July 18, 2016

From Mom:

Time Zone Fuzziness:

Dear Josh,

I'm writing you from a comfy lounge chair in the airport at Amsterdam on our way to meet up with Grandpa and Grandma Bruce. Their mission officially ends on July 26, and we'll be there in Kaunas, Lithuania to hear their farewell speech. Is it okay for a daughter to be proud of her parents? Well, I am. I will be glad to share in their mission a little bit and experience new cultures. We'll see Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and a bit of Amsterdam on the way back because we have an 18-hour layover (I'm not complaining though).

I will also get to see my good friend Marija again. It's been a bucket list item of mine to go to Sweden to see her since I was 17. Pretty excited. Updates about the trip next week since we are barely getting started.

(Currently, the boys are roaming the airport playing Pokemon Go. As far as I understand it, it's an app like geocaching but instead of caches, you find Pokemon. You catch it and store it on your device. It's big and you've probably already heard of it.)

I had a fantastic experience on Friday climbing Mount Galwey in Waterton. It's 5 km straight up... really similar to the Petain Basin hike we did at Elk Lakes. Lots of scrambling through shale. We (Siobhan, Jamelyn and I) were almost to the summit after scrambling for over four hours. We rounded a bend and saw a window in the mountain. It was so breathtaking. We had to climb through it to find the trail on the other side, THEN we basically had to free climb, knowing if we slipped it was certain death. I learned if we looked too far ahead, it was really discouraging. If we looked back, it was scary, but if we looked directly in front of us and kept taking little steps, we eventually got to the summit. I think life is like that sometimes. We lose vision of we keep our heads too much in the future or the past, but if we can face what's directly in front of us, it doesn't seem so bad. And we can progress!

In other news, Bailey just got her mission call to London, England and reports November 9. She'll be a great missionary. Also, Dad and the boys got back from Trek. I'll let Dad tell you his experience there.

And life is going on. We love you. Keep moving. Keep trying. Is training getting any easier? How is the humility factor going?  😉 Any faith promoting stories to share? Are you getting better at listening to and responding to the spirit yet?

I have a nice comfortable hey lady feeling right now and I'm not sure if I'm making much sense. I'll say it again, we love you and remember pray for you every day.

Much love,

Mom

From Josh:

I love the change of names on your boarding passes.

That Pokemon Go app is a blessing and a curse for missionary work, the blessings, we can talk to much more people on the street just walking around, there is a pokemon gym in the church parking lot so we can invite people to come check out the church, the curse, not a lot of people want to talk because they are about to catch pikachu, and I want to play it so bad. :)

These past few transfers have been hard for me, because I have been really doubting my ability to work and to feel the spirit and be a good example to Elder Postelnicu, but recently I have had to change my attitude to one of doubt to one of faith and trust, humbly trusting that the Lord will do his work through me if I am just trying my best, with sharing the Gospel we don't have to worry about anything we do because we have the spirit, as a missionary I am lucky enough to do this 24/7 but you guys get to share this whenever it comes up, it is our duty to share what we know, we have been inviting members as much as we can to share their testimonies, and to bring the gospel up in any situation, it is as simple as "What did you do last week? I went to church" Are we doing enough as members of this Church to share what we know to be true? it is a question we have to ask ourselves along with "what can I do more?"

This last week we have met a lot of rude people and there is onething that I have heard multible times, "we pray for you" and I asked one guy, why, and he told us straight up that we were teaching a false doctrine, he gave his reasons and I asked him if he had read the Book of Mormon, he gave a response I am getting used to hearing "Bits and pieces" and we just invited him to read it, and he said he knew it was false becaue of what he had heard, and I got ticked and bluntly told him that he can't know if he didn't read it all the way through, and I just walked off. I should have just left it.

Life is well, training is hard but not too hard that i am being crushed under the stress but just enough stress that I can grow more and more. I love this work! and I am excited for the many more chances I will have to grow and hasten the work.

A couple things that sent the last day's shivers down my spine was a comment made by a member yesterday that the Last two prophets have made a push for temple work, setting up the smaller temples and getting more people easier access to them so that we can hasten the work of family history and helping those who have passed on to make those covanants, we truly live in the last days, so may we all hasten the work in every aspect that is available to us.

July 11, 2016

From Mom:

Dear Elder Smith,

We are deep into juggling right now at our house.

