All posts by Chris

OCTOBER 21 , 2024 LOS AROMOS, QUILPUE (WEEK 2)

October 21, 2024 Chris Leave a comment

Wow this week flew by! It was very eventful, slow on a couple days and other than that just a blast!! The language is still hard! I feel like I’m trying to understand ancient Arabic but other than that it’s great 😅! Anyways the week was awesome! Here’s a few points from the week!

Tuesday:

I had a good day! We spent the day contacting some people that the members gave us which turned out to be pretty successful! We then had a few upsets in the day which were pretty unfortunate! 1 of our friends we’ve been trying to get to the temple found out he wasn’t going to be able to recite the priesthood! It was trash but we were able to make up for our sadness with an Alfajor the size of my face hahaha! After him we tried to put 2 other friends on date for baptism and they both didn’t want to commit so that was also trash!We ended the day in this member’s home and they gave us tons of pie and milkshakes haha it was the best! After we went home!

Wednesday:

We had a Zone Conference which was super fun! It was my first here in Chile and I was really anxious to see how it would differ from the Zone Conference in Spokane! It was mega different haha but it was still spiritual and a great time! After we went to work and found this 12 ish year old boy named Lucas and he is the grandson of a recent convert! He is extremely interested in the gospel which is amazing and he’s just really excited to learn more so we will get Him baptized! Later in the day a random dude walked up to me and said I am a Jew and I was very confused and he said yes you are a jew and he said “GEW” you’re a “Geeewww” and I was so confused my comp said he’s like he’s trying to spell JEW and he said that I’m a jew because I was wearing a purple tie hahaha idk where it came from but yeah that was a funny experience haha! Anyways, it was a great day!

Thursday:

This day was great it went very very fast but also slow hahah! We Had some crazy things happen this day haha to start out we had some crazy experiences with dogs trying to eat us and we were trying to get away but this 1 dog would not back down! My comp and I had a rock in our hand just in case we needed to use it and he started coming at us and I chucked it super hard next to it to try and scare him and it made him way more angry! He then started sprinting at us and then my comp just stopped and starting acting all big and scared him away which was clutch!

After we were walking back and in the park there were these 2 people full on making out! These people here are crazy and don’t care about privacy! My comp has seen some crazy things!!! This day ended with just more contacting and sharing the gospel!

Friday:

This day was great! We met this new guy who’s very excited for the gospel! We taught him the Plan of Salvation and he was like “wow this really makes sense” we were like let’s good he’s interested!!! So that was amazing! After we just continued doing the regular missionary work and the day went pretty fast! After the day was over we stopped by this members house and he made us this super good hamburger which made me very happy because I was starved! These people only eat lunch which is crazy for a starving giant hahaha! Anyways it was a great day!

Saturday:

Idk why but I guess in my journal Saturday isn’t here but anyways it was a great day just contacted and met new people! We invited a ton of people to come to church and was trying to get people to come because our branch is very small and we’re trying to grow it!! The day went very fast and I remember just feeling very excited for Sunday to take the sacrament!!

Sunday:

Sunday was a wonderful day!! Started out With the sacrament! We had a bunch of our friends in teaching come to church which made my day!!! After I found out about Kaden Hernandez back at home was going to be baptized and I freaked out! I was in the middle of this member lesson and my phone was blowing up so I checked and I read it and I was like yesssss!!! So that was awesome! Afterwards, we went to a member’s home for a family home evening thingy and we were able to get some referrals from them which were amazing and they taught me and my comp how to make this super good Chilean bread! We cooked it in a wood burning oven which was super cool as well!! The day flew by but was super fun!!!

So that’s a little recap from my week! It went fast but I’m very excited for next week! Pray we can get Niferson, Sofia, and Lucas on date for baptism this week! I love yall have an amazing week!

Elder Zachary LeBaron

OCTOBER 21, 2024 AVERA, RAIATEA (WEEK 9)

October 21, 2024 Chris Leave a comment

WOW ALREADY LAST FULL WEEK OF OCTOBER! Time is truly flying by! It’s been great this last week with my companion Elder Durham! He’s quite the character and he’s always making me laugh with his video game references and just random references to funny things! We are definitely getting closer and he’s opening up more with me which has been better and how we are both learning from each other! But yeah super amazing week!

