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

October 13, 2019

From Sam - So much to Do and Not Enough Time to Do it

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

'

-Youth Activity

October 6, 2019

From Dad - General Conference

Hey Sam,

I know you won't get to see the conference till next week, but suffice it to say, it didn't disappoint..

From big changes to YM presidencies to great reminders about centering our life on Christ and avoiding deception, distraction and discouragement, we were spiritually fed.

We've actually been having some pretty good weather this week, somewhat making  up for our crazy wet summer. Calgary and south, including Glenwood and Cardston got a major snow storm, however, of over 2.5 feet on the level. Still have snow lingering. It was a good contrast for Elder Bectell to come home to! Damon flew in on Tuesday, Oct 1. Sounds like he's doing well.

We loved having Josh, Ben and Lindy stay over this week-end for General Conference. Filled up the house nicely again.

Yesterday, Mom and I attended Matthew Arnold's wedding. He married a nice girl from Edmonton and held the ceremony on the Arnold's acreage. Mom met one of her YW from 15 years ago. That was her treasure she was looking for as we ended up waiting a few hours for the reception to start and that was a bit challenging. :)

We did the usual and stocked up on candy for Conference Squares bingo and hung out in the living rooms all 2 days. We did get out for a Sunday afternoon walk in the back field as it was so nice.

Here's the video version and Steph's response. Too funny :)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1157MAZVb4S2KUuQes5XcPx6ffEAg4ANi

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1H0s0bgllNVOKJY_PbctVyYGYYdCRJDWf

It was Tyler's birthday this week. We sent him this video:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hwzIdtNLhriZFLu6ukfrfqTW90BkLG44

Bowie continues to grow and Steph even had her laughing a bit this week!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=19m61JnZXhzPMHM1GjrNui20NykxTXhSM

Have a great week Sam. Hopefully we'll talk to you tomorrow.

Love,

Dad.

From Sam - I melted my favorite cup

Hello Everyone,

This week was crazy for me. Missionary transfers are a whole different worry for me now. Before the thoughts that went through my head were "I wonder if I'm staying in my area or if I'm leaving?" I know that I'm not getting transferred until I go home so I don't think those thoughts now. Now I'm thinking "I wonder where everyone else is going" As soon as the decision is made by President Whiting I'm running up and down growing white hairs knowing what to do but not having enough time to do it. My Monday last week to Saturday two days ago I was stressing out about all the stuff I needed to do. Actually, Saturday wasn't very stressful and I woke up with no worry and I didn't know what to do with my time. I was sitting there thinking about how much I don't have to worry about and thinking about what I could do. It was a weird feeling.

Saturday was a day of miracles. I spent a total of 15 or 16 hours in my area this week. In the afternoon me and Elder Jones planned on contacting people near the church and offer to take people on chapel tours. After lunch we were on our way to where we were planning to go and contacted three guys on the way. They stayed in my area so to not waste their time we decided to walk with them to their home. We talked a lot on the way and two of them stay together, Peter and Aloysius. Peter is a nurse and in his pass time does rapping. He loves truth and was really interested in the Book of Mormon. Aloysius is currently going to school to be a knee surgeon. They are super solid guys and Peter even came to church. The real miracle was he knew a member that attends Matero ward. He is a relative to this member and he felt so much more comfortable to be there than before. It was amazing. We just street contacted him and God put everything in place.

The other miracle happened on Saturday. There is someone that was baptized in June but was never confirmed. I have never met him and have tried to call him with little success. When we arrived at the member activity there was a new face. We introduced ourselves to him and we found out that he was that very same person we have been trying to contact. His name is Gift and he is back and ready to be a member. 

Now, the reason of the email title. 

One of my favorite meals to have is hash-browns. I peel and chop up potato's and fry them in hot oil and then after draining the oil I add some eggs to make a healthy and delicious breakfast. On Tuesday, during the time I was frying the eggs and after I drained the hot oil. The cup I drained the oil started spouting hit oil from the middle of the cup. I soon realized my mistake. The hot oil was melting the plastic cup I put it in. I only realized my not wise decision after I messed up. I grabbed the cup to move it into the sink so the oil wouldn't go everywhere only to realize that when I moved it the top came with my hand but the bottom was firm in being where it was. I had a big mess to clean up. The two pictures I took with week are of the melted cup. In a forever memory of my hilarious mistake that still makes me laugh today. 

