Dec 25, 2016 - Christmas Skype Call

Highlight of Christmas, hands down. He said, "Serving a mission is the hardest thing I have ever done," but he looked so happy, so full of life and so much more like himself than I've ever seen him. He also said, "The trial of my faith has taught me that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. All of it." 

From Dad

Hi Josh,

We LOVED talking to you yesterday! You look fantastic and I'm thrilled by the strength and conviction I feel when you bear your testimony. Thank you for that strength and example.

We had a really fun Christmas Sunday. Because church was at 10 and Steph had to be at the airport at 9 am, we decided to start a bit early which was of course totally fine with the little girls. Stephanie decided to have a sleep over in the girls room and it was a good thing as the girls had a bit of a hard time sleeping (go figure :) ). Mom and I were pretty prepared this year and had the presents all wrapped and ready to go the day before. So it was fun to let Steph and Sam do some Christmas elf errands to pick up surprise presents from the Patrick's place (e.g. a Big teddy bear for the girls and you Mom went and got me a nice compressor I had no idea about).

About 5:30 we could hear the girls squeals as they came out to get their stockings and saw the big teddy bear. By 6 am Mom and I were enjoying the delighted voices by the tree and decided to join the fun. This year the kids helped to distribute the gifts. Sam especially has developed a knack for leadership and led the charge making sure everyone got equal chances to open gifts. It was super fun to have Stephanie there to add to the squeals and excitement. We really enjoyed her 10 days here with us.

After the gifts, we decided to keep the Christmas breakfast tradition and whipped up some crepes and sausages. Yum!

After breakfast we donned our Sunday best, including dollar store Christmas ties we found in our stockings. Then off to the airport to send Steph back to be with her sweetheart in Los Vegas where Tyler is already hanging out with James doing some climbing. They are planning a fun trip down your way for the week between Christmas and New Years.

Church was a nice 1 hour program of music and readings. Most of the family participated in a nice choir number with Ben playing the piano.The news of the day was Russell Jeffrey proposing on Christmas Eve to Sandra Rodriguez. Surprise, surprise, right?

Sunday afternoon we were relieved when our Septic contractor came to install a winter fix for our septic pump problems allowing us to actually flush our toilets again. Only Mom had to brave the outhouse this time! 

A fun afternoon making a new soup (Assiago Bisque) and then playing new family games (Sorry and Monopoly) rounded out a wonderful Christmas day.As usual, starting any new game there were a few tears and struggles, but this morning when I went in to the girls room, they were playing monopoly!

Today, we take up the 3rd year tradition of spending Grandma and Grandpa's $50 each. Last year as we sat around the table at the food court we kept wondering who wasn't back from shopping only to realize it was you we were missing. I think we'll feel the same this year :)

Hope you have a wonderful 2nd year. Be a good example to your companion and help him endure to the end. It is the Lord's errand, so spend your time wisely.

I'm going to try and share a mission experience every letter, so I'll share that and close.

I recall working in the La Chine area in heart of Montreal. Some of your descriptions of Van Nuys reminded me of that area. Tons of immigrants and lots of walk up subsidized housing. It was in La Chine that I learned the power of street contacting. Coming from the south shore of Montreal where it was mostly residential and we drove a car, taking the bus and metro and being surrounded by people all the time was a whole new world (this was my second area). Very quickly I had to get comfortable talking to as many people as possible. I carried around a small notepad for names and numbers and it wasn't uncommon to come home at the end of the day with 5-10 numbers which we recorded in our area book. The next morning we would often spend up to 2 hours just calling people and trying to fill up our blue planners (Not sure if you have run into these planners hanging around anywhere in your apartments, but these preceded your little white planners. They folded up just right to fit in a shirt pocket.  Although I didn't spent too long in this area, my favorite memory was teaching an apartment of 5 phillipino ladies. They were so ready to hear the message and despite a few concerns they embraced the gospel ideas readily. I was privileged to be part of teaching 2 of the ladies, Virginia and Marina. They asked me to baptize them except that I got transferred to Thetford mines the Wednesday before. Still was an amazing experience. 

Everything your doing is making a difference. Keep up the great work.

Dad. 

From Josh:

Hey everyone! I wasn't able to write yesterday because the libraries were closed and so we treated yesterday as a holiday.

Anyway, first off I want to say that I loved seeing you on Sunday, every time I am always a little nervous but when I see your faces I am filled with so much joy. 

Adventures of yesterday!

We have this person who wants a children Book of Mormon and she lives all the way up this hill and we bike up every once and a while to see if she is actually hope... three times... nothing, but I am definitely losing some weight everytime I bike up it. 

This guy we talked to told us to have a great Boxing day... he is the only guy here who actually celebrates that along with Canadians. 

We had several appointments set and they all fell through so did all of our back up people, which then set me off in a grumpy mood and I didn't want to talk to anyone or anything, but I forced a smile on, and tried what I learned during the canoe trip, I sang a hymn and laughed at myself. Even though I understand how it feels Sam, sometimes you don't want to cheer up. 

My bike fell apart a little a link in my chain got twisted a little so it was skipping gears a lot, and so we bent it back into place and I don't know how good that was for the bike but I hope it holds up until at least the end of the mission. 

I love you all so much and I learned that when you are apart for a while you even get shy around family, but I love how quickly at ease we were, even for the length that we have been apart, I think that is how it will be like when we get to heaven when we see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again, then we will be surprised how familiar we are, and depending on how we lived our lives here, we will be filled with joy and consolation at his presence and will be glad to enter the work and the glory waiting for us. So may we be valiant in the testimony we have of ourselves. 

I am grateful for all of you and hope all is well. 

Love you,

Josh

December 18, 2016 - Well Family....

From Mom: Skype Call

Dear Josh,

Yes, it's true what they say.... If you have a missionary son, the best thing about Christmas is that phone call. Do you know how we arrange that?

Steph is here until Christmas morning, at which point we will bring her to the airport where she will fly to Las Vegas to be with Tyler for Christmas Day. He couldn't come because of his work schedule. (Booooo.) Then one hour church  from 10-11. We'll be home no later than 12:30 depending on how long we visit with people, which is 11:30 a.m. your time. So anytime after that. Let us know what we need to do. 

