Maiana Week 4

Hey guys,

So you all want to know what it's like living in a hut huh? Well
transfers went down yesterday, Elder Nauer left and went to go re open
an island called Butaritari with a trainee and I got elder Aru (same
intake as me but couldn't make it to the MTC on time so he stayed and
worked in his home country (Vanuatu) till Elder Stone and all of
that intake after me) as my new companion. First thing he said when
he walked in the house was "is this it?" Haha I said no we have a
bathroom (native outhouse) out back. So in answer to that question I
would say "yeah it's cozy"  actually it's not bad at all. It's life ;)

Food, we eat plenty at night. Normally eat here and there throughout
the day for lunch and will normally have noodles and/or homemade "bun"
which is just bread made in little stacks or whatever. We'll see if
things change with elder Aru since he doesn't like either of that...

Maiana's pretty long. 2 or 3 times the size of Beru. I think Beru was
something like 22 kilometers long and Maiana is 19 miles (about 30 km)  and has a
couple "etimwakoro"s or small islands that you can only get to during
low tide. Both are normally not wide at all. skinny parts you see both sides of the ocean

Last week was fun. Had a picnic with everyone on the island for Elder
Nauer before he left. Got a bunch of investigators there so that was
cool.

Love you all tons!
Elder Pettingill

Mom,

yeah sorry I always forget about the Christmas package.  A new journal
please. Mine is about halfway through so I don't think it will last
the rest of my time. Uhm food is always happily accepted, these
members gave us apples with barbequed chicken from Tarawa the other
week (Maiana is close maybe 15 mintues plane ride, you can see Lights
from Tarawa at night in the distance) wayy good. Obviously you can't
send that stuff but it was good :)  Yes I got your last package. Thank
you soo much. like seriously. If you find a flashlight that uses
double aa batteries that would be awesome too! Hand sanitizer for
unexpected bathroom trips ;)  Black trash bags that we could use for
make shift ponchos or something for the rain like for my companion and
I (rains a bunch here haha it's definitely not Beru) sugar free gum
(they don't have any here and after awhile I always run out and it
stinks cause I hate sugared gum nowadays...) cheap sunglasses (ray
bans are the popular expensive brand so if you see some that are the
knock offs that should be like 5-10 dollars? probably even cheaper
actually)    None of those are needs so if you can't find it  (except
maybe the journal) it's all good. and one package is more than enough
for both of us.  I love you guys so much and means a ton that my
family still supports me so well on my mission which in one way has
fulfilled my setting apart blessing which said that I won't have to
worry about my family while on my mission. You guys are awesome!

Love you

Watch this video to see them bike riding in Fanning Island

Pictures from the trip to Fanning Island