Now for some Highlights from this week:

– We invited our friend to be baptized and she said yes and now really preparing her for the November 2nd! So we are helping her to accomplish that!

– We then had some really good visits with our members this week and we have been really been working hard with them to help strengthen our relationship with them and have more of them who are able to help us with our amis!

– Soirée Danse/Talent Show with the Société de Secours (Relief Society) and it was amazing! It was a bunch of dances from all over French Polynesia and it was quite a beautiful experience!

That’s about it for the week but it flew by and again didn’t have much time so it’s shorter this week! Had wonderful beautiful miracles and I know that God is in our most smallest details and when we look for them we can see that He’s always there! Keep finding joy in this beautiful gospel and know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are always there for us and no matter what they answer our prayers! I love you all SO MUCH!!!! And miss you all like crazy!!! Till next week! Beaucoup d’amour! Ua here au ia outou! Faaitoito!💙

-Elder LeBaron☺️🤙🏻🌺

Elder Zachary LeBaron

OCTOBER 14, 2024 AVERA, RAIATEA (WEEK 8)

October 14, 2024 Chris Leave a comment

What a week! So much has been happening lately on my mission! Hitting a year out on the mission everything again has changed and again my focus and how I think has changed! It’s amazing to see how missions change and sculpt us! I’m so grateful for it and now sadly everything will start being my last so I’ve really been taking everything in and now more than ever before giving my all and have an energy that really came from the General Conference of truly helping everyone know that the Second Coming is coming and that we must prepare now and there’s no better time now then to come to Him and partake of His endless Joy and forgiveness!

Now for some Highlights from this week:

– Started the week with a split (unexpected) and was with two greenies Elder Durham with me and then Elder Larson who is normally with DZ mā(our Zone Leaders)! It was crazy! But miracle we invited someone to be baptized and she said yes so MIRACLES!!!

– Had one day where all our lessons canceled and so we just did a whole bunch of visits and it was crazy but it went great and many of them were so grateful we had stopped by! Even with HURRICANE RAIN AND WIND! It was pretty scary our power went out and our service but we are doing good now!

– Interviews with President went WONDERFUL! I love meeting with him and having that time with him! He’s amazing and he came in person for the islands because of our zone conference and yeah it was a wonderful time seeing him and just talking with him!

– ZONE CONFERENCE!!!! So much fun and wow so powerful! I came with many questions and all of them were answered! It was very special! Then we played a little game and I was going crazy on all the conference talk questions and got them all right! So that was fun! Then got everyone to sing happy birthday to me because of all the birthdays in October! Then got to see SŒUR HARRYMAN!! It had been so long and sadly it was her last conference but we got to be together and we literally predicted it! So yeah and got to see Sœur Snow and Elder Granger and with Elder Granger now that he’s DZ(Zone Leader) he did the training and he did great!

– BAPTISM WITH CONRAD! Our ami Conrad got baptized this week and it was the first baptism all year so it was amazing and so many people came to support him and he was so happy! Such a special day! It was also his birthday so even more special!

That’s about it for this week but yeah it went great and truly again flew by! Time really is speeding up and it’s crazy! From my studies this week I received a direct answer to my question of how I can still have strength this last year of my mission and as I was reading President Emily Belle Freeman’s talk she said, “Learn how priesthood ordinances and covenant promises will allow God’s power to flow into your life with greater efficacy, working in and through you, empowering and equipping you to reach your full purpose and potential.” Once I read that it was amazing to see that each of us has this power so readily there to take upon us but we must search for it and see that it’s there for us to reach our full potentials! He is there to endow us with power and give us a force an eternal force or celestial force that helps us through all of our moments of difficulty! Turn to Him always! He’s there to give us this power! I love you all SO MUCH!!!! And miss you all like crazy!!! Till next week! Beaucoup d’amour! Ua here au ia outou! Faaitoito!💙

-Elder LeBaron☺️🤙🏻🌺

Elder Tanner LeBaron

OCTOBER 14 , 2024 LOS AROMOS, QUILPUE (WEEK 1)

October 14, 2024 Chris Leave a comment

Wow this week has been the most eventful week of my life! So many cool experiences, and new adjustments that’s for sure! I was able to make it Chile without Any major problems which was really nice! I was able to meet my mission leaders which was super amazing too! I had a blast this week and had some crazy adventures!! I I am going to now give a few points of what happened this past week!

