October 27, 2019

From Mom - No Sound

Dear Sam,

This is us waiting anxiously to see if you can get the sound going. ...

Which you did ...  

It’s so good to see you every week although it strangely makes us miss you even more! 

We had a good week this week! It’s that time of the year where the air and the trees are silently waiting for it to snow, which it finally did tonight. We asked Josh and Ben to stay overnight because the roads are suddenly so bad. 

Mia finally had her orthodontist appointment and we learned all about the virtues of Invisiline, which is an alternative to braces. Apparently, you can eat anything you want as long as you brush your teeth after every time. Mia thinks this is a good idea, so I think she will start her Ortho treatment in January. They’re kind of like the teeth brace that Dad wears at night but you have to wear them al the time.  I think you should think about this as well when you get home.  

The girls are also in full swing in their voice lessons, which means they’re singing non-stop at home. I’m not sure how I feel about that although their voices are already making a huge improvement. So pretty. 

Josh and Ben are telling you all about their school and routine. Whenever I ask if anything spectacular happened, they always say “just regular school life.” Classes every day, cooking for yourself, etc, etc. I’m proud of them for how good they’re doing in their own apartment and I’m glad they have each other. 

Abby was excited to win her first prize at the Halloween Dance. Apparently she was “dancing her heart out.”  I’m sad I didn’t get a good picture of her Mime costume. But Halloween is this week, so I’ll be sure to send you pics. Mia is dressing up as a s’more. Haha. 

We are loving technology as it allows us to see Bowie in almost a daily basis. I’m excited to see her and Steph this week for real. I’m looking forward to kissing her cheeks and squeezing her chubby little body. 

We love you lots, Sam. I hate to say it but we’re counting down the days. 53 left. Make them count. 

Love,

Mom

From Sam - The Problem of Power

Good Morning everyone,

This week went by so fast. I try not to think about when I'm going home but family keeps reminding me that I have 53 days left.  There is so much I want to do, so much I need to do and it feels like I don't have any time to do it. One issue that I'm facing right now is that I'm on a different schedule now for the power sharing. It used to be that I had power in the morning no power in the day and then power again in the evening and through the night. So, it felt like I had power all the time. Now there's power in the morning and then power throughout the day and no power in the night. It wouldn't be that bad but i'm in the middle of the hot season. Yesterday it clocked at 41 degrees Celsius. It's hot. When there's no power in the night that means that the fan can't blow its air. Meaning I'm sitting with the blanket only covering my feet to protect against mosquitoes.  I have discovered that the power of prayer works in helping me sleep as it does in helping me stay awake. Anytime I think about how sucky my situation is the counsel God gave to Joseph Smith always pops into my head: All things will be for thy experience. Something that has struck me is a talk titled: "Come what may and love it" by Joseph B. Wirthlin. It might sound familiar to some people. It's a very powerful talk that changed my perspective on a couple of things.

This past week 3 people got baptized. Emily Pearce, Paulina Pearce and Jemimah Siliya. It was a great time and a great day. On the Friday we spent time filling the baptismal font by hauling buckets again. This time we got it all the way full. When we showed up to the church on Saturday we found the font half empty. We were worried that there was a leak in the font but we found out later that the gardener used the water in the font to do gardening. We were kind of annoyed at that but we moved forward anyway. We filled it a little bit more and had a great baptism.

In Zone conference this week a big focus was on a few things. One was being Christ-Centered. The other was the Book of Mormon. President Whiting has put a huge emphasis on two big things since he got here to Zambia. Those two things have been working with members and using the Book of Mormon as the harvesting tool in the work of salvation. Since the zone conference on Tuesday I have had a few cool moments when I was contacting people on the street using the Book of Mormon. I have been able to give the Book of Mormon out to some very self-reliant people. One was going to school to be a doctor, Another has family is South Africa that he's preparing for them to come to Zambia. It seems that God puts me in the right place to meet those kind of people and when I'm looking for people who will read the Book of Mormon and will really understand it, God provides those people. It's always so cool to me to see how I'm assisting God in this work instead of God assisting me in this work.

Time is flying and this work is going to move forward even when I go home.

Love you all,

-Elder Smith

Pictures:

-Bean breakfast

-Studying in hot season

-Making brownies

-Elder Tshimbundu

-Joshua holding my bag

-Lunch with Joseph Kampeliya

-Baptism Pictures

'

October 20, 2019

From Sam - The Difference Between a House and a Home

I am forever grateful for the Spirit and for the love of God. This week I experienced both in abundance. I'll start with the stories of the week. 

