Hello everyone,
I want to start with a big shout out to Dyness Lungu, marking 6 months in the church this past week.
This past week was crazy. I thought transfer week was crazy but this week there was a MLC(Missionary Leadership Counsel) and there was so much to worry about and so much to do. I didn't get as much time in my area as I wanted to. Something I learned at the MLC was the power of the Book of Mormon. President Whiting showed us a pictures of a Combine Harvester. We talked about how many acres of land the Combine can harvest in a day. It was about 80 to 100 acres. He then compared the difference with that and using a sickle. You can still get work done but it's not as effective. With the Sickle you can work so hard and get some work done. With the Harvester you are sitting down and not working as hard as you would if you were using a sickle but you are getting so much more work done. Instead of 5 to 10 acres with a big team, you are getting 80 to 100 acres with just yourself. So much more effective. That's working smarter. If you are working smart you get more work done without working so hard. But he finished with this: "There is no point in buying a million dollar machine in you can't afford to put 20 dollars of fuel in it. If you can't afford the fuel then your machine will just be taking space." The harvesting tool in the Lords work is the Book of Mormon. But there is no point in having the Book of Mormon(The harvester_ if you are not reading it(The fuel) I have seen the power of the Book of Mormon in my own life and in the life of so many others. The Book of Mormon is the reason why a returning member(Tebbeh White) is going on a mission. It's the reason why Sister Tembo started coming back to church. It's the reason I pushed past my home sickness at the start of my mission. It's the reason that so many people are enjoying happiness. The Book of Mormon is so powerful, but it has to be used.
Saturday was a fun experience. We were supposed to watch conference but it seemed that the Saturday sessions were not downloaded. There was also no power. So the generator was running so that we could download those sessions. Some time into it the generator stopped running. We checked on it and there seemed to be nothing wrong. There was fuel, there was oil and we got it started up again. While waiting in the chapel during my study of the scriptures I heard my bishop start shouting for the first counselor. I let them figure things out , but the next thing I heard was the fire extinguisher blowing. When I heard that I knew that the generator caught fire. A little bit later Brother Kabea(The first counselor) came up to us and said "Sorry Elders, no conference today." That was a little bit of a bummer. We helped pick up a generator for Sunday so that everyone can watch.
My favorite talk from conference was from Henry B. Eyring. His talk was about Holiness. That one stood out to me so much. Something I learned that was reaffirmed in that talk was "You can't accidentally become like Jesus Christ." You have to work for it. You have to choose to resist temptation, choose to repent and become more like Christ.
I try not to count but It's impossible for me not to. I have 9 weeks left in Zambia. Time is going so fast and there's still so much to do. I'm glad that I'm not the one that has to move this work forward because if I was then it would stop very soon. But I know that missionary work is the work of God. He has been so patient with me and I always stand amazed at how much he loves me. I learned at conference that joy never comes from oneself. Jesus' joy comes from us, our joy comes from Jesus Christ and serving others. God's joy comes from Jesus Christ. God is glorified by Christ, Jesus Christ is glorified by us and we are glorified by him. It's a weird that that makes sense. "A true disciple of Jesus Christ lives the second great commandment" Love thy neighbor as thyself.
I love you all,
-Elder Smith
Pictures:
-My Study plan for the rest of my mission
-MLC Pictures
-Youth activity pictures
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-Youth Activity
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