Malo e lelei

We made it to Maui! For the next while you can write me at 104 Wahikuli st apt M, Lahaina HI 96761. Well this is definitely going to be a different experience. The first couple of days were pretty difficult it's pretty hard to white wash( two new missionaries in a new area) but were starting to get it. Sister Sekona and I are still trying to figure things out. Who we should be meeting how we can find new investigators and how to make the most of our time. I love my comp though she's really great, and she's really just having to take over :). The thing that makes this really hard is that we are in a language ward which means 1. Everything is in Tongan haha. This is hard for me because my companion does a lot of the teaching, calling and talking in general and I just have to try to not fall asleep! Still trying to figure that part out. Church was a great experience though I love hearing them sing they all have beautiful voices and they dont use instruments or anything. 2. We can't really tract because the people we would tract into belong to the other sisters ward. We found a wonderful couple tracting the other day-keep in mind that we are both from the VC so we are learning to do all these things on our own- we were very excited that our hard work paid off. Then we found out we will only be able to teach them once, then have to pass them off to the other sister since they will be in their ward. Were really just going to have to work through the members.

Then the other day we were getting some things from our trunk to be able to pass out to people we met. Well we ended up locking our keys in the trunk! What a way to start out. We had to call various people to get help. I was having a hard day and that didn't really help. Thanks for the money dad it was put to good use haha. Lahaina is a pretty place but we are on the dry side so I was a bit surprised to see what it looks like over here. When you think of Maui you think luscious and green. Our drive to district meeting is very yellow and dead. But the ocean is very beautiful. The home that we have to live in is also one of the nicest yet. I will say though that I HATE ants! They are even worse over here than in Laie they were crawling all over my journal and when I picked it up they were all over me! Makes me paranoid I feel like they are crawling on me all the time haha. But at least they aren't roaches. ;)

There are definitely going to be challenges and Im still learning why God needs me in this particular ward, part of it is to support my companion but its hard to feel invisible. I am so grateful though for a loving Father in Heaven who hears our prayers and knows what we need and what we can handle. I love this gospel and will do anything my Father needs me to do.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. Our Savior sacrificed the most for us so the least we can do is to give a little of ourselves to really make that change that brings us closer to him. Make a goal of something you will change to be more like our savior and promise it as a gift to God. I love you all and look forward to talking with you next week.

I will be calling sometime this week to set up a time to call you. It will probably be Sunday around 4-5. I love you!

Sister Pinder.

Where in the world?!

Wow do I have a lot to tell you! This week has been very interesting, in fact this transfer has been interesting it's had it's challenges, in ways that it really shouldn't have been but Ive learned a lot. So because sister Sandstrom and I are the sister Trainers we got to find out the transfer news before the other sisters. That was very nice because we have worked very close with these sisters and were very curious how the Lord would pair them up to make the most success here. Let me just tell you I am so grateful God is in control because even though we know these sisters we don't know them as well as God does and he puts things together so beautifully! So I told you I wasn't sure what was going to happen right? Well from that meeting on Saturday I found out that I will be going out full Proselyting. But I had to wait for my call from President to find out the details. We learned that two new sisters will be coming and that 4 VC sisters will be going out. This means there are 28 VC sister- 8 out full pros. that's a lot! This next transfer will be so much smoother than the past ones I'm a bit sad that I wont be here. So Sunday night I received my call from President. He said "Sister Pinder the Lord has a new assignment for you." sounds good bring it on "sister Pinder you are going out full Proselyting and your going to Maui" haha AWESOME!! "There's more, you will be companions with sister Sekona" (sister Sekona is also a visitor center sister, she was in the beach pad with sister Sandstrom and I very loud, fun Tongan :)) Wow if I'm with a sister from here that means we are white washing the area. " There are two other sisters there but they just have more work than they can handle". Sounds good to me, we have no idea how full pros works but if they are so busy that means we will also have a lot of work; I'm okay with that. "There's more sister Pinder, you will be serving in a TONGAN ward." huh ? Excuse me? "Don't worry they mostly speak English" ha ha oh boy... Well I guess you could say your little girl is not going to be so little anymore! One sister said she is going to measure my cheeks so she can compare if I come back. ha ha I must admit I'm a little worried about my stomach, the way to these peoples hearts is how much you can eat and I can't eat much :(. Man these last few transfers God has really kept me on my toes I didn't expect this. I'm excited to go to Maui but I'm a bit nervous for the first few weeks. I'm sure things will work out they way they are supposed to. So I will be getting on a plane tomorrow at 8 am. This means we have to leave here by 5:30, phew.

Have a Maui Christmas! ha ha

Love Sister Pinder.

17 Miracles

Aloha family

Things are going well. Thanks for your email, it was funny and a bit sad to hear about brother Williams funeral. I hope that mom is feeling better as well.

I had been thinking for a while about how blessed our family has been since we have come on missions. I thought about how busy work had been for you dad before Tucker and I left and how that was very unusual since things should have gotten worse. And now things continue and I hope the blessings wont stop when we come home :) I'm excited to hear about what you won dad! That's not very nice to leave us hanging for a whole week. Don't forget to tell us next week. :)

This week was very nice we had zone conference on Wednesday. I LOVE Christmas zone conference it is always good and President usually shows us a really good movies. ;) Last year we watched the other side of Heaven. This year we watched 17 miracles. It was the most amazing movie ever. It had everyone just sobbing. It caused some laughing too because we all felt a bit weird tears streaming down our faces and trying to not make any noise as we cried and tried not to get snot everywhere haha. It was a really great video. And a bit surprising because I saw one of my friends from school in the opening scene. That's the second time on my mission that I have seen this particular friend in a Church related movie. Any way it's really great to think about our history and see how blessed we are to be where were at. It also makes us look to the present and recognize the blessings and miracles that God has given us now.

I'm grateful for this season and for the opportunity that we each have to ask, how does God play a role in my life? Why is this season any different than the other holidays we celebrate. I'm grateful for Christ and the time I have to share with others his importance and influence he has had in my life.

I love you all and if you get the chance to watch 17 miracles bring a box of tissues and then let me know what your favorite miracle was. :)

I'm a bit anxious for transfer news, sister Sandstrom and I will know this weekend what's going to happen. But when President was here for zone conference something kind of funny happened. My companion told President she would be very willing to go out, he laughed and said I don't think so. There were three other sisters standing there plus me. He pointed to the three and said none of you have been out have you? He said sister Pinder went out and did a great job. I said actually President I haven't gone out yet. He said oh oh that's right. I was thinking of someone else, but you only have about three more transfers right? It was a interesting conversation and I really don't know what's in store for me. Elder Eubank keeps asking me how I would feel if I don't go out or if I would be okay if I stayed out till the end of my mission. I really don't know what the Lord has planned but it should be interesting.

Thanksgiving

Hola!

This past week was pretty good. Im really enjoying going on exchanges and meeting all the different sisters I never thought I would get to learn so much about so many different cultures!

The Hyatts I met last time were the seniors I think brother Hyatts parents. They were so cute. And no I didn't get to see the Ballards they left 5 minutes before I came on shift. They left me some notes though so that was nice.

Thank you so much for the package! That was great. It's nice to have those granola bars and cookies they are easy to take on the road. Sister Rodriguez really loved the baby bottle pops I came into the room the other day and her mouth was completely blue, she said "do you think your parents will send you more of these thingies?" It was so funny! I also was able to share a bag of the caramels with the Elders during one of our meetings, they were gone with in 10 minutes :). Thanks for the money too, it was very helpful.

This Thanksgiving was so awesome! One of the other sisters invited us to come to their dinner. The Rams were so amazing they cooked Turkey, potatoes, bread, stuffing, of course rice and we even had purple sweet potatoes, and all kinds of pies. As great as the food was that wasn't the best part. The Rams had invited some non members to come! So one day while sister Ram was ordering food at a restaurant she heard this man contemplating with his two daughters what they should try. She went to them and told them all the good things they should get. They then asked her about other things they should see and do. She gave them a list and told them to call her if they ever need help. Well on Thanksgiving day they called and asked her where they could eat- since almost everything was closed around here. She then invited them to come to her home for Thanksgiving! They were so nice, and from Georgia. I bet it was a bit weird for them because there were six missionaries there eating. But I had the opportunity to talk with them almost the whole night. Apparently they travel quite a bit and love meeting and talking with new people. The two girls were very nice and they definitely had southern accents :) We ate and then we did Turkey bowling very fun. I was then able to give the man a Book of mormon and other materials. It was such a great opportunity. Im so grateful that that memeber had such a full heart and talked with these strangers even something simple as suggesting something good to eat. It was a cool experience. I was so excited to talk with a non member who wasn't from Laie haha.

I'm greatful for our many blessings and for a father who helps us to be stronger and will support us as he's helping us to become stronger. :)

Love you all thanks for your prayers.

