Dear Sam,
I don't know why the weather must be talked about every email. I guess that's just the way it is. After the weather report we can get on to real life. 😊 So, yesterday morning it was brown and dull, the temps just below freezing. I went for a run and the snow started to sift down, gently at first, then in that big fluffy way. It was beautiful, absolutely silent with the smell that only fresh snow has. Coco and I returned after an hour with an inch of snow on us. If my phone hadn't died, I would've taken a picture to show you. And it hasn't stopped and won't stop until the wee hours of Monday morning and winter will be here to stay. (We've had 5 snowfalls since September but each of them melted. This one won't.) Just in time for the Christmas decorations and hot chocolate.
To be honest though, we've all been converted to herbal tea. Finally. Family tradition to gather round on cold nights and sip the relaxing hot goodness before bed. Love it.
This week was eventful! The girls came home from visiting Steph and Tyler, safe and sound. The security guard walked them out because he just couldn't believe a 12 and 13 yr old girls were traveling by plane by themselves. Apparently it's not a common occurrence. I should have known. They had a fantastic time. I'm SO GRATEFUL for family relationships and how we all strengthen each other. Steph and Tyler gave the girls many experiences that we couldn't give them ... rock climbing, Target shopping, Pandemic playing, etc, etc. And now they feel happy and relaxed and not so sad in missing Steph.
I also heard a funny bit of conversation between Josh and Ben tonight. It went something like this ...
Josh: "I prayed for humility and God made me fall (slip on the ice) twice in front of some pretty girls."
Ben: "God moves in mysterious ways."
Dad and I were cracking up.
Then Josh told Ben that he's so poor, he's mooching off his roommates. And he let a girl buy him custard. This is how far he's fallen.
Ben: "Well, what would student life be if you didn't starve a little."
Josh: "True."
Hahahahaha!
Oh, I love it. I love my family and how good you are to each other.
The big news at home is still the kitten, Primrose, and will be until she stops being cute. I'm a convert to kitten therapy though. We let her crawl on us and cuddle with us. The girls are getting happily all scratched up. Ben even plays with her every night before bed just for good measure. Her current obsession is the Christmas tree and gets stuck in it multiple times a day.
Oh, and Ben made the news again. He's the most famous out of all of us, so far.
I adore December. It's such a nice feeling. We become more Christ-centered and generally just kinder and happier people. I don't think we do so bad all year, but in December, it's just all around loving. We went to the Stake Christmas Social last night. They set it up so there were 5 places to go that had Christmas-type stuff. 1) The Food Room; 2) The Singing Room; 3) The Nativity Room; 4) The Performance Room; and 5) The Christ Room. Attendees could walk around and go to whatever they wanted. My favorite was The Christ Room. Ron Patrick was in charge. We watched a couple of short videos then he bore his testimony about the Savior. In his long life, he's had multiple crazy experiences that taught him about the divinity and tangible reality of Jesus Christ. I walked away feeling strengthened and humbled and grateful for our belief in Him. It just makes life so much more abundant.
Having said that, the snowfall is going to prevent me from driving into Edmonton to mail your package tomorrow as planned. Hopefully this week though, then we'll be praying you get it in time. Otherwise, it'll have to be a New Year's package, like Josh got when he was on his mission. I'm about the worst for getting out packages. I hope you'll forgive me.
Love you forever,
Mom
From Sam - Contention is not of Christ
Hello everyone,
This week has come and gone and so has November. Now we are in December which is the Christmas season, some say it as x-mas but when you do that you cross the savior out of it. This past week me and my companion(Elder Williams) did a roleplay with the two other "young" missionaries in our compound(Elder Funaki and Elder Madsen) In this roleplay I acted as a person confused by all the doctrines in the world today and Elder Williams acted as a pastor for a church and a founder of a bible collage. The "young" missionaries were supposed to try to teach two unteachable people. Our goal was to make the two E.Funaki and E.Madsen mad or angry at us and as we did the roleplay I could see the frustration start to pent up inside them. We hit them with anti-Book of Mormon, Gift of tongues and seventh-day questions and used scriptures to "confound" them. It was a lot of fun but our end goal in this was to teach them that contention drives the spirit away. You may know the scriptures to prove people wrong but if you do it without the spirit you cannot teach them. In my first 6 months of my mission I got pretty good at "bible-bashing" but where I am now, I know that it gets you nowhere and wastes time.
As a missionary and as a person you need the spirit. Without it not a lot gets done. Life is always going to be hard so it is our choice to either have God with us or not. God doesn't take our trials away, he helps us through them. When I left home to go on my mission my testimony was mostly based on Joseph Smith, as I have gone through my mission my testimony has shifted to Jesus Christ. I love this Gospel so much, I can't wait to be a regular member of His church and apply all the principles I've learned from my mission.
I love you all, Stay awesome!
-Elder Smith
Pictures:
-A little bit of heaven after a storm
-Breakfast at a Buffet
-Me being a baby on my companions back(The power of Chitenges)
-Elder Williams on Elder Funaki's back
-Mango season is here!!!
-Ways a chitenge can be worn
-Elder Williams and Elder Funaki doing their usual wrestling.
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