Sam's Mission To Zambia Blog

Monday, November 4, 2019

November 4, 2019

From Dad - Quick email today

Hi Sam,

Here's a quick update on the week. Didn't get the email written last night so squeaking this out between Seminary and work.

Halloween was the big event this week. Amelia came up with 3 separate costumes for different events. Here's a post from one experience Mom and the girls had while out trick or treating in the countryside:

After hitting the countryside, the girls went into Devon to add to their candy stash and stayed over at Emma's. Mom and I got the house to ourselves. While I was working the next morning. I saw a rare site out the back window. 3 huge moose strolled across our back field:

Earlier in the week, I went on a business trip to visit a Nissan auto plant that uses our software. They are located in Tennessee. They produce over 600,000 cars a year there! Huge plant and very interesting to visit. While I was there, just before flying out I went to see a couple of famous sites there:

1. The grand Ol Opry is a famous concert hall for country music, which is huge in Nashville:

2. A replica of the Athens parthenon:

Mom went down to St George Friday to visit the Froleichs. She'll fly back with Stephanie on Wednesday. Bowie is getting soooo bright and cute and interactive. can't wait to have her here with us for a while.

As usual, Steph and Tyler went all out with Halloween.

Made some more progress on the garage. Finished a corner to build shelves this winter to get all our totes out.

Kenny McKenny got married last week in Cardston.

There's the week in pictures at least :)

BTW, here's the link to Ben's concert videos.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=18r5GKKow3f_ZLJHY7IR-x_tC8Mq23RGR

Abby and I bore our testimony this week. Abby talked about our canoe adventure and how even a small deviation from staying straight would cause the wind to turn you completely off course. Bore her testimony how small and simple things are important for good and bad. Thanks Abby.

Have a great week.

Dad

From Sam - The 22 month exchange

Hello all,

This week flew by for me. I'm sitting at 6 weeks left in my mission. It's driving me crazy.

One amazing experience this week was going on an exchange with Elder Ellsworth. I came from the MTC with Elder Ellsworth and I have never taught with him before or spent a day in the area with him. I've been around him but I've never been his companion for day. This exchange is one that I've been waiting for. It was so amazing to be with him. I got to know him a lot more and I learned a lot from him. I learned to be a better teacher, I learned more about patience(Which is funny because patience is the one thing he didn't have when we were in the MTC) When we sat down at the end of the day we didn't have anything to tell each other on how we can improve. We both enjoyed our time together and not a moment was wasted. All that happened was telling each other what we admire about each other and what we learned from each other. We also talked about what we could do to sprint to the end of our missions. It was an amazing time and worth the 22 month wait.

Yesterday was fast and testimony Sunday. Part way through my companion went up to bear his testimony. When he did, I thought about how I only have 6 weeks left and only two fast Sundays left and my opportunities to bear my testimony to Matero ward are very limited. I went up and bore testimony of the difference of a house and a home. A house is a building and a place you go to. A home is where family is. Matero ward is my home. I'm going to miss this place when I go to my home in Canada.I have learned so much while I've been here in Matero. How to be innocent to sin but not naive, to work hard AND smart. My testimony of the savior Jesus Christ has increased so much. I thought I had a strong testimony until is was strengthened.I didn't think it could be better than it was and then I had an experience where it became more real to me and increased so much.

I'm trying to "Hoe to the end of the row" and "Sprint to the finish" It's so hard to work so hard but I do know that it will be worth it. Thank you everyone for your prayers. I do know the power of prayer is so real. God's blessings are very real. He has taken care of me my whole mission and seems to have helped me so much for after my mission. He loves blessing us. Blessing = Happiness and blessings come from obedience. So Obedience = Happiness.

I love you all,

-Elder Smith

Pictures:

-Halloween party with the Quero's(Another Indian family joined us, the girl in the picture is Panna)(I was my companion for Halloween)

-Elder Ellsworth with the member on his left(Amos) and two of the people I'm teaching(Peter and Aloysius)

-The baptism of Bupe Mwelwe with me baptizing

-Me, Elder Ellsworth, Brother Chingwara and Joseph Kampeliya

-Pictures at the AP's flat

-Fun night at the Phiri's house

Video's

Sunday, October 27, 2019

October 27, 2019

From Mom - No Sound

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