THIS IS IT!!! MY LAST EMAIL AT THE MTC!! It is CRAZY!!! Time has flown by! I don’t know where these last 9 weeks have gone?! I have learned so much here and have gotten so much more sensitive to the spirit! I am going to miss my district and teachers so much! They have all been so amazing and I have learned so much from them! This truly has been such a special time of my mission being here and having wonderful devotionals and wonderful spiritual experiences! Though I am a bit nervous to head out this next week and leave the US for the next 2 years, I am so excited to get to Tahiti and have the fear of the unknown gone! Every day it gets more real and I can’t believe it is already here! This week was long but FLEW by it was so weird! Time works so weird while on the mission and I can’t believe it’s gone by so fast! But Highlights for the Week:

Sunday, we got to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional and IT WAS SO GOOD!! I loved hearing from the wonderful speakers and from our dear prophet President Russell M. Nelson! It was so amazing to hear him sing to us all “We wish you a Merry Christmas”! And I also loved Elder Gong’s talk on the Christmas Carol and when he put on the top hat and scarf! The messages were beautiful with the importance of Remembering, Light the World with Jesus Christ, and “Come Let Us Adore Him”. This is a very special time for me to be a servant of Jesus Christ during this Christmas season and for representing Him and His beautiful gift to the world of Endless Joy and Light to everyone! 

Monday, we had a special musical devotional with the BYU Mountain Strings and it was so good hearing folk Christmas music and we had the wonderful opportunity of having Elder Nash come and he gave a short message after the concert and it was so amazing to see him! He is a family friend and so I ran up to him after the devotional was over and reminded him of who I was and he gave me the biggest hug and just told me how much he loved our family! It was so amazing to see him and have that little piece of home and he was so loving giving me so many hugs and just was so happy to see me! He also talked about how happy he was that I was on a mission and he was like the people of Tahiti need you and we need you and I am so glad you are here! It made me feel so good and I was so happy that he came! God is so good and knew that I needed this and to have that experience! 

Tuesday, we had our weekly devotional with Elder and Sister Teixeira. Sister Teixeira talked about how important it is to practice who you want to become and what type of person/disciple you want to be. It was so good and it was so true that you have to practice what you want to become, you can’t just be it but have to work for it. Then Elder Teixeira talked about the transformational power of effective scripture study. He gave a list that was really good of 1. Commit to intentional scripture and Preach My Gospel study, 2. Embrace challenges as opportunities to grow and become a better disciple and instrument in the Lord’s hands, 3. Build your testimony and share what you know in abundance always, 4. Build bridges of conversion and tailor your message to help those you teach, and 5. Live with focus on my mission and on Jesus Christ. These were such good principles that he talked about and great to apply to missionary work and on my mission! 

Thursday, I had my first Tahitian helping others and it was very difficult to understand and teach but it was crazy that I was already doing one when I’ve only had 2 weeks of Tahitian and already teaching! His name was Gary. It is really helping me to rely on Jesus Christ and know that I’m not doing this alone and need to not have fear when teaching. It was good being able to prepare for the lesson and get some good phrases but when I would ask him a question I wouldn’t understand his response so it was kinda hard to understand his feelings and everything. Though it was a good experience to have and be able to teach in Tahitian even though it was very difficult. 

Today, I went to the temple for the last time with my district. It was such an amazing experience and our French teacher also came with us (Sœur Wilkey). It was amazing to be there and experience the last time going to the Provo Temple and having the wonderful experience to be with all of them in the Temple. It also is crazy that it is my last P-day at the MTC! Time seriously has flown by! I am so grateful for all I have learned while being here at the MTC and truly being and becoming more sensitive to the spirit and how it speaks to me. I have also been learning to always have my focus on Jesus Christ and have Him be the “Author of my Story”. This is His work and I need to give everything to Him and let Him mold and change me to be the disciple He needs me to be to help the people of Tahiti. I need to keep trusting and in those hard moments focus on Him and forget myself. He is always with me walking hand in hand with me and He can give me the strength and consecrate my efforts. I love Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father with all my heart and I know this gospel is TRUE! I am so grateful for this knowledge and the beautiful eternal truths that are found in this gospel! I am so grateful for my family and their support and always being there for me! My love for them has grown so much and continues to as I am away from them! They mean everything to me and this gospel helps me to know that I get to be with them for all time and eternity! I love the Book of Mormon and those amazing stories of the faith and courage all the prophets had and teaching this wonderful gospel. I am so grateful for our prophet Russel M. Nelson and his guidance he gives us. I know he is our true living prophet on Earth today. Jesus Christ lives and He knows me! I know that though Him, He can give me peace in this adjustment and be there walking hand in hand with me! In the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Be the Best Bat!
This week was so amazing and even though it has been a little overwhelming with the switch to Tahitan it has been amazing to see the Lord’s hand in helping me learn more and give me strength to push myself! Tahitian is such a beautiful language and has so much more meaning to things than in English and in the same way as French does. It is so hard to balance these 2 languages but it’s been amazing to see that I am not learning these languages alone and that with the eyes to see God is walking hand in hand with me pushing me and helping me to work hard to get these languages. I have also seen that I have to be continually patient with myself and have little celebrations that I know just a little bit more than I knew the day before! But anyways the Highlights for this week:

