June 28, 2021
From Mom - Heat Waves
Dear Ben,
I’ve been rethinking our oversight in not purchasing short-sleeved shirts for you. Can you get them somehow through the mission office? It’s crazy hot here right now. The kind of hot we haven’t seen for three years. And I’m feeling a little sorry for you because I know Ontario gets even hotter. Not as hot as California or Zambia … but still.
Your video was awesome, btw! I don’t have FB at the moment so Josh showed me when I was visiting with him tonight. I liked it a lot! Then I got a text from Pam Habing, who apparently saw it through a friend’s son. She was watching it out of curiosity and suddenly she was pleasantly surprised to see you in it! So it’s making the rounds.
Mia finished her last exam on Friday and we are in full summer swing over here. Bobby spent the weekend to take a little break from her life. She cooked fettuccini Alfredo for us and helped us shop for bathing suits and kept us laughing. She’s a long-time friend and it reminded me of the value of good relationships. They just make life that much better.
Dad put in a full day on Saturday digging out a basketball pad. The earth is levelled, the gravel is in and it’s well on it’s way to being done by the time you get home. Bobby made a TickTock out of it and apparently it went viral. Haha.
The girls have been enjoying Jubilee Park.
And really … it’s so hot, it’s nice to be near water.
Sarah Driessen gave her homecoming talk today at church (our last Zoom meeting, ever, maybe). She said the best missionary advice she ever received was to start praying for the people you are going to teach. So that is something I’m starting in my personal prayers for you. We all know they’re out there … searching for something, anything that will provide the answers to Life.
I, myself … unbelievable grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s all about peace. And confidence. And power to act. And guidance.
And, and, and …
I love you a million. And so, so, so proud of you.
Keep being your best self.
Love forever,
Mom
Here’s a few pics from my phone.
I had a tender mercy when picking up the bobcat from the Sunbelt rental place. I had borrowed the trailer from Cal Carlson and in typical fashion forgot to lock the hitch ball in. When I went to load the skid steer onto the trailer it jumped off the ball and e front of the trailer reared up in the air. The tender mercy was that the hitch landed right back down on the front of the hitch just in front of the ball. This allowed me to pull the truck ahead and pop it back on without further incident. It could have been ugly!
Me and Cal’s trailers have a rock history, eh!
Ben's Reply to Mom's letter:
Hey Mumma!
About the short sleeved shirts, I'm not entirely sure. I'll have to figure out where to get some quick though because my goodness. Just yesterday I'm confident I dropped 5 pounds due to sweat loss.
The video was pretty fun to make :) I'm still figuring out how to use social media and such. It's really tempting to aim for humorous posts, so I'm still trying to figure out where the correct balance between respecting the nature of my calling and adding some oft-times needed humor. (In the kitchen scene, me and Elder Sorenson were actually squatting because we couldn't get the camera angle to work)
So the girls are done school then eh? Good for them, that is super hyped.
I'm kinda jealous about missing a weekend with Bobby! I can just picture her cracking some great one-liners.
You'll have to send pictures of the progress of the basketball hoop, that'll be awesome.
I'm slowly adjusting my mindset to a missionary mindset. Right now, I just enjoy the work, but I don't yet love the work (it'll come). I do know though, that the reason I'll begin to love the work more and more will be because of the people I'm teaching and serving. So the advice that Sarah Driessen gives is stellar.
One thing I really love about the mission so far though, is how I can focus so much more of my time on Gospel studying.
I realize, like all students of a subject do, that there is an amazing amount of things that I need to learn still. The thing about the Gospel is that the best learning is done through the application of the teachings, and the living of what you've studied. Just as faith without works is dead, so is studying without application (it's somewhat unfortunate because the application is kinda hard sometimes actually)
I've really gained a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon, what a stellar book. It is becoming a true delight to read and ponder.
Oh man, I love you guys a whole bunch. You'll get more details of the week on my general email.
Love you lots!
- Elder Smith
Good Monday morning friends and family!
First off.
You know how Adam and Eve couldn't experience joy unless they knew suffering? Well, my capacity to experience joy has increased ten-fold this week: On leg day.
On Thursday we have a joint Zone work out. This week, for our work-out, we did a leg day. Now I have nothing against leg day, but holy drifting Moses, this work out we did went beyond. like. to infinity and beyond.
I thought my legs hurt the day of the workout. But the next morning. Oh my.
I tried to walk like everybody walks, but because my legs had given up the ghost I had to walk as the penguins do. That is, waddle.
Beyond that experience we had zone-conference and it was stellar. President Ensign and Sister Ensign gave some great missionary advice concerning good, better and best, and how we as missionaries specifically apply it in our labors. I had the chance to tickle the ivories a little as they had me playing prelude which was fun. I got to meet some more of the missionaries, and for some reason, all the Elders are really tall; of the thirty something Elders there, I am confident I am the second shortest. Elder Sorenson gave his farewell testimony so I got to see my trainer give a heart-felt testimony which definitely strengthened my conviction to be better than I am.
One of the top highlights of missionary work is meeting with the members. It's so cool to hear their stories and experience their wit and wisdom. We met with one cool lady who used to be apart of the church when she was young, who told us that she actually had five personalities. I'm pretty sure she wasn't joking, but I may be wrong. That was a funky meeting. She reminded us that boys brains don't mature till 25 and warned us to be aware that as we were not yet 25, we still had some developing to do. Some pretty stellar advice if I say so.
And finally. I am really starting to love the Gospel more. First off because of how much time I have to study it, and secondly because as a missionary, people hit you with the good questions. They ask really personal, legitimate questions that require you to completely honest. Someone recently dropped the classic "why would a loving God allow suffering in the world?" question; now I've thought about it, and I could have answered right then and there. But at that moment, after she shared what she did, I realized the best answer I could provide then and there was actually none.
Turns out sometimes, that people, when they ask a question, dont ask it in what they say, but in what they feel. Then if you try to answer that question through words alone you are actually answering a question that was never asked.
Maybe I'm overthinking it. Regardless, there's a reason it is absolutely necessary to trust in the guidance of the Spirit. Because in a nut shell, I'm just a 19 year old boy with an underdeveloped brain and a lot to learn.
Oh man, it is hard to put down everything that happened in the week. In bullet form, here's what also happened
- We're going to be teaching a kid who wants to get baptized whose last name is Wojnicz (pronounced Voy-nich)
- We are now helping Elma, the girl we put on date to be baptized, with her struggles with smoking
- I janked my knee a little bit while running around a track.
Till next week! Love you all!
Pictures....
1) Us hanging out with Old man Wilkinson
2) After our lesson with Elma (the little girl whom we didn't know wanted to be included, so of course we let her in)
3) A picture taken at a members house during golden hour
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