I found this chicken foot in my curry, and yes I did bite it! Take that Lauren!!

The two in the middle are new converts. From left to right. Sister Mataoa, me,

Seniloli, (the member who baptized Sami), then Sami, Bradley,

 Elder Saumaki and Elder Hyde.  Elder Hyde's my district leader in Labasa now :D

P.S. Labasa is pronounced "Lambasa" In Fiji you put an M before a B.

Here's some pictures of dalo. You boil the leaves with coconut milk or other stuff, and you can bake the root. It makes your throat a little itchy if its not cooked enough though.

                                                            Me and Sister Chong

We had exchanges with the Sister Leaders this week so we went out for dinner their last night

                                                               Some recent converts

                                                          Too muddy even for sandals!

                                                             

                      I tried to convince my dad that this was our new flat, but no go. It is just down
                      the street from our place though. We live in a duplex where EVERYTHING is
                      pink, from the paint to the tile.  Yikes!

MARAUTAKA NA SIGA NI SUCU!!!
How was everyone’s Christmas?! I hope it was wonderful and filled with family and the spirit.  I know mine was!  It was so wonderful to talk with my family on Christmas.  To all you I didn’t get to talk to, know that I love you and wish I had enough time to Skype each of you!!!  There’s soooo much work here!!  The problem is church attendance right now.  Most of our investigators live far from the chapel, so it’s hard to get them there and find fellow-shippers.  We’ve started a few units, but it’s not the same with only 2 or 3 people each Sunday.  Actually yesterday we went to a member’s house for unit sacrament.  He’s paralyzed and hasn’t been able to come to church for 15 years!!  I think everyone forgot about him out in the bush. We had a tiny meeting at his house, with his siblings (all adult non members who only speak Hindi ) and two of my investigators.  We sat on the floor, his brother had his shirt off the whole time, there were chickens running in and out, and we didn’t have any sacrament cups so we used a few cracked mugs. There weren’t even enough for us missionaries to participate.  But surprisingly it was one of the most spiritual sacrament meetings I’ve been to.  We had a wonderful OYM a few weeks ago, and we visited her friday night.  It turns out her husband is a Pentacostal pastor and she’s super strong!  The whole time she was looking to convert us.  After we shared with her she said she felt bad that we didn’t know the truth and shared about the trinity and some other stuff.  We already told her we would come back tonight and now her husband and the whole fam will be there.  It should be interesting.
This is what I got,  I’ll send my letter to president too. :P sorry!!  By-the-way, during that service project I got to 'wele wele'    a.k.a. cut the grass with a huge k-knife! and start a tei-tei of cassava. There are some exciting pictures on the way.  Also, next week we will be driving to Savusavu for our zone meeting. We get to stay in a hotel ‘cuz were the only sisters hahaha!!  I’ve heard the view is gorgeous and we will be doing some shopping there so I’m not sure how emailing will be.  If you don’t hear from me on time, don’t freak out :D

Love always!!! Sister Pyne

Hi gang, just a quick note,

My new companion is from Hawaii. We get along really well!  The flat is more what I was expecting. The ward is interesting as usual.  All of the leaders were baptized within the last 5 years or so they don’t really know what they’re doing.  It’s caused alot of problems, nothing new!   The area is way cool though, drier than Suva.  There are a TON of Indian people here!  We just found a new investigator who doesn’t speak any English so we have to have a translator but as of last night I can bear my testimony and pray in Hindi, how cool is that!!  The Fijians here have another dialect
, they drop almost all of the k's and t's.   

I moved from Suva, on the lower right side of Viti Levu, all the way up to Labasa,
which is near the top of Vanua Levu.  It's a little sunnier and a little less humid, Nice!

This week was really wonderful!  We had a member of the 70 come for mission tour, and it was sooooo good!!  8 hours in a meeting never passed so fast!!  I learned so much from Elder Pearson. I realized that I have gotten stuck in a rut and haven’t been doing my best for a while now. I’ve really been inspired to work harder and become who I was meant to be.  Sister Mataoa and I really discussed how we felt, what we had learned from the meeting, and made some huge goals.  All I can say is I will never be the same missionary again. And that this is the perfect time…. new year… new beginning, and .....A NEW AREA!!!  

That’s right everyone, this homebody finally got transferred out of Tamavua!!  I found out way late Saturday night, and they said I would probably be flying out Tuesday or Wednesday.  No worries right?  Wrong!!   Church went well, I had a nice farewell with the traditional singing of 'God Be With You' and some teary good byes, then lunch at the military barracks with the youth, and my last Sunday dinner with sister Singh and the fam.  They’ve been my family here. Rohit had bought a cake with my name on it (spelled “pine”  :D ) I’ll miss them and the other ward members so much!!  Not to mention all the investigators I’m leaving behind.  Here’s the crazy part.  At 11 Sunday night I found out the AP's were picking me up at 7 Monday morning!!  I spent the whole night packing and washing clothes with a few hours nap in between.  I successfully sorted through my luggage and put half in storage, (I was only allowed to take 30 pounds of my stuff!) cleaned the whole flat, and hopped in the AP's van with Sister Mataoa and Elder Swerling.  On the drive to Nausori  I finally got to see the other end of the Tamavua area!  Took me long enough huh?  It goes so far into the forest that we had never been to the edge before.  It’s way in the bush!!   Elder Palmer and I said goodbye to everyone then went to wait for the flight. It was so nice to have an experienced flyer with me. He’s flown to my area a few times and told some awesome stories. It was really fun. 

 
I just got off the plane an hour ago, met my new companion, Sister Chong from Hawaii, and sent this letter for the blog  so no awesome stories yet…… but I’ll keep you posted.

I’ve learned alot in Tamavua and I will miss the people, but I’m grateful for this transfer. I feel like I had been in the area too long and wasn’t being challenged anymore. Serving in Labasa will be a new start for me and I’m going to do the best I can here.  We'll see how far the spirit will take me!  I haven’t seen the area yet so I don’t have anything to report, but so far I love it here. More sun, more fields, and less humidity yay!!   Plus I have alot of friends up here already.  My first district leader is one of the zone leaders, its great to be with them again. Aahh!! no time to finish!!
  

Love you everyone!!!  Hope you have a fantastic week and lift someone’s spirits this Christmas season.

Love always!! 

Sister Pyne