Aug 29, 2016

From Dad:

Hi Josh,

Hope you are having a great week! 

We had some really fun times this week with Stephanie and Tyler coming up to visit. Tyler brought James and another friend, Justin, so we had a good work crew to go at the tree house!

We are really excited that the house basement is getting started! Attaching some pics. We are a little late in the season so we are really hoping things go smoothly from one contractor to the next.

Last night I took the little girls into a Stake Choir practice. We are having a all childrens choir for Stake Conference this next month. At first they were reluctant and I had to resort to some bribery (Chili's Molten Lava cake for Abby and Tootie Fruitie for Mia). They had a good time though and the conductor was fantastic. I was able to browse some instagram while listening to them and this is what I posted on facebook after:

Sitting at the Millwoods Stake Center listening to my daughters sing in a child's choir. The conductor, Lindsey Olsen, had the parents close their eyes and try to tell the difference between singing the same section of music once with no expression on their faces and once with lots of joyful and expressive faces. The difference was obvious and much more beautiful with expression.

It made me wonder about whether our lives are similar.

I then saw this quote on Instagram that really struck me:

"All of us are prone to excuse our own mediocre performance. We blame our misfortunes, our disfigurements, or our so-called handicaps. Victims of our own rationalization, we say silently to ourselves: “I’m just too weak,” or “I’m not cut out for better things.” Others soar beyond our meager accomplishments. Envy and discouragement then take their toll.

Can we not appreciate that our very business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves? To break our own records, to outstrip our yesterdays by our todays, to bear our trials more beautifully than we ever dreamed we could, to give as we have never given, to do our work with more force and a finer finish than ever—this is the true idea: to get ahead of ourselves.

To live greatly, we must develop the capacity to face trouble with courage, disappointment with cheerfulness, and triumph with humility. You ask, “How might we achieve these goals?” I answer, “By getting a true perspective of who we really are!” We are sons and daughters of a living God, in whose image we have been created. Think of that truth: “Created in the image of God.” We cannot sincerely hold this conviction without experiencing a profound new sense of strength and power, even the strength to live the commandments of God, the power to resist the temptations of Satan."

I've been reading that quote to Sam and Ben ever since especially as we start a new learning year. The big news is that Ben is going to High School and while nervous seems pretty excited for the new adventure. Sam is working for the rest of the landscaping season with Saturdays off for preparing for the GED.Mom is excited to work with the girls lots this year. 

Can you believe Abby will be 12 in January and going into Young Woman's!? She is SOOOOOO ready to be done with Primary sharing time she says.  Mia and Ben are getting excited for their Birthday in 3 weeks. 

I'm sure there's lots more to say, but I have to wrap up as I forgot to write again on Sunday and so I'm knocking this out on my lunch hour. 

As always, we are so proud of you and love the growth we are seeing in you (even the extra food growth, but mostly the spiritual growth! :)).

Love,

Dad

From Josh:

Wow looks like there is a lot going on back home, I love the Pictures, I really love seeing whats going on in your lives, its a little bit of home I get to enjoy while out here doing the Lords work, there have been a lot of things going on and a lot of things going to happen pretty soon!

First might I say that a mission is super hard and a lot of time it just sucks, well some of the time. The other day we were tracting a street previously chosen and every single door on that street in two hours of knocking was opened someone yelled at us or told us they weren't interested in what we were selling, then proceeded to slam the door before we had a chance to even say have a good day, and as we walked by a group of kids they talked loudly to eachother about us "who are those people?... oh they are just solicitors.."

I am always sad when people see us only as people seeling something, we are preaching the word of God, one of the houses we knocked into yelled at us and demanded to know if we could even read the soliciting sign, calling us stupid and a couple other choice words that I won't repeat in this email, and we simply told him he are not soliciting, and he yelled that we were soliciting God, and to get off his property, and a couple weeks ago this lady told us to get off her porch and that she didn't want to sick her dog on us, and when we left, she opened the door and the dog ran after us halfway down the block before she called it back. I tell these stories not to discourage anyone from a mission, but to tell you that it is hard, there will be days where things suck, and everything doesn't seem to be right, but those are the days where you learn who you are, and what you do in those situations, do you yell back at someone who is yelling at you? do you hate the people who hate you? do you bible bash whenever someone pulls out a scripture to prove their point? because ate the end of the day that is what it comes down to, what will you do when faced with adversity? I would hope, and I guess that is what Jesus Christ wanted of us, that we love one another, love those who despitefully use you, forgive those who do wrongs against you, have charity towards your fellow man, because we can't change others but we sure can change ourselves, and every moment we are trying we change for the better. a quote I heard, I can't remember who it is from, "God works in the moments that make up eternity"

