August 12, 2019

From Mom - Response to "My New Assignment"

Dear Sam, 

I've been thinking about this new assignment of yours over the week and figure the mission president has a lot of trust in you. Obviously, I already think you're capable and know how to work hard, so I think you'll be fantastic once you understand the details of your new responsibilities. You wouldn't want life to be boring now, would you?  The only way I know how to lend you strength is to include you specifically in my prayers, which I do. 

Ben asked me today how I access the enabling power of the Atonement. And like most of Ben's questions, I have to think about it for a little while before I can formulate a response! I have a strong belief that Heavenly Father is deeply immersed in the details of our lives. He is made manifest in obvious ways when we willingly turn to Him for help. I've done this many times especially in situations that seem too daunting for my limited abilities. By some miracle when I get to work after asking for help, it seems that my efforts are magnified PLUS some unexpected additional help. 

A recent example was agreeing (in June) to help Ebony decorate for her wedding. I'm not good at decorating but I couldn't leave her to do it on her own. I wasn't going to be here during the weeks leading up to the wedding and I was FREAKING OUT, wondering how I was going to get it done.  So I said a prayer asking for help and had an immediate impression to text Joanna Nesom, who had two boys married in the spring. She offered a few lanterns. Then I got to work brainstorming with Ebony and she sent me pics of what she wanted. My dad happened to be here with his chainsaw for the family reunion and he cut a bunch of wooden discs for centerpieces and I started pricing out what else we'd need. I asked the RS President if we could borrow their linen tablecloths. My efforts weren't nearly enough to accomplish what we needed and it was very discouraging but I did what I could.  Then the Sunday before I flew to help Steph (about a month before the wedding), Joanna came up to me at church and showed me a picture of her niece's recent wedding and it was EXACTLY what Ebony wanted. On August 1, after returning from our holiday, I picked up the stuff, Sheena Rector offered to help and the result was gorgeous. Ebony was married on August 3 and she was so happy with the result. I had to admit there was no way I did it on my own. Miracles attended. Such a simple example, I know, but I felt I had some heavenly intervention plus the enabling power of the Atonement boosting my simple abilities. 

So I'm saying that the enabling power of the Atonement is real to me. I know I can ask for help from heaven and get it. And so can you. And so can anyone. God is good that way, offering it free to us all. It brings me a lot of peace, especially when I'm in over my head. 

LYR is another example. We had THREE counselors cancel. By last week we still hadn't found anyone after a month of effort and I was finally on my knees praying, asking for help. In 24 hours we had FOUR capable and willing replacements. It was a miracle to me.

And there are so many more examples from my life. So pray and work hard and watch for those tender mercies and miracles. I love you so much, Sammy Boy and I'm so very proud of you. 

Love forever,

Mom

Two questions...

1) Did you get our care package?

2) When will we know the details of your flight home?

From Sam - Elder Jones the Younger

Hello everyone,

I got my new companion this week. He got here(to Zambia) on Tuesday but we only became companions on Saturday because I had to wait for Elder Okolo to fly to Blantyre, which happened on Saturday. He is a great missionary and a great person, I'm happy to be with him.

This week honestly went a little slow because I knew my companion was here in Lusaka but I couldn't be with him until my current companion was gone. I learned a lot from Elder Okolo and it was a good thing he was transferred because we were getting along too well. 

Since I've been with Elder Jones(Two days) we have worked very well together and we are getting along very well.

Today we were able to do some sports. At first it was just the missionaries, then 4 members came, then to complete it a family the other elders are teaching came. The parents were playing and the youngest, Ellie(Ee-lie), was playing as well. But the two daughters(Chloe and Kassy) were just standing in the shade of the tree. Chloe is 12 and reminds me of Amelia and Kassy is 18. I was throwing the foot ball around with Ellie and when I saw his sisters just watching other people play it felt very wrong. I invited them to play pass with us but they didn't want to, I did all I could to get them involved but it didn't seem to work. They would just tell the other sister to do it but wasn't willing to come and join themselves. It wasn't working until I got them to put down the "Important things" they were holding and told them to hold out their arms and I passed the ball to them. That's how it started. By the time we were finishing up they were both having fun and Kassy started to try Volley ball. I hope they had a good time but I do know that their parents were happy they were involved. I was thinking about Micheal Jackson's song "The Man in the Mirror" and in one line it says "If you want to make the world a better place you need to look at yourself and make that change" Everyone wants things to improve but not enough people are willing to make improvement happen. If you want to be included, include people. If you want to be respected, respect others. Gods glory comes by glorifying others, us, His children. It's by glorifying God that we can be glorified. "True happiness comes by making others happy".

