September 3, 2017

From Dad: - Still Waiting...

... for Sam's call.

Hard to be patient, but so excited to see if this week brings the telltale envelope in the mail. A new YM named Kylan Rice moved in a month ago and sent in his mission papers on the exact same day as Sam. He got his call last week. He opened it today and found out he is going to Paris, France! And guess when he is leaving? Dec 20... It would be crazy if Sam got the same leave date. Would be a crazy day with you coming home and him leaving! Hoping it is either before or after. but after would be nice to cross over and see each other even for a little bit.

We are fasting and praying for Great Grandma and Grandpa Smith as you probably saw in Grandpa Smith's email. Life's challenges don't end, but they always refine us if we let them. Are you letting your challenges refine you?

This week has been a work week around the acreage. I've really enjoyed working on the garage and was able to get our entrance stairs built so we can go in and out of the garage from inside! 

Our Septic system alarm went off again this week and we've been using the outhouse again while it gets fixed. Yard is all dug up again. Sounds like the pipe got pinched in the last half by the mound and was wearing out the pumps.Hoping this fix is the last time we need to work on it. Painful, but once again we are appreciating how important good drainage is and how nice it is to have indoor plumbing.

Auntie Wendy pulled out today as she has a good job lined up in Atikoken. She came up and finished parging the garage and back entrance. It looks great. Thankful for family.

My office had a fire in the basement after a transformer blew, so I've been enjoying working from home this last week. 

School starts tomorrow, so back to the scheduled days and back to running Ben back and forth to Leduc. We are hoping he get's his license first try so he can start driving himself. He and I have been doing a moderately good job of doing regular P90X workouts, but I'm worried now that he is going back to school that I'm going to lose my work out buddy and fizzle out! Hoping Mom will join me and we can get buff together. Ben is looking forward to school, but has some hard choices to make around extra curricular activities. Can't do everything!

Benson had a going away party this week as he is going to live with Auntie Kurri. We are so happy for them. It's the right thing to do. As much as we disagree with Uncle Tad's choices and lifestyle, this was a good thing for him to do. He is living back at the cabin this year with Cody. Ben is excited. Cody will go to Calmar just because of transportation, but hopes to join Ben at Leduc Comp at some point.

Sam continues to work at Classic and is even driving bobcat on a regular basis. Is it in the genes? We'll see if Ben ends up there or somewhere else to earn his mission money.

Auntie Shannon had her baby last week and Mom and the kids got to see her on Tuesday after joining the uncles and cousins at Calaway park. They named her Holly..

Mom, then Mia bore their testimonies today. Then Mia went back and bugged the boys to do it too. They admitted that they hadn't planned to, but when Mia whispered they should, then they felt the spirit prompt them to go up.

Life is good. We are a great family and you are an amazing part of it!

Love,

Dad.

From Josh - A Day Late:

Sorry for emailing a day late! since it was labor day yesterday we had a working P-day and ended up moving p-day to today.

This week has been a week of realization and discovery, I have realized that I have not been as dedicated to many things as I should have been, my personal prayers have been definitely lacking in depth and meaning, and I have not been as faithful in reading from the scriptures as I should be and I have been seeing a lot of the negative effects in my life, I have not been as focused or motivated and I have struggled to communicate clearly the message that we have been trying to share... so near the middle of last week I rededicated myself and almost immediately I witnessed so many blessings, i have more patience with my companions and more excited to go out day by day, I have had my thoughts put together and my mind open to insights and light. I had a cool experience yesterday when I was pretty annoyed at my companion, through no fault of his own and I prayed to receive help to feel happy and positive towards him and it didn't come right away, but when we went to a district leader meeting I was still pretty ticked until mid way through when all of a sudden I felt a hippiness that I couldn't not describe and all those feelings of annoyance and frustration melted away and I was able to see him in a much better light, it can be hard to be attached to someone 24/7 and there are a lot of differences you start seeing even when you are together for three months. Elder Bergeron is a logger and a landscaper a homeschooler that lived cut off from most everything so we don't have too much to talk about or relate to each other very much, he is also a doer, he does things without thinking and just goes for it, usually regretting it after, he is really simple in a lot of his thinking so it can be hard to have deep conversations with him, he likes it that way, so I get so frustrated because of how he acts, and in order to express my frustration I have to tell him bluntly because anything else will go off his shoulders... I love him a ton, its just something i haven't experienced before, I have learned a ton on how to express myself and to be bold with my companion. 

There has been so many experiences this week that have interesting,  recently we went on exchanges with one of our zone leaders and he told of a story of a man who was dubbed by the catholic religion as "defender of the faith" in missionary terms he would be known as "Basher" but through their conversation he stopped and said that there was one thing that he didn't understand, he said "I don't get the mormons, their doctrine is so perverted (in his view) but their works are so holy" 

Jesus Christ said that a bad tree cannot produce good fruit, it is impossible. So, perhaps our works are so good because the doctrine is true, I know that what we share is true, the gospel has been restored, we do have a prophet on the earth and we are receiving direction from God right now!

Another experience that I myself had while on exchanges with a member of my district was when we came across this lady who asked some pointed but sincere questions, mostly about temples and tithing, those were the things that she could not get past, most people struggle with that but we were able to explain a bit how it differs from other christian faiths in that we don't pass around a basket for tithes, we explained out unique message and 40 minutes later she took a pamphlet to read over. She really appreciated the answers we gave. 

Another experience was when we were knocking a guy opened up and we could tell he was  a little drunk, but he gave a standard response that he differed on some key beliefs, and checking that it wasn't multiple wives or some other off doctrine that people still think we believe we asked him what those were, and he told us about the  Godhead vs the trinity, that is something we get dinged on a lot here in such a christian community, but we explained it to him and we were able to testify of the truth of what we shared and it was cool to see him considering our responses, he may have been drunk and he may've been Grace baptist but that didn't stop us from testifying, we should all testify at every opportunity. 

I love you all a ton and hope all is going well in your lives, I can't wait to hear more about your lives, I miss a lot of things but what I think I miss the most is my family. We will see each other sooner then you think. 

Josh

-some returned missionaries came to visit the mission

-It rained mid at the end of august! (that has never happened before in the past 30 years)

-So...Hot! ​

From Mom:

YES! YES! YES! Two things ... 

Yes! Personal prayer and scripture study. So vital! If you do that, you'll be better than fine. No slacking! I'm taking it as a personal challenge. I promise to have meaningful prayers and scriptures every morning if you will! Is it a deal?

And YES! By their fruits ye shall know them. Keep doing good work, my son. The Gospel is true! All of it. I know it. 

Love, Mom

P.S. Did you get my last snail mail?

From Josh:

I didn't but I may get it today. We will see.

From Mom:

Are you going to take me up on the prayer/scripture challenge? We will have to be accountable to each other ...


What do you think?