Transfers, Pioneers, Glaciers

Well I can't believe this transfer is over. So I guess I'll start off
with transfer news..
I am staying another transfer in Kalispell!! Ha I couldn't believe it,
I am glad to stay, I will have to retract lots of places I've already
tracted before so that should be fun ha. But I am super excited to
stay. Unfortunately Elder Eddington is getting transferred to Clinton.
Which is in Missoula I bought we were going to stay another transfer.
my new companion is Elder Wolf, I will have to give you more deets
after I meet him.

This past week Elder Eddington and I got the stomach flu, we both got
it at the same time so I guess that was a good thing? We were down for
a day but we are feeling better now, it is weird how you think it
would be nice to stay at home but then when it happens it is not so
fun. I think my parasites from Ukraine might be back or I have some
other stomach problem, I think I'll just get it checked out when I get
home, but for now I'm good.

We were at a dinner this past week and this family was talking about
their kids and their kids families, and I can't say how grateful I am
for our family. I mean we all have issues, but I couldn't ask for
better parents and siblings, I love you all. So thank you so much. I
am grateful for the principles of the gospel and the Atonement of
Jesus Christ and that when we apply and use them we can be so much
happier in life. Not sure how you got so lucky mom and dad, but thanks
so much for all you have done for us. Thanks for being covenant
keepers.

We had some great lessons this week a few highlights were Gabes
lesson, we watched a video from the Book of Mormon and at the
beginning of it said he knew that story and recited the story before
we had watched the video, he is so awesome and I can't wait to see his
progression in the gospel. Another exciting thing happened, we were at
the church doing interviews and I felt prompted to text Sherry
Williams and just say hi, so I did and she ended up calling us, mind
you I haven't been able to teach her the new member lessons since she
got baptized, so I was super excited to hear from her. We had a lesson
and talked about the Book of Mormon and the importance of sacrament.
She said she knows what she needs to do and is going to be at church
Sunday. It was such a blessing. And we have another lesson set up with
her next week as well. #blessingsfromlisteningtotheSpirit

We gave talks in sacrament about Pioneers and they went really well.
Mine was on President Uchtdorfs first presidency message and relating
it to missionary work. It went well I think. I didn't have time to
share any personal family history stories. (Speaking of family history
thanks Sab for posting a pic and Story about grandma Witt. It was
really nice.) there is a sweet video on Mormon newsroom, and a
campaign about pioneers #IAmAPioneer you should check it out.

I tried to get some pioneer stories from Nadia and olea, but they never
replied. It is crazy though to think they have had to leave their home
and belongs and travel west for safety. We however don't have to be
first generation members, live in a distant land, wear bonnets or pull
handcarts to be pioneers. I am grateful however, for their examples,
which helps me continue to be a pioneer.

Today we went to glacier national park. It is beautiful! We went as a
zone, stressful organizing it, but it was good. It was so beautiful. I
love it and can't wait to come back. It was overcast and a little
rainy at first but cleared up. A place we went was the same place we
were when there was snow up there, it is weird to see it looks so
different without snow. I personally think it looked nicer with
snow..anyway. We saw a bear today! It was super close! Maybe a hundred
feet from us. There were some people walking down the road just
looking at it we were like 'go the other way!!" But they didn't really
move, thankfully it wasn't an aggressive bear and just ran into the
woods. It was sweet to see him though. I'll have to get some pics from
elder eddingtons camera and send more. While we were at a gift shop
there was a girl from Ukraine working here and so I asked her where
she was from and she said harkov! So I asked where and she said
alexsayvka, which was by novy doma. I served in novy doma not
alexsayvka, but I knew the missionaries who did and had been there for
a meeting. It was cool to talk to her for a sec, I should have asked
if she new any members in Ukraine...next time for sure.

