Sharpi... Kaden's getting Baptized!

Kaden:  Im getting baptized on my birthday. will you give One of the talks?I geT ice creaM Whin I go TO sChooL on Time.I love you.

Shaina: 

Kaden! Im so happy to hear from you!

I am so excited for you to be getting baptized! What a wonderful day it will be. And on your birthday!!?? That is very special! :) I sent you a bday card in the mail on Thursday so it will get to you probably before your bday. I would be so happy to give a talk for your baptism... if i could. haha. I will be sad to miss this very special day for you. But im so happy you will be getting baptized and become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints! Heavenly Father is so proud and so is your whole family!! Make sure to make it a happy day. You will be able to feel the Holy Spirit so strongly and you will feel clean.

Wow, you get ice cream!??! I hope you get to school on time each day! I remember all those days we would race each other to get ready! You can get ready really fast! And then i would love to drive you to school. When i get home, can i take you to school again? I love you so much Kaden!! Have a very happy week! Thank you for the puppy and smiley face. Love you so much buddy!

love your sister, Shaina

Sounds like a pretty relaxing week for you all. Glad to hear halie did well in her drama thing. She always does :) I'm sad I'm missing like everything! tell her to slow down and save some things for when i get home! haha. jk.

That is so exciting that he will be getting baptized on his birthday! I'm so excited for him. It makes me really sad that i wont be there. i would have loved to give a talk for it, as he asked me ;) he is ready. Just having parents like you and dad, who are always great examples, is preparation. That is great that you two had a little talk :) haha. I am glad that he has been better so far too! I'm sure things will begin to be wonderful. He has to mature after baptism :) Awe, and halie's first performance... I am so sad to be missing that as well. She is going to be amazing!! :D Good luck to her! and will you buy her a Sobe drink from me and give it to her before her performance? Its good luck :)

Wow, way to go with cleaning! That is impressive. I like when we keep the tree up for a long time. Its a good feeling! Did you ever set up the village?

Ok i will tell you a little about my week now. It hasn't been the most amazing week with appointments and such. Since we are both new to the area, we have been talking with some members and trying to find some people. Sharpi is an area with a TON of less actives. So this week, we have been going and trying to find their houses. We went to one less active on Wednesday, Abu Serah, and she really likes to talk.. haha. She is kind of a gossiper as well, so we sat there and listened to her stories. Then Takuvaka and i began a story lesson, just to share a scripture with her. We opened with a prayer, shared the skripta, and then, as i was about to go into baring my testimony, she started talking again.. ahah! It started out about the lesson, but then went way off topic. She talked for about 20 minutes i would say, as my comp and i continued to try and cut in to get back on track. We would just get cut off.. Eventually we were able to share small testimony and then ask her to give the closing prayer. hahaha she is a wonderful woman. We had a good laugh. 

On Saturday we visited another less active, Esther. The husband comes to church but she didn't. They are an older couple. We visited with them, and shared with each other our thoughts. It was a great experience. Henry, the husband, told us how they want to go to be sealed in  the Fiji temple. They asked us to pray for them that they might be able to find the money to pay for their passports. The church will pay for all other expenses. They are a couple with a lot of faith. Esther came to church yesterday too!! It was good to see her there.

Oh one other thing i have to say about this week. On Saturday, their was a cruise that came. It was the Oosterdam, Holland America. It was HUGE! I got a picture. Anyway, two women from the ship came to the church house and we were there for a baptism put on my the elders. So get this mom, these two women live in American Fork!!! And i know one of their sons! I graduated the same year with him. hahaha. It was so crazy! What a very small world. They said if i had anything to give you, i could send it with them an they would deliver it. Unfortunately i didn't have anything. i sent the calicos already and that's about all i have bought. I gave them your email and they might send a picture they took with us. Their names are Tamara Back and Jodi Hildebrandt. The cruise went out of Australia. They reminded me of you mom. i think you would have so much fun traveling with them! To bad you didn't know them before and come along with them ;) They shared many amazing stories with us about their trip. They are doing the Lords work as they are vacationing. Their stories were inspiring and they are definitely being protected and guided by the Lord. I don't have time to share them all and i have already talked too much about this.

Well, i don't have much else to say. I love you all so much!!! I hope you have a wonderful week! I miss you all heaps. Mi lavem yufala tumas!! Mi hop se yufala stap sev mo protected oltaem. Ale ta ta!

Love your sista, Sista Alfin

Mi no gat wan samting lo mekem naoia mekem se mi bae jus wet blo yu lo sendem wan email i kam. Mo kilim taem. Mi bae jus email ol tingting blo mi lo Bislama. Ol Zone Leada i bin ring las nite mo bin givim mi wan assignment lo zone confrence lo Jan 30. Mi mas givim wan 7 min training lo wan samting insaed lo white handbook. Mi mas prea from wan samting wea ol misinari i struggle wetem mo tok tok lo saed hemia blo 7 MINUTES!! That is so long in bislama!! Mi fraet tumas... Be mi bae jus prea lo Papa God mo askem hem lo givim mi komfort. Mi bae sendem hemia naoia. 

