Shark Bait says Farewell to Elder Piol/ MLC Training

Dearest Family and Friends!!! I couldn't be happier to report another great week here from the beautiful islands of the South Pacific! I miss my family and most dear friends but I am grateful for the opportunity to serve. How great the day will be of our reunion! How important the work is that I and so many others are blessed to be apart of. I encourage you to remember the Love Our Heavenly Father has for you. The Love Our Savior Jesus Christ has for you. They live. They desire for your happiness! We find happiness by being obident to their commandments. 

 It is hard to describe the great joy in my life now. Yes, missionary work is hard. Sweat, tears, and even blood are required. But the joy of seeing miracles, the Hand of God in His grrat work, and someone forgetting old lives and traditions to follow their Savior is worth every hardship. I love my mission! Thank you for those who have sacrificed that I might do the Will of Our Father. A special thank you to my two beautiful parents who taught me to love this true gospel. I love you. Thank you. 

This has been a fantastic week! I have been battling an ugly cold (Give respect to viruses. They are small but can make the strongest of men and women fall to their knees) My companions have worked well with me so we can still work but  I am granted rest when needed. Ibuprofen is a great blessing! 

The highlight of this week would be MLC! Or Mission Leadership Training. As Assistants, it provided for a great opportunity to work with the Zone Leaders and STLs of the mission. They are the true MVPs. We had them all fly in so we could have training from the Mission President together. We also got to play games, feel the spirit, and learn how to more prepare for Président Duquette's arrival in less than a month now! My favorite game we played during MLC would be Crab Soccer for obvious reasons. This means we will be having our last Zone Conferences in Santo (Another Island of Vanuatu that I have not been to yet) and New Caldedonia with the Grangers. We will be heading there at the end of this week. We will be in Santo for a day and then the very next day we will be flying to New Caledonia! I am excited!

The crazy thing about the upcoming Zone Conferences we will be having is Elder Piol will not be with us. He is leaving this week to go back to the Philippines leaving Elder Hable and I to stay and be Assistants. We will miss our Golden Trio but are thankful for the things he taught us and the great friend he has always been for us. Elder Hable and I are preparing to do these next trainings without him. He will be missed but I am excitd for the time in which Elder Hable and I will have to work together. We are ready, somewhat prepared, and excited for the journey ahead. And the ability we will have to help President Grangers (these last few moments of his mission) and the chance to work through God's chosen servant in President Duquette. We love The Lord and are ready to give all we can! 

While looking for things for our training coming up I came along this fantastic talk which talks about love. Which I enjoyed very much because I feel the most important thing in all of missionary work is love. You can not do the work of The Lord without love. These are the Words of Elder Massimo De Feo of the Seventy in the latest version of General Conference. I encourage you to read if if you have time!

"Now, dear brothers and sisters, isn’t this what the Savior did? Of course, in an eternal and much broader perspective. But in the midst of His greatest pain, in the garden that night, He was the one who needed help, suffering in a way that we cannot even imagine or comprehend. But in the end, He forgot about Himself and prayed for us until He paid the full price. How was He able to do it? Because of His pure love for the Father, who sent Him, and for us. He loved the Father and us more than Himself.

He paid for something that He had not done. He paid for sins that He had not committed. Why? Pure love. Having paid the full price, He was in the position to offer us the blessings of what He paid for if we would repent. Why did He offer this? Again, and always, pure love.

Pure love is the true sign of every true disciple of Jesus Christ.

President Thomas S. Monson said: “May we begin now, this very day, to express love to all of God’s children, whether they be our family members, our friends, mere acquaintances, or total strangers. As we arise each morning, let us determine to respond with love and kindness to whatever might come our way.”5

Brothers and sisters, the gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of love. The greatest commandment is about love. For me, it’s all about love. The love of the Father, who sacrificed His Son for us. The love of the Savior, who sacrificed all for us. The love of a mother or a father who would give anything for his or her children. The love of those who serve silently and are not known to most of us but are well known to the Lord. The love of those who forgive all and always. The love of the ones who give more than they receive." 

Well, That's all Folks! Know that I love each and everyone of you! I am grateful for this true gospel. I testify of God The Father and of His Son Jesus Christ. I along with missionaries around the world our Their chosen servants called to bring the World It's Truth. We are as the Armies of Helamon!! 

Love to hear about Mom's Grass, Garden, RSL Updates (PS wpuld love World Cup Updates), and to hear the succès of my family and friends! Love you so much! 