The waterfall from the winter hike

So huge. I want to summit these when we come back

The bear was really close to those people

I have been so blessed to be here on a mission, in Montana and in
Kalispell. I love it so much. I am grateful for the opportunity we
have to bare testimony of this gospel every day. I hope that never
ends. Thanks for everything. Love you all

Love you, Love Elder David Witt

Another week in Montana

Good day
Nothing really too exciting happened this past week
We went finding a lot. We had some good follow up lessons with Chelsey
and the Nicklaus' and Rachel.
It always seems I find more less active people than actual
investigators when I got tracting. We were about to knock on this
neighborhood but we both felt like we should go somewhere else, then
this motel place popped in my head. So we nocked some doors, no one
was super interested so we went to a place right by it and (of course
it's the last people we talk to) there was this guy who was like hey
Elders. So we talked to him and his wife came out and they aren't
super active but just got back from doing a family history trip, then
their neighbor came outside and started talking and said she was
baptized when she was 8, she just moved out of her house and said she
hadn't been in a few years. It was like a gold mine. They were all
super nice and glad to talk to missionaries. Hopefully we can teach
them this week.
Thanks for the family pics it's always fun to see everyone. I love you
all so much
Love, Elder David Witt

Celebrating Independence [from sin]

Sorry for not emailing last week, I meant to, this just means a thick
email for this week.

My birthday was great! Thanks for all of the gifts, letters and
packages. I'm not a teenager anymore! Elder Eddington made lunch and
we had brownies and ice cream. Sister Cik took us to Applebee's for
dinner and it was really good. 

David's 20th Birthday 

The candles melted from the top and bottom, the pan was still hot so
there was wax everywhere...yummy

We went tracting and it was super hot,
but we also had some good lessons, it was a good birthday.
So we moved, again ha we moved back into the Ciks house (315 Orchard
Ridge Drive, Kalispell, MT 59901) (yes it's drive not ave) it feels
good to be "home". The Ciks are awesome.

We went to lunch with a senior couple, Elder and Sister Osburn, this
week, they are from St. George. They were assigned to New Zeland but
are waiting for their visas, so they got temporarily relocated here. I
have never served around senior couples, they are funny and it will be
fun to have them here in our stake.

We had Interviews with Preisdent Holmes, hopefully he will stay as a
counselor since the Presidency was dissolved with President Mecham's
release. It is always good to have the zone come in for those and eat
lunch together and get to know everyone a little bit better. It was
good.

Last week we did some service for a lady. She is the librarian and
sometimes we talk to her on Mondays when we go in to email, anyway she
has a friend whose husband just died and wanted us to help her clean
some stuff. We drove out to the boonies and  helped this lady. Her
husband was a mechanic and had tons of car parts and garbage all over
the place, we sorted stuff into garbage, recycle able, hazardous, etc
and cleaned a small portion of her property. It felt good to get out
and do some physical service. Note to self, don't collect junk.
Last Sunday, Eric, a YSA, wanted to go tracting with us, he is
thinking about going on a mission and it was sweet. It always seems
like people enjoy or feel the Spirit more when a testimony is coming
from someone other than a missionary, not saying people don't feel the
Spirit when we talk to them. It was really humid and hot when we went
but it was a good experience. Since the next day was Monday, Eric took
us frolfing and it was fun, a couple other missionaries showed up. I
haven't been since I went with bro Cox for YM a long time ago. It was
super fun.

We taught institute and talked about flooding the earth with good
social media. There were some who were not super thrilled about doing
that. I mean it isn't too hard to post something religious, but some
didn't want to do it ha. As a missionary, It has been good to have
Favebook back. I have been able to contact some less actives,
investigators and others through it. I also got back in contact with
Nadia and Olea. I litteraly was concerned about them, thinking
something happened To them, power outage, death, etc. so it was good
to hear they are doing okay. It would be nice to somehow find Sanya
and talk to him, I hope he is doing okay.

Some YSA's showed up for splits one night and we visited a bunch of
YSA, no success yet but we plan to do it again and find more YSA to
come. It was a good experience for the YSA as well.

While we were being interviewed by President Holmes, I was talking to
Sister Holmes and we were talking about cinnamon rolls, so she made
some for me and my companion and brought them to "meet the president".
The Holmes are so awesome.