Wash Day

 I didn't get the chance to do wash last Monday so i did it on Friday cause i ran out of clothes... So i don't really have anything to do today. We have a washer and and spinner. It is manule, so we turn the water on and fill it up, then it goes and washes it. then we have to rinse the clothes and then we put them in the spinner and then hang them up to dry. hard work but not as hard as by hand. 

In Tanna they would do it in a stream. hopefully some time while i am serving, they will open up the islands to sisters again. Even if i just serve there for a short time, i would like it :)  

Transfers...Goodbye Mangali

Well remember when i called on Christmas? Yeah about an hour later we got a call from the sister training leaders. They thanked Natto for her time serving in Santo and said she is transfering to Vila. And i was going with her but i would be coming back to santo. So we cried a bunch, i bawled, and then we packed and left just 3 hours later. We got here to Vila and waited until saturday for Transfers. Everyone kept telling me i was going to be training. ANd everything everyone was saying lead me to believe i would be. So i was SO nervous. Finally we get the call and they tell me i will be serving with sis. Takuvaka!!! They one sister i came to Vanuatu with! I was so relieved!! I seriously jumped up and down and ran around like a crazy person. I will be changing areas too, back to sharpi. That was my first area with Schuster. So all the other missionaries will be flying out tomorrow.. except me. Sister Nisa, the sister that will be serving in my old area in Santo, flies out tomorrow morning with my companion... So strange. So things are really confusing right now. Sorry i didnt email this morning. I have just been going around with sis Nisa and Schuster and they had a ton of erands to run today. So we just finally got the chance to get on!! I dont really know what else to say. Things are really crazy right now. My brain is running  100 miles an hour!! I really enjoyed talking on the phone for Christmas!!! Were you surprised when i called back...? hahahah!! Sorry about that... Thats probably why my companion will no longer be with me... :( I will miss Natto so much!! We had a great time together. And i am really gonig to miss my old area, Pepsi!! And Mangali!! i will still see her and all of them at church though! :)   I love you! 

Almost Christmas

I want to hear something from Kaden! :) And he should draw a picture for one investigator, Mangali. She is a little 8 year old. She loves me! haha. She never wants to let me go. She also loves the sour patch that i brought. i have given her some of the packages. She wants to come home with me when i leave ;) I told her that you (mom) would love her :) She is adorable. I love her! 

We had family haos nite over at her house last week. They have a wonderful family! Haha anyway, we did a little activity to demonstrate faith. I was partners with mangali and we were both blindfolded. Mangali had to feed me some chip things without her sight. She turned it into a race with her other sisters. So i was just sitting there with my mouth opened while she was just shoving these chips in my mouth!! I couldn't chew or close my mouth!!! And i was trying not to laugh! haha it was fun :) But yeah, i gave the lesson on faith and talked about Abraham and Isaac. I did the lesson and didn't even have to turn to sis natto for help with words!! IT went really well! I was so grateful! The spirit was helping me so much to know what to say!! :) It was a fun night! :) 

"Waetman" Cute Pikinini

Hello everyone!

 

This week was another great week here in Vanuatu! Not too much happened, but every day on the mission is a great one, right?! :)

This week we contacted a referral named Serzine. She is a young girl, about 20. She lives with her husband and right next to her friend. When we went to visit with her, her friend was also there. We asked if she would be glad to receive the lessons as well, and she said yes! Her name is Lillian. So we got 2 new investigators this week!! They are great investigators. Very fun and they actually talk a lot during the lesson! Here in our area, and probably generally in Vanuatu, the people don't participate much during our discussions. They are all very shy and soft spoken. Sometimes that makes it a little difficult to teach, when we ask questions and they don't want to speak.. haha. But its great!  So we are excited to begin to teach Serzine and Lillian more. We have taught them twice and they are taking the lessons great :)

This week I had some pretty rough teaching experiences.. :/ The language is still a little difficult for me and so teaching is interesting sometimes.. haha. We were teaching a young 8 year old boy, Jimmy, about the plan of salvation. We were going to teach about our purpose on the earth. So we start off with Adam and Eve, one principle that I haven't taught yet. Sister Natto turns to me and says, "You can start off." My heart started pumping and a lot of things were rushing through my mind. I was trying to remember back to all the times Sister Natto has taught Adam and Eve and think of the phrases she would use. It started off good, and I was able to get about 2 or 3 sentences out from memory. Then, my mind goes blank... I cant remember anything more about Adam and Eve and I don't remember any Bislama to shove in and make is sound like I know what im talking about. I turn to Sister Natto, and she lets me sit there for about 10 seconds (which feels like a lifetime) in silence, trying to think of ANYTHING to say. She then comes in and continues. I felt so discouraged... But, I knew I needed to just move on from this experience. Luckily it was just a small boy or I probably would have been more embarrassed.. :P I realize I need to go in with faith and not fear. I have a knowledge of this gospel and of the principles. I just need to have faith that the Spirit will direct me with what to say. And I will continue to work harder with my language study :) I really don't want this experience to EVER happen again.. :P

Well, thank you all again, for the prayers, love and support!! I love being a missionary!! It gets better each day :) Have a wonderful Christmas season! I love you all so much and miss you too!!

