September 30, 2019

From Mom - Baby, It's Cold Outside

Dear Sam,

Winter has arrived with a vengeance. Not here, mind you. I mean, it's chilly and the leaves are falling here but everyone is basically snowed in down South. I was planning on going hiking in Banff with Siobhan and we had to cancel. We've never cancelled before so I'm shocked! Oh well. Apparently the roads were crazy bad with people all over the ditches on Hwy 2. Better safe than sorry. 

I had a lovely birthday. Dad took us canoeing on Wizard Lake. We battled upwind for 20 minutes then turned around and lazily drifted back to the boat launch. Ha. 

Also, the best thing ever. Dad bought me an ELECTRIC BLANKET! I thought I died and went to heaven. I was DREADING winter ... like really dreading it, but now when I get caught with the chills, I can just hunker down with a heated blanket over me. I told the family, I'm going to live on the couch all winter with my heated blanket. Haha. It's really lovely.

We harvested the garden before the first frost and the girls scrubbed carrots until their fingers turned orange. But ... carrots! Lots of them. I'm not sure if there is anything better than garden carrots to munch on during the winter months. Grandma Smith says they'll keep nice in the downstairs fridge. 

The girls have taken over the downstairs bedrooms and have decorated them to their heart's content. Your yellow walls are now a thing of the past. Mia is sleeping there now with light turquoise walls and a new bedspread. Makes us want to finish the ceiling now and get decent light fixtures and ... Ooh, window coverings! 

Anyway, love you lots, Sammy Boy. Make your last few months matter. Never underestimate the power of Revelation in how to use your remaining time. 

Mom

From Sam - The Lord of the Vineyard

Good Morning everyone,

I was able to get up early this morning and got to call my family(Josh, Ben Mom and Dad) It was great to talk you everyone. I have 3 months left and if I wasn't serving in such a good ward I would miss home a lot more. I am looking forward to going/coming home. But I have another family in the mean time.

Because of my time in the office I'm not always able to go to my area. The time I've been in the office is the time I've been able to see how much missionary work is Gods work. Not so much the missionary's work. Learning this and thinking about it my mind was cast to Jacob 5 in the Book of Mormon. The Lord of the vineyard is God and the servant of the Lord of the vineyard is me. I may not know everything. I may question the Lord and his decisions but even still, I understand that this is his vineyard not mine. I'm here to help him with his work. I'm here to counsel with him not to counsel him. I've seen this because I'm getting less then half the regular time in my area. About 25 hours on average a week. But even still, my area is doing just as well as any other missionary's area. God has changed gears and is zooming along and my companion and I are struggling to keep up to him. God's hand is in everything. He's in the very details of our lives. 

I've also experienced the power of the Atonement in change. I've been trying to develop charity, virtue and other Christ-like attributes. I have tried to develop them on my own for some time but this past week I have really made it a matter of prayer. The moment I started doing so I immediately started to notice change. It wasn't a forced thing either. I started to sincerely started feeling love for those around me. It's amazing how much change started happening in me as soon as I started sincerely praying for that change to take place. 

God has a heaven full of blessings for us and want to give it all to us but we can only access those blessings by our faith and obedience and by us asking for them through prayers. We sometimes lose those blessings by our lack of faith, disobedience and pride. Trying to bless ourselves more then God can bless us.  What makes me so sad is when I see people lose those blessings because of fear, disobedience and pride. On the opposite spectrum it brings me so much joy when I see people receive those blessings because of their faith, obedience and prayers. 

I love you all,

-Elder Smith

Pictures:

-Lusaka district pictures

-Lunch with the AP's

-Sausage and hashbrown dinner

-My Book of Mormon reading challenge tracker(I'll read the Book of Mormon 10 times on my mission if I do this)

-My new journal

-The member activity. 

September 23, 2019

From Dad - Resilience

Dear Sam,

It's been a good week here at the homestead. We've enjoyed a new app called Marco Polo that shares video chats back and forth. It was fun when Mom and the girls were in St. George to get updates daily on how everyone was doing in video form. It's especially fun to watch Bowie grow up and get fatter every week!

This week Ben and Lindy went on a choir trip to Busby, AB for a retreat and intensive practice session to get their choir up to speed. It is a pretty serious choir. Ben's scheming how he can make it work to go on the choir Europe trip in the summer and still earn money for rent, food and mission savings.

