Tag Archives: Avera

Elder Zachary LeBaron

SEPTEMBER 16, 2024 AVERA, RAIATEA (WEEK 4)

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11 MONTHS AS A MISSIONARY!!! Forgot to say last week but I hit my 11 months last week and literally can’t believe I’ve been out for almost a year! It’s flown by! It’s crazy to see how far I’ve come and how completely different I am! This Gospel is so beautiful and amazing to see how the mission truly sculpts you into who the Savior needs me to be! I’m so grateful for this Gospel and the blessing that it is in my life and through super hard moments I truly can receive a beautiful peace and joy that can only come through Him! This week was pretty hard! I was sicker than a dog! I was literally bed ridden! I felt horrible! I had a super bad sore throat and a super bad dry cough and it was so hard to breathe! Luckily all is good now but it was pretty hard! I actually still can hear out of my left ear because of sinus pressure but all is better just that which still rests! But yeah pretty crazy! But on a positive note…

Here are some Highlights from this week:

– Surprise fatams with our amis that we are teaching! We had a faatamaaraa with a Sœur in our ward and she had invited our amis who we are teaching and had no idea and had a beautiful night together! It was amazing!

– HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA!! It was my mom’s birthday this week and had an amazing call with her! Love her with literally all my soul! She is my bestest friend in the whole galaxy and words can’t express how grateful and how much she means to me! Love you mama!!

– Miracle with losing my light for my bike! I had lost my little light for my bike to see at night and when I was at a lesson I saw that it was missing and so I said a little prayer in my heart and had the first thought in my head to go to the pharmacy because we had been there earlier to get medicine for our sickness and sure enough it was there! Such a small thing but a huge miracle that God answered my prayer and answers our prayers every day big or small!! 

– Had a lesson with an inactive member and we had shared the lesson with her and it was an answer to her prayer and she had been searching for an answer and our message was exactly what she was praying for and came to church with us and was like I need to return and it was literally a beautiful experience! 

– Soirée Crêpe with the family Laufatte (who’s son I served with) Sunday! It was so good and it was with a bunch of other Young Adults and it was great! Got to learn how to make crêpes and had a super spiritual time together!

That’s about it for this week but something I would love to share is a quote my mom sent me this week and it literally touched me so much! It’s kinda long but I want to share it with you all!! 

**This is great advice to always remember!!!

“We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren’t old enough, and we’ll be more content when they are.

After that, we’re frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our partner gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice holiday, when we retire.

The truth is, there’s no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when?

Your life will always be filled with challenges. 

It’s best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway.

A quote comes from Alfred D. Souza. He said, 

“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, or a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.”

This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. 

So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time…and remember that time waits for no one.

So, stop waiting until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until winter, until your song comes on, until you’ve had a drink…. there is no better time than right now to be happy.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination.

Work like you don’t need money,

Love like you’ve never been hurt,

And dance like no one’s watching. 💃🏼”**

I was so deeply touched by how much we must focus on the now and see the happiness all around us now! Don’t wait to be happy and see that truly happiness is the way not a destination! Think Celestial and see the JOY in our daily lives and know that no matter what we can all be happy and have JOY!! So as it says, “Work like you don’t need money,

Love like you’ve never been hurt,

And dance like no one’s watching. 💃🏼”!! 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

SEPTEMBER 9, 2024 AVERA, RAIATEA (WEEK 3)

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HAPPY 100TH BIRTHDAY PRESIDENT NELSON!!! What a historic day! I can’t believe I am alive to witness the first prophet to live to be 100 years old in our time! He’s literally amazing and the Lord has been preserving him to bless us with His beautiful teachings and to feel of his beautiful love! I live President Nelson with all of my heart and every day so so so grateful for his beautiful words and character! He truly reflects the love and character of Jesus Christ and can’t wait to hear from him tomorrow at his 100th Birthday broadcast and then in October for General Conference! Again so grateful for such a beautiful day to celebrate him and all that he does for this beautiful church!

Now for some Highlights from this week:

– Celebrated my companion’s birthday(Elder Tenney) and I made him pancakes for petit-déjeuner then had an insane déjeuner and then a wonderful fatams with the family Tarati and the mission couple Winter! 

– Tan or as I should say Elder LeBaron started the MTC this week and it’s crazy that he’s already in Mexico and getting ready for Chile! Literally the last one of my brothers to leave which is so crazy it’s already here!! 

– Invited our amie Hinarau to be baptized the 26 of October and had a beautiful lesson with her to get her ready for it! She’s so ready and really wants to get baptized! 

– INSANE MIRACLE! Found this mamie(which we say for old women here which means grandma) who had been visited by the missionaries but never a follow up visit so we went to her house but she was busy and she told us to re-pass another day! So we did and it is now Saturday and we visited with a member the morning and she was there with her grandchildren! So we asked if we could have a little lesson with them and they agreed and came in to give the message and then the granddaughter Hinatea says can you give my papi(grandpa) a blessing because he’s sick and not doing good so we said yes and gave him a blessing! Then after was like can you give me one and literally cried through the who thing and it was beautiful then we shared a little message and he was like can I join your church I don’t have a church and would love to be baptized! We literally freaked out! Then scheduled another lesson with them and super excited to do another lesson with them! But yeah crazy MIRACLE!

– We had a Soirée Familiale(Family home evening) with the paroisse(ward) and it was great! We had many amis there and it was such a great night all together!

