Failure to Provide Burden of Proof

 Hola!

It's hard to pick up certain parts of conversational Spanish, a lot of people will slur the ends of their past participles, and nouns.

defendi-y-o > defendido > defended

habla-o > Hablado > Talked

Aboga-o > abogado > Lawyer

Yeah, I had to use that one a lot this week considering I had to go to court! I received a multa (fine) 2 weeks ago and was summoned to appear in court. I made argument after argument, adrenaline was high, and I LOVED it. My mitigating circumstances were good and the judge decided to cut the fine in half, to which I decided mama didn't raise no quitter so I said NO and the Judge said OK, please have a seat. I was taken aback, thought that jail time would now be on the table or maybe even the death penalty! Haha.

Another man was called up to the bar before me and got his case reviewed with a lawyer on a zoom call and everything while my companion and I sat in the room. The person on the Zoom call was found GUILTY and the judge did NOT seem to be happy, so when I got back up to plead my case (I was my own counsel) I was terrified. I have been scared on my mission before, so basically I just bore testimony of the sacred funds I have as a missionary, my purpose, and my excellent driving record. 

The judge listened intently but what I think really did help me and my case after all that, was that I just smiled big and wide and innocently.

Shout out to Hillam Orthodontics (and my mom) for paying for my braces, because IT WORKED!! I WON!! Everything was dismissed and I was sent on my way. What an interesting preview of Law life before I head to Law School.

Jesus is the Christ, and God will protect you if you do his work!!! Look for ways to serve someone this week!

 Love you all!! And don't park on the wrong side of the road. (If you do, make sure there are no signs)

Sincerely,

Exonerated Elder Lucas Witte

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​                                                                 Me (above) prepping for court.​

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Very sad day: Spanish zone conference I had to say goodbye to rojito Elder Haycock for the last time, and said goodbye to President Mann (he leaves in a week) hopefully the next mission president is gas.

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(No Context)

Perfect Faith Week

 AT ZONE CONFERENCE, The mission president's wife talked about the trinity, and basically how to bash it and the (she is so genius and mad dogged up) then President Mann slapped us with faith and finding, and how it is the key to everything. He said that through faith, your thoughts than words, then actions, then behaviors will change, and since he is leaving (this transfer) this is his final sermon. This week my companion and I tried extra hard to have lots of faith, talk to more people, trust each other and the Lord, and think about people who are/would be interested, be more bold etc. What I've learned is that faith is tied to patience, which is tied to love, which is tied to EVERYTHING!!! 

Moroni 8:16 has been THE scripture to share with people with tumultuous lives... 

"Wo be unto them that shall pervert the ways of the Lord after this manner, for they shall perish except they repent. Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear."

Have better words, it will lead to a better mindset, then it will lead right back to having better words, then it will improve character, and your actions...

INTERVIEWS were good, to depart we talked about empathy, and how it will lead me to being a better companion through my mission, a better friend when I get home, and most importantly, a more noble son of God to be the eternal companion of one of God's most noble Daughters... it was a tearjerker fosho, but I will be remembering that FOREVER 

PRESIDENT MANN AND THE MISSION have changed me SO MUCH I feel like a better person, I KNOW that I have changed lives, and most of all I know my Heavenly Father is pleased with my hard work here in Vancouver Washington. If you are thinking or hesitant about going on a mission, for whatever reason: remember that perfect faith = perfect love = fear that is casted out love y'all!

Sincerely, 

Elder Lucas Witte

1 Last zone conference with president and sister Mann

2 weekly elder grummert shout out

3 english class with Russians, (he beard reminded me of you, Bishop Miner)

4 my 2nd pair of shoes just entered retirement. Sigh.

Prayers up! (I am going to court)

 This week was not real, so long, and I don't remember a single thing.

Here are some random highlights that I DO remember:

1) Bowled on Pday and won (but you can tell when I let the latinos that showed up late go for me) I'm V for Vampiro

2) Crashed my old apartment, where my old companion lived, so we ate at the Canes and reminisced over the silly fights we would have over a 20 or 30 min nap.

3) Watched the Champions league final, (hala madrid but andale PSG)

4) We finally crashed a party! It was delicious

--Moroni 8 talks about speaking with bravery if we are called of God, he wants to help us and loves all of us! He wants to help you too, I can testify that his help is personal, and consistent. Amen

Sincerely,

Elder Lucas Witte

ReplyForward

Transferred to Camas

Jesus is the best, I have seen my testimony of him grow so much these last few weeks as I have made the Book of Mormon the first thing I study in my personal studies, my understanding of it's complex timeline, and map has been somehow easier when I study with prayer, and testifying of it is easier when I speak boldly of what it proves and refutes, I somehow am at a less of a loss for words when I explain it, and this is ALL because I have made it crucial to my mission as a Book of Mormon missionary to have a true conversion to the Book of Mormon.