We saw them off and went and did some shopping for Josh. He and Mom spent some time in a high quality shoe shop and bought some nice quality shoes. Good thing for your Mom or you'd all be wearing Walmart shoes forever :)

One insight I had this week about Mom and I's relationship. I'm always preaching and emphasizing "First things first" and how it is important to not sacrifice the meaningless for the meaningful. I don't always succeed but it is what I strive for. Mom is different. She is less about efficiency and more about people. For her, it is more about "first people first". Slowly over 27 years we've been learning how to leverage that into a great team work. I'm grateful for that slow steady progress that has grown into something wonderful.

I might have mentioned that I've been listening to a book called "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. It is an outstanding book that articulates the principle of small and simple things in every day language. I liked it so much, I bought the hard cover and want to read it with Mom and the girls. One of the analogies he speaks about in the book is the analogy of the ice cube. In a cold room, below freezing, an ice cube is placed on a table. The room is slowly heated up one degree at a time. E.g. starting at -15 C. Degree by degree it creeps up. At -10 the ice cube remains the same, then at -5... still the same, then -1.... still the same.  Then amazingly it moves just one degree to 0 deg C and it starts to melt. 

He compares this to our efforts to build up good habits,  or on the flip side the effects of bad habits. At first, it seems like it isn't making a difference. Exercising for a week doesn't seem to make much different. Still can't do 5 pull ups! But over time, every repeated habit build up potential towards that melting point and what suddenly seems like overnight success is really a build up of daily routines and habits that lead to results, in time. Same with bad habits. Eating a chocolate bar or drinking a pop every day, or watching movies with undesirable content,  at first doesn't seem to matter too much, but over time it shapes and molds our bodies, characters and thoughts and results in unfulfilled potential at best and misery and regret at worst.  So here's to consistent habits, whether physical, mental or spiritual that may not seem to make a difference in the short term, but make all the difference in the long term.

Jared deVries talked in church today. He is heading to Portland, Oregon mission this week! Exciting for him. I was also really excited to see Sam Bates at church and to talk with him. I rejoiced to hear he is attending YSA and is preparing for a mission. Another really good talk in church today was given by our High Councilor brother Hill. He talked about the topic of "How can we be useful". He encouraged us to break out of our comfort zones, put down our screens, expand our circle of influence and to lift where we stand in building up the kingdom of God both with fellow members and with our friends and neighbors. I think we all want to be useful and make a difference in others lives.

Mom and the girls got back on Wednesday night and the girls have been busy cleaning out their room and taking over the boys rooms downstairs. painting, moving beds, dressers, toys, stuffies etc. Things are bit chaotic but will come together soon. It's fun watching the boys figure out living on their own. We had Mia and Ben's birthday's this week. Thursday morning we kept the breakfast in bed tradition alive for Mia, then went to Ben and Josh's place on Thursday night to make pizza and funeral potatoes (Ben's birthday meal request). Mia got a gallon of glue (to help make slime) and fabric paints. Ben got a popcorn popper and popcorn and bugger. Hard to believe Ben is 18 and can vote in the October election and Mia is now a full fledged teen ager!

This evening, Bishop Purnell held a fireside and fed the youth and their parents. Then we had a fireside on "Resilience". It was a good reminder and principle for the youth to understand. Life will always hit hard at some point and take us down. Our ability to get back up and learn from it is a measure of our resilience and will determine our level of happiness in the long run.

Life is good and full of challenges and the joy of overcoming them.

We love you lots, Sam. Here's some links to videos taken on Marco Polo this week!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10IjQ_kJtwcr1z3Wch9XE0bUTMyNp1Mvm/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10rIlNgQL1ToeMXiVR_MxJQDDfw4aca5G/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E-Q5cfN8z8_YiOwuPyO1aVPntXSkTEAV/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1awgkIyAEvKoF872hN9m9ejz7HKkTkuHg/view?usp=sharing

Love Dad.

P.S. Looking into the Grant Macewan application, in order to get into the Bachelor of Science program which includes computers, you'll need to likely do some upgrading like Josh is this semester. Math, 2 sciences and English. are pre-requisites. I'll  try and call and see how much the SAT helps but that is probably the route you'll have to start off on. 

