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