Sunday, December 25, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Missionary work and building up the church in general
Ok first, I got the first package you sent forever ago. Elda Albrek, the senior missionary in Santo found it in quarantine haha. Enjoying the protein bars. Anyways here I go. It'll be random and out of order again. So the other day we were making our forever long walk back from Kuition. We were walking on the road when we saw a mama with his small boy. I saw the boys face when he saw us. His eyes got huge, without wasting a second he screamed and ran away crying. I saw him running away up and down 3 hills. That was his reaction to white people haha. We weren't doing anything scary just walking haha. I think we were the first white people he had seen. And now we'll go to when I got scared. On this same walk back from Kuition it was very dark towards the last leg of the walk. We were walking and talking when in the middle of the road I saw something peculiar. I froze. I asked "do you see that?" I stared for a while and stopped in my tracks. I was legitimitely scared. Then I realized it was a truck parked in the road and the lights were from the reflectors. I was scared of a truck. There's 2 trucks on this island. I'm becoming "manbush". Also, one day Elda Bacon and I went down to Lemanman to find the guy who could come and witness Tabi and Elisabeths' marriage and come with the license. He was there for the big lavet. The prime minister of Vanuatu was here giving a speech. After he was finished he came over to us to meet and and we talked for a bit. I got a photo with him but I forgot to bring my camera again. After he and all the chiefs went up to a stage for their feast. We got invited to eat with them. So good! We also saw some water music. It's one of their custom dances where they basically use the ocean as the drum and make really cool sound effects like dolphins. So then the marriage. Tabi is our neighbor and good friend. His wife Elisabeth is great and is an investigator of ours. President Mahit, the district president in Luganville was supposed to come and perform the marriage for them. . After they ended up going to find an anglican preist to do it. I felt pretty apostate sitting up on the stage with them during it. The preist wore a kkk looking thing and preached and yelled a lot. But at least they're married now. That day was pretty frustrating. I would describe it as someone poking you in the face repeatedly every ten seconds. Just one day though. So we found a man that the missionaries had taught before named Moken. He is so awesome he wants to get baptised so bad. He just needs to get married first. His wife Lydia said she wants to have us come and teach her first and she'll decide on getting married and baptised at the same time. She is so awesome. Last time we went to their house Lydia wasn't there. Moken was talking about how they're so happy now and he says he keeps finding her reading the Book of Mormon. Great couple. Refreshingly educated. Their boy is the best. His name is Limon. Whenever we're about to leave he'll say I love you in english haha. Also we found a guy named Joe. He's really humble and ready to learn. We've taught him a few times and last time we went he told us everything he had read in the Book of Mormon and told the story of it knowing the names and teachings and everything. So refreshing. It's hard to find people that can read. Moken was really glad when he found out we were teaching him because he said that he and Joe had made a pact a few years back that they were going to meet with the missionaries. We were definitely led to him. Also, Jeremy, our albino friend is progressing like crazy. If we don't miss our flight again he'll be getting baptised the day after we get back. He and dustin, a 14 year old boy. They're both so great and will be going to youth conference now. We met this awesome couple. Meri and Jon. They are so kind to us. Whenever we go down we'll drop by their house in route to the end of Kuition. When we head back at the end of the day they'll have a super good meal prepared. They gave me their WWII relic to use. It was a US Navy fork from when the US was stationed here. They love the US army here. All the older guys talk about being scared of the big planes because they hadn't seen one before. The other day we realised it was thanksgiving. We were planning on asking the Zone Leaders in Santo to send us some meat on the flight coming to Gaua that day. They were lazy. But at Meri and Jon's house they ended up making us a super good meal WITH MEAT! So work down in Kuition is great! It's super far away but there are a ton of people ready and who want to join the church. The only problem is they're too far away to come to church. We've been working with this a lot. There's a member here, Filip. He should be the leader here in the future. He's working so hard with us, finding people and using his power as chief to find land for the church. We got approval to go down and teach a sunday school every other sunday. If and when the attendance gets large we can start sacrament meeting and sometime get the land and chapel. It's a long way to walk but they're amazing here. So many said they were wating for us to come or to come back. We've been working a lot with the district and Elda Albrek to get this moving. Lots of time, thought, and prayer. Also good news, our unit here in Gaua got approved to become a Branch! We'll see what happens because to be a branch president you have to be married. Charles isn't. Stevan would be the one to take his place. Charles is a great guy. We're assisting him