May 1, 2023

From Ben: Pigs, Pillows, Plans

Broken chains, ancient tomes, and still he wandered. 

A broken man, a frenzied soul, he'd caused so much pain. 

Bruised limbs, a wounded body, day and night he wailed. 

Feared by most, hated by self.

No hope. No light.

The monster of the Gaderene. 

Step off the boat, Apostles stay behind. 

Where is he?

A cry in the mountains, a form is seen, brisk, early in the morning. 

The fisherman tremble, unable to follow. 

The Nazarite looks upward, piercing eyes, focused on him. 

We knew him!... it is He... The Eldest... the Firstborn... Why is he here!?

From a distance, a wild run

What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God?!

I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not! 

Gentle, firm, quiet, yet resolute and confident. 

Eyes, calm yet ablaze. Piercing. Seeing deeper. 

Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

What is thy name?

Unwanting, yet unable to hold back answer. 

My name is Legion: 

for we are many.

A pause. 

Apostles, fearing. 

Unable to hear what's said. Praying. 

Hoping for His safety

The Carpenter. The monster. 

The Eldest. The fallen brothers. 

Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.

Out. 

A pause. 

Pigs flee. 

The town, unbelieving. 

The monster of the Gaderene weeps.  

Whole. 

Free. 

--------------

When she came to Canada from Nigeria, the dreams stopped. 

Her entire life she had been blessed with the gift of dreams. 

God would show her glimpses of the future, messages she needed to share with her friends, and knowledge that blessed her life. 

She remembered each dream clearly and vividly, and understood with clarity the interpretation. 

She knew God spoke to her in this way, and she cherished the spiritual gift. 

But they had stopped. 

In a new land, with new culture and new people: a place where such messages from God would have been so useful and brought so much comfort. 

The dreams stopped. 

In fact, no dreams came at all. 

6 months. 

A knock at the door. 

A two short men, both with glasses. 

"Hi! Papa Ladys sent us. He said you'd know him"

"Come in!" 

For four weeks. Every Sunday.

Knock, knock, knock. 

At the third week, the short German Elder had left, replaced by a taller American, also with glasses and a friendly smile. 

"Will you read the Book of Mormon every day this week until we meet again next Sunday?" 

"Yes" 

Pages turned. Nephi introduced. 

And that night, for the first time in 6 months, dreams. 

Her dreams. 

They came back. 

In the same vivid colour and clarity as when she was in Nigeria. 

...

"Hey, Kammi! Adewale! How did it go? What are your thoughts about the Book of Mormon"

...

"Elders, I'd like to share something with you... I have a really special gift..." 

(Sam, remember your story about the dreams and how to Africans, a dream is never just a dream? Turns out that's completely true. So cool. So cool) 

--------

I've officially begun MyPlan. 

I've given one or two thoughts on how I should be feeling at the end of this great adventure, and decided that I should probably settle for joy. 

Only a month left to magnify, and for sure we will. 

But thinking about the ocean of life beyond the month, when I look at the great distance, and ponder the little sailboat I must use to embark, sometimes my heart goes a flitter. 

I sometimes think

Oh man, only a month left to blaze! 

Time to sprint to the finish and give every day it's best effort. 

But I think there is a danger in this line of thought. 

Because when the sailboat leaves the safe confines of the missionary culture and reality, it has still got to tack its way through the regular storms that any sailboat on the sea must brave. 

So, instead of gearing up to sprint the last 100 meters, I actually want to figure out to to establish a character and plan that will allow me to blaze, in a way that enlivens instead of withers the soul and body, every day of my life. 

So, I guess I'll do that 

It's probably way more practical then I'm making it out to be. 

I know my covanents. I understand my identity and am learning the associated divine responsibility. 

And then there's the fact that there is a living Christ, who is currently serving us with all His might, mind, and strength.

So, I guess it doesn't really matter how many make up my own inner Legion, it just kinda depends if I'm near the Nazerite. 

If I reach for the Redeemer.

