Not in Kansas anymore...

Well, I am warming up to Hawaii I suppose. Today we swam out to an island (about a quarter of a mile) and snorkeled there and then swam back. I love snokelling, but I don't love salt water in my mouth. We checked into our new house today and I have a room of my own and wireless in my room. I am happy.  I still miss Samoa so much. I keep having to remind myself that I did good there and that it is time to move on and keep doing good. I just wish my time there hadn't been so short. It really did change my life though. It changed my heart, my perspective, and my dreams of the future. I hope I left something there, in exchange for all the wisdom those kids gave me. 

I wonder: Do you think Paul the Apostle cried when he had to leave a city, one that he really loved? I bet he did. I know, if Paul is anything like me, he was sad to leave the believers there, but had confidence that he would see them in Heaven. He had fellowship with them in the Spirit and he kept loving and praying for them even while he was away. I know now why he made three journeys. How could you start a church, or encourage a church, and then stay put and never go back? I don't think I could. 

I will remember for the rest of my life the good friends that I have in Samoa and Lord willing, return there someday. If not, I know I will see my brothers and sisters from Tafuna and Nu'uuli Church in Heaven. I can't wait for that day.

Hawai'i Again

Alright, the last time I wrote to you, I was intensely sad about leaving Samoa. That hasn't changed. But my outlook has. I am believing that now I have done something good in Samoa, but it is time to go on. I am going to remember the good times I had with all of the wonderful people there, but think about where I am too. It is still hard to look at the pictures, but getting easier a little bit at a time. Someday soon I am sure I will be able to see them with only joy in my eyes, forsaking the tears that so easily ensnare me right now. I am trying hard to enjoy Hawaii, but it gets hard when I get tired. It gets hard to hold myself together. 

Yesterday we spent the day driving around and getting acquainted with the area we are going to be in. Then we went to the beach at Waikiki and swam for a while. We came back over to the house with our family for dinner and had some good time with them. We had shrimp and talked theology. It was good for my brain to work again. 

Today we came over to the house this morning and have been chilling by the pool and all that jazz this afternoon. I miss Samoa still but it is better I suppose.

I'll write more when my life is more interesting. 

A Good-bye, a plane, a family, and a tear

I don't know exactly what I put on my last blog...but I will start with Sunday anyway. 

I woke up early and began to pack. I packed up two suitcases and a tub of things. I got so much stuff at then end from saying good-bye to everyone, that I filled another suitcase (other than the one's I had brought). It was pretty ridiculous. I went to church and taught the last lesson with my kids there. I taught about Samuel and even though we didn't have songbooks, we sang anyway. 

Then we had our last church service and I found out that I did have some Samoan songs learned almost completely. But it was fairly sad, but all the kids held it together as we said our good-byes. I went back home and packed some more. Then I loaded my suitcases my borrowed car and drove for the last time to Nu'uuli. 

It was hard, but I stood in the doorway of the church and said goodbye to all the members as they came in for evening church. Most of the girls wouldn't say goodbye to me because they said they were coming to the airport to see me off (a big cultural thing in Samoa).

I then went and took my things to the airport. We waited in line for like an hour and a half to check my bags in because of the line. In Samoa, if anyone in your family (even your mother's cousins sisters girlfriends brother) is working the counter, you can cut in line because you are family. So for those of us with no family...the process is quite long. 

After that I went to Jerry's and ate. I was doing good so far. I knew the hardest goodbyes were to come. 

Then we went to the airport and a lot of the Samoan's from Nu'uuli were there to see me off. We talked and chatted as we got rained on. They were mostly getting really cold (it was still warm-ish by my standards) but they were shivering and pulling their sleeves down. It was really endearing. I was still completely stable. 

When it came time to say goodbye, though, the tears started. John gave me a beautiful bracelet (that I am yet to take off for an extended period of time). And some of the girls gave me earrings, and shell ulas (necklaces). I wore them all the way home. By this point I had started crying. I said long exaggerated goodbyes and started to walk towards security. I looked back and some of my friends were waving, others had turned away (probably crying too). I kept looking back and walking forward (the hardest thing I have ever done). Right before they disappeared from my line of sight, Steven, a kid from my class, and his little sister appeared. I couldn't cross the lines anymore to hug them and I will always remember the feeling of just waving and saying I love you in sign language to them. They looked so sad...

When I did get out of their line of sight, I thought it would get easier, but it didn't. I cried all the way to security and while waiting to board. A nice Christian lady and some soldiers bound for Iraq tried to comfort me (ironic huh?). The lady asked if I had family in Samoa, or if I lived there, trying to figure out why I was upset. I just said that I was leaving friends. And she understood. I talked to the soldiers and they were really nice. They are spending a month in Texas and asked me how it would be there. I hope that they all get to go home safely. When I got on the plane, I sat by a nice girl that immediately went to sleep. I wrote a little and fell asleep watching "Definitely Maybe". It was cute but it didn't capture my attention...