in his work ,Inviting all the youth back to church, seeing all the less actives and working with the ground the church has already bought down by the airport for the building of a real chapel. President Mahit is planning to come but Elda Albrek had him wait till we got back so we can show him everything thats going on. Ok so a miracle has happened. I love vegetables. They're like candy to me. We're just going to peoples houses all the time and they fill us up with "island kakae". Pineapples, watermelon, bell peppers, onions, green onions, taro, manyoak, yam, kumala, passionfruit, snake bean, so good. We have a watermelon garden. It's right next to where we sit in front of the house and eat watermelon and throw the seeds. Thats how rich the ground is, if you just throw seeds they'll grow. As far as our people we're teaching we are so set. When I first came I was pretty concerned, very little. We have so much now. Somewhere around 65. It's raining a lot so the roads are just giant puddles of water and deep quicksand-like mud. I had my first fall. I slipped and got pretty dirty. Also I stepped in a giant cow turd because they always tie up their cows close to the road. It was fresh and I almost slipped because of it haha. We're also working with Jansen still. He's so awesome, we need him for the work to progress. He sold his land to the church for the chapel but no one had done anything. We taught an old guy named steven, he's from one of the islands in the south, futuna. He is interesting. He knows the Book of Mormon super well but won't come to church. He was paralyzed for 2 years. We taught him and his 2 granddaughters who are SDA. At the end of the lesson, steven said "you're going to leave your church and go get baptised with them" pretty bold haha. Also we made passionfruit juice. So good! Also we made spaghetti! We found some real pasta noodles and tomato paste. Added water to the past with onions and garlic, very good. We've also been making fried rice when we can find eggs. Also fries! We get kumala (a sweet potato) and deep fry them in oil and put salt, They're like fries but a little sweet too... They're way good. Also kava is the worst thing ever. It's the biggest stumbling block in this work and in their society. We're teaching a man named Josef who lives with and married one of Jansens' daughters. It's going really well, he has the coolest dreds, he looks like a rasta. I could talk about it all day but work is going really good. Plenty to do. VERY involved with missionary work and just building up the church in general. In gaua it's very cut off from anything, even missionary news. Apparently some bickering and stuff is going on with the other missionaries and other small problems. Elda Bacon and I are away from it and got extended some more time again. They were talking about transfers and the senior zone leader told me the mission president said, they need to stay. Anyways very random, hope you get anything out of it haha. Not enough time to word it well or work on english. And by the way about the Christmas call. It won't be skype. We'll be calling on our own phone because we'll be in Gaua. No skype but that does mean we get to talk longer. Anyways gotta go, off to play basketball for the first time in a long time.
LOVE YOU LOTS, YOU'RE IN MY THOUGHTS (rhymed)
Elda Sias
LOVE YOU LOTS, YOU'RE IN MY THOUGHTS (rhymed)
Elda Sias
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
November 9th,2011- Faith is the Power, Obedience the price, Love is the Motive, Spirit the Key, Christ is the Reason...
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
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
Sunday, October 30, 2011
And here's what it's all about.....
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| Baptism last Saturday with new companion, Elda Bacon from Idaho Marieta, Joji and Felix |
And on to Gaua, pronounced "Gow-uh"
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| Jansen arrives at the "airport in Gaua" |
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| His new home and friends... From left to right, returned missionary Danson, sometimes companion Charles and soon to be married Tabi |
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| The outhouse |
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| Shower |
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| Jansen "rockin the sulu," gifted to him by Charles... |
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| Jansen learning to use the bow and arrow with church in background |
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| Jansen in the kitchen, laundry preparing the staples ( corned meat, noodles and rice) |
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| The inside of the outhouse with books- used as toilet paper |
Farewell to the old.....
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| Farewell with Waet + Marta, Sean Claude in Turtle Bay |
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| Fareewell dinner with Rachel and Marta |
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| Food was scarce.... |
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| Memory of a few of Jansen's feliine friends in Fanafo |
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| "Nani" or goat in Bislama. Jansen and his companion used to wave and talk to him every day.... |
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| Radion |
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| Bus, another island friend, who likes to eat ties... |
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
News from Gaua!
Family!