Saturday: There were two people this week that were prepared for baptism. Rodrick and Coe. These two friends were ones that I found, taught, fellowshipped and, on Saturday, baptized. My companion and I went to the church at 11hrs to see if the baptismal font was ready and full of water for the baptism that would happen at 15hrs. To our dismay and our not so wise preparation, the font was completely empty. We talked to the guard and he said that there was no power so the regular tap that was used to fill the font was not working. We talked to the gardener and he said the same thing. What was working was the taps that were farther away. If I've learned anything from my mission or from my current companion is not to give up. We set up two and eventually three places where we could fill buckets with water and we filled the font by bucket load after bucket load. It took us between 70-100 bucket loads to get it full enough to have a baptism. It took us about 4 hours but it was worth it. I'll attach pictures for everyone to see. The baptism was great. We also always have a member activity every Saturday and this week we(The missionaries) were in charge of the activity. After the baptism we commenced in having the activity. Being missionaries we put the gospel and spirituality into the activity. We had 12 members and we split them into 4 teams of 3 people and played my classic seminary games. We played two games, 1) A literal scripture chase, where you have the Book of Mormon on one chair and a piece of paper and a pen on the other chair with 15 feet in between them. Each team was given a scripture and then they would have to write it down word for word on the piece of paper and if they forgot any words they had to run back to the Book of Mormon to get the words. There were 3 scriptures that we used and we had lots of fun. The second game we played was a Book of Mormon quiz, Everyone stayed in their teams and they were given points for the first game and for each question answered correctly. Then they combined the points from both games and we saw who won.

It was lots of fun.

That night as well as Sunday night we spent our evening with two members families. This being my last area I've really made the effort to be involved with the members of Matero Ward. We visited with Brother Andrew Chola and his brother Gabriel Chola(Who is going on a mission to South Africa, Durban this Thursday) and we talked in depth about President Nelsons question “How would my life be different if my knowledge gained from the Book of Mormon were suddenly taken away?” It was a great conversation. I have really thought about it and I sincerely believe that If I didn't have the Book of Mormon in my life I wouldn't be christian. If I didn't grow up with the Book of Mormon in my life I think I would either be in prison or running away from the police. I Love the Book of Mormon, more now that I've thought about this question.

We visited with the Chola brothers on Saturday night and then on Sunday night we visited with the Phiri family on Sunday night. The ones that we mostly visit with are the three sisters and friend: Esther, Juliet, Olipa and Tika. This Sunday they had questions about the kingdoms of glory and that led to teaching about the temple. It was great. I consider this ward, especially these two families that we visited, my family. Their home feels like home. Not just a house we visit. They are the ones that make missing home not so bad and it will making going home a bittersweet departure. I love this people. I'm going to miss them when I go. I'm trying not to count but I have 58 days left. 

I'll see everyone in 2 months.

Love,

-Elder Smith

Pictures:

-Pizza night with the Chainama Elders

-Opening a package that was sent to a missionary that was already home(Elder Ellsworth is very happy)

-My companion and I filling the font

-Our lunch that was delivered to us by Fatima

-Rodrick being baptized by Joseph Kampelia

-Coe being baptized by Gabriel Chola

-Group pictures

MLC Picture

-My bad foot tan

-My generation(Elder Smith-me- trained Elder Kane who then in turn trained Elder Smith)

-My group (Elder Rich, Elder Ellsworth and Me) at MLC

-Waiting for other Elders

From Dad - Busy Week

Dear Sam. 

It’s been a busy week. Last weekend we were in Cardston at the Bectell’s for Damon’s home coming. It was fun to talk to you while we were there. 

On Monday we scooted over to Sparwood for another thanksgiving dinner. The girls, Ben and I left for home, leaving Mom there for some family and friend time ( she went hiking with Siobhan and spend some time with the Bruce’s. )

The girls and I had fun this week. As usual I took the opportunity to be a math tyrant and that worked well some days and not so much on others. The girls were pretty good natured. 

Tuesday we went out for Boston Pizza and the next day the girls returned the favor by making me lunch.  

Abby continues to work out with me in the mornings so that keeps me honest. 

This weekend the girls planned a fun Halloween youth party and we had about 14 kids over. Josh and Ben were kind enough to come at their sisters request and help run a scary game of ‘murder in the dark”  Emma came over early to get ready for the party. 

While they were here, I took the chance to give them a service opportunity by helping me put up the last two main panels of drywall on the ceiling. The first one is right over the garage stairs and we had a precarious set up of ladder and scaffolding. After the first screws went in we realized we were in trouble. The board got turned slightly wrong and so one corner had a 2” gap and the opposite corner wouldnt fit. Meanwhile we were struggling to hold up a 12’ sheet of drywall and figure out what to do. Josh got up fully on the very top of the scaffold (12’ above the ground) and did the atlas shrugged position holding the sheet on his shoulders while I rearranged the ladder and tugged at the drywall till it mostly fit and finally got the screws in. At one point we were sure we’d have to somehow drop the drywall and get out of the way to avoid injury. In the end we persisted and got it up for which I was extremely grateful!

Mom came home Saturday in time to prepare supper for the youth party. We were all very glad to see her. She makes our home complete. 

 This week as I studied Come Follow Me, I clicked on a talk in the lesson by Robert C Gay called “what shall a man give in exchange for his soul”. It really struck me about the value and power of being strictly obedient or completely pure, and true to our covenants. I’ve learned that the standards for temple building are very exacting and very strict. Tyler may have seen some of this with his company designing some of the temples. 

In his talk he talks about reviewing our lives for areas that need repair and fix up. I also just today attended Ben and Lindys choir concert. The choir leader is very nice but he is very meticulous and insists on strict adherence to detail. He was concerned about the chair spacing an the aesthetics if the spacing of the choir. Small details that lend the overall excellence of the performance. For example check out the stunning outfit Ben had to wear:

Once I upload them, I’ll send some links to the pieces Ben sang. 

Have a great week Sam.

We’ll be  praying for your investigators committed to baptism this week. 

Love, Dad