When we landed I went painlessly through customs and immigration. It was really easy, they didn't even open my bags. Then I sat and waited for my mom and uncle and cousin. They got there and we went back to the house. Everyone was waking up and hungry for breakfast and I was the opposite. I tried to sleep and showed my mom some souveniors and passed the day talking about Samoa and missing it dearly. I only cried one time during the day yesterday and that is when I was talking about saying goodbye and Steven and his little sister waving at the gate...

I am trying desperately to enjoy Hawaii but I miss Samoa so much it is a physical pain. It is the worst when I get tired or see something Samoan. I am a spoiled brat because I am in beautiful tropical Hawaii and I honestly think it is ugly compared to my beautiful Samoa. I dream of going back to Samoa but who knows. I want to remember, but I need to move on. 

Please be in serious prayer about my situation and my heart right now. I want to enjoy this time with my family, but I miss the people in Samoa so much that when I think about it it gets hard to breathe...

Sisters

Alright guys. Yesterday was my pretty much last day on the internship. So I am going to write about it in as many details as I can scrounge from my tired brain. I got up and went to Nu'uuli around 10AM. The girls were planning something but it wasn't ready yet. We walked to Tofoi's house and all sat around a tiny table in the little kitchen. Then they started speaking Samoan. And they spoke and spoke and spoke and asked if I understood. I told them absolutely not. They said, "that's okay". And we moved on to the next house. There we sat in an open living room and they talked to an older man. Same story, different house, different parental figure. Then finally, when that was over, we left the house and Ruth told me that everything was going to be alright. I was glad to hear it because I didn't know anything might not be alright. Then the girls all went to their different houses and emerged with food. They loaded into the car I was borrowing and several of them piled in the back seat. We drove to a park, called Lion's park and they got out the food. I took another trip to get more of the girls. 

Once everyone was there, they served the food. It was a great spread for teenage girls: cookies, cake, one sandwich, and red kool-aid. The cake was thick and looked yellow and brown, so upon tasting it I gathered that it was a swirl of milk chocolate and lemon cake. The icing was swirled too. It was actually not that bad. They gave me a piece about the size of Alaska. I am seriously talking a 6 inch square or more. I couldn't eat it all. So I tried the sandwich. Much to my dismay it was an egg sandwich consisting of a soft boiled egg (runny yolk), onions, mayonaise and pepper. It was not really too bad...but I didn't each much of it either. The kool-aid and cookies were good though. 

Then some of the girls went off to play volleyball and we hung around and looked at pictures. I took my laptop to show them some of my pictures of home. They didn't believe that it was me in the pictures. My straight hair and make-up adorned cheeks through them for a loop. One of them asked if Wade was my husband (gasp...sputter...goodness no...he's my brother). It was cute. Another one asked if Collin was my mother. It was really pretty funny.

Then we got together and I gave them the notebook that I have been making for them with all of their pictures in it. They laughed and cried and loved it. They had prepared a song for me too. It was beautiful. I got it on my camera. Then we took pictures in the water and in a tree we climbed. They were surprised I wanted to climb it. 

We sang and played more games and then went back to Nu'uuli. We watched volleyball and they played (it was too intense for me) and the kids were all over me again. Then they had song practice (they sing all the songs for their service saturday night to make sure they are ready and good for Sunday). There was a fight (like punches thrown) at the beginning of song practice and they assured me that was not in the norm. After that, we went and got food and watched a little more volleyball. Then we walked to the front and chilled and talked and played around for about 4 hours. I talked to John for a long time and he asked some very endearing questions such as: "What is the north star? Isn't there lots of stars in the north?"; "Fajitas? What are those. Oh, I tasted Mexican food once."; or "I'm Johnny Blaze. I control fire. What do you control?" I was not ready to go home at 11, but I knew I should so I can get sleep. I won't get to sleep tonight much at all. My flight leaves at 11PM and arrives at 5AM in Hawai'i.

I went home and tried to sleep. I couldn't get the kids and such off of my mind. When I was asleep I dreamed of them and when I was awake I thought of them. When I prayed, I prayed for them and so on. I am going to miss them. I can't believe the summer here is over...It's incredible how quickly time goes. I am now going to get up and pack so that I don't really have to this afternoon too much. I am going to try to go over to Nu'uuli once more to tell the people that I didn't get to tell good-bye good-bye.

Nu'uuli Friday

Man. These people sure do know how to say goodbye...

Today I got up and walked several miles. That is true but there is more to the story than that. I got up and got ready about 8. I tried to start the van that I was supposed to be driving today and it wouldn't start...So I got the rest of the way ready (I was just planning to run a quick errand) and headed off to Nu'uuli around 10. I walked down to the end of our road (maybe half a mile) and then planned to take a bus. I crossed the street and waited for a bus. No buses came. So...I started walking...I walked a good oh, maybe two miles, before I saw a bus. I waved my arms and flailed around like an idiot to try to get them to stop for me. I finally suceeded. I knew that I could not miss that bus. Then I road for about 20 minutes to my destination. You have to knock on the side when you want them to stop and I didn't knock early enough, so I got to walk kind of back to my destination and got there about 10:40 or so.  Did I mention that when the white girl started knocking...all of the Samoans on the bus thought she needed help and started knocking along with me? No, well, now I have. 