Aloha

Aloha,

Well how is everything going back at home? I can't believe that it's thanksgiving time already! And Christmas is right around the corner. I'm looking forward to talking with you I can tell it's going to go by really quick. Things here look really nice, I love it when all the Christmas trees are set up, it's so fun to hear and see the guests reaction when they see all the trees. Even though I didn't get to set any up I still had the chance to rearrange somethings. It's not that they looked bad I just wanted to help and some of the trees were not very balanced so Elder Eubank asked me to help.- my companion didn't really understand why I had to rearrange a lot of the things that had already been done, but if she only knew who my mom was. hahah, just kidding. How is/was your Thanksgiving? That's something Im really starting to miss, MTC Thanksgiving doesn't really do it and Im not quite sure what's in store on Thursday here in Hawaii. Give everyone a love for me.

Oh so visitors for this week :) I met the Stones from Woodland Hills, Sister Stone knows you dad from the Woodland Hills counsel thing- I can't remember the name- Then I also met the Hyatt seniors! They were so cute and so sweet. They told me that Karen is engaged! That's neat I didn't know that. Anyone else in the ward getting married? Elder Pinder I also met a girl quite a while ago name Ali or Allison... sorry I forgot her last name she said she knew you from track. I also ran into your friend from California Brother Drake Aumua? He was wondering how you were doing and if you're training now. I told him I wasn't really sure what you were up to. :p

That's really sad about Brother Williams! Im really going to miss seeing him at church. I hope that their family is doing okay.

For Christmas I don't really need to much maybe a couple of tops that I can button up or don't need an undershirt, and a cardigan.

I never did hear back how Kate and Beth are doing? Did their surgeries help?

Well sorry its short I love you all and I know that God is watching over his sheep and calling to them, but only some will listen. I love you and hope that you will take time this Thursday to think about what our savior has done for each of us, and what he is still doing.

Have a great Thanksgiving. Talk to you next week.

Ups And Downs

Hola

Ups and down, right now it's a down but working to make it an up. There are always hard times to compliment the good time and to help us grow. It's been a challenging week but I can definitely feel Gods love and support. Mom you asked about us speaking in sacrament hahah that was like six weeks ago! We talked about missionary work. I talked about the statistics of member's help in missionary work and Hermana Rodriguez talked about the blessings that come from missionary work. It went well. That will be neat that you(the Bishopric and wives) will all talk on Christmas! That would be fun to see, can't remember the last time mom had to speak in church. :)

Thanksgiving here is pretty much like at home. Any excuse to have family over and eat lots of food that's good enough for Hawaii. We'll probably be going to our different ward activities throughout the day, one is doing breakfast and the other one is doing dinner. I still am not sure about the evening it's pretty tricky in students wards. It should be fun for my companion though, they really don't celebrate Thanksgiving. We had stuffing the other day (pretty sure it was stovetop :) ) and it was to nice to have. She hadn't ever had it before and didn't really like it. :)

Decorating for Christmas here was yesterday, and me and sister Sandstrom had to miss it, We had a leadership meeting in Honolulu and it went from 8-6. I was really sad, I really wanted to help set up since I took it all down last year. But you know sometimes we have to give up things we want to do for things that we need to do right?

That's really neat to hear about Beth and her blessing! I will be so happy if Tucker and I are back in time to see her go through the temple. How is Kate doing?

Well here's a scripture that I was studying today that really helped me Alma 34:40-41. One day we will be able to rest from all of our trials but for now we just have to face them with patience and ask for the Lords help.

Well I have to get going.

Love ya

Hola

Hola! Sorry the letter is a bit later than usual. We had a really nice P-day. We got hair cuts and did our shopping. Then one of the sisters needed to get some medicine refilled in an area out side of our zone. Because it was our pday we were all able to go and visit the mall there! It was the craziest experience! First we went to the drug store that was, I'd say half of a wal mart and we were all really overwhelmed! We didn't know where to start looking. I kept saying Wow over and over again. I didn't really need anything but it was weird being somewhere that has so much! To bad we had already gone shopping It probably would have been less expensive where we were. Then we were able to go to the mall, again very weird! You really forget about all that stuff, we each were able to buy something we needed that we can't find in Laie so that was nice.

The rain hasn't started to come down like I remember it last year, it's rained off and on but Im sure it will rain more in December and January. I can't believe it's already fall for you and cold. That is something I am so grateful for, to not have to go find people to teach in the freezing cold weather! Things are going well in our new area the members are very supportive. We are actually going to be speaking in that ward this Sunday. It will be my companion (and oddly enough) my first time speaking in sacrament meeting.

That was fun to hear about Payson temple that will be so exciting! I had no idea Kirsten was even engaged! Tell her congrats from me that's really neat. Any one else engaged or getting married that I haven't heard about?

Well sorry it's short but we didn't have a lot of time today. Just thought Id fill you in on some fun things we did. I love you all and will talk with you next week!

Who's Side

Hi everyone!

Well Im still here, things are actually going really well. Training is really interesting. Sister Rodreguez can get really board sometimes when we have planning meetings and things like that. I feel bad because I remember the first few weeks and how lost you can feel. But unfortunately it's just something that comes with time. You can't really plan for peoples needs until you know them. But she's a great teacher and Im excited to see where she'll be in a few transfers. The new program, dad is for All missionaries they gave us a pamphlet to follow for 12 weeks. It goes through what's called the 8 fundamentals which are: The Doctrine of Christ, Role of the Holy Ghost,Revelation through Prayer, Revelation through the Book of Mormon, Revelation through Church Attendance, Teaching people not lessons, Inviting committing and following up and then How to begin teaching. We focus on these things and also on learning the lessons as well. The extra hour is really helpful because in a addition to helping sister Rodreguez learn about how to teach I get to train her on how to work in the Visitor Center. I didn't ever really think about how much I have really learned about the Visitor Center and how to work here. It's not till you have someone come who isn't familiar with it that it becomes apparent. I love the visitor Center and the opportunity I have to meet people from all over the world and help them take a piece of the gospel home with them.

I can't believe it's conference time already! Tomorrow we will be watching it at the visitor Center at 6 am and then at 10 am. Sunday however, I think me and my companion will go to the rebroadcast at 10 and 2. Having conference at two different times makes things a little tricky, because when we are trying to visit people we don't want to be out visiting when they are watching and we don't want to waste time after we have watched the sessions earlier.

I can't believe it's already October. Things are starting to slow down quite a bit, but this is the time the PCC has the Haunted Lagoon. So at the PCC we have a canoe ride that takes you past all of the villages. The haunted lagoon is a canoe ride at night in the dark and have people jumping out from the bank and even in the water! This might affect or tram tours because people will want to do that and we have to move our line to a different location. It also means for the next month we will be hearing music and lots of screaming. To bad we wont get to see it.

Im glad that you will be able to go to the ground breaking ceremony for the Payson Temple. We get to go to the Temple next week with our district because of Conference. whahoo. :)

Well Im out of time this week, But here's my thought for the day. There are a lot of things in life that can pull us away from our savior. Contention, being too busy, depression, feeling of inadequacy, laziness, judging our selves and our fellow brothers and sisters. All these things are from the adversary. He is fighting very hard in these last days to get us on his side. Who's side are you on? It's very easy to say "well I obviously want to be on the winning side, God side." But just reflect for a moment, do your actions match your desires? Are you doing the things that prove you are on Gods side? "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself. " 2 Nephi 2:27

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. 34Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof." 3 Nephi 13:33. So please don't let the adversary win! We have all be taught the things we should do, reading, praying, church, basically following Jesus Christ example. If you truly are on his side you will do the things he has asked. Don't worry about the things of the world they will pass, hard things occur in our lives but when we rely on Christ they can be made easy and soon they won't matter anymore. If you are feeling the pull or emotions from the the adversary, read, pray and serve your fellow beings you will realize how blessed you really are.

I love you all! Thanks for your letters you have no idea how much they mean to me!

Love Sister Pinder

Aloha

Howzit?

How is everyone doing? Things here a pretty much the same, we are staying really busy. We're trying really hard to find new people to teach. We may have found a couple of people who want to know more so that should be exciting. It's weird that we are already three weeks into the transfer! Only a few more weeks and we will be switched around again. Things are going well between the three of us we are always trying to keep things balanced.

We had a wonderful tram tour the other day. It was a man and his wife who were originally from Italy, they now live in Las Vegas.. They were so funny! The man- Dominic said that his daughter had only let him take pictures of the temple the last time he was here. He was so excited to go into the visitor center. After we show the 5 minute video he came out and gave me his business card and said here, this has my phone number, my address and my full name. I was confused I said so you want missionaries to come? I was a little shocked, we hadn't even asked them yet if they would like to learn more. He said yes yes. Ive never had that happen before. It was great! He told us that he worked or was some how involved with submarines. He has been around the world 3 times! When we asked how long it takes he said about 6 months depending on how fast they go. It's so fun to hear about peoples lives and meet people from all around the world.