A big shout out to Auntie Kurri and Benson for sending me a "late" birthday letter. I got your juice crystals. I saw when you sent it, it was something like March 29th. I didn't get it until the end of July. Not to condemn anyone but that was the third letter I have received on my mission besides the ones my family sent me in a care package. Thanks Kurri and Benson. I miss you both a lot as well. Only 4 months left.

I love you all,

Stay blessed.

-Elder Smith

Pictures:

 -Dinner at the Quero's

-Jollof rice and dinner at Memery's place

-Elder Williams last hours in the mission(He's home now)

-The letter Kurri and Benson sent me(Thanks guys)

-Akim, a returning members son

-Elder Okolo's "Last supper" at Fatima's place(One picture is me trying to catch Fozia on camera)

-My new companion, Elder Jones

-Jamima(right) Esther(left)

-The start of the sports pictures. More to come.

From Dad - YM Camp PIcs

August 5, 2019

From Sam - Zone Conference Week

This week we had our zone conference. In the conference I looked at the schedule and saw that Elder Ellsworth was conducting(He's the other zone leader) and I thought "Ha", then I looked at the rest of the schedule and saw that me and my companion were leading a discussion at the end and I realized that I had the harder part. I was told that me and my companion did a good job and I thought "That's good because I was definitely trying to follow the spirit because I didn't know how to do it well" The spirit is an amazing thing. 

This week flew by, I'm trying to remember all that happened. On Saturday we walked by the Heroes Stadium and it was full of people and lots of noise was coming from the stadium. We asked about the game and we found out that it was Zambia vs. Botswana. The Zambian team is Chipolopolo which translates to Bullet. The member we were working with shouted "It's a goal" even when she didn't know what was going on in the stadium or if there was a goal and three guys just started yelling, running and celebrating for no reason. It's the crowd effect. You just get excited because others are excited even though you may not know why. It was fun.

Those were the bulk of my week. Sorry it's short.

-Elder Smith

Pictures:

-Classic Chomp bar

-Zone conference

 

-In the mountain

-Lunch with Brother Gabriel(He goes on mission to Durban, South Africa in October)

-Giant Cockroach

-Sports day 

  

From Sam - My New Assignment

Hello my wonderful family! I want to hear a response from everyone about this email.

Today I got a call  as I started emailing from my mission president. First he talked to my companion and told him that he is getting transferred to Malawi in Blantyre to be zone leader with my MTC companion Elder Rich. He then talked to me. He informed me that my new companion is going to be a missionary named Elder Jones. I have spent very little time with him but I do know him. I would say he is the hardest working and most enthusiastic missionary in the mission. It's a good thing too because not only are we going to be zone leaders together but also, because the senior couple missionaries in the office are going home in a month and a week, we are also going to be office missionaries. Elder Jones is going to be doing finances and I'm going to be doing immigration and flights for the mission. 

If I'm here for the rest of my mission I'm going to be booking my own flights home. For the next month and a bit we're going to be at the office for training. The way it's going to work is most days we're both going to be in the office in the morning then around 2pm or so we'll be back in our area. So, If we're going to be getting the regular amount of work to be done we're going to have to work the hell out of ourselves. Which can be only done by the power of God and the Atonement. This is going to be my assignment for the next bit or for the rest bit of my mission. I'm excited and nervous. Wish me luck. So I'm going to be an office elder, zone leader and a normal missionary.

Let me know what you all think.

