Shark Bait Experiences His Very First MLC and Baptism Set!

Hello Dear Family and Friends!!!

This has been yet another fabulous week in one of the most beautiful places in the world! This week has hands down got to be one of the best weeks in the mission so far. I have learned and grown a great deal this week.

One of the very best parts of this week would be our (and my very first) MLC Training! For those of you who don't know this stands for Mission Leadership Council. The Zone Leaders across the mission (including New Caledonia and The Solomon Islands) were able to attend! We had many training's coming from President Granger and Sister Granger in the beautiful Mission Home. All the training we received were powerfully taught through the spirit and many great scriptures were shared. My testimony of this wonderful gospel has grown from the things in which I learned. Two things really stuck out to me in the training. The first is how much of Leadership when done right is about serving and loving others. If we look to the Savior he was the best example of leadership and pure love. He descended below all things to lift us up. He washed the feet of His disciples to show that leading others is about serving others. What an amazing example this is! A Zone Leader is truly not better than another missionary in the field but has been selected by Our Heavenly Father to love and serve those he is trusted with. After the training, I feel more determined to this better and more with the spirit. The Second thing which stuck out to me is as Leaders we must do as President Granger says and, "Keep The Flame of Faith Alive." We have a great responsibility to keep missionaries excited and working hard in the greatest work. It was a wonderful two days of fun and learning. We even had relay games/races!

The next best part of the week would be our investigator, Thelma Jack. We found Thelma working with some other investigators who did not turn out to be as promising as we originally thought. Thelma is a 22 year old young woman who actually speaks great English. We have worked really hard with her and we invited her to be baptized! She agreed and we are so happy. She has experienced a wonderful change from reading the Book of Mormon. Before reading the Book of Mormon she would never accept our invitation to pray. During the lesson where we invited her towards baptism she said a prayer in front of us for the first time. We have set her date of baptism for the 7th of April! Which is also my birthday! What a great day it will be.

I testify of the reality and truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. This Gospel is true and I love Our Father in Heaven. His Perfect Plan of Happiness through his Perfect Son will bind families forever. I love you all and hope your weeks were amazing.

Much love,

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

Elda LaMont, Lonie, and Thelma

Mission Leadership Council

Shark Bait Gets a Samoan Roommate and the baptism of Nicole and Renol

Hello Again Family and Friends!!! Another great week here in Vanuatu for both Elder Hardy and I!

This week has been decently busy and has provided us with some great growing experiences. The start of the week stared by the Assistants telling us that a missionary by the name of Elder Burgess would be staying with us until his flight to Amboe (Another island in the mission) Elder Burgess is from the island of Samoa and is just about to finish his mission. Elder Hardy knew this experience would not be the most comfortable since our house is not the largest and adding a large Samoan to the equation made the house pretty packed! On the bright side though, we spoke Bislama most of the week and felt like we improved tons and did what we could to learn from all of Elder Burgess's experience in the mission! The Blacksands area is an old area of Elder Burgess and he was able to help us learn the area a little bit more. We were even able to find a new family with Elder Burgess! I have no doubt that although the situation was not the most comfortable for us The Lord put us together so we could find this new family! We can learn from every situation even if it is not the most comfortable!

The next best part of this week would be the story of Nicole! Nicole is a an 11 year old girl who is friends with the Kila Family in our ward. She would get up every morning early to come with this family to church. She loved every moment of church and looked forward to coming with the Kilas every week. The Kila family let us know that Nicole would most likely love a lesson from us so we went over and began to teach her. She loved it and with the permission of her mother we continued to teach her. We then invited the Mom to come to one of the lessons and asked if Nicole could be baptized. The Mom explained to us that she had begin to see a difference in her home. She loved seeing Nicole pray more! The Mom granted us permission to baptize Nicole and said she would come to the baptism and to church with us. We had the great blessing to have her baptism this last week. My dear Family and Friends, it is truly amazing to see the great happiness and joy the gospel brings to families. Although I miss my family and the mission at times provides challenges, the ability to help The Lord bless families brings so much joy! I know Our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ live and love us. There our souls prepared to hear our word and I will try harder every day to meet them.

Know that I pray for you and love you all. Thank you for your sacrifices so I can be here.

So much love,

Your Alekken Ty/ Shark Bait/ Island Boy

Answers For Dad: Living Area- I live right next to our Church. The Church we live next to is an actual nice building one of the few here in growing Vanuatu. The House is small but what the Sister have called, "adorable." I have to admit the place is growing on me and I love it! I have not seen a Dishwasher since I left the States! We always need to wash the dishes. Which I actually have grown to like as it gives me time to clear my head and just ponder! I really enjoy Personal Study and the time to read the scriptures. The scriptures always bring peace.

