Kaden's Pinewood Derby.

I am in Cub Scouts now. I like doing to Cub Scouts. and I got my hand book. I am going to make a pinewood derby car in March. I will send you a picture of it when I finish. I love you very much and miss you everyday.

Love Kaden

Wow Kaden, that is so exciting!! I am glad taht you like going to Scouts :) That will be fun to make a car! Yours will probably be the fastest! Make sure you and dad make a really good one :) and send a picture for sure! I would love to see it. I love you so so much Kaden and i too miss you everyday!! But im happy to know you are happy :D Are you getting to school on time? Do you race me in the morning?! I hope so! Sometimes i want to sleep in... ;) haha. love you so much kaden!

Love your sista Shaina

Back to Pepsi again! :)

This week was good :) Sister Nisa flew out on Friday so we are in a trio right now with sister Ipu! She is wonderful! We love her :) 

We have been teaching Shalom and creating a wonderful relationship with her. We share scriptures with her and she really enjoys it. The spirit is always very strong while teaching her. 

On Saturday we went to Pepsi area because that was Ipu's and Nisa's area. It was good! :) It felt so nice teaching a lot of lessons again! There are a lot more people in Pepsi. And i got to teach Mangali again! :) haha it was great. We taught her about Priesthood. This night, we got called for transfers... Everyone was telling me that they thought i would be out of Santo.  But.. I am staying! I am going to the Pepsi area again!! haha! I am so thrilled! :) Sharpi, pepsi, sharpi, back to Pepsi. And i will be training a Fijian! They didn't tell me her name. Oh but i am so excited! I am not as nervous now. Sister Takuvaka will be going to Malekula! It is an island. She will also be training, a PNG. Sister Ipu will be going to a different area in Santo and will be training another Fijian. She just got here last month and will now be training. So yes, probably on Thursday they will all come in and we will being working in our new areas! I am excited! :D

Sunday we went out with the RS to do visiting teaching. They go around and visit with the less actives. I split and went with one Mama, the president of RS. We visited one woman and taught her about love. I shared the scripture about charity in Moronae 7:47-48. I shared how we all must strive each day to have charity for others. We need to develop this Christ-like attribute to have joy in life. Charity can be hard to have, but as we pray each day for help from our Father, He will give us this "bigfala lav". We told her that we love her and tried to show our love for her as well. We hope to see her next sunday! :) Also, her daughter needs to be baptized still and so she will be a new investigator for us in Pepsi! :) 

That is great that you had missionaries speak. Why has our ward never had permanent missionaries? I think that would be good. 

Oh im so happy to hear that everyone could see Halie perform! :) im sure she did so wonderful! :) I want to see it live! She really is a star. So beautiful. 

Love, sista Alfin 

The Blue Hole..Amazing!

Well sorry that I did not email yesterday. The day was full! So we came just for a small time this morning.  I am happy to hear that Kaden was baptized!! :) I'm sorry to hear that things didn't go well in the morning, but you got there eventually :) Did you not get any pictures of him in his suit and all? With dad? Haha I love hearing that about the scriptures and that he loves them :) That is so cute. Did he get to pick out a cool case then? Im sure he will enjoy going to scouts. He will probably be late every time, but hopefully he enjoys it :)

Our baptism went well as well :) haha we started about 30 minutes late because our investigator showed up at 10 as well. It was supposed to start at 10. Yu save (you know), black man time ;) haha that is a phrase they always use here.  So it was just normal to start late. I gave my talk on baptism and the Holy Ghost. It went well and I was thinking of Kaden while speaking as well :) Luckily I was just nervous enough not to cry ;) But during the baptism of Mangali, Sister Nisa turned to me and said something like, "Ok this is your little brother getting baptized now." I just started crying. I watched Mangali and just thought of Kaden the whole time! I was sad but also so happy. My little brother was going to enter into the covenant of baptism and become a member of the only true church-- the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was so happy thinking that we are so blessed to know this gospel. To have been raised inside the gospel. We have the amazing opportunity to live with our family for eternity, if we all live righteously in this life. So I was crying tears of joy as well as sadness :) Thank you for reading what I wrote for Kaden. I thought maybe that would happen to you ;) It happened while I was writing it.. I hope Kaden was paying attention and was able to say that I spoke at his baptism ;) haha. Kaden, I am so proud of you and I love you so much bud!!! :D

Well, on Thursday we had zone conference. I didn't do as well as I would have liked on my training... I thought it was actually a disaster. :P But it is over with now, so all is good :) haha! But the rest of conference was so good!!! I loved it. Sister Brewer gave a wonderful training/talk on integrity. She went through the characteristics of someone with integrity and without. It was such an eye opener for everyone. It really made me want to improve and strive to have more integrity. She says, each day all of us are working to improve our integrity. We will be working on it all the days of our life. She speaks so powerfully and makes you really understand the point she is trying to convey. I loved it. Then President spoke after her and tied some things into what she had said. He talked about "the bridge of repentance" and also how each day we are going through that and working to better ourselves. Its amazing when they speak and you see how much more you can improve on to be a better missionary and better person in general.

