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.
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