Sam's Mission To Zambia Blog: April 2019

Monday, April 29, 2019

April 29, 2019

From Jen - April's Wings

Dear Elder Smith,

I woke up this morning and read your email. I laughed at you getting "smitten" on the cheek. I wonder if you thought about "turning the other cheek" in that moment? Haha.

We said goodbye to Stephanie early Saturday morning. We sure loved having her stay with us for nine days and packed so much in! We went to Sparwood for Easter and a baby shower, then came home for another baby shower, celebrated Josh's birthday and were busy every day. We loved her contributions to the family especially helping Abby with her talk when stress was high (Abby's talk was good and she did amazing, btw) and giving Ben suggestions with school assignments. The only problem with being busy is that time flies by and April has flown by for me, which is okay.

Mia learned that babies can hear while growing on the inside so in this picture she was reading to the baby. Cute, right?

At the baby shower ...

Baby deviled eggs. Haha.

One of our projects while Steph was here was to recreate "school photo magnets" for Grandma Bruce's fridge. We hung Ben's blue blanket over the wall by the stairs and this is the result. ...

These are the finished pictures. The ones on the right will go to Grandma Bruce and ones on the left will go to Grandma Smith as a Mother's Day gift.

We're excited to welcome a new baby and are trying very hard not to be sad that they live far away. I've never been so grateful for airplanes than I am now.

In other news, our Ward boundaries were changed yesterday at Stake Conference. Basically they took five wards and made them into six. So the Devon Ward boundaries shrunk a little and as a result, don't have the Arnolds or the Watsons in our Ward anymore. Luckily the "new" Woodbend Ward will meet in our building so we will still see our friends. Change is good though. There is a realization that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the point and purpose of our church. The people can help or hinder our testimonies but they are not the purpose.

I overheard Ben tell you of his rewards at the Gala concert yesterday. He received multiple scholarships around $1200 (he forgot to tell you about his big one that the radio station gave him). It's a good start for his savings.

He performed Was I Wazir from the musical Kismet. He's also going to Provincials for both musical theater and piano. Poor guy. Haha.

Mia is keeping us all busy with her new obsession with geocaching. Her and Dad found a cool one hidden in a man-made wire bird nest.

So life is busy and life is good. We love you and know you are busy in the work of the Lord, which means time is going to fly for you. Sprint to the end, Sam! We keep you in our prayers daily.

Love forever,

Mom

From Sam - The Missionary Flat

Hello everyone,

This week was a lot different from my other weeks. My companion is sick and Wednesday to Friday he had to stay in the flat to prepare for an IVU scan so we can know exactly what is wrong with him. I learned a hard truth by experience: There is nothing to do in a missionary flat except to study. I studied about 10-20 pages in the Bible, Book of Mormon and The Doctrine and Covenants each day, as well as Preach my Gospel and I finished the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith that I started last year. As a missionary there is nothing sweeter than missionary work.

One fun experience that happened to me these past few weeks:

There was a time where there was some kids asking for a pass along card and I said "no" because I had already gave them two already. So the older one said they will fight me for it. So I said to her "smite me on one cheek and I will turn the other one as well, just like Jesus taught." She was about 12 years old and when I gave her my cheek to "smite" she came over and gave me a kiss. I was pretty shocked and concluded that that is one way to "smite" a man on a cheek. I'm trying to remember if I had to repent of that. I think that God understands.

I've been thinking recently(I had a lot of time to think this week) that there is nothing more precious to me than the truth. I was thinking about the talk from President Nelson before he was the prophet. The talk is titled "The Book of Mormon: What would your life be without it?" I want you to think about what the Book of Mormon means to you. If you were offered diamonds or rubies or thousands of dollars on condition that you give up the Book of Mormon for the rest of your life, what would you choose? I was pondering this thing and I took the Book of Mormon and held it in my hand. I really thought about what the Book of Mormon means to me in my life. I also had fantasies about how I would feel a gust of wind and I would find myself in a different world that had magic and dragons and all that kind of stuff. But all I would have with me is what I was wearing and what I had in my bag and my hands. That would be my quad, my planner, notebook, whitehand book, pens and pencils, water and the Book of Mormon. I imagined how I would put my missionary name tag on my scriptures but that I would become a black smith and all that I would keep from this world is my scriptures and the Book of Mormon and that no matter what, those things would be of more worth to me than all the treasures the world could offer. I then imagined how someone would find out that I had the Book of Mormon and offer to buy it from me. I would utterly refuse because of what it means to me. Then this person would tell me that he is also a member of the church and that he was taken into this world years ago and that he didn't have the Book of Mormon and was lost because of that. And when he saw me have it filled him with hope.