Speaking of meet the President, we had a meeting where we go together
and met President Gordon Leo Wadsworth and his wife. They are from
Panaca Nevada. They seem really nice and humble and I look forward to
serving for and with them.

President Wadsworth, me, Sister Wadsworth

It was really stressful the last week when we were working towards the
Nicklaus' baptism, since it was supposed to be last week. There were
some concerns with the Bishopric and them coming to church and all
that jazz, the Nicklaus' got a little offended that they didn't trust
that they were going to keep coming to church after they got baptized.
Satan was working hard on them and different things kept popping up,
but we got everything squared away and they were okay with their date
being moved to this last weekend. Sooo
It was the best Fourth of July EVER!! There were three baptisms!!


Me, Scott Wilson(he baptized Chelsey), Chelsey Wilson, Virginia Nicklaus, Randy Nicklaus and Elder Eddington

Randy and Virginia Nicklaus and Chelsey Wilson got baptized! It was
such an awesome baptism. The talks were great and the Spirit was
strong. They were all so happy, despite the fact the AC was broken and
it was really hot. They are all so awesome. They were all confirmed
the next day at sacrament and there were tons of visitors there so it
was great.

After the baptism we went to a bbq at the Wilsons, then for dinner we
went to another BBQ and even though we couldn't watch fireworks( it's
too dry here), we were allowed to stay out a little  later, so we
played basketball and volleyball in some members indoor court, it was
super fun.

Last night we went on splits again with Eric and Quinten, both YSA.
Quinten was baptized in November. We visited a potential named James
and he and his wife set up a return appointment yen said we should go
visit one of heir friends, so we did and she is going through a rough
time but wasn't super interested in learning more, but she said she
knew some people who could use our help and she said she was going to
give them our phone number, so hopefully something good comes from
that. Quinten was asking if this happens all the time, talking about
visiting people who need a visit and feeling the Spirit. He was
talking about going on a mission so hopefully he prays about it and
goes.

Sister Cuthbert, a less active we are working with, is doing well,
Gabe is still sharp as a tact, Luis girls are doing well, and Rachel.
Oh I forgot to talk about her. Some members just moved in about a
month ago and had her over for dinner and invited her to meet with us.
So she did and we had a great lesson with her and she prayed about the
Book of Mormon and the church and she said she really feels like it is
true, she is on date for the beginning of August. She is solid and the
members who are fellow shipping her are awesome. Things are going
great in Kalispell. I love this gospel and lasting joy it brings to
people lives.

Happy 4th
Church is true

Love you all
Have a great week!
Happy birthday to everyone whose birthday was in June or is in July,
there are a lot of them.

Love, Elder David Witt



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Summer

 Summer is officially here

We had 2 great meetings this past week, one was mission leadership
training, Kalispell and the Missoula zones came together and President
and Sister Mecham and the Assistants taught us, then we broke off into
our zones and taught our zones some things. We talked about asking
inspired questions and listening. It went well, President and Sister
amecham are awesome. President Mecham through the priesthood promised
us some sweet blessings. The Spirit was super strong and the powe and
authority of the priesthood was present.

I love President and Sister Mecham

Then the next day was MLC and it was President and Sister Mecham's
last one. We talked about getting Facebook back and all that jazz,
talked about what we are going to do to help everyone with the
transition of a new mission President. President Wadsworth should be
here July 1st I believe.

It was awesome yesterday Scott was able to advance in the aaronic
priesthood, we were able to stand in on that and now he will be able
to baptize Chelsea!

She is doing well and so are the Nicklaus's, their baptism is on
Saturday so hopefully they continue to live the word of wisdom.
Some members here have only lived here for a month and they talked to
their neighbor and invited her over for dinner, and she is going to
start taking the lessons, so we have an appointment with her this
week, members are awesome!!