Love, 

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

P.S. Found a Diet Coke can and thought of Mom! Your boy loves you!

Shark Bait's Travels To Solomon/ A Drunkman's Juicy Beetle Nut Kiss

Dearest Family and Friends!!! Hello from the Otherside of the world!!! 

Before I go any further, I want to wish Vivian a VERY HAPPY 12TH BIRTHDAY! Shoutout to you Princess/ Lacrosse Legend. I Love you! I am so proud of you. You are beautiful in everyway and one of my very best friends/favorite people! Hope ypur Birthday was one you will never forget! Go Busy V! :) 

I wanted to first start off by apologizing for last week. We did not have an opportunity to email last week because my companions and I traveled with Président Granger and Seour Granger to the Solomon Islands! Another country, which resides very close to Vanuatu but is different in just about everyway. 

I am loving my Mission so much! I don't think I have ever been happier in my life. We work hard and sometimes there are many hard trials but I feel stronger because of Our Savior Jesus Christ. He helps me personally through my many weaknesses. How grateful I am for Him. I testify of Him. He is The Master, Alpha and Omega, and The Only Begotten Of The Eternal Father! I Know My Savior Lives! I owe it to so many who support me, have taught me, and who believe in me. Thank you. May Our Father In Heaven bless you for your righteous hearts.  May you know I love you! I love yo read your emails! I love to hear of your success! 

The Solomon Islands! What a crazy place! It's what we would call ghetto yet it is also very beautiful. We went to the city of Honaria on the island of Guadalcanal. Shout out to my Grandpa Wilkinson! Because we are proud descendants of those who bravely fought against the Japanese Army during World War II in this exact place. Whhoooohhrahhh!! Or as they say in Solomons.... Hem Noa Ia! Solo Na Peh! Barava Nice Tumas!  

In The Solomons they speak the language of Pidgin. This form of Pidgin is also called Pidgin English. Short explanation. Bislama is a mix of English and French. Pidgin is more broken and backwards English. Super Tricky!! Because of my Bislama understanding, however, I am catching on fast. Am I going to start saying I am trilingual, even though its basically English..? Yes. Yes I am. :) 

We gave trainings, went and taught lessons with The Zone Leaders, and got to witness a District Conference. And here and there shop for some cool stuff! In Solmons they have a strange addiction called Beetle Nut. They chew and spit juices of it everywhere. It is highly addictive, gives you a buzz, and is totally against The Word Of Wisdom. Get this though, The juices are blood red!  So, it stains peoples teeth red (making a lot of people look like they just got off the show Twighlight) as well as their lips. Yup! Pretty nasty! 

I had a pretty Journal worthy experience. While handing out Book of Mormons and contacting on the very dusty roads a drunk/Beatle Nut user started walking up to us. As much as I wanted to hand him a Book of Mormon I felt like I should get in The Zone Leaders car. I listened to the feeling and hoped in. He came up to the window smiling and showing his red teeth. Pretty much the most high man I have seen in my entire life. He started kissing the window and left red saliva all over the window. He smiled again and headed off on his way. We got out and did some more contacting! Not the welcoming to the Solomons I wanted! I am very thankful I listened to that feeling. I love my mission. Sure does provide for some crazy times! 

I want to finish by talking about Henry. Henry is an investigator we have been working towards baptism! Because of some intense Vanatu laws about marriage it has looked very unlikely that he would be baptized anytime soon. We have fasted, prayed, and have done our Best To Trust In The Lord despite our crazy Travel schedule and assignment as Assistants. We just don't get as much time in the area as we would hope. It's hard. However, The Lord always provides a way!! Especially through my two amazing companions Elder Piol and Elder Hable, I love them! We were  able to figure out his legal problem and he was baptized this Saturday! He bore a powerful testimony and looked so happy! He told us after his baptism, "I feel Good. I feel as if God is with me now." Do you remember that scripture from D&C 18: 15-16? It talks about how great our joy will be by helping others to come Unto Christ. Elder Hable quoted it and I couldn't but help and think of how happy I really am. Seeing Henry partake of the blessings of this True Gospel fills me with more joy than I ever experienced before my Mission. I love and testify of This Great Work and of Our God! How great is my Joy!!! 

Shout-out to Sister Sanders in Lynchburg! Happy Birthday!!! :) 

And also to my Grandma Nye!!:) Hope it's a wonderful birthday for you both!