We just finished a two week long cold snap. The car died and everything froze. It ended today and it's only 0C, so we took advantage and went for a walk this morning and explored that abandoned house on the other side of our property.  Sam saw us trudging through the field and put on some hot water for us, so the girls had a tea party.

We returned home with rosy cheeks and a cheerful view of life. Funny how fresh air does that. 

Sam has discovered a new recipe of Turtle Cookies, which he is slowly becoming locally famous for... kind of like what happened with his Oreo cheesecakes.

He got laid off Dec 1 and is enjoying free time. He drives to seminary, bakes, does service (he spent two days at the de Vries' helping Monika dejunk her basement. Btw, Alex is engaged to be married in March to Brooke Scully.) We love having Sam around again. Starting in Jan, it will be crunch time with ACT/SAT/GED study. 

Ben is sick, sick, sick. I think his body just broke down with his crazy schedule. Most days he is at the school from 7-7. He is in choir, made the Junior Varsity Basketball team and so far is getting straight A's. But then he crashed and ended up missing a basketball tournament. He also opted out of the Christmas Piano Concert this year. Ack! I don't want him to get too busy for piano, but he IS playing for the church choir on Christmas Day. We're singing a beautiful song by Sally deFord called As Shepherds Kept Their Lonely Vigil. 

The girls are the same as always, but when they were doing the gingerbread village this year, I heard Abby say, "Mine is the daycare." What? Where do they get these things? There was also a church, a sugar shop, an A-frame cabin, a naturalpathic clinic, a kooky old man's house and a house where I lived. Steph said it was a complex community. Lol!

We're finally semi settled and trying to keep up Christmas traditions in a new house. We have a care package for you but I am sad to say it will have to be a New Year's Package. I don't feel too terrible about it though because I know of at least two packages that are coming your way and should be there by Christmas. I really love this time of year though. We had a big dinner party here last night with three missionaries, Ebony, Chance and his girlfriend and kids, Kenneth and Karlton McKenney. Par-Tay! But the real reason for the invite is because it's the four year anniversary of Wendy Frank's passing. It's a hard time for them. Also, Kenny needed a good visit with Steph. I hope they all walked away feeling lighter and happier. 

The older I get the more the Gospel fills me up and gives meaning and purpose to my life. People need it and are unconsciously looking for it, so I am glad my boy is out there trying to share and invite. I heard a missionary quote that says, "You cannot force someone to comprehend a message they are not ready to receive. Still, you must not underestimate the power of planting a seed." So, based on your last few emails, I can see that you are reaping where others have sown and sowing where others will reap. It is a good work and a blessed work and it will be counted to you for righteousness. Keep on, my son. 

I am VERY excited to see you and talk to you in a week. I love you forever.

Mom

From Josh:

Oh boy this week... its been quite a trip, I have officially been out for a year now and I feel I have already changes so much, things are going well, at the beginning of the month I wan not smart and spent a lot of my Missionary support fund on crazy food, and now I am carefully budgeting my money to make it through the month... It is funny looking back at my previous mentality, when I first came out I looked upon those who had been out a year and thought I could never make it to that point, that it was forever away and that it would take so long, now that I am here I realize it flashes by, I also would look upon other missionaries apparel and think how much of it was in disrepair, I look upon myself in the mirror and realize that my shoes are old and worn, my shirts are fraying, my socks are getting holes, my pants are falling apart, with all that I see I realize that what we have in this life is so temporary, people put so much value on clothes and cars and money but the clothes will get old, cars will break down, and money will lose its value. what matters most in this life is the love we share, the patience we develop, the relationships we create, this isn't about you or me but about us and who we can and will be as long as we live righteously. 

This week we also got to go to work at a place called Operations Gratitude, I worked there a lot when I was in Chatsworth but now don't get much opportunity to do it now I am in another zone we packed and prepared packages for soldiers fighting wars in support of their sacrifice for their country. I love service, it is truly along the path of finding happiness in this life and the life to come. Nowhere is it found that we can obtain full happiness consistently in this life, but we can definitely pursue it, and I have found that true happiness comes from service, family and a firm belief in God and a hope in mankind, as long as we put our trust in God, he will Guide us to those things that will make us happy and I believe that as we serve God he is waiting to send packages of his love and blessings to us. Christmas is a perfect time to do that, looking for opportunities to serve and help others in any way that we can.  

So many times on my mission I have been saddened by people who have a strong belief in God but are unwilling to live up to their potential, the other day someone told me that they weren't allowed to have the Book of Mormon in their home because they were Christian... and that was kind of wierd to me since it is another testament of Jesus Christ, why wouldn't anyone want to learn more? in some religions people set restrictions on people so that they are limited in their views and knowledge, but I love this church and I love how we are allowed to ask questions we are allowed to pursue knowledge in every aspect, we are allowed to learn of other religions and build our sights higher, this is a rich and lovely amazing Gospel, i love it with all my heart and I am grateful for a father in heaven who answers my prayers. I went through such a hard time at the beginning of my mission that toppled my testimony but because of that I was able to grow and build it much stronger, Sam and Ben, you will face extremely hard Trials on your mission, and it is different for all who serve, but as long as you put faith in the promise of James, and "Ask God" He truly gives to all men liberally and abundantly as long as we ask with a pure intent. listen to the Whispering of the Spirit, delve into the Scriptures, pray with all the energy of your soul, ask for advice from those who have life experience, never stop seeking for knowledge and trust in God, he will Provide. 

I love you all, remain strong in the testimony that you do have in Christ and my we all move forward together.

Josh

P.S I will have access to a computer at 1 california time, so 2 your time, and depending on the shifts we have with other missionaries, it may be pushed back to 2 California, and 3 your time... you have access to skype? if so what should I look up to get to you? 

