Dear Sam,
Weather report.... It's 7:20 a.m., pitch black outside and snowing. We now have a layer of 5 cm of snow over sheer ice. It certainly makes things interesting and we wouldn't want life to be boring anyway, would we? Ha!
I spent the last week getting ready for Primary. With 65 children and eight classes with two teachers each, I learned what it meant to be the one organizing a group. It was a new experience for me and not a bad one. Lucky Josh got to be with me while I was organizing the Primary Room 
. We were able to squeeze everyone in the big Primary Room and then everyone goes to their classes. Boom. Done. No more messing around with switching Junior and Senior Primary around. The teachers don't know what to do with only 20 minutes of teaching. I like the shorter Church though. I feel like the Church Leadership is just not messing around anymore. The ownership of spiritual strength and knowledge is now on the individual (and probably always should've been) and Church is meant to support and strengthen.
I like the new Come Follow Me Program. Every morning last week we sat around the table with our scriptures, books and pens and discussed what we were learning. We asked questions of each other and answered them as a family, had some laughs, had some tender moments but mostly loved learning together, like we do. It's a unifying experience for us a family and extending to the ward. I like being a part of it. Edith Hartmann got up to bear her testimony yesterday and said, "I guess I will have to get used to talking to myself because my family doesn't understand." There is much we can do to support each other, and really, isn't that an important part of what life is? To strengthen and support those around us? I think so. We'll have Edith over soon.
We had the Robisons over yesterday after church. They don't get invited out much due to the size of their family, but they must have loved it because they stayed for six hours! Haha. I had to stay late after church for a baptism and Dad did everything! The chile, the dishes, the set up, the welcome ... Everything! I got home, company was there and everything was ready including the food. Kudos to Dad for being amazing.
This upcoming week is the week we get back into routine and back to work after the Christmas holidays. We just got a new loveseat to match with our couch and now I can finally get to work finishing the front room. This means making a coffee table and a sofa table (to go behind the love seat) and maybe some drapes. This may not be exciting to you but it sure is to me. I love making our home into a welcoming space.
The girls are refocusing their education plans for the next four months. Skiing is high on the priority list and for Abby, learning French. Happily, we have a Dad who keeps us working toward higher ideals. Last night he had to force us up to the table to plan. We all went reluctantly but by the end, were all excited for being the master of our own lives. Again. Good thing he is around and takes his role as Father seriously.
I only have one picture for the week (the rest I stole from Dad). Abby and Mia are becoming cupcake masters, much to the chagrin of our waistlines. They are baked from scratch and beautiful to look at. These were banana maple pecan cupcakes. Yum! After we ate these they made another batch a few days later. A chocolate one. They said, "I wish it was someone's birthday today, so we could bring them these cupcakes." I looked it up on the ward website and it was Lydia Rector's birthday, so the girls walked up and dropped off seven cupcakes in the shape of a "7" for her seventh birthday. Apparently Lydia was really happy about it although she didn't show it on her face. 
Oh! And I almost forgot to tell you that the New Year's Dance was a big hit! Ben and Josh said they both had never been, and it's true that we're usually in Sparwood. We all showed up to help decorate (except Mia, who was at the Driessen's) and chaperone, so the Bishop gave Abby permission to go to the dance despite the fact she's not quite old enough. I was proud of her though. She decided to get in and DANCE and not feel shy or awkward about it. And the boys noticed. And we noticed the boys noticing. It was all very weird for me. She is a beautiful girl though, no doubt about it.
Genetically, I'm not sure how she can be my daughter. Lol!
The Bonnells will soon be our new neighbours. They are busy getting their house ready to move into and Josh, Ben and I had a chance to go help them paint last week. Lots of people showed up and Nikole just cried with how much a group of people could accomplish in such short a time. The Wizard Lake community is growing!
That's about it for this week, Sam. We sure love you. We have lots of people ask after you and we always tell them you are doing fantastic.
How are your clothes holding up?
Did you get your package yet?
Will you stay in Malawi the rest of your mission? Or have a chance to go back to Zambia?