From Sam - Stepping Outside the Comfort Zone

Hello Everyone,

This week I fell out of my comfort zone. I'm working in the office as the mission secretary. Me and my companion have replaced the senior couple that used to do what I'm doing now. I'm in the office almost everyday. My responsibilities in the office are 1. Travel 2. Immigration and 3. Water and Electricity in Malawi. When the Jones were here it was like I was dipping my toe in the water to test it. I was sort of outside my comfort zone. They left to the States on Tuesday and from Tuesday to today I have realized that it is more work than I expected. I thought I was good until I was put behind the wheel and now I have to be the one driving. It was a little bumpy to start but now it's leveling out, at least until next week when 10 new missionaries arrive in this mission. As soon as the Jones left there was no one to support me and I fell out of my comfort zone. The cool thing about falling outside your comfort zone is that your comfort zone gets bigger so that the growth zone becomes your comfort zone. That's the importance of learning new things. Improvement and progression is one eternal round. Because I'm in the office I have been more member orientated now. I'm focusing on working with members and that has blessed my area so much. I have really been able to see how God is the one that is moving this work forward. I'm just here to provide support. He's the one doing the real work.

Sorry it's short, next week will be better. I love you all. The church of Jesus Christ has been restored and is true,

-Elder Smith

Pictures

-You'll have to figure these ones out because I'm out of time.

September 16, 2019

From Sam - A good Sabbath Indeed

Hello Everyone,

I want to say good morning but I don't know if when you read this it will be morning or evening. So I'll just say hello.

This week was great. We helped a member move and it was fun to see how many other Zambians saw an "Azungu" do some work. I guiltily enjoy when others see me, a white person, do work. racism is so different here. I also, because of all my experiences, understand racism on a whole new level. 

Sunday was one of the best days of my mission. Church was amazing because I got to partake of the Sacrament. It was also a bonus that 5 people that I'm teaching came to church. Since I'm working in the office all the time I have been so member orientated. After church was a big bustle of energy as I tried to set up as many member appointments as possible, filling almost everyday in this week with them. I'm excited for that. The rest of the Sunday was visiting with members. There is one that we visited first. His name is Brother Andrew Chola. He served his mission from 2013 to 2015 but even though his missionary badge is hanging up he still wears his badge in his heart. I call him the golden member. He came home from his mission with his sights on exaltation. He is so much fun to be around. We spent some time at his home then he accompanied us on a visit to a less active family. The visit was one of the most amazing experiences I have had in my mission. Not because of what happened but of what I felt. This member, Sister Shumba, hasn't been coming to church for a while. We were able to read 1 Nephi chapter 1 with her and the spirit helped me teach how to liken the scripture. I likened her life to Nephi's life found in verse 1. We then finished the chapter. After we finished reading she started to open up more and more. It eventually led to her sharing the real reason why she stopped coming to church. It was actually a sad story. I won't share all of it because it still hits me in the heart. But just how the church becomes your family, when she was going through very hard trials in her life, not a single member in the church made any effort to be there for her. People knew about it because it was an announcement in church for some Sunday's(As I've been told) but not a single member visited her or made any effort to do anything. I was so speechless. I can't imagine how that would have felt. Imagine going through such a hard time such as a death in the family of something and not a single brother or sister makes any effort to let you know they care about you.

We left her with a priesthood blessing and it was a good thing Brother Chola was with us because he was a big help. I understand why the Lord needs us to do our ministering with real intent, not just to say we did it but to actually love people and be there for them. The church is true but sometimes the people aren't. Don't be that person that isn't true. Be a real person. Brother Chola is a great example to me of a disciple of Jesus Christ. 

That visit was supposed to happen. We were there to be a listening ear. When we left we were all uplifted and edified and everything felt so much better. As we walked away I felt like I did more missionary work by being there in that home with Sister Shumba than I would have if I knocked on gates all day and talked to many people. I felt real joy, the joy that comes from living the gospel, not just learning it. I felt the joy that comes from keeping my baptismal covenant. "Mourning with those that mourn" It was an experience that strengthened my testimony of how true this gospel is. 

Sunday was truly a delight.

I love you all,

-Elder Smith

Pictures:

-The new watch that was gifted to me with the Book of Mormon

-Moving pictures(Elder Funaki is the truck)

-China in Zambia

-Picture of the missionary choir for the Stake conference

September 9, 2019

From Sam's Mission President and Wife - Return Home Travel

Hello Brother and Sister Smith,

Greetings from Lusaka, Zambia.

