Hello world!

Hello world! Here are some snippets of the life of Elder LaMont in the past week.

In district meeting we read the story of Jacob and Sherem in chapter 7 of Jacob. Jacob has succeeded as a ruler of the Nephite nation following his elder brother Nephi. Sherem, an antichrist, confronts Jacob to declare Jacob's prophetic teachings blasphemy. Jacob describes his feelings in verse 5: "He had hope to shake me from the faith, notwithstanding the many revelations and the many things which I had seen concerning these things; for I truly had seen angels, and they had ministered unto me. And also, I had heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto me in very word, from time to time; wherefore, I could not be shaken."

I look to Jacob's example as Satan stirs the hearts of men to anger against me. When they shake their fists, hiss and spurn, I remember the testimony of Jacob: "I truly had seen angels... and I had heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto me." Though I haven't ever seen a heavenly being, I know they walk the Earth and help us in God's work. I have heard the Lord's words through His prophets and a spiritual confirmation that this is His gospel.

Elder Tippetts and I spent a few hours of our afternoon this week cutting some grass for Helen Wallace. Helen has recently joined the church. She is eighty-five years old and lives by herself. It's pretty impressive to me she still takes care of her house and yard fairly well. Helen was very careful and sure to direct us in every aspect of the work, but the trouble is she talks so quietly when I'm thiry feet away and the ambience of the lawnmower is heavy in the air. It made for some frustration on her part and it was pretty funny.

Another service project Elder Tippetts and I were involved with involved moving a new family into the ward by the name of Hampton. I found the Elder's Quorum President is an anesthesiologist! It was really exciting to ask him some questions about his work.

We had some trouble with Fernando. A representative at Fernadndo's  recovery house has politely informed Elder Tippetts and I he is not authorized to receive visits from any proselytors. Eh, at least the J-Dubs won't get him.

Such great news! We have been teaching Kay Fralin for a few weeks now. She has come to church two weeks in a row much to the surprise of my companion. In the past transfer, Kay was not progressing well at all. It seems after they gave her some time and a Book of Mormon Kay had a moment to think about the message. We've most recently talked to her about removing coffee from her life so that she may live in harmony with the word of wisdom to enjoy the blessings of health and happiness that come. Kay is committed and so we ask most humbly for prayer in her behalf.

We were so happy to have Kay to come to church. In the middle of Sunday school, we had yet another opportunity to have an investigator come to church. This required us to attend about five hours of church meetings! I don't know how you do it, missionaries of dense Mormon population. It was a neat opportunity to have two hours of testimony meeting.

Just last night I was awaken by a horrible noise coming from outside that sounded like gunshots. Yelling, glass shattering, and a shout, "Call the police!" We still aren't sure what exactly happened. A police officer came to our door at about 11:30pm asking if we had seen anything. Unfortunately we were clueless. We will be asking around the complex to obtain more information, but as of this moment it is a mystery!

Here is a picture of Elder Colton embracing me as we were reunited. Elder Colton was one of my two companions in the MTC. We are now finally serving in the same zone.

This is what district meeting looks like when you have two sets of sister missionaries in your district.

In a dinner with the Forgey (four-ghee) family, I was outfitted in Ravenclaw robes and equipped with the Elder Wand! Get it? *ELDER* Wand!

Pureteéd Mac and cheese can make for great broccoli cheese soup. I botched my Mac and cheese, but instead of throwing it out I got creative. Here is the result.

  

It was really good!

Here is a picture of me reading the Book of Mormon...

Here is a picture of me FINISHING the Book of Mormon!!

I finally have done it! Cover to cover! It took way more time than it should have, but I can now say I have read the Book of Mormon by myself!

I love you, my people! Thank you for your support, love, and prayers. May heaven smile upon you.

Wichita Take: 2

Wichita Take: 2

This week has begun from helping the housing coordinators move a bunch of missionary furniture into a storage unit on preparation day. I want to switch them a table when Elder Tippetts leaves, so I need to be in good graces with them! Later the same preparation day, Elder Tippetts and I meet a rather interesting fellow named Chuck. We gave him a Book of Mormon right before heading in for the day as he was sitting in his car with a few buddies. Chuck is the very first person we see the next day, trying to break into his car. He locked himself out. Lucky for him, I've broken into a lot of vehicles on my mission. I ran back into the apartment to grab a few tools, hustled back out and put everything into place. With a little help, Chuck armed himself with a wire hanger and a few seconds later, POP goes the weasel, he's in. He appreciated the help and suddenly became a little more interested in our message!

It's now Tuesday so district meeting is supposed to take place, but the church building is all locked up for cleaning. I took the district to the park in a nice shady spot after strapping a whiteboard onto our Chevy Malibu and we were there for the entirety of our meeting. It was a really great time. By nightfall, I slowly became aware I had been attacked by oak mites during meeting. I found rather quickly am highly allergic. I'd share pictures of the bites but I'll have you know oak mites bite in dark moist areas of the body. They are relentless. I figure you'd rather be spared of further detail.