 and it is said in the scriptures "by small and simple things, great things are brought to pass" and "line upon line, precept upon precept" So remember that when you are working on bettering yourself that every moment you try and work and give and sacrifice, you are changing for the better.

I have been told a couple times that we have false prophets, that they are deceaving us, and it really bothered me and I decided to pursue the subject, in fact I studied it this morning, in the bible (at least where I was reading) it states a false prophet as leading away the hearts of the children of men from God, speaking things contrary to the will of God in his name. So to investigate further, I got out some of the "teachings of the Prophets" books that we had in our apartment, everything that prophets speak are true to what God says, one of them said "we make bold professions, so we must be willing to live to a higher state of being to live up to the professions we make" I think that was Heber J Grant. I think that what people get stuck on and choose to focus on are the imperfections we all have, the statements of opinion given by prophets and apostles that aren't directly in line with the will of God, people choose to blow them out of preportion forgetting what great good they have done in the work of the Lord, it saddens me that people do not consider the fruits of the Gospel, as for me though I know this church is true, because of that it makes us, because of the possative influence that it has on the hearts of men, turning them to God, as Latter-Day saints we are called to live in a higher way, a higher way of thinking, a higher way of language, a higher way of service and action. I know that I could not be the man I am today without this church, and without my parents being faithful to what they knew to be true, and I thank you so much for that mom and dad! I am blessed to be in the work of the Lord, he has blessed me so much, the least I and we can do is give him what we can, and to think he only asks 10% back, of our income, our lives, our time.

We knocked into this black guy who was clearly on something, but he said these words that I will never forget, "when the Lord asks ten percent of our income it does not mean just our money, it means 10% of our time, tallents, children, of our lives, of our blessings and our income, he doesn't need our money, he needs us to come to him" and I think in the most part that is true, but we must be willing to give 100% of our everything if called upon, and to me I think that is the hardest. In his infinite mercy he knew we wouldn't be able to measure up all the time, and so he asks for ten percent, we can at least give him that.

One other thing I was told (again by a crazy guy) was not to be ashamed of who we are and to boldly proclaim it in our words and actions, He asked if we (me and my companion) were virgins, and I told him I indeed was, but my companion was perplexed, "why would you ask such a thing?" and the man turned to him and said "if you are a virgin then don't be ashamed to say so, its okay if your not but whatever you are you should boldly claim it!" and walked away, so whenever someone askes you a question about what you believe don't be afraid to claim it "are you mormon?", "I am indeed, dyed in the wool, true blue through and through" remember, "sometimes the only standard works someone with ever read is YOU" ~ Heber J Grant. So live ut to the covenants you have made at baptism to stand as a witness of Jesus Christ at all times and in all places, especialy in Highscholl Ben, and in working at Classic Landscapes Sam, with your friends Abby and Mia, no matter if they are Mormon or not, there will come a time and a day when you are backed up to the wall of your beliefs and you are either true blue through and through...or your not. Deside today, because "Your testimony today will not be strong enough for the trials of tomorrow."

I love you all and hope all is well.

Joshua.  

Us on Bikes! We got rid of 15 cars in the mission these past two transfers opening up 15 more biking areas, so right now I am sitting on a borrowed bike from one of the members in our area.

I will have to get my own one of these days, but only when I have to. 

Elder Postelnicu after a day of biking, I love the guy.

Local wildlife.

Aug 22, 2016

Preparing for the future

There is so much that I wish I had done before my mission to prepare myself, things come up that I wish I had paid more attention to, like learning how to sew better and knowing more cooking skills, I mean right now I am learning a lot on my own but it would have been better I think if I had my priorities straight. so my advice to you all is learn while you can, take every opportunity to do those things that will help you now.

