Nouvelle Calédonie/ Shark Bait's Dance Skillz are Back/ Alors On Danse

Bonjour mes chères famille et Amis !! It has been a week which has gone as fast as a snap of the fingers! I am grateful for the things I have learned, experienced, and felt this week. Missions really are super hard but are worth every moment! I love to work hard and then being able to climb in your bed and then fall asleep with the satisfaction that you weren't perfect but sure tried your best. Then while you fall asleep you can already think of a 100 different ways the Lord has helped you. (Momma don't worry I still make my bed :D) I am loving life and grateful for the time I have to enjoy these two wonderful years. It is true I miss being able to talk to Family and old friends. However, I know we will see one another again. Alma 17:2-3 says,

 "2 Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto him; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.

            3 But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God.

And of course, a personal favorite of mine:) Alma 17: 11- 13

11 And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.

            12 And it came to pass that the hearts of the sons of Mosiah, and also those who were with them, took courage to go forth unto the Lamanites to declare unto them the word of God.

            13 And it came to pass when they had arrived in the borders of the land of the Lamanites, that they separated themselves and departed one from another, trusting in the Lord that they should meet again at the close of their harvest; for they supposed that great was the work which they had undertaken." 

While we have been in a companionship Elder Hable and I have really tried to record the Hand of God in our lives. A missionary in a Zone Conference told us how they record 5 Miracles every day and then put it on their fridge. We have started doing this idea a few months back and I must say, it has been a literal eye opener for the both of us. I have learned so much about The Love Our Father in Heaven has for us. I have seen His hand present in our lives. Do we even comprehend how much Our Father in Heaven cares about even the smallest of things? Does He care about Math Tests? Your hopes? Dreams? Wishes? ALL Yes!  I dare even say Sport teams! ;) He Does. He lives my friends and Family. I will proclaim this forever as I know it is true with every part of my heart!

 Recently I have been praying for how I can be better. Yes, often times I am hard on myself but I wish I could be 10 times more the man I am for God, for my family, and all of those I love. I find myself often knees constantly asking for forgiveness seeking to rid myself of sin so I can teach more with the spirit. I am thankful for an ever patient and loving Father in Heaven who seeks to Love and bless us. I was blessed to receive an answer. An amazing missionary sent me this quote which really helped me out. It says, "One Does Not Aspire to be a great missionary; rather, he aspires to be a servant." This one hit me hard and about had me in tears as I came to a realization of something. I am good enough! No, not perfect, but I am trying. If I want to be a better missionary for the Lord all I need is to serve and love others and seek to truly be a servant.

This of course reminds me of a beautiful song I have loved since Primary. "I’m Trying to be like Jesus; I'm following in his ways. I’m trying to love as he did, in all that I do and say. At times, I am tempted to make a wrong choice, But I try and listen as the still small voice whispers, "Love one another as Jesus loves you. Try to show kindness in all that you do. Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought, for these are the things Jesus taught. I’m trying to love my neighbor; I'm learning to serve my friends. I watch for the day of gladness when Jesus will come again. I try to remember the lessons he taught. Then the Holy Spirit enters into my thoughts, saying: Love one another as Jesus loves you. Try to show kindness in all that you do. Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought, for these are the things Jesus taught." Oh, how I love the special truths and knowledge which come from the Primary Songs. I am so thankful for my parents who raised me on this true Gospel so I can sing the songs I learned in Primary when it gets hard here in the mission field. I Love you all! :) 

Right after getting off the plane from the Solomon Islands we had a day in the Office taking care of things and had a lesson with Sophie!! Sophie is this adorable nine-year-old in our ward. Her Mom is a very active but her Dad is very less active. In the midst of all the confusion she was not baptized at 8 and needs to be taught by the missionaries. We definitely want her to be baptized and I am happy to announce this Saturday she will be baptized into this church! We will be flying to Santo Friday and will miss her baptism but it makes me happy the ward members are awesome enough to take care of things and play a big role while we are gone. There is a big problem in Vanuatu with The Ward relaying too much on missionaries and the Priesthood Men not stepping up. But we really feel it has gotten better as we have worked with them in our ward. Am I sad we are going to be missing the baptism? Yes. But she loves Her Heavenly Father and I know she will feel more of His love as she takes this step. I will never forget her excited, "Yes!!" when we asked her if she wanted to Follow Jesus. Children are such angels! I Love them :) Go Sophie!

The next day we headed to New Caledonia!! Because of the Flight situations we had to go a day early to New Caledonia and arrived on New Cal's P-Day which is on Wednesday. We went with the Zone Leaders to a local Library so they could do emails! Of course, we looked through the emails we already had received and some new ones we got ( :) Thanks for all the support. I love reading anything from your wonderful people) Then suddenly Elder Tetuaiterai (The Tahitian Zone Leader who doesn't speak English and only a little bit of Bislama. We have become pretty good friends even though we can only speak through my broken French or his Broken Bislama, and Cave Man Speech or grunts/Charades) told me to come with him and there was a man in the outside patio of the library teaching Hip-Hop dance classes. Of course, he thought we were just going to "interrupt his dance class by trying to teach but was totally stunned when Elder T. and I started learning the steps with the other students! 

We learned the entire dance and I'm not going to lie.. I got pretty good at it! Momma, you would have been proud! My head was up and I was smiling and performing the whole time. Then we kept dancing and all the students and us had a dance battle until they had to go home (we were dancing with a bunch of teenagers and young kids! So cute!) Everyone (including my companion) were astonished that the white boy could dance. I kept it missionary appropriate of course! I guess they have never seen a white man do a body roll before or Cha-Cha/ Jive! It was great! After all the dancing, he came and asked me tons of questions in French and wanted to know where I had learned to dance. Thankfully my companions who speak fluent French came over and we gave him a Pass Along Card. He looked like a man that would never want to talk to missionaries but through dance the spirit softened his heart. And maybe in 20 years when the missionaries knock on his door he will remember this moment we danced with him and that the missionaries are actually pretty cool! Sometimes it gets hard in missionary work so we dance or in French "Alors On Danse!" The Lord is preparing many for us to teach, don't give up my friends on missions. Heaven is cheering you on. NO EFFORT OUT HERE IS EVER WASTED!!! You are doing amazing:)! 

One more thought for ya!! An Elder told a story in NC Zone conference (He shared it in English which was nice) about how him and his companion loved to share an Easter video which shows the angels proclaiming the tomb is empty. Both him and his companion said it would both be awesome if they were angels proclaiming Jesus Christ does live when suddenly, they both looked up at one another and said the same thing. We are. We are! We are proclaiming that He Lives! We are his angels proclaiming this great truth! Go share your testimony! Live your testimony and be this light on top of a hill. I testify with every fiber of my body and soul that this beautiful Gospel is true! He Does Live!! 

I Love You All so much! :) Grateful for each one of you. Keep rocking it and know I am praying for you. 

Much Love to You,

Elder LaMont/Shark Bait/ The Come Back Kid/ Robin Van Persie Missionary Version/ A Ballroom Dancing Missionary

Health Update for Momma: I did get sick again. It's just the common cold and is only slowing me down slightly! It can't beat me though. I lived through Edema and Dengue! Nothing some Water and sleep won't Heal. Love you Forever my Angel Mother. :) Happy and Almost Healthy!! Your Boy Loves you.