When I got to Nu'uuli, I was early, so I walked to get batteries with Ruth's little sister Val. I got them and then walked back to the church. Ruth was still not there, so I grabbed my camera and got some pictures of the village. I was lucky and John was out at the kitchen (sheltered area with fire pit) cooking taro. I caught him right in the nick of time and got some good pictures of him cooking and flailing around a large knife. He was a little bashful about the camera, but warmed up once he knew I was not going to put it away. As to be expected, the kids started gathering around me and wanting their pictures taken too, so I got somewhere around 100 pictures just today. Then I put the camera up and got my journal. I tried to write a little, but the kids gathered again, and it was impossible. 

Then I went into to Tofoi's house and we watched some Samoan dancing and music videos. Around noon Ruth got back and immediately was ready to go shopping. I was later to discover why. We walked a couple of miles to the Lafou Shopping Center (the closest thing to a mall) and I got what I needed. She kept urging me on the way back to "walk like a snail" insisting that American's "walk too fast". I am a thoroughly Texan mosier, so I didn't buy it. We got part of the way back and some of the girls from the church just turned us around again. We went into a little bakery and got some "Hawaiian Pizza Roll" things and a coke. It was actually really good. When we got back to the church, there was a banner hanging over one of the fales that said, "Sharing the love with Kate" They had all signed it and set it up like a party. We had to wait though, because they weren't ready, so I got some more batteries and chilled for a little while longer. I talked to Cialolo, who just adopted her sister's baby and the baby, Gideon, weighs in at 14 lbs. at one month (that is more than I weighed at a year). He is a hefty one!

Then we went inside and they had laid out fine mats and pillows and made Koko rice (very Samoan). They told me to honor my past as a cheerleader, we were going to watch Bring it On 4. It was fun. Then we played some games and did some skits. We played musical chairs, kung-fu, zip zap zop, get in groups of..., killer killer killer, and look down look up. Some Samoan, some American. It was a blast. We did the cha-cha slide too. Finally, after a while, we sat down and had our Bible study. We talked about how it is special to be a woman and how God created us different and how that is good. I really think they liked it. I attempted to teach them, "Mighty God" and they liked it. We will try it again tomorrow and see if they remember it. 

Before I knew it, it was time to go home. Jerry picked me up. I finished a project and uploaded some pictures to facebook. Here I am now...sitting at the table, "Kate-made sweet tea" in hand and facing my last 48 hours in Samoa. How great it is for God to provide comfort padding on both ends of this transition, with lovely wonderful Samoan sisters on one end, and my great amazing loving biological family on the other! I am truly blessed to be in such a sandwich.

I have come to terms and have accepted the call from God to come home. I usually think of a call from God to "go somewhere different" but what I am hearing now is more of a call to "go back home--they need you there too." Praise God for His amazing mercies all throughout this trip!

Nu'uuli Wednesday

Hey, sorry about no posting yesterday. I ended up having a little birthday party for Colleen led by her adorable friend Micah...just kidding about the adorable part any way. It was a let down for both Colleen and myself and the other innocent bystander. We watched the movie Anapolis with James Franco and I promptly fell asleep. We had a good birthday for her though. 

Then this morning I woke up and finish off my homework for my class. I am relieved to have that over with. Then I relaxed until one o'clock and Colleen took me to Nu'uuli to see the kids. She dropped me off and I walked to Ruth's house. We went and gave out some pictures for the kids to see. It was nice. They got really excited to see their pictures. Then we got some kids together and played a game. They tried to teach it to me, but it was hard to run and catch the ball with 3 four-year-olds tugging on your arms and legs. A couple of teen-ish-age guys came out and played and I was then deemed useless because of the kids following me around. 

I went over to the side and they played dodgeball for a little while. Then all the kids got disinterested and came over to me. We sang some VBS songs and they remembered all of them. Then we played a game kind of like ring-around-the-rosie. But it is all in Samoan. They make up games because they have all this time and little supervision. I mean they have enough, but they have a lot of free time on their hands. 

After a while of that, we (the girls) went to the fale infront of the compound and had dance practice. I taught them Savalivali and an electric-slide type line dance. They continued to teach me dances and I continued to fail at doing them properly. We dance for probably 3-4 hours. My arms are absolutely worn out. I can't feel my feet or keep my arms up tonight. I am going to be feeling it tomorrow. 

It is a strange phenomenon: When I am anywhere else, an ie (E.A.) lavalava (sarong) around my jeans feels really funny. But when I am at Nu'uuli, not having one on makes me feel naked. None of the girls will dance with out an ie. I guess it is just a more Samoan place to be and so I feel like I need to conform more. 

After we all danced, they asked me to sing. They all lined up chairs and were like, "Okay, Kate. It's your turn. Sing..." And I said, "What do you want me to sing..." They replied that a ballad from High School Musical would be appropriate, or a medley of Disney movie songs. I sang for them for a little while. Red all the time...Then more people started gathering outside and I stopped singing. They were so cute. They thought that it was really good and I didn't. I mean, a little High School Musical and some Can you feel the love tonight, would have really been enough. They insisted on some Little Mermaid and some other stuff. I was so embarrassed. They deserved it; I had watched them dance all afternoon and they didn't complain. 