Love you all, 

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

A Full Week In The Area!!! Shark Bait's First Travel to NC

Dearest Family and Friends!!! I am once again honored for the small chance I have to report on an amazing week in which I and my two wonderful companions had! To start things off we were really looking forward to this week (because of the business coming) it is our only full week in our area. We hit the ground running and set some high goals! 

Because President and Sister Granger went to New Zealand this week (For The Mission President Seminar) we were told that we would be basically babysitting the mission. Which honestly felt like a lot more pressure than your average toddler. But we were able to manage things without too much drama. 

One of the most crazy experiences of this week would be my first time driving the Assistants which resulted in a car accident. Before I move further with the story... Yes Mom, everyone is fine. I am fine and no one was hurt. We were driving down the main road of Port Vila and a man decided to run a Stop Sign and T-Bone us as we were going through an intersection. The accident happened right next to the Police Station and were perfectly safe thanks to a Loving Father in Heaven who does protect His missionaries. The truck only took some damage to the bottom left side resulting in a large dent and the paint of the vehicle really scratched up.  If you knew me before the mission you would know that I have never been pulled over or been involved in a car accident.... All the above has happened here in Vanuatu! I am not only have some crazy experiences but I am having a crazy awesome mission. This is truly the hardest thing I have ever done but I am loving it more and more as the days go by. 

One of the best parts of this week would be a lesson we had with one of Elder Piol's and Elder Hable Recent Convert's Mom (who allowed her daughter "Nistancy" to be baptized but has not had much interest in the Gospel until now) We were able to get a lesson with her and pulled up a video on our phone about the Restoration of The Gospel. We all had silent prayers trying to do our best to have the spirit with us to soften her heart. After the video we allowed a few moments of silence, answered her questions, and bore our testimonies. The lesson and spirit have increased my testimony. Joseph Smith did see God The Father and His Son Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon testfies of Christ and I add my testimony with the thousands of others who know of its great wisdom. We are so very blessed!!! 

Well, today we are heading to New Caledonia!! I have spent 7 months in Vanuatu Andrew will be leaving for the very first time! We will be giving tranings, going on splits (teaching in French!!), and meeting the special Elders and Sisters of NC! Life is pretty exciting although we will have a lot of work to do. It's not so hard when the work so great and inspired! 

Mother's Day Calls!!! Next Week is the week we have to honor our beautiful Mothers!! Mom, I love you! It is a wonderful day we have to honor woman especially the wonderful mothers that we have. In our mission we will be allowed phone calls on the day of Mother's Day. This will be Sunday for you and a Monday for me. Which means it is my P-Day! It is a requirement that you need to call me. I do know this might be expensive and I am sorry about that but if we get to talk I will be super excited. I wish even more that we could Skype but I will be thankful for what I have. Here are the phone calls. Just call anytime. If the time doesn't work you csm always call back! 

Love you all so much!! :) I hope you all have had a wonderful week. 

So much Love!! 

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

Missed you All. Sorry I could not email last week. Shark Bait big news!

My dear family and friends!! I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to write some of my feelings and keep you updated on the wonderful work, which is happening here in the beautiful paradise of the Vanuatu Port Vila Mission. 

Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to be able to write you last week but I am grateful now for the small opportunity, which I have been given to share some pretty amazing/crazy experiences. 

Transfers this last week has been crazy. President Granger has taken me out of Zone Leader and has told me he feels inspired to put me as an Assistant to the President. I have been placed with my two new companions Elder Piol and Elder Hable. Elder Piol is a seasoned Veteran, as he will be going home very soon. The role that President wants us to play is Elder Hable and I take over things and if we have anything we can not solve on our own then we have Elder Piol to help us.  This means I will be traveling with my new companions (and the Mission President) throughout the 3 different countries of the Mission. Different islands of Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and the Solomon Islands to give training, I will be trusted to help train the Zone Leaders, and will be teaching in all 3 languages of our Mission (French, Bislama, and Pidgin) We have a lot of responsibility and roles to fulfill. Despite this extra work I try to remind myself of the wise words, which come from the White Handbook, explaining that an Assistant to the President is no different than another missionary. We all have the same call but different assignments. I want to stay humble and teachable. I desirous to teach with love and learn from all those I will have the ability to meet. In answer to your question Dad, we will not go everywhere with President Granger but most of the time we will join him in his travels. We have a lot of places we will be going for Zone Conference this upcoming month. And when President Duquet (the new mission President) gets here he is going to want to hop on a plane with us to visit every place in the mission. We will be going to New Caledonia next week (So excited!) 