Speaking of which I saw the Gibbs family, im sure they told you, it was great to see them. Sister Gibbs said that she has Izzy in her class and she's doing well. And there will probably be another person calling you to tell you that they saw me. haha. I know it's kind of random to get phone calls from strangers. It's weird for me when they ask for my number, haha it's nice of them though. I don't think I have ever thought about people contacting missionaries parents before.

New Changes

Aloha!

I'm glad you got my last email I was worried you wouldn't with all the pictures I attached. So I bet you are all wondering what happened this past week huh? Well first off my pdays are now on Fridays. To answer dads question our pdays have to switch because we have shifts at the cultural center and the visitor center, if all the sisters had pday on one day like most missions then there would be no missionaries at the visitor center and PCC. So we take different days. Its been really nice because Elder Eubank was able to figure out a way so that no one has to have pdays on Monday or Wednesdays when we have meetings that last a few hours. Time on pdays is precious so it's supper nice to be able to have all of our time.

Okay so what happened to Sister Pinder? Did she get sent to another island and by chance miss her first flight? Did she get called to be Sister Trainer- the sister who is in charge of Visitor Center trainings and exchanges? Or did she get called to train a new Sister in a new program that the Church is starting?

Any guesses?

I'll let you think about it for a little bit. :)

Me and my past companion sent off sister Largent and she was very ready to be home. It's nice to just be in a regular companionship again. It was supper nice to hear from Elder Pinder I'm so grateful that you are able to enjoy your mission and work hard. Did you get my letters? Ill try to write you again soon, I just seem to always run out of time.

Mom, I plan to write grandma but I'm not sure when, I feel bad because I just haven't had the chance yet to write her and thank her for the package and for the emails. Will you just say something to her for me till I can get something sent out? Also how is Carisa doing? She getting really close isn't she. :)

I loved your emails this week! I can just picture and imagine everything that happened. I feel bad that Mattie's favorite rides were closed that stinks. Did all the adults have a good time?

Alright Ill stop making you think, but maybe you got a small taste of what's it's like to have to wait for transfer news. So on Saturday night I received a call from President. I was kind of hoping to be Sister Trainer because that would mean I would get to stay in Laie for Christmas- I love Christmas here.:) But I wasn't called to do that, then I thought well it would be nice to go out now because again I would be back for Christmas- haha. Nope, President and the Lord have called me to train a new Sister! So in the mission they are starting a new program. New missionaries will be with their trainers for two transfers. While they are in the MTC they focus on 8 fundamental principles, basically how to teach. They don't really know what to teach though. So now we will have 2 hours for companionship study plus our personal study time. It's a great program because the goal is that new missionaries will be prepared enough that if they were asked to train after their second transfer they could. It's a bit challenging here though because that's three hours of studying plus our six hours on shift. It doesn't leave a ton of time to find people to teach. So we will be praying very hard that the Lord will guide someone to us, just like he has done for me in the past.

My new companion is Sister Rodreguez, she's from Guatemala! So she can teach me a little Spanish. She speaks English very well and I can tell that she is going to be a great missionary. There's a lot to learn here in the first few days but she doesn't seem to be stressed so that's good. I know the Lord is helping me because I honestly am just trying to pretend like I know how this new program works haha. I have learned a lot since I have been here but I know the new missionaries are going to be so much more prepared than Elder Pinder and I.

So on Wednesday I was in charge of taking two sisters to the airport. It was very stressful because we didn't know where we were going and traffic here is a nightmare! It's also been about 10 months since I have been able to drive over 40 haha. Well because of traffic and a weird lay out at the airport one of the sisters missed her first flight. I felt so bad! I picked up two sister who had been out full pros. and we went to the transfer meeting. It was really good. We got a chance to walk around the area and hand out Books of Mormons. It was a very different experience my second time around. :)

Oh and Sister Sandstrom was called as Sister Trainer, and we have pdays together! That makes me really happy, I'm really grateful to her.

Well Sorry I don't' have time to write about some of the neat things I'm learning we are about to go to the PCC. But just know that I love you and hope you all are having a fantastic week. Please be sure to write down a few of the blessings you have received this week.

Ill try to send pictures next week. Love ya!

To Much Fun!

Aloha family!

So we switched p-days this week so that we could go hiking. That was Sister Largent's "last P-day" request. The Hike is called Laie falls, its nothing compared to the falls on Timp but it's still a pretty hike. Ive done it once before but this time was different because it rained almost the whole time! The trail became very muddy and slippery. We looked like odd creatures by the time we were finished. It was about a four hour hike, very exhausting.

On Monday we got to go to the Sea Life Park. It was so much fun! We didn't have a ton of time there but we got to see seals being fed, sea lion show and a dolphin show. So much fun! We talked about how creative God is and how blessed we are to be here and see so many different creations. God truly is a wonderful artist. What's a beautiful creations have you recognized this week?

Glad to hear that Disneyland has been a good experience. I look forward to seeing pictures next week. What was everyone's favorite part?

We find out transfer news on Monday so Ill let you know when my new pday will be. I'm not sure what my pday will be next week, Ill let you know.

Sorry it's short it took me a while to get the pictures, but things are going well. Love ya talk to you next week.

Aloha

Aloha!

Things here are going alright, same old. It's interesting being in a Visitor Center I love the variety we get. Transfers are coming up on the 21st, crazy that it's almost already been 6 weeks. I used to wonder why they would switch us around so often, but I think I figured it out this week. We have had a few cliques and it can cause problems when sister become to attached to certain sisters. Sometimes they would rather be with their previous companion than with their new one. It's hard to see some of the sisters struggle with how to work with their companion.

One of my comps is fairly trunky, but that's really something we deal with everyday. I get asked how long Ive been out almost every tour we give so we are constantly aware of our time :). It's been really helpful to think about what I want to accomplish every day. Of course I miss people at home but I really don't miss a lot of the stuff we have to deal with in the "real world." I'm not too sad you are going on a trip I think that will be great! Of course Ill miss you but you can't stop having fun just because we are gone, life goes on and there will be other opportunities. Besides we are going on a field trip ourselves on Monday! So in the Visitor Center we have a goal of 300 referrals a month. Last month we got 320 so we had a pizza party with President :) We raised our goal to 325 (weak new goal huh) But then we blew it out of the water receiving more than 460! It was so cool! So since there's not a lot to do in Laie we get to have an out of zone field trip! We are probably going to the sea life park.

One thing that's new here is they came and redid our God's Plan exhibit. I had never seen God's plan until my mission and I really liked it. That was the exhibit that I took Grandma through and it was really special. Well they have redone it and now it is is so much more powerful! It's a recipe for instant homesickness haha. I wish you could see it so you could know what I'm talking about! We love giving the tour but we have a hard time because at the end when we bear testimony we are all crying and trying to compose our selves haha. But it really does a great job explaining who we are, where we came from, how gospel can bless our families why temples are so important and how they can bless both the living and those who have passed on. It also just makes everyone who sees it really want to reconnect with their family. Including the missionaries :) Homesickness is just a part of missionary work, it comes and goes but I can never fully explain the blessings that come from serving a mission!

Well I have to scoot, love you all and enjoy Disney Land! I'm expecting some good emails or dear elders in the next few weeks, and some pictures!

Doin Great

Things are going well here. I don't have a lot of time to write, we had Zone Conference today and to so we had half pday yesterday and half today. It was really good, we talked more about how to focus on teaching and how to improve our skills. Sister Dalton asked for advice from her boys who served missions and they told her about how their mission has impacted their lives now. One said that he sent a letter home to his dad saying the mission wasn't for him. His dad said you aren't the type to quit, stick it out. So he did and when he got home he started his own business and went from door to door trying to get his business started. He said that he was use to being rejected to when he faced rejection he just moved on. Another son talked about how his mission help in the family. To be able to communicate with his wife and be able to adapt teaching styles for their children. Another son said that on his mission he was tired of doing the same things every day and excited to get home and break things up, but he learned that that's just life. But because of the mission he knew how to better handle the future. It was really neat to hear about their experiences. I know the mission will benefit my life in the future but I suppose I hadn't thought about how many ways it will influence me.

While we were sharing a message with some of the students at BYU I shared this scripture in Helaman 10:5. I have really loved it and know that it applies to many areas. It says "And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will." Sometime we feel that the things we are asked to do are monotonous and repetitive. Especially when it comes to the gospel. Pray, read, go to church visit/home teach. But we are promised that if we do these things we will be blessed forever! That's a promise I'm willing to make. I hope that you will be able to recognize the love and blessings God has for you this week. I know that he cares and is looking out for each of us.

