Who are Elder & Hermana Smith?

First and foremost they are my parents. I was blessed to have been born to faithful Latter-day Saint parents who taught me faith in Christ through their actions, service through their good works, obedience through their diligence, and love through their Christ-like character. My father is a man of honor and my mother is a woman of stalwart faith, my parents have held tight to the teachings of the scriptures and modern prophets throughout their lives. They have been obedient to the commandments of God and believe in the promises of God. They have held fast to those promises and have trusted that if they would follow Christ their family would be protected in this world and that we would be together as a family forever in the next.

My parents are not strangers to sacrifice. They have put family and faith first throughout their lives and managed to nurture six children helping each of us to establish firm testimonies of Christ, commitment to living gospel centered lives, and to continue in their example in raising our children in virtue. Their greatest legacy has been and will always be their children, grandchildren, and some day in the not so distant future great-grandchildren.

My Father:

My father, Robert M. Smith Jr., made faithful choices as a young man, despite having lost his father on the cusp of manhood, he moved forward in following the promptings of the spirit which lead him to pursue higher education at BYU and then into the mission field as a 19 year old young man. He served for two years in the Colombia, South America Mission. On his return he married and promptly took on the responsibilities of rearing children while working and finishing his studies, including tackling the daunting task of law school while supporting a family, working, and serving in the church.

It seems an impossible feat to many of my generation that such large life tasks can be successfully attempted simultaneously, but my father has often bore testimony to the miracles God is able to perform in our lives when we rely on Him and obediently follow the council of his living prophets. Making a commitment to never study or work on Sundays (the Sabbath), and relying on the Lord to provide where he could not, my father graduated at the top of his class at J. Reuben Clark Law School as an Army JAG Officer. My father had a distinguished military career in the Army JAG Corps, and retired in 1996 as a Lieutenant Colonel. After retirement from the Army he began a second distinguished career as an Assistant Attorney General in the child protection division in the State of Utah and promptly entered the mission field at his retirement in 2015.

When I think of my father I think of words like stalwart, industrious, obedient, wise, insightful, knowledgeable, articulate, and adventurous. What I value most about my dad is his ability to beautifully articulate gospel principles and doctrines and to bear sincere testimony of truth. He is a natural teacher. When I was a child he didn’t turn away any of my questions, on any subject, he would answer me directly or find the answer out of the best books. There is very little I know about the truths of the gospel that wasn't first taught to me by my father; he planted these truths deep in my heart.

My father set high expectations for us and taught us the value of hard work, accountability, and personal achievement. He was determined to raise capable independent children who would be resilient self-starters. To this end he did not micro-manage our pursuits or shield us from disappointment or failure, but instead educated us in the true principles of freedom through allowing us to make our own mistakes without allowing us to escape the consequences. In this way we learned to govern ourselves.

My father was a strong leader in our home, but he was not domineering, he loved my mother with great tenderness. To this day I feel joyful when I see how my father looks at my mother, he is completely in love with her. He always had his arm around her at church and held her hand as we walked together as a family. He was affectionate with her at home and in public (sometimes to my embarrassment). He would not tolerate any disrespect of my mother, and taught my brothers the utmost respect for the women and girls in their lives. My father lead our family in daily prayer and scripture reading, weekly family home evenings, and a dedication to keeping the Sabbath day holy and attending all of our church meetings. His priesthood leadership in our childhood home, and as the patriarch of adult children and a growing posterity, continues to bless the lives of his children and grandchildren.

My Mother:

My mother was an active young woman. Always very fit and full of energy, she was a cheerleader in her youth and became a life-long cheerleader for her children and grandchildren. As teenagers her enthusiastic support was embarrassing but the feeling of having her support behind me has buoyed me up through the years. When I think of my mom and her many talents I think of words like faith, compassion, prayerfulness, fortitude, activity, tenacity, positive energy, thrifty, and long-suffering. As a child she seemed to me to have endless energy, though I know now that no mother escapes the exhaustion and discouragement that is natural to the taxing burdens of managing a household and giving herself, body and soul, to her children 24/7. The burdens of motherhood are at times unimaginably daunting, but I watched my mom persevere relying on her deep faith.

I have often talked of my dad as the mentor of my gospel scholarship, but my mother led me to know my Savior in a way that is difficult to express with words. She breathed into me the love of God. Her gentle love in my times of sorrow helped me come to know that the love of my Father in Heaven was sure and endless. She taught me how to listen to his voice, to know that I could turn to him in prayer and he would answer me. I think of the many tender moments with my mom, moments of doubt and discouragement, when through the presence of her love and care, her hand placed on mine, I felt as though my Savior sat beside me. My mother was my comfort and my strength.

My mother’s commitment to motherhood over the accolades of the world is a continual example to both her daughters and her sons, who have all walked in her ways. It has become rare in our day to find women like my mother, women who are not only willing to bear children but to devote their lives to their care and nurture as full-time mothers. Women who know that “children—not possessions, not position, not prestige—are the greatest jewels” and blessings God can bestow. Another word for nurturing is homemaking. Homemaker is a role many modern women have rejected as oppressive and out of date, but Homemaking is much more than cooking, washing clothes and dishes, and keeping an orderly home. Homemaking is to make the environment necessary to nurture our children toward eternal life. My mom understood that home is where women have the most power and influence, and for this reason she did not forsake home for the workplace. She fostered a lively and pleasant childhood for each of us, allowing her children to play and explore and learn under her watchful care.

A MOM first, my mother is also a professional seamstress and clothing designer, quilter, and home decorator. When we were young she made many of our clothes from scratch and later learned to make her own patterns; including studying textile design at Kansas State University. Sometimes when I would see things in the store I liked she would pull out a small pad of paper, make some sketches, and then reproduce the clothing for me at home. I smile when I think of the clothing label she would sow into her hand-made creations. She has developed several careers in her adult life. She has worked as an energetic and motivational aerobics instructor, and becoming highly specialized in water aerobics, working at Red Mountain Spa in St. George, UT. She worked on her bachelor’s degree later in life which became a great example to her teenage children who watch her commitment to higher education. After her children were grown she worked for many years in the human resources department of Sky West Airlines putting to use her talents as a master organizer.

Throughout her life she has developed her talents and used them to bless her family, her church family, and her community. There wasn’t any task that seemed too big for my mother to pull together. It seemed as though she could organize with ease any youth camp, family reunion, and ward or stake activity put before her. To understand how my mother developed her capabilities you must try to imagine the organized chaos of raising six children born within a span of 8 years and during those years managing yearly cross-country road trips with little ones in tow, organizing cross-country and international moves every three years, and throwing her support behind grand Smith family adventures dreamed up by my dad who loved the kind of outdoor adventures that most would consider way too daunting and dangerous to even attempt. Let's just say that it takes a pretty extraordinary woman to handle a clan like ours.

Did I have perfect parents?

There are no perfect parents, and no perfect marriages or families either, but my parents did their very best to follow a perfect pattern given to us by our Father in Heaven and that has made up the difference between their best efforts and perfection. I am grateful that my parents didn’t give up in those moments when things must have seemed like they were falling apart, when their children said they hated them, accused them of being the meanest parents on the block, or didn’t fully appreciate all their sacrifices. I’m grateful they stayed together through the bad times and kept working on their marriage. I’m grateful that they have held tight to their faith and the commitments they made when they were married over a sacred alter for all time and eternity. We are all proud that they have chosen to leave their grand-babies for a time and lend their talents to building up the Kingdom of God in Guatemala. We know that their light is a great blessing to those they serve.