Maria's baptim (she's the one in the front and the left of me)

 

 

Port Vila Week 28


Dear Family,

Time is just flying by!!! Lots of work to be done before I finish.  We had a great busy week last week. Last Wednesday  we had our District Meeting and we also went to the mission office to get some tickets for us to go on an exchange with the Elders in Ambae next month!  We got to the office and to our surprise, there was a Ping Pong table and the Elders were having a match playing against each
other.  Well just like President says, and dad "Work Hard, Play Hard."

That's how we do things here.  We also said goodbye to the rest of my intake: Elder Jones, Elder Mastin, and Elder Hubbert:(  It was sad to see them go.  We've all grown so much serving here.  We said goodbye to them and w had a meeting with President about some things until late afternoon, and then we visited Marie and Edmond and taught them about obedience. They're awesome, they would already be baptized but Marie's leg is still healing (it's been swollen for months after the cyclone) and we hope to help them get married in the future.

Thursday morning we visited a papa and mama named Jimmy and Dora. They were referrals and we went to contact them and we shared a scripture with them and they were happy and we made a return
appointment with them.  3 new missionaries also arrived so we went to the mission office to do their orientation and we also showed them around Port Vila before going to the mission home so they could have dinner with the mission president.

Friday we did our weekly planning and taught a new investigator named Estell about the book of mormon.  She had no questions, she said "evri samting i klia nomo".  And we invited her to come to church.  We also saw Avock and taught him about the priesthood.  We visited Marie and Edmond again and taught them about the law of tithing, and it turns out that Marie's already been paying her tithing, even though she's not baptized yet. She has great faith.  She gives her tithing to her sister who's a member and she brings it to church.  We also saw Josette and Isha and visited with them and a few others who live close to them.  We taught them about the restoration and about prophets.

Saturday morning we went to the church because there were many baptisms that would be held.  Remember Mariah, who we taught in Beverly Hills?  Well she asked me to baptize her so I did so.  It was a spiritual time for her and the Vanva family.  After church we taught a new investigator named Morris Cyrus about the Restoration.  We gave him a pass along card a few days ago and set the appointment to come and he loved the message we shared.  We also taught another new investigator mama named Lemata about the restoration and Book of Mormon. And she was all for that, knew it was all true.  we saw Donovan too and taught him about the Sabbath Day.  We've been wanting
to baptize him but he hasn't come to church for awhile so we're waiting for him to progress first.  We also visited Moses and Norman and we retaught them about the word of wisdom and how we need to be careful in our lives.

Sunday we went to church, I ended up teaching sunday school, we read in Mark 15 and the other gospels focusing on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the final parts to the atonement.  Jesus' love really is infinite, he loved us so much that he went through so much suffering so we don't have to.  After church we saw Elorine and taught her about callings in the church and we also saw Marie and Edmond and taught them about the restoration again, and then saw Estell and taught her about the Plan of Salvation.  She was so surprised at how much we know through the fulness of the gospel about the Plan of Salvation.  We really do know where we came from, our purpose here, and where we're going, the church is true!  That afternoon we taught Jimmy and Dora about all of the Restoration and they too, had no questions to ask, that's when you know the spirit's testifying of the
truth and they know it's true.

Today we got a heap of laundry done, and went to the office to meet with president about slight changes in the transfers and then we had our weekly office meeting.  We are preparing to go to New
Caledonia on Wednesday through Friday for the New Caledonia South Zone Conference, then next monday we will go to Malekula for Zone Conference, get back Wednesday night. Then on friday go to Santo for their Zone Conference, stay until Monday and me and Elda Crowell will go on exchanges with the Elders in Ambae and then come back Wednesday and stay the rest of the week in the area until I fly back home the following Wednesday with Elder Killpack.

Well all is well and busy as always.  We found 7 new investigators this week and hopefully before I leave, a few investigators will be ready to be baptized.  We'll just see.  It's a blessing to be part of
the work.  I love you all so much!!!

