9/15/12 - We have had the
incredible week. Two couples that were
in the MTC with us, Reed and Nada Spencer, serving on the Island of Upolu and
Jim and Cherri Budgett, serving on the Island of Savaii as ITEP missionaries
(working with the teachers in the church schools to help them become certified
through BYU Hawaii), came to spend a few days with us.
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| Budgetts, Spencers, Jordans at the MTC |
So with our vast knowledge of
this island, we became tour guides. Much
of our time was spent taking them shopping for food and items that they are not
able to get in Western Samoa. They
brought coolers over so they could buy meat and items that needed to be kept
cold. We visited the Samoa National Park. It is located at the top of the mountain
range and the scenery was awesome. We
drove Highway 1 (the only road) from one end to the other. The island is about 20 miles long, but the
highway follows the shoreline so the road is considerably longer. When we got to the village at end of the road
on the West end of the island, we stopped and asked permission to take pictures
and get in the water.
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| End of the Road - West end of the island |
Some of us went
wading, but Elder Spencer went snorkeling.
He got some great pictures with his underwater camera.
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| Calab, Steven & Sam - Reid Spencer's body guards while swimming |
We made friends with 3 young men from the
village, Calab, Steven and Sam.
They were so friendly and
when Elder Spencer went out swimming they shadowed him to make sure he was
safe. We got some great pictures of the
sunset.
We also visited the Island of Aunuu, just off
the East end of the island. It is the
island where the Church was first introduced in Samoa. There is a picture hanging in our house that
depicts the missionaries landing. There
are about 500 people that live on the island.
Most of them work at the Starkist Tuna Factory, so they ride the boat
over every morning to go to work. There
is a school on the island (kindergarten
through 8th grade). The high
school students attend school on the main island, so the boats are pretty busy
in the morning transporting everyone.
During the day, between the workers and the students there are not too
many people left on the island. Several
of the young adults that live there attend the community college by us. They have to catch the boat at 5:00 AM, catch
a bus to Pago and another one to Mesapa where the college is located, to get to
their classes by 8:00. There are three
religions represented on the island and everyone attends church.
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| Boat we took to the island |
There are not enough members for a ward, but
the branch is strong and when they get 5 more Melchizedek priesthood holders
they will make it a ward. We met a family
while on the island whose daughter was in the MTC with us. Her name was Moetai Lotoa. Little did we know when we met her that we would
ever have a chance to actually meet her family.
She has 14 brothers and sisters.
In fact, two of her sisters ( Tala and Foa),
and a cousin (Tia – recently baptized) took us on a tour of the island. tours
of duty in the Middle East, and they have a son now serving in
Afghanistan. The family has a farm (they
call them plantations in Samoa) where they raise taro.
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| Walking through the plantation on the wide thick concrete path... |
We walked through their
plantation and it was beautiful. It has
a wide cement path going through it. The
concrete was really thick – in some places as much as two feet.
What a great opportunity it was to meet the
family and listen to their testimonies.
We also met the High Chief of
the village. I sat next to him on the
boat ride back to the main island. It
was so interesting to talk to him. He
is not a member of the Church, but he told me he gave the land to the Church so
they could build the meetinghouse. He
was so gracious and invited us to come back anytime to visit.
There is a miracle that goes
with the building of the chapel. The
high chief controls all the land and what is done with it. When he was first approached about giving
permission to build the church he flat out refused. Finally he said he would give them property
to build but they couldn’t use any of the sand from the island to mix the
concrete. Without sand the building
could not be built. So the members held
a special fast. All of the building materials
were delivered to the island in preparation for construction to begin, but
still use of the sand on the beach was denied.
On the day designated for construction to begin a pile of sand was found
on the building site. No one could
explain where it came from… There was
always enough sand on site throughout construction, and when sand was no longer
needed the pile disappeared. God always
provides a way if we just have enough faith!
Budgett’s and the Spencer’s stayed from Saturday until Thursday.
On Wednesday another couple
came and spent the day with us.
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| Reed Spencr, Us, Budgett's LaWana (husband taking the picture) & Nada Spencer At Carl's Jr - of all places |
Joe and
LaWana Osborne are also working with the Church schools, but in four different
island countries. They were in Tonga for
6 months, in Samoa for 9 months, and then they will go to Fiji and then
Karabus… They were going to stay at the
hotel, but we convinced them to come stay with us and save some money. All three couples were between classes and
had some down time so chose to vacation on American Samoa, and because it was a
pleasure trip they had to pay all their expenses. It was
so fun to get to know them. They live in
the Layton area and we hope to continue our friendship when we are released
from our missions.
MISSIONARY FIRESIDE
We attended a missionary
fireside at the Leone 1st Ward on Sunday evening (9/23/12). It was so great. It was a musical fireside and the whole ward
participated. It started out with the
Primary Children singing two songs about missionary work, then the youth of the
ward sang a couple of songs. After that,
the Relief Society sang, then the Melchizedek priesthood sang a song. Before each group sang, someone from the
organization gave a scripture and short thought to go along with the song. Then the bishop got up and gave a few remarks
about missionary work and the importance of ward members doing their part. The ward and full time missionaries serving
in the zone sang the closing song. It
was so great – and even though it was all in Samoan, we were able to understand
quite a bit of what was going on. The
Spirit can speak to us in any language…
We are so thankful for the
blessing of serving this mission with these wonderful people!!!
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