When we went tracting this past week we found some awesome new people.
One guy, Curtis, pretty much believes in everything we believe. We
walked up to him and showed him the because of him video, and the
carpenter part he was like I was just doing that haha he has a family
and they were just super nice and we have an appointment with them in
a few weeks, they are busy this week so maybe we can make some kind of
contact between then and now. Then this other girl was super skeptical
at first, but we basically taught all of the restoration and she said
hmm that peaks my interest, we were like sweet and have an appointment
with her this week too. She said her boyfriend and other friends might
want to know more too.

This past week my allergies have been really bad and last night we
came home and in felt awful my throat was sore from being so itchy, my
eyes were super red and wanted to claw them out they were so itchy, I
got a blessing from Elder Eddington and brother Burningham, the guy we
live with, almost immediately my eyes weren't so itchy and my body
wasn't so uncomfortable. I am so greatful for the power and authority
of the priesthood and how it has been restored back to the earth. It
is awesome that everyone can enjoy the blessings of the priesthood.
Thank you so much for all of your love and support. You guys are the best
Hope you have a great week!!

Love Elder David Witt

Slamming, eating worms, last Ukrainian in Montana and Life Changing Lessons

This past week was kinda nuts, but we were still able to accomplish a lot!
First, I am blessed to stay another transfer here in Kalispell!
Unfortunately Elder Lancaster is getting transferred, and he is going
to Wyoming.

Slamming since a Elder Lancaster is leaving.

 I am pumped to stay here and feel like I need to keep
trying and reaching out to some people that I've met or worked with
and help them continue to progress. Another fun thing, we are going to
glacier today with the Ciks, so that will be fun!

 Glacier was sick

Marcus I hope you had a happy birthday! I love you.

The last Ukrainians -Elder Barney and Elder Witt- I'm the last one. слава Украине

So back to why this week was crazy, we had to drive to Missoula to
take Elder Barney down, since he was finishing his mission. 
Then we had to turn around and drive back down since we found out our car
needed to be taken to billings, since we are getting a new car. It was
in Billings last year when there was a huge hail storm and there was
quite a bit of damage that never got fixed, so it is getting fixed.

Just the other day my companion and I were talking and saying wouldn't
it be awesome if we had one of those life changing lessons with one of
our investigators, like the lesson that just makes it all click. Then
the other day we had a lesson with Chelsea and we didn't know what to
do for the lesson, the ideas we planned didn't feel right, so we said
a prayer and went by the Spirit. She was able to open up and tell us
some concerns about her family not being super supportive, and you
could see a huge burden lifted off of her shoulders and it was the
life changing lesson my companion and I had talked and prayed about.
It was a cool experience. We have been finding talks and such to bring
to the next lesson which will hopefully help. We also met this recent
convert girl in YSA, who has a pretty cool conversion story about
chatting with the missionaries on Mormon.org, getting taught over
Skype and then getting baptized, she was going to school at USU but is
now doing an internship, anyway the point of that was to say her
family wasn't super supportive of her getting baptized so we told her
about Chelsea and she said she would love to come to a lesson and help
us, I thought it was pretty cool how that worked out.
Oh yeah we had a lesson with Chelsea and Scott and it had been raining
so there were worms all over the ground, they said if we ate one they
would take us out to lunch. So Elder Lancaster and I did haha

District full of Elders ha

We had a great lesson with Sherman, we thought he would just fly
through the lessons and such, he is on track, just on the slow track
he will eventually get there, so that will be awesome. Also a great
lesson with Brenda, Gabes aunt who is less active, we felt inspired to
go over there since she came to his baptism and such, so we did and we
were going to talk about the Restoration, but she talked about her son
who died a few years ago and we were able to talk about the atonement.
We talked about how He didn't only suffere for our sins but everything
else, she had never been taught or realized that. It was cool to see
her faith, trust and love in Jesus grow. She is doing the small things
to help her life back on track.

