Feb 29, 2016

To Dad:

Distracted driving Dad, it sucks, I can attest to that. (Dad crashed the Green Car last week)

I am so glad that I have parents who love each other I think its a major factor to how our family has become so close, along with some others, I love how you have always pointed us to God, and how in every action you have taught us to be the best we can be, I love you guys so much.

when you were a missionary did you have the Mister Brown memorized discussions? and with the first Discussion did you start with the first vision?

My mission visa does work, My scotia card doesn't but as long as my mission visa card is working I will be perfect.

I am not in a bike area, apparently they are trying to get rid of them in this mission... :(

My mission President and his wife, I haven't had much of a chance to talk with them they were super excited that I finally got here, and President Henrie runs this mission a lot like a business.

I cover the Chatsworth ward, it is a ward of about 140 in average attendance with over 300 members so a lot of less active work, they are all super friendly and love to have us over for supper. I am still trying to figure things out. but two wards meet in our building, the Korean branch is the other one and they have their own set of Elders that we meet with regularly 

To Mom:

That sucks about the car, though we all knew it was going to break down sometime, it was only a matter of time.

That mission statement is pretty good, though most of it we already do, Something I would would be good to add, and this is a second hand opinion, that we add some things you would like to improve on, usually a mission is inspired by a cause, what cause are we striving for? to be a better family? would it be valuable to add a specific challenge? I love everything that it says about our family and hope it can provide us with something to build up to.

This week we have been meeting with various investigators of different varying opinions, Steven is a black guy who leads a church youth group in his denomination, he has been meeting with us to try to see what is true his grandmother recently died causing him to wonder about the after life, he was always taught the heaven or hell fire principle and really wants to go to heaven, I hope he continues to investigate the church so we can teach him the plan of salvation. he has a real struggle with accepting the book of mormon, and doesn't believe that God would call another prophet, since Jesus Christ fulfilled all things, so a lot of his concerns we can't really solve for him, we invited him to pray about it. Something to always remember when inviting someone, apply the law of agency, never say you will do this, instead it is better to always have a will you statement, making the only answers to be either yes or no. Our other investigator is a new christian named Anthony, and he is a details guy, he will always ask us questions that don't really make sense or are so small that its hard to see their relevance, one question was if groves are bad, in the bible it speaks a lot about removing places of worship of other gods which were referred to as groves, and since Joseph saw his Vision in a grove Anthony took it as grounds that our church was false, we then explained how God would not forsake his own creation just for being a creation and opened a couple scriptures about groves being good. 

Something Steven asked us to do is pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true and I prayed to have an increased understanding, and I want to tell you that I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that the Bible is as well and would exhort you all to read them both, if you have a question turn to the word of God and he will answer you, that is why prayer is so important when studying the scriptures because prayer is when you speak you speak to God, when you want him to speak to you look to his words. 

Something I have learned here is that God truly answers prayers, I fasted and prayed to be humbled into the depths of humility and God sent me to California, everything here is completely different, the people are often rude and offensive to us as missionaries, a lot of my own views on teaching I have found to be ineffective, I am continually questioning a lot of my own personal views, and have been struggling to adapt, its like jumping into freezing cold water, my body at this time is still in shock of the plunge and I am confused with the area, with my companions and with how things work here, and I realize there is a lot i don't know, I am basically starting from scratch, pretty much the only thing that has kept me going is the feeling or peace that I am doing the Lords work, and that eventually I will adapt to this new life, it is the polar opposite from Halifax, so I have had to adjust to three different life styles, MTC, Halifax, and California. The one thing I can say is that Missions are truly hard, we are raised on the thought of glory and wonder of missions, but there are often times that people will scorn you, and mock you, your companions will not always instantly be your friend, and people will not listen to you, you will be tired and depressed with no hope of anything improving, but there are the moments when people will listen, when people will see the light inside you, moments that are indescribable, when the spirit lays hold on your heart and you will be overwhelmed with the love that only comes from the Lord, there will be moments when you will love someone so much that you will sacrifice your own relaxation time to be with them and bring them closer to the Gospel, it is those moments you life for as a missionary, that make all the pain worth it, I can truly say I have been humbled, and I can't wait for the time when I can grow in confidence in the Lord in this mission.