It was a fun thought.

I love you all

One of these days I'm going to write one of my emails in L/R syndrome.

-Elder Smith

Pictures:

-Hungly Rion

-Nature pictures

-Internet cafe

-My companion blew a bubble so big that it blew up onto his glasses.

-My updated Stick man wearing the armor of God

Monday, April 22, 2019

April 22, 2019

From Dad - Easter, a time to reflect and remember

Hi Sam,

Hope you had another great week! Life is an amazing journey. Full of concern and joy mixed.

This week we loved having Stephanie fly and spend some time with us. It is very evident now that you will be having a niece in the near future. Stephanie is a beautiful mother to be. The girls can barely contain themselves!

Before I forget, here is the link to the video I promised you last week of Ben doing his musical theater performance. He gets to do it all over again at provincials. Ben also performed his piano festival pieces this week and did very well. Well enough to also get to perform them again next month at provincials also! We're humbly proud of him :)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WbVaRxMGkYRp-rEnJsx8Ix-VdKHKWmF2/view?usp=sharing

Abby is intensely preparing for her musical theater debut in Wizard of Oz. Its been a great challenge for her and is exercising her memorizing skills!

Mia is joyfully dancing and singing through life. Especially with a new karaoke speaker we got from Costco. She is taking a Chemistry course online and is pretty diligent in her math studies.I think she told you about the pending resuming of her Ukulele career at a farmers market next month. She's pretty excited about that.

Josh is back full time at Classic and I mean full time now. With the days getting longer he's looking at 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Great for the bank account, a bit more challenging on the social scene.

Your Mom is coming off an amazing retreat with her tribe of mothers and is recovering her sleep. She is an amazing woman, completely committed to improving both her self and the lives of others. I love and cherish that she is "all in" to living the gospel, magnifying her calling, serving others and to raising our family in righteousness. She is an example to me.

We love living out here, even thought it is a bit inconvenient for Josh and Ben to drive so far for work and school. It is the time of beautiful sunsets and spring projects.

We spent Th, Fri, Saturday this week at the Bruce's celebrating Easter. You have an amazing heritage of faith and service on that side of the family. I love your Grandpa Bruce's no nonsense approach to life and his example of selfless service. This little home made fix in their bathroom is so typical of his practical approach to life:

While we were there, the kids started going through some of Grandma's old picture albums. Check out these classic pics:

Your Mom has a mischievous side to her from early on :)

We had lots of fun visiting and eating and hunting Easter eggs.

Mom and girls planned Stephanie's baby shower at Grandma's and Grandma and Grandpa Smith and Auntie Liz, Rachel and Lindy came over for it. Lots of baby clothes!

On our way back we spent a fun time searching for and finding a geo cache at Frank's slide.

Yesterday I had the privilege of teaching Adult SS for the Easter lesson. I really enjoyed pondering the Savior's atonement and especially how it covers not only Sin and Death, but also weaknesses and trials as well.

I came to understand more fully that the atonement is much more than just helping us erase our sins. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf taucht: “If salvation means only erasing our mistakes and sins, then salvation—as wonderful as it is—does not fulfill the Father’s aspirations for us. His aim is much higher: He wants His sons and daughters to become like Him”

it is also designed to enable our growth to where we will become like him and the Father. This is where trials and weaknesses come in.

So have fun working on your trials and weaknesses with the Savior's help this week!

Love you lots!

Dad.

From Sam - Happy Easter

Hello everyone and happy Easter,

As I am writing this I am listening to the Tabernacle Choirs performance of "He Is Risen". Here in Zambia and also in Malawi almost everyone has a belief in Christ and that he lives. I am so grateful for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. Not only do we have the knowledge about Christ and the resurrection but we also have the knowledge of the spirit world, the millennium, Judgement and the kingdoms of glory. I was teaching the Plan of Salvation yesterday and I thought about how lucky I am to live with and in the truth. We also had a lesson where the one we taught didn't want anything to do with the Book of Mormon and anything else we had to teach. My companion wanted to bible bash with him. We were running late for an appointment and I didn't want anything to do with bible bashing, (I've learned from past experiences) so I cut the lesson short and we went on our way. My companion was asking why I didn't let him bash and I told him that I don't want to bash and while he is with me that I will avoid those situations at all times. But as we walked away I thought about how much of a blessing the truth is in my life. And that the person we tried to teach doesn't know what he is missing and what he just turned away. I'm so grateful for the truth.

