Our little missionary house on the island of Tanna Oct 2013

Week 3 Island of Tanna Oct 14, 2013

I will try to type as much as I can.  I only have 1 hour to get internet access.  It costs 500 Vatus ($5) to get internet for one hour. Tana is Great!  I am living in an area called Saet Siwi (pronounced sight siwi like kiwi).  It's on the south eastern end of the island (not on the beach).  I found out that Elda Longi (my companion) is from Tonga.  He's a cool guy.  He's big and strong and works out every morning (reminds me of Michael.)  He's very nice and humble and we get along well.  He likes Pokemon as well.  He never played the games but likes the cartoon show.  (Kenzie, Pokemon X and Y came out 2 days ago!)

The people here are great! They are all so nice and the kids never fight.  I can understand Bislama (one of the languages on the island) pretty well now but it's the talking that's hard.  There's a kid in Saet Siwi named Katem who knows some English and helps me learn his language.

This island is different from others.  The people all speak different native languages.  But most still speak bislama.  Romassen nebnebun is good morning in Saet Siwi's native language.  Mt. Yasur the volcano isn't very far from Saet Siwi and me and our district is going there tonight. The volcano rumbles a lot and I've heard from other elders that little earthquakes occur sometimes.  Friday afternoon me and Elda Longi walked to another area called Port Resolution which is about a 3 or 4 hour walk to get there. On our way we hitched a ride with some people in a truck which saved time.  The people are so nice and stop if you need to hitch hike.  We taught the family of David and Susan who just got baptized  the week before I came.  They gave me Bananas to eat and Manyoke.  The food is pretty good here but very plain. I haven't found any salt and pepper yet.

While in port resolution we stayed the night because there was no way we could make it back to Saet Siwi before sundown. (The sun rises at 5a.m. and goes down at 6pm). I have adjusted pretty well to the time change and Tana is cooler than the other islands and the humidity isn't nearly as bad as Efate.

We invited 2 people to be baptized in Port Resolution and both accepted.  We invited a little boy named Tarri and a older woman named Mawie.  It was such a great feeling to hear them say yes!  I think we will baptize them at the beginning of November.  There are 2 people in Saet Siwi who are waiting to get baptized as well.(They were invited to be baptized before I came.)  Things I've eaten so far: Sugar Cane(one of my favorites,  crab (was good but hard to eat because of the shell), Tarra (which is mashed up manyoke cooked and tastes kind of like thick crepes), and fish (which was really good.)  There are mango trees and banana trees everywhere but I just need to wait until they're ripe to eat them.  I've been eating lots of noodles, corned meat, eggs, and breakfast crackers. (I'm thinking Arby's, I would pay good money for some of that.)

Me and my companion got picked up by Elda Jones and his companion.  Me and Elda Jones are in the same district and Elda Mastin is in our Zone.  When I got picked up, we had to sit in the very back because the car was full and it smelled like poo.  The sisters bought pigs and put them in a bag and threw them in the back of the car.  Elda Longi and Elda Jones companion killed them this morning (monday) and are cooking them right now. I've been waiting to make a Sweet Pork Burrito! 

Well just so you all know it's a lot different here than America but I like it here so far. I have no complaints and can't wait to see what's in store for me. I am able to sleep at night and the food isn't too bad so life's good. Really Good!!!  I love you all and thanks for all your mail.  I can't respond to all of them for the sake of time.  I will send some pics with my other e-mail.  Love you!

Sincerely, Elda Bainon,
A missionary of the Jos Blong Jisas Kraes Blong Ol Lata-Dei-Sent

P.S. The Weather Forecast for Enoch Utah on Monday is a high of 53 degrees mostly sunny, Calm wind becoming north 5 to 8 mph in the afternoon with a low of 28 degrees tomorrow night, partly cloudy, North wind 7 to 14 mph becoming east after midnight.

Scenery on the Island Oct 2013