So recently we were knocking this one street and the first few houses they just looked at us and told us we should leave, one guy opened the door and said "who is knocking at my door! Mormon missionaries!? I don't want to listen to you at all what I have heard I don't like, and I have read your book, what I have read I don't want to do so you can just go away" and with that he closed the door. Another door we knocked on the man opened up and said he wasn't interested in our message, I say that the Olimpics were on and asked him how it was going, he told us he had just gotten home, he then said he had read the book of Mormon and didn't think there was enough evidence that it was true, because you could prove that Jesus lived because of historical evidence and you can't do that with the Book of Mormon, I asked him if he had prayed about it and he said he would never pray about it because it was wrong, and he would never believe William Smith and the Coins.... which was confusing because I had never heard of William smith and the coins only Joseph Smith and the Gold plates. Conclusion probably read some really bad anti. We then met a inactive member who told us that he was going to go on a mission but he had learned some things that made him not want to tell others about our life style, conclusion, probably got into bad anti, and his faith wasn't rooted in the Gospel,

I want to bear my testimony to you, I know this Church is true, because of the men and woman that it makes, I have never once heard people judge us by how we acted only what we believe, we actually had a conversation with a guy about it, he told us that he knew that not all Mormons are the best society has to offer, but he had yet to meet one of those kind, because everyone he had met that was Mormon were great people, he told us that he thought all religions were wrong but that the Mormons knew how to build its members up to be great people. We were talking to a member the other day, and he said, "I don't get why people don't want to believe in Joseph Smith saying that he wrote the Book of Mormon himself, I say that if a man could write a book with three different versions of the tree of life, King Benjaman's sermon, with so many miniscule and amazing details drawing conclusions that enlightened the mind and made clear the bible while being in perfect corilation with the bible and its precepts only in 76 days then I almost want to worship the man himself for such a work, now its almost easier to believe that he was inspired of God because that takes no thought on his own, he could be the most uneducated person and still do it with the power of God, Saying the Book of Mormon was written by a man would make Joseph Smith the most brillian man in his era, maybe even in all the history of the world."

Putting all that aside, if it truly came from God then wouldn't it be wise to ask him? even if it claims to come from God it is smarter to ask if it truly did come by the hand of God or not. Because God will tell you in his time, in a way that you will understand to be the truth, I can promise you that. so whenever you are struggling with belief and testimony, turn to God, and if you want a clearer answer fast and pray, God is not a god of confusion, he is on our side and wants us to know the truth, he will answer a fervent prayer of faith, no matter how big or small your trial.

Aug 16, 2016

From Mom:

Dear Elder Smith,

I have it on good authority that you made Brenda Wright's day today. She texted me specifically to tell me what an awesome person you are. Well, I already know THAT, plus I've loved you for forever, so I don't take much convincing. I adore stories about how your goodness affects those around you.

Well, we're finally hoooooome. After a month of traveling. The weeds have taken over our garden and we have a lot of work to do on the acreage but it was worth it. I want to tell you about one "bad" day at Koocanusa. I was driving back to camp after picking the boys up from LYR when Dad messaged me with the news that the bank had withdrawn our financing for the house. Whoooo-weeee. What a mess. They were saying it was because of the dormant oil pump. Can you say STRESS? I offered a quick prayer and felt the immediate comforting influence of the Holy Ghost. I wondered how it was going to turn out. I arrived back at camp to sad faces all around. Mom was in too much pain to participate and was lying in her bed in the motorhome, Steve's van was broken down and needed an expensive new alternator, Mark's tent zipper had broken and he had to drive into Cranbrook to buy a new tent, my cousin Jeremy had a flat tire on his car, Corbin had been puking due to sun stroke..... and even Jamie was sad because the little wagon she depended on to haul stuff around had blown a tire.

Wow.

Since food helps us to cope, we made and ate dinner and prayed together as a family for my mom and general help. It seems like a miracle thinking back on it but every single thing was resolved a day later.