That’s about it for this week but yeah it was a great week! In my studies this week I was reading a talk by Elder Bednar in a mission seminar titled “The Blessed and Happy State” and it was amazing! It talked about being obedient brings knowledge and those who are obedient gain a greater knowledge! Then how you have intelligent people on the Earth but are they intelligent spiritually! And it was just a beautiful and interesting way to look at obedience related to knowledge! But yeah I thought it was interesting and wanted to share that! 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

SEPTEMBER 2, 2024 Avera, Raiatea (WEEK 2)

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Wow how is it SEPTEMBER! Time is flying!! Here in Raiatea it’s ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!! BUTTTTT I got EATEN ALIVE by mosquitos this week! So that was crazy! My feet are just covered in bits! Then I also got a super bad canker sore on my cheek and literally it hurts to eat! But hey I’m living my best life and all is well!

Now for some Highlights from this week:

– Had my first lessons this week here with our amis and they went great! We have some progress to make with them but they are so sweet and so excited to get to be here with them! 

– We were blessed with rain this week because it was so hot and then the rain cooled us off! But one day we were completely drenched! But it was fun!

– HUGE MIRACLE! We have this amie who lived in Hitiaa on the presqu’île by Taravao where I started my mission on Tahiti and we went to go do a visit with a new convert and I saw her and was like wait I know her! Turns out it was her and she had moved here to Raiatea! Literally 8 months later now in her secteur! I literally went to her baptism! Super crazy!

– Got to talk with Tanner or now Elder LeBaron for his first P-day and it was great to talk with him and know that’s he’s absolutely killing it!! Love him so much and so so so proud of him! 

– Had a beautiful fast Sunday and got to bear my testimony! It was great and it was about the beautiful miracles in our life and how we need to have the eyes to see the beautiful little ones everyday! 

– Joyeux Anniversaire to my amazing brother Tyler! Love you buddy and I had a beautiful call with him! 

– My new companion Elder Tenney is so amazing and we made a goal that before he leaves Avera we are going to have a baptism and so we are going to work so hard to get it and help our amis be ready! He finishes in December and most likely will get transferred next transfer so we are going to seek and expect miracles and as Elder Pearson said, “Take Massive Action”!

That’s about it for this week but it really flew by and can’t believe it’s already another P-day! Something that has really stuck out to me lately is miracles and how many we can see each day if we truly have the eyes to see them! Like the Prophet Russel M Nelson said in his talk “The Power of Spiritual Momentum” that we need to “Seek and Expect Miracles” that the Lord is there to manifest His hand in our lives more than ever before and if we truly have the eyes to see we see many miracles daily! I can testify of miracles and that They are here and bless us daily! I will talk to you all again in a short week! I love you all SO MUCH!!!! And miss you all like crazy!!! Beaucoup d’amour! Ua here au ia outou! Faaitoito!💙

-Elder LeBaron☺️🤙🏻🌺

Elder Zachary LeBaron

AUGUST 27, 2024 FAUTAUA TAHITI (WEEK 25) & AVERA, RAIATEA (WEEK 1)

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What a week! It’s been crazy! So I ended up spending another week here in Tahiti because we had a mission conference the next Monday and they didn’t want to have to pay for 2 flights for all the missionaries going to the islands so I just stayed for another week! The thing was I didn’t have a secteur for a week so I ended up going to the Bureau and just helping to prepare for the conference with Elder Pearson! So I didn’t have much that happened this week so my email won’t be too long! 

Highlights from this week:

-Printed all our talks for the conference because we all had to make a talk and then print it for the conference and a random missionary will give it so that was fun and the. Got to eat with Sœur Wong in the office

-Got to go to the temple because we were in the temple housing that they have her and got to do initiatories and it was in French which was super cool!

-Tan my brother started the MTC!! I’M NOT THE ONLY ELDER LeBARON!!! Love him So much and how proud I am of him! He’s going to do absolutely amazing! He’s incredible!

-Met my companion because he came down for the conference and how much I already love him! He’s so cool! It’s Elder Tenny and he’s way cool! We were in the presqu’île together when I wasn’t Taravao! 

-Mission tour with Elder Pearson! It was absolutely phenomenal! It was literally all that I needed to hear and was an answer to my prayers! He’s incredible and knew my parents when we were in Spokane so we got a photo together! 

-Fatams with Sœur Wong and Elder Wong with Sœur Hoffman and it was so amazing and how much I am going to miss everyone in the Bureau of the mission! They are all my favorite!!! 

-Flew to Raiatea and IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL FLIGHT!!! It was the sunset for the flight and seeing all the islands and the colors was beautiful! Also got to fly again which was so fun! It’s been since I’ve gotten here in Tahiti that I haven’t flown! So it was great!

That’s about it for the week but yeah it was a hard week but I’m doing better! In a talk by Elder Massimo De Feo in the last conference he said, “living the gospel of Jesus Christ does not remove pain and trials, which are necessary to grow. The gospel is not a way to avoid challenges and problems but a solution to increase our faith and learn how to deal with them.” It pierced me so strongly when I read it and helped me to know that challenges help us to grow and when things are hard we are going and are humble enough to turn to God and have His beautiful and powerful aid! He’s always there to give it and I saw beautiful miracles with that this week! He’s in every detail and with our Faith we can truly seek and expect miracles daily! I love you all SO MUCH!!!! And miss you all like crazy!!! Beaucoup d’amour! Ua here au ia outou! Faaitoito!💙

-Elder LeBaron☺️🤙🏻🌺