Shark Bait's First Transfer and The Baptism of Jerry!!

This week has been a very long but great week! I am so grateful for the many things I have been able to experience this week. I want you all to know of the great love I have for each and everyone of you. Thank you for your prayers, support, and love.

This week is transfer week! The crazy part of this week is that I will be transferred as well! I have been called to go to a new area on the same island of Efate. I will be going to the area of Black Sands and have been called to be a Zone Leader of Efate. I am a little nervous for the change but am grateful to a Loving Father In Heaven who I know will help me. My new companions name is Elder Hardy. It has been really hard to say goodbye to my old area, investigators, and ward members. But I have received much support and love from them. I will look forward to what the future holds.

In between transferring new missionaries, teaching Elder Burbank everything he will need to take over Travel Elder, and making flights we were able to have the baptism of Jerry. Jerry is a sweet boy Elder Gray and I started teaching. We have become pretty good friends and we share a love of Soccer. We often are able to play when we come and teach lessons. His baptism really was an amazing experience. Jerry came with his Uncle and seemed even more filled with energy after being able to be baptized. I am proud of him and know The Lord will bless Him as he continues to come to Church and learn of this true Gospel.

I want to wish all my friends going to the MTC a Good Luck! I know Our Heavenly Father will bless you for your service and you will have an amazing experience.

Please know I love each and everyone of you. Know That Our Heavenly Father will bless you as you desire to come unto Him.

Fun Side Note: This week I got to try Laplap Banana. A Laplap made from large bananas that grow everywhere! It is my favorite laplap yet!  

Much love,

Elda LaMont/ Your Alekken Ty/ Shark Bait

Shark Bait's Meeting with Elder Cardon From the 70

My beautiful family and friends! I am not capable of words to express my excitement to write to you. I hope and pray your week was fabulous and that you remember that a Loving Heavenly Father watches and looks to bless you every moment. 

This week was a very busy one! The new transfer is coming up and that means I needed to help Elda Burbank learn how to make something I like to call "The Guide to The Galaxy." We are in charge of moving everyone where they need to through the island of Efate and throughout the Mission. We have to carefully move missionaries in a way that does not leave anyone alone. You have to make sure you bring "peace and order to The Galaxy" My great Father's Love of Star Wars has had a profound influence on me it seems! :) Most of the week was spent in the office making flights and writing out this plan. On the bright side Elder Burbank and I have discovered a Shake Shop in Down Town Vila that has an excellent Strawberry flavor.

The next big thing that happened this week was Elder Cardon of the 70 came to Vanuatu and through the rest of the mission. He came and spoke to us and gave training all of yesterday.

He taught us many things but something that really stuck out to me is this thought: "As missionaries we are extensions of The Lord's Hands to bring peace, love, and happiness to other." I have not been on my mission for very long but I have learned of this great truth. Not all accept this great message or will listen to you. But we have a responsibility to share the love of the Savior to all we come in contact with. I promise you as you do your best to share The Love of The Savior and of Our Father In Heaven with all you come in contact with, you will find greater joy. You will come to love others and see Our Father In Heaven in all aspects of your life. You will become closer to Him.

Elder Cardon also wanted to interview some missionaries. Three elders and three sisters were chosen. I was one of the 3 Elders selected for the interview. Of course this left me a little nervous and I felt as if my soul was set to be examined. I immediately became relived when Elder Cardon invited me in as if I were an old friend. He asked about my family, what I have learned while being on the mission, and gave me some scriptures to ponder. His spirit and kind smile uplifted me after a long week's of work. He made me promise to tell my Mom and Dad something. Mom and Dad, Elder Cardon wants to personally thank you for raising me the way you have. For teaching me the gospel. He hailed you as great parents who have raised a righteous son, who will help to bring miracles in the lives of others. I am so glad Elder Cardon could recognize the greatness of my parents. I already knew they were awesome:)

My family and friends, great amounts of joy fill my soul as I retrieve your emails and pictures. Momma, your new decorations are amazing! I am doing well and have all I need. If there is anything I need I won't hesitate to let you know. I am so blessed to be in Vanuatu. I pray and hope you are all finding great happiness in your lives. I am very glad to hear Keaton and Claire are doing some dancing! Dancing will always have a special place in my heart. So much love to all of you. I promise more pictures for next week!