• I was able to make it to Chile and eat my first meal of non CCM food hahah

• I Met my trainer and he is the best! We get along super well, and he’s been a missionary for a long time so he’s got a lot of experience which us a huge blessing!

• I got to my area which is called Los Aromas, and it is basically just a strait up hill with a million houses which is the best for missionary work!!

• I was finally able to meet the famous dogs of South America hahah they are rabid monsters hahaha they just want to eat everyone! I was able to learn the technique of throwing a fake rock at them and they run away

• I found out that Chile only eats lunch and not dinner so I’m basically starved everyday hahah, but the lunches are amazing!!

• I helped an old man shove his earwax and mold hearingaide in his head while it didn’t even fit and it was a weird situation to be in hahah, basically it’s a long story but he just walked up and asked for help and I tried my hardest and nothing was working hahaha and then a second later I looked back and he was just smoking a cigarette with the hearingaide just hanging out of his ear hahaha

• The Spanish is basically impossible understand hahah, everyday does get easier with trying to understand but at the beginning it sounded like reformed Egyptian hahah

• We had some crazy comments by all the locals! They say we’re from either the CIA, Germans, Russians, or that I looked Chilean, so basically I look like I’m from every country hahah

• The roads here are named after every Country so technically I’ve visited the whole world!

• We went into the poorest part of our Sector and it is called El Sauce, they are basically just a huge group of immigrants and homeless people thag build their own homes and legally they can live there and be residents if they live on the land for 5 years or something like that! So there’s a ton of Haitians, Colombians, Venezuelans, and then old homeless Chileans! It’s a super fun town because they just play African music and there’s little kids playing soccer and it’s so fun!

• There was a guy singing mariachi music in the streets which was so cool! The whole town basically comes alive on Saturday night

• There’s crazy gang cowboys riding horses in the street! They speak a crazy language that doesn’t sound like Spanish and they try and kiss anyone they see, they call you over in a weird language and then they try and kiss you which is very weird! They almost did it to my companion hahah

These are just a few points from this past week! There’s a lot that goes on but these are just a few highlights! Anyways I’m very excited for next week! It’s going to be a blast! I’m excited for the crazy adventures that next week brings!! Anyways I love yall and I’m thinking about yall everyday!! Nos Vemos!!

Elder Zachary LeBaron

OCTOBER 7, 2024 AVERA, RAIATEA (WEEK 7)

October 7, 2024 Chris Leave a comment

HAPPY YEAR MARK AND BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! What a week and weekend! I hit my year mark exactly October 8th which will be tomorrow but yeah it’s crazy how fast time is going! It’s literally getting faster! I’m so grateful for this wonderful year I’ve had as a missionary and wow missions are hard and yet so rewarding! The lives I’ve seen change are beautiful and truly this church is a church of joy and as Elder Kearon said in General Conference “Welcome To The Church Of Joy”! What a time to be living in and how much excitement we have to be members of the Church of Christ! It was truly a personal and birthday gift to me this weekend of feeling the Savior’s love saying I know you Elder LeBaron and I have you right in my hands!! Keep giving your all!!

Now for some Highlights from this week:

– Transfers were Tuesday so sadly Elder Tenney left me and so I got to be with Faaroa Mā (Elder Chadaz and Elder Jefferies) for a day and it was great!

– Picked up my Greenie/New Missionary Thursday and he’s great! It’s Elder Durham and he’s from Dallas, Texas and yeah crazy to be training him! I feel inadequate but luckily I got the Savior there to help me know that I can do this and help him to be the missionary the Savior needs him to be!