Love, Sista Alfin

They call me "Misses" here. or "Waetman" They call out in an excited voice, "Oh misses!" Or if they know me just "tufala sista misinaries!" They are all very kind here :)

Sista natto loves Christmas music too! We are really going to hold each other up this Christmas! She is missing home a lot too.. :(  They go to the "solwota" and have bbq's.  And I guess on Christmas, or maybe it is new years, they go around throwing baby powder on everyone!! haha.




We teach Sam, the one on my right, and all the other pikinini came to join. 

Papa Cyriaque at his baptism. And his wife Antonia, who we are teaching :) Marie showed up late, so we didn't get a picture with her... 

Two little twins, Joyce and Richard!! They are adorable :) Belong to the Yunack family.

Oh, on Saturday a Sister came home from her mission. Her name is Sister Yunack and she lives in the Pepsi area where I proselyte. We went over there in the evening for dinner and I meet here for the first time. She says that she has heard about me! She served in the San Jose, California mission with Elder Hullinger. (Sis. Allphin's cousin)

So that was really cool. What a small world!! She says he is a wonderful missionary and doing great :)

 

It's so HOT!

I wish the weather was cooler here. I just drip sweat everyday! Even when the sun isn't shining! Today it is really rainy. I haven't seen the sun all day! So it is a little cooler. The storms here are amazing!! I sat out on our deck Saturday night and just watched all the lightning. It was incredible! I caught some on video. The thunder is so loud and sounds like it is just above us! It woke me up one night and i had to cover my ears because it was SO loud it hurt!

We don't really do service unfortunately. Thursday is service day and missionaries usually do garden work. So i will ask my comp if we can find someone to help with their yard. I hope we can. I thought there would be a lot of service in this mission.

Well dad, I love you so much! I just want to thank you for al you do for the family. we each love you so much and appreciate all the hard work you do for us! I miss you and love you!

Love your daughter, Sista Allphin

I tried Coconut!! It wasn't very good... haha.

The pic with the little girl- her name is Marie France. She is one investigator age 8. She is the one gieeting baptized this week!! :) She is adorable and i love her! She is very bright :) She comes from a great family, member family.

Then just picts of my comp and i. And me sending my love!! :)

Oh and me with one member family. They are in my old area. This was on my birthday when i got the turtle and the basket. The little girl is Lilyrose, one recent convert that Schuster and I used to teach :)

I love you all so much!!

Tender Mercies and Miracles!

Halo backagen!

 

This week was wonderful!! Full of many wonderful lessons and the Spirit was so strong! I have a few stories i would love to share :)

Saturday was one FULL day!! Heavenly Father worked many wonders this day, as He does everyday. In the morning we had a baptism. Two young girls were baptized, not from our area but in our district. It was wonderful! My first time witnessing a "baptaes" here :) After the baptism, my comp and i decided that we would head home before coming back for the Open Haos a little later that afternoon.

We started walking home and then my comp said she wanted to check her account first. So we turn around and head to town. The system was down, so we start heading home once again. I mention that we need some eggs, so again, we turn around and go to the store for eggs. Finally, we head home for good. I go in the gate and head up the stairs to open the door to the house while my comp is locking the gate. I am waiting inside for her, but she doesn't come for about a minute. She then rushes in saying that some men stopped her and asked if we could come with them and pray for a baby that had died that morning. Anyway long story short, these men had been going around in the streets looking for someone that could pray as they buried their baby. It just so happened that we were coming home right as they were passing by! We get in a truck and pick up the baby with some more family members. We head to the grave yard and my companion offers a wonderful prayer and shares some uplifting words. My heart was absolutely broken for the family. The mother was still in the hospital, but the grandmother was sobbing over the grave. I could not handle it. But i know that this baby only had one purpose for coming to this earth. It only needed to receive a body. That baby was celestial. My comp and I were thinking about how amazing it was that Heavenly Father put us right where he needed us, so that we could go and help offer  a prayer for this family. It was an incredible experience, something that i will never forget. Even though it was so sad and heartbreaking, I know that that family will see their precious baby again. Our Father has a plan and we just need to trust in that plan.

Later at the Open Haos, we received 6 NEW INVESTIGATORS!!!! We will be going to visit them all this week! What wonderful work the Lords work is!! I am so excited!! :)

I have a testimony of this gospel. I know the Lord is hastening His work! He puts us in places so that we can help His children! Oh, and this family that lost the baby are less actives. Just yesterday, half of them came to church! :) What a miracle! I love this gospel and i love being a missionary! All the good times completely surpass the challenges!! :)

We will be having 2 baptisms next Saturday! one small girl and one papa! They are some investigators we are teaching! :) They are so excited to get baptized. I am so happy for them!

Anyway, I love you all so much! I pray for you and hope all is well at home! Look for the hand of the Lord in your lives each day! You will see "fullap" blessings! :) I love and miss you!! Until next week!

Love, Sista Alfin