Me on my island

Week 8 on Uripiv June 29th, 2014

Dear Family,

This week turned out to be good.  Elder Ross came to Uripiv with me while my companion went to Louni.  We went to "Famle Haos Naet" at the branch and quite a few members came which was good. That night me and Elder Ross played some pokemon. Tuesday morning I woke up and the first thing Elder Ross said to me was "do you want to teach me how to play magic?  I was happy to teach
him.  We played a little and then did some laundry and we had until 3pm when we have to go out and teach so we played countless games of magic!  He's hooked now, he loves the game, we will most likely play again after our mission.  We were able to teach one of our investigators that afternoon and then that night we played more magic and pokemon before bed. 

Wednesday many people were gone so we were only able to teach one lesson but we were out and about which is good.  That night we went to a store that had an ice box and we bought a pound of chicken wings, flour, and eggs.  We went home and I mixed flour, red pepper, curry powder, and salt to bread the chicken wings.  I dipped the wings in the egg and the flour and did it again to make a nice thick crust.  And then we fried them and made some rice.  I have to admit that it came out sooooo good!  Even better than the ones I made in Tanna.

Then Thursday Morning a boat took us to Lakatoro and we hitched a ride on a truck to take us about 2 or 3 miles north to a place called Norosup(where the airport is).  We held our conference in a beautiful bush church house and the conference was amazing!!!  I love the mission president and I was able to learn a lot from him and his wife. I learned many other ways to help my area. We then walked to a restaurant close by and ate rice, chicken, beef, laplap and the food was awesome!  I was very satisfied.  I wish I could send some pictures but my USB-SD card reader broke so I can't copy any pictures to my hard drive until I get another one.  I emailed some other photos from a few weeks ago and that's why you are still recieving pictures. 

Friday we went out to teach and we were able to teach a couple lessons which was good and we were able to contact a papa which was good. Then that afternoon we played soccer.  The people here are really good at soccer and they love the fact that the World Cup is going on.  Most of
the people here root for Brazil. I think my favorites are:(even though I don't know much about soccer) U.S.A, Mexico, and Brazil.
 
Saturday a ship came so everyone was gone again so we just talked and contacted people that were there and then we played soccer again that afternoon.  I'm not very good but I've really come to like soccer.  I have a lot of fun playing with the people, many kids play too. 

Sunday I taught combined relief society and Elders Quorum about Family Organization and ways the members can help their families endure to the end. Then I taught Sunday School and we read in 1 Samuel 17 and talked about David and Goliath. I think the lesson turned out really well.  We also had an investigator with a friend come to church and in about two weeks if the investigator is ready we will be able to baptize him!

Today we had our usual district meeting and went to our usual restaurant to eat steak and we played magic and pokemon while we waited for our food.  The Magic and Pokemon cards was a very good idea, thanks for sending them. Well just know that everything is good here.  We are trying our best to help our area because it can use our help and now we have many ideas to improve it and I love it here and am glad to be serving Papa God on this little Island.

Mi lavem yufala evriwan mo yufala i stap lo ol prea blo mi.  Ale, nekis wik wan taem.

Elda Beynon

Another beautiful sunset here

Us doing Famle Hoas Naet (Family Home Evening)

Gatto eating race that we had at the branch

One of the relay races we had at our activity

A restaurant we eat steak at every week

Week 7 on Uripiv June 22, 2014

Dear Family,

I do admit I am very jealous of all the pictures you sent of the vacation.  I think it's because I love the mountains and forests.  But I haven't worried about the vacation at all.  I wish I could be there
but one day I will be able to go.  Thanks for sending the pictures you sent.

This week was good.  I opened my package and was so happy to see what was inside!  Tank yu tumas from ol Pokemon Cards, Magic Cards, Kool-Aid, Ties, and Candy. Taem mi openemap package blo mi, mi harem se mi wan hapi misinari!

Tuesdays we are able to do laundry and rest until 3pm so I was able to open all of my cards and make decks and see how they play.  That afternoon our investigators were gone so we just contacted a few people to teach.  Wednesday was good, we were able to teach a couple investigators and
help a few less actives and it really went well.  We were also able to make a baptism date for one of our investigators.  We will most likely baptize him in the next few weeks when we make sure he's ready. 

Thursday we did our personal and companion study and before we went out to teach I asked Elda Takaro if he wanted to learn how to play pokemon.  I taught him and helped him out and he ended up beating me!  Well I went easy on him though.  It was a little hard for him to understand he thought it was fun. 

Friday we were only able to teach one lesson but it's alright.  One of the reason's why it's slow here is because whenever a ship comes in everybody goes to Lakatoro to help unload and put bags of Kobra on it and everybody is busy.  Also there's another small island about a quarter mile west of Uripiv where people have gardens to go to and they get their firewood and things to make houses with there. So many times people are there.  But I still like it here, the members are great and the people are nice. 

