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
-Chitenge for my zone leaders suit
-Shwarma for lunch with the zone leaders
-Baptismal pictures
-Landscape pictures
-My companion is trying to kill me with homemade samosas
-Me studying at my study desk
-I made sugar/oil cookies
-This is my daily breakfast
-Anna, my mini girlfriend
-My doodles and district plans
-Me and my suit
-Pictures with Dyness
-Companionship pictures
Cutting Grass
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