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.