And the last shall be first!

Yesterday, it was Thursday in Samoa.

"December 29"

Today it is Saturday.

"December 31"

At least for part of our mission!  In American Samoa, it is Friday.  

Here's a link that Meagan sent, that explains why.

 http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/world/53196875-68/samoa-tokelau-zealand-date.html.csp

(I'll give you the short version...   The International Dateline has change)

I am curious to see what time it will say that I posted this.  It is now

4:17 on Dec 31.  

Ward Christmas Social 2011!

I posted this earlier with captions.  Took me a long time, too.  But something happened and the captions did not end up on the final post.  (As I recall now, I had to exit out of things twice, and I dutifully saved things each time, which probably explains where the captions went.  That Murphey's Law thing is still going on with me and computers.)   I have pouted long enough...time to move on.

These are some pictures of our ward Christmas dance.  One of the things that has intrigued us is the way everyone dances with everyone else.  It doesn't matter who is married to who, whose child or parent you belong to, or whether you are young, old, male or female.  These people simply love to dance!

Not a single one of these couples is married to their dance partner! 

This is Brother Kaio (we called him Cowboy Boots until we could remember his name) dancing with Sister Joseph's mother.  She is active in another church, but she is very supportive of her daughter and bishop-son-in-law.  We love her a lot.  She is often the life of the party.

Some cute little kids dancing.  Mike says he didn't notice the little boy when he was filming or he would have included him a little more.  That little guy had great rhythm!

Interspersed among the dancing are quick talent performances. 

Don't you just love these fans! 

And here's a story that shows you the culture of the Samoan people.   In this footage, you will see a stroller with a child sleeping in it.  The stroller actually belongs to the mother who is holding her child in her lap, struggling to help him get comfortable.  Shortly after she arrived, she took her child out of the stroller to let him down for a minute.  Within a few minutes, the stroller was "loaned" to the first woman (who, is not the child's mother, but his aunt) by another woman.   They don't hoard stuff here.  If something is not being used, it's open season for someone who needs it. 

I think Brother Burgess was asked to dance every dance.  His wife was content to sit and watch.  (She, by the way, is the aunt in the previous story, so she had a good excuse)

Lots of fun for everyone!

Paradise With Our Family

We recently had the most enjoyable visit from two of our daughters, Annie and Sasha.  Annie brought along Ramsi Lin, the granddaughter I had not yet held in my arms. 

It was pure heaven.   

It is true that we are live on a tropical paradise, but all its beauty could not compare with being with my girls. 

Annie has also blogged about this.  I wish I knew how to do the link thing.  But, instead, I'll just say, go to:  russanniesquire.blogspot.com and check out her December 11-12-13-14-and 15 posts.  Really.  You will be so glad you did.  They are wonderful posts.  Much better than what follows here.  But, here goes...

Here they are, just getting off the plane.  That's Annie and Ramsi in front and Sasha right behind them.

Ramsi was all smiles until I tried putting the second ula around her neck. 

As you can see, she quickly forgave me and was all smiles for her newly met grandma.

She looks pretty comfy in her pink lava lava being held by Sister Toala.  Sister Etuale (they are sisters) is sitting right next to them.

There are beautiful waterfalls on all the islands.  We visited this one. 

Another beautiful view with my beautiful daughters.

Samoa is a florist's dream.

This was right outside our beachfront fale.

All three of us bought cute sundresses to wear.

Here we are, waiting for dinner.  The mosquitoes had us for dinner before ours came.  Do I look like I am feeling a little queasy?  I was.  It was a long night for Sister Merrell.  I'm glad I wasn't contagious...I just wish I had chosen the chicken for lunch instead of the fish.

Look at these great shells we found in the ocean. 

A view of the market.  This part was mostly fruits and veggies.  The handcrafts section is towards the back.

Here's Ramsi and me feeding the chickens.

Here we are at High Tea at the Plantation House.  I was still so sick when it was time to go, but I decided to venture out.  Good company and herbal tea was the best medicine I could have taken.  I'm so glad I went.

The girls' last night here, we went to a fiafia at Aggie Grey's.  It was a fun last night.

After the girls left, I discovered that my flashdrive with all my mision pictures had gotten a virus.  I was just sick!  And our computer tech guys were out of town.  Fortuantely for me, when Sam returned, he worked his magic and got my pictures back.  Watch on my facebook page for a more complete album.