Love,

Elder Beynon

Teaching Jimmy and Dora

Birthday party for me and Marie

Week 27 on Port Vila

Hello Family Blong Mi,

So last Wednesday, (mine and Kenzie's Birthday), we went to the office and had our office meeting and transfer meeting because some changes needed to be made.  We met for a few hours before finishing and we finished late in the afternoon and I went straight to Bishop Tiasinmal's house and it was his wife Marie's birthday too so we celebrated our birthday together.  They had family over and they sang happy birthday to us and we had a good dinner together and some good chocolate cake.  They gave some time for me to share some thoughts and I thanked them for inviting me to come.  Just being with family here made my birthday and I was so happy to be with them!  I can't wait to
get home to celebrate mom's birthday!

Honestly I can't remember what happened Thursday- Saturday last week, we were just busy preparing for transfers I guess.  Oh Thursday was Zone Conference and we did lots of fun activities during that.
and Friday we had MLC, interviews, and we taught a few investigators.

Sunday we were able to see Marie & Edmond, Alec and Kristel, and Donovan, they're all getting ready for baptism but we need to wait a little longer so they can prepare for the covenants they will make.

Monday we did our shopping and taught a new investigator named Daniel about the Restoration. It was a short brief message and he invited us to come back.  Then we had an office meeting,.... a long
office meeting.  There's just always things to do and we also discussed things to do to make the office more organized and after the meeting we had to have an emergency transfer meeting with president
granger.  Then we had a fun family haos naet with the Basil Family.
   
Today (Tuesday) we taught a new investigator mama named Estell about the Restoration and she was a very faithful mama.  She believed everything we said!  Then we went to the office for a couple hours and taught Edmas afterwards about the atonement, and then played futbol in Seaside with some kids.  Many kids played with us but they all were arguing and fighting the whole time we played, so it wasn't as fun. So once we finished when it was dark, we gathered the boys together and talked with them and taught them how we need to work as a team and we all stood around in a circle while one of the boys offered to pray before we left.

Then we came here to the office to update a pile of baptism records waiting to be reported. Sorry the email is short, all is great, going well and only 1 more month to go.  Time is really flying fast!  I love you all so much and can't wait to see you!!!

Love,

Elder Beynon

 

Birthday party at Bishop T's house

Missionaries leaving in September and October

Dinner for all the missionaries that are leaving

We got our suits back after two years

Playing futbol

View from Nambatri

Port Vila Week 26

Dear Family Blong Mi,

Weeks just go on by too fast!!!  Last Wednesday after we got back from Tanna we had district meeting and then taught mama Marie about the word of wisdom.  And then we went to the office for our weekly office meeting.  We went to Donovan and Alec and Kristel's house afterwards and they were gone so we couldn't teach them and then we met with Fredrick Vano, our Branch Mission Leader.  Then we had dinner at the Sovuai Family's house.


Thursday we took a P-Day and did all of our shopping, printed photos and did some work with the baptism records in the office.  We got all of our office work done and went to Seaside and we played
futbol with the kids there.

Friday morning we did our weekly planning and at 1:30pm we had our transfer meeting with President.  It was a 4 hour long meeting! So many things to think about and consider for the future of this mission!  We got done and taught Ivana about Obedience. We hoped to baptize her last Saturday but she wants to wait first, so we hope to the beginning of next month.  We also visited Moses and Norman and taught them about Prophets and the importance of our Prophet and Apostles today.  I love that family, so much fun to be with and teach every time.

Saturday we cleaned the crap out of our house!  Not that it was too dirty but we just had so much stuff!  Closets full of old clothes from past missionaries and lots of broken garbage.  We've never had
the time to clean so thoroughly.  We have a pile of 2nd hand clothes to wash and give out to members who need them. We taught Marie and her husband about the law of Chastity and checked on other investigators who weren't home, but we were able to walk around with our friend Willie Busai and visit the Tui Family and share a scripture with them and see how they're doing. Our afternoon appointments cancelled sadly enough and we went to the office to prepare a list of tickets for the
transfers.