I hope all of you understand that each page testifies or teaches his principles, we play Book of Mormon Baseball where you open to a random page, have the other person tell you which, and which column, and which verse, and you have to read it, teach with it, testify with it and invite. And I use it EVERY time I have to teach missionaries why faith is important, because I have faith that I will never end up in the war chapters jk but FR we use it all the time proving it testifies of Jesus Christ, and NOT "john smith and his 12 Tabernacle choirs" or whatever.

I moved areas, this is a summary of the week.  My companion is Elder Worthington from the CCM and we are in Camas, WA pronounced Cam (like camel) and Mas like christmas Ca-mas.  It is a very nice area of WA.

English Class bro was teaching fricatives  (forms of making noise - like th or ch sounds)

Idaho Falls Friends - Grummert (HHS) Zollinger (Skyline)

Uno my first night here (I was close to flipping the table in spanish)

Bit, Blinded, Burned & Basketball

Is there a "have the longest/fakest week ever competition"??? Because I would be the world champion in that FR.

YES I GOT BIT BY A DOG, but my epic very handsome Elder Companion threw some metal sheeting at it like captain america and hit it in the head. It survived, don't worry.

I ALSO WENT BLIND it was temporary though, don't worry mom, we were warming up for this college basketball game and a half court shot went off the rim right into my face as I was working on my layoffs or whatever you call them (IDK how to play basketball,) we were challenged 6 days ago and pulling 20+ to church was on the line), so that's what my week consisted of.

Early morning basketball practice

Lunch hour basketball practice

Dinner hour basketball practice

After finding time basketball practice

It was worth it! We lost by 20 but I shot for 100% (1 for 1 lol) and my companions shot for like 70 combined points

I BURNED through my first pair of shoes.  You know it is bad when the MP tells you, "it is time." Whoops.

Hope this upcoming week is less on my body.

Sincerely, 

Elder Lucas Witte

Me moments after disaster, but before we put up 80 points against the community college that challenged the YSA elders.

Heavenly Hoopsters

Real

Weekly Planning (with snacks)/ Teaching me basketball

Chastised by the Spirit (Mission President)

 We went on splits and I finally got to go back to an old area of mine, the missionaries that are there now are both new and it was cool being able to give them advice, and show them myself, the 2 highlights definitely are:

1. This one bro left his house to drunkenly stumble down the street to the store, he recognized me and said we could head down to his house for some Modelo, so we went to his house and for the day and to my and my companions surprise/terror -- I just opened the door, to a giant celebration! (they weren't celebrating an event, just another day in their life.) The humility and gratefulness of Latinos is unmatched. I often catch myself praying for hoops to be jumped through. But every time we have our friends pray, its for nothing more than

Health, family, and money (and sometimes papers.) LOL

2. Mothers day in Mexico is Saturday, and American mother's day is on the Sabbath, so we went to a party in this old area and all the members, friends that got baptized, and others that remembered me were so hype! It was a lovely celebration and we finally got to eat and take pictures! 

President Eyring taught that motherhood goes back to foreordination, they must live by so many Christlike attributes and are trusted with one of the many key parts of the plan of salvation, shout out to my lovely mother who is an excellent example and has sacrificed so much for the success of me and my siblings, you the goat FR mom!

Sincerely, 

Elder Lucas Witte

Legendary mothers day fiesta

Yeah I forgot the context of this pic

Te amo (y te extraño TANTO) mama 

Mt St Helens on a clear day is visible from MILES away.

Nature : Changed

 Excellent week TBH in all the categories that matter (our efforts and def not our numbers) we worked like dawgs and got fed like it too. (pictures below)

I don't know if I've sent this out in an email before but I've definitely put my thoughts into words before: I used to think that my attraction to the love of teaching the restoration first nearly every time was because of my competitive and contentious nature, but something my companions have pointed out is that the way I've been able to speak with reverent authority about my favorite topics, as opposed to me inviting the spirit to leave with my tone or word choice. We had a zone conference about the power of the Restoration in Conversion. The Book of Mormon is the most powerful tool in the whole world. And I have come to truly learn that and use it, too.

I know that Joseph Smith could not have written the Book of Mormon. A fraud cant invite the spirit the way I've seen it be brought into our friends homes, maybe this is going back to me being argumentative or debate-alicious but the best evidence we bring to every discussion is the miracle, the gift, the WORD of GOD. He translated the spiritual experience maker 9000 and I am so so grateful for it, for real,  AMEN 

Love you all! 