I hope you are all doing well and are continually drawing closer to the Lord, Remember that Members do more to convert people then missionaries can ever do. I would encourage you to always have a referral for the missionaries when they come to seek for missionary opportunities, and ways you can serve others.

Love you all

Elder Joshua Smith

P.S

Volunteer work is awesome, I would encourage you guys to find places to do missionary work. Also Family history is cool! I would invite you guys to learn how to get names off of family tree for baptisms, if they haven't been done.

P.P.S

I hate to ask for things but I just so happened to leave my patriarchal blessing at home if there could be some way to get it to me It would be much appreciated.

My address is: 10025 de soto #27 CA USA 91311.

2/22/2016 - Transfer to San Fernando

What a week it has been here in California! It above 30 degrees as a regular here and this is winter weather so everyone is wearing sweaters and are all bundled up, its supposed to get up to above 50 in the summer so that should be fun!

I am in a treo once again since I came in too late for the transfer and I am having a blast! Elder Wilson and Elder Gentemen are really fantastic they are filled with the spirit and we are having a great time together, we have a total of two investigators we are currently teaching, They are some interesting fellows, Anthony lives with his mother and doesn't have a job so he is open a lot for us to teach and he is pretty receptive, despite some initial concerns, of some weird anti, apparently people think we teach in our church that the moon is populated, and we still practice polygamy and we are all liberal. but we cleared a lot of that up and he is really excited to learn more.

I have to really hold myself back a lot, there are a lot of people here who really like to argue and demean the church, on the other hand there is a lot of respect people give to us going out and proclaiming our religion, apparently not a lot of churches go out and do what we do, there was one lady that was convinced we practiced polygamy and we told her we didn't and she kept saying, "Yes, you do!" then we would state that we don't and she would tell us we do once again, and there was no getting past that, so set was she in her mind that we practiced it that we could not tell her otherwise, then another lady kept trying to convince us that God, Jesus Christ and The Holy Ghost were one and the same person, and I was so tempted to whip out the bible and prove to her that she was wrong and We were right. My heart was filled with contention and I really wanted to just tell her she was blind and that she needed to open her eyes, but then a thought entered into my mind, to bare my testimony and holding out a Book of Mormon I testified that I knew it was true and that Joseph Smith truly saw God and Jesus Christ Two separate beings with bodies of flesh and bones, and when I stated the first vision the spirit of peace entered into my heart and the spirit of contention fled, it was so amazing, we gave her the Book of Mormon and exhorted her to read of it and pray about it. It was an amazing experience.

There is something that has bothered me since the beginning of my mission, something that I have seen and felt from non-members and members alike, that we don't appreciate what we have, this gospel is such an amazing blessing and is incomprehensibly simple and awe inspiring, and not many people understand that we can be so much more that what we are now. Its hard to explain the depth of feeling I have for this, a lot of times I have felt that church was a burden, when we needed to do home teaching or other callings in the church I viewed it as an inconvenience something that I could do without, but looking now, I know that I never understood the blessings that it brings, all the programs of the church all we are called to do is for a purpose, please find that spark in the Gospel, Hear the music that goes with the dance, I know that all of us are living below our privileges, that we don't yet understand what exactly we have, this treasure in which we are squandering, Awake and Arise! and be more that you are now! Look at the Treasure laid before you! we have a book that can bring us closer to God in every way, and we set it as not, do not be complacent don't waist your time on meaningless things when the true meaning of life and happiness is laying before you, Pray with all energy of heart, and humble yourselves to the depth of humility, walk the path that Christ walked, Lift each other up, and look to the light which is the light of Christ. I exhort you, all of you, Sam, Ben, Abby, Mia, Mom, Dad, Steph, and Tyler, the time is at hand when we must choose to be all in or all out. 