Call for the Carpenter. 

Something like that 

Love you each! 

Elder Smith

[I don't even know how to sum these up. There's a picture for some district member goals, pictures with some of our friends, a picture of some ice cream place that nearly comatized Elder Morrison and I, a beautiful nap, my current list of things to explore homeward bound. As to the Sully picture with Elder Ochoa, interpret as you will 

From Dad - Connections

Dear Ben,

This week I made many connections. Physical connections changing from plane to plane last Sunday from Edmonton to Calgary, then to Frankfurt and finally to Madrid. The home again Friday through Newark and Calgary. It wasn’t my favorite but I still marvel at the times we live in that allow us to travel across the world in such a relatively short time. 

I also experienced many wonderful human connections during this trip. On my last trip to Europe over a month ago I ended up not really talking to anyone on the plane rides and airports. As I prepared for this second trip I resolved for that to not be true this time. I prayed for opportunities to connect with others. The Lord answered my prayers. I talked with a young couple with a 3 month old baby traveling home fron Calgary to Germany. They were so friendly and invoked a “God bless you” when we discovered we both believe in Christ.  Then on the plane to Frankfurt I met a fascinating Muslim girl from Vancouver on a pilgrimage to Mecca. She is highly educated and works for Boeing as a data scientist. She expressed gratitude for quiet rooms in airports that allow her to say her prayers comfortably and was giddy about visiting the actual place she has been praying towards her whole life. And on it went each trip leg and airport making meaningful human connections with my fellow brothers and sisters of the world. 

I enjoyed also connecting with my work colleagues both in the professional and training settings I participated in throughout the week, but also more personally each evening as we met for long dinners starting at 8 and almost always lasting till midnight. Course after course of appetizers and interesting philosophical conversations made the time pass quickly. I even discovered I like European olives!

The bread in Europe is very crusty and hard to break through on the outside but soft on the inside. There is a definite culture of food and outdoor dining in the warmer countries there. 

On arriving home Friday night around midnight as I jumped in the car with your mom, I was reminded of how grateful I am for my connection to her and to my family. The most important connection of all. 

Saturday Mom and I went shopping for Josh's birthday supper and then crashed for 3 hours to recover some lost sleep. I took a crack at fixing the suspension on the green car but after 2 broken sockets I gave up and may have to bite the bullet and take it to a shop. 

Sunday was a great day. I enjoyed the opportunity to speak in church alongside brother and sister Gane and Shelly Olsen. I have known them since I was 11 and Gane and my Dad served in a bishopric together. I remember babysitting for them. They are Jon Olsen’s parents.  I spoke about the value of writing a personal history. Even these emails are forming a personal and family history. Amy Meek and I presented a 5th Sunday lesson about temple and family history and discussed ways to sequence the Savior first in our teaching followed by covenants and ordinances then finally the importance of the temple as the holy place we go to make those covenants and connect with the Savior. She shared a wonderful children's book about memories being like balloons and that we need to preserve the balloons of our grandparents as they start to forget. 

The fun part came in preparing a classic birthday meal of sweet and sour meatballs and rice at Josh's request and hosting him, Madison and Sam along with roommates and Matthew Wright for a fun-filled evening of celebration of 27 years. 

On the home front, the girls are continuing to work through classes and homework as the end of the year approaches rapidly. It does my  heart good when I hear them debating lyrical constructs and essay patterns along with chemistry and science facts spontaneously. Seems like something is sinking in!  We enjoyed watching "A Man Called Otto" with Tom Hanks as a family on Saturday night and enjoyed the discussion and the analytics the girls made of the motivations and turning points in the movie. Put that one on your movie list for when you get home. Good message in that one.

Have you heard any more on your arrival time on June 3rd? It's going to be a fun time coordinating your arrival with our Community Choir concert. Fortunately we'll have lots of us here including Steph, Tyler and Bowie.

  

Life is good. God bless these final weeks of your mission. Remove the word trunkiness from your vocabulary 

Love you lots. 

Dad.