Love,

Elda LaMont/Shark Bait/ Your Island Boy/ Alekken Ty :)

Shark Bait's First Exchange and Baptism of Joma and Ivon

MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS! Once again it is that special time where I get to write about the many adventures that I am having in Vanuatu. So many things have occurred this week. Hold on to your socks this week was a good one!

The first experience I want to talk about is my first ever exchange with my District Leader! My District Leader is Elder Bybee. He is a wonderful missionary and friend that I have here in the field. The exchange went really well and I learned a lot. One of the best exprinces during the exchange was trying to find a boy named Junior. In order to be able to find Junior we had to make our way to our Ward Mission Leaders House. Driving through the pot hole roads of Vanuatu I tried to remember where The Ward Mission Leader lives and we become a little lost. I am started to get nervous and Elder Bybee told me to pull off the road so we could have a prayer. In the prayer I asked Heavenly Father to guide us to The Ward Mission Leader's House and if it were His will to help us find Junior so we could teach him.

Not only was I able to find the Ward Mission Leader's House but through the Ward Mission Leader we found and taught Junior. Heavenly Father truly guided us to The Ward Mission Leader's House and we found Junior because He answered our prayer. It was a really amazing experince!

The best part of the week was hands down Joma and Ivong's Baptism! Grem (who is a recent convert of Elder Gray) and I had the ability to baptize his two sons. It is truly a great blessing to see the light and love the gospel has brought their family. Elder Burbank and I worked very hard with Ivong and Joma and they were able to learn everything that they needed to know. Their testimonies have grown and I am so proud of those two stud muffins.

Know that I love all of you so much. I pray for you and love to hear of your success and experiences that our shared in your emails. Even though I do not have time to write back please know that I read and love them so much.

This is the true Gospel. Jesus Christ is the Son of God and has prepared the way for you and me. We can all do Hard Things because our Savior has already paved the path. I have needed to rely on Him more than ever. But I promise you He will always carry us through any trial if we are willing to come unto him.

Much love,

Elda LaMont/ Shark Bait/ Your Alekken Ty :)

Shark Bait's Planner Miracle and The Adventure of "Finding Like Crazy"

My beautiful family and friends!!!! I cherish the moments when I able to write to you! What a wonderful week it has been for Elder Burbank and me! We had some incredible experiences this week!

One experience I would like to share is what I call the Planner Miracle! So, this week President has taken on big task. He wants to be able to go with each missionary companionship in the mission and do what we call "Finding Like Crazy" Finding Like Crazy is when you go out and hand out pass out cards trying to contact as many people as you possible can in about an hour.  Every 15 minutes we offer a pray of thanks and a prayer to help us find more people Our Heavenly Father wants us to find during that time. It was a great faith building experience as we went out with President and handed out 130 plus Pass Along Cards and contacted many different people throughout our area.

The best part of the experience was I was using my planner in order to write down names and numbers and in our haste to contact more I misplaced it. Realizing I did not have my planner in the car (and feeling too that I really needed it since it had all the names) I asked President if we could turn around and go look for it at the bridge we were just finished contacting on. He agreed and did his best Vin Diesel Impression to turn around the truck! We were able to find the Planner next to the bridge face down on the ground. The planner was next to the river next to the bridge and right as we went to go get it a large group of people came out of the river. About 20 different or so people who had been washing their clothes. We would have missed the opportunity to contact them had I not have lost my planner. President and I hailed the experience as a miracle and The Lord's Guiding hand.

I testify that Our Savior Jesus Christ does live. He leads and guides His work here in Vanuatu and throughout the World. That experience once again testified this great truth to me.

My brother is home! Keaton you are amazing! You are a wonderful man and I am so proud of you! Cameron, one of my dearest friends and a brother to me has also been able to come back home from his mission. I will be praying for you two! I also want my beautiful Mom to know I will be praying for her as she goes back to school!

Explanation behind the three photos: I went to a restaurant called The Sister's Takeaway, which had soccer playing on a TV! The next two photos are with Elda Tom and me. He is an Elda I played soccer with in the MTC in New Zealand. We have been friends nearly my entire mission. He has been Visa waiting to go to his mission in PNG. As a Travel Elder it was my job to make sure he flew out to his mission. This is a picture of us with his twin brother who also Visa waited and is going to PNG. They both tell me my Bislama is very good! Another tender mercy from The Lord.

Know that I love each one of you so much!

Much love,

Elda LaMont/ Your Alekken Ty/ Shark Bait/ Island Boy