Sunday morning we went to the airport to fly to the Solomon Islands for Zone Conference. "Solo hem bara solid na!" (that's pidjin for: "Solomon Islands is awesome") We didn't get the chance to
go to church before flying but we heard that Branch 1 and Branch 2 met together so they could sustain the new bishops!  I don't know much but so far what I've heard that President Tiasinmal, Branch President of Branch 2 will be the new bishop, I don't know about the other branch
though.  It's awesome, I love President Tiasinmal!  Well we arrived in Honiara and we got dropped off with Elda Liu and Elda Jhonny again in Burns Creek and exchanged.  We walked around and taught a few investigators and less actives, and boy was it HOT!!! The hot and Humid just bites!

Monday morning we had our Zone Conference.  Now there's 12 missionaries in the Zone, all from either Tonga or Samoa, they're a pretty cool group of missionaries.  There were lots of activities
afterwards and we had a great time! We also exchanged with the Zone Leaders Elda Koroinamua and Elder Vea, and had MLC that night.  We held the meeting outside because it was so hot inside and then we slept at the Zone Leader's house in Kola Ridge.

This morning we had a 2 hour session of Zone Conference and we went on Splits with the Elders  in Skyline and in Whiteriver.  I went to Whiteriver with Elder Fa'auma and Elder Mua and we taught a few investigators before meeting up again and me and Elder Crowell went to the Central Market and looked around and I showed him some places. Then we met up with Elder and Sister Sampson and they took us to the airport where we checked in.  We had a 30 min delay, which was alright and we came straight to the office to email for the week.

All is well and there's always things to be done. "Mi lavem thisfala woka" and I save that this church hem tru, and mi lavem yufala evriwan! (Pidjin for -I love this work, I know the church is true, and I love you all!)

Love,

Elder Beynon

Teaching with Elder Liu

Solomon Islands Zone

Up the Volcano in Tanna

The top of Mt. Toualeau

Me on top of the world

Mt. Toualeau

Week 25 Port Vila,

Halo my Family,

Well sorry I didn't email you yesterday, I was in Tanna and we just got back.  Last week was pretty sweet, on Tuesday me and Elder Dakunimata were busy the whole day with teaching.  We taught Alec and Kristel about Eternal Marriage, Marie about the Plan of Salvation, Maria about scripture study, Avock and Rose about Following the Prophet, Sele about Prayer, Ivana and Emma about Tithing, and Mariah about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, afterwards in which we went to President Tiasinmal's house for dinner.

Wednesday morning (Ridge's 10th Birthday) Elder Dakunima flew to Santo and Elder Welegtabit was my companion for a few hours and we went to District Meeting, and afterwards back to the Airport to pick up my new companion Elder Crowell. He's cool and really funny. He's from Moses Lake, Washington and he's served in Gaua, Ambae, and Santo.m So he came and he had some lunch at Seaview Takeaway, and then we went to Beverly Hills.  We taught a family that we received as referrals mand we taught them about the Restoration. 

They were very respective but they were still strong in their faith.  They enjoyed what we taught, had nothing against it, but they taught us their belief.  They believed strongly in Acts 2:38 and believed that we have to be baptized in the name of christ and the name of christ only, their belief about the trinity is that they're one.  So we just shared some thoughts with them and invited them to pray about what we shared and we gave them a Buk Blong Momon.  We also saw Jonassy and we taught him about the word of wisdom and then went to the Haukao Family's House and had a little family house night.  We taught the family and kids about prophets and showed them photos of prophets and their kids were very smart!  We played with them and had dinner together with them.

Thursday morning we went to the Mission Office to teach Elder Crowell how to put in Baptism Records on the computer and in the afternoon we went to Edmas's and we taught her about Prayer and then Donovan about Baptism and Confirmation.  We hope to baptize him on the 19th if he continues to progress.  We also saw Ivana and Emma and taught them about the baptism interview questions.  We also read in the book of mormon in 2 Nephi 18 with Moses and Norman and had dinner with them.