1) Cody is over. He's the only one packed for Trek. Dad and the boys are scrambling to find mess kits and bed rolls. We could probably find sleeping bags if,
2) The house was more organized and clean. So, if I clean up and dejunk, we could find all our stuff to....
3) Pack up for traveling to see Grandpa and Grandma. Actually, both sets of grandparents, as...
4) The girls are staying in Glenwood while we're away.

I seem to just be going in circles. So....I'll just write you an email and maybe I will be more productive after that. :)

Mostly, I wanted to share an experience I had last week. I went to pay a speeding ticket at the court house and ended up in a line of 20 people. After about 10 minutes of waiting, I had cleaned out my purse out of boredom, ate some old fruit snacks I found at the bottom, then started to people watch. I noticed a mom come through security with a newborn baby and a young son. Before that, I noticed another mom with two rambunctious children and I thought, "phew! I'm glad those days are over for me," and I didn't feel so bad about having to wait by myself. After a couple more minutes, I could hear one of the moms saying, "would you two stop it?" They were at the back of the slow line and it looked like those kids were just as bored as I was.

I immediately had the thought to trade places with that woman as I was now near the front of the line. But I didn't want to trade, so I sat there arguing with my shoulder angels for a minute or two. Finally I thought, "this might be a gentle nudge by the Spirit to help someone out" and I got really curious as to what might happen. So, I asked the people in line behind me if they would mind if I traded spots. They agreed, so I walked to the back and asked her if she wanted my spot in line. She seriously stared at me in disbelief before she agreed with a very relieved expression on her face.

As I took her spot near the back of the line, I realized I was in front of the other mom with the newborn baby. We chatted a bit, then she told me this was her first time fighting a ticket. She was really nervous. I was able to walk her through the process and minimize her worry, discuss parenting ideas and commiserate on the evils of traffic tickets. Her husband had been out of work for 3 months. She received a 'failing to stop at a stop sign' ticket for $388, and they just didn't have any money to pay it. She said she might have come to a rolling stop once but is a very conscientious driver. She looked to be Mennonite with a longer shirt and hair in a bun. My blood started to boil as to our ridiculous traffic ticket cash cow Albertan government. We discussed how believing in God can help us through difficult times. She wondered if she was a law abiding citizen if she fought the ticket. We talked about accountability and how to have a voice when we feel injustice.

It was a pretty deep conversation and my second round of going through the line again seemed very short. In the end, I paid my ticket and she decided to take hers to trial. She felt good about that decision. As we walked out we saw the other mom sitting with her kids in the waiting area to see the judge. She looked so sad, and I wondered what was going on in her life. We waved and wished her good luck. I felt like 'Mom's of the world. UNITE!' hahaha

Anyway, the point of the story is that Heavenly Father knows what is going on in every person's life and if we follow the Spirit, we can be contributing citizens and help those around us. Never suppress a generous thought because you just never know.

I'm so grateful for the Gospel and the promptings of the Spirit.

Now, if I could just use the power of God to help me get organised for the summer. Hm. Maybe I can.

Love you lots!

Mom

P.S. I got another picture of you from the bishop's wife last night. Soon, I'll have a photo album full of you eating supper with your companions. Lol!

From Josh:

The spirit is truly a wonderful thing and I love its constant companionship it has helped me a lot whenever I am confused or wondering about something.

This week I have been pondering over the role of opposition, just yesterday while in sacrement meeting, I was sitting and listening to some beautiful testimonies, the first councelor is being released and we are getting a new one so Bro Paulson (the former first councelor) gave a wonderful testimony on recieving revelation... but as I was listening I was suddenly overcome for the first time with a feeling of being completely overwhelmed to the point where I could physically feel it, we are supposed to go on splitts with the Elders and High priest in our ward to go to appointments on wednesday and I have to set appointments to fill an hour of time for both me and Elder Postelnicu that feels overwhelming and we are teaching a non member family how to do family home evening, while on top of that I have to plan out our days, give trainings to Elder Postelnicu, finding new people, and also there have been a lot of people really ragging on us about what we believe.

one experience, we were going to visit a inactive member the Bishop wanted us to check on and when we were walking up we heard a voice behind us "Your kind aren't aloud in these parts" turning around we saw a shirtless man who looked to be around 50 glaring at us from the other side of a wall, my first thought I was startled and I would have felt more threatened if 1. he was not on the other side of a wall, and 2. if that line didn't sound like an old western film. 

