The Amazing Race

Good afternoon 

I was reading a quote by President Heber J. Grant this morning about what true prosperity since I was reading about Nephi and his view vs his brothers views pres grant said: “When I say prosperity I am not thinking of it in terms of dollars and cents alone. … What I count as real prosperity … is the growth in a knowledge of God, and in a testimony, and in the power to live the gospel and to inspire our families to do the same. That is prosperity of the truest kind”

This week ran in a race, The Amazing Race, for a fundraiser. I want to go on show and I thought it would be challenging yet very rewarding, as we compared ourselves to other participants.  We got the first clue, flew through the challenge and got our second clue. It said something about "Jim" and being healthy. We had no idea what it meant, we tried the few places we thought could be it and couldn't find it, so we asked people on the streets that we saw and asked if they could help, two of the groups of people we talked to were from out of town, so we probably shouldn't have taken any of their advise. The others said they had no idea either. We knew there was a health store down a ways and the people who said they had no idea said that could be a possibility. We ran and didn't feel like we were going the right way, but we said we had already committed and kept going. I was trying to remember the sponsors for this race and I couldn't remember if I had seen the store in the list of sponsors. We got there and it wasn't the right location. We asked for help and the lady said oh it's probably the gym, not Jim. We were tired and discouraged that we had gone off course. We got back in town and found the gym and continued on with the race. We passed a few teams but knew we were far behind. We persevered and passed a few teams. Knowing that we were so far behind discouraged, not motivated me. We eventually completed the course and finished the race. We were sore and tired but we completed the race. 

There are lots of things we can compare to the gospel in this event. 

1)We shouldn't be prideful or big headed, we shouldn't compare ourselves or our abilities with those around us. 2)We shouldn't just trust or believe what anyone says. "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine" 3) use the resources and knowledge that we have and have been given, we aren't going to know everything, but we should use what the Lord has given us. 4) We were not prepared physically for this race, there was no prior training. If we aren't constantly doing the "small and simple things" the race is going to be really hard and you will be really sore afterwards. 5) No matter what place we are in, no matter what detours have happened in our race, we need to continue to press forward, trusting in the Lord, knowing that He is in charge we can't get discouraged and we must endure to the end. 6) Continue to love everyone, if they were pushing you too much or slowing you down, passing you, or saying things when you passed them, we have to keep doing our best and loving those around us, when we have that pure love of Christ we will be a lot happier and so will the people we come in contact with.

I also saw the new Mormon message, "Lift" -that is what this gospel and life is all about. Whatever we do to lift someone is missionary work. If we are helping people feel the love of Jesus Christ, we are doing missionary work. 

Chelsea Wilson, Gabe Denna and Randy and Virgina nikclaus are all doing great. The Lord is hastening His work. And when we do our part we can help with his work. 

This week was crazy with crazy people. I have seen lots of people with lots of different beliefs and I am so grateful for the truthfulness of this work. It's not just some organization but it is Jesus Christ's church. I love this gospel. 

I love you all.

Love, Elder David Witt

May 18, 2015

Dont forget about the Luis Girls

Good talkin to you yesterday, I love you all.
Lessons in Lakeside went well yesterday.

Not sure why I didn't talk about this yesterday sorry!!
We had a great baptism Saturday with the Luis girls, the Habels, their
home teachers, were able to baptize them, it was great and their
confirmation was yesterday. The Spirit was strong at both of them and
it was exciting!

Can't wait to see yall in person.
Love you much
Love Elder David Witt

May 11, 2015

Last Skype call this Sunday!!

Well good news

Mother's Day is next week!! 

This week was super! We had 9 investigators come to church! It was great! 

It was crazy making sure they were sitting by a member and feeling comfortable haha 

sister Cik is awesome and brought one of our investigators to church, she also picks up a few less actives. It is awesome.

 

We had quite a few great lessons this week. 

The Luis girls are getting baptized this week, Chelsea Wilson put herself on date for June, and the others we are working with are progressing. 

We had transfers this week so we did quite a bit of driving. We also had to pick up Elder Barneys companion from the South Dakota Rapids city mission, he is awesome. Mission boundaries have changed, we lost some in the north east and Wyoming and gained some in Wyoming. So there have been some changes but all has been good. 

We went to eureka this week and we went on splits with the elders there, we were going to this neighborhood by the boarder and we thought we were going to cross it a couple time but thankfully we never did. Montana is so pretty I love it.

