April 18, 2022
From Ben - My Conscience and I
Our church parking lot is incredible.
The people of Newmarket use it as a free parking place, so we get cops, taxi-drivers, moms waiting for school to end, and workers taking lunch breaks.
We'll usually walk up to people and see if they'd be down to hear a short message about the Restoration of Jesus Christ's Gospel.
Barring the cop, the two taxi drivers and a lady that drove away as we were walking up to say hi, everyone else listened and accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon!
The one mom who was waiting for her child to get out of school explained that she loved the videos that the Church put out, and had used some of them to teach her children.
Kinda cool.
We had an incredible conversation with her; her faith was so sincere and she asked great questions.
We sure love the church parking lot.
On Tuesday me and Elder Blum had the most productive walk to a Tim Hortons to do a companionship study I've ever had.
Most people we stopped were down to hear a short message, and I gave out every Book of Mormon I had put in my old proselytizing bag (thanks Dad, it's actually awesome)
And we met Adhi! He is from Sri Lanka and has a cool beard.
We called him again on Wednesday and found out he had been searching for something more in his life.
He came to church on Sunday and loved every moment
(Me and Elder Blum got to give Easter talks and I took up too much time.
Kind of wild when considering back in the days of my youth, where it was a nigh impossible task to fill up three minutes when tasked with a talk)
In the end, we showed Adhi the font, and he accepted an invitation to be baptized on May 7th.
It's so nice that we can just tell people that they need to find out for themselves.
No salesman techniques, no psychology hacks.
We share the Doctrine, share the testimony that we cherish, and invite them to try out for themselves.
I tend to overcomplicate the "plain and simple" things.
It's not like that led to a worldwide Apostasy, eh?
...
:)
Zone Conference always provides a spiritual power boost.
I really love hearing the departing testimonies. They are always wonderful.
While the spoken declaration of belief is important and needs to happen, the truer testimony of someone's belief is shown in their actions and characters.
Even the verbal declaration holds more gravity behind its words when the truths the individual is sharing have been learned by experience, and there has been a conscious effort made to cherish them.
The strength of a testimony is found in the private moments of victory, then refined and solidified when put to the test.
Peter, after avowing he would never be offended, and would die before he denies the Lord, does so thrice when outside of the support of the other eleven Apostles, the Master, a warm house, and a full stomach.
He of course eventually finds his conversion, and becomes one of the most powerful (in Heaven's way) Apostles and Disciples.
But it is in the moments where it's not easy to stand by what we hold true that we see with better clarity the spots in our conversion or testimony that were not as strong as we first had suspected.
This happened to me this week!
I had an opportunity today, P-day, to listen to the entire Playlist of Hadestown! An incredibly catchy musical.
(All of you not on the mission, check it out)
While doing dishes Yesterday, and contemplating this opportunity, my beloved conscience offered the needed counter thought, the higher and holier way.
My natural man pulled up many rationalizations.
It took a good long hard conversation with my conscience to choose to sacrifice listening to a musical.
It was randomly difficult, I've been following the mission standard for a long time
But I did conquer in the end.
The small fights are the big fights, and for me, in my mind, this one took on mythic proportions.
Easter took on a wonderful new take for me this year.
It's an amazing experience to learn about Jesus Christ, to follow Him, and to rejoice in His triumph over death.
We do hold an incredible capacity to take things for granted. So to slow down and remember the things that matter most makes a huge difference.
To celebrate the close of this week, Elder Blum made us a smoothie made of ice-cream, marshmallow fluff and oreos...
At 9:45pm.
It tasted delicious.
Love you all
- Elder Smith
1) The Elder Smiths of the 2nd Zone Conference. Yes, I am the shortest
2) Just taking a picture of Elder Radford taking a picture of the Sudbury Zone
3) Random picture at night in the dark in the church parking lot in some beat up shoes in my suit pants not at our apartment in Newmarket. ()
4-5) Cleaning up after a beautiful Zone Conference lunch
6) Do I need an explanation? I don't think so
7) An error detected that had to be brought up. The adventure and joy of Social Media coordinating.
(It's actually a hoot, all it is is perfecting Delegation. Which is actually a bit tricky, but we're getting there)
8) My friend and companion. Elder Blum
From Mom - Easter Week
Dear Elder Smith,
The boys are starting to move their stuff back home again. Sam to the Torrie farm again for the summer and Josh is finding a new place. The girls were happy to see them on Saturday. Then Dad came home, which made us so glad. We missed him and I was reminded, once again, what a good life partner he is. If I had to, I could do life on my own, but I don’t want to. He’s so good to all of us. Jarad deVries popped by as well, which was a nice surprise. He took your spot at the table.
I wasn’t planning on doing much by way of celebration over Easter; maybe a little chocolate and a small gift for each of the girls. Dad was going to be down in Glenwood and Josh and Sam had other plans. But then Josh asked if we could do an Easter Dinner today and that’s not a big deal so I said yes. Then Dad came home and we attended our Ward’s Easter Cantata last night. I, as usual, didn’t want to attend but we were all singing and it, as usual, was a beautiful evening and I’m so glad I didn’t miss it.
The girls and I have been reading scriptures all week about Jesus Christ, his life, love and ultimate atoning sacrifice for each of us. I have such deep wordless gratitude and love for our Saviour. I bawl like a baby every time I think about it and the Cantata was another way to worship through song with other people who feel the same way. I honestly floated home, despite the fact that Dad organized a basketball game at our house today (no school and mostly no work) now that the snow has melted off the concrete pad. And I thought, “well, I’m planning a big meal, I may as well feed them too!” so now I have to go shopping this morning so we have enough food. And Damon and Rachel are coming as well.
So suddenly, we’re having an Easter party and a big meal and it’s all good.
Dad had a good week at Grandma and Grandpa’s. I’m glad you had a chance to talk with them briefly. Dad is so emotionally strong and supportive, I know he relieved a lot of pressure on Grandma despite the fact that he got GOUT in his ankle and was a cripple for a few days. His ankle started swelling and was painful enough he couldn’t put any weight on it. He didn’t sprain it so went to the doctor who told him it was gout, which is uric acid build up forming crystals at a joint. Usually gout happens at the joint of the big toe but for some reason it formed in Dad’s ankle. I was teasing him that Grandma now had two disabled people to take care of. Haha. But the meds reduced the swelling and he was able to provide the needed help to get Grandma and Grandpa’s stuff moved to the assisted living facility in Cardston. Every time I chatted with Grandma she kept thanking me for “giving up” Dad. Miraculously, ALL of Dad’s siblings came on one of the days and everyone pitched in.
And a few other pics from the week …
Coco needs a shave. Lol!
How is the Social Media stuff going? And your new area? Where exactly, are you? I’m looking forward to talking to you tonight. Even if we have lots of people in the house, I’ll go hide away to hear the details.
Happy Easter!
Love you forever,
Mom
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