I love you guys so much and hope you are all doing well, 

Elder Joshua Smith

P.S

Mom I know you like folk music a bit and a cool music group is called The Lower Lights, I bet you would like it,

also something I have realized as a missionary is that pictures and letters are like life, whenever I get some I am filled with Joy and happiness I never truly understood how deeply they effect a missionary until, Hey! I was a missionary and Boom! I realize that hearing about your lives and seeing the progress of my family truly is what I yearn for.

P.S. 2

I also finished The Book of Mormon and am looking forward to reading the Bible now! I hope everyone is reading well and that they are reading with a purpose or question in mind.

2/9/2016 - Last week in Halifax Mission

Rumor travels fast, I have got my visa and will be leaving for California next Tuesday, the reason I am emailing now is that Monday we are not going to have P-day, Dartmouth district is sacrificing a P-day to go to the temple on Thursday of next week.

2/8/2016

By far the one thing that I would want to express to all of you is that I love you all so much, I love this Gospel with all of my heart and see it change lives daily, I know it has changed mine, I hope you guys are doing great and are all staying healthy, improve the shining moments.

I have a couple things to say that will help you and will help this great work from progressing.

First off, when ever you have the missionaries over, try to have at least one referral for them that can make their day. and also don't be afraid to be missionaries right now, something that I have realized is that it is easier than it looks. Be a missionary now, because more often then not, it is the members of the church that are not serving missions that make the most difference in the work.

The other day it was a brutal rainstorm, rain cascading down upon us as we walked miserably through the streets of Dartmouth, me and Elder Gardner were trudging through the wet streets shoes and socks soaked striving to find people who would listen to us long enough to hear our message, people would pass by us at nearly a run trying to get from one location to the other as quick as possible, we stopped under an overhang of a building to get a rest from the rain and I noticed a guys smoking in the corner, turning I said a simple hello to which he grunted back, then something interesting happened as I stated my name, he turned to me and we started a conversation about life, we talked of his family, his vocation, he spoke of the trials of life and I told him a brief portion of our message before he walked off thanking me for the conversation.

On a bus traveling to the Church, we were on Splits and me and Elder Breinholt and Elder Walker were heading downtown, I looked over at this man who looked miserable, after a couple failed attempts at conversation I finally told him my name, "I am Elder Smith by the way" 

slowly he turned and asked why I was called elder, I stated that I was a missionary from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and he laughed at that, and I asked him about why, He promptly told me to get out of religion as fast as I could, because religion was a sin according to the bible, and I was a bit taken aback this was the first time I had met someone who wanted to bash about religion, we continued the conversation on why, and his reasons for hating the Mormon Church, we talked of Joseph smith and the Book of Mormon, which he said was a false book, I then asked him if he had read it. The response was that he had read it a little bit. So I bore my testimony of the truthfulness of it and how it was an accompaniment to the Bible. and how "a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts then any other book" (introduction to the book of mormon) and challenged him to read it. He then told me the next time we met he would have read it, and challenged me to think about what he said, and I have thought a lot about it, and studied deeply into it, and have found (as I have countless times before) that I know this to be the one true church of God and that Jesus literally leads this church through revelation, that Joseph Smith was called by God to be a prophet in this last dispensation. I know that this Church is true, and I hope that you guys are on the paths to finding it out for yourselves.

I love you all with all my heart,

 Elder Joshua Smith

2/1/2016

To Dad:

Nothing on the Visa, I guess the Lord needs me here for the time being and once I have fulfilled my purpose here I will definitely get word on my Visa.

I don't know If my spiritual jar has been popping... well less like popping and more like overflowing at the moment, I may need another jar. In every lesson I can feel the spirit poor through me, whenever I say the first vision the spirit roots me in place, there have been continuous experiences such that I cannot state them all, but I know that this is where I am supposed to be and I am reminded everyday about it.

