Shootin' Arrows

Port Vila Week 29

 Hello Friends and Family!

    Man the work just never ends, we had lot's of stuff happen last week.  Last Tuesday (Sept. 29th) we decided to take a P-day and relax. So we decided to drive around the whole island of efate.  It's we took a couple hours and drove around the whole island and stopped at a few places to take pictures as we drove.  It only took about 2 hours.  It was only 120km around the whole island.  We got back and went to a little field outside where you could pay 200vt ($2) and shoot bows and arrows for fun on targets.  So we did it for fun and then we spent the rest of the afternoon getting work done in the office, updating baptism records and stuff and played futbol with some members at the nambatu chapel.
     Wednesday we flew to New Caledonia at 6:30am and at 10am we had our Zone Conference, gave some more training about finding, and we had good chinese food for lunch and had our sports activities afterwards and made sure to have our Mcdonalds for dinner that night.
     Thursday morning we went with the Zone Leaders and looked at some stores so Elda Crowell could by some pants.  We had some good pasteries for lunch and at 2pm had our MLC meeting.  We hung out with the other missionaries while they interviewed and that night we got sugared pork for dinner and Elder Kelly and Elder Similai took us around and drove us up a big hill where you could see all of the city and we ate our food up there.
     Friday morning we had our 2nd session of Zone Conference and we had burgers and Wraps for lunch at a place called L'Oriental Kebab and went straight to the airport afterward.  Two Elders came with us Elder Mayfield, and Elder Tempany.  Elder Tempany will serve in the office and Elder Dylan Mayfield finished.  He's from St. George, went to Destert Hills high school, so if you ever met him, we served in the same mission.  We flew to Port Vila and arrived that night and had Seaview for dinner.
     Saturday we stayed in our area and taught Estell about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and visited some less actives, we went to the mission home to have a new sister missionary meet with the grangers and we went to the Golden Port for dinner.  GOOD Chinese Food!  We had dinner and then packed up to go to Malekula.
     Sunday morning we flew to Santo and went to church in Luganville and after Sunday School we flew to Malekula. (Man was I happy to go back).  We landed but it was really dry.  Drier than the other islands.  They haven't had rain for 2 months.  Actually all of Vanuatu is starting to experience El Nino, there's a big drought predicted for the south pacific until March next year.  Everything was really dry. We went on exchanges with Elder Taukei and Elder Hilliman.  I went with Elder Hilliman, he's from Port Vila and we went to the area of "Mae" and went to a few appointments.  Many of the appointments cancelled but we were able to see some recent converts and share Ether 12:27 and teach them how to endure to the end.
   Then we went to Wala and visited papa Eloa and his wife, he's the district clerk, a few weeks ago their teenage daughter died so we went and shared our love with them and they fed us Laplap Sorsor for dinner before we went back to Lakatoro.
     Monday morning we had our Zone Conference at the "Tautu" Chapel and afterwards had lunch at a restaurant in Lakatoro.  After Lunch we played Volleyball and sports and a Prospective Missionary named Makinson Ishmael came to interview with President.  He was one of my friends back while I was serving in Uripiv.  So he stayed and played with us as well.  We did all our activities and then in the afternoon we dropped off Elder Godfrey and Elder Rillang back in Lowni.  I said hi to the families that lived close by and they were happy to see me and they invited us to stay for dinner.  So we had another good Laplap Yam Sorsor.  I was so happy to see my families, they all grow so fast,
the kids are so much taller.  I'm curious to see how much my brothers and sister have changed when I get home in a few weeks!
     Tuesday morning we had our 2nd session of Zone Conference and then we had a good lunch with President Granger.  Then the Zone Leaders took them on a tour of the chapels around the island and me and Elder Crowell went back into town and tried to find members and people I know who worked at the stores. Many of them I saw and surprisingly they remembered me really well and recognized me.  I forgot how many friends I have there.  The people from Uripiv are really funny, big jokers, I think I joked more with the people there than anywhere else.  I found my good old friend Morris Ishmael and we walked to the warf because I needed to go back to Uripiv and see the people.  We got on a boat and got there in about 35 minutes.  the water was pretty rough because of the wind and how dry it was so we got pretty wet on the way there and we arrived there at 3:30pm and we just started walking around and saying hi to the people I knew and I let them know I am finishing in a few weeks. 
   Many thought I came back and we were going to serve there, which is what I would do in a
heartbeat if I could.  I saw so many of my friends and the families we used to visit and teach.  I forgot how much fun I had in Uripiv, it was such a great area, and it was over a year ago, time just FLIES!
We visited with people and stayed until about 6:30pm and Morris brought us back to the mainland at night and I said a final goodbye to them and went back to Lakatoro.  Man do I miss Uripiv, Lowni, and the other areas I've served in of course.  I have loved each area I've served in, each area has been fun and I've learned different things in each one.
     Wednesday morning at 10:30am we checked into the airport to fly to Port Vila and we waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and talked until finally at 4pm the plane came and we flew to Port Vila.  There was a big delay and change in flights for some reason.  Many missionaries from Ambae and Gaua also missed their flights to go to Santo for the Zone Conference this weekend.  Well it was a blessing that we got back to Port Vila and Alec and Kristel got interviewed for baptism and we hope that they will get married next Friday and get baptized next Saturday.  I'm Excited!  Then at 8:30pm we met with president until 11pm about emergency transfers that might need to take place.
     This morning we studied and did our laundry and taught Kristel's son Andrew about the Restoration.  After teaching him about Joseph Smith and his vision we asked him if he had any questions, and he said "I know it's True", I love it when the spirit confirms the truth as you teach, the spirit really converts!  We went to the office afterwards to do our usual baptism updates and stuff and at 4pm we went to the mission home with 3 new missionaries and gave them an orientation and had dinner with the Grangers and went back to the office to meet with president to meet with him to finalize our emergency transfers.  So basically what we're doing is we are pulling all of our missionaries out of Ambae and Gaua because they are having water problems and it won't be good to keep them there so we are re-opening areas in Santo for them to serve in and the Missionaries will be focusing on the centers of Strength for now. 
   We are preparing for the drought as well. Each companionship is receiving 120 Liters of drinking water for a month's supply, 2 Liters per missionary per day. Each house has 120 Liters of water and it will be there in case of emergency.  So hopefully the drought won't affect Vanuatu too bad. So
now we have 24 missionaries in Efate, 18 missionaries in Santo, and 8 missionaries in Malekula here in Vanuatu.  Well besides the drought everything is fine here and the work just never ends as always.  We will be flying to Santo tomorrow morning to have Zone Conference there and we will come back Sunday and I will be able to spend my last week and a half of my mission in my area:)  I'm getting really excited to see you all.  Mi lavem yufala evriwan tumas!!!

Love,
Elder Beynon

Eating Laplap Sorsor with Eloa's Family

My family in Lowni

My family in Uripiv