The bank reinstated our financing because our banker forced the head office to review our file. Mom was in the hospital awaiting an emergency gall bladder surgery (which she is still recovering from, but she'll be okay). Mark's tent was fixed. Steve's vehicle was fixed. The wagon tire was fixed. Corbin was running around like nothing was ever wrong.

I feel like the lesson I learned was to bear all things with patience because it works out in the end. I'm still shocked by how quickly everything resolved though.

Then on Sunday, someone shared an experience he had on his mission about getting repeatedly set up to be slammed. He learned that contention is not the answer. He learned to simply bear testimony, which then a nice day and move on. I was thinking you've probably already had that lesson, eh?

So, three things: 1) bearing things with patience; 2) live your personal conviction without contention, and 3) Trust that things will work out.

Goodness always wins out in the end.

Love you a million,
Mom :)


From Josh: -Why a mission is Worth it

Man what a week there has been so much that I have been discouraged about and so much that I have been blown away by, just yesterday was stake conference and David Garibay (recent convert) got the opportunity to go up and give a talk about why he was converted and it was really amazing, he has had an interesting life that has brought him to this Gospel, and after stake conference we had the blessing of talking with him, and sharing a recent convert lesson, where we really just talked about his life and about the influence of this Gospel on families, He grew up in a home where his Mother was Jehovah's Witness and Father was Catholic and every sunday was always a religious war in their home, that resulted in a lot of confusion for him and a feeling that God just wasn't there, in his search for the truth throughout his life he has gone to many churches and talked with a ton of people, and in reflection he said that not one of them put their center on family. After our talk he asked a question that was really bothering him about the church, it seemed that whenever he asked a missionary about the churches stand about Homosexuality he was always sidestepped and the missionaries would always kind of go around the subject... I thought about how I might reply that would not be overly negative to people of that mind set, and before he asked we had talked about how families are central to Gods plan, and I told him that we love the sinner not the sin, wanting to go into more detail we talked about how everyone had specific challenges in life for some it is Pornography, in fact I have stuggled with Pornography in my life myself, and for others it is having those homosexual feelings we talked about how if families are central to Gods plan, anything that takes away from a complete family of a Mother and a Father as God has set in place is contrary to the Center of Gods plan, which as stated before is family, and thus destroys the essential role that family plays in our lives, while talking about how other churches aren't motivated by building the family I had the chance to testify about all that it has done in my family, and I am so grateful for the powerful influence of loving and Gospel centered parents, that we have a father who is worthy to bare the priesthood and be a guide and patriarch of our family, I told him how ever since I could remember we have had the blessing of the priesthood in the home, how dad could give us fathers blessings, and how we have grown together by reading from the scriptures and how we have programs in the church to strengthen the family, home teachers, youth programs, seminary, FHE that all are meant to build us up in the Gospel and have a Gospel centered family. In Fact David Garibay had a conversations with one of his co-workers who asked him what he believed and why, and David just turned the question back on him and asked, what is your religion doing to build you up to be a spiritual leader in your family and what is it doing to build up your family, and David told us that his co-worker said "I don't know, nothing I guess" I testify that this is the true Church, that it is the same organization that existed in the primitive church, that heading this church is truly Jesus Christ himself, and that no unhollowed hand can stop the work from Progressing.

We also had the opportunity to teach a family that we have been trying to get in with for a month and a half, there have been a lot of frustrations but honestly what has been keeping me going is really striving to be patient and the story of Dad's mission when over and over again he was trying to get in with a family and finally they got to teach him and his family by breaking into his house for him.

We finally got in to teach them yesterday and it was such a wonderful experience of the spirit, they kind of described what they had felt was lacking in the churches they went to and described what they wanted in a church, in doing so they basically described exactly what the Church of Jesus Christ is. We taught them the first lesson and invited them to baptism, we are hoping to get in to teach them soon and set a date for when they can be baptized.

These are the experiences that make it all worth it, we get doors slammed in our faces people putting us down for our beliefs, people who yell at us and try to prove us wrong with every means they can think of, but through it all the experiences make everything fade into the backround and just strengthen my faith that what we are doing is right.

Me after a long day of work

a couple sisters in our zone getting ready for a service project, from left to right, sister brown sister Brumbles, sister Hanson and sister Christianson

Me and Elder Postelnicu at the service project

More of service

and I am putting your cookbook to good use.

the sand canyon fire of last week.

