March 28, 2022

From Ben - Relief Society

Mid conversation with a random dude on the street, comes this guy on a bike, blazing towards us. 

"Hebrew Isrealites! Hebrew Isrealites!! These men lie!" 

Then he blazed away. 

It was so awesome. (Both for the fact that it actually happened, and that he called us men) 

We explained to our friend that we were not in fact, Hebrew Isrealites. (We were, however, tempted to shout back at the bike guy, in a cool kind of way, that we were in fact of the tribe of Ephriam, son of Joseph of Egypt, son of Jacob, but we refrained) 

Our friend accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and a Resto Pamphlet, and we proceeded to go and have lunch.

The small day to day adventures really spice up the giant soup of life 

Us Weston missionaries (Elder Olson, Low, Durant and I) were invited to participate in a relief society event that happened on Saturday.

The Relief Society President and counselors were getting released, and it was partially a farewell to them/first in person activity after the Covid celebration. 

These women were extraordinary! Many from the Philippines, many from around Africa, all filled with laughter and love. 

The food they made? My gosh, it was incredible. 

I got to play Where Can I Turn For Peace with a little bit of flourish to spice it up, and the other Elders threw down some of their favourite verses.

In the few moments I got to be a part of the Relief Society, it was exceptional. 

(Imagine being part of a club who, even in its name, is committed to making life better for the people around them. What kind of elite kindness is this?)

It's one of those things that you've taken for granted your entire life, and never quite realized what a genius idea it was. To have a Relief Society. 

Talking to people on the street will always be an adventure. 

Turns out actually using the Book of Mormon works! What a plot twist. 

(Gotta break that best two years record of 63 Book of Mormons in a week handed out) 

I've somewhat conquered the natural fear that comes when talking to people. The next step is to truly care about the people we talk to.

It is a lot of fun to see how many New one people can find in a week (a person taught, who has accepted a specific return appointment) it's a part of the goals we set, and the standard of excellence for the CTM is three. 

So to find three people in a week always provides a thrill and an uplift to any missionaries experience. 

I'm trying to stop caring about that though 

I get in my head incredibly fast. So often, though I'm totally aware of this danger, the number becomes the end in itself, not the individuals I'm hoping to teach. 

This naturally leads to the world of comparison, which puts you on the loop of endless lies and twisted perceptions, all of which make one miserable. 

To care about a single individual, and wish that they will live a life conducive to radical and amazing happiness. That is something that will motivate, energize, and empower anyone. 

Repentance is a controversial word

Some think it's an archaic prophetic phrase, used to chastise people who are wicked. 

Others may deem it obsolete, deeming sin, or certain decisions, outside of the box of good and bad.

Some may give credit to its principle, that of change and progression towards a positive end, but deny the Divine plea it originates from. 

It's means so much! 

It's the process towards a divine personality, it's meeting the conditions whereby salvation is accessed, its the exciting effort to become something great, it's becoming free from past error. 

And it's all done alongside the Master Carpenter, the Refiner of Character. 

It doesn't just make life good, it opens the door to everything good. 

Alma the younger, the heroic prophet, in the 29th chapter of his book, wished he could be an angel who "would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God.

Why?

That there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth"

Every plea, commandment, task, sacrifice, pain, and sorrow asked of us by God, is to help ourselves, or others, find a Joy that is never-ending. 

If this is the idea that motivates me as a missionary, then it all becomes a different game. 

I don't just teach. I teach so that others might learn a life conducive to happiness, a life where they will  choose to work with The Expert on Peace and Joy, Jesus Christ. 

That is what I want my desire to be. It's not there yet, but I'm pushing like mad for it. 

I got to play the piano for a Spanish baptism! 

I didn't understand a lick of what was being said, but still felt peace and light from those speaking, and those who participated. 

Turns out the Spanish hymn book only has two verses for the hymn, Lord I Will Follow Thee.

The English has four. 

As soon as I started playing the third, I became very confused as no-one was singing with me.

A couple of awkward looks were pointed in my direction, before Elder Durant gave that loud whisper saying 

"There's only 2 verses!!" 

What a journey. 

Love you all!!

- Elder Smith! 

1) the end of last week's District P-day (sorry, Elder Durant, the picture did him dirty)

2) An Easter doughnut from Tim Hortons.

3) Elder Durant, looking real fly before a service project

4) A dangerous new addiction. Fair Life Chocolate Milk

5) Us Weston Elders, after the service project.

From Dad - Covid strikes the Smiths

Dear Ben,

This week we turned out house into a Covid recovery center!   Mia started feeling it Monday then Mom and I. Mia is our designated in house medical tester. We all agree that we don't love putting things up our nose (besides our fingers of course). Abby held out the longest and didn't test positive until Thursday. In the meantime Josh came home Wednesday and tested positive, then Sam had to come home from work and along with Hunter tested positive, so they came home too! It was probably our laziest family reunion ever, with everyone sleeping lots pumping pills, cough medicine and Nyquill.

Our biggest concern was that Mom wouldn't be able to get a negative test to travel and see the Froelich's. Sure enough, this morning Mom did another test and the strong second bar showed up almost immediately. If that wasn't depressing enough, when we got on the swoop website to cancel her flight, we couldn't find any way to do it and lots of dire warnings about no cancellation policy! Mom grabbed an extra measure of courage and patience and got on the phone and waited for almost 2 hours to talk to a representative. Thankfully she got a nice customer service lady and was able to get credit for a flight in the future. Whew! We were pretty depressed thinking of losing $700.

Sounds like you're getting lots of opportunities to interact with Spanish situations... Maybe that's a sign? I think I remember your Patriarchal blessing mentioning languages! Can you use Duo Lingo on your mission :)

We loved the musical video with the two violins. So beautiful. Love seeing you use your talents to bless others. 

Love Dad.