4 January 2017 - It’s 2017!!

Happy New Year!

Bonjour!

It's 2017 and so weird to think that I spent allllll of 2016 here in New Cal!

This week was really chill and quiet because a lot of people are gone or just with family, so we couldn't see many people. But for New Years we baked some cookies that turned out really good and went out contacting! We gave people cookies and wished them "bonne annee!"  We got a few good contacts out of it! So that's exciting!

We also had two exchanges. One with Magenta where I went to Magenta with Soeur Chard and the other with Paita where Soeur Decady came to Koutio with me. In Magenta, we focused a lot on making sure their baptism would happen on the 31st. There was a little drama, but honestly I feel like that's to be expected here in New Cal. Baptisms are never super easy to make happen. But in the end everything worked out, and their ami was baptized! Hers is a miracle story and it HAD to happen on the 31st so we were super happy that it worked out! :) Soeur Chard and Soeur Decady are both awesome missionaries, and I loved getting to work with them during the exchanges! We just have two more exchanges for this transfer and they're both this coming week, so I'll tell y'all about them next time!

I made banana bread this week, and it was delicious. I think I ate most of it by myself... haha but that recipe book we got from Soeur Granger is really great and we're loving it so far.

For New Years we went to bed at 10:30 planning to get up at midnight to celebrate a little, but when the time came around neither of us could wake up hahaha. But there were lots of parties going on all around us--loud music and loud fireworks that we couldn't see because of all the trees around the house. But we had a good new years, and the next day we celebrated a little and popped the confetti things and played with the confetti haha.

OH YEAH I got to try green coconut--the water and the fruit inside! We went to see a returning inactive family. They had gone to Plum earlier in the day, and the dad had climbed the cocotiers [coconut trees] to get the coconuts! It was pretty good! I've definitely come to like coconut since being here! And the family was telling us all the things you can make out of coconuts and coconut trees. In the islands, people make everything out of what they have, and they use every bit they can. You can make mats, tables, chairs, oils, etc. all from coconuts or the trees. The family was getting really excited about it and it was just fun to see their love for their culture and way of life :)

I'm loving New Cal! Maybe not how hot it is right now, but c'est la vie ici!

Je vous aime et je vous souhaite une bonne annee et une bonne semaine!

Tata nana bisous!

Soeur Matheson