Life is like that sometimes. We realize the consequences of our choices after you made the mistake. Repentance is the way where we can feel peace from those mistakes and even sometimes look back and have a laugh at how not wise you were. Then you look to the future and make better decisions.

Make this week the best week of your year.

-Elder Smith

 

September 30, 2019

From Mom - Baby, It's Cold Outside

Dear Sam,

Winter has arrived with a vengeance. Not here, mind you. I mean, it's chilly and the leaves are falling here but everyone is basically snowed in down South. I was planning on going hiking in Banff with Siobhan and we had to cancel. We've never cancelled before so I'm shocked! Oh well. Apparently the roads were crazy bad with people all over the ditches on Hwy 2. Better safe than sorry. 

I had a lovely birthday. Dad took us canoeing on Wizard Lake. We battled upwind for 20 minutes then turned around and lazily drifted back to the boat launch. Ha. 

Also, the best thing ever. Dad bought me an ELECTRIC BLANKET! I thought I died and went to heaven. I was DREADING winter ... like really dreading it, but now when I get caught with the chills, I can just hunker down with a heated blanket over me. I told the family, I'm going to live on the couch all winter with my heated blanket. Haha. It's really lovely.

We harvested the garden before the first frost and the girls scrubbed carrots until their fingers turned orange. But ... carrots! Lots of them. I'm not sure if there is anything better than garden carrots to munch on during the winter months. Grandma Smith says they'll keep nice in the downstairs fridge. 

The girls have taken over the downstairs bedrooms and have decorated them to their heart's content. Your yellow walls are now a thing of the past. Mia is sleeping there now with light turquoise walls and a new bedspread. Makes us want to finish the ceiling now and get decent light fixtures and ... Ooh, window coverings! 

Anyway, love you lots, Sammy Boy. Make your last few months matter. Never underestimate the power of Revelation in how to use your remaining time. 

Mom

From Sam - The Lord of the Vineyard

Good Morning everyone,

I was able to get up early this morning and got to call my family(Josh, Ben Mom and Dad) It was great to talk you everyone. I have 3 months left and if I wasn't serving in such a good ward I would miss home a lot more. I am looking forward to going/coming home. But I have another family in the mean time.

Because of my time in the office I'm not always able to go to my area. The time I've been in the office is the time I've been able to see how much missionary work is Gods work. Not so much the missionary's work. Learning this and thinking about it my mind was cast to Jacob 5 in the Book of Mormon. The Lord of the vineyard is God and the servant of the Lord of the vineyard is me. I may not know everything. I may question the Lord and his decisions but even still, I understand that this is his vineyard not mine. I'm here to help him with his work. I'm here to counsel with him not to counsel him. I've seen this because I'm getting less then half the regular time in my area. About 25 hours on average a week. But even still, my area is doing just as well as any other missionary's area. God has changed gears and is zooming along and my companion and I are struggling to keep up to him. God's hand is in everything. He's in the very details of our lives. 

I've also experienced the power of the Atonement in change. I've been trying to develop charity, virtue and other Christ-like attributes. I have tried to develop them on my own for some time but this past week I have really made it a matter of prayer. The moment I started doing so I immediately started to notice change. It wasn't a forced thing either. I started to sincerely started feeling love for those around me. It's amazing how much change started happening in me as soon as I started sincerely praying for that change to take place. 

God has a heaven full of blessings for us and want to give it all to us but we can only access those blessings by our faith and obedience and by us asking for them through prayers. We sometimes lose those blessings by our lack of faith, disobedience and pride. Trying to bless ourselves more then God can bless us.  What makes me so sad is when I see people lose those blessings because of fear, disobedience and pride. On the opposite spectrum it brings me so much joy when I see people receive those blessings because of their faith, obedience and prayers. 

I love you all,

-Elder Smith

Pictures:

-Lusaka district pictures

-Lunch with the AP's

-Sausage and hashbrown dinner

-My Book of Mormon reading challenge tracker(I'll read the Book of Mormon 10 times on my mission if I do this)

-My new journal

-The member activity.