 

Good things are happenin and I can't wait to see ha Sunday!!

 

Love Elder David Witt

Longest stay in one area- go Kalispell!

Us pickinup chicks

This week we have been super blessed. First off, got some great news, I'll be staying in Kalispell! I really wasn't ready to leave so I am glad I am staying. This will be the longest I have stayed in an area and with the same companion (unless for some reason there is a mid transfer ha) but I am excited since there is so much going on here. 

Last preparation day we went bowling, I haven't been since Missoula so that was fun and I did pretty well too, once a got the hang of it again. Then our dinner with Thomas and his friends went well, we thought it might be so smooth but it was. There were like 5 of them and we showed the the Elder Holland and the Book of Mormon video and they texted us later that night saying they wanted to learn more, so hopefully we can meet with them all soon. 

The Denna boys, Gabe and Trenton, are doing well, they didn't make it to church but they are remembering everything we teach them it's great. The Luis girls, Elena and Ashley, are doing much better, they have been to church a lot and are opening up more at the lessons. 

A guy I tracted into with Elder Burnham when he first got here and he said try again another day, when we were riding our bikes last week I felt like we should,stop by so we did, had another great lesson with him this week and is just super prepared! Heart of gold. 

The Wilsons a part member family we are working with is progressing well too. They came to church Sunday and enjoyed it! 

Another lady we tracted into last week, Laura is also super prepared. Sister Cik, came with us to her lesson and she is like this is where I need to be. We are looking forward to working with her. 

Seriously the Lord is blessing us with so many prepared people to teach. That is why I am so glad we stayed! 

I wanted to finish the Book of Mormon before transfers and I did last night. I am so so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the knowledge and peace it can give us. I bear a firm testimony that it was written by ancient prophets inspired by God, then translated by Joseph Smith, who was also a prophet. Even though we are imperfect and this church is run by imperfect people, Jesus Christ and His teachings, the gospel, is perfect. 

What an awesome week. I am grateful to be here in Kalispell, Montana. 

#lovinlife #sunnydayzz #mothersdayintwoweeks

Love ya. 

Love, Elder David Witt 

PS Oh I forgot to mention another cool thing that happened. We were
walking around tryin to find this family and we were walkin and this
dude on his bike pulls up to us and was like "hablas espanol" my
companion said no I said yeah a little bit. I could understand
everything he was saying but when I wanted to reply only Russian words
kept coming to my mind. But we set up an appointment with him for
tomorrow. And we are bringing a returned missionary that just got back
from Mexico so it should be good. I wish I could remember my Spanish.
At the mtc only Spanish words were coming up when I wanted to speak
Russian, so I asked Heavenly Father to help me forget it, and sure
enough I forgot it haha I hope I can remember it when we teach him
though.

Sunny Days

The sun is finally working! The sun is out and it is warm. It has been so nice! It has made it easier to ride our bikes. 

We had a lesson with the people we tracted into last week whose nephew is on a mission in Germany. It was a great lesson and they are super nice people. Brother Cik came with us and he is a quieter guy, so it was awesome to see him bare such a powerful testimony of the truthfulness of the church and Book of Mormon. It is always awesome when members come with us and do that. 

We were riding our bikes on day and I felt like we should go to the other side of town to try a part member family. As we were riding we passed the house of a potential investigator who we met a few months ago and I felt like we should go try him, so we did, he was home and we talked to him for about 40 minutes and he was saying how he has read the Book of Mormon and really likes our church. We talked about the plan of salvation, since he mentioned some people just died, Elder Lancaster committed him to read alma 40 and when we went back a few days later he said he read it, then his wife read it to him and he is going to read it again. Haha super awesome. It is wonderful that the Book of Mormon gives us additional knowledge about the plan of salvation. 

The Luis girls and Denna boys are doing well, they came to church and we had great lessons with them. 

We were tracting and no one was really home or the people that were weren't super nice. I just wanted to be done and do some other finding but we kept going and knocked on this ladies door and she said oh Elders! She was super excited to see us since she had met with missionaries 5 years ago and was hoping to get back into the lessons and such. 

We had zone training this week with all of the missionaries, it went well. 

Yeah good week, nice and sunny. 

Love ya have a good week!