December 11, 2016 - Let yourself be happier

From Dad:

Hi Josh,

Today Russell Jeffrey reported his mission to Idaho. He spoke really well and from the heart as always. He was very frank about having had some health challenges (mostly anxiety and such) that in the end resulted in him coming home a couple of months early. His testimony and remarks were solid and on the mark and I really felt the spirit as he testified of God’s love manifested in the restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith and the power of the Book of Mormon in helping us find answers.

Wes Prince, a Stake High counsellor also spoke and reminded us of a talk given by Elder Uchtdorf in the October 2012 conference called “Of Regrets and Resolutions”. In it he discusses the 3 big regrets people tend to have at the end of their life. It made me wonder if these can be considered in the mini-life of going on a mission? I hope as you embark on the last year of your mission that you will serve and live so that you can avoid these regrets.

1.       “I Wish I Had Spent More Time with the People I Love” – Remember it is the relationships that you build and help your investigators and new members build with members of the Church that is so important. More important than the numbers

2.       “I Wish I had Lived Up to My Potential” – Live each day on your mission with purpose and work with the Lord to leverage your strengths and overcome your weaknesses (Ether 12:27)

3.       “I Wish I Had Let Myself Be Happier” – This is the one that struck me the most. I hope that amidst the stress and challenge of a mission that you will let yourself enjoy the moments and not just work to be done. These are Elder Uchtdorf’s words in that regard:

“Sometimes in life we become so focused on the finish line that we fail to find joy in the journey. I don’t go cycling with my wife because I’m excited about finishing. I go because the experience of being with her is sweet and enjoyable.

Doesn’t it seem foolish to spoil sweet and joyful experiences because we are constantly anticipating the moment when they will end?”

We are very grateful for so many things. It is an adjustment to live further out in the country, but we are ever so grateful for the miracles and experiences that have resulted and that we anticipate will continue.

I also heard that Isabeau gave her mission farewell this Sunday in Camrose and heads to Australia this week. Exciting for her!

Finally, also on the missionary front, Ava Driessen got her mission call to the, wait for it, “Canada Montreal Mission”! Totally excited for her. I’m thinking you must have been a good influence what with all these girls you dated as they are all going on missions!

Today I had a YM presidency meeting and felt a bit overwhelmed. I’ve not been able to really focus too well on YM’s for a couple of months building this house, so now I’m feeling the promptings to make it a higher priority. Problem is that things can go downhill fast in 2 months and need to bolster my presidency. Good thing we can repent and start to do better.

This week I was looking for something to listen to on the long(er) drive into work. I found a free audio book called “The Science of Getting Rich” and found a cool quote that I think is true:

“There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe. A thought, in this substance, produces the thing that is imaged by the thought. Man can form things in his thought, and, by impressing his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about to be created.”

Made me thing about some of the cool verses in the D&C:

Doctrine and Covenants 93:29

29 Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be.

 

Doctrine and Covenants 131:7

7 There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes;

·         Doctrine and Covenants 130:20

20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—

·         Doctrine and Covenants 130:21

21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

I certainly love the gospel in all its breadth and the opportunity to study it deeply. I’m thankful for the burning testimony you bear to us every letter. Happy 1 year mark. Enjoy the journey, reach for your potential and love the people and experiences you have with them.

Love forever,

Dad.

From Josh:

My Goodness it has been a crazy week, white washing an area is stressful and fun at the same time, I love the Sherman oaks ward... and guess what? Casey Clyde is in my ward, the guy who acted Elder Rodgers in the best two years, he acts exactly the same as he does in the movies too. We are currently in an apartment with our district leader, and it is a blast, I love being a missionary and everything just seems to be going great!

This week I was able to attend a baptism of someone I had taught in Saugus who didn't seem that interested but other missionaries helped him to see the importance of the Gospel after I left and I was able to see him enter the Waters of baptism, we also found and taught his family as well and they will be getting baptized on the 30 of December, when I first heard about this my heart and soul were filled with so much love and praise to God that I could not stop myself from singing to the world so on the way home I belted out "praise to the Lord" the problem was I didn't know all the words so about halfway through it fizzled out so I had to figure out a hymn of praise that I knew and then sang that all the way home. Rest assured I looked up "Praise to the Lord" after i got home determined to learn it so I could actually sing it the next time I get excited. 

Things I have learned on my mission is to speak what is on my mind with more firmness, often now when I don't like something I make sure to tell someone, when I want to invite a baptism commitment I will do it, I am not very good at standing up for my opinion but I am working on expressing myself more fully and boldly so that I don't mumble or anything... though a lot of what I do I feel must come from the spirit. 

I learned something interesting the other day, In 'Preach my Gospel' it states that to increase your desire to share the gospel you must first strengthen your understanding of the atonement, in order to maintain an eternal perspective and to know why the atonement is necessary you must first understand the Fall and the reason thereof. So I invite all of you to partake in the blessings of understanding by increasing your knowledge of the Fall its purpose, the atonement and the purpose of it, and then increase your love for the Gospel so you can share it with any and every willing mind. Be an example to the nation and i guess #LightTheWorld if you are not already doing the challenge on Mormon.org then I would strongly exhort you to do so now and start making the world a better place.

This week we were able to share the Christmas video with a few Muslims and they loved it but we talked to this one Muslim that told us that he had studies 185 different religions and he respected us and told us that he also respected Jesus, I learned that Islam people believe everything about Jesus Christ, that his virgin birth, his miracles, and his life, but that he is not the son of God, we boldly testified that he was the Son of God and we gave him a copy of The Book of Mormon and invited him to read it, he said he would and we left. The Book of Mormon is the convincing witness of the Gospel, it is another testament of Jesus Christ with it in your hand you can boldly proclaim the truth of all we believe, always keep a copy with you to study and give to those who may want to know of the truth of the Gospel, learn and love the Gospel, develop a personal relationship with God and honestly seek the truth.

Love 

Josh

Picture at the baptism of Josh Mai he is standing to the right of the kid in the white, everyone in suits are all the missionaries that were involved in his teaching. 

December 5, 2016 - Personally...