Malawi is a poorer country than Zambia, right? Can you see a difference in the people?
What was your highlight of the week?
Love you!
Mom
From Sam - Questions Answered:
Hey Mom,
Thanks for the update. Just like you, I love the details, Thanks.
In answer to your questions:
1. My clothes are holding up pretty well, it's only my 1 year mark shirt that I stopped using.
2. I haven't got my package yet. I found out the post office workers are at strike right now or something like that. I was told they haven't got paid in almost 5 months.
3. I'm not sure how long I'll stay in Malawi. Usually it's a year. So if that's the case my last three months will be in Zambia. But I will never know until it happens.
4. The people are way different, the currency in different, the language is close to that in Lusaka, But think of it like this: Zambia is a third world country and Malawi is a seventh world country.
5. The highlight if my week was MLC and the Mission tour/Zone conference. Being the Zone leader I had the privilege of picking up my mission president and Elder Palmer from the airport, so I got to have some personal time with the area president. He's a really cool guy. He told me to tell you that he told me I'm a great missionary and that you all will be proud of me.
I love you all.
-Elder Smith
From Sam - Charity is the Pure Love of Christ:
Hello everyone,
Tak-Tak part 2
This week has been a great week of instruction. I'm in Malawi but because of MLC(Missionary Leadership Counsel) I had to fly to Lusaka for two days then back again to Malawi. At the MLC we got to receive instruction from the area president, Elder Palmer, he is so cool and I learned so much from him. But the biggest highlight of my week was on the flight back from Lusaka. From Lusaka to Lilongwe I had to go through Harare, Zimbabwe. On the flight to Harare I sat beside someone who had lots of safari stories, but while I waited for the plane to take off(I was seated at the very last seat in the plane) I started to talk to the person on the other side of the plane(Same Isle) and because no one was sitting there for the next flight I sat beside her to continue our conversation. She was going home to Nairobi, Kenya and she does computer programming a lot like the job Dad does. Which led to our conversation about video games and I described and explained my favorite game, Undertale. The flight was an hour and a half and about 40 minutes into our conversation the topic of discussion changed to who I was and what I was doing, which led to me teaching the entire restoration to her. It was a very fast flight. I got to share my testimony with her and I wish I had an extra Book of Mormon because I read some scriptures to her and she expressed a desire to read the Book of Mormon. I was out of pamphlets because I've been using them the whole trip, but I did have one last Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet. I gave it to her, told her to go to Mormon.org and gave her my email and said"If this changes your life, let me know" and then I had to go. She is 11 years older then me but even still I want her to find the gospel and to be happy. I was able to see her as Christ saw her. The thought of only teaching her to get numbers or to say I did a good job was not present. I sincerely wanted her and still want her to be happy.
I spent three days in Zambia but when I got back to Malawi I was so happy, there was so much I missed. Lots of the words I would use I could start using again. It was nice.
Yesterday we had our zone conference and Elder Palmer was there and I got to learn so much from him. He helped me link my life as a missionary and my missionary purpose as the same thing. It doesn't matter how much you know, there is still lots more to understand. And there is no better way to get rid of pride then to mess up in front of others. It's not a good thing to have pride, so sometimes it's a good thing to mess up in front of others, it's the best way to stay humble.
One thing Elder Palmer taught was "Don't use hedge clippers to mow the lawn." it doesn't matter how hard we work, if we are not using the right or best tools we will get very little done. if you want to mow a lawn you want to use the Gas powered lawn mower. The principles of goal setting is universal and if we want to achieve our goals we need to get to work and use the right tools.
I love you all,
-Elder Smith
Pictures:
-Me and my MTC group at MLC after we hit our year mark
-Me and the Blantyre Zone leaders Enjoying our Mountain Dew(You can't find Mountain Dew in Malawi)
-Pictures with Elder and Sister Palmer(And my companion)
-Pictures from inside a Tak-Tak(Mini Taxi)
-Kawale Squad at Spur
Videos:
Tak-Tak part 1
Tak-Tak part 2
