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. 



Elder Pearson's Visit

I have a confession to make. 

There have been times (many times) on my mission when I have felt more like a secretary than a missionary. 

I am a secretary.  And a missionary.

Sometimes, my mission has been more about paper work and phone calls than about teaching and testifying.

That bothers me...a lot.

So, when Elder Pearson, of the Pacific Area Presidency came for a visit, I felt like he was speaking directly to me when he offered the following counsel...

• Don't let work get in the way of ministering.
• Pray for opportunities to be the answer to someone's prayer.
• If you are not actively searching, you won't find...if you aren't looking you won't see.

It was good counsel for me. 

Sinalei Trip with Mission Office Staff

Last week, the office staff enjoyed an evening out, at a very nice resort called Sinalei.

It's a little bit of heaven tucked away on the other side of the island, but only a 45 minute drive via the cross island road.

I enlarged this photo so you could better see the floating flowers. So very pretty!

There were great views of the ocean.
  The next picture shows us on that walkway you see below.

I am with Rachel (left) and Pearl (right) the daughters of President and Sister Leota.  Rachel leaves for her mission in January.  Pearl attends Pesega school here in the mission compound.  These two girls are soooooo much fun! 

A picture of the couples...President and Sister Leata, the Harkers, President and Sister Talataina (she was the interpretor for a recent mission tour with Elder Pearson) us, and the Mariners. 

Dalin (not sure on the spelling) who is taking care of the family home in Australia, surprised his family with a quick visit, so this was the perfect time for a family picture.

More beautiful views...

We attended a fiafia that night.

There was some great dancing.

I'm pretty sure this is operated by an extended family unit and many of its members danced for us.

Everyone's favorite was the fire dancing. 

Happy Thought

Each week in our staff meeting, President Leota has us all share a happy thought.  Last week's happy thought was special...

This is a picture of the first baptism we attended in our Pesega Lua ward last October 16, 2010.  On the right is Sister Nanai with her three sons, standing and kneeling in the front. (Harry,Ofisa and Monte).

And this is the baptism we attended just last week (Oct. 22, 2011).  Brother Nanai has now joined the Church and his oldest son, Monte was able to baptize him!  Two older sons are preparing for baptism as well. And the youngest is waiting to turn eight!

It has been a real joy for me to watch this family becoming a great strength to the ward.  Sister Nanai used to attend my Family History class and there were a couple of times when our spirits just connected with each other.  
 

That was my happy thought for the week!

 Here is a picture of Ruth and her two sons, taken just a few weeks ago at the Primary activity. She was also baptized last year and is the one standing on the left in the first picture.  She, too, is still strong and active.  Her little boys are also active...in and out and over and under...!

As you can see, it took awhile to get the picture!

I am grateful for the wonderful friends we are making in Samoa, especially those in our home ward of Pesega Lua.  They are the best!

Paradise in Savaii...OR....If at first you don't succeed...

This is the second time I am adding captions to these picutrees of our trip to Savaii. 

The first ones disappeared and I pouted for a week before readding them.  Here goes... 

President Leota gave us an "assignment" in Savaii a couple of weeks ago.  I believe it had something to do with "R&R" although we were able to include a mail drop, transporting a missionary across the ferry with us and a few random visits to  missionaries to make me feel better about it.  This is our view from the ferry as we left Upolu.

We were on the small ferry, so our vehicles were top side instead of "underground".  There is Henry on the far left.  We have grown fond of our little blue Hyundi.  He has taken us all over both islands of Upolu and Savaii.  We had him pretty loaded down for this trip, as you can see from the back window.

For a few minutes, I got one of the best seats on the ferry, right in the captain's room.  Being a missionary has its privileges here in Samoa.  We are treated with the greatest respect.  So, when that nice lady on the right offered me a seat, I took it!

At one point, we stopped at a chapel where two zones were meeting to make a transfer.  We decided a priesthood picture was in order.  Elder Merrell and Elder Krogh are on the left and Elder Goulding is on the right, and two of the Savaii zones sandwiched in -between.

The three senior couples spent the night in a beach resort.  Here we are, eating dinner.

The next morning, Mike and I got up early enough to watch the sun come up.  Spectacular.

The next day, we went to the rain forest and walked across a swinging bridge which led to a winding staircase up in a tree...kind of Swiss Family Robinson-like.  For some reason we didn't get any pictures at the top.

But here we are all gathered at the bottom.

As always, there are beautiful views of the ocean to be seen.

We stopped and rented a fale to eat our lunch in and afterwards played a fun game.  The food was delicious and the company was even better.

This is another view of our lunch spot.  We discoverd it was owned and operated by a family of Jehova Witnesses.  They shared their Watch Tower with us and we shared a copy of the Liahon (Ensign) with them.

The next day, we attended church with the Gouldings.  I loved this ward!  It is located within the bounds of the church school in Vaiola, so there were many young students who live there in dormitories.  (young kids, not college age)

Here are some of the housing units that the faculty live in.  They are called palogi houses because they have walls, windows and doors.

This was our return trip home, on the big ferry.  The ride was the roughest one I have ever been on.  I don't get sea-sick, but this made me green behind the gills.  Mike, too.

But, it was a great trip.  Probably our last to Savaii.  It's a beautiful island.

Evening at Aggie Greys

On September 16,  we celebrated three birthdays: mine, Sister Erickson's and the Harkers' daughter-in-law.  Since the Merrells organized the celebration, I got to chose the restaurant.  I had never been to Aggie Grays for dinner and it was a great choice!  It was one of those fill-your-plate-and we- cook-it-for-you buffets.  And it was delicious! 



During the meal, we were entertained by a great band.

And, of course, someone let the cat out of the bag, so we had a personal seranade as well...

After dinner, the Harkers took us on a tour of the hotel.  If any of my kids decide to come and visit before we leave, this might be our hotel of choice for you.  You get a flavor of the culture, with a touch of elegance as well.  (and it's clean!)

We just can't get enough of the beautiful flowers!  These were especially gorgeous that night.

See how close we could get to them!

It was a great way to celebrate by 39th birthday!

P.S.  Thanks for all the wonderful cards, gifts and Internet messages that came from America. I felt very loved indeed.