"I won't have you going around and spreading your lies to my neibors" he said

I asked him if he knew what religion we were

"you are mormon and I need to tell you that you are working for the devil, I don't know how you got into that cult but you need to get out now, because your souls can't be redeemed by Christs redeeming sacrifice if you are working for satin for he is a clever deciever and you need to give up that book of yours and turn back to the bible"

"I do study the bible, in fact I read it just as devoutly as I read the Book of Mormon" I replied, after a couple of seconds he said

"The Book of Mormon is a false book" to which I countered, "have you ever read the book of mormon?"

"Bits and peice but I have read enough about it to know its wrong" an answer that I have begun to get used to.

"Where did you hear it was wrong?"

"I am not going to tell you because you have been trained to counter anything I say"

"I have not been trained in anything but let me ask you this, If I didn't believe that the Bible was true what would you
tell me to do to discover its truth?"

he didn't answer for a couple minutes, "thats a good question... I would tell you to read it and pray about it so that the Holy Ghost will minister to you and tell you it is true"

"All of the bible? or just bits and peices?" I asked refering to his infrequent study of the Book of Mormon

"All of it cover to cover, that is the only way you can discover its truth"

"Then we invite you to do the same with the Book of Mormon"

"No it is false and if you are not going to listen then I can't help you!" and he walked off

this is only one experience of a few that have happened and with this one I had been given in the very moment what I should say, but there have been times where I have not, and those times are discouraging because I always desire the spirit to work through me and I love every time I am given that chance to have the spirit speak through me. 

So all these experiences and duties combined to make me feel so overwhelmed and sad and negative against my ability as a missionary. So after Church we went to our apartment to take lunch and I just said a quiet prayer in my heart and felt like I should read the Ensign and I read the talk "Oposition in all things by Dallin H Oaks" and determined that this is a chance to grow and be stronger for the trials and hardships I will face. That and going and visiting awesome members and eating at the Bishops really helped me to regain a cheerful attitude.

Another experience where we met a basher was a potential investigator visit, he let us in and we sat down and started talking about our message, I said that we had a living prophet today, and he asked for how we knew I told him of the Book of Mormon and as soon as I did I could see from the look on his face that we were in deep, and he started quoting verses from the bible, Revelations 22:18-19 and then asked how many books are in the bible... I replied that I didn't know, he then turned slowly to Elder Postelnicu and asked him if he knew, when he didn't he shook his head and said that there were 66 books in the old and new testiment, then asked if we knew what Jerimiah said, I said I didn't he looked at Elder Postelnicu and asked him if he knew, he said he didn't, he shook his head and said something about in the last days there would be false prophets and by this time I was sick and tired of being treated like an idiot, I didn't have the spirit because I did not like this guy, I was praying that the spirit would tell me to know what to say but I didn't recieve anything, because all I wanted to do was to make this guy look like an idiot. The whole time I was trying to respond and kept stumbling over my words and confusing myself more and more, once he was finished belittling me and smiling at me like the child I was, he looked over at Elder Postelnicu and told him to talk because he had been quiet this whole time and I thought, 'oh no he has only been on his mission for 3 weeks!'

Elder Postelnicu sat there for a little bit in silence then simply and beautifully asked "have you read the Book of Mormon?" he said he had perused it but hadn't read the whole thing.

Elder Postelnicu then bore a simple but glorious testimony of the blessing he had recieved from reading it, he knew it was from God because of the change it had brought in him and invited the guy to read it. The spirit came into the room and I felt so grateful for my companion, who though young as a missionary had the sense to bare a simple sweet testimony in the face of high intelect. We ended up leaving having done nothing but my love for elder Postelnicu grow so much.

I love being a missionary, it is truly an emotional, spiritual and physical roller coster ride and I have grown so much and I also know more then ever of my own nothingness compared to God, I am not the smartest person and neither the strongest, but I have a testimony of this divine work, it is the work of God and we are proclaiming the truth of the fullness of the Gospel.

I love you all and hope you are all staying safe.

