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
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