CHRISTMAS IS FAST APPROACHING.  IT TAKES 2-3 WEEKS FOR A PACKAGE TO REACH FIJI SO IF YOU PLAN ON SENDING SOMETHING TO ANNIE, SEND IT EARLY!  I'VE FOUND THAT THE REGULAR US POSTAL SERVICE IS THE CHEAPEST WAY TO GO, AND I USE THE WORD "CHEAP" LOOSELY BECAUSE THE LAST PACKAGE I SENT WAS JUST A FEW POUNDS AND SHIPPING WAS $25.00!  SO THINK "LIGHT AND SMALL"!

-Mama Pyne-

So I'm sill in my first area, and almost done training my first daughter (companion).  The work here is doing really well.  We had two baptisms on  Saturday, Sami and Bradley, both really strong ysa boys.  They've had a rough time finding their testimonies, but with help from the ward and really good friends they pulled through.  Sami still has a lot of questions, He was really nervous about his testimony and was actually texting us till almost midnight asking questions but he's willing to trust and keep looking until he understands.:P He tries so hard to do everything well!!  He always asks if he can do the prayers for the lessons so he can practice, and always asks for feed back, lol!  Such a great boy.  He's actually a great example of those simple promptings.  We had had a ton of fall-throughs and had no idea what to do, then I was like" Hey, lets check on this less active!"  So we walked down the road, and she wasn't home.  We almost gave up, but then I remembered a family who we talked to a month before who didn't want lessons. I thought we could stop and say hi, but it turns out that they had moved and Sami's family was there instead! Now he's baptized, his brother is taking lessons from the elders, and some other family members are interested, all from a simple prompting.

 

Bradley is so humble and sincere.  He answers every question as truthfully as he can, and is very patient. is actually going to do baptisms at the temple tomorrow!!  His grade at school goes every year and last year he just waited outside.  After church yesterday we had a lesson on temple work etc and he was really excited!  He really took everything to heart, especially how you can be baptized for your ancestors.  Needless to say, we went straight to the bishops office and got him a recommend.  We will definitely be making a trip to the family history center in the next few weeks.

The food is really good!  There are a lot of  Indians here so we get curry a few times a week.  The Fijian food took some getting used to, but now I love it.  It will be hard to give up when i go home. The fruit is sooo good!  It's mango season here so we have them all the time.  The other day our taxi driver handed us a huge bag of them from his house and asked if we could hand them out!  Definitely some interesting people.  There are so many different cultures and religions here that every person you meet is totally different.  I've had investigators from England, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, India, and some from  Australia.  My favorite places to go are in  the settlement areas. the people are very willing to accept the gospel because theyre so humble.  You just say hi, and they invite you in!  They don't always want to take lessons, but definitely willing to share and visit. I love listening to the investigators prayers.  They're so sincere and because they're unsure of what to say they really look to us to help them.  My favorite is when they pray for my family or the ward leaders.  There's one Indian boy (Vikshal) who prays for every member of my family ( brothers, sister, parents, grandparents, everyone :D ) 

 

As for chapels, the temple is really the symbol of the church around here.  It's a short drive away and next to one of the main roads so everyone sees it.   Right now we meet in the LDS highschool, so no chapel.  We actually have sacrament meeting in the cafeteria and there's birds and geckos coming in and out the whole time. its pretty funny.

The water isnt too clean.  I  got sick a few weeks ago because the pipes are cracked and the nasty rain water gets into the water system.  Not fun!  

 
 I  definitely know that fiji is the perfect place for me to serve. there are so many people I've learned from and people I've helped. Couldn't have happened anywhere else.  I cant believe how fast its gone by! december is month nine. half way already!!  

 

This week is gonna be interesting. that last intake came in saturday morning and we've had sisters with us all weekend.  We've been super busy (baptism, ward party, primary program at church,) and I think we totally wiped them out, poor girls!  One went to her area this morning, but the other is still with us.  Only half of their intake made it and the other half might get here next week, so we'll have another transfer.  For now, I'm still in Tamavua.  Tomorrow we have our zone conference at presidents house, but thats the only big thing for this week. 

 

Love you all, thanks for all the letters and prayers!

 

Sister Pyne

Nothing new for the blog.  Tons of meetings this week, super rainy, I was sick for a few days. This past week was Halloween, but no one here celebrates :(   There was a huge Hindu holiday on the 3rd called Diwali.  It's a festival of lights so there were "Christmas" lights up everywhere, TONS of fireworks (I mean the huge, super dangerous ones that people probably shouldn't do in their yards). till about 2 am and of course delicious Diwali treats. Other than that we had alot of rain, and its been super humid.  I walked out of the mission office this morning (a.c.) and my glasses actually steamed up because it was so humid lol! We had to post pone our baptism again. Boo!! There's another one from our ward on the 16 and bishop wants to do everyone together, so we have to wait.  We have a few new investigators and some we have to drop, so it should be an interesting week.

Aahh!! I'm out of time!! yosota!!

Au lomani keda,

Sista Pyne