Elder LaMont, Elder Hardy, and Elder Burgess from Somoa

Amanda, Nicole, and Renol. Elder LaMont and Elder Hardy (The Cache Valley Boys)

Shark Bait Makes it Through The Storm/ The Hurricane Gets a Taste of His Own Medicine

Dearest Family and Friends! I am glad to report that although we had a crazy week and a bit of a love tap from the Hurricane named Hola, it has been another fantastic week!

Hands down the craziest part of the week was being held up in the house. Elder Hardy has been sick during a few days of the week and we have also been making sure the District Leaders have been helping the Zone get ready in the occasion Hurricane "Hola" want to say...  Hola! Which she did!

One morning Elder Hardy slept in a little bit so he could rest and the phone started ringing. Not an unusual occurrence since we need to report a lot of things to our Zone. When I walked over to the phone the call said it was coming from President Granger. I knew this wouldn't the average phone call. President explained to me that his flight back to Vanuatu from New Caledonia (New Cal had a Zone Conference) had been canceled and he wanted all the missionaries to stay in doors in case the storm got any closer. We got the word out as soon as possible!

Elder Hardy and I used the day to write letters to home, read some scriptures, watch some church videos, and it ended up being a pretty fun day!! The wind started to pick up and sounded like the beginning part of The Wizard of OZ but times by 10. The rain sounded like bullets on our roof. The Lighting lit up the dark skies like a Christmas tree and the Thunder sounded ferocious. Thanks to Our Father in Heaven we were safe in our little house. The majority of the storm did not pass through us and we were able to work the next day. How blessed are we?!

The work here in Black Sands is going really well! Two of our new investigators Thelma (22 year old young woman) and her younger sister Lilly came to church and Elder Hardy and I our so excited for them! A new transfer has come and Elder Hardy and I will be staying put as Zone Leaders. We are determined to improve and help The Lord and His Efate Zone to the best of our abilities. This is the hardest thing I have ever done. But it is all so worth it. My love goes out to all who have sacrificed so that I can serve at this time. Thank you. I love you.

May you always remember this Gospel is true. Heavenly Father loves you and me. Jesus is the Christ and Savior of us all. Trust in Him and He will lead us back home.

All my love,

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

This is a picture of a small handgun that a young boy at a Family Home Evening showed us. Thought it was so cool! I wonder if it came from World War II? Thought Grandpa W. Would especially be interested. He found it in His family's garden! Crazy!! 

Shark Bait Gets to See Christine be Baptized/ Helping with Transfers

Beautiful Family and Friends!! I hope you have had a wonderful week!

Today has been a crazy day! We have needed to help the Assistants and Travel Elders with some Transfers and moving around of Elders. This has not left me with tons of time to email but I hope you remember how much I love all of you.

This has been a great week for Elder Hardy and I! The best part of the week is when Christine is baptized! Christine is a 12-year-old girl who has worked with the Elders of BlackSands for a long time. She has wanted to be baptized for a while now but her Father has not allowed her to join the church. Just recently his heart softened and he allowed her to take the lessons again so she could be baptized. What a tender blessing this is from The Lord.

We taught her a lot throughout the week and have come to love her family! When we come over all the kids run out and want to play games with us. I love being able to teach children. They desire to do what is right and teach me how important it is to laugh and enjoy life! Christine's Baptism really highlighted Elder Hardy and I's week. Many of her Family and Friends came and it made for a special day. Because our Ward Mission Leader could not attend the baptism I was put in charge of conducting the baptism. At first I really was nervous to do it but it ended up being a positive experience and a chance to improve my Bislama.

It rained a lot this week! One day it poured almost the entire day! During that day, we met with an investigator we have named Troy. I have included some pictures of us in this email with all of the rain water. Troy came to church this last Sunday and loved every moment! He loves to play games, is very energetic, and smart.

I know Our Heavenly Father lives and loves us. I know Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and through him families can be together forever. 

My prayers and love go out to you.

Much love,

Elda LaMont/ Your Alekken Ty/ Shark Bait/

Answer for Dad's Questions:

The Ice Cream here is really good. It is a lot softer here in Vanuatu for some reason. Perhaps it is because of the humidity but I am not sure! They have awesome flavors like Passion Fruit, Coconut, and even mint Ice Cream. The Pizza looks like pizza but has a different flavor to it. It is really hard to explain! The stars do shine bright and it is absolutely beautiful. I love to look at the stars any chance I can! It depends on where you are but the smell of the ocean is one of my favorite things! The water really is that blue! Times when we are driving you can't help but be amazed by it's beauty! My most spiritual experience this week would be giving a blessing to a young boy who was sick. I felt the spirit fill my heart with love for him and his family as we gave the blessing.

Christine is baptized!

Road trips in Debbie (a.k.a the truck)

The coolest looking spider you will ever see!

Food From the Baptism (Christine's Dad caught fresh fish from the ocean, rice, chicken, and Laplap)