 

Love Elder David Witt

Just some borscht and Russian candy with старейшина Barney

Just FYI
Elder Barney isn't my companion, we were just eating lunch with the
other elders. And he is doing the Russian smile and I'm not sure what
I'm doing with my smile...haha
Love you guys

 Golfing last week

Let's go ride a Bike

A busy awesome week. We rode at least a couple hundred miles on our bikes, not exaggerating. It has been kinda windy and chilly but it is still nice to get out and ride. 

We had quite a few lessons set up and did quite a bit of finding, which has filled up our next week with return appointments. So next week is looking great too. 

Since we have been riding our bikes we have been extra tired but as we have pushed through and relied on the enabling act of the Atonement, we were able to make it through this week. We were able to keep going even though we didn't feel like it. 

One of the nights we were tracting we all felt like we should go down this street (the assistants came on exchanges with everyone in our zone and one of them was with us for the day) so we did we knocked on this door and these old people let us in. They said they weren't super interested in coming to our church or anything but we could come back and share what they believe. They said they have a nephew who is on a mission in Germany, I kept getting the promoting to tell them us knocking on their door and them answering and letting us in was an answer to their nephews prayer. I pray for the same things, so I am glad we listened to the promptings to go down that street. 

We had interviews with President Holmes, one of the counselors in the mission presidency. It was always good to have interviews, it will be weird when we do interviews with President Mecham because it will be the last one with him before he goes home. 

And the most exciting part, the highlight of this week, Courtney and Marcie were able to get baptized! And Bryan, Marcie's husband and Courtney's step dad) was able to baptize them! He ward has been really involved and I have been so blessed to be able to serve here and teach people who are so prepared. 

The Luis came to church, Jeff and Lisa we can't get ahold of them, the Denna boys were with family, we found another YSA girl who referred herself when she went to SLC and temple square. While there wishes watched meet the Mormons, the restoration and because he lives. She is super prepared it is awesome. And Taylor the other YSA girl is going to meet with us  again after dropping us! So it has been an awesome week! Super exciting! The Lord is definitely blessing us and hastening His work!

We are going golfing today so that should be fun! Love y'all and hope you have a good week!

Love Elder David Witt

He Lives

Он воскрес

истина, Он воскрес

A common greeting around  his time of year in Ukraine. 

What another good week. 

Just to let you all know about the weather here, it is snowing. It is snowing a lot! 

Last week we were walking down road forever not sure exactly where we were, people were yelling at us shouting rude things haha, least to say we were not feeling it. Then we saw this lady on her porch and we asked if she wanted to watch a video about Easter, at first she said no then after taking to her and having her understand our beliefs a little more she said yes, and then her husband watches it. Super nice people and we have an appointment with them this week. Then we saw some motels across the street and we knocked on the first door, these people were using heavy drugs, they said they were atheist, my companion said meh lets just go. I said one more and behind the door was Jeff a super less active member, he said he just got done praying for direction then we knocked on his door. His wife is coming back from rehab and it was a really neat experience to meet him. 

Luis family is progressing alright, the Irwins are doing awesome and are ready for their baptism Saturday. We also taught these two boys, who their parents aren't active, at their grandparents house, they seem pretty solid. 

I loved General conference! The power and authority at they have is wonderful. I know that we have a living prophet on the earth today and the quorum of the 12 apostles really have been called of God. Just a few main points of what I really enjoyed/learned, 

Live the law of the fast, take root and be converted, have an eternal perspective, if we fear we are lacking faith, families,marriage is important (scary to think about but it's gonna be here sooner than later haha), dance to the music, be a saint (a sinner who keeps on trying), follow the Son, seek the kingdom of God, have righteous desires, grace, power of the priesthood is important, labor today, Jesus Christ and how he grabs onto our wrists as we are falling to our death (heart racer), build your life on our covenants, keep the sabbath day holy. 

During the last session of general conference we got to watch it with Ruth, the less active lady we tracted into last week, she really enjoyed it. Sister Cik came with us, and we are glad she did, she's a great fellowshipper. 

We did this thing Easter week from helives.mormon.org. Got to understand his life and atonement a little better. I was reading something about the sacrament and atonement and I thought about the sacrament and how there is broken bread  like his broken skin, he can enable us cause he has felt it all, the water, his blood, his suffering in Gethsemane so we can be redeemed. Cool thing I realized this week. I love this time of year.

Love you all and hope you have a great week!! 

Love the Elder David Witt