Aloha

Howzit?

How is everyone doing? Things here a pretty much the same, we are staying really busy. We're trying really hard to find new people to teach. We may have found a couple of people who want to know more so that should be exciting. It's weird that we are already three weeks into the transfer! Only a few more weeks and we will be switched around again. Things are going well between the three of us we are always trying to keep things balanced.

We had a wonderful tram tour the other day. It was a man and his wife who were originally from Italy, they now live in Las Vegas.. They were so funny! The man- Dominic said that his daughter had only let him take pictures of the temple the last time he was here. He was so excited to go into the visitor center. After we show the 5 minute video he came out and gave me his business card and said here, this has my phone number, my address and my full name. I was confused I said so you want missionaries to come? I was a little shocked, we hadn't even asked them yet if they would like to learn more. He said yes yes. Ive never had that happen before. It was great! He told us that he worked or was some how involved with submarines. He has been around the world 3 times! When we asked how long it takes he said about 6 months depending on how fast they go. It's so fun to hear about peoples lives and meet people from all around the world.

Speaking of which I saw the Gibbs family, im sure they told you, it was great to see them. Sister Gibbs said that she has Izzy in her class and she's doing well. And there will probably be another person calling you to tell you that they saw me. haha. I know it's kind of random to get phone calls from strangers. It's weird for me when they ask for my number, haha it's nice of them though. I don't think I have ever thought about people contacting missionaries parents before.

Ohana

Aloha Ohana!

Sounds like the wedding was nice, tell that cousin and uncle of mine if they have any extra invites I would love to have one. I would also love some pictures of the event, I'm so glad it turned out well. I feel a little gypped though I'm not getting full account of what's going on :) How was St George mom, and your ride dad? and What did you do at the pre-reception?- you can't just say you went here and there, and it was good and not tell me details about it, ha ha especially when I can't ask questions it's such a killer. And you still haven't answered my question from the last few emails, when are you going to Disneyland?

This week has been a little rough, not bad but there has definitely been some adjustments. Companionship's are great but they can be hard especially when you really have to work to build a relationship, it takes a lot of work. So it's really hard when there's three. I feel like I can't connect as well for some reason. I think the communication is the hardest part, I love my companions they are so wonderful, but sometimes they keep things from me in order to spare feelings, this causes a rift and just doesn't work. I have to figure out a way to communicate where I don't rub either the wrong way but where we are able to have fun and teach in unity. We'll keep working on it, it's just different from my last comp where everything was out in the open and I knew she really cared. I'm trying to figure out how to duplicate that again. Anyway our area is a bit smaller than most and we only have 6 non members in our ward. And I bet you can imagine they have been tracted to death. ha ha. So we are praying and working hard to find new investigators. We had a couple miracles on Sunday as a result. We sat in front of a non member at church- she was visiting a friend, she's staying in a host family for 7 months- Sister Wada could here her friend translating from English to Japanese so Sister Wada ended up sitting next to her and translating the meeting for her! She came to the VC later that night and sister Wada gave a tour. We found out that she has met with missionaries before and want to be baptized but she is worried about her family. She might bring her mom and sister so we can show them the VC. The sad things is she isn't in our area so we can't continue to teach her. But it was a neat experience. Also on that Sunday we had a student call and ask if we could come to Church and teach her friend Carlo the Restoration. Of course we hurried over (sister Wada had became sick so it was just sister Largent and I) Carlo was so great! He has such a sincere desire to learn. He is also from Honolulu and his fellow shipper isn't in our ward so we might have to pass him off too. Once again sad but we were still glad for the experience. Hopefully this week we can find someone to teach who is in our area.

Im so grateful for good friends who share what they know is true with others. Without good friends missionary work wouldn't be very effective. I know that God puts people in our way that we can bless, and that if we put God first in our lives everything else will fall into place. We might not always know who needs our help but God does. If we pray to know who God needs us to help he will let us know through the Holy Ghost. We can really bless our fellow brothers and sisters but if we are only consumed with our own lives we miss out on opportunities God has for us to be a part of his great work. So try it out this week. Pray to know who could use a hand or even just an encouraging word. Our ohana is so important to God and it's up to us to strengthen it.

I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Aloha From Maui

Aloha from Maui!

Well we had transfers on Wednesday and I thought I was going to be called to served full Proselyting but it's not meant to be yet . Maybe next time :) Sorry for the trick but I couldn't resist. Something new and fun did happen though, I am now in a tri companionship. I really love my new companions. I'm with sister Largent who is from Oklahoma and is an ultra sound technician. This is her last transfer here so she's very experienced. Then there is sister Wada, she is from Japan. We were pad mates last transfer and had a lot of fun together. She also came out with me so I have been with two out of the four I came with :). The interesting thing is that even though I came out with 5 other sisters they will all go home before me. :) Being in a companionship with three should be interesting, were going to have to figure out how to give trams tours and other tours in the visitor center. I think that teaching will also be hard but with some extra practice we should be okay. It's weird being in three wards again and having dinner appointments. I'm really going to miss sister Sandstrom! I'm just glad my follow up comps are great.

The last week of online was pretty slow, we did hear from the Vietnamese family they said that they are just waiting for permission from their family and then they will be baptized! I am so excited for them and so glad that I was able to meet them. They are so Golden. :) Member missionaries will start sharing the lessons with them and helping them prepare for baptism.

We also had a celebration this week with President and Sister Dalton. We received 320 self referrals in the Visitor Center and we very excited since this is the second month that we have hit our goal of 300 referrals. We had homemade pizza and a enjoyable time.

This week in VC and District meeting we talked about the Book of Mormon. It truly is one of the most important tools that we have. We focused on reading the introduction and helping others understand what the Book of Mormon is and how it can help anyone in any part of their lives. These are some of the points that really stand out to me when I read the introduction to the Book of Mormon "It puts forth the doctrine of the gospel, outlines the plan of salvation, and tells men what they must do to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come... We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to PONDER in their hearts the message it contains and then to ASK god, the eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost." If you haven't recently read the introduction to the Book of Moron I challenge you to do so. It is through this Book that we can know God better. Once we have a testimony of it's truth it's like the introductions says "we invite" we should share more often what we learn in our studies and share the Book with others who are close to us. I know that this is God's Church and that he does still talk with his children today, it's by the Book of Mormon that we can know of a surety these things are true.

I love you and hope that you have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA,MOM, DAD, KACIE, JAMIE.

( I didn't hear from you mom and Dad you must be out playing, hope everything is good :) )

Aloha

Well the work presses forward, we get new questions every day I like it though because it really causes me to research and explore things I haven't thought about before. There was someone last night that was challenging the great flood of Noah. I read some articles online( one of them was by brother Perry I also saw him in a documentary on the Book of Mormon that was fun :) ) and in one there was a really good quote about how 'we don't' know everything and we aren't meant to. If we did it would eliminate the need for faith.' That really is so true. If there was concrete proof for everything people would worship science not God. We are here to figure out for ourselves our relationship with our Heavenly Father and to follow His example. If something like not having proof of an Ark or something that isn't essential to our salvation stops us from following the commandments of God we are never going to be able to learn the mysteries of God. He is willing to teach us and help us understand but if we expect the answers to fall into our laps with out effort or faith we are doing ourselves a disservice. So here's the challenge for the week- study something in the Gospel you haven't studied before, use the Bible Dictionary or a source your normally don't use, you will be amazed at what you learn. Study the basics like prayer, faith, the Holy Ghost there are so many things that we only have a surface understanding of. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to study and I'm so grateful for the Gospel!

Well family I will let you know what my fate is next week! Love you all.

Half Way!

Hey guess what! Can you believe your two rascal of missionaries are half way! It's crazy to think about, time can go quickly. I'm really enjoying my last few weeks with Sister Sandstrom I don't know if I'll ever have a companion like her again. Sorry Tucker hasn't written for a while, that's really hard. I hope he's doing okay, I know though that the experiences he is having will shape him and make him stronger. I miss him a lot but know that I will get to see everyone really soon.

So here's a story for you. We had exchanges last week. When I met up with sister Sandstrom again I notice she had a cut on her hand. I asked her what she did. She told me not to worry about it. I continued to press and she finally said "I was bit by a dog" I looked at her and thought she was kidding but she wasn't. I asked her if she was okay and she said yeah but the dog drew blood. She said that the dog was all nice and letting her pet it and then when she stop it jumped up and bit her. I said so was it a big dog? She kind of smirked and said quietly ... it was a chihuahua. I started laughing. "you let a rat bite you? you're for sure going to get rabies! So the next day I asked Sister Eubank what someone should do if they are bitten by a dog ( now I'll admit I probably should have told Elder Eubank first) my companion glared at me as sister Eubank inspected her bite and told her to find out if the dog had it's shots. She then proceeded to say that if the owners wouldn't tell her we would call the cops. haha that scared her. In the end the little rat was okay but it makes for a good story. :) I tease her occasionally that she has rabies from a Chihuahua.