Elder Smith will be returning from his mission in the Zambia Lusaka Mission on Thursday, December 17^th.

His flight itinerary is attached. 

We want to confirm someone will be there to greet him and take him to be released.

Thank you so much for sending us this wonderful elder! We will miss this great young man.

Please reply so we know you have received this.

Warm regards, 

President and Sister Whiting

From Mom:

Thank you, Brother and Sister Whiting!

Most definitely we will be at the airport to pick up our son. His return home will be a joyous occasion. 

(Also, we are appreciating the Facebook page. Thanks for that!)

Jen (and Chad) Smith

Reply

We are sure enjoying having your son help us in the office. He is a great missionary.
Fully committed to serving the Lord in whatever he is asked to do. He is a great blessing to our whole mission.

Thanks for sharing him with us!

President and Sister Whiting

From Sam - Nameless faces become fast friends

Hello Everyone,

This week was amazingly crazy. There was an MLC(Missionary Leadership Council) that lasted a day and a half. I'm also working in the mission office pretty much every morning except for Saturday. But this weekend we also had Stake Conference in Lusaka which means two things. 1st, I'm going to be super busy worrying about other missionaries and also we did a pilot run of busing to the stake center for the first time with all the missionaries in the Matero District. and 2nd, I got to meet with all of my favorite members from the wards I have served. This Stake Conference all the missionaries were also asked to sing two special numbers. Called to Serve and If You Could Hie to Kolob. It was a great experience. One thing my mission president said while speaking was "For the Gospel of Jesus Christ to bless your life the Gospel of Jesus Christ needs to become your life" That was something that really stood out to me because heaven is not just a place we go to but it's more of a person we become. The best part of the conference was being able to meet all by best friends from Libala ward as well as Woodlands ward. Some of those I know have received mission calls, others I've seen be baptized and are soon preparing to go on a mission, there was also someone named Milan that I found when I was with Elder Hansen then was baptized after I was transferred out of that area. He was there and is a super powerful member and holder of the Melchizedek priesthood. It was so amazing to see those that I love still be strong in the gospel.
The joy of the gospel comes from the people that you're with.

I also received my long awaited package. It got to me still intact and full of Life Saver mints. I got a lot of letters from lots of my favorite people. My cousins and uncles. In a few of the letters I received questions, of which I will list and answer:

1) What are somethings your looking forward to doing when I got home? A) I'm looking forward to spending time with Josh and Ben. I only had 5 hours with Josh before I left for my mission.  I'm looking forward to have a washing machine. I spent an hour and a half washing my clothes this morning. the biggest thing is spending time with family.

2) What is your favorite scripture? A) My number one favorite scripture is found in D&C 45:3-5, then it's Alma 37:6-7, then Helaman 5:12.

3)What foods do you eat? A) I eat something called Nshima. It's a maize meal food that I eat with relishes like beans, chicken, soup and my favorite, Visashi. I also eat rice, Shawarma and potatos.

4)What is my favorite color, animal, thing, person and country? A) Color: Sun Yellow. Animal: Monkey. Thing: Food. Person: (This is an easy one) Jesus Christ. Country: Ever since I've been in Zambia and Malawi I've taken a lot of pride in being Canadian, so my favorite country is Canada.

5) Do you have a mustache? A) No. (At least since my companion lets me use his razor) Just kidding.

I love you all,
-Elder Smith

Pictures:
-Zambian hut
-The two Canadians in the mission
- Canadian Tag
- My package
-The difference between my old sandals and my new sandals
- Me eating "Dads Cookies" for breakfast
- Traveling to the stake center with the district

- Pictures from Stake Cenference (One of them is my companion, then me, my trainee Elder Kane and his trainee, Elder Smith)

Pictures:

-Zambian hut 



-The two Canadians in the mission





- Canadian Tag



- My package



-The difference between my old sandals and my new sandals





- Me eating "Dads Cookies" for breakfast



- Traveling to the stake center with the district



- Pictures from Stake Cenference (One of them is my companion, then me, my trainee Elder Kane and his trainee, Elder Smith)

Stuck in Traffic



My package



Mini missionary choir at a members home for dinner