Malo e lelei

Another week. We had some good experiences and some frustrating ones. I really want one more baptism before I come home but I am being tested, so we'll see how things go. We have one scheduled for the 25th but he has word of wisdom issue and I don't know how dedicated he is to quitting but we are trying super hard to help. We have quite a few potentials but they have have huge road blocks that are not going to be solved in a few weeks so we'll just have to keep working.

Here's my funny story for the week. Yesterday (Sunday) we had just finished a teaching appointment it was about 12:50 and we were on our way to Church. We received a call and I could hear my companion say just Sister Pinder? Okay the topic is solving your problems with the Lord, sounds good. I could have died! This is only my second time having to speak in Church and I have to prepare it in 5 minutes! haha. I could tell my companion was so glad it was me and not her. So when it was my turn I stood up and said "Malo e lele, my name is sister Pinder and I'm obviously from Utah. I'm very grateful to be here, but do you know why God gives us companions? It's so that when we don't know what to say they can take over, so I'm going to turn the time over to my companion." I turned around saw the fear and a look like I might not survive later and then turned back to say "Just kidding, but I know I just gave my companion a heart attack." It was so funny and the Tongans loved it they kept saying later "oh you got her!" haha. I ended up spending most of my talk in Romans 8 which talks about how we are children of God and nothing can separate us from his love. We just need to remember the purpose for trials. It went okay, not as well as if I would have had time to prepare but it went fine. It was a good topic though one I wish I would have had more time to delve into but I challenge each of you to think about it. How can we solve our problems with the Lord and in the Lords way.

I love you all and will talk with you next week!

Aloha

We've finally learned transfer news! and no surprise Im staying in Maui for another transfer. It's really crazy to me that I only have a few more transfers left. It will be nice to stay here for one more transfer but challenging too. We had some cool experiences last week. We've been able to set baptismal dates with three people and we have some potentials. They aren't extremely solid but it's something to works towards and is better than what we had at the beginning. It's crazy that six weeks have past already! Not to seem ungrateful but I hope the next six week pass just as quickly. I miss the visitor center even though things sound a bit crazy with the new director arriving. It's just continues to confirm to me that I was called to the right place and God knows and love me so well. Which means it's the same for all his other children. Sometimes I get so frustrated with my brothers and sisters I don't know how to help them and it hurts my heart. There are so many people who have returned from missions here and they know whats right they know the blessings that will come from living the gospel but they choose not too. I guess that just comes with living in the last days and being tempted by the adversary. I sometimes get overwhelmed, there is so much work to do in this world but unless people have that desire to change they just get annoyed with missionaries trying to help them. We become burdens because deep down they know what is right. The thing they don't get is we are never going to leave them alone because they are our brothers and sisters and we love them. We are not there because we hate them and love to annoy them no one wants that, but we care and hope that they will see that. I didn't choose to serve a mission because I wanted to bother people I chose to come because I love my savior and I know that He loves his children and he is searching for the ones that will come back. It's a long trek to find them and not easy but its worth it. This work is hard but I love my savior more so I will continue to work hard.

Thank you for the encouragement it is always appreciated, I love you all so much and will talk to you next week!

Hi

Hi again. hmm, I think this is the first week Im a little stumped as to what to write about.

I must admit my companion and I have talked a lot about whether this ward has enough work for us to do. We were a little frustrated about how much open time we have and that really makes it difficult especially when your trying to stay focused. We wrote to President and told him to recombine the wards again, he told us he wasn't about to give up. I felt like I was lacking faith, then in church on Sunday the lesson was on faith. we read from one of the manuals a story about a mission president telling one of the missionaries " give the Lord a Chance, he's put you here for a reason, he will open the way" It hit me pretty hard. That was just for me. It was God's way of saying don't give up keep going. Attitudes are so important, they are hard to control sometimes but I know that when we are in the right mind set we can see miracles. Transfers are next week and Im pretty sure Ill be staying here another six weeks but you never know. I do know that wherever Im sent Im going to have a different attitude. I know it's not going to be easy but I've made it this far I know the Lord will continue to bless us. I've been getting the reminder a lot this week to look at the good. We stopped in on one potential we like to talk with. She gave us some more good advice. She said "Be grateful for what you have, and for what you don't have." So whenever Ive complained about something Ive said something Im thankful for. there is so MUCH! So try it out this week. When you are stuck in traffic be thankful there is more than one lane and that you have a highway that for the most part gets you places quickly. When it snows and is cold be thankful we have the tools to remove it :). There is always a blessing that comes with the trial. Sometimes we just forget to look. I love you all and will let you know what's going on next week.

P.S. Thanks for the updates with the kids I love hearing about whats going on back home.

Love Sister Pinder

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.