We had a really awesome experience this week. While we were making calls in the referral center one of the sisters had an incoming call. It was a member who wanted to refer his friend. The problem was that his friend lived in Vietnam, and there aren't missionaries there. So the sister suggested that the online sister chat with him. So he got our email and sent it to his friend telling him about us. The man's name is An Ho and he is so great! Because of his friend Mike he wants to know all about the gospel. He said that he basically wants his family to learn more about prayer and how the gospel can help them in their lives. He is so willing to do anything to meet with us. Because of the time difference it's been a little hard but when we sent him an email telling him we would love to meet at 8 am he thought we meant our time so he said he would be more than willing to meet at 1 pm his time. It was crazy. When we did meet with An Ho and his wife they were so great! They kept say Yes sisters and thank you so much sisters. He has two little boys and he want them to learn from us too. We were dying because we want to teach them in person. We have been working SO hard to find missionaries to teach them in their area because they are golden they are so ready for the gospel. The other problem is as far as we know there isn't a church very close to them theres one in Thailand but that is just to far away! Sometimes we take for granted how blessed we are to have the gospel and to have everything so close to us. We are going to continue to teach this amazing family and hopefully we can at least find a worthy priesthood holder in their area who can baptise them. I think that even before they have taken all of the lesson they feel this is different and that it can really make a difference in their lives. I am so grateful for the gospel and how much it does make a difference in our lives. Our families can be together forever, we can return to our eternal family, we have purpose in our lives and know why we are here. This is God's Church and he will help all those who come to him.

Aloha

Aloha!

Hi family, things here are going well. We got to spend a good day at the PCC. I think I've been to most of the shows now. That was nice of Sister Sandstrom to send a letter home. We have become really good friends. I told her I'm going to set her up with Tucker when they both get home and then she can be my real sister. :) haha I sent a letter to her parents a while ago and they are so sweet now they are sending me letters :) Her brother had the idea to have Christmas in December so were getting a lot of Christmas cards. :) As we have grown really close we have talked a lot about our families.

We now have pad mates, a very sweet Japanese and a Tongan. They are so funny! We love them.

We have had some great experiences this week on chat. There were a couple of people who deeply wanted to learn more about the church but because of family difficulties were unsure of how to proceed. It made me really sad to think that there are people out there who are so hard hearted that they won't listen to their loved ones and allow them the opportunity to learn more. Even more sad is to think that you could be married to someone whose religious beliefs are so completely different. It happens all the time where a couple comes into the visitor center and they have completely different beliefs and you can tell that God just isn't very important. If nothing else my mission has taught me how important it is to understand the relationship we have with God. If we understand God then we can understand why he asks us to do certain things. We can better understand his plan for us. We have been using a really good scripture with our guests in the VC its 2 Nephi 26:27-28. We all have the same opportunity to be with God again, he wants all of us to follow him. I'm grateful for all that he has done for His children and all that He will do.

Mini Missionaries

Talofa!

Sounds like things have been going really well. That's neat that you got to meet Elder Perry! I'm glad I got to meet him here or I would have been pretty jealous. Especially because you seem to have had more general authority visit the ward in the past 9 months than I have seen my whole life. :) I'm so glad that you got to play with you scum group, those were always good memories when all your friends came over and me and Tucker hid in the basement or played with the Sargent's. How is Mackenzie doing by the way?

Things have been fairly slow here which is sad because it's summer there should be a lot more people. Hopefully by the end of this month our guest number will rise. It was pretty great though because we have a goal to get 300 referrals in the visitor center and we finally hit it this month! It's been since October that we hit it last. President said that he would buy us pizza if we would do it again this month. He is pushing us really hard he really wants to hit 1000 baptisms this year and the way he's pushing us I'm sure we'll make it. That will be exciting. Things are changing all over the world in missionary work, sounds like preach my gospel DVD's are being emphasized, next month when we get new missionaries they won't have been taught the lessons. So it will be the trainers job to help with that. They will have longer comp. studies and they will be together for at least two transfers. This month they are also doing mini missionaries, which I hadn't really heard of before, but sister Anderson is doing it in Denmark as well. Young people from 17-21 are being invited to spend either a week or weekend with missionaries. We get to show them what a missions will be like. I'm not sure if the Visitor Center sisters get to participate but it should be interesting.

While on exchanges this week we got to eat dinner at a members house, they fed us real Tongan food, it was different but not bad (it was chicken, lu, taro and rice). One of the women told us she decided to serve a mission because she went on exchanges with a missionary. She said they went to this house that if she had known it was that house she wouldn't have gone. A little boy had previously been killed by the mans dogs and she did not want to go. The sister said we have to there is a 16 year old boy who wants to hear our message. When they approached the door the father was really upset and let all four of his huge dogs out! The sisters moved to the middle of the yard and realized they were in trouble the sister missionary grabbed this woman's hands and told her to close her eyes and say a prayer. When they had finished they looked up and all four of the dogs were lying in the grass. The man came out and asked what they did to his dogs! They never acted like this, he accused them of killing them. The 16 year old then came out and said he was going to listen to the sisters. It was a really amazing story and because of that this woman served a mission in Utah and had so many more miracles happen to her that were so fun to hear. Miracles happen to us every day and sometimes they go unnoticed, but when we ask for help God is always there for us. So with this experience in mind it will be neat to see how many young people who come on mini missions will be affected.

I love this work, and even though it's challenging, and not everyday is a great one I am very blessed and the experiences I'm having now will last a life time.

I hope you all had a great fourth of July weekend, they really did ban fire works here so it wasn't as lively as new years eve. We still had hot dogs and performed some island dances one of the senior sisters taught us- lets just say have you ever seen a crazy Korean with a poi ball. Hahah talk about funny.

I love you all, wouldn't mind some more letters but I understand things get busy. Oh by the way the only time for us to email is from 3:30-6 unless we find out where the computers are on BYU. So sorry it will be a bit late for you when you get them.

Moments Matter That

So I keep hearing though letters about my brother but I don't know whats going on! Did his companion get hurt or something? Im getting desperate for some info will you forward his mail?

Thanks for the letter Kac, I'll be sending you one soon, and please do send the recipes. Im so jealous your going to Disneyland with all the kids! You sure you can't wait a few more months. ;) That's funny that they are all dressing up already.

So I had some visitors the other day. Jodi Jensen and her family came and I was able to give them a tour. It was so fun and they talked about how well Beth is doing.

So here's my funny story. It might not be as funny to you because you haven't met the sisters but here it is. So there are two sisters here who share a pday with us. Sister Moon-she's from Korea, and sister Imoto-she's from Japan. They wanted to get permission to drive here, they have licenses but didn't get them approved. Elder Eubank said that he wanted to take them out to practice before he gave them permission. After they got back the first time sister Moon was telling us about it. She said, "I love driving! I love speed, speed is so good!" We told her that wasn't a good thing in Laie since the highest speed limit is 40 and that's on the highway. We told her to be careful she was to crazy. She said that Elder Eubank wanted her to practice with him again. I guess that when she was driving with him the first time when they were coming into the parking lot she was driving to fast and he had to pull the emergency break on her. :) He is really brave to let them practice and he's letting them do it in his new car. So the other day he took them out again. This was the test to see if they could drive. Sister Moon came back and with a sad face said "I ran into a garbage can. I was doing so well! and when I was coming back I hit it and broke off Elder Eubanks mirror. He told me that I should wait till I get back to Korea and practice driving there." we were laughing so hard because all day she was talking about how she was going to be so good to pass her test so she could drive FAST. She keeps asking us if she can drive our car, and then she tells us she will pick us up on pday. She is so funny! We're going to record her telling the story because for some reason it so much funnier coming from an Asian. :)

We are doing great we still have a few people we are working with. We thought we had lost a couple of our best, but miraculously they emailed us back this week. One of them emailed us and told us he got into an accident, where his car rolled 4 times. He dislocated both elbows, one shoulder, and his knee was punctured! Sounds like he'll be out of commission for a while. But we are glad that he's okay.

Well here's a great new video for the week, from the mormon channel on youtube it talks about focusing on moments that matter most. Life can have so many hard, difficult struggles, but if we don't think about these precious moments that are occurring now and only look at what's wrong with our lives we will never see the good and we will be a miserable angry person. Try wwriting about a special moment each day so you don't forget, and you can look back later when times do get hard. Put a post it not in your purse or pocket so you will be prepared.

I love you all and look forward to hearing from you soon!

Aloha

Aloha!

