May 30, 2022

From Ben - The Genius of Journaling (thanks Sam)

Woah. 

This week was an doozy and a half. 

There were some wars within the mind about motivation and effort. 

This week, many were lost 

However! This next week is going to be different! 

Why you might ask? 

Because I received revelation, that's why 

The tragedy was I recieved said revelation on Sunday night, at the end of the week and not in the early days. 

And so it goes. 

I'll leave you in suspense till the end of the email, because there were some awesome stories this week. 

A 17 year old girl named Georgia tried to "Murk our testimonies" (to quote Elder Blum) 

We met outside a farmers market and started talking about our experiences and beliefs. 

She was an agnostic athiest based on the claim that she "wasn't able to determine a method by which she could prove the truthfulness of one Church which couldn't be applied to all churches." 

Which made us quite happy, as that's one the primary purposes of the Book of Mormon when paired with the Bible.

She had challenge about some Biblical claims, and, because she was hashing it out with two Latter Day Saint Missionaries, the Book of Mormon. 

No lie, I was absolutely oblivious for the first half hour of our conversation of her intention to take us down. 

She started hitting us with every question imaginable; from the eight witnesses, diefication, baptismal conditions, historical veracity, supposed errors or mistakes in the text, and whether or not we can come to know by a supposed Holy Ghost the truth of all things. 

I thought she was just a stupidly smart, incredibly curious 17 year old with randomly specific questions.

(Alright, she actually was stupidly smart, and kind of a prodigy, but did have randomly specific questions) 

After some genuine conversation, a booster juice (one of the workers invented a fruit roll-up Booster Juice and agreed to make Elder Blum one), and some sincere testimony, eventually Georgia apologized that she had come in with the intention of disproving us. 

Her quote, to the best of my recollection, was: 

"I see that these things really mean a whole to you both. I feel kind of bad for trying to attack something you both cherish so deeply."

So that was kind of cool. 

Hope we get to talk with her again. What a cool person. 

I also got to go on an exchange with the Hawaiian Elder in the District, Elder Aken. 

It was a BLAST.

This Elder is kind of a giant, super chill and has a quality sense of humor. 

The first couple contacts on the street straight up pulled the cult card on us. 

One lady, who is now one of my favourite people, looked at us dead in the eye, and said

"You're Mormons? You're a cult"

But then looked over at her friend and said,

"Hey, Ben! (A different Ben of course) Look! Mormons! They're a cult!"

We waved at Ben said hi, complimented his sunglasses, and tried to talk with the lady some more.

It was awesome. Here's a paraphrase of our conversation. 

Us: " "Have you ever had a chance to read the Book of Mormon" 

Her: "No. Who wrote it?"

Us: "Ancient prophets called of Jesus Christ!" 

Her: "Hmm..."

Us: "Here, this scripture found in 2 Nephi 25:26 describes how the purpose of the Book is to help us come unto Christ. To rejoice in Him and find a remission of our sins."

Her: "But who wrote it?"

Us, a little confused: "Umm, prophets and historians called by God" 

Her: "Hmm... Can you quote Psalm 23?"

Us, slightly more confused: "Umm... not at the top of our heads, sorry" 

*She quotes a memorized Psalm 23 (it's the one about the Valley of Death. Quite a beautiful Psalm)

Us: "Wow! That was incredible! Thank you for sharing. There is so much comfort that comes from a belief and faith in Jesus Christ. We totally agree. You know, this book, the Book of Mormon, has helped us grow our own relationship with Jesus Christ. We know you disagree, but would you at least accept a copy? Give it a try?" 

Her: "But who wrote it?" 

Us, now visibly confused: "Well, ancient Prophets. 

God called a man named Joseph Smith to find a record..."

Her, cutting in: "that man is a false prophet and you're going to hell" 

Us, finally understanding what she was trying to get at: "Well, have a good day "

I love her. I will forever cherish that story.

From there we went and had a conversation with another preacher! 

Elder Blum and I's conversation with Steve, the Baptist Preacher prepared me for Matt, the other Preacher. 

Instead of dwelling on controversial doctrinal subjects, Elder Aken and I just cut straight to the point again of the Book of Mormon. 

If true, all other claims of the Diety of Christ and the Restoration of His Gospel on the earth follow. 

If untrue, we're probably one of the most effective and genius cults ever to walk the face of the earth. 

With that laid in as our groundwork, and a genuine respect for each-other, we had a really productive conversation. 

He said he'd give reading the book a go and offered a really cool prayer about both of us having our eyes opened to the truth. 

I love talking with other Preachers.

Our friend Adhi finally got back in touch with us!!

WAHOOO!!! 

Turns out both his wallet and phone were forgotten on a bus. 

All his ID and everything gonzo. 

So, he was MIA for two weeks getting all that solved out. 

When we tried calling him for the 15th day in a row to see if his phone would ring, it did, and he picked up. 

We've lost a lot of momentum with him, but now we've got connection. So that's huge. 

On Sunday night (Yesterday actually), after feeling totally crumbed and kind of lame 

Guess what. 

I decided to write in my journal. 