Well... I will definitely try to include more day to day stuff and see if I can balance that with spiritual insights so you can tell how I am doing both temporally and spiritually 

Okay so as a missionary you go for the simple, a few days ago I decided to make easy mix pancakes... (I do not like these kind I am afraid dad spoiled me with his from scratch pancakes so I just added a lot of butter) the problem was I was not thinking and put a bunch of water in first and then applied the desired dosage of pancake mix, as soon as I started mixing I found out that I had just made pancake flavored water... so I had to add a ton more of pancake mix and kept adding and adding until it was good enough to cook... so I have had pancakes for breakfast lunch and dinner all week and there is still some left... learned a valuable lesson about measurement and that woul always apply the liquid to the powder not the other way around...

I have also learned what my response is when a rabid dog is running at me, I crouch down and hold A copy of The Book of Mormon out for it to chomp on... not the best picture for a missionary in regards to a sacred book of scripture... so here is the story... 

I was on exchanges with Elder Johnson my district leaders companion and we were knocking home to home, when we reached a fenced off yard, the standard approach is to whistle to see if there is a Dog and then if nothing comes its safe so we usually go in and knock the door and share our message, it was no different here, we whistled and no dog came so we opened the gate and closed it behind us and proceeded to walk to the door, which was about 40 feet away, as when we got about halfway we heard the neighbors dog barking only... it wasn't the neighbor's this huge dog came barreling around the corner barking like all hell was loose. Elder Johnson turned and I looked behind me and there was no way we could make it to the gate in time, so I panicked and did the first thing that came into my mind, first put an object in the way of me and the dog (The Book of Mormon) second crouch down... (Get my face closer to the dogs jaws... smart) and slowly back up, it was a mangy beast with hair disheveled and it just looked like a demon dog I was about ready to meet my maker when it got to us... and what did it do? it jumped at me and... started sniffing away and wagging it tail and we found out that it was a nice dog and we just pet it and it threw itself against my leg to petted more and be scratched by the ear, so we went a knocked the door.

At the next house we whistled a bit louder to make sure there was no dog, nothing happened so we entered the gate and had a bit of difficulty in closing it but finally did so when again we heard barking, just about as fast as we could we wiggled the latch and pried it open getting out just in time to see this little dog waddle out and run up to us, by this time we were so shaken up we nearly had to sit down. 

Life often presents itself in such a way as these, when scary things come at us, we must stand strong and most of the time it will turn out for our good, and those things that seemed so hard when they were coming up just turned out to be a happy moment. I remember when I was preparing for the GED as it came up I was nervous and the closer it got the less and less i wanted to face it, but in it and after I felt fine and it was relatively easy. God teaches through trials and we have to be willing to face them, as Paul said to the Hebrews "We are not of them who turn back" so whenever a hard time comes your way remember that to face the challenge with steadfast and immovableness is better then to bend and to brake under the shafts in the whirlwinds, but in order to be steadfast we must first have a foundation on which to build and that is Jesus Christ, as long as you put your trust in him you will never go astray, I think it was Nephi that said if you don't believe in The Book of Mormon, then believe in Christ, because if you believe in Christ then you will believe in what comes of his hand and his fingerprints and presence are found all over the Book of Mormon and this Church. I know that it is true. 

Love 

Josh

Pics and Movie:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3TKWzpofJnhWEdHcldzQWRqdDg/view

Dad and Josh Conversation:

Dad:

Hi Josh, Sorry I didn't get a letter off to you! We sat down and wrote hand written letters to you yesterday so in my mind I'd already written to you!

Happy almost a year! I'll send some more but didn't know if you'll still be around to get it.

Josh: 

There is something about hand written letters that is magical, did you only have hand written when you were on your mission?

Dad:

Ya. Only hand written! So we always got week old news or more! I like both. It is fun to give you the latest updates.

How does it feel to be almost at the year mark? Does your mission have any crazy traditions at 6 mo. and 1 year marks?

Josh:

Well... I burned a tie at six months and for a year mark you are supposed to burn a shirt, but we aren't allowed fires so I will have to start something... it feels weird almost being a year out because it feels like a blip and everyone says the second year goes by faster, if this is so I will be walking off the plane in no time, so i have to dedicate as much as I can in this short time I have. 

Did you have any traditions for your mission?

Dad:

Not really, actually. Not like they do in the Edmonton mission. One quick story. On Sunday, Sis Neitz came back to our ward and shared some of her experience serving a family history mission in SLC. There, they wear their tag on the right side vs. the left where you mostly wear yours. Its because they are doing missionary work for people "on the other side". Thought that was kind of fun.

Josh:

haha that is fun. I miss you guys and can't wait to call you on christmas sunday.

Dad:

Ditto, Josh. Love you lots. Keep up the great work and let us know about when we can plan the call.

Nov 28, 2016 - Its just... California

From Mom: "The Hardest Thing I Ever Loved to Do"

Dear Josh,

I have been thinking about the phrase from your last letter about "the hardest thing you have ever loved to do." It applies in so many ways and I'm finding it to be a great attitude maker. 

Right at this moment, it is early morning and I am in the new house (second night) in bed under the warm covers writing you an email on my phone. I can hear Dad sawing and pounding in the basement in preparation for the Inspector to come. Technically, we aren't supposed to be sleeping here yet, but our renters wanted to be in by Nov 30, so we needed to get out in order to clean the old place, so here we are in the new place with no running water, no furnace or plumbing. We heat the house with three electric space heaters, go freeze our butts in the outhouse and make do with bottled water in the meantime. It's an adventure and I am loving it. I will complain about only one frustration, and that is losing things with moving.... so far, a set of keys, bolts to put the girls bunk bed together and Dad's box of ties.

Dad went to church tie-less yesterday but didn't complain. I, on the other hand, like to complain far too much but am trying to stop it. Any tips? ;)

In other news, I was surprised to see Russell Jeffrey at church yesterday, home early about three months from his mission. He was released honourably due to some health concerns/anxiety issues. When I saw him, the first thing he asked was, "How is Josh doing?" I told him you were good. I also explained that you write long and interesting letters, but you don't say too much about yourself. How ARE you, Josh? I know your testimony is burning bright. I know you are doing your best, but tell me some day-to-day stuff. Like, what do you normally eat? How many kilometres do you bike a day? What is your favourite time of the day? Which do you like better?... companion study or personal study? What is a tedious frustration you have to deal with? As you approach your year mark, do you need new socks?