Tuesday, we had an amazing devotional by Bishop L. Todd Budge 2nd Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric. It was also cool because I was able to say the opening prayer in front of the whole MTC and got to sit on the stand with my companions and two other sister’s in our district, Soeur Hansen and Soeur Lines, because Soeur Lines then said the closing prayer. It was a super cool experience! But his talk was about being an instrument in God’s hands and he made an analogy about a baseball game that happened years ago and how this team won the game and he said I wonder if the baseball bat could talk what it would say. He said how it would say I was able to hit the ball exactly where it was supposed to hit and he threw me on the side and I watched the whole team cheer and have this amazing front row seat of being in the game. He then related that to us as missionaries that we aren’t the one’s playing the game but that this is God’s work and how we are the instruments (or the bat) in His hands helping accomplish this Great work. It was such a cool analogy and that it’s so true that it isn’t about us but how God uses us in His hands to go about doing this amazing Great work!! And so we all as missionaries need to strive to Be the Best Bat!! It was an amazing devotional!

Wednesday, I got my first haircut in the MTC and it actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be but I also miss my mom’s haircuts! I just had to accept the fact that these next two years are going to be unusual haircuts and honestly it is the least of my worries! Also the lady that cut my hair was so nice and I had a good talk with her about the devotional and how I loved the analogy that he used and she loved it too! So it was cool that I was able to share that with her because she was like I have never thought about it like that before and she loved that idea. It all worked out great and started my journey of crazy haircuts!😂 We also got a surprise class with our French teacher Soeur Wilkey and it was so good to see her again! We also got to see our other French teacher Frere Lancaster and it was such a great day to see both of them!

THEN TODAY I GOT MY VISA!!!!! SO I AM GOING TO TAHITI!! IT IS SO EXCITING AND I CAN’T WAIT!! There was a part of me that thought I would get reassigned to Mom and Dad’s mission in Spokane Washington but God knows that that would have been really hard to see them. Even though I was praying to be able to go to their mission God knows that I need to be in Tahiti now! Without a doubt in my mind I know that God is so aware of me and sees the bigger picture. Even though I am a little (a lot a bit) nervous to go, I know that I will be ok and that I need to put all my trust in the Lord and in Heavenly Father since they called me here and they see what I can’t. I need to trust and everything will work out. So Tahiti here I come!!! Beaucoup d’amour! Ua here au ia outou!💙
-Elder LeBaron

THANKSGIVING WEEK!!! So much has happened this week! It was full of so many things I don’t even know where to start!

Monday and Tuesday were my last classes with my French teachers and it was so sad that we had to say goodbye to them! But I was so blessed to have them and be able to learn so much from them!

Tuesday night was the devotional with Elder Daines of the Seventy and it was so good! It talked about the Gathering of Israel and the story of how Jacob became Israel. It also talked about How his story was a mission of his own and how we have to go through difficult experiences to Encounter God and sometimes we are alone so we can encounter God on our own. It was so good! He also talked about how we need to hang on and not let go of God in the hard times. God always provides a way when we hold fast to Him. We also got a special musical number by this Trio and it blew my mind! Their voices were flawless! The song was “I Will Not Let Thee Go”! The lyrics talked about not letting go and increasing my faith and God will never let me go, we just let go of Him. It was exactly what I needed to hear and it was such a great devotional.

Wednesday we had our first Tahitian class and it was slightly overwhelming but I am still moving forward with faith! I have seen how much I need to rely on my Savior and Heavenly Father with every moment of the day and the only way I can learn these languages is only through Them. I can’t do this by myself! It was amazing too to see the gift of tongues in my life with being able to form sentences on the first day of Tahitian and be able to say my first prayer. It was an amazing experience and I need to just keep moving forward with faith! Not worrying about being perfect at the language but absorbing all that I can!