Not in the cheezy, "Oh shoot, I gotta keep up the habit" kind of way. 

I just started writing my thoughts. 

The entry begins 

May 29th, 2022 - Sunday. 

"I have been slacking this past week. My motivation has struggled and my efforts are waning..."

Sam, you've been telling me this for ages, but journaling is absolutely a blessing. 

As the flow of thoughts converted from swirling abstractness in my head, to concrete recorded words on a page, my perspective clarified itself. 

A couple things became more clear. 

1) I had developed the habit of problem seeing, with a fairly accurate eye I'd say, but had neglected the necessary second half of actual problem solving. 

So I'd get down or stressed because of all the easy to see flaws in a thought process, motivation, or skill, but wouldn't then make a simple plan to begin growing and changing. 

I got pretty good at pruning my hedge, I just neglected to nurture it as well. 

2) I took my morning routine and nightly routine casually. 

Now this one doesn't feel that big, but that's just the fallacy. 

Sow a good morning, reap a good afternoon.

Sow a good night, reap a good morning. 

And in its simplest form, and exempting unique circumstances, the pattern should continue. 

(You can add sowing a good Sabbath and you also reap a better week if you'd like) 

By not fighting as dilligently the little fights (wooden morning prayer, cereal for every breakfast, taking a  huge nap, not effectively decompressing at night) the consequences starting seeping into the needed larger fights (teaching, finding, communicating with Elder Blum, having faith) 

The thing was I could NOT put a finger on why the days were getting so tough. 

I'd think about my Why, and see if it was in tune. 

I'd see if I was doing it for the right reasons, to serve my God and my fellow man. 

I'd recognize a gap in who I was, and who I knew I could be, and fell quite short. 

So I'd unconsciously rag on myself for the wrong reason. 

I honestly just needed to to fight to fix my morning and my night. 

Of course other variables are going to enter the picture, but from this last week, that was a major one. 

This next week is going to be different 

Love you! 

- Elder Smith

1) This was in a different missionaries area book after the mission Devotional re-introducing KM limits

2) A church attendance brainstorm during district council. 

3) Playing Magic the Gathering with the some youth who are prepping for some missions (productive? I sure think so. Don't stress though, it was during P-day)

4) Elder Aken himself

5) We joined the ward YSA activity. Poor Elder Blum, this picture really did him and his posture dirty.

6) Just a pic for the District. 

7) Ah yes, art. Photography. Sister Swift. 

From Mom - Transitions

Dear Ben,

I’m still adjusting to working full time. I am quickly seeing all the things I can no longer participate in during the day like long walks, leisure reading, Tribe calls, MarcoPolo-ing with Steph, respite for Wendy, daytime RS activities, etc. I miss all those things for sure and will get little “pangs” now and then of not being able to do them anymore. I’ve become one of those “weekend” people that have to do all their shopping and housework on Saturdays. Having said that, it’s empowering to learn something new and to know I can pay my own tuition plus help out with household expenses. Dad is becoming the stay-at-home-guy. This week we made a menu that he gets to make while I’m at the clinic.  Today he’s trying a crock pot Chicken Fajita recipe. I’m excited. 

Thanks to Abby, who takes my phone sometimes and snaps a photo or two, otherwise I’d have no pictures to share! And speaking of Abby, the school entered her into three different photography categories in the Art Competition with the chance of winning $300 (or so I’ve heard). The gallery goes up on Saturday and we’re excited to see her work exhibited. We’ll go for the viewing right before the Piatta Forma performance, which is also that evening. 

Sam came for a quick visit on Friday. He came up for a dentist visit but also attended a performance of Newsies with Josh and Madison. Some of the cast members they worked with were also in this other performance. So we got to see him again, which we so appreciated. Coco almost died of happiness. 

Mia and Abby are heading into the last two weeks of school, the last three days of seminary and entry into the busiest summer of their lives. Mia is counting the days until Steph, Tyler and Bowie come (last day of school is June 15th and the Froelichs come around the 17th) and was negotiating days she can skip out of school in preparation.  Their summer plans include Bowie, FSY in Calgary July 4-9, Sweden from July 11-28, then Rufus Odin will be here for most of August where we will be doing as many Canadian things as we can including a trip to Vancouver Island where deep-sea salmon fishing is on the venue.  Oh, and LYR.

Honestly, my lifeline is deeply considered prayer and my 10-minute scripture study every morning. I still haven’t figured out the magic of those two things in combination or why they work to settle my soul and bring me calm, comfort and clarity. All I know is when I don’t do them, suddenly I’m left to myself and life is a deeper struggle. I have an abiding knowledge of the love of heaven over each of us and how willing God is to help when we ask. 

Josh was telling us yesterday about the idea of Worth vs. Worthiness. Our worthiness might fluctuate but our Worth is always 100/100 and never changes. It’s such a game changer to believe this. No matter what, Father in Heaven regards us, His children, as of the highest Worth … no matter what life throws at us. 

I suppose that is a good thought to leave you with. 

Love you forever!

Talk to you tonight.

Mom

(Saskatoon blossoms growing along our fence line.)