Joshua

July 5, 2016

Dear Josh,

How was your Fourth of July? I really loved getting a random picture of you from a stranger. She tells me I raised a very good man, and I believe her. 😊

She also tells me she is always giving you groceries. I can see what you mean about trying to keep the pounds off! Lol!

There are a few things you can do to help with that.

1) Don't eat anything after 6 p.m. At that point anything you eat will go straight to fat as you slow down and rest for the night.
2) Take smaller portions of meat and carbs (bread, rice, potatoes) if you can at meals but load up on veggies. You can't eat too many of those.
3) Drink lots of water, which I assume you are doing already due to the heat, but especially in the morning when you wake up. This gets your metabolism kick started and reduces sugar cravings.
4) Reduce or eliminate sugar. OR, eat your sugar earlier in the day. Sugar goes straight to fat, especially at rest.
5) Eat something small every two hours. I know, I know, but if you have a few snacks in your pack like veggies, fruit or cheese cubes (maybe they would melt? I don't know) but the idea of eating a snack every two hours boosts your metabolism, levels out blood sugars and keeps a person from loading up at supper.

Once a Mom, always a Mom. 😉 And I love you, so get used to advice. Lol!

It's been very busy lately, but a good kind of busy so I'm not complaining. Cody and Benson spent last week hanging out with us. We did ask the usual stuff: geocaching, going to the river, buying junk food and gaming, me making them work doing house chores and gardening. Haha. The encouraging thing for me was they were willing to participate in family prayer and scripture study. Benson kept asking if he could say the prayer. And Cody read when it was his turn. They're good kids and respectful.

Then Mark and Shannon and family showed up for traditional Canada Day stuff. We ran the Canada Day Road Race, saw the parade (the adults were mostly entertained by a guy who showed up and moved a barricade and changed the parade route, 😆), went to the river, had a fire, watched the fireworks, etc.) Brin is 2 years old now and she was carrying around our little red book of The Call of the Wild. I said, "Brinny, what book do you have?" And she said in her little voice, "Jesus Christ." Hahaha. I suppose it could have looked like scripture with its gold edges pages. Their children are all adorable. The best highlight (for me) about Canada Day was accidentally walking past the Civic Centre (old library) during a formal flag raising. Six Mounties stood at attention and as they raised the flag, the speaker prayed that "we, as a nation, would proceed with love and acceptance with Divine assistance." A chill ran up my spine with a conviction of the love I have for Canada and for the good people all around us.

But THIS was the busy highlight of the week. Saturday morning, July 2, I woke up early to bring the Ames boys home to Red Deer, then I continued on to Cardston where Steve and Taylie were sealed together with their children for time and all eternity in the temple. Seeing them all in their whites was something to behold. It's actually quite difficult to describe my feelings ... like something I didn't know was lost was restored, like something clicked into place that I didn't know was out of joint, or like the last piece of the puzzle was found and I didn't even know the puzzle was incomplete. It was relief and joy and family love all together. My testimony was strengthened by a leap and a bound regarding the value of covenants. 

Families ARE central to the Plan of Salvation. I knew that already, but now I know it even better.

Afterwards I asked Steven how he was feeling and the short answer is mostly deep and abiding gratitude for the Atonement. He said he felt like the leper who was restored to health or the blind man who was given his sight back. Because I love my brother, I also felt gratitude for the Saviour for restoring him back to us and also for Steven for choosing to do so. Best. Day. Ever.

Also, we put in a new paving stone patio in the front. It looks so good. We spent all of FHE finishing it. Even Sam, who worked an 11 hour day, came home and helped for 2 hours. The girls hauled bricks, Ben tamped, Dad rented equipment and made it happen. We all worked together and got 'er done.

In other news, we're excited you get to train! What is your new companion's name? And where is he from?

Regardless of the insecurities you feel, I am confident that you're proceeding with humility and grace and doing better than you think. Don't worry, you'll hit your stride soon. We pray for you every prayer, so you DO have that extra help. 😉 If anything else, KEEP MOVING. Elder Peterson, who is currently serving in our ward, shared a story in testimony meeting. He said about a month ago all their appointments for the entire day cancelled in a 5 minute period and they were discouraged. In desperation, they got in their car and started driving, just to do SOMETHING. They drove past a house with a SOLD sign in the front and he had a thought to go ask the people if they needed help moving. He second guessed himself because it's a random thing to do, but it was better than doing nothing so they did it. They came to find out that these older people were calling to churches and community groups for help moving with no luck. Through the service the missionaries provided this couple is now taking the discussions. Elder Peterson said, "The Spirit is so gentle." So keep moving and follow the goods thoughts that pop into your brain.