August 8, 2016

From Mom:

Dear Joshy-Boy,

I was thinking that just over a year ago you were opening your mission call sitting around the fire at Koocanusa. When you came out of the outhouse the next day, one of the little cousins exclaimed, "Wow! Are you back from your mission?" Hahaha.

We're in Sparwood at the moment. Soon I will be driving Sam and Ben to LYR. Sam is frantically reading the last of his books, "And There Was Light," about a blind man who wanted to be involved with the French resistance during WWII. We read a chapter called, "The Cure For Blindness." Do you know what the cure for blindness is? ... It's to understand that blindness is a gift from God and can give a person a unique understanding of the world that creates a finely honed awareness that sighted people cannot understand. He talks about the danger of thinking that you are handicapped or incapable. ((So. Good.)) We already know that the Lord can take our weaknesses and make them into strengths. True principle, right there.

Grandpa taught us about his struggle with the Lithuanian language. He REALLY wanted to be able to speak to them in their native tongue, but it proved too great of a challenge. When he decided to give it up as a lost cause, he was pretty discouraged about it. As he prayed to know the best way to serve, the answer came, "focus on your strengths." After that, his English classes started to become more effective. He found that he had more confidence and boldness. Him and Mom both did a great work over there and proved to all of us, once again, that the weak things of the world can accomplish great things. (Not that I think they are weak at all, but the proof is that the Lord can take us as we are and magnify us.)

It was a great privilege to go to Lithuania and see their mission area. That little branch sure loved them. My heart strings were being pulled all day three Sundays ago as I watched all the members say good-bye. Little Dovydas, with tears in his eyes, begged Mom to stay, "Please, Sister Bruce, stay in Lithuania." She told him it was time to go back to her family. He said, "Convince your family to move to Lithuania, then we can all live here together." I just about lost it completely at that point.

As we travelled Europe, I was struck with the realization that we live in a spiritually starved world. People are trying to find that peace and purpose through whatever means are available to them. Some of that searching is manifested in destructive habits. We know and understand that particular brand of peace and purpose can only come through the merits of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Mom and Dad explained that the Lithuanian people are still struggling with the past years of Russian oppression. They've only been an independent country for 25 years. They don't trust very easily and don't really want to hear religious messages. It seems to me that the success my parents had came from humbly serving. Many people were suspicious of service with a smile. They wonder what the ulterior motive is, but as soon as it dawned upon them that the service offered was sincere without any thought of reciprocation, their hearts were softened and they could hear the message.

My favourite story was about enthusiastic Vytautas, who was taught by missionaries before Mom and Dad arrived. He said "no" to their message and was dropped. A year later, he saw my parents on a bus (incidentally, they were accidentally on the wrong bus). He told me when he saw their name tags and realized they were Mormon, all he knew was that he needed to be where they were and follow whatever they taught. He says there was something about them that he was drawn to (he now knows it was the Spirit). He was baptized and will be serving a mission in England in the fall. He admits he was spiritually starved, looking for Something. I can't help but think of the role those early missionaries played in his preparation to receive the truth. And those missionaries probably don't even realize the impact. I'm sure they were extremely disappointed when he dropped them. Again, it goes to show how you just never know. Serve. Love. Be humble. Study and improve yourself. Follow the Spirit. Do the Lord's will. And be happy. You will work miracles, known and unknown. My Dad's new motto is, "Life is good." And it really is.

We love you so much, my boy. You are definitely where you need to be at this time. You are making a difference. All things are working for your good. I hope you feel our prayers for you because we really pray all the time for your welfare and inspiration.

Life is good.

Love,
Mom

P.S. Simple habits...

Are you drinking lots of water?
Do you stop eating after 6-7 p.m.?
Are you limiting your sugar intake?

Keep trying to be healthy. Remember that your spirit and body are connected. The healthier choices you make (aka: self mastery), the easier it is for your Spirit to be master. I know it must be difficult when you are being fed copious amounts of food, so I think I'll keep asking you those questions. Maybe it will help if you're worrying about your weight. 🙂

Keep going. Keep trying. You're awesome.