Although we had a progressing investigator move out of our area (who may or may not be stark drug crazy), God gave us another! Elder Tippetts and I met Fernando Sorensen! He's a cholo recently out of the slammer, but otherwise a god-fearing man. As we met with Fernando, it became apparent he loves the feeling of the Spirit. Our meeting with him went rather long because he stalled us from leaving by sporadically reading random bible verses.

Soon after this experience I met Kay Fralin (Fray-Lin). Elder Tippetts and his previous companion have worked with her a few weeks previous to my arrival. She's so funny. Kay anxiously awaits our arrival, retrieves her Book of Mormon and asks we say a prayer and hold hands, sitting in a circle around her table. We receive a lecture of staying safe in this crazy neighborhood then we read a chapter from the Book of Mormon.

Saturday night Elder Tippetts and I meet a man named Chris Cummings we stopped as he was walking his dogs. Chris has met with the sisters in the area in the past, but after he broke up with his girlfriend and receiving a gunshot wound on separate occasions, Chris prioritized in keeping his life together. He's more stable now so we talked about Jesus Christ restoring His church on the Earth again through the prophet Joseph Smith. Chris expressed to us his concern whether fighting for your life is a sin if you hurt another. Chris asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon. I handed him an open copy while frantically searching in another copy for the verse about Captain Moroni writing the title of liberty. During my search Chris had begun to read aloud from the open copy I gave him, "And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a pice thereof, and wrote upon it--In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children..." My search stopped abruptly. I accidentally had given Chris the exact page he needed without realizing it! I call that a miracle. Go Jesus. 

Ah, Wichita is a really fun place. The sisters have an investigator named Mike that insisted on feeding us. He made a TON of food and we ate it in the backyard. Mike is from Iran. He had a former LDS boss that helped him from becoming a simple technician to an engineer for Boeing aircraft. The office elders joined us for the meal per MIke's request.

Above: Sister Thompson, Mike, Elder Benziger, Elder Tippetts, Sister Curran

Below: Elder LaMont, Elder Saari (sorry)

Listening to Mike's stories after the big meal.

At the house of a member, playing SPOONS with the kids before dinner was ready.

Elder Tippetts' face of defeat when a prank doesn't work.

A member's makeshift Father's Day card to his father not yet sent.

A sign hanging in the mission medical coordinator's office. Funnier when you're on the other end of the shot...

Much love to my friends and family from Wi-Chee-Tuh <3

The Fresh Elder of Bel Aire

The Fresh Elder of Bel Aire

Happy Father's Day to the fathers in my life and fathers throughout the world. The love that a good father feels for his children reflects the greater love that our Heavenly Father feels for us! How grateful I am for fathers and for families!

Transfers are upon us, ladies and gents. If you've not yet heard, I'm in Wichita once again. My new companion Elder Tippets is a Sky View High graduate of the year 2015, as I am. We have plenty to talk about.

Check out this vehicle I saw on the way to Wichita!

"Somebody call the WHAAAMBULANCE!"

Does anybody know how much of a nightmare it is to have a glass table for a dining table? It's the worst. You can't ever keep it clean for long. It can't be done with water because you'll leave streaks. Windex is your best friend. For the longest time in Lawrence, my companions and I had such a table. An opportunity to rid ourselves of this table came when the housing coordinators made the long trip to Lawrence from Wichita. We traded with a perfectly ordinary wood table and I became very content.

 

The bit of furniture pictured here, circled in red, is the table I reference. This picture was taken some time ago in Lawrence during the spring season while Elder Daly was my companion.

I walk into my new apartment with Elder Tippetts and see this:

THE TABLE! WHAT THE-?

"Elder Tippetts! What is this table doing here?"

"Huh? Oh, I grabbed that from the housing coordinators. They took it out of Lawrence and were about to throw it in a storage unity. I'm so glad I saw it. When I served in Lawrence, I had that very same table and now it's here. I love this table!"

This table is haunted. It followed me here. I hate it. Unfortunately, my companion loves it. Fortunately, he goes home next month so the table goes right out with him.

Anyway, the apartment in which we live has undergone massive cleaning efforts! It's really tiring.

But after a ton of work, I finally felt content to share some pictures of what I'm living in.

In mine and Elder Tippet's apartment complex, there are a lot of dog owners. Especially our neighbors. It's real easy for me to talk to anybody that loves animals, and real easy to bring Christ into the conversation. This week we contacted a lot of individuals taking their dogs out. Sometimes it is easier for me to remember the names of the dogs the investigators own rather than the names of the investigators themselves. I think my baby sister Vivian would be rather proud we are so similar. Some of the investigators we have include Renee Reynolds, Ember Elliot, and Lillian Elliot. Each of them were found in like manner.

The members are great and the ward is enormous! It's crazy being in a family ward after serving in a small YSA for a few months. The entire chapel is abuzz with the din of children and all sorts of noise, comparatively.

One of the families that fed us this past week claims I have a celebrity look alike. What do you think?

This part of Wichita is no exception to the crazy sort of people that live in Kansas, but we love them. I'm so happy to be a messenger of Christ's gospel to my brothers and sisters. I know it is true and I am forever changed from it. Thank you always for your love, support, and prayers.