December 10, 2018

From Dad: Christmas Spirit

Dear Sam,

Christmas is definitely in the air. From the Light the World reminders to Christmas concerts to decorations, we are really enjoying the Christmas spirit. 

The girls have discovered the ultimate recipe for chocolate cupcakes and much to the detriment of my dieting goals, have made 3 big batches:

Community Caroling - this week, Ben and Abby participated in a Christmas concert with the school of music. At first I thought it was the typical recital format, but it turned out the school joined up with the Peace Lutheran Church for a Community Caroling evening. Ben played prelude carols, and Abby played a trio piece with Hannah Robison and Jackson Kruk. At first, Mom wanted to sit in the back so we could escape early, but we found ourselves caught up in the community spirit of singing carols together. They were all spiritual carols and a number of them were new for us. We felt a nice spirit there and it brought a Christmas feeling to our hearts.

Ward Party - We went to the ward party this week. It was a different format. Typically we have a huge meal, but this year it was more of an open house format with buffet hors d'oeuvres. Abby, Ben and I participated in singing a song "We Three Kings" for a special program. It was a very spiritual gathering and Ben remarked how it hit him and he felt the spirit of Christmas. 

Thursday night, I went and listened Ben's Choir concert. He has a new music teacher this year, so some slightly different flavors of music, but still pretty fun.

Friday Ben got to stay home from school and had no Musical theater, so he enjoyed a break to read and play piano. The girls went skiing at Rabbit hill and enjoyed that even though it was a bit chilly.

Today we heard from Eric DeVries who is home from his mission to Toronto. He is still Eric, but with a more stable and mature testimony of the gospel. He gave his talk about the importance of finding and confirming Truth. One analogy that was particularly powerful for me was comparing discovering truth in this life to putting together a puzzle. Sometimes pieces of the puzzle don't seem to fit or make sense, but we don't throw out the puzzle, we keep looking for pieces of the puzzle that will help connect the parts that don't yet make sense. So true of the gospel and the truths of the Universe and life. It takes patience and faith to continue to search for and discover God's plan for us and for his children.

At the Christmas party last night, I was talking with my Elder's Quorum president about unifying the quorum and some of the tensions and struggles he is facing in his leadership role. He referred me to a fascinating article that I'll attach here maintaining the importance of the Church in our salvation just as much as the ordinances and doctrines of the gospel. Not sure if your mission rules allow you to read articles like this, but enjoy if you can.

Today I got to teach SS and really enjoyed the opportunity to study the amazing stories of Daniel and his friends and the story of Esther. So powerful the testimonies of Shadrach, Meshach, and Aben-dego when facing the fiery furnace when they proclaimed their faith and trust that the Lord could save them, "but if not", they would still keep their covenants. Similarly the story of Esther choosing to sacrifice her livelihood to save her people and the concept of her being prepared "for such a time as this" and her faithful statement of "if I perish, I perish" just really struck me. I hope and pray that our family will recognize the Lord's hand in our lives and be faithful to our covenants because we have been prepared "for such a time as this" to make a difference in the world.

Just talked with Steph and Josh by phone tonight. Really enjoy keeping in touch with everyone in our family. Steph sent a picture of her Farmer's market table:

Have a great week, Sam. Love you lots.

Dad.

From Sam - Things I've Learned:

Hello Everyone,

This week was amazing, The biggest thing was my companion, Elder Williams, was transferred away. I have really enjoyed these three months with him. It has been the fastest 3 months of my mission, and come to think of it, I've been on my mission for a year now. Time sure does fly.

The two biggest things I have learned from Elder Williams was 1. The importance of following and listening to the Spirit, and 2. He helped my move my testimony from Joseph Smith to Jesus Christ. 

Since I've been on mission my testimony of the Restoration has become so great, but it was more on Joseph Smith. These past three months my testimony of Jesus Christ has become even greater. I've been able to read the Book of Mormon 5 times since I've started my mission, (I just finished it for the fifth time) Now for the sixth time I'm marking every reference of Jesus Christ, His words, His attributes and the doctrines and principles contained in the Book of Mormon. I hope by doing so I really can say I know that the Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

This is pretty much all the excitement that happened this week. If there is anything you want to know in specific, ask me questions

I love you all,

Elder Smith

Pictures:

-Me riding a mini bike

-Me saying goodbye to Elder Williams

(The other missionaries are Elder Funaki who is a Tongan and Elder Madsen)