– MY BIRTHDAY!!! Such a normal day or so I thought… Here I was thinking about man it’s going to be a sad birthday but miracle after miracle made it a birthday to never forget! First waking up to watch General Conference! Then being surprisingly invited to a breakfast with a family! Then lunch for me with my favorite family the Tarati’s whom I love so much!

– GENERAL CONFERENCE WEEKEND!!!! SO AMAZING! I received so many answers to my questions and it was all just beautiful! What Joy and Peace we can have in our lives thanks to our Savior Jesus Christ!

That’s about it for this week! It flew by and was crazy but great! Been feeling a lot of stress because of training and wanting to be the best for my new companion! Then watching the conference how much it talked about finding joy and just loving helped me to see that’s all that matters and that all I can control! But yeah sorry it’s kinda a small Email but I didn’t have much time today to write it! I love you all SO MUCH!!!! And miss you all like crazy!!! Till next week! Beaucoup d’amour! Ua here au ia outou! Faaitoito!💙

-Elder LeBaron☺️🤙🏻🌺

Elder Tanner LeBaron

OCTOBER 3 , 2024 MÉXICO MTC (WEEK 5)

October 3, 2024 Chris Leave a comment

This week flew by! I can’t belive that this is my last preperation day! I have learned so much being here! My Spanish is getting better each day and we have all realized how real the gift of tongues are!!! On Friday I came up with this composition to “We’ll bring the world his truth”! After we played a game called wave lengths with the whole district and it was soooo fun!!! We found out all of us think the same haha! Anyways I also saw my friend from school Noah Gibons! We started Solo Solo Español which means we don’t speak English at all! It was weird adjusting but now I feel like I’m understanding what everyone saying and how to communicate which is very nice!! The gift of tongues is real! This Elder in my house said that he was already fluent coming to the MTC and when he saw how fast we are learning the language he was extremely shocked because it took him over 11 years of full immersion to learn Spanish and it’s taking us a couple of weeks!! None of us our fluent but we are all definitely doing good which is a huge blessing from God! On Sunday I was able to take the song “We’ll bring the world his truth”, the one I composed and we all sung it as a district for our last sacrament meeting here which was really cool! Also which was fun was later that day the MTC President asked our district to recite 3 Nephi 5:13 in Spanish by memory to the whole MTC! It was scary but fun haha! During 1 of our workshops we had a fire alarm go off which was weird! We all thought it wasn’t a drill so people were like ahhhh hahah anyways someone accidentally pulled the alarm so it was all good but still crazy hahaha! Yesterday I played volleyball with this elder in my District because he is extremely good and I had him teach me as much as he can so I could get better and I’ve been able to play with him almost everyday for the past 5 weeks which has been awesome but anyways yesterday this elder from Hawaii came to play with us and he is the best volleyball player at the CCM these elders were saying and he was so cool! He taught me how to approach a spike properly and a bunch of other things! He was really cool and humble, and insane at volleyball! Anyways it was a super good week! It went very fast but was very fun! I’m super excited to go to the field and meet some amazing people! Never forget that God is in the details of our!! I love you all and look forward to next week!

Elder Zachary LeBaron

SEPTEMBER 30, 2024 AVERA, RAIATEA (WEEK 6)

September 30, 2024 Chris Leave a comment

TRANSFER WEEK AND I’M GOING TO BE A TRAINER!!! I freaked out! I can’t believe that I’ll be training a new missionary! It’s crazy to think I’ve been out long enough to do that and that I know I’m in the Lord’s hands and that he’ll help me help my new companion but yeah definitely had a little panic attack but I know it’ll all work out! I’m not sure who it is because they like to make it a surprise just till the day he comes so I’m excited to meet him Thursday! So Elder Tenney my companion now will be transferred to Tautira the presqu’île in Tahiti! But yeah crazy!!!

Now for some Highlights from this week:

– Went to the Airport to drop off Elder Tenney to do My Plan in Tahiti which is what missionaries do at the end of their mission to have a plan to get integrated back into life after the mission and started an exchange with Elder Ockey who is our DZ(Dirigeant de Zone or Zone Leader)

– Miracle with Oehani and her mom we had a lesson with them this week and this is a family we’ve been teaching and the lesson was so powerful and they came to church this week and we’ve been trying since I’ve gotten here to get them to church and they finally came and were so happy and we were too and I imagine Heavenly Father was even more happy! It was beautiful!