From Josh:

The Lords definition of success... is completely oposite of the worlds.

Power, influence, ability, wealth, intelligence and leadership are the very epidimy of success in the worlds eyes... but what does the Lord say about it? 

In Ether 12:27 he speaks of weakness, and humility, relyance and belief in something you cannot see, (often called blind following by someone who caters to the worldly vision of the world) and after, only after all that he tells us that he will make our weaknesses become strong. 

Servitude was the saviors way, complete humility and penatence were in his character. To a rich young man he gave this council

"sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me."
And when he (Rich young merchant) heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

and so success in the Lords eyes is not measured by the strength of the world but by the strength of Character.

We have been teaching David Garibay the recent convert discussions, and a recurring theme that has come up and that has connected all the lessons we have been teaching him is "preparing for a celestial life now" while talking about the word of wisdom he posed the question "why?" and an easy answer would have been to say because it is to keep us healthy because a lot of it makes sense, but after thinking about it we simply said, it is to teach us self control and prepare us for a celestial life. Now this has been impressing upon my mind a lot since. Everything we do is leading to that life in which we live as Gods, Joseph Smith once said
“A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary [to lead] unto life and salvation.”

another quote from Joseph Smith is this.

"you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God...namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; fromgrace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory..."

We are here on this earth to learn to be like God, that is our purpose, every commandment, every service, every call to repentance is preparing us to become. We must always strive to live a celestial life now, do not procrastinate the day of your repentance.

I have been really struggling in this area because I think I was holding on heavily to the worldly view of success, and I think that is what God has been trying to get me to learn, to move past my own worldly perception of success and become succesful in Gods eyes, though others may look to have so much success on the outside, God is looking for success on the inside, that is why I am here on a mission to not only help others gain that kind of success, but to gain it within myself as well, and if we can achieve the success of our character we need not ever see ourselves as a failure, we are here in life to experience everything we can to help us to grow up in the way of truth and soberness.

Looking back at David Garibay's life (I talk about him a lot because he is really cool) he grew up in not the best of ways, but through his life he has always desired to do good, and the more he has told me about everything he has experienced in life the more I can see Gods hand in it leading him to the restored Gospel, he married Jennifer his wife, who was a member of the church, and very early on missionaries would come and help them out, one time when they were trying to move he called all of his friends and relatives to come help and no one showed up and he was feeling really discouraged and just at the point where he was working on trying to move everything himself, two young men dressed in white came around the corner and offered to help, and this was even before he had ever taken any lessons by the missionaries, his wife was less active and had limited contact with the church.

by the time I came into the picture he had taken the lessons 4 times and already had a baptismal date for the week after I got there, and as soon as he got baptized he shot off like a rocket, I told him once that I felt he was one of the choice spirits of God and that he had been led towards the church very early on. I love being a missionary and being a district leader is a blast, It is overwhelming and super stressful at times but I am learning and growing so much, it is hard to believe it has been almost 8 months since I left home, there have been so many ups and downs, and let me tell you, there have been many times where I felt like caving, I was once so overwhelmed that I could not rise from my seat, I have seen much oposition, just yesterday we had call ins with my district where I get their numbers and see how they are doing, we got to the apartment at 8:00 because that is when we do call ins I spent about 2 hours straight trying to get the numbers and everything sorted out, and I still have to do some of it tonight, there have been people who have yelled at me and threatened to beat me up if I didn't get off their property, I have never been treated so much like a villain while trying to accomplish something good. But amidst the craziness of it all I can tell that this is a great work, I love it, I love the feeling when I say something so perfectly that I learn something I have never ever considered before and I can attribute that to the spirit, the feeling of giving a ten minute blessing to someone when you have no clue what you are going to say throughout the whole time, and forget what you said after, when someone opens up the door and says that we are filled with light, the sight of a person you found entering into the waters of baptism, that happened a little bit ago Elder Wilson sent me a picture of Erik a guy we were walking by on our way to get food from a member, we could have walked on by but decided to stop and talk to him, we ended up giving him a book of Mormon, and a couple weeks later after trying to meet with him everyday for two weeks we met and gave such a powerful spirit filled lesson, he was passed to a couple sisters and I moved out of the area, and now he is a member of the church and doing well! The sight of mail from a friend or family member makes my whole week, I am sorry that I have been struggling to send some of them back, I have been struggling with that for a bit.

