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