Thursday→HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! This was such a memorable day! First the day started out with a devotional with Elder Rasband and his daughter. It talked about how he went to Israel and how we walk with Christ. Then after the devotional we had a Thanksgiving lunch and I was able to talk with my family and it was amazing! We then prepared our sack dinners since we had a service project that we were doing that night and to help the staff be able to have Thanksgiving with their families! Then we went and watched Ephraim’s Rescue while the other group of missionaries did the service project. It was so amazing to watch that movie and I loved it so much! It was put into perspective of what they really did for us and what really matters in this life which is Following Jesus Christ and giving our lives to Him. Then after the movie we went to the service project which was making meals for other people in need through the company Hunger Fight! It was oatmeal packets that we made and we made it so 409,200ish people would have meals! It was such an amazing experience and was the perfect thing to be doing on Thanksgiving! Then to end the night we got to hear a special musical devotional with John Schmit and it was absolutely incredible! It was so amazing that he came and was able to show us his extraordinary gift of playing the piano! Then after the devotional they turned all the Christmas lights on at the MTC and played Christmas music and we got donuts! It was a perfect day and is a day I will never forget!

That’s about it! An amazing week filled with miracles and incredible experiences! God is so aware of me and knew how much I needed the wonderful experience on Thanksgiving with missing family and being away from them, but it was filled with those amazing experiences and I wasn’t sad and had so much joy! Always recognized the little miracles and even though they may be small to others they are massive to me and it shows the love that God has for me! Excited for this next week and see what comes of it! Beaucoup d’amour!💙
-Elder LeBaron

Wow, how is it already P-Day?! This week flew by! It was full of amazing and bitter-sweet experiences! Since it was our last week in French and this next Wednesday we start Tahitian! I am super excited but so sad to say goodbye to the wonderful teachers that I have been blessed with! I am so grateful for Frere Lancaster, Soeur Wilkey, and Frere Ho! They were so fun to be with and we all as a district got so close to them! It’s sad to say goodbye to the teachers we started the mission with but luckily we will still see them around and they will still stay in contact with us! But enough about sad goodbyes! The Highlights of this week were:

On Sunday, we had the Go and Do experience and I decided to study President M. Russell Ballard’s talk that he just gave in the October General Conference and it was such a beautiful talk! During that study I had such a confirmation about the First Vision and that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ truly did appear to Joseph Smith that this isn’t just some fairy tale story but that this was an event that happened. Through this beautiful experience we were blessed with the fullness of the gospel and the Restoration of Jesus Christ’s true church on the Earth. Also the gift of the Book of Mormon and how it truly is the keystone of our religion and my life would not be the same without it! It was just a beautiful experience and such a spiritual sabbath day! Fast forward to the next day we got news that President Ballard died on Sunday and it was so sad to hear but I was so amazed that I read his talk the day he died and was prompted to read it. My prayers go to his family!

Tuesday we had a devotional from Sister Spannaus and it was so good! It was about how to be a conduit of light for others and how to lead others to the light of Christ! We had the wonderful opportunity to discuss the devotional after with Sister and Brother Craig which was an incredible experience and they shared such beautiful insights!

Wednesday my companions and some of our sisters in our district were able to go to the temple even though it wasn’t P-day! It was such a great experience and I was able to have that added boost for the week! I love the temple so much and being able to be in it every week has been the biggest blessing!

For classes we just pushed forward with our last week of French and getting ready for starting Tahitian next Wednesday! It’s crazy that these 6 weeks have already gone by for French and that we are heading into Tahitian! Time works so differently here and it goes by so fast! I am super excited to start Tahitian though and have our new teachers that all served their missions in Tahiti! Our other teachers that taught us French went to France on their missions and now it will be cool to see and hear all about our mission now with our new teachers!

An amazing and super spiritual experience happened on Thursday! I was getting ready for bed Thursday night and had a prompting to read this letter that my grandma gave me before heading into the MTC and I hadn’t opened it yet. Once I opened it I found these pictures of my Grandma and Grandpa (who passed away) in Tahiti for their honeymoon! It was amazing to see Tahiti back then and seeing that my grandparents have been where I am serving! Especially seeing my Grandpa being there and knowing that he will be with me my whole mission! I felt him so strong that night and was just sobbing feeling the spirit so strong! It was so beautiful and so grateful I followed the prompting to read it!