So yesterday we went to blue hole! It was so amazing!!  All us sisters wanted to get in the water SO bad! But we didn't :) haha. Sister Nisa was planning this trip with one of her potential investigators and then one YSA was invited so just about all of them ended up coming! haha. We had a blast. We took some food up there and they made a fire and roasted the chicken. All the YSA got to swim in this magical, blue water. It seriously reminds me of a picture from a fairy tale. There were so many trees surrounding this water and they had one huge tree with a rope swim and ladder. We spent most of the day there and then came back and played sports. So that is why we didn't email. Sister Nisa leaves on Friday for Vila and then goes home Wednesday! So she wanted to see this before she left. It is a tourist destination! So when you come, we will have to go back there and I can finally get in the water! I think...

Well, we will find out transfers on Saturday. I will probably be training but I don't know. And I don't know if they will keep me here in Santo. We shall see! My family, I love you all so very much!! This week was a very spiritual one and I was so grateful for it. I know that what I am doing here is the work of our Heavenly Father. I am grateful for this experience and all the support I get from loved ones at home. Have a safe week. I pray for you always! I love and miss you all so much! :)

Love, Sista Alfin

Ps halie, you were amazing, again! ;) love you! Keep up the hard work! And Kaden, keep reading your scriptures! They are the word of God and testify of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Love you!

PPS I am going to send pictures today!!!!!!! I think... ;) Yu save, computers in Vanuatu! haha!

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!! I got to watch it!!! :) There was no sound and it was a little choppy with the download, but it was AMAZING!!! I only watched Halie the whole time!!! She is SO beyond beautiful! She was fantastic. I am so happy that I got to see that. Thank you so much! AH!!! I love it! :) And it will only improve!! Haha I was upset when those two blue flags came out at the end... haha. I bet they got a talking to! Lol

Oh but that was wonderful!!!! :D Im so proud of you halie! You are amazing!

Happy Birthday Kaden!

Hello, so i realized i forgot to tell Kaden happy birthday!! I talked all about his baptism but never told him happy bday. So today we came down to make the program for the baptaes tomorrow and i just wanted to hop on and say...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KADEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope that you have a very wonderful day on Saturday!! It will be a very special day :) Are you going to have a party? What will be the theme this year? I remember your phineas and ferb one last year! Well i hope you are happy and have a good day! I hope everyone is nice to you too! :D I love you so much Kaden!!! Talk to you again on Sundei!

Kaden's Baptism Talk

I wrote a few things that mom can say in her talk. I am happy that you want me to speak at your baptism! I wish I could be there to say it, but this is the next best thing! :) Mangali also asked me to speak at her baptism! haha so I will speak in behalf of you both :) I love you, here is what I wrote:

being on a mission, I get the opportunity to teach people about the gospel of Jesus Christ, including one important gift, the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Some who don't know about the gospel of Jesus Christ don't quite understand what this "Ghost" is. one way we like to explain the Holy Ghost is saying he is like a friend. Heavenly Father promises us this friend can be with us at all times if we always do our best to live as He wants us to live. The Holy Ghost will be there to help us live this way. He can warn us when things might be dangerous. He helps us choose the right and can help us feel better when we feel sad or scared. This friend wants to help us and wants us to be happy. Our loving Father in Heaven gives us this friend, the gift of the Holy Ghost, after we are baptized. Because of His love for us, He gives us a spiritual gift to help us always choose the right. As we listen to the feelings we get from the Holy Ghost, we will be blessed and protected (safe). We will be able to feel the Holy Ghost is always with us. We will know that we are doing those things that our Heavenly Father wants us to do. We will feel His love for us and know He is happy as we follow the Holy Ghost.

(This is the talk part. Sorry it isn't very long and probably very vague. You can use some of the other part below if you feel that it fits in.)  

Kaden, I am so very proud of you for making the decision to be baptized. Heavenly Father is so happy with you as well. He loves you so much! baptism is one of the most important steps you will make in life. As you are baptized and make these promises with Heavenly Father, You are following the example of Jesus Christ. When we follow His example in life, we can be so happy! After we are baptized, we must always do our best to keep our promises with Heavenly Father. We must obei His commandments and in return, He will bless us with the Holy Ghost.