I am now responsible to plan out two devos for these same girls, about 13-20 years old. I think we are going to do one on Friday and one on Saturday. I think tomorrow I am going to spend time thinking and praying about what I can tell these girls that they need to hear. 

If you have any ideas, please let me know! I know that God can work in many ways and I know that your opinion would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks for the support and see some of you (my family) soon!

Happy Birthday Colleen!

Picture: Marci, Melinda, and I at their final Sunday at church after the goodbye ceremony.


Today is Colleen Ashley's birthday and you should all know that. She is the daughter, also a sophomore at ACU, of the missionaries that I am now staying with. There are two missionary families at the church that we go to and the wives of the family are sisters. I moved upstair into the Ashley's house on Sunday when the Willis family left with Marci and Melinda. I am on my own here now, but I have been spending every waking moment with Colleen. While the Willis' were here, I spent my time with them, but now I am a part of the Ashley family. It is all sort of confusing to understand. Right now I am working on some homework from my Maymester course. I have to do several projects this summer for that. I was finished with about 80% of the assignments when I got here, but I am finishing them up and putting the polish on them yesterday and today. I hoping to email it in fairly soon. Email is a great thing, but sending in papers and projects all summer long is not. Anyways, back to the story of my life.

Picture: Some of the members of our church, mostly the kids I have been working with.

Yesterday Colleen and I hung out around the house for most of the day. We ran a couple of errands, but mostly stayed home and did homework and wasted time staring out the window. I am reading a book called Captivating and so I read that a little too. Last night we went out for Colleen's birthday and I got some steak. After 6 weeks of very little beef, it tasted fantastic! I was so excited to have a potato and steak, I could hardly hold it in. I am glad I decided to indulge. Then we came back and both fell asleep watching the first Harry Potter movie. We are planning on finishing that movie after lunch. I think I am going to take Colleen out for lunch after we run errands here in a little while. I did laundry yesterday for what might be the last time. I don't want to take dirty clothes to Hawai'i, so I am trying to get it all done here. 

I have been talking to Ruth about the end of this week and I think I am going to go out to Nu'uuli Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday to have a Bible study and chill with them. I am going to miss the teens there a lot. They are so fascinated by my blue eyes it absolutely cracks them up. 

Picture: Fae and her baby Angel. She had her Wednesday night almost a week ago. She was 3 days old in this picture! 

Well, I guess this is how you vacation in paradise (minus the homework). I hope everyone is doing well. Please don't think that I am being too lazy; after all, my internship was technically over Sunday night. 

Love from the middle of Pacific Ocean, 

Kate

Dance Dance Palagi Revolution

Here are a video I thought you might enjoy seeing!

Is it that time already?

This week has been filled with really and truly great authentic Samoan adventures and making of relationships that are going to be hard to let go. Yesterday we spent all morning at Nu'uuli with Ruth playing volleyball for the Good Samaritans. If you know me at all, you know that my athletic ability is comperable to that of a four-year-old. Having said that, I had fun playing and the Samoans had fun laughing at/with me. We had a great time. Lynn, Ruth, John, Simon, and countless other Nu'uuli Samoans have made this week so special. I will not soon forget them. Then in the afternoon we chilled and went over to Fae and Tasi's house. They had their baby. She is a little 6 lb. 5 oz. little girl named Angel. And she is one, let me tell you. She is so tiny and beautiful. She was just born on Wednesday morning at midnight (she couldn't decide when she wanted her birthday to be). Then we went upstairs for dinner with everyone. 

After dinner, Colleen took us out for one last hurrah and we went to a haunted old girls school. Upon arrival, we were asked to leave the premises and we played helpless tourists looking for Sliding Rock (on the other side of the islands). We played our cards right and no one got hurt. Then we went to KS Mart and the movie rental place. We decided to give Colleen a "Middle School" themed birthday party. We rented Sleep Over and talked about everything a good middle school would talk about and even did a prank call. It was a lot of fun. We chilled with her and then went to bed. Oh yeah, our middle school names were Reny (Rainy- Colleen), Clowdie (Cloudy-- Melinda), Storql (Stormy-- me), and Apel (Apple-- Marci). We decided a good middle schooler would have code names. 

Today at church, it was really emotional. I have one week left, but Marci and Melinda leave today. They did another good-bye ceremony with gifts for us and I got like 4,000 more lavalavas. I actually did tear up a bit even though it is not my last week. I am going to be a basketcase next week. The bad thing was they had the kids in my class give us the gifts and then we took more pictures and everyone was teary by the end. They sang some very sentimental songs too.

This afternoon I am packing to move upstairs for my final week here. I am trying to weigh everything out and I think that I am going to have to deflate Wilson (my volleyball) and ship some stuff home too. While I am packing, I am listening to some Samoan songs and it is making my teary again. I miss my family a lot, so I want to see them; but, I love my island and mostly my islanders. I think that it makes it harder basically knowing that I may (probably) never see this island or these people again. It makes little sense to become so attached. I am trying hard to get used to the ebb and flow of life and people in our lives, but that doesn't make saying good-bye any easier. 