Moms want to know the little stuff, too. But I shouldn't complain at all because Zack told me he didn't write his Mom at all in the MTC. Apparently Sis. Nesom called and tattled on him and the mission Pres had to get him in trouble. Lol! So, you are a good son and write us back. 

I love you. Keep striving. Look for miracles. I am more of a believer in miracles than ever. I mean, we are ACTUALLY on our acreage. Getting out here was the hardest thing I love to do, and I'm going to keep that attitude, because I think that's how miracles happen. My Dad says, "God helps those who help themselves." And I think, after all we can do, we can stand back with the utmost assurance for God to reveal his arm. It is a good fight. Keep on, my boy. We are with you.

Love,

Mom

From Josh:

I do admit that I have not been giving as much information about myself as I could have... I just don't know what to put. So thank you for the questions Mom. 

Let me see let me start by first saying that there have been a lot of times where I have wanted to complain, and a lot of things are super frustrating to me as a missionary, and I definitely complain a lot in my prayers and I am sure that it can get annoying sometimes so recently I have been really trying to look for the great things in life, whenever I feel bitter or when I want to complain I have recently started to list off my blessings... the other day we were biking fast and my legs were burning so bad, they pretty much are sore everyday whether I am biking or not now, in the middle of biking I was just complaining to myself that my legs were sore, it was super cold out (about 15 C :P) but then I stopped myself and decided to be grateful I even had legs to get sore, and that I could use them in such a way that they would be hurting. I was grateful it was cold out because it reminded my of fall back home (Not to the point of being trunky though) Even within the hard times there are things to be grateful for. When we stub our toe we can be grateful that we have a toe to stub and that we can walk fine, when we are out of breath we can be grateful that God gave us healthy lungs. Something I said to one of our investigators was this "God gives us trials so we can grow" everything we are given that is hard is our pleasure to experience, everything we are given in this life is the privileged of those who chose to follow God, think about it, we are lucky enough to actually have hardships, we are blessed enough to be given trials, Satan and his followers are cut off, meaning they can not progress, we are lucky enough to experience cuts and scrapes, sorrow and pain, we actually have a physical body to do those kinds of things, and experience them to their fullest. The story of Legion a demon who begged Christ to grant them even the privilege of being in the body of swine for two minutes, those who gained no body would love to experience a bump on the head... and when God spoke to Adam when casting them out of the Garden, what did he say, "I will curse the ground..." sounds pretty harsh if we don't consider the next part "...for your sake" We are given the opportunity to Experience life! Sounds pretty great to me. 

Something that I get caught up in though is when I lose my eternal perspective, when we lose our eternal perspective, the here and now become more important, and in the moment, that moment becomes our universe, but when we take a step back and broaden our perspective then we see that everything is for our good. Russel M Nelson spoke on Joy and spiritual survival what he says I think is very good for understanding joy, and how we can look for the great in everything...

I am doing really good, though I sometimes struggle with how the work is going, it seems that people here are not the most receptive, and we are sharing the Christmas Video the church has put out this year and I have never been more dedicated to persuading people to watch it than I am now, and yet still people turn us away, there was one lady who professed to believe in Christ and we asked if she had a short three minutes to dedicate to Christ and watch a video that didn't even promote our church but promoted being more like Jesus, and she simply said I am too busy I don't have time, that really got to me. I hope never to be like that, someone who is too busy for the Lord because he was never too busy for me.

My main diet consists of Eggs... Milk... and cereal... sandwiches occasionally, and left overs that ward members give us... people tell us to cook better but it is the fast simple things that we make, because for me personally i either want to study the Gospel or take a nap. As well as sticking to my budget of 20$ a week which if we go out and eat someplace reduces it to 10 dollars for shopping on P-day, which can be limiting but feels great when at the end of the Month everyone has no more money and I have 40 dollars left.. but I do need to ease up on my budget a little because the thought of eating scrambled eggs again is pretty hard, and i have had to force myself to eat them at times. Our days consist of studies (I like personal study best because I can go in as deep as I feel, in whatever it may be) then visiting people, Lunch, visiting people, Knocking doors for 2 hours which is the set time for the mission, from 4-6 then dinner then appointments till 9 (unless we have nobody for dinner then we usually visit people and have dinner at 8) then at 9 we plan every hour of what we are going to do the next day and then lay on the floor for a little, then get up and write in my journal (though I have been slacking lately)

As for biking, we live about a mile out of our area so we bike in a mile then our area is about 5 miles wide and on a typical day we bike about at least a third of our area consistently through the day, so I don't know probably 15 to 20 miles a day which is bout 35 kilometers. We have had to bike our area a few times in the past though so on those days I would say we bike 70 kilometers. Just constant biking for 5 hours of the day... Luckily our area is pretty flat. 

My frustrations always lie in the hard hardheartedness of myself and those around me... I have noticed that the companions I get most frustrated with and people I am most annoyed at are people just like me.... what does that say about myself, I have a lot to work on. 

Okay, and inventory of what I have gone through in the last year supplies wise. 

I do need new socks, I have lost about 3 pairs and have holes in 2

two pants have been worn completely through and two have lost the hemming on the leg so I am down to two pairs left and one of them is getting a little see through on the crotch and one of them is my suit pants and they are dirty and need dry cleaning... so I will probably be getting new ones soon.. maybe next transfer. 

my shoes are holding up nice though they are beginning to look rather like old missionary shoes. Which is okay as long as I can still shine them, all my shirts are starting to get a little brown on the collar...(luckily I saved two long sleeves and two short sleeves in the packaging for my year mark so I should be good on shirts)

all in all I am doing good but I would love socks for Christmas. And the more I am here in the U.S the more I want Canadian appearal so I am still trying to think of ways I can get a Canadian Flag and a shirt... but that is just a fickle wish of mine. :) 

I am doing great, there are days when I have to find the motivation to go out and continue biking, but when I do I find it feels great to lose yourself in the work.