Sincerely, 

Elder Lucas Witte

5 de mayo festival last night = excellent finding line

Chilaquiles

Companion got his hair cut mid video lesson about venezuela was actually fire

Do I love Venezuelans now?!?

   ¡¡Que pasa mis castillos que me hacen falta!!

¿Qué tal, buenos amigos y socios?

~(What's going on my ribs that I've been missing)~

(Whats up good friends and business associates)

Yeah here in Astoria there are basically puro venezolanos (pure venezuelans) and they LOVE trading phrases in street spanish for english, so it's been fun. Anyways let's get to the jugo (juice):

(I'm in a trio so it's "we and our") our trainee has had a really hard start to this transfer... mostly because we are correcting him A LOT in basically every aspect, my companion on his(our) obedience and I on his(our) spanish...

It's become obvious that he didn't like us a whole ton... but what is way more obvious is the progress he has made. We had an excellent tear-filled falling out and testimony meeting watching the sunset right next to this Coast Guard Cutter (ship). He said on Monday he told his mother point blank he hated me, but now is studying fully in Spanish, taking notes, and striving to share his PURE testimony. (It has been beautiful to see and I am so proud of my newest Trainee)

God does not cut us down for anything more than just to build us up once again, why are we as mere humans doing anything more than precisely cutting, or building up. Shoutout Dad for really teaching me the difference between Pruning up, and Tearing Down, no one does it better than you (literally in the garden and in metaphorically as well)

Funny how you shared how much you loved the Venezuelans before I left and then I had this full circle moment with me loving them AND you teaching me how to teach with love, even though some of my siblings didn't really love that form of "love" (lecturing) at home. Strict parents prevail. oh and HBD dad. 

Sincerely,

Elder Lucas Witte

crab fest is a big deal here

temple W

idk if you can see that but it's for the team "michoacan avocados"

Let's go! Jesus Resucito!

 Legendary week:

It became clear to me that the mood and attitude towards tracting and working hard for the most time possible has changed, but for the better! 

I have a testimony that (even if it's slightly begrudgingly) if we make time for the Lord, he will fill our time right back up with things to do, people to talk to, and ways to do his work. It is truly awesome.

Idk who missed it (other than me) but President Nelson said "When I speak of having confidence before God, I am referring to having confidence in approaching God, right now!" I have learned from the topical guide that confidence is "Having an assurance, belief, trust, or faith in something, especially God and Jesus Christ."

I know what I felt, I know what I am feeling, I know how wonderful he makes me feel and infinite his plan is I know that Jesus Christ, laid his life down, AND HE ROSE AGAIN (now that's gangster)

Ok, love you all! 

Sincerely,

Elder Lucas Witte

Legendary Elder Gummert Reference (above) Elder Grummert and I went to HS together and are friends serving in the same mission.

Legendary way to spell : Washington Hahaha

Zone conference was near the Nike Outlet, and 300 dollars were dropped by my companions.

Lastly, I saw the Easter bunny.

Welcome to Astoria/Seaside Oregon

Transfer happened, nothing crazy happened except that I left my Canadian trainee for a new one, who is from Pocatello,ID. We work in Seaside and Astoria Oregon, basically 2 hours all around the surrounding areas, so naturally, we walk the beach all the time, and the church is PACKED with members visiting from all over the world. It was so sick and anyways this has been a long week of changes so I'll keep this email short.

We make covenants to spiritually wash, prepare, and receive the spirit of revelation, Joseph Smith recounts in his history (in correlation with Doctrine and Covenants 20) that even after he SAW GOD AND JESUS CHRIST he was still subject to "levity" (kind of like kiddishness or lightmindedness for all of you except my Mom or Mrs. Daley or Mrs.Tolliver) and that takes me back to a video I was watching that says that - that is the opposite of Virtue, which is the EFFORTFUL attempts to keep a clean and focused mind, and its a difficult attribute of Christ to attain because if we don't rely on Christ and the spirit to take the load off of us it will be very taxing in the long run.

(I think President Nelson talked about this a bit in his general conference talk but the friend we had watching it when he was going was asking what a Prophet was so we didn't pay attention to his talk and helped him understand why he is so AWESOME... AND IMPORTANT)

Ok love you all talk to you soon!

Sincerely,

Elder Lucas Witte

(^^^ and the book of Mormon)

Los compañeros  (Elder Stone from MTC, and Elder West from Pocatello)

Astoria is the best. Mucho different than when we went here as a family 2 summers ago.