It reminds me of our canoe trip with Grandpa and how he related it to life, I remember me and Sam paddling through the headwinds and big waves behind by about 500 metres from everyone else and we were miserable, the thought came into my head to sing hymns and even though I did not feel like it I started singing, pretty soon I was on top of the world, with a nice cool wind blowing in my face and a rollercoaster wave ride merrily paddling on through, discovering the secret to happiness in life sometimes is not a change of surounding but a change of attitude, this wonderful enlightening of my mind was such a contrast from my mood a moment before, and I quickly reached out to Sam wanting him to be as happy as I was, but the thing is when you are miserable it is human nature to want to stay miserable, trying to find happiness in thinking miserable thoughts, I know this because I was there just a few moments before I started singing on that canoe, you remember me telling you to try smiling sam? to sing with me? and that didn't work so I desided to try to make you laugh by singing a hilarious song that I made up on the spot that didn't even make sense, and by the time we got to the rock where everyone was we both were as happy as could be. Life is good in every situation, we just have to open our eyes to see it.

I love you guys so much and invite you to be all you can be, LYR is amazing! be leaders find your purpose and above all Start living a Celestial life NOW!

Love

Elder Joshua Smith

August 1, 2016

From Dad:

Thanks for the email. Sorry we didn't get one off to you this week. We are close to the end of our holiday and are almost ready to fly home. We are a little travel weary but we are loving meeting some of our distant Olson and Fisk relatives.  Grandpa Bruce is in Heaven. 

Sweden is a beautiful country that reminds us a lot of Canada. We had a fun visit with David Burton who is serving here in Sweden and his area is conveniently the same area where Rob and Maria live! He came for dinner there. 

We enjoyed a fun day on the Lake near Rob and Maria's home called Lake Uttran. Rob has Kayaks so we got to try those out for the first time. The have foot pedals that control a small rudder at the back for turning. It took some getting used to to not use it like a canoe. 

Congratulations on being called as a district leader. It is a sign of trust from your mission president and the lessons you learn as you serve your district will be powerful leadership skills for you in all your future service and work. 

It has been really fun to be with Grandma and Grandpa Bruce and to be able to hear their stories and experience Sweden with them. Sam and Ben have been able to meet some new cousins and enjoyed some fun games and talents with them yesterday. 

I read a very interesting essay the other day about the story of the 2 Ammons in the Book of Mormon. I gleaned a couple of insights that I'll share briefly. 

1. I always have been puzzled by the start of Ammons experience with teaching the Lamanites. He comes to them, is bound and brought before the King. Next thing you know he is being offered one of the King's daughter to be his wife!!  Something clicked when I read this article by remembering that Ammon was the son of a King i.e. A prince!!  Who do princes marry?

2. Did you ever consider the story or Ammon to be an allegory or type of the Savior?

Here is a quote from the article. 

"Ammon2 at the Waters of Sebus

No episode in the Book of Mormon is more strange and, on its surface, incoherent than the account of Ammon2’s fight at the waters of Sebus and its aftermath.The most surprising facts connected with the narrative are these: (a) the plundering of the king’s flocks is routine and predictable, yet he doesn’t send a force capable of protecting his property; (b) the servants of the king make no effort to fight the marauders in spite of the fact that they will be executed if they fail to protect the flocks; (c) when they predictably fail, the king kills his own servants and, thus, weakens his forces; (d) the king refers to the marauders as “my brethren”; and (e) the marauders and their families are unafraid to hang around the king’s palace in the immediate aftermath of the fight. This is an improbable constellation of details. How are we to account for it? The answer must lie in the implicit dynamics of Lamanite politics in the land of Ishmael.