This past week has been rough we were only able to teach one less active... no one else was interested and we managed to offend three less active members on thanksgiving just by stopping by and saying hi and leaving Happy thanksgiving cards, they have given us some crap for that and one of them doesn't want us to come by anymore... which hurt a little. but we are still trying to help, and do the best we can. Something that sucks about being a missionary is that your get taken for granted by the wards you work in and when you leave hardly anyone will remember you. So it can be hard at times to gain any firm attachments and I keep telling myself that I am here for a purpose, and I need to focus on that. It is so easy to get caught up in the world... the fight to maintain an eternal perspective goes on.

Well that was me.

I love you all so much, Please remain to be valiant in the testimony that you have in Christ. 

Joshua

P.S.

I heard a great idea from one of our senior couples who served in Palmyra at the church history sights, that a lot of people when their children got their mission calls took them on a tour of church historical points like the sacred grove and the smith home. Thought that was pretty cool, maybe you could do that Sam, and Ben.  

Pictures:

Freezing at 75 F 

The place where they filmed transformers one when Bumblebee turns from an old car to an amazing car

 

#lighttheworld Share it with everyone and get started on December 1 with the challenge!

Weekly planning

District meeting

To Friends, From Josh:

All city, tons of homeless people, famous movie sights, crazy music artists, all these things are nuts.

The other day we were walking and we stopped by this one house and this guy walked out and said he was writing a new song and wanted to get our advice, it was a christian song and wanted to know if he should put Jesus is my pal, or if there was a better word for it, we told him that we thought Jesus could use a better word and advised him on using Jesus is my Brother instead. so we left having advised an up and coming music artist, then we stopped by an up and coming actor who is waiting to get in a good movie, went and talked to our member who worked on a bunch of old showes in production for "Its a wonderful Life", "Giligans Island" and a host of other old shows, we were on exchanges and across the street a famous actor was visiting her sister. When we were biking to the bishops house for dinner we stopped and snapped a couple Pictures where they filmed a scene in transformers.
​

All these things while doing missionary work, in this city all this crazy movie actor stuff and production things are common place, I have shared messages with Napolian Dynamite, went to nickalodian with someone who has worked on spongebob and Avatar: the last airbender. been by Beyonce's house, met the man whos father started the Grammy awards. What a world and literally this is the most worldly place I have ever been in. I know the meaning of Living in the world and not of it. I am sick and tired of all the worldliness and to think it is only going to get worse. I love my life and I am so grateful that we have clear access to the truth and that confusion can be wiped aside by the simple testimony of the scriptures and by a prayer to God. I pray all will come to know of those things that bring joy and peace in this life 

Nov 21, 2016 - What a week!

From Dad:

Hi Josh,

My turn to write. We've been a busy bunch this last week. I've been very thankful for Sam and Ben lately as they have willingly pitched in and helped wherever I've asked them to. This has included moving heavy desks, putting up deck railings, installing stairs, and anything else to get us moved over to the new house. Mom has been working out the move logistics for mail, arranging for the gas line to get in, and making sure the budget keeps balancing. The girls were a big help painting and sealing the basement floor. In short it's been a family effort to get things in place for our move at the end of the month.

How's our favorite missionary? We enjoy your letters and the kids take your advice to heart. You are doing a great work and are a wonderful and powerful example for us. How are your investigators progressing this week?

In teacher development this week, we discussed preparing to teach by the spirit and discussed D&C 84:88 and the role of preparation in receiving inspiration and teaching by the spirit. It took me 18 months to really start to understand this on my mission and to really start teaching by and relying on the spirit to bring about conversion. Hopefully you are feeling that sooner than I did!

Grandma and Grandpa Bruce are up to help again. They are amazingly helpful to us. Steps called last night. She is coming up for a week or so before flying home Christmas Day to be with Tyler. Grandma and grandpa Smith called as well. Uncle Jeff just got called to be Bishop! They just got back from a vacation to Oklahoma to visit my uncle Richard.

Life is going to very busy for the rest of the school year especially for Ben. He will basically be leaving home at 630 am and getting back around 730 or later most days of the week. Praying we will be safe with all our travels. We are looking forward to this new phase of our life.

Happy year transfer! Don't get trunky. Best year of your mission is still ahead.





Love Dad


From Josh:

Hey Family! It sounds like a lot of work getting that house ready and I am kind of excited to come home and see all the changes in everything, though I am patient and I promise that I will do my best at not being trunky, as of now I am super excited and love being a missionary, I can't wait for Sam to experience the ups and downs of missionary life as well. It is the hardest thing I have ever loved to do... though a lot of missionaries go home because of one reason or another, so when going to serve a mission decide now to stay out and work hard, it is important to maintain an eternal perspective in all things throughout this life, a lot of people I meet in California are super depressed and turned off from God because they think that if God was really there then the world would be a better place, because how could God let all this crap happen in the world... well the important thing to know is that God will not impede on our agency and allows us to face trials to gain experience in this life that will prepare us for the next, I have also met a lot of Atheists who believe only in science and that there is no afterlife, and to that I always think of a quote I heard once "it is better to believe in God and find out he doesn't exist then to not believe and find out he does" lucky for us we can know for sure right now if we exercise a little bit of faith and read from the scriptures pray to know if they are true and follow Gods commandment, God will never leave us clueless, Elder Maxwell a quorum of the twelve in the past once said that "things have a habit of resolving themselves" so any question we have if we go by faith we will eventually be given the answer to what we are wondering about, and like Deiter F Uchtdorf said once "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith" this world is super confusing thanks to Satan and people using their agency in bad ways, but if we rely on God the revealed scripture we have been given and if we live the commandments which we have been given then in Gods own time it will be revealed to us what we need to know.