When I left on my mission I left with a strong testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. As I have gone through my mission and because of one of my companions, my testimony shifted focus to Jesus Christ and the Atonement. I always had a testimony of Jesus Christ but because of my mission he is the centre of my testimony. I love Jesus Christ and I can't wait to meet him. One of my favourite primary hymns is "If the Saviour stood Beside Me" because most of the song talks about "If" but the last verse says

"He is always near me, though I do not see Him there,

And because He loves me dearly,
I am in His watchful care"

He is always aware of us, he knows our circumstances, trials and sufferings because he went through them as well.

Something that has always come to my mind because of my mission is what are we doing to show our love for Christ. Everyone says "Jesus loves me", there are even songs about it. But I always think "What are you doing to show that you love Jesus Christ"

The gospel of Jesus Christ is simple, but not easy. It takes some effort. Nothing worth while comes easy. Easy come easy go. God and Jesus Christ don't demand or expect perfection, but they do demand and expect improvement. On our own we will never make it to heaven, that's why God sent Jesus Christ, His beloved son, to fill the gap. My favourite scripture is found in D&C 45:3-5. All we can do is not enough, But it is by grace that we are saved after all we can do. My personal favourite example for me is Gymnastics. Mom and Dad have payed lots of money for me to do gymnastics while I grew up. I did a total of 4 1/2 years of it and the monthly pay was a lot of money. Mom and Dad didn't expect me to pay the money back, they expected me to work hard. There were days where it sucked and I didn't like it. But if it were not for gymnastics I would never have become the person I am today. A big shout out to Mom and Dad for making me do gymnastics. Just like in this life, there are days in which life will suck and we'll hate it. But if we endure through the hardships we will become people that we would never have become if it weren't for the days that sucked.

I'm on my down hill in terms of time on my mission but I want to make sure that I'm still climbing up hill in terms of my progression. Wish me luck,

-Elder Smith

Pictures:

-Sick in the Hospital

-Waiting for our appointment at Hungry Lion

-My doodles at Hungry Lion

-Our stove caught on fire(There is a fun story behind this)

-Sky photo

-Area at Dusk photo

-The power was out so I had to make Banana maize porridge for dinner.

-My mission family history

-A fun doodle that for me represents the shield of faith and the sword of the spirit(I want my faith to be as big as this shield)

Video's

At Hungry Lion

Kid Games

Monday, April 15, 2019

April 15, 2019

From Sam - Treasure the Truth

Hello everyone,

I've had a lot to think about this week. The biggest event this week was the baptism of Dyness. Both the baptism and general conference was amazing. I had the privilege to perform the baptism and I really enjoyed that. Nothing like changing a persons eternity to bring much joy and happiness into ones life.

Sadly, because my companion had an emergency that caused us to rush to the hospital, I missed both Sunday sessions of conference. But I did watch the Saturday sessions. The biggest and most valuable thing I learned was from Elder Jeffery R. Holland's talk. He said "The hour of sacrament meeting is the most sacred hour of your week." He explained the importance of getting to church early and preparing yourself spiritually so you can be ready to partake of the sacred ordinance of the sacrament. His talk changed my view of how important it is to keep the sabbath day holy and the sacred nature of the sacrament. I love the apostles and prophets today. I can't remember if I included this in an earlier email but a question was asked by my companion to my mission president. "What is the difference and how do you Feed your spirit and Nourish the soul?" My mission president said the when you feed your spirit you learn about the gospel(Reading the scriptures, learning about the commandments, and so forth) But nourishing the soul is living what you learned. You can't receive nourishment if you are not eating. But you also can eat without receiving nourishment. You can know that we have to keep the sabbath day holy but we may consistently break it or we may know the blessings that come from paying your tithing but not pay tithing. When you eat food you have to make sure it is nourishing your body. Don't eat spiritual junk food. If you learn but you don't live, then it will be hard for you to live with God.

I had a cool mini revelation yesterday. In Alma 40 verse 3 it talks about how Alma inquired diligently to understand about the doctrine of resurrection. And I thought, "We don't had to inquire diligently about resurrection, we have all that knowledge." I then thought about how all the prophets in the scriptures have looked forward to this day in which we live because of how much knowledge will be available to us. We literally have libraries of spiritual knowledge that we can hold in our hands. I was thinking: How do we treasure the truth? Are we taking advantage of what lies before us? Are we soaking in the knowledge prophets for centuries wished they could make known? or are we letting the world take us away from what is so precious? I wanted to take this thought to you. As a missionary I have lots of time to study and sometimes I wish I had more. I had this opportunity yesterday. I had about 8 hours in my flat because my companion was not feeling well and was instructed to rest by the doctor. I was able to read 14 pages in the Book of Mormon, 13 pages in the Bible and about 7-8 pages in the Doctrine and Covenants. How are we treasuring the truth?

I love you all.

-Elder Smith

Pictures:

-My Bemba bible