...the back story at Sebus is a conflict between Lamoni, the titular king in the land of Ishmael, and another group of nobles whom Lamoni calls “my brethren” (Alma 18:20), e.g., some mix of brothers, uncles, or cousins. The contest between the two groups is deadly earnest, but neither can do violence to the other because all are loved and protected by Lamoni’s father, the great king of the land, who has a short temper and who responds ferociously if anyone, including his own family, crosses him (Alma 20:8–16). Since they cannot directly attack each other without risking their lives by antagonizing their shared patron, Lamoni and his rivals seek to weaken their opponent by attacking their economic interests and by ruining their reputation in the eyes of the great king. It is in this context that Lamoni’s servants face doom at the waters of Sebus. The herdsman servants are ordinary citizens of the kingdom. Knowing the disposition of Lamoni’s father, they probably understand that they and their family will die a painful death if they do the slightest injury to any of the great king’s extended family. So if they are so unlucky as to be attacked at the waters of Sebus by the king’s noble relatives, they are doomed. They cannot raise a hand to prevent Lamoni’s flocks from being scattered and plundered by his noble rivals. And if they fail to prevent the scattering and loss of the flocks, Lamoni will put them to death.

If we correctly interpret the political dynamics in the land of Ishmael, we can recognize in this narrative a profound allegory of the human condition and of the plan of salvation, including its key element, the Atonement. Lamoni’s servants are caught on the horns of a horrible dilemma. They are bound by two incompatible laws that, taken together, seal their doom. They must not fail to keep the commandment of their lord to protect his flock and they must not raise a hand against any noble relative of the great king. When the nobles scatter the flock, hopeless and helpless despair is the only available response for the servants because their doom is sure.

For their predecessors, that was the end of the story. But for these fortunate servants the story is wonderfully changed. A godlike nobleman—the most powerful of all, one who can vanquish even the great king himself—has condescended to come among them and voluntarily share their servant status. When the crisis comes and they fall into despair, he rallies them. From him they draw the courage and ability to keep their lord’s commandments. Placing their faith in him and doing as he commands (an essential element in their redemption), they gather the scattered flock and encircle them to prevent their flight.

He, the suffering servant, in turn, goes forth to bear the brunt of the violence meant for them which they were powerless to resist. Against all human odds, this godlike nobleman defeats forces arrayed against him and them. He reconciles the two laws, making it possible for his fellow servants to keep both. They have neither allowed the flock to be plundered nor lifted a hand against the great king’s relatives. Led by their savior, the servants return to their lord without blemish, their lives preserved by the gracious intervention of the godlike figure who condescended to be one with them. Their faith in this noble savior redeems not just their bodies but their eternal souls, for he brings them back not just to their temporal lord, Lamoni, but to their eternal lord, the Lord God."

Sorry for the long quote but I found it a fascinating take on a beloved story in the Book of Mormon that took me to another level of understanding after years of reading that story. Love the thought that Mormon took so much care to testify of Christ even through the stories he chose to include. 

Love you son. Have a great week. 

Dad. 

From Josh:

Sorry for the short responce last week, we need to get members to email at the family history centre here, and he just talked so much I couldn't focus, but i guess that is just an excuse, I will make sure to write more in this email.

So today was an interesting day

 we have amember in our ward that works for Nickalodion studios and so we went on a tour of Nickalodion and it was so cool! We got to see where they worked on Danny Phantom and Pablo Smith (the member who works for them) actually worked on a lot of fight scenes in Legend of Korra. so that was pretty cool.

This area that I am in is hard, not a lot of things going on... you know in 4 nephi where they spend like three chapters on 200 years because it is so peaceful? I kind of feel like that, the members here are super cool and treat us like kings... I am having trouble keeping my weight consistant so that is the only real struggle besides trying to find people to teach, my troubles have shifted from trying to balance appointments to trying to find appointments and a lot of nights are spent in planning trying to figure out what we are going to do to find more people, so it is quite a trial, a ton of stress involved... and now I am called to be a district leader! I am pretty excited about that and I think it is super cool because in my patriarical blessing it says that I would be excited to be involved in teaching and leadership, and I am! I love giving trainings and helping out the people in my district.

I am currently reading the new testament again and I love all that it says I am gaining a lot from reading about the savior's life, I want to be more patient and loving and have been working on being more bold.

I love you all, there is not much to report on up here in the Santa Clarita Valley but I hope you are all doing great!

Love Joshua. 

Elder Postelnicu during studies one day.

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District leaders