We love you so much, Elder Smith. You are where you need to be, and you are doing a great work. Watch for those miracles and tender mercies which abound and reassure us we are on the right path. Life is good. God is good. 

There are so many things to celebrate.

Love forever,

Mom

From Dad:

Hi Josh,

So sorry we didn't write last week. We were just coming home from our trip to Utah and missed the chance. No excuse, just didn't do it. Repenting now :)

Thanks for writing to us about your experience as a trainer. The Lord certainly trusts you and I'm sure it is getting better over time. That's how the Lord changes us, he stretches us. 

We had a fantastic trip to Utah. We spent some quality and fun time with Steph and Tyler in Provo and Salt Lake and finished off with some adventure in Zion's national park with Dave Crowther doing some mountain climbing and canyoneering (similar to what you and Mom did with him and Shelly last time you guys went down there). It was really fun. My favorite part was watching Abby and Ben rappel for the first time. There is so much power in doing hard things, conquering our fears. It brings confidence. As you work through this challenge of training a new missionary so early in your mission, you will grow and gain confidence so much more than if you hadn't had the opportunity.

 

One of the trips we did in Zion's park was to climb a mountain called "Angel's Landing". It is a very steep, and somewhat treacherous trail that requires chains to make it up the last half. I have a love/hate relationship with hikes like that. I love the challenge and the feeling when I conquer it, but I hate the clenching feeling of being up so high with such a close proximity of tragedy, especially when I'm watching my kids do it. This time I was very proud of all our kids. Abby and Mia were brave and fearless and much more relaxed than I was. They've got some of their Mom's genes in them.  I wasn't as nervous for them as I thought I would be. In the end the view was amazing and the feeling of accomplishment wonderful. Lots of analogies to life.

 

Today I'm teaching the YM and the topic for July is Ordinances and Covenants. I'm sure we talked about this before, but I love the analogy of rock climbing or rappelling when it comes to this topic. The analogy of anchor points along our journey (ordinances) that we can choose to clip into (making covenants) to help us safely navigate treacherous journeys is powerful to me. As we rappelled down various sections of Keyhole canyon, I thought too, how even though we have clipped into an ordinance and consciously chosen to do that by covenant, we are still the one holding the rope and deciding when to move forward by letting the rope slide (service, good works, priesthood duty) and when to brake by pulling the rope back (before temptation). Ordinances and covenants give us  that choice.

 

Celebrating Canada day reminded us again of the wonderful country we live in and the amazing opportunity to be free to choose our path and destiny. We enjoyed having Mark and Shannon and their kids over again (it's becoming a tradition). Mark, Mom and Shannon did the 5K race and we watched the Leduc parade and went to the spray park. 

We are making good progress on the yard, and hope to have most of it done by the time we head to Sweden. Focusing on the paving stone landing off the step right now. 

 

We had the opportunity to stop in on the way home from Utah and visit with Grandma and Grandpa Smith. We were excited to help them with the railings on the new deck they just built on the garage side of their house. Grandpa was pretty tired as he just had surgery on his bladder and they found another tumor after that they may have to go in again and get out. Keep praying for him.

 

Trek is only 1.5 weeks away and final preparations are almost done. Nervous but excited to pull it off. Such a great experience for the youth to have.

Lately I've been pondering a lot about the concept of the balance between the current moment and the future self. The idea that we often sacrifice future happiness and goals because the immediacy of the moment is hard to resist when we are trying to sacrifice current wants for future benefit. The classic example is exercise, but it can be applied to overcoming pornography, achieving goals, doing home teaching and building family relationships, etc.. I read a really interesting article about staying in the moment when we are struggling with these choices of now vs later and really trying to analyze why we are feeling what we are feeling and what the underlying causes and triggers are that causes us to sacrifice future good for the tempting now. Taking time to really examine ourselves in those moments instead of escaping into the easy path will help us gain self-mastery and ultimately allow us to become who we need to be. I certainly have a long way to go in this regard, but I have hope that I can inch forward and become a little better every day.

Hope that is enough pictures and some thoughts to brighten your week. We love you and are so proud of you. 