Saturday we taught only 1 lesson and on Sunday we went to church and after it was finished we taught a less active member and then went to a priesthood meeting to talk about home teaching.  We hope that home teaching will really help the missionary work here.  Then that night we went to a member's house for dinner and they were watching "Over the Top" on their laptop.  The people here love Sylvester Stallone and they always call him "Rambo".  The movie made me think of the time I
went to Uncle Marty's house to watch it for the first time, and you enjoy Cat Stevens music in the background (it is cat stevens right?).  What a funny movie. 

This morning we came to Lakatoro for district meeting and after the meeting we went to a restaurant to eat some steak and rice. I pulled out my Pokemon Cards and all the elders started to play. Most
of them didn't know how to play but they caught on quick and we had many battles while waiting for our food.  We had a blast! and they all want pokemon battle decks too!  Elder Ross is coming on an exchange with me to Uripiv so that will be fun.  And on Thursday we will have Zone Conference here which will be fun.


Well just know that all is well and I am having lots of fun here and I know the work will continue to improve.  I'm glad you all had fun on your vacation and don't worry about me, I didn't worry about the vacation at all and my mind is centered on the work. Mi lavem yufala evriwan mo bae yufala harem mi bakegen next week.

Love

Elder Beynon

The other side of the island

Week 6 on Uripiv June 15th, 2014

 

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a little slow but it was better than last week.  We were able to make many contacts and help some less active members.  Not too much was exciting until Saturday.  Saturday we held a branch activity and we did lots of fun things to have some laughs and bring everyone together. 

First we had a Gatto eating race.  Gatto is fried flour that is round like a doughnut that tastes like scones and the people make them here.  We hung them on a big line and kids and parents had to try to eat the hanging gatto without using their hands.  They thought it was very fun. 

 

Then we had a biscuit eating race.(they call cookies biscuits here).  We had about 40 people participate and sit in a chair and we put a biscuit on their foreheads and they had to use their face muscles to try and move the biscuit in their mouth.  It was hysterical!  It brought back many memories of our family reunions.  

 

After the biscuit race we had a relay race. We organized everyone into 4 groups and set up four buckets about 20 feet away.  2 people from each group had to link arms and stand back to back and we put a water balloon in between their backs. (Yeah, I found water balloons here). They had to work together to walk over the buckets and drop the balloon inside.  The kids thought it was such a fun activity! 

 

Then after all the races we played volleyball, then went back home to bathe and change and that night we met in the church and me and Elder Takaro taught about missionary work.  The lesson went really well and we hope they all will be able to help us here. We ate rice and soup that the mamas made which was very good.  I love the food the mamas cook here.

Sunday we went to church and many investigators came and me and Takaro taught about The Sacrament during sacrament meeting. Then after church we taught a lesson and then had branch council meeting.  I haven't been to one of those meetings during my mission.  It was really good and we hope that we will be able to strengthen our branch.

Well that's just about all that happened this week. Sorry this email is short,  I'm very short on time. Just know that I love you all and everything is great here. I hope the family vacation will be lots of fun and enjoy the national parks while I go sit and relax on the beach.

I love you!

Love, Elda Beynon

   

The Sunsets here

Week 5 on Uripiv June 8, 2014

Dear Friends and Family,

Like your your slow week last week, ours was slow too.  Tuesday we did our usual laundry by hand and that afternoon we looked for a few investigators but they weren't home so we had no one to teach.  Wednesday many people were gone for some reason but we were able to teach a less active member to help him which was good.  Thursday we weren't able to teach a lesson and a few investigators weren't interested which was sad.  We hope we can find more.  One hard thing here is that we try to ask people if they're interested in hearing our message they say no most of the time.  I think it's because there's so many different faiths here on such a small island.  We will just have to continue to pray for the lord's help.

Friday everyone was in Lakatoro because a ship had come and many people went and unloaded all the cargo so we were left with no one to teach.  But one fun thing that happened on friday was that we saw many kids carrying small pieces of bamboo about a foot long and they use a stick to push a flower bulb in the end and then they put  one on the other end and push it through really fast so the bulb in front shoots out because of the high pressure in there.  They shoot each other with them for fun.  So I had a kid make me one and we all played with bamboo muskets (they call guns muskets here).  Don't worry we never aimed for the face. It was a lot of fun.  I've realized that the kids here like me alot. I love playing with them and we have lots of fun.

Saturday we were able to crank out one lesson which was good.  Sunday was great!  The senior couple Elder and Sister Jolley came to Uripiv because they wanted to visit the branch one last time before they finish their mission.  They are finishing this month. They came and they gave talks in sacrament meeting and I translated in Bislama for them which was cool.  Then after church we had a feast with all the members.  We had Laplap Sorsor which is a style of laplap made in Malekula.  They cook laplap with meat (chicken, fish, tin tuna, pork, and then they cut a hole in the middle and pour coconut milk in there.  Then you grab pieces of laplap and meat and dip it in the coconut milk and eat.  It's very good.  After the feast we taught 3 lessons which made the day even more better an it was just a great sabbath day.