We went Tracting the other day and we were trying to find this part
member family, which we did and have some stuff set up with them, then
we decided to just keep knocking on some doors, and their neighbors at
first weren't interested at all in fact the lady threw the Book of
Mormon away the missionaries had given her years ago, but she said she
would meet with us again, her husband seemed a little more promising
we'll see how it goes haha

I am lovin the warm weather and riding bikes in it (it will be nice to
ride a bike in normal clothes) Hope y'all have a great week! Love ya!
 С люблю,
Старейшина Дэвид Витт


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Truth convinces itself through the Holy Ghost

Another good week in Kalispell Montana. 

We moved on Saturday and it took a lot longer than we thought. It is like we went into a time machine back 50 years haha we live with brother Burningham who is older and whose wife just past away in January so it has been good to live with him. 

The Wehrli's family is moving into their house this summer so we needed to go somewhere else. It is a lot smaller and different living situation but it will be good! (By the way the new address is 202 Park Ave., Kalispell, Montana 59901)

We had lunch with the former mayor of evergreen (the city next to Kalispell that actually doesn't really have a mayor, she just got her named pulled out of a hat haha) she goes to another church, we tracted into her a couple weeks ago and for some reason she loved us so much. She doesn't want to listen to our message but she just wanted to talk ha she was so funny. So she took us to lunch and it was funny when she made us all hold hands as she shouted her prayer in the restaurant it was good haha.

I have met a lot of interesting people on my mission haha

We were teaching this one kid and a couple of his friends, turns out he was trying to get us to come to his church all along and only believes that through grace we are saved, which we absolutely and completely are, but doesn't want to acknowledge the rest of the scripture, saved by grace through faith and other scriptures point out faith without works is dead. 

This gospel just makes sense, talking to all different kinds of people with their beliefs, their beliefs have no doubt made them nicer people, but without the fullness of the gospel it doesn't mesh together. 

It was so awesome to see a less active, Sister Cuthbert come to church 2 Sunday's in a row! She hasn't been in a really really long time. My heart was "filled with exceedingly great joy" when I saw her at the back of the chapel. I have only felt that a few times on my mission. I met her when I first got here and she said she would come to church then, so it was so so awesome to finally see her come!  

It was also super exciting news when we got texts, phone calls and found out in lessons that the people we are working with have been reading the scriptures, understanding them and applying them to their lives. 

 Chelsea and Scott Wilson have been reading and she is still on tract to get baptized, she moved her baptismal date to the 4th of July since her mom will be in town then, the Nicklaus shared how much they have read and enjoyed how their lives have been so similar to Nephi's life., Gabe is so smart and was remembering all that he has learned and was asking about the anti-Nehpi-Lehi's he is such a smart 11 year old,

Sister Luis has been reading on her own every night and had been doing things to be able to get a temple recommend and go for her first time, Sherman, who we haven't been in contact with him for a few weeks called us and said he has started reading again and wants to meet up this week. Great news from all of them. It has been awesome to realize that we don't have to try to convince anyone that we ever talk to, ever! Truth convinces itself and as they read the Book of Mormon the Holy Ghost will be the one to convince them this is true. 

I have read the Book of Mormon quite a few times on my mission so far and this time around every morning I read I feel the love of our Heavenly Father and have been able to love and understand the teaching of Jesus Christ more exponentially. 

A little better email this week than last. 

We will see what transfers bring this next week, love you all

love Elder David Witt

I love America

We had an awesome Saturday and Sunday with Gabe getting baptized and confirmed, his uncle did them and it was so awesome. He is so smart and loves the gospel. His parents aren't active, but he wakes himself up and walks over to his grandparents house they they can take him to church on Sunday, he is awesome! 

I was able to go on exchanges with some of the other Elders in their area and help them with a few things, for the most part there are really good missionaries in our zone. It is great to be able to serve here with these missionaries and see the growth that has occurred since when I first got here. 

Hope you all have a great Memorial Day, I am grateful to be here in America and enjoy the things that we have. It is a lot different here in the states than other places in the world. 

We also watched meet the Mormons earlier today, I am grateful for this gospel and can't wait for opportunities to go to school and travel and such.

Hope you have a good week love ya

love Elder David Witt

May 25, 2015