Good luck with your soul stretching opportunities. 

Love Dad.

PS. We love hearing some of the details of your experiences both personally and with the people you work with. Keep them coming. 

P.S.S. Mia keeps asking about any baptism experiences you have had. Anything to share in this area?

From: Joshua

Dad, thank you for all the pictures, It makes me feel connected and part of the family even though I am thousands of miles away.

It is so great to hear about all your marvelous adventures and I wish I could be there with you, but I know I am here to serve, and I am loving it.

It is so hard training a new missionary when I feel like I have only been out for two months myself, I am continually lost, confused and constantly drawing blanks in planning, in lessons, and in trainings, in the morning we have 1 hour of personal study, 1 hour of comp study (which I have to lead) then another hour of training (where I have to direct) and I am overwhelmed uncertain and tired... but the interesting thing is I would have it no other way, I love it so much, and I know I am growing faster then ever before, I know that God answers prayers because this is exactly what I have been praying for!

Recently we have been teaching a Reorginized Latter day Saint, and it has been challenging because of our conflicting opinions but similar beliefs, and I have been really bothered by it, its something that has taken presidence in my mind, and I have been constantly studying to understand his point of view while establishing what my view is. 

I have found in myself a drive to discover truth and if something is presented to me that I don't know about the Gospel and the church it will take over my mind until I have recieved an answer that satisfies me and there have been a lot of things that I have had to tell myself that I may never learn it till I go up to my heavenly father. 

while we were knocking doors we knocked in to some Grace Baptists, and as soon as I heard which religion they were from I had to mentally prepare myself for a full on assault on my beliefs, we were handed a couple anti-mormon Pamphletts of theirs and admonished to read and pray about it, in turn we gave them one of ours and told them to discover the truth of what we said by that same method... curiosity took over me and I read the anti pamphlet, and realized that it wasn't consistent with anything I had ever heard, the thing about it was that it relied on lies and half truths, first it enraged the reader by saying Joseph Smith said that all christian churches were wrong "and he was told that he must join none of them" and then talked about how he spread lies, then talked about the adam God theory that Brigham talked about, but failed to mention the later part of the discourse where he speaks about how he was wrong to say what he said. I remember Elder Wilson saying that there is no new anti, all of the anti that comes out will always be based on things said in the past and rely on half truths. Because it was only spoke half truths it had no foundation, and earlier in the day we had talked about how having a foundation rooted in the Gospel would keep you from the shafts and the wirlwinds of satin. Not that I am going to go search out more anti but the pamphlet I read only seemed to strengthen my conviction and testimony of the Gospel and the church, I love our method of convincing people, we never tell people they are wrong but allow them to read and pray and study to determine the truth for themselves. in all of my time spent as a missionary not one person who has tried to convince me I am false has tried to uplift me. the worlds method is to bring us down so and degrade, the truth is not degrading or hurtful, but it is joy and happiness, if we are not spreading relief, uplifting, and joyous messages how can we call it the truth... don't get me wrong, we are not a church that spreads flowers fuzzy feelings, being a member of the church, like mom said brings covenants, and Iove the analogy of clipping in, I have used it so many times (thanks dad) to illistrate making covanants with the Lord, one person I was talking to told me this about insurance, "I trust my insurance agent, even though it is a lot more expensive at least I can sleep through the night knowing that I don't have to worry about a thing." this Gospel is the truth, sure it is a lot more expensive, we have been given commandments that may seem hard to keep, the word of wisdom, law of chastity. but at least when we lie down to sleep at night we can have the full confidence that we are doing what we should. 

So my invitation to you is to center yourself on the Gospel, if you don't have a full testimony get one. Pray to be humble enough to be taught, Put your trust in the Lord, he gave his life for you, why not give your life for him.

The new missionary that I am training his name is Elder Postelnicu (Post-el-nee-koo) he lives in Pleasant Grove Utah, he is really fun to be around and we are basically learning together a lot of things. He doesn't do much at home he worked at walmart, and has never been on a date, he is 20 like me and the reason he didn't go on a mission at first was because he felt too shy to preach the Gospel.

I hope things are going well with you all and I love you so much!

Joshua Smith

Me and Elder Postelnicu on a mountain range, there was an air fire fighter station nearby so we went and got pictures next to their Helicopter.