Imagine my surprise when I came into the visitor center and the sisters told me there was a package here for me! Thanks so much that was great! The ring fits great! And thank you for the cotton rounds. Food land only has the square ones and I hate them! :) It's ironic that it's called food land because they really don't have lot of things, Im so grateful for walmart haha never thought Id say that. we might be on a sugar high by the end of the day because we can't let the taffy sit to long otherwise it will become a liquid ant hill. Good thing there are 18 sisters to help :) Thanks again.

I am also grateful for a sister who does hair. It cost 20$ just to get a cut (thanks for the money very timely :) )

I got an email from Beth, that was nice of her and Im glad to hear that she is doing well!! How are the preparations for Bryce's wedding going?

Dad Happy fathers day! Sorry you don't get a special phone call, hopefully my rascal sisters will help you have a good day. Just know I love you and you are amazing to me. I did have a dream about you the other day. Your hair was all grey, it was really weird. :) But it was good to see you even in a dream.

Things are still going great here. I sent Tucker a letter this week but would you please forward his letters to me I still don't get them.

This week we decided to start having a scripture of the week, one that we could share with the guests who come in. This week its Alma 24:14. This is the Anti-Nephi Lehi's and they have just learned about Gods plan for them. How grateful I am that God has made these things known to us. Not only to the first generation but to all of Gods children, and to future children as well.

Because of what they have learned they are willing to do anything to follow God. Include not fight when others are killing them. What are we willing to do to follow God? Analyze you life, are you doing the simple things God asks us to do? Are you sincerely communicating with him? Are you reading his advice? Are you putting the Lord before the world? The lord promises that when we do these things we will have power over the adversary, and in these times that is something we desperately need.

Thanks for your love and prayers, I think about and pray for you all constantly. ;)

Sister Pinder.

P.S. If you want to see a very heart warming message watch Tessa's mormon message, It's such a good reminder to always look at the good in our life and remember that God does have a plan for us.

Online is Awesome!

This week has been so cool! The longer im out on my mission the more I love it. Me and another sister sister Wong, while on exchanges, were talking about how we are scared that when we get home no one will see the changes that we have made in our lives. I told her that our personalities are the same and we may seem like the same people but we will know the impact the mission has had on us and the differences will be so internal that it wont necessarily matter if others can see it or not. There is a lot that I am working on but it's so amazing to be in a position where you can just focus on building your spirit this is the only time in my life that I will have to solely devote to improving my spirit and Im so grateful for it!

This week we met a lot of really solid people online. Im really excited for them. We met Victoria she's 20 and is from California, she's researched the Church for a while but her parents are really against it. We talked to her for a long while and at one point she said that she felt horrible that she promised her mom she wouldn't join the Church. We continued to talk and answer questions and I felt prompted to invite her to be baptised. I waited a while and thought well we really aren't talking about that. I felt prompted again so I extended the invitation. she said "YES!" We said the missionaries in your area will hold a baptismal service on the 25th of June will you prepare for that day? She waited a long time and then responded "well my grandma drags me to mass on Saturdays -she's really against me joining the church- could we do it on a different day?" haha so we moved it to the 29th. :) Supper neat she's great. So we contacted the sisters in her area and they will start to teach her! We will stay in contact though and make sure she's doing okay.

Then we had Geoffrey and Brandon. Both are 18 years old whose parents are against them joining the church. However, they have both studied on their own and want to continue to do so. Brandon still needs to gain a testimony of the first vision, but we have contacted his missionaries and he will have the discussions. I'm confident that he will have a date soon. Geoffrey had a date when he lived in Utah but had some issues with his mom and had to move to his dad's. He contacted us and we have been having phone conferences. He wants to be baptized but he wants to wait till he goes back to Utah in July (so his fiance can be there). Last night we were able to set a date for him to work towards on the 16th of July!

Lots of miracles it's been so great. My companion is great we have a ton of fun together but we are working really hard too. Our pad is great, no Cain spiders lately :) I'm starting to get slightly worried that things are going a little too well... but I'll be grateful for what I have and when the trials come will know that it will be for our good.

It was nice to hear about your funny moments/blessings please continue to do that we are all so spoiled I don't think we realize it sometimes. Mormon 9:16 "Behold, are not the things that God hath wrought marvelous in our eyes? Yea, and who can comprehend the marvelous works of God?"

Love you all! Talk to you next week!

Hiya

Things are going really well. I love my new companion! She is awesome, she's from Salt Lake City (by the avenues) her parents asked where I was from and said you should have dinner together. :) She knows the Clairs and went to Africa with Ally Clair. Her work ethic is similar to mine which makes things really nice and she loves to make missionary work fun. I was really surprised that they called her to be my companion because this is only her second transfer, and that is pretty odd to be online that soon. But I'm really excited that we have two transfers together (a first for me :) ).

Mckell ... Ballard I can't remember her married name, came to the visitor center yesterday. When she saw me she called out my first name, and it confused me for a minute. We had a really good talk and I found out that she lives over here! She showed me some pictures of the little ones which was very nice. She talked about how the two of them were feeding the missionaries and helping some of their friends make some necessary changes in their lives. Cort even baptized one of his friends recently. It was neat to talk with them and to hear that they are involved in missionary work.

Online is going pretty well we actually have a couple of people that we are working with, which is super nice. One of them really wants to be baptized but he wants to wait for a month till he goes back to Utah and his girlfriend can be there. We are really trying to encourage those we talk with to have phone conferences so we can have a little more control over when we get to talk with them and we can also cover more information that way too.

I came across a scripture that I really love. The longer I'm a missionary the more intensely I desire this: Jacob 1:8 " Wherefore, we would to God that we could persuade all men not to not rebel against God, to provoke him to anger, but that all men would believe in Christ, and view his death, and suffer his cross and bear the shame of the world; wherefore, I, sister Pinder, take it upon me to fulfill the commandment of the prophets." There are so many who say they love God but like it says in the scriptures their lips speak of me but their hearts are far from me. I see why God had such a struggle with the hypocrites, they think they are doing okay and then they sit and pick and pick at others when they aren't following God at all. I truly wish they could see themselves from God's perspective. and like it says in Jacob 2:15 O that he would show you that he can pierce you, and with one glance of his eye... It reminds me of a child who does something bad and looks to the parent. The parent doesn't even have to say anything they just have that look and they know they are in trouble. I couldn't ever handle a look like that from God. But I do know that God does love us as his children and hopes that we will all make that choice to follow him.

Well I have an appointment so I have to get going, but I love you all so very much. Send me some more pictures okay?

Why Are You Here?

Aloha!

This week went by quick. I feel like we had no time to be online which was a bit sad. We did however find someone who wants to be baptized but can't meet with missionaries in person for a month. So we get to have phone conferences with him and hopefully set a date for him to work towards. That way when he gets back to Utah the only thing his missionaries will need to do is the actual baptism. :)

I have lately been reading sister Anderson's emails and noticing how we really are having very similar experiences and we always seem to have the same theme. Its fun to read other missionaries experiences and realize that we all have ups and downs. Speaking of other missionaries could you please send me Elder Pinders address? I have some good resources I want to send him.

We had a mission tour this week and it was really good Elder Pearson of the seventy came and spoke to us. I felt a little chastised afterwards honestly. But it was really amazing there were certain times I knew he was discerning our thoughts. He talked a lot about how missionaries aren't willing to tap into their true potential. He said that he has talked with a lot of missionaries in his life time and when he asks a few of them why they are there and they give answers like "because its the only way I'm going to find someone to marry me." Or "my dad promised me a car." He said Elder your stupid. Your planning to meet a girl with very low expectations, do you think she wont know what kind of missionary she is looking for? And Elder your an Idiot do you realize that you could have had enough money to buy any car you wanted if you stayed home? WHY ARE YOU HERE? We are here to be disciples and we are not here to change for a few years. If we are planning to be different for only a time this time is a waste. You are not being given a rigorous schedule just for fun. You are being trained for the rest of your life. He talked about how he has meet a lot of RM's who are not happy, and they don't know why. He asks them if they are living what they taught their investigators. Are you building your faith, meaning are you praying, reading, studying-probably not? Are you repenting-probably not? Are you remembering the covenants you made at baptism and properly renewing them?- most likely not. Are you involving the Holy Ghost in your life? Are you asking for it and living by it?-Definitely not. And are you Enduring to follow Christ, not simply surviving but enduring with hope?-I don't think so. So what do you do? You need more faith. How do you get it? Start with the beginning you have to be obedient that leads to building faith. This is the Doctrine of Jesus Christ, the plan of salvation, the plan of HAPPINESS, the way to eternal life. You want more faith you need to be obedient and earn it through living the principles.