Speaking of confusion we were exiting an apartment Complex when we heard this voice call to us from the third floor "Hey! missionaries! Come back up!" so we went to talk to him and he brought us to his apartment and sat us down and told us he wanted to talk about Hitler... which was weird so he put on this History tv show about the secrets of U.S history... then we asked him if he had spoken to missionaries and he said yes they had told him to look up the churches history but he mistook it as the nations history, he went on to explain that he knew a lot about Mormon History, we were based in Idaho and we originated in Salt Lake, we tried to explain that we Originated in Palmyra New York and were based in Salt lake but quickly found out that he was crazy and non receptive. So we excused ourselves and continued on home... but it was quite weird. 

Many things in life I have questioned one of which was that if God was not a God of confusion then why was there so much of it in the world, I have since determined that it is because the Truth will always be apposed, Satan the master of all lies once convinced the world that God did not speak to man anymore, but since Joseph Smith came and restored the truth Satan has brought out more lies, when we tell people that there is a living prophet on the earth everyone seems to take it as we can all be prophets, as well as spiritual gifts in some churches people think that if you speak gibberish you have the Gift of tongues... in the world so full of lies about everything, people are losing hope in God and in everything that gives us stability and foundation, Families, The sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Church leaders, The Bible, everything that is important is being thrown in the trash can, so we need to take a stand to help protect the things of God. We have a wonderful family, We have The Book of Mormon that gives that second witness to the Bible, we have direct communication with God and a Prophet to lead the world in the ways of right and truth, People call us brain washed but our leaders in the church encourage us to receive our own revelation as to if they are chosen by God or not, because God will tell us all truths, I have learned that of myself as God has answered everyone of my prayers in his own time, I know this church is true, and i know that we must be Valiant in our testimony of Christ, and true to the covenants we made at baptism, Standing as a witness to what we know to be true, Keeping all the Commandments, Acting always as Christ would act. 

Please be strong in the faith, even if your faith is small, hold to it.

I love you all

Joshua. 

Pictures. 

Do you think I could pull off a gangster? 

I just got pooped on by a bird!

Selfie:

From Mom:

Oh, Josh. I love you.

If I sent you a "currently" picture, you would see Sis. Kruyer in a hospital bed sleeping with her mouth open. I don't think she would appreciate that, so no picture. I brought her a Booster Juice to maybe tempt her taste buds as she has no appetite due to a skin infection that started to eat away at her calf muscle. She almost died.

As it is, they operated and removed the damaged tissue but now she has to learn how to walk again. It's been painful and a difficult time for her. I just love her though. Dad and Sam brought her the sacrament yesterday and we visited for a bit. My heart hurts sometimes watching people struggle, but I guess it's not such a bad thing to have empathy and love for our fellow travelers.

We will be out of our Leduc house in about a week. Busy packing and moving. I wish we had your cheerful attitude and muscle to help out but we would rather have you where you should be, which is serving the Lord on your mission. I love what you said about "the hardest thing you've ever loved to do."

Keep on, my boy. Life is amazing!


Mom

From Josh:

 I love you Mom, I don't know if I can say it enough.

 you are the best mom I have ever had. ;)

Everything that is on the earth is meant to bring us down. Gravity, depression, money, work, wars, lust, hate... and many other things, but the most interesting paradox I think is that if we fall down before the Lord in more ways then one, in Humility, upon our knees, then we are lifted to a place where nothing can bring us down. So take time to pray, when life gets you down then let it pull you to your knees and then let your voice be drawn to heaven. His arm is stretched out still ready to bring you up to his rest. 

Nov 14, 2016 - Just a Little Effort

From Mom:

Dear Josh,

I am so thankful for the Sabbath lately. It seems we are running from one place to the next with always something to do and racing deadlines. As soon as one thing is accomplished, we need to turn our sights to the next pressing matter. Sunday gives us a much needed respite despite the temptation to work anyway. But we don't work, and I trust that as we keep that simple commandant to keep the Sabbath Day holy, the other six days will be magnified. And truly, we have seen the Lord's hand in our lives during this whole process.

Time and weather is really what we're racing now. We rented our Leduc house for December 1 to a family with four sons. (Another HUGE tender mercy with our current stressful rental market.) The mom is delighted that each boy gets his own bedroom and I think they will be good renters. This gives us 15 days to be totally out of our Leduc house. But we can't move in to The Wizard Lake House (I've taken to calling it The Blue House) until we have an Occupancy Permit, and we won't have an Occupancy Permit until the gas line is dug, drywall is put up in the basement, and all utilities are hooked up. It would be really nice to have a stove in there too. Think we can get it done in time?
So far, there has been a thousand tender mercies, which of course, are always there if we take the time to be aware of them. The first and biggest is the help my mom and dad have been. They've been here twice for a week each time helping paint and fixing things, and they're coming again at the end of November to help. They've saved my sanity. Second, is the weather. It's been unseasonably warm despite our early winter weather in October. If that snowy weather had stayed, we would have been in trouble. Third, is your father's unwavering effort... he just keeps pressing forward even though he is so busy with everything else (job, calling, coaching, etc.) He amazes me with his ongoing tenacity.
As for me, I'm feeling overwhelmed most of the time. There always seems to be so much to do that I don't know where to start. Today I need to pay off the contractors, wash the concrete floor in The Blue House, paint Dad's office, catch up on laundry, balance the budget, and the ever looming presence of cooking, cleaning and educating (the last three have been sorely lacking lately). I've learned that if I just get started by exerting a little effort, I can gain the momentum that I need. Sometimes I need a little push to get going though. That push comes in many ways... Wendy bringing a meal, Mom telling me to get off my butt, Stephanie sending me a text, reading your emails, feeling a spiritual prompting. When I get that little push and exert a little effort, I usually can get a lot done and fall into bed at night satisfied with progress. And progress is what we're looking for, even if it's only a little.

Did you know that Ede and Renata Bango moved back to Leduc? They've been here for over a month. I asked them if they would be coming to church sometime. Renata laughed and said it's really hard to get up that early. I jokingly replied that I should come over early on Sunday morning and help them wake up. She said, "yes! Do that!" So yesterday morning, I found myself armed with a box of Cheerios and some orange juice, knocking on their door at 8:15 a.m. I had to call Ede on his cell phone to come open the door because they couldn't hear my knocking. Lol! Well, they got up and came to church. They also came for our Sunday meal and we spent the day with them. It was so fun. I was reminded that we seem to always be rewarded a hundred times over when we put forth a little effort. The Lord blessed us.

