Filling up bags of coral in Pango

Week 23 on Port Vila

Dear Family,

The work just never ends!  We've just been busy busy, "mifala stap wok had".  Well last Tuesday we got caught up at the office doing some work and that afternoon we visited Avock and Rose, we hadn't seen them for awhile and we asked how they were doing and they said just great.  We taught them about the importance of studying scriptures and then we saw Moses and Norman and we taught them about the articles of "Ol toktok blong bilif" (the articles of faith).  And then at night we went to the Vanva Family's house and they had a cousin named Mariah who isn't a member and she wanted us to teach her and we taught her about the restoration and two of Mama Annie's sons Bradley and Claude taught her with us.  We had a good dinner afterwards with them.

Wednesday we visited and taught Alec and Kristel about the Word of Wisdom and it was a very good lesson.  Afterwards they knew it was true and they were completely willing to follow it.  We also went to the office and we tried to get a Visa for Elder Dakunimata to go to New Caledonia but it didn't come through, it was too late.  So President decided that Elder Jones would be my companion when we go.

We also saw Edmas and taught her about he importance of obeying and honoring the law and we had a meeting with our branch mission leader and then went to Beverly Hills to the Haukao Family's house.  Papa Frank was gone but the mama and the kids were and we taught them about the Great Apostasy and played with the kids and had dinner with them. The kids there are a lot of fun to be with.  Then that night I went to Pango with Elder Mastin to do an exchange and Elder Leong went to our area with Elder Dakunimata.

Thursday morning me and Elder Mastin studied and then went to a member's house named Leisumarie.  We planned to do a service for her. She needed us to get some coral for her to put on the ground around her property and her son and grandson Jopeth and Cliff followed us to another member's house where they lived by a beach and we borrowed some of their shovels and 20 empty rice bags and we filled them up with dried up coral on the beach and filled them all up and loaded
them in the truck.  It took about an hour and we brought them back, changed, and went out to teach.

We had Joseph follow us as our member present we taught an investigator named Ryan about the Book of Mormon. He knows all about Joseph Smith and his story but we decided to familiarize himself more with the Book of Mormon so he could receive a testimony of its truth.

We walked around the area and taught a boy from a part member family named Tatao and we taught him about Tok Blo Waes (the word of wisdom).  And then we walked back to Leisumarie's house and taught her about missionary work. We ended our exchange and went home and Elder Jones and Elder Christensen came over and we exchanged so Elder Jones could come with me to New Caledonia.

Friday morning at 4:30am we checked in to go to New Caledonia and we waited to fly until about 6:45am and then they said that the flight cancelled.  We assumed that it was because of the rain because it was raining but we went to the Air Vanuatu office and came to find out that the flight was cancelled because no one was at the airport. There were some strikes going on and people ended up blocking up the main roads not letting people in or out of the city of Noumea so they had to cancel the flight.  We waited for further news to know whether we would be able to go.

We  saw Donovan and taught him about the importance of Prophets and then we also saw Sele and taught him about the Atonement.  We found out that people were being allowed in Noumea again and that the Friday night flight would be going to New Caledonia.  So at 5pm we checked in, at 8pm we flew and got to New Caledonia at 9:30pm.  Elder Ellingson and Elder Tidjine, the North New Caledonia Zone Leaders picked us up and we drove to Noumea and on the drive there we could see burnt cars on the sides of the road where the people lit them on fire.

The missionaries said the strike had been going on for awhile.  People were blocking the roads and making traffic hectic so the government could change some of their laws. Well we checked in the Grangers at the Hotel and we stopped at theMcDonalds drive through and got a boss burger meal to go and the Elders dropped us off in Koutio with Elder Tempany and Elder Bourtache at 11pm.  It was a long day but a big blessing that we were able to make it there.  We had a big plan for Zone Conference and President had to make some changes to the schedule.

Saturday morning was Zone Conference and we had lots of training by the missionaries and me and Elder Jones gave a training about Chaper 9 about Finding People.  After the Conference we had lunch together and did some activities in the cultural hall.  We did some relay races and played a game called Skittle Soccer and had a good time with each other.  Then President interviewed the missionaries and we socialized until about 9:30pm and we were all hungry and we found a pizza place and we ordered pizza togo for dinner.  I asked them if they accepted card in French and I did pretty well, they understood what I said at least.  French is really hard, but I really want to learn it.