The new area is wonderful! The Assistant's area is called Nambaru. It is actually an old area I had as a Travel Elder. Many of the members came rushing up to greet me once again. My heart is full of gratitude to be able to work with the wonderful people of Nambaru again. This week we have been in the Office a lot of the week. We had several meetings with President in regards to an emergency transfer we needed to make. We were also able to help President with the new missionaries who came in. Although it was difficult to be out of the office for so long it provided a wonderful opportunity to meet new missionaries and get them excited about the amazing work we get to be a part of. The ability to work with President Granger has once again shown me how inspired The Lord's chosen servants really are. Trust in those God calls. They are not perfect. They try their best and are inspired. I know God lives and talks to those He has chosen. 

Before leaving my old area (Black Sands) I was able to witness a miracle. I woke up one morning on an exchange with a District Leader (One of my old companions Elder Burbank, who were help teaching to become the next Zone Leader for when I left) and felt a small feeling that we should go see a recent convert of ours. This recent Convert is a young girl named Christina Hillaman. For the longest time she was not allowed to be baptized because her Father is very much against the church. I am so glad I listened to this small feeling. When we arrived at her house the mother was practically in tears, telling us that she had been praying the missionaries would come. She speedily brought us into the house to show us to Christina's Father who is very sick. He asked us for a blessing which we were happy to give. He took a lesson from us as well and we were able to set a baptism date. The Lord works through amazing ways and I testify He is involved with His work. The family gifted me a custom Vanuatu Matt before I left. I love them and I love The Lord and His inspired work. 

Hope you are all doing amazing! I am doing fantastic! Although I miss my family and loved ones I have never been happier. I LOVE this work. 

So much love to all of you, 

Elda LaMont/Shark Bait/ Island Boy/ 

PS. Keaton you’re a stud! I love you and Luci! Good luck with the new job! Cheering you on from all the way across the ocean.

Shark Bait's Exchanges with The APs and Mama Fred's Baptism!!

Dearest Family and Friends,

Again I am more than excited to tell you of the wonderful week in which I have had on the beautiful island paradise of Vanuatu. It has been an incredible week with challenges which have brought me new incites to this beautiful gospel and have blessed my life. 

One of the very best parts of this week would be the exchange I got to have with the Assistants to the President. I was put with Elder Hable who was able to teach me many things. He is a very humble and powerful teacher and I enjoyed becoming more his friend. He taught me more about the importance of Companionship Study and how we can find answers to the soul from the Book of Mormon. We had a powerful study of the Book of Mormon before being able to go in his area of Nambaru (which actually was once my area my first transfer here as a Travel Elder) Throughout the many lessons we tried to have we used what we learned from the Book of Mormon. It had amazing and powerful results! We were even able to set a baptism date with one of his investigators and find new precious souls to teach! I testify of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the peace, light, and happiness it can bring to our life if we will just open it. Our Heavenly Father wants to talk to us and this is how he does it along with his chosen leaders. I loved what Elder Hable was able to teach me about exchanges. He followed the White Handbook to give me specific and direct things I do well and what things I could work on. He is eager to help me with a new leadership role that President wants me to work towards. I am so glad I got to work with him! The Lord continues to bless me. 

Another wonderful blessing of this week would be the baptism of one of our investigators Lamala Fred. She is the mother of our Recent Convert Nicole Fred. We are so excited for her and have seen the amazing blessing the Atonement and Gospel of Jesus Christ has brought to her and her family. How my soul is filled with joy to see her and her Daughter come into the fold of God. I was unable to attend her baptism since we were on our exchange with the Assistants. But my companion Elder Hardy said that as she came out of the waters of baptism with tears of joy. I was told that she even shared a powerful testimony during her baptismal service. This Gospel is true. Is it not amazing how this perfect and everlasting Gospels blesses us so much individually and as a family! We are so blessed! 

I love you all. I pray for you. I work hard for The Lord and for you. Keep enjoying life and smiling!

Sorry, no pictures for this week. I forgot my camera cord back at our house! Next week for sure!

So much love to each and everyone of you.

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

Pictures from Zone Conference

The Miracle of Thelma's Baptism Shark Bait Hits the big One Nine!

Dearest Family and Friends, 

I am so very thankful for this opportunity to write and share some of the thoughts of such a fantastic week! Many great things made up one of the best weeks of my mission! I almost do not even know where to start!