He really drove home the fact that we are not trying hard enough and we are not teaching others well enough. Especially because we don't fully understand what we are teaching. He said that we are skipping the most important lesson that God is our Loving Heavenly father and we do it because we are anxious to get to the restoration where we think it is the most spiritual. But that is so wrong we need to help them establish that connection with God from the very beginning. We are children of the ultimate God. We look like him because he made us in his image, he has a body of flesh and bone- although perfected. He desires to have a relationship with us, he LOVES us so much. But we don't understand that relationship. We pray but is it really to our Father? He made us truly examine our prayers, how are you praying, is your mind wandering when you are praying, what do you say? How often are you praying sincerely? THIS is not a conversation with our father, he is not there to take our orders! That was something that really hit me hard. He told us that if we don't understand and value this relationship how can we ever teach others about it? How are they ever going to understand the significance of the Restoration and the fact that God has once again revealed himself to us?

He talked about the Whats, whys and Hows. What are we supposed/want to do, why do we do it and how? We often get stuck on the whats we don't really know why or how to do it. For example we are supposed to wake up on time, follow the commandments, love others, keep word of wisdom, law of chastity .......But why? What are the doctrines behind all of it? How can we keep these things? If we don't understand why we won't do them. If we don' t do them how can we teach about them?

He talked about getting up on time he related back to the story of the RM who was unhappy. He said I bet you are going to bed late and waking up late hun. This leaves you no time for personal study because you end up being late. Then you have no time at night because you are tired and not worthy to study. These guidelines are not in place just because they are life changing guidelines. If you are going to revert back to the person you were what is the point!!!

Finally he told us that we are here because we desire to be disciples of Christ this isn't something that we can discontinue doing. We have all ready made sacred covenants and we will be held accountable for that. We can't act like missionaries. We either are or we aren't. We are to be exactly obedient because we are HIS DISCIPLES we represent Him and we always will. We have made that covenant. So he said If you are a Disciple of Christ what are you willing to give up to follow him more closely? The mission will set us up for success the rest of our lives, and we need to remember what we teach and keep it ourselves, the Doctrine of Christ is not a one time thing. How well are you following it?

In the end he gave us a lot of things to improve on. And quite honestly in my heart I said I will try but I already feel like I'm trying to be/do good. He is expecting a lot. Soon after he looked at us and said some of you think that we have to high expectations our expectations are not the problem the problem is your attitude. Stop "trying" and do it. I repented for my thoughts and am going to work so much harder to be the missionary my savior wants me to be not who I think I can be.

It was really powerful, he talked to us for 5 hours!

While it was focused on how we could be better missionaries I think it is very crucial to many. How much are we willing to follow the savior? What are we willing to do/give up to completely follow him? I thought back on how many times I stayed up late watching TV and then was to tired to read or effectively pray. What a waste of knowledge I could have gained.

So What are you doing when you are following Christ? Why do you follow Christ and what are you willing to give up to follow him more closely? Please ask yourselves these questions and truly do something about it. And not only for a couple of weeks.

Love you all and hope things are spectacular!

Oops!

Lots of interesting things have happened this week. Ha ha, I have felt like dad a little bit this transfer: Hey did you turn out the lights when you left the room? You probably shouldn't put that down the disposal it will clog, did you lock the doors when you came in?

Had fun fixing our disposal after it was clogged with potato peels, and last week we had some things taken from our apartment because the sliding back door was left open(like open, open). We think it might have been a homeless couple who live on the beach. They took some essentials like blankets, towels, my Gatorade and Oreos. ha ha and of course my companions electronic face scrubber, that was random. They didn't take our computers, DVD player, jewelry or anything of value (not that we had much) The only thing that was really sad was they took her temple packet. So we might go see if we can see it on the beach (Elder Eubank suggested it.) She was really upset- and I felt bad for her I had her watch this video called come what may and love it. She didn't think it was as funny as I did. :) But it was a good transfer.

I found out yesterday that I am going to be online with Sister Sandstrom she's from SLC. We are going to have so much fun together! This will be her second transfer, and we have been called spoiled on several occasions because neither of us have had to lived in the small apartments yet. I'm really excited to work with her. This will be my first companion that I will get to stay with for 2 transfers.

It was sad to say good bye to the Crouches they are my last grandparents who were here when I got here. But I'm happy that they live in Payson. :) All of the senior couples live in Utah which makes me happy that I can find them when I get home. Elder Crouch (Keith) is on face book dad so I'm sure you could look him up if you wanted to.

I'm glad that you were able to get away for a while how was St. George? Hopefully the weather was nice. It has just started to be nice here. No dogs on the bike trails I hope. :)

Well family remember What ever comes in life it is for our good. And it is so much fun to share later. ha ha. I have loved writing down funny moments in my journal it makes those hard days so much better. We had someone suggest writing down lessons we learned on a note book every fast Sunday. I think I'm going to try it, it's going to be one full notebook.

Here's your challenge, when ever you write me send me a funny moment or blessing you have received that week for the next month. You will start to see how blessed and fun life is. :)

Here's my funny story. So today we had deep cleaning. I was vacuuming and then

Me: Oh MAN!

Sister Alexeenko: What, what happened???

Me: ....I just vacuumed up a gecko

Me: hm that's something Ive never said before

Beach Clean Up

Hi! It"s been a good week. We had a crazy night last night lots of thunder and lightening which I guess is pretty unusual here. I must say I'm glad for that. The thunder is SOO loud we had a really hard time sleeping even though we were exhausted. Good thing it's our P-day and we get to go take a nap later. :)

The best thing that happened this week was the fact that we got to go on the beach! We had helping hands so we got to go help the wards clean up the beaches. I have wanted to walk in the sand since I have gotten here. I don't really care about the water but I just wanted to walk in the sand. So it was soo nice to be able to do that probably for the first and last time while I'm here. :)

Sorry this letter is pretty short but not a lot has happened. It's pretty slow here, I think with all the natural disasters there aren't as many visitors. But the great thing is even though our numbers are down our referrals are up, so the Lord is definitely blessing us.

A new Mormon Message came out this week it's called The Civility Experiment and it is so good! It's something that as human beings we struggle with every day. Loving others seems to be really hard, not judging those we love and those we don't know. It's something Ive really been trying to work on this transfer in particular, but with out help I feel it is impossible to not judge people. I don't even understand why it happens only that it is not good and that we should try harder to understand others before we make snap judgments. I know that if everyone did this people wouldn't be so self conscious all the time. Wouldn't that be great? So here's the challenge for the week. Talk with someone you have previously judged and see how you can help them. Or even say something nice to someone you have thought something rude about. It will be hard but I know that not only will you make a difference in someone else s life it will make a huge difference in your life as well.

Matt it was so nice to hear from you!! Glad that all is going well.

Thanks for your love and support,

Cant wait to talk with you Sunday. Don't know when Ill be calling yet but Elder Eubank said we could email when we figure out the schedule.

It's Simple!!!

ALOOOOHA!

Man it was SO awesome to have received word from everyone this week! I had wondered what happened to my other siblings, it's nice to hear that all is going well. That picture was SOO cute, I can't believe how long Izzy's hairs is and Mattie's getting her permanent teeth in, Jet looks a little different too. I think Grady is the only one who looks the same :D. Elder Pinder! You look all grown up too! awwww and you sound like it :). Have you gotten taller?

Things seem like they have slowed down at the Visitor Center which is kind of hard because we have longer shifts. It's starting to get really hot here. I'm glad that I will basically be inside until July, and then who knows where I be then. Our zone is doing awesome! We have really been trying to get our numbers up this past transfer and we have Miracle May coming up. We are seeing the miracles. Our goal was 10 baptisms this transfer and we already have 15 with a date and we still have two weeks to go. President is really pushing us hard, he really wants to reach vision 100. 100 worthy baptisms a month. Because we don't have a lot of time in our area we truly need help from the Lord and I know that we are getting that. Before when we had a long time in the field we only baptized 6 in a transfer, so it's amazing to see what can happen when we ask for help and push forward.

Chatting can be quite depressing because we talk with so many people who have such a sad out look on life. Sometimes we can help and other times they don't really want help. I honestly can't imagine what my life would be like not believing in God and knowing about his plan. There are so many people who have weird ideas about God and they twist the Bible and make Him so complicated. But it is simple. God is our loving Heavenly Father, His son volunteered to save us and God sent Him to bring us home. They have one purpose and they love us. We are not here just because! This is our time to prepare to meet God again. "We can't let Satan lead us to believe that everything is okay." That was the message we received in ward conference. Satan is constantly making us feel comfortable where we are, and teaching us that we don't need to improve. But if we don't improve then we digress, it's been proven in every aspect of our lives. If we don't use it we lose it. If we don't improve we stagnate. So what is one thing that you can improve on this week to help you prepare to meet God?

Thanks for the update, can't wait to talk to you in a couple of weeks.

Sister Pinder

Happy Easter!!!

Hi! It was so nice to hear from you. Mom I'm so glad that you are feeling better! It must be a priesthood week, I just read an email about sister Anderson getting a blessing as well and how much that helped her. I'm am so grateful for the priesthood. It's really what makes our church different from the others; we have the power and authority from God and when we take care of it we are blessed.