This morning we had district meeting and the sister missionaries had made cake and planned on making a small surprise party for elder and sister Jolley.  We sang some songs that the sisters wrote and we bought 2 tubs of chocolate ice cream, 1 mint, 1 banana, and 1 mango.  Then we chowed down and ate lots of cake and ice cream. It was a lot of fun!

Well this is all that happened this week.  The work is slow but life's good.  We just need to try our best and rely on the lord to help us.  Know you are loved and I hope the vacation goes well. Don't worry about me, I'm enjoying my vacation here and love to be serving here in vanuatu.

Love,
Elder Beynon

Me and Elder Ross crossing a river to an area

Week 4 on Uripiv June 2, 2014

Dia Famle blo mi we mi lavem tumas,

So last week I told you that i would be going on an exchange.  I went with Elder Ross, he's from Burbank Washington, not too far from Kennewick.  We hitched a ride in a truck and it drove us half an hour south of Lakatoro to the area of Louni.  Tuesday we went to a village named Tevoliout and taught a few investigators there.  Me and Elder Ross seemed to teach well together.  We have somewhat the same style of teaching but we also had differences which help us.

We did some magic tricks as well.  Then that night we came up with other ways to do magic tricks.  Wednesday we walked about 3 miles north to the village of Potindir. On our way we passed a field with many cattle. There were a few hundred I think. They sell them here and I even saw a man driving a tractor!  It was really cool.  We also crossed a river while going to the village.  We got there and played volleyball with the people to gain some trust with them because there's not that many members.  We did some new magic tricks with them that we made up and the people loved it.

Then we walked back that night and was able to meet a man and teach him a little about our church.  Thursday morning we waited for a truck to pass by to hitch a ride to Lakatoro but there weren't that many because it was a public holiday here.  We never found a transport so the district said to just stay the whole week which made me very happy! We didn't teach at all but we were able to spend some time with the members.  

Friday we went back to Tevoliout and taught a few members and investigators.  Then that night we ate crab and rice for dinner.  Crab's alright, not my favorite.  This is only the 2nd time I've had it.  It was good to try it out again.  

Saturday was awesome!  We woke up in the morning and walked to Tevoliout and went to an investigators house named Joseph. He took us to a creek where we could spear some freshwater shrimp. (They call them Naora here).  We followed a river for awhile to a few small creeks and walked through the bush awhile. It reminded me alot of Gaua. At around 10am we made it to a good spot to spear some Naora.  We had a big round goggles to look in the water and there was elastic hooked on the spear so you pulled on it and held it and let go to let the elastic pull the spear forward fast.  Joseph and Elder Ross went first and speared many Naora and fish for about 2 hours.  I held all of the dead Naora and fish in a bag while they speared.  Then I tried it out and did it for about half an hour and it was fun.  The water was shallow but you have to look with the goggles underneath to see well.  It was a lot of fun!! I speared a total of 2 Naora!!! Not much
but I had a dang good time.

At around 1pm we started walking back and we found a spot to make a fire to cook the Naora. Joseph cut some pieces of bamboo and filled them up with Naora and covered the end and
threw it on the fire and it steam cooked them.  Then we chowed down. It was a lot of Naora.  It was really good too, it totally beats crawdads, that's for sure, they're not as big as crawdads though.  It
was a great adventure.  That night we ate some wild yam and gatto which is like fried scones or doughnuts. Then we went home and relaxed because we were a little sore and the next day was Sunday. 

Sunday not many people came to church.  We ended up teaching about Eternal Life in Sunday School.  There were no investigators or members to teach that were close by so we stayed at the house and listened to the "Day of Defense" which is an audio recording of 2 missionaries
that defended our belief while pastors from many churches ask questions about our church and the missionaries answer their questions with the bible. It's really cool. This morning we took a transport to Lakatoro for district meeting and after I got a haircut and then I bought an Ice block (that's what they call popsickles here). The ice block was very good.  Oh and I got the last letter you wrote and sent to me on May 10th.  So now I'm totally updated.

Just know all is well and I am having a great time here.  I will try to send some pictures and remember to send pictures of the family vacation.  I love you all and it sounds like all is well and know that I am having a great time here.I will talk to you next week, Love you!

Love,

Elder Baenon

A herd of cows that we saw walking to Pontidir

Me and Elder Ross doing magic tricks for kids in Pontidir

Me and Elder Ross spearing Naroa (shrimp)

Here's the Naroa that I speared

Chowing down on Naroa May 2014