One of the great things for this week would be Zone Conference. Although planning out Zone Conference is not the easiest thing for Elder Hardy and I we had a fun time. We had the Tanna Zone come as well so we had to plan for more Elders! Zone Conference really was amazing! Elder Hardy and I also were given the opportunity to give some training. We came up with a pretty good idea, which we thought turned into a decent training! We had a lot of help from our prayers! For our training we called up two Elders. We had one Elder extend out his hand and the other keep his hand close to his body. We invited missionaries to explain some of the hardships in which they have had while on their missions. As they shared some of the trials in which they have faced we started adding books and weight to each of the Elder's hands. The Elder who had his arm far from his body really started to struggle to hold the weight of the books. The Elder who had kept his weight close to his body still had a fair amount of weight to hold but looked just fine. We did our best to use this to testify of the Savior. As missionaries, and sons and daughters of Our Heavenly Father we are as the arms of The Lord. We at times are asked to take on some heavy loads, of all sizes. When we are close to our Savior He promises to make our burdens light. When we do not accept his help the weight is unbearable at times. I testify of the truthfulness of this important eternal doctrine. The Savior and Master Jesus Christ is ready to help make our burdens light. I pray you have had an opportunity to think more heavily upon the love He has for you this special season. 

The next wonderful part of the week! The baptism of Thelma Jack and my 19th Birthday! What a day! Thelma is a miracle. There are times as a missionary when it gets hard and you ask yourself why you are here. It is beautiful people like Thelma who remind me quickly of the importance of this great work. Thelma has read the Book of Mormon and has come to know of the reality of the Love which Our Father In Heaven has for her. She has changed to follow the Savior Jesus Christ. I see the light of The Holy Ghost fill her soul with joy. Watching her come out of the waters of baptism makes me so thankful for this great plan of happiness. All things are possible through God! My soul is filled with gratitude for what Our Father in Heaven has given Thelma and all of us who are willing to accept his divine plan! What a great life!

Thank you to all of you, who have reached out to wish me a Happy Birthday! Thank you thank you. You have brought me so much joy! I am truly blessed and I am loving my mission. I know my family is blessed for their sacrifice. I love them and all who have helped me. Know that I think of you often and love you all.

So much love, 

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

Elder LaMont, Thelma, and Elder Hardy

Happy Birthday treat!

Shark Bait Helps Plan Zone Conference and The Miracle of Thelma

Hello to my Dear Family and Friends!!

I am again more than happy to report that it has been another fantastic week! I am so grateful for the time, which I have to reside in the beautiful islands of Vanuatu and with these even more beautiful people! I am blessed further to have so many family and friends cheering me on.

This week has been a busy and we have done a lot of contacting looking for more people to teach. As our dear Mission President says the work can not start unless you find someone to teach. We have tried this week to do just that. We have had much success and have found new people. We found a a large family from the island of "Tongwa" and they are so kind. Elder Hardy and I saw a new road in our area covered in thick Island Bush (or grass) and decided to adventure. We were not sure what to say to this large group of people we found in this village. Our favorite thing to do is to make them laugh... Which Elder Hardy and I are pretty good at doing. We have found we can laugh with the people and love them it makes the work even better!

While contacting down the Pot hole invested dirt roads (surrounded by beautiful Island vegetation and flowers)  of part of our area called Sweti we meet two boys named Rico and Junior. When they first saw us about a week ago they asked for a Book of Mormon (or Buk Blong Momon) We were surprised but gladly gave them one. We decided to follow up and teach them about this special and true book. We had a great lesson with them! They are actually huge fans of Soccer! They asked me if I knew who Paul Pogba, Anotine Griezmann, Neymar, Christiano Ronaldo, and many others. They were shocked when I told them yes and we had a great talk about the beautiful game of Soccer! When we taught them we included as much soccer terminology as we could into the lesson.

I have a testimony of this great and Restored church. It is watched over by the good Shepard, who is The Lord Jesus Christ. Through His living Prophet Russell M. Nielson he watches over his flock and desires all to come unto Him. It is my great privilege and honor to be about His work. The work, which is most important. It has been a great Easter Holiday to reflect on all that He has done for us.

I love you all so much. Thank you for all the wonderful birthday wishes which have made my day and already my week.

Love you all so much,

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

Thank you so so much for the wonderful package from home!!! I love you so much!

I was reunited with a dear friend named Elder Bybee. He is going home soon and this mission is going to miss him.