I am finding out that I am more attached to everything in my life than I would like to think I am. I am discovering how much I will miss people all the time, no matter where I am. Getting on that plane will with out a doubt be the most bittersweet thing I have ever done. Now before I start crying again, I am going to get off and keep packing. I am making it my goal to remember where I've been and look were I am going, but mostly to be wherever I am.

Is life allowed to be this good?

Last night was absolutely a blast. We went to the little village to "help" with the umu. They didn't kill the pig in front of us but they did have us do most everything hands-on. We washed our hands and got right to work squeezing out the coconut cream from the meat (not the juice inside). And then we pealed some green bananas (they are a different kind, so you have to peal them with a little tool). Then we "helped" scrape the breadfruit. It was like pealing a giant potato with a sharp can lid. It was a little scary but we got it done. Then we helped make the palesami. What you do is take a banana leaf and put it in the fire for a minute and then take a ripe taro leaf and fold it into a little green cup. Then you take the coconut cream stuff that you squeezed out and you ladle it into the green cup. Then you wrap it up and seal it with the banana leaf. Then you put the bread fruit leaf around the whole thing (that now looks like a ball) and fold all the little arms in and seal it by tucking the stem around one of the mid-ribs. It was really fun and I don't think we did it too badly. You can replace the coconut and banana leaves with tin foil too. But Tia (one of our elders at church and umu teacher) wouldn't let us get away with the tin foil. Then we husked coconut by driving them onto an iron pike thing (a little scary). We had some more coco Samoa (like coffee but with coco). Then I was chosen to help the boys with the fire and so I got to be suffocated by smoke as I threw the lava rocks into the fire. Then they got the coconut scraper out and we got to do that. I scraped a whole coconut but Tia said that was because I was dedicated not talented. It was like a sharp spoon thing nailed to a bench that you sat on. See Pictures. After that we tried a ripe coco bean and it tasted like lemon. It was kinda good but definitely not chocolate. Salvation (one of my kids in my class) taught Melinda a SaSa (sit down dance with coconut shells, which we had helped scrape). I watched them seal the umu by throwing all the food onto the lava rocks, putting more hot glowing lava rocks on top and then putting like a million banana leaves (huge ones) on top. In the end all of the heat is sealed inside and the food cooks like it's in an oven.

Then we went home and got ready for the night. We got into our puletasis and dressed up a little bit. We went to the lectureship and that was all fine and dandy. We had to dance after that and my stomach was in knots. I think we did okay though,

 despite the fact that one of the pastors put a ula (Hawaiian le

i) around my neck that was REALLY itchy. We danced anyway and had a good time (once it was over). The guys did a SaSa and the girls did a dance that they had tried to teach us. They are just so much more graceful than we were. Then Luao called us up to the front and all of the guys that had danced (younger guys, about age 17-25) came and gave us gifts and kissed us on the cheek. There were lots of cheers and laughter from the Samoans. We were so caught of guard that Melinda was the only one that could speak. I got like 7 lavalavas, a tiny figurine fale, a necklace, another sei (hair 

flower), and earrings to match. One of the guys brought me a chair to put all of my stuff in. He started folding my lavalavas for me. His name is John. We met him when we played volleyball the

 other day. When I grabbed a lavalava and started folding it, he asked, "Do you know how?" I said, "Yes, I

 guess so." He said, "Ohhh OK!" with a really adorable look on his face that seemed to say he was surprized I wanted to help fold my own gifts. We chilled for a little while and took lots of pictures. We came home and watched the beginning on "Independence Day" to commemorate the Fourth. 

It was a great day!

Love from Am Sam~

The pictures (in order): 

Me about to dance (posing for Ruth)

Husking the coconut on the pike thing

Our little posse!

Pealing Breadfruit

My coconut I husked

Tearing out the mid-rib

John and I after we both had danced and folded my lavalavas.

Poor Father Abraham!

I thought that people who read my blog knew me pretty well, but never mind that! Father Abraham is my ALL time favorite song to sing. Lord's Army and Baby Shark are a close second, but Abraham takes the cake on that one. 

Anyways, I was so tired last night that I neglected to write on my blog. But we had another full and fun day yesterday. We woke up and I made myself and omelette. It was magically delicious. Then we loaded up and headed to VBS. The ground under the tent was still wet, so Colleen brought large mats for them to sit on. That worked  fairly well, until it started raining and the mats got wet too. The kids were so cute. When they went to sit on the mat, they took there little shoes off and we had an enormous pile of slippers (flip-flops) on the side of the mat. The Samoans are very respectful of things that like that; it is ingrained into them from a very young age. 

We talked about Gentleness and Kindness yesterday and it went fairly well.  I am learning how hard it is to get kids to be calm when you can't get them sitting down. We were told by the pastor of Nu'u Uli that we were being too loud during our game of sheep tag. So, we had to sing for another 30 minutes at the end because we couldn't play our game. That was too bad. I was sad about that because the game was really fun and the kids were running around and it was alright with us. 

After VBS, we went to a Korean restaurant and I had some lo mein that was really good. Then we went home and I fell asleep for about 2 hours. I napped for too long though because I didn't want to get up at all.