Kaden, I know this church is so true. I know that through the promises we make at baptism, and as we keep them, we can ond day return to live with our Father In heaven and famileis forever. I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you. I know you will be happy as you obei the commandments and try to live like Jesus Christ lived.

Kaden your family loves you so much! We are all so proud of you! I love you so much, more than I can explain. You are a strong boy. You are so funny and always make me laugh! I miss you and am sad I cant be ther for this special day. Just know I love you and am so grateful to have you as my little brother-- my best bud :) Enjoy this day. Remember the feeling you have throughout the day-- they will be special. Thank you for letting me speak at your baptism!

I love you so much Kaden!!!

Love your favorite sister Shaina ;)

Dear Shaina,

On the back of our program there is a thought from Elder Gene R Cook about teaching.

    Who will do the teaching? The comforter. Be sure you don't believe you are the " true teacher" . That is a serious mistake... Be careful you do not get in the way. The major roll of a teacher is to prepare the way such that the people will have a spiritual experience with the lord. You are an instrument , not the teacher. The lord is the one who knows the needs of those being taught. He is the one who can impress someone's heart and cause them to change.

        Have a great week.  I love you, Dad

Halo Dad!

 

Im glad to hear that kaden did well in his interview :) I am so proud of him for wanting to get baptized. it will be a very wonderful day :) We will have a baptism here on the 1st as well. One of our investigators is getting baptized, her name is Maita. She is a 15 year old from a part member family. She has already been coming to church each week, she just needed the missionaries to teach her so she could be baptized. She is wonderful! She is excited to become a member. Also Mangali will be getting baptized the same day. She is my little sister here on the mission. Im sure mom has told you about her. I will be missing kaden's baptism but will have one here in place of his. So I will be thinking of you all on that day :)

That is a wonderful quote, thank you for writing that. It is so true. When we are teaching, we can definitely tell when the spirit is and is not there. The only lessons that count are the ones that the comforter is the teacher. When we are just teaching without the spirit, they are not becoming converted. And that is what needs to happen. Thank you for that today dad.

I love you so much and miss you. have a great week as well.

Love Sista Alfin

Faithful Members

I don't really have much to say about this week, sorry!

It was a normal week in our area. We went and mostly taught less actives and recent converts this week. it is really cool because usually when we go and visit the less actives, they end up coming to church the next week! haha. A lot of them are really old and they have bad knees so that is why they don't come. Because they cant walk down to church and they don't have money for a taxi down to church. But a lot of them show a ton of faith, and come when they can find a way.

We are still teaching Shalom :) She is growing in faith. She said she is going to start reading the Book of Mormon and then when we come, she will ask us about any questions that she might have. She says the BOM is a little difficult for her to understand, so we will try and help her with that :) But she is also reading her bible and really trying to understand each verse. That is her new years resolution, to understand the bible. I really hope that we can get the opportunity to work with her husband and try to gain his trust. We pray that the Lord might soften his heart so that he will allow his wife to get more into this church. As for now, we can just try and help her increase in faith.

mangali will be getting baptized on Feb 1st and guess what, she also asked me if I will speak!! haha so I will be talking on baptism and the Holy Ghost :) I will speak for Kaden as well :) One of our investigators, maita is getting baptized too. She is 15 and in a part member family. She is excited! We are too! She is the first investigator that I have had from start to finish!

Well, the work is continuing on! I am striving each day to fulfill all that the Lord requires of me. I am no where near perfect, but I know as I put my faith in Christ, He will help me each day. I want to please Him and do my best each day.

I love you all and am so grateful for your prayers and support! I miss you! Stay safe. My prayers are with you! Mi lavem yufala evriwan!!

Love Sista Alfin

Musical Fireside..

Today we are going to go to the church at 1 and doing a singing practice with some of the YSA. We are organizing a musical fireside for Feruary! It is on the Restoration. It will hopefully be good :) Then we will just play sports after that. And do our wash and stuff. Nothing very exciting.

Yes he said he would send the picture. haha the Dr always comes with flowers for us. The lessons are going... ok. He doesn't understand bislama and so we are teaching in English. But then again, he doesn't understand too much English either. So we have to go really slow. But he has A LOT to say... So we start going into the lesson and he gets so off topic with many other ideas. We tried teaching the Restoration lesson the first time and I don't know how much got through to him. The second lesson was even worse... haha. He just discusses with us some of his philosophies and things. We really need to just go in with a plan and try our best to not get distracted I think... he just wants everyone to believe it if it is true. He wants to know how he can make everyone believe it. He is a communist leader in China I guess, so I think that is where it comes from. We will keep working with him and hope things go well next time.