Ok. Here I go again with a random listed in my daily planner letter. But first off thank you so much for the letters! I smile so big when ever I get to read them and laugh out loud like a "krange man". Ok ,I'll answer some questions I saw in your letters. First, I don't use sunscreen that much, just a base haha. I use it on some days when I go to kuition (explain later) because it's a super long walk in the sun. Also, yes ,I rock the sulu from time to time. The unit leader here, Charles, gave it to me, it's nice and breezy. I charge my ipod whenever paul saaky uses his generator haha. And Elder Gashler! I met and got to know him reasonably well. You should know this mission isn't very big and it's easy to know everyone, especially in Vanuatu. I think there's around 36 now, so you get to know and befriend all of them. When I was in Fiji before I got here the missionaries in Fiji were talking about how Vanuatu is cool because of the small numbers and unity. I can't believe your posing for ensign! haha I must see this asap. Ok letter time. So first off I'll say from the last letter I wrote until now I've experienced the worst time of my mission with the greatest time. First we'll get the bad over with. So I can't remember if I mentioned Kolombas. We had some great lessons with him and we were helping him to prepare to be baptised. His wife is the most stubborn lady in the world. We came and shared a great message with him about cleansing yourself through repentance before baptism. The spirit was so strong, I cried a little. But then D+C 40:2 explains what happened next clearly. First his wife, Anna came out and was SO mad! At him and at us. She could barely even breathe and she didn't blink. She said he'd been baptised already and that he's already repented before. Kolombas stormed off and I talked with Anna. I was able to help her calm down and I was trying to help her out and we were making some progress but then, Kolombas came back. He came back and started destroying their house. After this he beat Anna in front of us. Elda Bacon and I were shocked beyond belief. Unfortunately Elda Bacon wasn't able to speak the language yet so it was on me. I straightaway reprimanded him and tried to help them but it was a bad scene. All the people who lived around came and watched. We've continued to try to help him, he's a good man but he's not there yet. After, later that night we got a call from the Zone Leaders saying that Elda Potrie, (best friend with my companion) was hit by a car in Luganville. All time low. It was hard not to get very down. Luckily it turns out after being out for a good while he's fine except for extremely sore and some bruises and scabs. But I did gain something out of the hardship. I had been praying that I could grow in my faith and I didn't want to be affected by anything. I got my answer in this one very bad day. I was very sad but I knew our fasting would help Elda Potrie. Faith is so important. In our mission motto it says: Faith is the power, Obedience the price, Love is the motive, Spirit is the key, Christ is the reason. I think about that a lot. Faith is the power. After that it gets much better and climaxes. Sorry, it'll be random and non chronological. So on a P day Elda Bacon and I went down to Gudfala Stoa (Good store) to buy some soap to wash our clothes. When we got there and bought our stuff we met a man named Winston. He said he's been wanting to hear the message of the missionaries. He then showed us the road to his house and met his family. I know without a doubt we were led here. He and his wife are elect. We went and shared the message of the restoration with them and it went so well. They recognized us as servants of the lord. Last week we went again to share the plan of salvation. He and his wife are the greatest. They both expressed how glad they were that we were coming and sharing these true messages to bless them. They said they knew every bit of it was true. They even recognized blessings that came after our first lesson. Winston said that he and his wife would argue a lot. Ever since we had came they hadn't once and everythings great. They said they would never pray before. He said now,"now we're praying as a family and at meals." They are so prepared. Also, at the last conference President Klingler talked about DO'S and BE'S. The church did a study to see if any DO'S such as going to mutual or getting duty to god led to any BE'S such as an active member. They found that DO'S are good but they didn't necessarily always lead to BE'S. The best DO'S they found are the ones when no ones around and it's not an outward observance such as personal prayer, and personal study and the scriptures and reflecting. There is so much truth in that. This would be my advice to sierra in these years and you too mom and dad.
Also, as far as the rat, haven't won yet. It's still up there. We found a cat and put him in the roof but he kept going out. Even when one our friends, Tabi Zock kept throwing it up there repeatedly. We named it Eski after the brand of cordial juice here. Then we let it sleep in the house one night because the rat comes down on the floor in the night. All I got out of it was a failure ,cat snuggling while I slept. Also Elda Fulla gave us Kool Aid! Probably the best thing I've ever tasted. We got red and blue. Send lots in the next package. We also got creative. We tried making spaghetti. We found some pasta noodles, not just ramen-like ones. After some not tomato sauce like prego a sauce kind of like ketchup. After as far as meat it's either tuna or corned meat. We went with corned meat. It looked good. It wasn't good. Also it's watermelon time here in Gaua. We've been buying them like nobodys business. The other day Jansen (Don't know if I've talked about him already) gave us some huge colorful fish. We found a lemon tree and we stoned a bunch of them down to season the fish, so good! So as far as eating meat here, no gat. I think I've eaten meat 3 times with fish occasionaly. It's common when someone feeds us (which is rarely) they'll say "sorry there's no meat in it". The other day we contacted an old man on the road named Juda, an awesome friendly guy. Before we could go find his house we ended up leaving one appointment and following Elda Bacon's false impression? and getting lost. But we ended up in Juda's garden and he was there. We drank coconuts and we ended up teaching him there. Great lesson and he understood very well. Also another cool thing happened. On a P day Elda Bacon dropped his planner and a man named Jeremy found it and he came to return it to us. He's so awesome. He's an albino from Mere Lava. He's come to church every time since we first taught him and apparently he went to seminary yesterday! Also I learned a new area. My first companion didn't show it to me because it's far away and he was lazy haha. Elda Fotukava, one of the Zone leaders served here so he showed it to me. Such an awesome place it's called Kuition. Very far away but the people are so so kind. Everyone investigator and recent convert that we went back to was so glad to see the missionaries again. James said he'd been holding his tithing until we came back. We went yesterday and we got crafty. We went to Gudfala store first and bought 6 Fanta's. On the route to this area there are 4 rivers you wade through. One is a big one so it has a bridge. We buried the Fanta's in the river after making a big stone holder felt them. I felt like Moroni. Came back and they were colder than room temperature! YES! One of the recent converts here is Filip with his wife Delma. Filip is a chief of Lembot. He is legendary. When he was first taught he said 4 times in the 1st lesson I won't be baptised. At the end of the lesson he said yes. After just the first lesson he became a missionary and shared what he heard with a nearby village. He's an awesome member now. We're working with him to start a new unit down in his area because it's so far away. At this conference a seventy is coming, don't know who, and we'll be giving a presentation of Gaua. I've got all the information to present this for a new unit. In front of a seventy, yikes! Also I gave a talk the other week about family. I read out of the Family: Proclamation. (translated because I couldn't find one in bislama to read out of) and when I talked about you guys I cried. Miss you all. Also on a funny note I delivered the sad news of Michael Jackson's death to Gaua. They didn't know! They have some T shirts of him and listen to him but had no idea haha. But I am glad to report I am having a blast. Elda Bacon is the bomb. It's not like some where it's putting up with them but I have one of my friends who happens to be my companion. We have a blast and were very unified. The spirit is undoubtedly with us. I feel like I'm growing so much and learning tons. I have a favorite scripture as of now Alma 29:9 It's in my head a lot. It's so important to be humble. Especially on a mission. If you're humble you'll continue to grow. The second you stop being humble you stop progressing. I am seeing answered prayers so often here. It's unmistakable. Anyways ,hope you don't fall asleep reading this novel, maybe divide it into chapters on the blog haha. Anyways love you all SO very much and I pray for you often. Take a hug out of storage again.
Elda Sias