Friday (Collin's 9th Birthday) we did our weekly planning and we taught Marie about the Plan of Salvation.  We walked around and met people and I did some magic tricks and then at 4:30pm a returned Sister Missionary named Sister Jimmy from Tanna got released.  Then that night we went to Beverly Hills and taught Mariah about Jastiti (chastity).  Well the 2 new office Elders Elder Takaro and Elder Card are here and now they will be looking over Beverly Hills Area.  So it will no longer be part of our area.  We were bummed out but they will enjoy it. We will just lose a few investigators because of it.  We had fun talking with Bradley and Claude though, they're such a great family!

Saturday we did an Exchange with the Zone Leaders and Elder Aka came with me and we played basketball in the morning, and then our studies and we went to Seaside to try and do some contacting.  We had a change of plans because we had to help some missionaries and President Granger needed my help to translate a meeting with President Nalawas.  We got done at around 5pm, it took a long time!  But we did see Elorine and taught her about Prayer.

Sunday we exchanged back to our normal companionships and we went to church and afterwards taught Alec and Kristel about baptism and confirmation.  Then we taught Marie about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and then that afternoon we taught Donovan about Fasting.  We picked up Elder Mastin and then he interviewed Ivana to be baptized and she will be baptized this Saturday!

Yesterday morning we flew to Tanna with President Granger so he could make some changes to the District and we drove to Whitegrass so President could interview a member couple.  We drove to Greenhill to where he did some interviews and then all the way to whitesands.  We played Futbol and Volleyball with some kids while waiting and when we got done we drove up to the Volcano again before the Sun went down. It was cool, it's only the 8th time I've been there.  No it was all good and we stayed only a short time so we could drive to Evergreen Resort for Dinner.  I had a dish called the "Beef Tataki" which was  mgrilled beef that came with a special ginger sauce.  We ate, sat and
talked awhile about the future of the island and the missionary work. The Elders have had so many baptisms.  Over 17 couples have been married and baptized!  The work is amazing!  But we just need more missionaries here in Vanuatu.  President stayed with us in Lenakel for the night.

This morning we all woke up a little early.  At 4am we woke up to rats running around and making noise in the walls and President Granger was getting mad at the rats and punching the walls to make
them quiet.  It was pretty funny!  We took him on a little tour of Lenakel and then we drove to Whitegrass to the Village of Imaos so he could meet with President Nalawas's family.  President Granger said "It might be awhile so just go walk around".  So we just walked around thinking of something to do and we saw a big hill not too far away called "Mt. Toualeu" and at first we were joking that we would walk up to the top but it was closer than it appeared and we decided to hike
up it.  It was pretty steep on some points but it was a really cool hill and you could see a lot in the distance at the top.  There was also a Digicel Cell Tower at the top.  We got up there in about 20-25 minutes and took pictures and videos. 

Then we hurried down worrying that we took too long but when we got to President Nalawas's house but they were still meeting.  We got up and down Mt. Toualeu pretty quick. It was Fun!!!  After the meeting we went back to Evergreen Resort and had the "Big Breakfast" for lunch consisting of 2 Eggs, Bacon, Sausage, baked beans, and tomatoes.  After lunch we checked into the airport and I sat by a 16 year old kid named Willie on the plane ride to Vila and I taught him a short message about the Restoration.

I found out he would be staying  Pango so I got his number to give to the Elders there.  I also told the boy how I love Vanuatu and the experience kind of reminded me of the church movie "Labor of Love". Haha, that was a good movie. So we arrived in Vila, (That was my 40th flight I've been on since I've been on a mission) and we hurried and did our shopping and went to teach Ivana and Emma about baptism and confirmation and then we came here so we could email.  Well the adventures just never end and there's always work to be done.  It's so great to be a part of the lord's work and help build his kingdom.  I love you all so much and can't wait to see you!

Love,

Elder Beynon

Week 24 Port Vila

Halo Famle,

Last week after I emailed you we picked up a returned Sister Missionary named Sister Napuatepem from the Airport.  She's from Tanna, and she returned from the Australia Sydney South Mission.
 
