New Baby Niece :)

Hi sweetie,

Well it finally happened, you have a new niece!! Kelsie's took castor oil on Thursday night,I decided I better take the kids that night, good thing. She went in at 11pm and had her at 2:07am (I think).
We went in Friday morning after taking the kids to school,I got to hold her :-) We went back in that night so Halie and Kaden could see her, they couldn't hold her cause they have colds. I had Owen and Sadie Friday and Saturday but they came and took them home last night, when Kelsie was discharged. We have colds in our house and they didn't want the kids getting sick. I feel like I'm useless now! I had such a hard time when they came to get them and I couldn't pick the baby up to cuddle her.

Hello mom!! Happy sabbath day to you! 

Im so happy to hear that Kelsie had her baby girl! and I'm so glad to see her :D she is so beautiful! i just want to hold her!! But sorry that you are all sick and cannot cuddle with her. Thats too bad. 

My week has been good :) My companion came last monday after emailing. Sista Roko. She is great!! She was serving in Fiji for about 3 months waiting for her visa. So she has already been trained and there is no need for us to go through training again. But i am doing my best to help her with Bislama. Its hard to speak it all the time when my companion knows english. But that will be the best way for her to learn, if i just speak bislama. So we will try better this week! :D 

OUr area is great! back to Pepsi. We have quite a few investigators. This week we were trying to find where a lot of them live. We just walk along and ask people if they know them. Its funny how people here sometimes dont even know their neighbors! But the Lord was definitely helping us and directing us were to go and who to ask. A lot of times, the first people we would feel prompted to ask were the people we were looking for! So that was great. We taught Mama Antonia this last week. She is Papa Cyriaques wife, our old investigator that we just baptized before Christmas. She is wonderful! She really is so interested in everything that we discuss. She asks many questions and wants to really understand the principles we go through. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes but she is not ready yet. But she will be ready once we finish all the lessons. She came to church yesterday, along with 4 other of our investigators! :D We were happy to see them all there.  

My companion knows how to cook, and we had crab on Tuesday! Crab with kumala. IT was really good! She made this coconut milk soup thing that we put the crab in. I really liked it! The only thing was, i was afraid to touch the crab... I dont like when my food can stare at me. Sis Roko helped me to get all the meat out of the crabs. Hahaha she was laughing at me because of the faces and sounds i was making. man it was funny. She bought a fish to make for dinner last night, but i told her only to get enough for herself. I cant push myself too far! haha. She really wanted me to eat some, but i lost my appetite when i looked at the cooked fish with its clouded eye and all.. :P 

Yesterday, we also had practice for our musical fireside that will be in march. We have 2 different groups of YSA that will be singing songs. Our group is singing Joseph Smiths first prayer and A poor wayfaring man of grief. It is coming along pretty great! I just hope that we will have enough time! It is creaping up fast and we have a lot to do still. Us missionaries have to make narrations, in bislama, for inbetween the songs. And we are also going to make a slideshow with pictures about Joseph smith and the restoration. That is the theme, the Restoration. It should be really great! :D 

I love you all so much!! Have a wonderful week!! Im so happy that Ember is here and that she and Kelsie are happy and healthy!! Give her lots of love! 

Waiting fo my New Companion to Arrive!

Well, since i am still in Sharpi with these other 2 sisters, i haven't been able to go to my area. One investigator though, that Sister Takuvaka and i taught once, came back from an outer island. So the 3 of us went and taught him once on Friday. His name is Judah and he has a real desire to be baptized! he asked how long the lessons would take before he could be baptized. I just hope that he will be able to understand these 2 sisters when i leave them. They speak english still. Sister Clement is from martial Islands and Sister Tu'uefiafi is from Tonga. Sis Clement has a very strong accent but she is so adorable! She is very kind and so humble. Sis Tu'uefiafi as well, she is very humble. I love these 2 sisters, but i really want my comp to come so we can work in our area!! There are a lot of investigators in the Pepsi area, and so we need to get back over there!! 
The Dr is still here. We taught him again on Thursday. We watched the testaments and the sisters taught him about the book of Mormon. He seems to be coming along. The language is still a barrier, but i think these new sisters will be great and be able to teach him very well. 

Well, i love you so very much!! I miss you all. Just a little over a year left; time is beginning to fly! Kasem wan gudfala wik ol famle blong mi! Mi stap prea lo yufala yet. Mi glad tumas lo harem long yufala. Lavem yufala evriwan!!! 

With much love, Sista Alfin

My new comps name is a hard one, Sister Rokotuiloma :D So excited to meet her!! 

Hello Dad and happy sabbath day to you! 

Yes, we are in a branch here. There are apparently around 500 members in just our branch but only about 130 show up each sunday. We meet in a chapel but it is very different from the chapels we are used to! I will have to take some pictures of it and send them home. it is a really nice building. I have been in 2 areas but they are both in the same branch. So i have not moved branches yet. And yes, the same island. 

Well this week was good. I am still waiting for my companion to arrive so that we can go to our area. She missed the first flight to Vanuatu and so they had to rebuke it for her. She got to Vila on Saturday and now they just need to send her here to Santo. I still dont know for sure when she will get here... :( Right now i am with the other 2 sisters in the Sharpi area. It is good though because they are both brand new! So i am doing what i can to help them with Bislama and with the area. They are both really doing great :) 

I love you so much dad! miss you

Love your daughter, Shaina 

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