– I had 2 exchanges this week so my second one was with Elder Jefferies who is a new missionary and we went to his secteur and wow it was kinda difficult leading a secteur I don’t know and with a missionary that doesn’t speak completely fluent yet so it was crazy but it was an amazing day together and he taught me SO much!

– TRANSFER CALLS→ SO… my companion Elder Tenney is leaving which is sad because our time together flew by! But now I’ll be receiving a new new missionary like I’LL BE A TRAINER!!! It’s CRAZY!!! I can’t believe I’ll be training this transfer and have a brand new missionary here to experience all this beautifulness!!! So kinda nervous but I know this is what the Lord needs me to do! So all I can do is trust Him and learn together with my new companion! It’s also a surprise for who it is they don’t tell you till the day of so that it’s a surprise for the both of us! So Thursday of this week he gets here to Raiatea!!

That’s about it for this week but yeah it absolutely flew by and I can’t believe it’s another week! Something I learned this week in my studies again is what I learned weeks ago but to do a little refreshing of what I said. It was about not asking why something happens but what I can learn from it! It’s so beautiful and I’ve really seen myself change my perspective for everything! When we truly see that we are experiencing these challenges to learn and grow! We had a testimony meeting of the missionaries leaving and one missionary told an analogy of all of us being like Tikis and that at first we are pieces of wood and little by little we get sculpted away till we become beautiful tikis and that each painful scratch away of the wood or of us we see it was to make a beautiful pattern to reveal a beautiful art piece that no one would think it has gone through struggling times but see the beautiful lines and parts carved out! I’m not sure if that all makes sense but it touched me so much and it’s true we go through hard times to one day realize how much it blessed us to become the Disciples Of Jesus Christ that can do anything that He asks us to do! I love you all SO MUCH!!!! And miss you all like crazy!!! Till next week! Beaucoup d’amour! Ua here au ia outou! Faaitoito!💙

-Elder LeBaron☺️🤙🏻🌺

Elder Tanner LeBaron

SEPTEMBER 26, 2024 MÉXICO MTC (WEEK 4)

September 26, 2024 Chris Leave a comment

Hola Amigos y Familia!! This week flew by! Crazy that we have only 1 more preparation day and we’re out! I’m getting super excited to get to Chile!! This week wasn’t very eventful so I don’t have much to write about! We were able to get into Solo Español which means we don’t speak any English! I’m very happy we’re doing this because I get to really rely on the spirit and the gift of tongues! I am now able to teach lessons in Spanish which is the best! I’m feeling much more comfortable but still nowhere close to being fluent hahaha! Anyways, this week was really good! The same as every other week here in the CCM! The food is the same! Enchiladas, Tacos, and we think it’s steak but idk what meat this 1 dish is haha we’re figuring out the most optimal way to eat each dish hahaha whether we put the meat in a tortilla as a taco or put this strange ranch that none of us actually know what It is hahaha! It’s very fun to be able to be here and experience Mexico! Being able to see the city every week in our 2 hrs bus drive there and back is really cool! It makes me very excited for Chile!! Anyways Today I visited the temple which was amazing! The spirit was so tangible and I loved it so much! Something that was kinda funny was leaving the temple. Our bus that takes us to and from the temple was playing “We will we will rock you” . It was very strange coming from a super spiritual experience to rock hahahah but it didn’t fully take away from the spirit! Anyways, not too much happened this week! Excited for my next week here!! Love yall!!

Elder Zachary LeBaron

SEPTEMBER 23, 2024 AVERA, RAIATEA (WEEK 5)

September 23, 2024 Chris Leave a comment

LAST WEEK TILL I’M 20 YEARS OLD!!!😱 Just figured it out that next week I’m going to be 20 years old! Kinda crazy! What a week! It’s literally transfer calls next week! WHERE IS TIME GOING!! It’s flying by! But yeah all is good and it was an absolutely incredible week!