We went to lectureship that night and heard more about the importance of being under the 2nd covenant of God instead of the 1st. It was interesting. We came home and everyone came to our apartment for taco soup. Danielle left on the plane last night, so Danna and David left to see her off and we went up-stairs for our last dance lesson. We are performing tonight...that will be very interesting. 

Today is not the same old game plan: We are going to VBS and then we are going up to a little tiny village to watch one of our members cook an umu(umu is the style of cooking). It is cooked in the ground and has taro, bananas, bread fruit and a pig. It is going to be fun. I hope they don't kill the pig in front of us. 

Then we are coming home and getting ready for the little fiafia night after lectureship. There is one other group that is performing; but, I don't know who they are. 

More about the rest of my stuff later on!

Love from AmSam!

Full Full Day and a Little Tragedy!

Today was by far the longest day that I have had since I have been here. It started with waking up extra early, about 7:30, to get ready and have time to call my brother for his birthday. We talked for about 10 minutes and then my phone went out and did not turn back on until, well, I didn't try before I left, but I presume it is working now. Anyways, we went to VBS and had a great day. It had rained over there all night, so the pavement under the tent was completely wet. The kids didn't want to sit down (I can't blame them; I didn't either) and so it was hard to get them calm enough for a story. We talked about patience and faithfulness. Colleen was Ruth and Marci was Naomi and it was great. We did a couple of crafts that I thought went really well, until Salvation showed me he used a nail for his clock center thing instead of gluing them on. No one got hurt, so I guess it was alright. We tried to do relay thing for faithfulness, but that didn't go too well, and the little ones on my team ended up in tears and having to be rescued from the fury of the game. Sulu and I had to take a couple of minutes before she was ready to go back under the tent. 

After VBS, we ended up staying in Nu'u Uli for the afternoon to play volleyball. I am so glad that we did. We went to two Samoan houses and got to see the culture in action. The kids were walking on the roofs, lighting long sticks on fire and running about with nothing better to do. It was scary, but the parents weren't concerned, so neither were we. We changed clothes and started playing with a couple of kids. Before we knew it, there were like 30 people all wanting to play. They also stopped rotating spots, so if you were on the front row, you were there permanently. I didn't like that so much. It started raining, so they pulled us off the court, but resumed play in the rain. We insisted we didn't mind getting wet, but about 10 minutes later, after playing in the pouring rain, I was glad to get under a little shelter to dry off. 

Then we changed back into our jeans (not easy when you are wet by the way) and Ruth (from last night) gave us lavalavas to dance in. We went to what we thought was the girls dance practice for an upcoming meeting thing, but it ended up as the girls teaching us a dance and laughing as we did it wrong. I got to hold the baby Gideon Luke again and he was such a good baby. We kept dancing and we got pretty good though, but then Ruth sent us back to her house because the pastor, her father, had bought us McDonald's for lunch and had it waiting there for us. This is the tragic part of the event for me though. I decided to stop drinking "dark colored" sodas last March(2007) and hadn't had one in over a year, but today Luao had gotten us all Coca-Colas and I wasn't in the position to refuse it. I drank it and I have to admit, it tasted really good. I was sad to break my streak, but at the same time, it wasn't really my fault either. 

After that, we went back to the little fale and danced more. We did the chacha slide with them and I taught a couple of the girls how to salsa (very hard without partners) and they loved it. Then we kept dancing for about another 3 hours non-stop and were completely worn out by the time we got around to the evening lectures. 

We went to the church for those and hung around a little bit afterwards. We beat Danna and David home, so we couldn't get into our house first thing. I really just wanted a bed and a bathroom, but I had to wait another  30 minutes.

Today was one of the very best days of my life. I had a blast with the girls and I think they had fun too. Ruth and I put the dance we learned to "Testify to Love" by Avalon and it totally worked. She is seriously like a Samoan me. She is precious. We are for sure going to work on that dance so that we can both show our friends our other side. I am going to have to get Marci and Melinda to record it for me to show all of you. 

I am coming closer to connecting with the Samoan inside of me. I feel like I have been sworn in now. I even wore my lavalava(on top of my jeans) to church tonight (very Samoan thing to do).

Thanks for reading and more later!

The Joy of Puppets and the Peace of Parachutes!