So that is my goal for the week. Exerting just a little effort. It's actually a really fun way to see how the work pays off. I suppose that principle also applies to missionary work.
Bailey left for the England MTC last week. Erik deVries gave his farewell talk yesterday and leaves on Tuesday to the Provo MTC (eventually to Toronto) along with Seth. Eva Driessen told me yesterday that she submitted her papers and is now waiting for a call. She's feeling extremely impatient and doesn't want to wait another day. Matthew is taking a girl named Hannah out on a second date, which he is very proud of. Russell Francis comes every now and then for supper when he is feeling lonely and yesterday, he came to church. Russell Jeffrey is due to come home in five months. Time is passing and everyone is growing up. Life is good though. Fantastically good. People ask about you often. Yesterday it was Ada and Renata. I always say, "Josh is amazing." And it's true. Amazing is when you don't give up. Amazing is when you study the Gospel and fortify yourself. Amazing is when you realize how quickly time is going because you're working so hard. Amazing is when you write to others to lift them up. Amazing is getting caught in the rain and smiling about it.
You're amazing, Josh.

Remember how much love Dad and I have for you. We all pray for you every day.

Love forever,

Mom

P.S. I received your signed affidavit in the mail. Thank you! Abby also received your letter and was delighted. (Make sure you send something to Mia now.)

Our new address is:


Site 2 Comp 51 RR #4
Calmar, AB. T0C 0V0

From Josh:

Wow, 15 days is quite a deadline! but i guess the fact that we have a home is better then nothing. 

Something that has really been bothering me is insecurity, and not knowing if what I do is enough. We went by a potential investigator this other day do see if we could set a return appointment and when he came out he just told us if we had come by earlier he probably would have talked to us, and it was probably best if we stopped coming by... which is hard when you try your hardest, and someone says that to you, then you start doubting if that really was your hardest or not, and if you could have been better, so that was something i had to get over this week, I can truly attest that I am still that sensitive child you took out of school all those many years ago, I get wounded very easily and have to really establish some ground after reeling back in shack to some things people say. There have been many times where this has happened and initially I am at a loss, but I love it because it pushes me to search within myself for a deeper understanding of who I am and what God thinks of me. 

Another thing I have been bothered by is how many less actives we are working with seem to have such a strong testimony of the truth of what we share and as we teach them they seem to love missionaries and love their home teachers and love everything about the church, they have a favourite Apostle, and read the scriptures periodically, they remember their baptism as being one of the best experiences of their life... but they simply won't go to church, they struggle with paying tithing or hate a member so they won't go back because of offence... they have a testimony of Jesus Christ, but they will not enact the atonement to its fullest measure, or they are just too lazy and don't want to do the work it requires to be active. This has really concerned me because I don't want to be like that, I can feel it in myself that I could be like that if I gave in to my inner and carnal thoughts and desires, but what would that do for me. In Doctrine and Covenants there is a place where is speaks on the three kingdoms and we all know this, the celestial is the glory that will only be received by obeying the laws set forth for our happiness, now we would think that if everyone wanted to be happy this would be an easy road, but because of our lazy and carnal selves we often don't desire to do the work required for happiness. Now the highest degree of the celestial kingdom can only be achieved by entering into eternal marriage, not because God commanded it to be so but its simply a requirement for an eternal posterity and how can you have a posterity if you are not marries... anyway back to my point, the next glory is Terrestrial the glory of the moon which is but a reflection of the sun... this place is reserved for good people who didn't accept the Gospel, and that includes those who were not valiant in the testimony of Christ... so listen, when you gain a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ then it becomes your privilege and duty to maintain and act upon those things which you know. This Gospel is not a self gospel, I have learned this week that when we make a covenant with God we must turn and help others, Baptism-Baptisms for the dead, Temple ordinances are done for ourselves then for others past on as well, and the Priesthood that we bare as men it is not for us, it is a calling for the help of others, we cannot lay hands on ourselves but can only do it to others, the priesthood is the Power and Authority to act in Gods name for the benefit of man, not for ourselves, it is of service, we are not payed for our ministry in this church, we must pay our way through sacrifice and effort, as youth Sam you have been called to lead and build up your peers, Ben, those your age look to you as a leader, Abby and Mia, you are called to first gain a testimony and then act and speak to others in such a way as to help them to come unto Christ... I learned this week that the greatest leader is not one who is good at public speaking, nor is large in stature or other things as this, No the thing that makes a great leader is a powerful testimony of the gospel, Ben you have a wonderful opportunity to lead out in school what you believe and will have multiple opportunities to be a missionary now, Sam in your work you encounter many who are searching for truth, in and out of the church, you MUST have a testimony of this gospel and it must be strong in order to have the spirit necessary for you to find the truth then to lead others to it, You have more influence as a young man then many older more experienced people have, because if your testimony is of such a light that it cannot be hid, many young and old will marvel at the strength of one who may not be good at speaking or shy, whatever our weaknesses may be, if we are grounded in the testimony of Christ and this Gospel then we will be leaders. So study The Book of Mormon and the Bible, Ponder and pour over the words of Jesus Christ to the Jews and to the Nephites, listen to talks given by living Prophets and apostles today! and like Christ said to Peter, "Convert yourself, then strengthen your brethren" I have found so much strength in reading the Book of Mormon and Bible and have learned so many new and wonderful truths that have never been before heard by my ears nor considered in my mind, I have never felt such a strong connection with my savior then when I am reading and praying. I know that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Master, I know he died for me, I know that The book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a Prophet, I know that I am not even beginning to understand the truths of God and I am so excited to learn more, and I encourage you to do the same, study your patriarchal blessings Pray with all the energy of your heart, every night make sure to thank God for all the Blessings you have seen and ask that your eyes may be opened to the tender mercies of the Lord. I know with all my heart that God answers prayers and he will answer yours if you are an honest seeker of truth, and you pray with real intent. 

I love you all, please never take your eyes off of the savior..

Josh