Highlights from this last week:

– Conference with Elder and Sœur Webb that spoke to us about good personal studies and how we can improve them! It was wonderful but because it was in Tahiti and we’re on Raiatea we had to zoom in! But it was wonderful!

– Wonderful interviews with President Tuahu! Normally they are in person here but they were virtual because of the conference! So next time it’ll be in person! But yeah it was great talking with him and helping me to learn how to keep going and not lose motivation being almost a year as a missionary!

– HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RACHIE!!! My wonderful sister(in law but she’s my sister😉🥰) and got to talk with her and it was wonderful! Miss her and love her so much!!!

– Exchange with Faaroa mā Elder Chadaz and Elder Jefferies and I got to be with Elder Chadaz our district leader! He’s so sweet and it was a wonderful exchange! And we all got to go to a baptism for the Sœur mā Sœur Rupper and Sœur Duez! We came with our amie! So that was amazing!

– Crazy fatams with an old missionary that served here almost 50 years ago and was here when Avera was just a branch! It was to hear because we are a big ward now! We ate with the U-fa mā and it was amazing! It was all so good with Porc au Sucre(sweet pork) and poisson cru lait coco!

– P-day Bqq and then played games as a zone and was amazing! We had hamburgers and then had pumpkin cheesecake and it was amazing! Afterwards we all played volleyball together and it was just an amazing time that we had together!

That’s about it for the week! It flew by and had many beautiful experiences! Sorry this is shorter this week I didn’t have much time this week! I love you all SO MUCH!!!! And miss you all like crazy!!! Till next week! Beaucoup d’amour! Ua here au ia outou! Faaitoito!💙

-Elder LeBaron☺️🤙🏻🌺

Elder Tanner LeBaron

SEPTEMBER 19, 2024 MÉXICO MTC (WEEK 3)

September 19, 2024 Chris Leave a comment

It’s crazy that this week is already over! This week was way more eventful than last week! It started out pretty normal compared to the other days, we had devotionals and tons of Spanish classes! Our district Is really working hard with trying to learn the language! The gift of tongues is real! we had some really fun activities that happened this past week that are going to be a highlight Of the mission! It was Mexican Independence day which was amazing! We had a mariachi band, tons of Mexican food, THE BEST CHURROS! I think they tasted so good because I haven’t had that good of tasting food in a while hahaha. Anyways that day was a blast! Mexican independence day was Sunday but we celebrated it Monday! These people here really know how to party haha all night we heard music, fireworks, gunshots, and laughter! It was pretty fun! Other than the fun part of the week we had some of the craziest storms I have ever been in! There were thunder roars that sounded like a whip smacking the sky. I don’t know how to describe it other than it was so loud our room shook and it was hard to sleep hahaha. This week was also filled with amazing spiritual events! Other than an elder in our district being healed from rolling his ankle 4 different times in a span of 3 days thinking he needs to go home to wake up the next day completely healed! It’s been amazing really studying the scriptures and Predicad Mi Evangelio! I really recommend studying the Christlike attributes in Chapter 6! I’ve been really feeling close to Jesus Christ this week and it’s been amazing! Anyways the week was a blast! Tons of tacos, enchiladas, and other interesting Mexican food is being consumed constantly here by me hahah or in Spanish jajajaja! My district is doing amazing and I’m really loving it a ton! I miss everyone back at home but I’m so grateful that I get to be here! Later in the week I was able to play this elders guitar lives in my District! I am currently trying to learn all of the songs that these 2 elders can play because they’re masters! It’s been a lot of fun being able to play with these elders because they appreciate music like I do! I’m so happy God put me in this district! I went to the Tienda on Tuesday and got some food that was most likely the spiciest chips I’ve ever had hahaha! Today I went to the temple which was amazing! We had a national earthquake drill that all of Mexico does on the 19th of September! It was weird because we had to stop what we were doing in the temple and go to the walls and just stand there as the alarms were going off hahaha but anyways this week was a blast, and was filled with a ton of fun and eventful experiences! I’m excited for this next week and can’t wait to see what fun activities are up ahead!