I am so very blessed and I must say my Heavenly and Earthly parents take very good care of me. I haven't received the package yet but most likely it will be waiting for me when I get home. That always seems to happen. But thank you so much. So I seem to have a problem every transfer with losing a specific item. My first transfer it was keys, second umbrella-which was not a good time to lose that, third was my wallet and this transfer it has been my planner ha ha. But I have really gained a testimony of prayer, Heavenly father has always blessed me when I have asked for help. Maybe not right away but it comes. I also lost 20$ recently and that's not good because this transfer we have to make all of our own food and we don't have money to spare. It was such a blessing to hear that you put a little money in the package and some money came back from taxes. :) So spoiled.

Im still in the Visitor Center-and always will be unless called full Prostlyting- but instead of having wards to work with we spend time chatting. We don't have as many sisters now though so our hours are really long. My companion and I are at the VC from 9-5 and when we train other sisters on chat from 9-9 with a few hours break for meals and comp study. It's been a tough transfer because we don't have a lot of "area time". I do get to go to a previous investigators baptism this weekend though and I'm really excited, he's from Haiti. Ill try and send pictures.

But I really do like chatting even though we hardly talk to the same people more than twice. The trolls are all different some you can tell right away when they are messing with you but some act like they have serious questions up until the end. They usually ask science questions to let us know they are trolls. The most common thing we hear is "how do magnets work?" why magnets I have no idea. Apparently there is a site they put funny chats on and I think that that is most peoples motive, but I don't see how it can be that entertaining because a lot of the time we either play back or try to actually have a serious conversation about religion. If they are bad enough we just end the chat and find someone else to chat with. I will be online for the next two transfers so it will be good to finally stay in a area longer than one transfer.

Dad thanks for letting me know about Chelsea I was wondering how she has been doing. How has Leland been? Oh and that other missionary hmmm, Elder Pinder? ha ha

Tennis was good we just play at BYUH. At least with watching that surfing show you know I won't be eaten by sharks. :) OH please tell Bryce CONGRATULATIONS, I have meant to tell him that for a few weeks now. Im so excited for them!

Sorry this letter is all over the place but I do want to wish every one a Happy Easter! It's so nice to be at the visitor center and share Easter Messages all the time, but especially this week. This is one of my favorite videos that we share, It's Elder Holland talking about Jesus' Christ Sacrifice for us. It's called None were with him Hopefully we can all remember exactly what the atonement means for us and think of ways we can repay our savior. What will you do to show your love to the Savior?

Love you all, have a great week!

Sister Pinder

ONLINE?

HAHA well it's transfers again and after a hard start in our area trying to get to know everything and trying to figure out how to find people to teach and how to best teach with my companion by the end we have one progressing investigator and two with a date!!! It is such a miracle. The stories behind those with a date are pretty neat. Last week we had a couple- the girl was a member, come into the VC and one of the other sisters gave the tour. They wanted to meet with missionaries and then we found out that they were in our area so we set a time to meet with them. Yesterday we taught them for the first time and the guy his name is Siope has a baptismal date at the end of the month! He said that he kept feeling like he's being drawn here! So neat. We have also been teaching a man whose originally from Haiti. We taught him once and invited him to conference, he said he had to work and wouldn't be able to. We received a call from him today and he told us he went to conference and he was wondering when we hold baptisms!!!! So by the end of the transfer we have two with a date and one who I think may have a date tonight.

So I just came to this area and was thinking " well my companion has been in this area for three transfers and I just got here so I will probably stay." WRONG!!!!! Say hello to the new online missionary! YEP that's right I do not have an assigned ward and my area is online! Isn't that crazy! So the people who browse mormon.org and then have questions or even people who want to bother us come online to chat and me and my new companion talk with them and invite them to learn more from us or local missionaries. Im really excited to be online, they have started letting sisters try it as part of our shift so i have experienced it once before. Oh and no you probably wont be able to chat with me (I know that's what you were thinking), haha the chats can go to any missionary who is assigned to be an online missionary, Provo, SLC and any where that's been connected to chat. I am a bit sad to have to hand over all our hard work to the elders. They have some amazing people to teach who have been led by the lord. But online will be a great experience.

My new companion speaks Russian, she was born in Germany but now she claims Provo as her home town. So she says shes American but her flag is Russian. We will live all alone in the beach pad. I like the beach pad but its going to be kind of lonely. We really will be together 24/7, my other transfers we have had the opportunity to talk with other companionship's but we are on our own now. Each transfer provides challenges and blessings and it no different this transfer.

I have been a bit sick this week, how do you get a cold in Hawaii I don't know but it's been a bit of a Challenge. Mom I hope you are doing better, keep me posted on what happens. I know the Lord will take care of you so don't be afraid to let me know whats going on :).

I saw the youngs ( he took a picture of course to show you later) and the Dunnaways this week. That was fun to see people from home. The Dunnaways told me they are going on a mission, and I thought that was so neat!

It was a bit hard to wake up at 5 to get ready to watch conference at 6 (especially with my cold) but it was so worth it. We watched most of the sessions at the Visitor Center, except the last one when we went to a Church to watch it with one of our investigators. I loved the talk about Be and Do, as well as Elder Uchdorft's about not waiting on the road to long. Sometimes that happens as members as well we wait to long to do something we know is right. There are so many things I could talk about with conference, but it basically comes down to what Elder Holland said. There is something for everyone when you take the time to listen. And boy was that ever true! I'm so grateful to be here and to be learning and growing from all the experiences I'm having. Missions are so amazing, even though they are hard.

and Little brother HAPPY BIRTHDAY, I hope you have great day! Does you mission do anything fun on Birthdays? We sing a happy birthday song and have cake,sometimes.

Oh yeah so my Pday will now be on Tuesday. I will probably have one on Saturday this week because my companion hasn't had a pday yet.

Oh will you tell grandma Pinder thank you so much for the package that was really nice and we really enjoyed it!

Thank you love you all!

Looking Forward To Conference!

I'm so glad that the race went well. I'm a bit jealous that you went to moab. I'm really starting to miss the scenery in Utah with the red rocks and beautiful scenery, but I'm still happy with the weather so I guess that will have to make up for it for now. :) How are you doing now with all the babysitting and other things that seem to always keep you two busy? I'm sure the office is done by now right dad? How's that working out? And how's Elder Pinder? Whenever we have a Spanish family come I'm so excited because they are so receptive to the gospel and then I think about Elder Pinder getting to teach people like them and it makes me so happy!

I am very excited for conference it is such a blessing to be able to listen to men who have received revelation from god on what his children need to hear. We get to go to the temple the week before so that we can be spiritually prepared and that is such a blessing too. Its amazing when you start looking at all the blessings in life. Even the trials are blessings in disguise, but its all how we look at things. That's something Ive been studying and working on. Our attitude really is what makes a day good or bad. If we choose to be upset about something then our day is going to be ruined and nothing will be gained. But if we look at the good and think about why we have been given that certain trial we can learn and grow and our day will be more happy. After all, "Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy." 2N2:25. But its like I said last time true happiness doesn't come from material things. A lot of people think it does but when you look around the world who are the happiest people? They don't have television shows about poor people ( they don't have enough drama, which is saying something) they don't fight and compete with others they are more interested in caring for their family, for the most part. They care about the things that matter. On the other hand there are many entertainers and television shows about wealthy people, who aren't happy, they have so much drama in their life because they cant seem to fill their unhappiness with material things. I have met a lot of people who have many trials but what makes the difference between those who are happy and those who aren't is purpose. What is the purpose for being on the earth? Its been the same since Adam, to multiply and replenish the earth and follow god, for he is the only way back home. I really wish that I could just share my understanding with others because I know that if everyone felt and knew what I know, god wouldn't have to worry so much about his children. They would know how important it is to follow god, and how much he loves his children. Sometimes it just makes me so sad that people decide that Following Christ is too hard and isn't worth the end blessing. But man, if people would just put in the work so that they could understand, so that they could know for themselves if this church is true, I know and the lord promises they will be blessed. Alma 32:27 "but behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to and experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words."

Well I kind of ran away with my thoughts but it's nice to share it sometimes.

Today was kind of hard for me. We had to say good bye to two of the senior couples I have grown to love. Its a good thing they live in Salt Lake and I will be able to see them again but, it's annoying that I have to wait for a long time. :) That's one really hard thing about a mission, we develop these relationships with all these wonderful sisters and senior couples and then we have to watch them all leave! Some of them I will most likely never see again I had never thought about that before. I'm grateful I live in Utah where a lot of people come to visit, for things such as conference. :)

And Whitney thank you for your letters they are always so uplifting, keep up all the great missionary work!

Love you all!!!