Ok so I just read the beastly amount of letters in my inbox, took forever but it was a blast. Smiled really big and cried a little. Dick is in a much better place and I will miss him a lot. Ok, so as far as my letter it will be very jumbled and sometimes not in chronological order because I've just been writing down random things when they happen in my planner. Ok we'll start with day 1. Out of santo in the smallest plane ever to banks. First landed in Torres and Mota Lava, then to Gaua. The landing in Gaua was pretty epic. The runway is a grass field and it had just rained. We came in on one side of the runway and ended up on the other side nearly into the bush haha. There to greet me was my companion, Elda Namariel from Tanna.His mind had already returned to his house, haha. After 2 weeks with him I was with Charles, a returned missionary who served in Fiji and Vanuatu and is now our Unit President (bishop) and a very close friend of mine. The church is pretty awesome here .It's a nakamal or a small meeting space for chiefs. The house is....... good. Very basic. It's basically cement walling with wallpaper thrown on the floor ,haha. After a unsuccesful battle with massive spiders, milipats (massive centipedes), mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches, and worms we finally spent hours DEEP cleaning the place and sealing the open windows with mosquito net that we cut. All that's left is the stupid rat in the ceiling. We tried a trap but it didn't work. Next, natuarally I found a cat and threw it up in the ceiling crawlspace where it's living, VICTORY! But all that aside, I promise it's safe and I won't get any diseases ,haha. So as far as bathing its pretty sweet. Fill up a bucket of water, grab a cup and go! We've also just bathed purely in large rain storms.It's kinda like a shower right? Ok, here's where it gets out of order ,please pardon. So here the main social gathering is the airport. Planes come monday, wednesday, and friday and on all of these days it's packed with all the 'manbus' (bush men women and children) coming to watch the planes land and go. One time a plane was taking off and this dog chased it barking the whole way and the plane had to turn around and start again. The owner of the dog was so mad that he threw a huge piece of wood in his direction.We laughed so hard, haha. Also ,you're allowed to bring chickens on the plane. They bring them in rice bags and thier heads stick out the top all the time, haha. Ah yes, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MOM AND SIERRA (for next month)...... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU. And sorry for all the withdrawals, I'm trying my best to budget but stuff keeps coming up. I will be withdrawing again, hope it's alright. Next month Tabi and Elizabet are finally getting married and we've been asked to contribute a 18 kilo pack rice. Also, I got to give my first baby blessing. Bartholomew (if thats how you spell it) Clement Asao.It was really awesome, besides when he farted really big during the blessing when I was holding him. Also one week was pretty slowed by another celebration, Torba day. There were over 20 soccer teams competing for the prize. At the time, my companion Charles was on a team so I ended up watching the whole tournament. Charles' team asked me to bless them to be able to perform ,haha. I just prayed that they could avoid injury and brought it back to the savior. Also another good friend of ours here, JANSEN! same spelling! He's so awesome, he always catches fish for us. Unfortunately, he's somewhat less active. Before we went to visit him I said a silent prayer in my head asking for what he needed. After Moroni 7:47-8 came to my head we went and talked about charity and the pure love of christ. I shared you experience mom, of how you prayed to be able to see everyone as a child of god. The spirit was so strong. He teared up a little and after our message he said I know I have to come back to church. He came the next sunday :) After Elda Bacon and I went back and shared another message. (I'll get to him) We talked about repentance and the power of forgiveness. We shared the story of Alma the younger with him. As I was relating the story I really began to cry. Forgiveness is such an amazing feeling. Since then he's been giving us lots of deep doctrine questions that take time to find but are really enlightening and fun to find. Last time we went we just chatted and as we were leaving he asked, "Elda Sia , can I ask you something?" I said yes. He said "we've been wondering, are you related to George Bush? You look so much like him" haha Also I tried octopus for my first time in laplap way good! Also here they have turtle! Its actually really good!They chase it in a boat until it gets tired and when it comes up for air they jump on it haha. There isn't a thing I won't eat ,haha, especially if it's meat. Ok, Elda Bacon. "Pikinini blong mi." A tradition here is when you train someone he's your boy. Elda Bacon is so awesome! He's from Idaho Falls, Idaho. We get along gloriously. It's not just a putting up with each other, but it's a genuine friendship. Even more importantly he's a hard worker. The work is really going ahead with us two. Our studies and planning are so great. We've planned for certain lessons for 2 hours a few times, haha. One time we were joking around about how I was a seer and revalator because of my name badge, Elda Sia. He then proceeded to stop on the road (luckily just us 2) and say a prayer aloud thanking for my wisdom and the privelege to be with me. I was blown away , a little over board ,haha. One time in our companionship study we came to the section, "how to begin teaching" we were being sarcastic to each other and it was his turn to teach in role play so I gave him the topic of Kolob. hahaha It was so funny "our message we have for you today is very complex and