That’s about it! A great bitter-sweet week and filled with beautiful experiences! I am learning so much and understanding conversion and the true enabling and strengthening Atonement of Jesus Christ and that only through Him will I be able to be the disciple and missionary that He needs me to be! God is good and I am so grateful for this opportunity to come to know Him and Jesus Christ though the Holy Ghost more! This gospel is so true and I am so grateful for the knowledge that it has brought me and the peace and comfort that it brings! Even though being away from family has been hard my heart has grown so much stronger and it has increased my love and gratitude for them! Love my family more than they will ever know and am so grateful that I’ll be able to live with them for all time and eternity! Beaucoup d’amour!💙
-Elder LeBaron

This week was full of amazing experiences! Also I have been on my mission for a month now! Time has flown by but also not at the same time! Time works so differently while on the mission! It is our last week of English classes this week and after that we will only be in French! We also only have a week and a half left of French and then we will switch into Tahtitian! So it is very crazy that I am getting so close to leaving! But anyways the Highlights of the Week: Tuesday, we had a devotional by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf! It was amazing and talked about the importance of developing Christlike Attributes and how important it is to gain those gifts to be able to be the disciple of Jesus Christ that I need to be! He also talked about how this work isn’t about us but the people we are teaching! It was just so powerful and to be the second Apostle that I have been able to hear here at the MTC! In class this week, we have talked about how the Gift of Tongues is a gift that comes from God and we have to believe and know that we will be blessed with it! It was amazing we watched these videos about the Gift of Tongues that the MTC shows and they were filmed in Tahiti! It talked about how we don’t learn these languages for ourselves but to be able to teach the people of our missions and that I can’t be selfish thinking that I am learning this for me personally! It was a beautiful perspective to have and helps me to understand my purpose as a missionary and why I am here! It was a beautiful experience and really helped me to change my perspective about French and not about how hard it is to learn it but that I am doing this for the wonderful and beautiful people of Tahiti! I know that when I put my trust in the Lord he always provides a way! Also last night in my class I was talking with my teacher Soeur Wilkey and I was telling her how learning a language for me has been sitting at a cliff and it being unknown what is below but that I will be caught by the Lord and I have to take that leap of faith and know that I will be caught! And it was just an amazing experience since I had never said something like that before and I felt the spirit teach me in that moment and know that I will always be caught I just have to take that leap no matter how hard it may be just take it and know that Jesus Christ will catch me and help me with this language! Thursday, I had my first French Helping Others, which is like a person you teach at the MTC and it is like teaching a lesson in the mission field. It was for 15 minutes and only in French! I was so nervous and scared even though I shouldn’t have been! During the lesson I learned that I can’t have fear and try to speak French when I am scared to talk but let my fears go and let the spirit fill my mouth! I was able to tell him the First Vision in French and bear a brief testimony. It was a great experience to push myself in French and to not fear. I definitely did better than I thought I would and was a little too hard on myself so I am working on seeing the positives rather than the negatives of my French and to know and trust that words will come to my mouth when I am supposed to. Today, I was able to go to the temple this morning and do sealings. It was such a beautiful experience! Being in the temple each week has brought so much comfort and strength to me in ways I can’t even express! The change of having missionaries go to the temple each week while in the MTC was a beautiful revelation and it has brought an increase of strength and power each week being reminded of the wonderful blessings that you receive in the temple. It was also beautiful what the sealer said in the sealings he said that this is the ultimate goal for teaching the people on your missions. Baptism is the starting point and the key to them progressing to being able to seal their families for all time and eternity! And I got so emotional and it made me so grateful for my wonderful family and so grateful for the example my parents have been to me and how grateful I am for eternal families! It brings so much joy to me knowing that I will never be alone and have eternal joy! My Testimony: I know that this is the true and restored gospel of Jesus Christ! He is the reason we are able to go through hardships and trials with a smile on our face knowing that in the end everything will work out! You just have to have the eyes to see! I know this is where I am supposed to be right now and even in these hard times I know that I am never alone! God lives and he is our father in Heaven! He loves us so much that He sent His son Jesus Christ to the Earth to atone for us and through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we are able to return back to God! The gift of Eternal Life with Familes brings so much joy to me and I am so grateful for that knowledge! I am so grateful to be a missionary and be able to teach the wonderful people of Tahiti! In the name of Jesus Christ amen.