Today was the second day of VBS and it went great! We got there just in time for the herd and started singing immediately. We learned "Baby Shark" and then sat down for the first story. We did "joy" first today and talked about Paul and Silas praising God in jail. Melinda was Silas and I was Paul. We had a tiny little puppet stage and the kids could totally see us, but they loved it anyway. I think we lost our place on the script like 14 times, but they totally rolled with it. They laughed and laughed when the puppets sang "I got the joy joy joy joy..." and my mixture of a Texan-New Yorker accent gave Paul a flair that I am just not to sure the real Paul had. The kids loved it. Then we did a craft and split up into groups. We then gave them raisins to make a hapy face with on a plate and I was sorry to see that some kids thought that raisins were just as gross as I think they are, so they went without snack. (I would have too). We then taught them how to make a rainstorm with their hands and feet and used that in the story of Jesus calming the storm for peace. They had a lot of fun with that. After that, we split back up into our groups and did the other craft. We used crazy scissors and little Dora (age 3-4) in my group had quite a hard time cutting with them, but drew some really good rain. Lisone and Matthew (also in my group) had a hard time sharing, but I think we are all still friends. Then we did the parachute to talk about the rain storm. One little girl (age 3) was scared of the parachute and I can't blame her. It was over her head and 50 kids around one parachute gets a little crazy...I held her during it and she was much happier then. We watched and Ruth took our picture. I'll put that up when Ruth emails it to me. Little Rachel does not speak any English at all, but the fear and then contentment was communicated through her larger-than-life brown eyes. After all of that, we handed out their crafts for the day and let them go. Most of the kids live in the little community behind the church, so they just walked to their house, but our Tafuna kids found their parents at the church building. As we were gathering everything up, one of the older girls walked out with a new baby. The little boy, about 4-6 weeks old, was sooooo precious. His name is Gideon Luke and he is the pastor of the Nu'uUli church's new son. 

This is one Samoan culture thing I can't wrap my brain around. You can ask for your sibling's kid. Cialolo, the pastor's wife, didn't have any children of her own, so they asked her pregnant sister for the baby, and the sister pretty much had to give it to her. I mean it is not polite to ask for a first born but the sense of family possessions goes all the way down to kids. For example, if Wade got married and had a couple of kids, and I got married but didn't want to get pregnant I could ask my sister-in-law for her baby and she would pretty much have to give it to me. Family is so important here. Did I mention that Cialolo's sister lives in Samoa (not American Samoa)? Well, anyways, Luke was precious and it was a lot of fun to get to hold him.

This afternoon we went back home and I got a nap. It was great. I slept for about 45 minutes and then went to the night lecture. It was interesting tonight. There was a little kitten outside crying the whole time so that was rather distracting. Then we went to Danielle's apartment with two girls that we met, Katie and Ruth, and played Harry Potter Scene It! Colleen and I dominated and won with the answer "Hermione Granger". That was fun. We ate frozen food and felt like college kids. Ruth and I have decided that she is my Samoan half and I am her palagi half. She is so funny and laughs at everything I do. Colleen and I shouldn't have been on the same team for the game, we knew we would win, but we did anyway. 

I am happy to report that the use of raisins for the snack eliminated the jam hands problem for now. 

Love from AmSam, 

Kate

Kool-Aid Paint, Off-Brand Fruit Loops, and Jam Hands

VBS has now officially started! It was quite a morning too. We left about 9:15 (it started at 9:30) and got there in time to catch our breath before a herd of about 45 kids ages 1-14 came running after us babbling loudly in Samoan. We started off with some VBS songs in Samoan and English and sang for quite a while. They really enjoyed our songs and we skipped our first lesson because they wanted to keep singing. Then we split them up into two groups and had one go over to make fruit loop necklaces and another group paint with kool-aid. Marci, Melinda, and Colleen got them started with the necklaces and Danielle and myself we lucky enough to be elected as the paint-coordinators. Try as we may, the colors and flavors got mixed up and almost everything ended up red. I HATE fruit punch kool-aid! But anyways, when the younger ones were nearly soaked and licking their hands to find that this was the kind without sugar, we switched groups and I got to help the kids write their names on their newly found fruit loop name tag necklaces. Some of the kids bought into stringing up the fruit loops before eating them; some of them did not. After we had all of the names written (not pronounced, just written). We (the teachers) got up and did a skit of Jesus loves the little children. My daughter, Colleen Ashley wanted to go see Jesus Marci, but Disciple Melinda wouldn't let her. Colleen started crying and then we had a group hug with Jesus. It was great. Then we let the kids do the skit and the younger group (Colleen's group: 8 kids under age 8) all tackled each other at the end. None of her kids spoke English at all really. I was fortunate enough to get all like 4th-7th graders and they were great. They did good and no one even got hurt in mine. Did I mention I had only 2 girls? Well, it was great anyway. I think that they learned that Jesus loves them. 

Then we made frames out of popsicle sticks and they all fell apart (Marci and Melinda spent their afternoon gluing the pictures in and trying to match names with faces). We got it done though. We had about 4 more kids than we expected, so the older ones (8th grade) had to have a little (3 year old) partner to do the activities with. We are not going to have the 1 and 2 year olds tomorrow. The age limit was supposed to be 3, but they came anyway. It was fun though all in all. 

I am completely exhausted and have a lecture to go to tonight. It may prove hard to not fall asleep. I might try to get a power nap in here in the next hour before we leave. It is almost unbearably hot today; I hope there is a breeze tonight. 

Oh, I didn't mention jam hands. Have you ever noticed that when you are around kids, hands get sticky. There can be no jam in the house and they will get sticky. Then yours are sticky and no matter how many times you wash yours or their hands...they are still sticky? Well, I have jam hands right now and if you know me at all, I like clean fingers. I think it was the kool-aid paint... 

That was the coolest craft though and I would recommend it to anyone! All you do is get the little kool-aid packet and put about a third a cup of water in it and paint with it. It makes really bright colors and smells like fruit *hence the reason we did it*. Anyways...

