August 1, 2022

From Ben - Adventurous Milkshakes

happened in the week comes to mind. 

I can remember feelings of blazing glory, dreary drabness, awkward effort, and hilarious rejections. 

It really does blend into an adventurous milkshake, that, without effective journaling and conscious effort, can blend together cool micro-miracles and revelations. 

So, we'll try to pick out some of the Oreos 

Oreo # 1 : District Council! 

I had repented of the previous error, and tried to make it far more Christ centered. 

A totally different spirit entered the picture. 

I felt great, everyone else felt great, and motivation was boosted. 

This week I have been blessed beyond measure to have received a second senior couple in my district. 

We've got a set of Sisters, a set of Elders, and now two senior couples. 

An A-team if I've ever heard of it. Each are incredible. Each have unique weaknesses, yet unimaginable potential. 

I trying my best to love them, and where I succeed in this effort I find great joy. 

Oreo #2 : I had the chance to go an exchange with an Elder Calvin Low. 

This Elder has a legendary smile that just brings fun and energy in every room he walks into. 

Together, we had a BONKERS lesson. 

Elder Blum and I talked with this guy named Devon last week who explained to us that his faith in God came from conclusions he had drawn in reading the Book of Enoch; an apocryphal non-canon book. 

But he was excited about the Book of Mormon and said he'd love to meet again. 

On Saturday, with Elder Low, we met again. 

This guy had a mind like nothing I've ever encountered. 

He cannot stop thinking about the things he comes across. He was Sherlockian in his ability to draw conclusions from simple observations around him. It was incredible and fun. 

However, it felt like he walked the line between radical genius, and a slightly fraying sanity. 

His history wasn't easy, so we didn't worry. 

The healing power of a One who knows what that is like is the solution we invite him to explore. 

We just need to trust in the Spirit when we teach him to understand the speed by which his mind understands things and relays them to us. 

Either way, it was an epic lesson. 

The night before, walking down the street with Elder Low we had to awesome encounters. 

One was with a guy named Hamid. He shared an incredible conversion experience with us and Elder Low read Alma 36 (all the while mirroring Hamid's accent. Still not sure if it was consciously done or not) 

Hamid accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon, a return appointment, and we went on our way. 

Turns out he lived in a different area, so we referred him to those Elders. They got him on date the first lesson 

Miracles, eh? 

The second was with an Elder of a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall!! 

This guy was named Aldofo and was a total stud. 

He ran us through the JW app, which is our equivalent of Gospel Library. 

It was epic to be missionaried' in a similar way that we missionary.

He encouraged us to explore the Bible, attend their annual church leadership broadcast, let us pet his dog, then we went on our merry way. 

It was great! 

Oreo #3 : One of the things I learned, or had clarified to me from Elder Low was the necessity of establishing a vision for myself. 

Now, Dad, you've of course dropped these lines many times throughout my upbringing. 

That of vision, goals, beginning with the end in mind, vision boards and evaluation of said goals. 

So, like Enos, I can say that the "the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning [goals], and the joy of [achieving them], sunk deep into my heart"

Things clicked even further then they clicked last week.

And I felt deeper in my heart that God really could grant me the power to change. To learn. To triumph. 

So, I wrote a list of things that I thought it would be incredible to become. I'm honing my faith to believe God will help it come to pass, and I'm refining my goals setting and plan making skills to make it come to pass. 

You get to be the happy recipient of these, and I am held double accountable now that I've declared them to you all. 

The "who do I want to be" list. 

• I want to become someone who has made the plan of happiness and the Gospel of Jesus Christ the most important things in my life.

• I want to be someone who hopes and desires Celestial glory with my family. 

• I want to be a worthy and capable Priesthood holder who uses it to the greatest possible benefit of those around me. 

• I want to be an exactly obedient missionary who has lost himself in the work, who is bold in "proclaiming glad tidings of great joy, even the everlasting gospel," one who listens to the still small voice of the Spirit and is courageous in following its promptings, one who plans expertly and executes confidently, and one who loves greatly those I serve and serve with. 