This last week was crazy! I wasn’t able to write an email last week since I got sick and have been trying to get over this cold! I am doing good now but it’s just lingering! But anyways the highlights of this week were: Devotional on Tuesday with Elder and Sister Homer of the Seventy. It was so good and talked about the importance of our Missionary Purpose! It was also Halloween and we sang “Master the Tempest is Raging” and it was an arrangement that was kinda Halloweeny! On Wednesday I got to spend the day with my brother Ben and it was so amazing! I had to get my retainer fixed and I was able to make an appointment with my orthodontist in South Jordan. To get there the MTC likes it when family can pick you up so they don’t have to plan on buses picking me up so I was able to spend the day with Ben and it was such a miracle! He got me around 9am and we were with each other till 12:30pm so it was such a blessing to have family that I could be with! We then got to go to Café Rio and it was amazing to have good food that wasn’t the MTC food! Then we were able to just talk with each other and I was able to just have someone that I could talk to! He then gave me a beautiful blessing and it brought so much peace and comfort to me! Then Wednesday night we had to say goodbye to the Tahitian missionaries and we were able to learn a Tahitian Farwell song that we sang for them and it was so cool! Then they sang to us and it was so sad but so exciting that they are able to be there! It’s crazy to think that the next time I see them will be in Tahiti!! Also learning the song made me so excited to get to Tahiti and learn Tahitian! Then some things from last week were: We had a devotional from Neil L. Anderson and his wife and it was incredible having an apostle for our devotional! He taught about Think Celestial and how important that talk was from Russel M. Nelson and the importance of hearing and understanding the language of the spirit through the Holy Ghost! I also was called as Zone Leader with my companion Elder Warnock! So it’s a really amazing opportunity to be in leadership so soon in the mission and having those responsibilities but it’s amazing! We get to welcome the new missionaries and also help with preparing for Sunday sacrament meetings! Also was able to bear my testimony in French since we learned how and it was such a cool experience having a mini testimony meeting with our district all in French! And that’s about it for these last two weeks! So yeah everything’s been good and just learning how to understand the language of the spirit and how it speaks to me and having patience with myself and others and charity! But yeah continuing to do my best and enjoy every moment of being here! It’s already flying by! Can’t believe I only have 5 more P-Day’s here! Beaucoup d’amour! -Elder LeBaron

Bonjour! Wow this week has been amazing! It has been full of miracles and I can’t even put into words how much God knows who I am! I started the MTC in-person this week on Wednesday and had to say goodbye to my parents and Tanner the day before being Tuesday! It was probably the hardest goodbye ever but it was such a miracle to have another Elder (Elder Baker) that was on my flight to help me not feel alone! The flight was great and got to Utah safely! I then spent the night at our house in Utah since I didn’t go in-person till Wednesday! Next day came quick and I was getting ready to go to the MTC! We then went to Café Zupas for my last lunch with my family and headed to the MTC! We took pictures by the temple and it was sad having to day goodbye! It was hard not having my parents there but I had my 2 older brothers (Ben & Tyler), Lexi, my niece Kaylee, Grammy Darling & Grandpa, and Grandma LeBaron! They were all so supportive and made the day so special for me! Then came time for me to go to the MTC at 1:30pm since that was my arrival time! I got dropped off and started my journey! I just pushed through the day and got confidence to help me through the struggle of saying goodbye! It was amazing to see the hand of the Lord in the whole experience by not feeling homesick! I went through the orientation, met my district in-person, and my teachers whom I all love! We had this wonderful devotional that night of these 2 different people that have had hardships in their lives and how increasing faith has got them through them! After that it really put into perspective how missing home and thinking of myself will just make me miserable and that when I look to help others and not think of myself I feel JOY! I am now on day 3 and everything has been great so far! The language is slowly coming but I am just being patient with myself and not comparing myself to others! Our district now has a leader being one of my companions, Elder Murray! He is great and I am grateful to watch him step up as a leader! Our district just keeps getting closer and closer and I love them all so much! We also had the wonderful opportunity to go to the Provo City Center Temple to do baptisms and not everyone gets to go to that temple so it was such an amazing experience! That’s pretty much it so far this week! I am just keeping moving forward with faith and coming to know Jesus Christ so much everyday! This gospel is such a blessing in my life and I can’t wait to tell all the people of Tahiti about the wonderful blessing it can be in our lives! Beaucoup d’amour!💙
-Elder LeBaron