Last Thursday morning we met in the mission office and Sister Napuatepem got released and we did an orientation for 2 new Elders from Samoa that will be serving in the Solomon Islands.  We had them stay with us for the day and we visited a member mama who had breast cancer and shared a message about the atonement with her and her family.  Many members of her family was there supporting her and helping her.  She was so grateful we came. Maria was there too with her family.  We visited Edmas as well and we taught her about the Priesthood and afterwards went to the mission home to have dinner with the new elders.  We had burgers and ice cream for dinner.

Friday we had a meeting with President about the 2 new Elders and where they should serve and then some other impressions came to President's mind. he told Elder Dakunimata that he felt that he should train a Zone Leader,  Elder Dakunimata had the same thoughts in the past and felt that the lord will need him to train another Zone Leader. 

So we ended up meeting for awhile and came to the conclusion that Elder Dakunimata will transfer to Santo and serve as a Zone Leader there and an Elder from the USA named Elder Crowell will be my new companion.  I will train him to take the lead when I leave.  It was a crazy change in the transfers but it's under the lord's direction. 

Elder Crowell seems like a funny Elder, I'm excited to serve with him.  That afternoon we taught Ivana and Emma about Chastity and we hope to baptize them on Sept. 12.  Ivana should be fine but Emma needs permission from her parents first because she's younger than 18.  We went to Beverly Hills too and taught Mariah about the Plan of Salvation and invited her to be baptized as well. She will choose a date to be baptized.

Saturday we taught Madline about missionary work and then she told us that her Step Mother named Marie wanted us to teach her so we did and she really wants to be baptized and become a member of the church. We went to a baptism program to witness some baptisms and then went to  Beverly Hills to visit some members and investigators who weren't home. So we just walked around and talked with people and then went to Nambatri to Mama Josette's house where we visited her and her daughter, and 2 young men named Willie and Kevin came with us.  We taught them about the story of the Tree of Life and read in the scriptures and talked about the meaning of the vision and we had dinner with them before going home.
   
On Sunday we went to church and we met with Alec and Kristel and President Tiasinmal and made plans to prepare a marriage for them so they can be baptized.  We don't know what time yet but we are hoping and praying that everything will go as planned and it will happen.  We taught them after church about tithing and then drove to the airport to pick up a prospective missionary.  His name is Harold Ishmael, a good friend of mine from Lowni Branch in Malekula, I was so happy to see him, he's applying for a Visa to serve in the New Zealand, Aukland mission.  He hung out with us and taught with us and we went to President Basil's house and taught Elorine about service and then we went up to Beverly Hills and visited Gabbie. 

And we checked on Jonassy and to our surprise he was home and we taught him.  We haven't seen him forever.  He moved in somewhere with one of his aunts awhile and came back so we hope to help him prepare to be baptized.  We then taught Ivana about the Sabbath and we went home and I made some Enchiladas for dinner.  It turned out really good!, but it wasn't as good as Costa Vida.  And nothing beats the Enchiladas that Mom makes!

This morning we studied, did our laundry, and cleaned and organized the house before going to the mission office to have our weekly office meeting.  Usually during the meeting we talk about needs of the mission Housing, Vehicles, Banking, Plane Tickets, Missionaries, etc.  and we make a big "to do" list of things for each of us to do and follow up on during the week before the next meeting. The work just never ends, there's no end to the gospel. 

After the meeting we went to Seaside and played Futbol with some boys that were there and we played for about an hour and a half before going to the Basil's house for Family Haos Naet.  We did an activity where we gave a balloon to everybody that had a piece of paper in it with something written on it and they had to pop the balloon and see what paper they got and they had to act things out, do charades and guess what they were or what they were doing.  It was a lot of fun! I love doing family haos naets, they're lots of fun.

Everything is fine here in Vanuatu and the work just never ends and that's just how the fullness of the gospel is, it just never ends, there's always something to learn and to to prepare for the savior to
come.  Oh and congrats to Kyle Egan who just returned from the Montana Billings Mission!  I hope all is well and I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Beynon