December 19, 2019

Home Coming!!!

December 16, 2019

From Sam - Last Week

Dear friends and family,

I'm coming to the close of my one hundred and fourth week in my mission. The close of my most stressful week yet most rewarding. Yesterday was an amazing Sunday. We had our Christmas devotional after church and had a great time. I had a couple goodbyes and a couple tears shed(Not from me) I got to see a couple members before the end of the day. I left my "Stand a Little Taller" book for a member, before I left, we had an amazing lesson on the pre-earth life. Something she didn't fully understand. I got so excited sharing about it. I get an unusual excitement to teach the gospel when I teach members because I can use all the standard works. It was amazing. 

We had a dinner with the Musonda family and because it was my last Sunday we had a testimony meeting. Something Brother Musonda said to me was to "be more then careful" when I get home. Satan will try me. It was counsel that was amplified by the Spirit. 

I have so much to share and not enough time to share it. I love you all and I'll see most of you on Thursday and the rest of you after. 

Sorry this is a short email. There's 16 missoinaries where I'm emailing from and all of them need to email. 

-Elder Smith

December 8, 2019

From Sam - My Final Weeks

Hello Everyone,

I'm hitting my final weeks. I try not to think about home but I have everyone(My companions) reminding me how many days I have left(10 days) Crazy stuff. I always looked at these days at the start of my mission as something that will never come. But time continues.

I had a couple revelations yesterday at church and at the end of the day. One of them came as I thought about what God needs me to do before I go home. Last week God told me to focus on people. This week he told me to be the same disciple of Jesus Christ as I am now when I'm home. When I sat at sacrament meeting I saw a couple people on social media during the sacrament, a couple of which were returned missionaries. The Spirit hit me hard that it is not acceptable to God that I become that kind of person. I have learned from my mission experience and if I don't apply anything I've learned then what was it for? The second thing the Spirit told me I need to do is to plan my days as if I'm going to be here forever, even though I only have 10 days left. I thought about Alexander Hamilton, how when he went to Aaron Burr for a duel to the death he knew that he was most likely going to die. Even still, he had a 2 o'clock appointment set and confirmed that he knew he wasn't going to be there for, but he still planned. 

It's funny, sometimes I receive spiritual promptings and revelations and I think "Man, this revelation thing makes so much sense." and the next moment I'm sitting here thinking "How does this revelation thing work again?"

This week was crazy busy at the office. From Monday to Thursday I only spent 1 hour in my area, a total of 14 hours in my week. But I'm not too worried. At the end of each day I felt God's approval. I felt that I did some good. That has been my measure of success these days. Not in how many people I taught or contacted. But in how much good I did that day. The hymn "Have I done any good in the world today" At the end it says "If not I have failed indeed" 

It's all about the people. It's all about God's children.

I love you all. I'll see most of you soon, some of you later and a few of you in a long time.

Elder Smith.

December 1, 2019

From Sam - It's All About People

Hello Everyone!!

I'm on the last little bit of my mission. It's hard to believe that I only have 16 days left. Time sure flies. I've been thinking and praying about what I need to be doing in the last part of my mission before I go home. So many times has the Spirit whispered to me that I need to focus on people. I've been listening to the Spirit and I wish I knew what I know now at the start of my mission. It's all about people. God's whole work is about people.  With that in mind my week has been so busy with stuff at the office that I've been so busy with the office. Things that need to be done but are administrative not ministrative. I've been learning the big difference between administering and ministering. Ministering is the higher and holier way to bless God's children. Of course we need to "Administer" the sacrament, that's something that needs to happen. But our focus should be on people. I was able to have 19 hours in my area this whole week. Not a lot of time. A regular companionship will cover that in 2 days. But I've made sure that each hour is spent wisely. There are times that I don't use my time so effectively and those are the times where I can feel it. I can feel that I could do more. The best feelings are when I know that I've done my best and that I've done some good. I know that God will take care of the rest. It's not my work, it's His.

Yesterday was a great day for me. When we sat in our weekly coordination meeting, as we were nearing the end the Elders quorum president, Brother Quero, said "I don't think there will ever be a time in Matero when we will ever have such dedicated missionaries" then he thanked us for our service. It was a very powerful statement. I've felt the trust that the members of Matero ward have given me and my companions. It was great to see that in word form. 

I also gave my last testimony to my ward. I'm going to miss this place. I love Zambia and the people of Zambia. Both Zambia and Malawi. I'm sitting at the last leg. 

I'm sprinting to the finish.

Love,

-Elder Smith

From Dad - Trip to Spain

Dear Sam,

It was a busy week for me. I went to Spain this last week for business. I was doing product training for Opel, a car manufacturing company in Zaragoza Spain. It was a lot of plane travel, but it was fun to go to Spain for the first time. I was able to snatch a few moments to see some sights and enjoy some good food. Generally people eat very late over there (supper starts around 8:30 pm), so some late nights with good Spanish food. I tried everything from suckling pig to squid and lots in between. They have a type of eating style called "Tapas" which is really just going from restaurant to restaurant and sharing small portions of different kinds of foods.

I flew into Barcelona and took a 300 km/h train to Zaragoza. It was like seeing the Spain country side in sped up motion.

On our last night in Zaragoza, I jumped in with some of my co-workers and drove back to Barcelona. Driving back took almost 3 times as long as taking the train. Good conversation though, trying to navigate some crazy Italian accents.

That night we went out into "La Rambla", a main street. It was all lit up with lots of vendors, people and crazy museums along the way. We walked all the way down to the port on the  Mediterranean, then went to a nice restaurant on the other side of a very seedy part of town. Had to avert my eyes more than once from some of the signs and stores. Coming back around midnight, La Rambla was quite a bit more seedy, with multiple men selling everything from drugs, beer, and entrance to strip clubs. It was a memorable experience.

Mom and the girls were busy while I was gone. The night I came home, they were on Rabbit hill skiing. The boys showed up Wednesday to help MIa with Math and help Mom with some house chores while I was gone.

Last night before the ward Christmas party, we went to the Devon Christmas in the park and enjoyed a fun festival of lights and experiences (rolling maple syrup suckers, chili, hot chocolate, fires and candle lit walks. Apparently this happens every year in Devon but this was the first we'd heard of it. I think we might do it next year too if Mom has any say. Only downer was not being quite dressed up enough for -18 deg. C. Are you ready for it, Sam :)

Today (Sunday), we had a nice fast and testimony meeting. Mia bore her testimony of how the spirit prompted her to prepare for and get her Patriarchal blessing (we are going on Thursday). We had a little drama coming home from Church as Abby was driving and had a couple of close calls on the corners. It's all learning.

We were surprised and excited to hear that Savanna McClellan was coming home with the boys for Sunday dinner. She is here now and we love having her. She is bright and witty and fun to be around. We had a great dinner to break our fast, followed by treats and hot chocolate and whip cream left over from the ward parties we all attended last night.

Attached a few pictures. from the trip.

Hard to believe its only 3 weeks till we see you. Push till the end!

Love, 

Dad