• I want to be physically capable, with strength, energy and stamina.

• I want to be a valient champion for the cause of Christ.

• I want to be someone who is grateful in any circumstance.

• I want to be someone who sees the divine potential of others and strives to bring out the best possible genius and light within themselves. 

• I want to have a perpetual abundance mentality. 

Anyways, I'm still in the brainstorming period and am trying to make it a more simple statement. 

Onward we triumph, eh? 

Love you each! By faith in Jesus Christ, we create the greatest possible future for ourselves and those around us. 

Isn't the gospel cool? 

- Elder Smith

1) An epic compliment I got from a militant athiest. I really like the guy. 

2) Turns out we can colour code our area book. So begins the experimentation. 

3) Closing out our exchange with the Orillia Elders. Elder Low and Elder Ross. 

4) Exchange selfie looking DIRECTLY into the sun

5) District Council Brainstorming. 

6) Another comment from my friend on Facebook. 

I absolutely love the line "deprogram you from your tribal preconceived notions"

I do love this guy, he is intelligent and fun to talk with. 

7) District P-day beach thumb wars under the sand. 

8) Kawartha Ice Cream to close out a great District P-day. 

From Dad - A Swedishly good week

Dear Ben. 

It’s been a happening week! 

After some additional Amsterdam airport drama, the girls and Rufus arrived safely in Edmonton on Thursday afternoon. Somehow even though they booked Rufus’s ticket 5 months ago, when they checked in, he ended up on Standby!!  There were some tense phone calls and some fervent prayers on both sides of the world and a tender mercy in the form of a kind hearted mother bear fellow passenger. In the end a seat came available and they were off. 

The girls weren’t terribly good at keeping us informed during the trip but had lots of good things to say when they got home. From ice cream to amusement parks they had a fantastic world travel experience. 

Rufus is a ton of fun and he loves ping pong so I’m getting my fill of good quality table tennis. Even though it’s been only 3 days we’ve managed to pack a bunch of things into this time including Fort Edmonton Park, mowing the lawn, a fire with Josh and Madison here and a trip to west Edmonton mall. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Tyler and I eschewed the pleasures of these amusements choosing the better part. In other words we focused on the tree house!!

I’m grateful for Tyler’s excitement that keeps us pressing forward to an ever better and more enduring landmark on our property. I’m also grateful for his patient nature that allows us to work together on a project that could be stressful with all the many steps and sometimes tricky height and ladder management but instead has become a wonderful shared and bonding experience. 

This morning I had a culminating moment with our precious Bowie. As Steph and Tyler packed up to leave for Banff, I got to make pancakes, play with dice, give a horsey ride and read books with her. We topped it off with some amazing giraffe videos and I was loving it. She has been a bright and wonderful presence in our home and we are going to miss her tons. 

At church today we had the 5th Sunday lesson on missionary work. I felt the prompting to be even more authentic  in my 

Relationships and to more boldly love and love my beliefs in our Heavenly Father's plan. Truly understanding his plan brings so much  peace and understanding. As we are studying Job this week in Come Follow Me, it is such a great text and treatise on the topic of why God allows bad things to happen to good people. I heard a story of a man who got up in church and asked in regards to this topic, “ who says these things are bad and who says people are necessarily good”. It made me ponder on how understanding that God is allowing us to experience pain and sorrow so that we can become like him, not just return to him. 

This requires us to, like Job, endure all the Lord sees fit to put upon us. So many things we see as trials are really blessings in disguise and when we see it from the Lords perspective it allows us to move forward with hope and faith even we don’t always know why. 

Sam and Josh are preparing to move into a new house in Edmonton with a bunch of other guys. It’s a great location even though it’s an older house and not super pretty :) the adventure continues. 

God bless you my son for the great work you are doing. Be not weary in well doing. 

Love, 

Dad.