I'm not sure I grasp it fully myself". So last saturday we had 3 baptisms. Marieta, Joji, and Felix. We held the baptism in the ocean next to the chapel. Great day. So our house is in a small area owned by and eccentric man named Paul Saaky. He's so funny. He always yells to us at all times of the day because of the big open windows. The Saaky family is so awesome. There's a boy here named "Fanson" but we just barely found out his name is VINCENT but pronounded in french. He's always comes and hangs out with us. I asked him what do you look forward to or what do you want to accomplish in life? "I want to be a missionary" he is sooo awesome and really knowlegable in the scriptures for a 12 year old. So when we get back we're going to be way busy. First we have an area 6 hours away walking that we'll go to and sleep at a members house. After we'll go to all those who have been waiting for us and teach for a week or so. Oh yeah, and by the way, we are in charge of 2 islands haha. Gaua and Mere Lava. We'll also be going there. For some reason the missionaries haven't been there in a long time so it'll be good to get over there and help out. There is a missionary house there but it isn't finished . I think it's just a floor. We get to take a very small boat, YES! The owners name is Kamwell. He's the owner of the small store we get all our food at. He likes us a lot so he gave us an amazing price to go. His wife always runs to the garden to grab tomatoes or kumala for us when we come. Golden family, we're going to begin teaching them soon. Ok, Kolombus. He's a man who's been taught for a decent amount of time. We had taught him before but didn't seem to get to him. Elda Bacon and I went back and planned to talk about the plan of salvation. I felt prompted other wise. I skipped to "Kolombus, what do you think your purpose in life is?" He said to live a life good enough for God and then he said, but I don't know how to be saved. After we talked about baptism as a necessary ordinance. At the end of the lesson he said he wanted to be baptised. So aweosome. Later that night Charles told us he drinks kava and smokes. We adjusted and prepared a lesson to help him grasp this big choice and really change. We sat down with him and I asked, "Kolombus, why do you want to be baptised?" he said "because I want to give up kava and smoking and let go of worldy things and all the hardships that come with it. I didn't even ask for those! This was after fervent prayer by the 2 of us the night before and that morning. Heavenly Father truly had prepared him. So for the time being it pretty interesting teaching by myself. Elda Bacon isn't quite there yet ,so it's definitely new, but it is helping me. So this time has been hard and very rewarding at the same time. I am learning so much and learning how to love others more. Anyways my fingers hurt .Love you all so much and I pray for you often!
Love,
Elda Sia
Ok so I just read the beastly amount of letters in my inbox, took forever but it was a blast. Smiled really big and cried a little. Dick is in a much better place and I will miss him a lot. Ok, so as far as my letter it will be very jumbled and sometimes not in chronological order because I've just been writing down random things when they happen in my planner. Ok we'll start with day 1. Out of santo in the smallest plane ever to banks. First landed in Torres and Mota Lava, then to Gaua. The landing in Gaua was pretty epic. The runway is a grass field and it had just rained. We came in on one side of the runway and ended up on the other side nearly into the bush haha. There to greet me was my companion, Elda Namariel from Tanna.His mind had already returned to his house, haha. After 2 weeks with him I was with Charles, a returned missionary who served in Fiji and Vanuatu and is now our Unit President (bishop) and a very close friend of mine. The church is pretty awesome here .It's a nakamal or a small meeting space for chiefs. The house is....... good. Very basic. It's basically cement walling with wallpaper thrown on the floor ,haha. After a unsuccesful battle with massive spiders, milipats (massive centipedes), mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches, and worms we finally spent hours DEEP cleaning the place and sealing the open windows with mosquito net that we cut. All that's left is the stupid rat in the ceiling. We tried a trap but it didn't work. Next, natuarally I found a cat and threw it up in the ceiling crawlspace where it's living, VICTORY! But all that aside, I promise it's safe and I won't get any diseases ,haha. So as far as bathing its pretty sweet. Fill up a bucket of water, grab a cup and go! We've also just bathed purely in large rain storms.It's kinda like a shower right? Ok, here's where it gets out of order ,please pardon. So here the main social gathering is the airport. Planes come monday, wednesday, and friday and on all of these days it's packed with all the 'manbus' (bush men women and children) coming to watch the planes land and go. One time a plane was taking off and this dog chased it barking the whole way and the plane had to turn around and start again. The owner of the dog was so mad that he threw a huge piece of wood in his direction.We laughed so hard, haha. Also ,you're allowed to bring chickens on the plane. They bring them in rice bags and thier heads stick out the top all the time, haha. Ah yes, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MOM AND SIERRA (for next month)...... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU. And sorry for all the withdrawals, I'm trying my best to budget but stuff keeps coming up. I will be withdrawing again, hope it's alright. Next month Tabi and Elizabet are finally getting married and we've been asked to contribute a 18 kilo pack rice. Also, I got to give my first baby blessing. Bartholomew (if thats how you spell it) Clement Asao.It was really awesome, besides when he farted really big during the blessing when I was holding him. Also one week was pretty slowed by another celebration, Torba day. There were over 20 soccer teams competing for the prize. At the time, my companion Charles was on a team so I ended up watching the whole tournament. Charles' team asked me to bless them to be able to perform ,haha. I just prayed that they could avoid injury and brought it back to the savior. Also another good friend of ours here, JANSEN! same spelling! He's so awesome, he always catches fish for us. Unfortunately, he's somewhat less active. Before we went to visit him I said a silent prayer in my head asking for what he needed. After Moroni 7:47-8 came to my head we went and talked about charity and the pure love of christ. I shared you experience mom, of how you prayed to be able to see everyone as a child of god. The spirit was so strong. He teared up a little and after our message he said I know I have to come back to church. He came the next sunday :) After Elda Bacon and I went back and shared another message. (I'll get to him) We talked about repentance and the power of forgiveness. We shared the story of Alma the younger with him. As I was relating the story I really began to cry. Forgiveness is such an amazing feeling. Since then he's been giving us lots of deep doctrine questions that take time to find but are really enlightening and fun to find. Last time we went we just chatted and as we were leaving he asked, "Elda Sia , can I ask you something?" I said yes. He said "we've been wondering, are you related to George Bush? You look so much like him" haha Also I tried octopus for my first time in laplap way good! Also here they have turtle! Its actually really good!They chase it in a boat until it gets tired and when it comes up for air they jump on it haha. There isn't a thing I won't eat ,haha, especially if it's meat. Ok, Elda Bacon. "Pikinini blong mi." A tradition here is when you train someone he's your boy. Elda Bacon is so awesome! He's from Idaho Falls, Idaho. We get along gloriously. It's not just a putting up with each other, but it's a genuine friendship. Even more importantly he's a hard worker. The work is really going ahead with us two. Our studies and planning are so great. We've planned for certain lessons for 2 hours a few times, haha. One time we were joking around about how I was a seer and revalator because of my name badge, Elda Sia. He then proceeded to stop on the road (luckily just us 2) and say a prayer aloud thanking for my wisdom and the privelege to be with me. I was blown away , a little over board ,haha. One time in our companionship study we came to the section, "how to begin teaching" we were being sarcastic to each other and it was his turn to teach in role play so I gave him the topic of Kolob. hahaha It was so funny "our message we have for you today is very complex and I'm not sure I grasp it fully myself". So last saturday we had 3 baptisms. Marieta, Joji, and Felix. We held the baptism in the ocean next to the chapel. Great day. So our house is in a small area owned by and eccentric man named Paul Saaky. He's so funny. He always yells to us at all times of the day because of the big open windows. The Saaky family is so awesome. There's a boy here named "Fanson" but we just barely found out his name is VINCENT but pronounded in french. He's always comes and hangs out with us. I asked him what do you look forward to or what do you want to accomplish in life? "I want to be a missionary" he is sooo awesome and really knowlegable in the scriptures for a 12 year old. So when we get back we're going to be way busy. First we have an area 6 hours away walking that we'll go to and sleep at a members house. After we'll go to all those who have been waiting for us and teach for a week or so. Oh yeah, and by the way, we are in charge of 2 islands haha. Gaua and Mere Lava. We'll also be going there. For some reason the missionaries haven't been there in a long time so it'll be good to get over there and help out. There is a missionary house there but it isn't finished . I think it's just a floor. We get to take a very small boat, YES! The owners name is Kamwell. He's the owner of the small store we get all our food at. He likes us a lot so he gave us an amazing price to go. His wife always runs to the garden to grab tomatoes or kumala for us when we come. Golden family, we're going to begin teaching them soon. Ok, Kolombus. He's a man who's been taught for a decent amount of time. We had taught him before but didn't seem to get to him. Elda Bacon and I went back and planned to talk about the plan of salvation. I felt prompted other wise. I skipped to "Kolombus, what do you think your purpose in life is?" He said to live a life good enough for God and then he said, but I don't know how to be saved. After we talked about baptism as a necessary ordinance. At the end of the lesson he said he wanted to be baptised. So aweosome. Later that night Charles told us he drinks kava and smokes. We adjusted and prepared a lesson to help him grasp this big choice and really change. We sat down with him and I asked, "Kolombus, why do you want to be baptised?" he said "because I want to give up kava and smoking and let go of worldy things and all the hardships that come with it. I didn't even ask for those! This was after fervent prayer by the 2 of us the night before and that morning. Heavenly Father truly had prepared him. So for the time being it pretty interesting teaching by myself. Elda Bacon isn't quite there yet ,so it's definitely new, but it is helping me. So this time has been hard and very rewarding at the same time. I am learning so much and learning how to love others more. Anyways my fingers hurt .Love you all so much and I pray for you often!
Love,
Elda Sia
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