November 12, 2013
The last few weeks have been filled with so
many memories and experiences and as we look back we realize just how fast this
mission experience is going and we find ourselves wanting to slow down
time… We have learned so many things while
serving in Samoa and are so thankful for the experiences we have been blessed
with. Some of our cherished memories we
share with those we love….
There are so many
beautiful flowers here on the island!!!
This one grows from a pod that resembles a star.
The flower is so delicate – it almost fell
apart in my hand when I picked it up.
We had a fun Halloween
giving out candy to the local village children.
We had about 200 children Trick or Treat at our house. It was so fun to see their excitement. Some had bags for their candy, and others
just ate it as they got it… It made us
miss giving out candy to all the kids at home.
… Special note to the Turcsanski
children – we are looking forward to your visits when we get home! Are Tootsie Rolls still your favorite candy?
One of the customs here is
to remove your shoes before you enter a house.
This is our neighbor’s doorstep one night when we shared family home evening
with them and some of our Filipino friends.
The work is hastening on this
island. We average 8 – 10 baptisms a
week between the 5 stakes. When we got
here there was a handful of Filipinos who were members. In just 15 months there have been so many
join the church that it won’t be too long before a Filipino branch will be
created. We hope we have the blessing of
being here when it happens. We are
looking forward to attending the temple in a couple of weeks with two couples
that we were instrumental in their conversion and they have become very good
friends. We are so excited for them to
be able to be sealed as a family for Time and Eternity!
 |
| Henry, Judith and Vince Willis |
When the storm hit the
Philippines last week, and because many of the Filipinos here still have family
in the Philippines there has been a lot of concern and many prayers offered for
the safety of their loved ones. A
fund-raiser was organized to help those affected by the storm, and it was
amazing to watch the entire island come together in support of their
cause. It is humbling to witness the
support and out-pouring of love the people of this island (no matter their
nationality) have for those in need. So
many of them barely
have enough for themselves, yet they don’t hesitate to give
– sometimes all the cash they have – not knowing if they will have money for
the next day to buy food.
It makes the
story of the Widow’s Mite a reality…
We
have learned so much from the wonderful people on this island!
This week Jim and Cherri
Budgett, a couple we met in the MTC, visited us from Savaii where they have
been serving as ITEP missionaries.
 |
| Bidding farewell to the Budgett's |
They finish their mission the end of this
month. They, along with the Spencer’s,
who will be leaving in early December, are like family to us. It was hard to bid them farewell. Even though we said we would keep in touch,
life happens, and we know that our association will not be as close and
frequent as we would like.
The young men and the
young women enjoy many of the same activities as our youth at home, but one of
the activities they enjoy is Ward Mission Day.
They gather and go out as companionships to share their testimonies with
non-members in their ward.
 |
| Young Men on Missionary Day... |
Some wards
even have blank missionary badges (no names on them) for them to wear as they
participate together. They are
not ashamed of the Gospel and are willing to share it. They approach this activity with so much
enthusiasm. They seem to approach
service projects with the same attitude.
We could all take a lesson from them.
I know that sometimes when I have the opportunity to serve I do it out
of obligation rather than love. I hope
that I can learn from their example.
 |
| Young Women enjoying Missionary Day... |
Last week our institute
director, Sonny Aiono, was in New Zealand for meetings and so he asked us to
teach his classes for him. Teaching
extra classes was no big deal, but switching gears every hour to teach
different subjects was a challenge, especially since the same principles were
being discussed in each lesson and the basically the same students are in the
classes. Needless to say, we (well
Dennis) had to do some creative thinking to come up with different ways to
teach the lessons. He taught Missionary
Preparation, Doctrine and Covenants and Book of Mormon one day and the next day
he taught Old Testament. The subject I
was teaching in the Gospel and Productive Life course was on Celestial
Marriage. The class I taught for Sonny
was the course on Celestial Marriage. So
I had to come up with some new material to teach because what was in the manual
was the same as I had already taught for two class sessions in my own class. The 2nd lesson I taught for him
(also from the Celestial Marriage manual) was titled Intimacy in Marriage. That in and of itself was a challenge because
in this culture there are certain subjects you just don’t talk about… intimacy
being one! But with the Lord’s help we
were able to have a great discussion and I think from their comments that it
went well. Despite the challenges, teaching
those extra classes was a blessing to us, and challenges always make us grow…
We took some pictures of some of the construction practices here. No doubt that OSHA would have a holiday here! The picture on the right was taken through the windshield in the rain, but you can see the lack of mortar in between the cinderblocks...
 |
| Todd, if we finished concrete like this we would be fired... |
We got home the other
night and someone had left a bag of avocados hanging on our door. There were 6 of them in the bag – and the
smallest one was about the size of a coconut – the six avocados almost filled
the brown grocery sack. I made 8
sandwiches from one avocado. What a
treat!
The next night we were
given a large papaya. (picture) I ground
it up to put in papaya bread (I use my banana bread recipe) and it was enough
to make ten small loafs. Our missionaries
love it when we give them banana or papaya bread – especially when I put
chocolate chips in it. The pictures show the Papaya on a dinner plate before we cut it.
The seeds remind me of the ones you buy for fish bait. The smell is really unique. It took a while to get used to it. Smells like vomit…. But the fruit is really good…..
We were delivering
supplies and mail to the missionaries on the other side of the island and saw a
long boat in the harbor getting ready to do a practice run. It is so fun to see all those rowers working
together to propel the boat through the water.
(picture) I can’t believe how
fast and how smooth the boat glides through the water when they are all working
together. There is a lesson to be
learned here – how smoothly things can go when we all work together for the
same purpose.
 |
| Count the number of rowers…. |
The following is our
‘mission miracle’ for the month…
We received an email from
Sister Evans - Elder Evans’ (Teancum Zone Leader) mother. She said there was a
Brother Sasa in their ward whose father, living in American Samoa, was really
sick and in intensive care at the hospital. She wondered if her son and his
companion, Elder Jensen could give him a blessing. She explained that he was not a member of the
Church, but his son, who is a member, was anxious to have his father receive a
priesthood blessing. The elders
 |
| Every rower must be in unison... |
went and
found the man hovering between life and death.
No one from the family was there, but they gave him a blessing and asked
the nurse to let the family know they had been there. Dennis told them they should go back when the
family was there so that they would know of their brother’s request. When they went back to the hospital they
found the bed empty where the man had been.
Because of how sick he had been they assumed that he had died. But the nurse told them that he had been
moved to the ward. Surprised by that
news they proceeded to find his room.
When they got to the door the man looked up and said his two daughters
(who had come from the states to bid their father farewell, and to plan his
funeral), “These are the two young men
that put their hands on my head and healed me!”
When the elders told them
that they had given their father a blessing at the request of their brother
they were very surprised. They said they
didn’t even know that their brother had joined the Mormon Church. The father told the elders that he hadn’t been
able to walk for a long time, but since his blessing he has been able to walk.
A week after the blessing
the father was vacationing with his two daughters on Savaii – walking only with
a cane.
Brother Sasa told Sister
Evans that he hasn’t talked to his father for over 10 years, and they haven’t
seen each other in almost 20 years.
Since that miracle blessing, father and son have reconciled and the son
is planning a trip with his family to visit his father. The father told his son that he wanted him to
come visit and that he wanted to take him to the temple… The door was opened in a miraculous way and
missionaries have contacted the elder Brother Sasa to share the Gospel with
him!
Bread dough wrapped in banana leaves and baked in the coals… It is delicious!
Life is GOOD and part of
what makes it special is our family and friends. We love you all!