Sunday morning we went to church at the Magenta Ward and we only had sacrament meeting because many members could make it because of all the blockades on the roads. So we had sacrament meeting, and then while other missionaries got interviewed we made some ham sandwiches for lunch and at 1:30pm we had an MLC meeting and at 3pm we had a meeting at the office with the mission couple there.  At 5pm we had chicken sandwiches for dinner and then at 6:30pm we had the 2nd session of Zone Conference where President and Sister Granger did some
training and expounded the scriptures.  We read through D&C 43 and expounded on it about missionary work and talked about how missionaries can work with members and stake and ward leaders.  We returned to Koutio that night.

Monday morning the people decided not to block the roads and the Zone Leaders picked us up and we picked up president and went shopping.  We went to a big sports store and bought sports equipment for future zone conferences and we dropped President off with some elders to go teach with them.  The Zone Leaders drove us downtown and showed us some beautiful sights.  New Caledonia really is a beautiful place, the city is really developed too, I felt like I was home  a few
times just because some of the stores are so big and the land mass of the country is a lot bigger.

We then met up with President and Sister Granger and we went to one of the biggest grocery stores there, It was a lot like Walmart and there was a food court outside where we had lunch, I ordered a beef burger combo in french and we had our lunch and we went to a few other stores.  We looked for a projector and went to a store where they had projectors, phones, tablets, Video games etc. and I couldn't get my head around all the technology.  Technology is changing so fast  and so many things are coming out and the world is changing.  It was weird to see all the new technology, I'm gonna come back as someone they call "Manbush" here, being surprised by new things and knowing nothing about what's going on.

Haha oh well,  it really is good to have your mind off of worldly things, it really does help you focus on the work.  After seeing all the cool technology we drove all the way up to the airport and we checked in at 4:30pm and flew at 6:30pm and got to Port Vila at 8pm.  We exchanged again and it was good to be back.  New Caledonia was a lot of fun too, it turned out to be a fun Zone Conference, our next one will be in October so we will be going one more time before I return.....Yay!!!

Yesterday we took the day to prepare and do our shopping and we had an office meeting in the afternoon and did some work in the office and in the afternoon we went to Beverly Hills and played Futbol with some of the people up there and when we finished we were able to give out a pamphlet to a man named Luke who was interested in learning more about the church.  Then we went to papa Peter Sovuai's house and visited him and his wife and he told us his story about joining the church and then his teenage sons and daughters came and they talked with us as well.  Then we shared a talk by Boyd K. Packer about the Atonement with them.

Today we had our district meeting and I did some training for the missionaries focusing on Chapter 12 in the Preach My Gospel about "How do I help people prepare for baptism.  Afterwards we had tuna fish sandwiches for lunch and then went to Beverly Hills to check on Luke, who we gave the pamphlet to yesterday.  He was home and we asked him if we could teach him and he was glad and we taught him about the restoration.  He was a little skeptical but we will pray for him and
we hope he will be able to receive a personal witness of the truth.

We also taught Mariah again and taught her about the Plan of Salvation.  We started out teaching it in simple terms and then she asked many questions wanting to know more about it.  So we expounded and she was very interested.  Then we met with our Branch Mission Leader again and went to Moses and Norman's house.  We told them about receiving callings in the church and we told them how the lord will call us to do certain things in this life to help him and our brothers and sisters.

I taught them how my dad teaches in Sunday School, how mom is in primary, and that I have an uncle who's a bishop. They thought it was pretty cool, I also told them that my calling right now is as a missionary.  The lord called me to serve here for 2 years.  I love Moses and Norman and their family, they're so great.  I just love missionary work!  It just never ends and never will.  It's such a blessing to be here.  I love you all so much and I can't believe many of my friends are returning from their missions and it won't be too long until I return.

Tank Yu Tumas long Evri Samting, Mi Lavem Yufala Evriwan!!!


Love, Elda Beynon

 

Eating pizza with the Mission Pres.

Magenta Chapel

New Calendonia

The beautiful view (New Calendonia)