I love you all,

-Elder (Samuel) Smith

From Dad - Reply

Whatever you put your mind to, you will do well, Sam. A great opportunity to learn and exercise time management skills. I didn't work in the office on my mission.

The world needs people who are willing to take on responsibility and work hard at it. Part of our temple covenant is to give of our time, talents and everything the Lord has blessed us with to build up the kingdom of God. This opportunity is both doing that and training you to do it in the future. 

My experience is that when we choose to be "All In" we are much happier and get the full blessings of our covenants. The concept is true in the gospel, at LYR, and in life.

Love you lots. You can do this!

Dad.

From Dad - Home again, home again, Jiggity jig

Hey Sam,

Enjoyed a mixed week of driving home from Vancouver and getting back into the swing of things.

Monday night we camped in the Okenogen beside Osoyoos Lake. Beautiful. We pulled in just before sunset so the kids decided to go for a dip in the lake. There was a nice beach right across from our campground so Josh, Ben and Amelia ran down first. As I got my swimsuit on and walked down to the beach with Abby, we noticed a lady rubbing Ben's back and asking him questions... weird, right? When we got there, Ben sat down on the sand and looked a little dazed. Turns out that he tried to do a shallow dive off a floating dock and misjudged the depth of the water. He drove his nose and face into the sand and crunched the back of his neck. Luckily he could still move and we set him up with the softest air mattress in the tent. It was a fun campground (Cabana beach campground) with fun little half cabins with sinks, a fridge and a counter top. We picked up some fruit at one of the fruit stands the next day and drove all the way to Sparwood to drop off uncle Steve's topper, then on to Glenwood. 

Grandma and Grandpa Smith made me a nice meal and chocolate cake with fudge icing for my birthday. 49 years old this week. Ben commented that I'm now a square number (7x7). That made me feel swell :) The Bectell's showed up for supper and we had a nice visit. Lindy and Rachel are in Europe on a choir trip but it was Damon's P-day so we got to video call with him. He's doing great and is home October 1. Time flies

Mom helped Ebony Frank decorate for her wedding with the help of some RS sisters. Ebony is marrying her long time boyfriend  Jarreth Tremblay. We went to their wedding on Saturday. Bishop Purnell married them and did a great job with some good advice which they will probably forget. I don’t remember much of what our sealer counseled us. Too pre-occupied with the beautiful girl across the alter :) 

Now the push is to finish organization of LYR. 2 weeks away! We’ve had 3 girl counselors drop out so we’re scrambling. 

Saturday, Ben helped me despite his aching back and we got our first sheet of drywall up on the garage ceiling with the help of a drywall lift Bro. Arnold lent me. A little scary at first, but got it up! Lots of people struggling to keep water out of their basements. It's been super wet this year with tons of rain. Our sump area in the basement filled up with water but thankfully didn't overflow. I ended up buying a utility sump pump to bring it down to reasonable levels. 

We had Kylan Rice over for dinner yesterday. He broke up with his girlfriend which unfortunately led to her choosing not to be a counselor for LYR.  We cheered him up a bit hopefully and he pitched in and helped with supper. We had a great garden meal dig up from the garden. 

Mom and Ben also went out looking for an apartment for him and Josh and eventually you to join when you get home. It's just north of Grant Macewan and $700/month. so pretty reasonable for the market. It's going to be a different world with just the girls and us. Circle of life!

I really enjoyed fast and testimony meeting yesterday. Bro. Sosa's testimony was particularly powerful as he testified of the power the gospel of Jesus Christ has to change our lives and the difference in happiness and peace that comes from living the gospel vs. not. 10 years ago he had just been released from prison and decided to quit taking drugs and become active in the church and the gospel. He's been sober ever since and can testify of the difference it has made.

It confirmed to me the purpose of this life is to learn by experience the good from the evil. Every experience we have can turn to our good if we choose to turn to the Savior for redemption by repentance. Bad experiences become our reference points to better empathize with others who are having similar experiences and good experiences re-enforce our faith in a loving God if we let them.

Have a great week!

Love Dad.