2 Nephi 32:3 is such a great scripture I encourage you all to apply it to your lives and continue to read the Book of Mormon.

Dad, I am starting to understand how mission life goes, and a lot of your stories are coming to life for me, please continue to tell everyone of all of your experiences because a mission is so great. What were some of your Street Contacting experiences? What did you do for fun?

I am looking forward to this new house and I know that as long as we stay true to the Principles of the Gospel the Lord will provide all that we need. sometimes we need to ask him. Pray always says the Lord, are we praying for all we do? for all we get? for all we love?

a quote In the mission home goes like this:

"What if you woke up in the morning with only the things you thanked God for the previous night?"

I love being on a mission, and though I am starting to see how truly hard a mission can be I love it all the same, the good and the difficult.

To Mom:

Thank you Mom, I absolutely love hearing everyone of these stories of such amazing people, In every way I can see that each of my brothers and sisters are great leaders, in courage and in attitude. Reading each of these stories I marvel at the great qualities everyone portrays and I know that it is threw the Gospel and the great example of you and dad that we are where we are today, and I along with everyone in our family thank you for your leadership and parenthood, and I fervently hope that everyone from Mia to Sam are treating you with full respect and expressing their love for you, because I know that I love my family so much. I know for a fact that the Gospel truly blesses families.

I have to say that all of my favorite experiences have been out street contacting, on Thursday I got to teach people the restoration, and it was only after that I realized that they were completely drunk... so I probably didn't do much but it was a great experience. I also find something else interesting here, that people first of all are really wary of missionaries, whenever we say hi they treat us like we are selling something, and two, that people trust missionaries way more than regular people, a lot of people here once you get them talking will just unload their problems on you, every load of crap they face in life they will just lay out, the very first door I got invited into the man just dropped a bomb of every thing he hated, he talked about how his wife cheated on him his whole marriage, and how the world was going to the dogs, and every other tiny little problem... eventually we just had to leave because we couldn't get a word in edge wise. Not too many experiences pop out at me when writing these emails, but I would encourage another cross Canada trip to Halifax because it is seriously beautiful here in Dartmouth, and the weather here is super messed up, a week ago it was -10 and full out dumping all kinds of snow, today is 10 and the sun is brilliantly shining.

I was reading recently in Mosiah and Alma, and it speaks of the difference of the people of the church and those not of the church, how everyone in the church was extremely wealthy and those who didn't belong were poor, and the deciding factor was in Alma 1:27, 30-32

and my question to you is, what in our lives are we spending money on that is possibly idle, indulging, and costly, that we don't need? and how much better would it be to give up some of our usual pleasantries to give to the needy? do we need costly apparel? why can't we just be neat and comely? I have also been studying the history of the church, I would encourage you all to study more deeply into the history of the church, and the story of how the Gospel was restored and the wonderful process that took place, it has strengthened my testimony so much and I know it can strengthen yours, "Our Heritage" is recommended. Also an interesting study: what happened to the Christian religion after the death of Christ and his apostles it truly shows a turning away from the Truth, did you know that after the apostles died that the christian religion really struggled under persecution, until the ruler Constantine accepted and protected them in his kingdom, but it was conditional on him becoming leader and when he did he made unauthorized changes, adding in his own thoughts and ideals. Then a part of the people rejected his teachings and appointed a Pope to lead them, and the Pope changed the ordinance of baptism conforming it to adapt to the ceremony of the country at the time. He also claimed to be a speaker for God but did not claim to be a prophet, but rather the voice of God. and thus creating first the Greek orthodox, and Roman Catholics and it goes on from there.

Well there is my rants for today, I hope everyone is doing well, Thank God for everything good and bad in your life, because everything good comes from God, and everything bad or challenging in our lives helps us to become who we are meant to be.

I love you guys with all of my heart and I know that you are all meant to be great leaders, so start acting like it.

Elder Joshua Smith