This is JAM FINGERS signing off!

Siva Siva! Pati Pati!

Dance Dance? Clap Clap! (translation of the words in the title) 

Yesterday was a day of blissful relaxation. Not totally though. We got up and chilled for a while and then we picked up the girls Liga and Mausaliga for lunch. We went to KFC and had chicken for lunch. In Samoa there is a very interesting phenomenon about the delivery of food. When a meal is ready, they bring it out. If the food is not ready, they do not bring it out. No matter how many people you are with or how many meals were ordered. They bring it out, meal by meal. I might receive my fish and chips immediately after I order, but you might not receive your ramen noodles for an hour and a half, even though we ordered together. I assume  that this makes a date a really interesting thing. Girls, can you imagine receiving your food an hour before your date's hamburger arrived? I can't. I think that would be really awkward, but at any rate...we stayed at KFC for like two hours because Melinda and Marci's hot wings were not ready yet. While we were waiting though, we had some good conversation about the schools here and the people and such. We told them about our dancing a siva on Friday and they laughed hysterically... I am a little worried. We talked about school fights and how they all box from third grade on. They have weight classes and only 2-3 of their family members are not undefeated. I think they heard the sliding of plastic on tile as I slide my chair back a couple of feet. 

After we dropped them off, we went up and watched Colleen get a tattoo. That is actually a very Samoan thing. Wilson, the tattoo artist, did a very good job on the Samoan tattoo and now I feel as if I have completed a full course in Samoan culture. I hope I get an A! 

After that we ran through (not literally) Mc Donald's and then watched some guys pay cricket for a few minutes. Then we went to the preview thing of the Pacific Arts Festival that is coming to the island after I leave. We watched an elementary school siva and some others. Then there was a taoaluga (special girl dance) and some knife dancing. It was incredible what these girls did with their knifes. The taoaluga was traditionally danced by the high chief's daughter for special ceremonies and now is danced at most any Samoan performance. The girl is wrapped in a fine mat and she dances alone until family members come up and join her. It is a very beautiful dance and it was neat to see a traditional one done. The Samoan people also like sing their own music as they dance and it is quite beautiful. You see a lot of coconut leaves and oil on the guys and it is really an experience. One of the kids in my class, Salvation, was in the elementary school siva and he did really good. It was really cool to see a kid that I know dancing too. 

After that we went up to Lynn and Mara's house to have some homemade ice cream. Lynn makes his ice cream with Samoan coco and instant coffee and calls it "Samocha". It was really good. Then we went downstairs to Danielle's apartment and watched some more Gilmore Girls. 

This morning I taught my Bible class by starting with a little activity. I gave the kids paper and pens and asked them to draw "God's will". They were surprised at the freedom that I gave them to draw whatever they wanted. At the end we had a list, a tree, a house, and a path. We talked about each of them and it was really cool to hear their insights. The list was like a "To Do List"; the tree was so that there are other ways you can go, but they all fit together; the house was to represent that we live in the will of God and stay there; and the path was like a journey of how you find your way to God. They were so great and creative. We talked about how we need to know what God's will is before we can find it and live it. They were great and it was a much bigger success than last week's lessons. 

Today we are going to finish preparations for the VBS and get that underway tomorrow. My teammates have all gone for Sunday afternoon naps and as I am not tired, I think I will print off some coloring sheets and double check my lists for tomorrow. That is all for now, God bless and talk to you all soon!

Prep-Prep-Preparation!

Today we had a quiet day inside made possible by a nice strong wind and a leak in the sky for a couple of days. I think that the angels go a little crazy here with the sprinklers, but that is just my opinion. I finished one of the books for my Maymester course in Campus Ministry and Wade and I will work on it in Hawai'i. He took the same course as I did (Scary, I know right?!). I did a little more reading and relaxed for what will be my last down day for a while. We are getting increasingly more busy as the days wear on towards VBS. Last night we had a Gilmore Girls marathon and frito pies as we sat down to make the preparation for the VBS snacks and crafts. We went shopping before that and got the supplies and to our dismay, we can't find cotton balls. How are you supposed to make a sheep craft without cotton balls? But we are going to look at the two other possible owners of the cotton today to see if they can help. We are preparing for 40 kids, so we made the following items: 

• 40 sets of jail bars (Paul and Silas praise God in jail--Joy)
• 80 Paul and Silas faces
• 40 potential foam pockets with yarn to sew them together (Ruth and Naomi--Faithfulness)
• 40 bags of exactly 40 off-brand fruit-loops with yarn for a snack/craft (normal fruit of the Spirit)
• 40 cut out boats (Jesus calms the storm--Peace)
• 40 homemade theme name tags with contact paper to protect them
• 40 paper plates dressed up with a verse and numbers to look like a clock (Patience)
• 40 short clock hands out of construction paper
• 40 long clock hands our of construction paper

Needless to say, it took 5 full episodes of Gilmore girls to draw and hand cut all of the things. I have never seen anyone work as diligently as Marci and Melinda battled the stuck together fruit loops, Danielle with the name tags, and I with my clock hands. Turns out the only way to get stuck together off-brand fruit loops apart is to eat the whole thing! Who knew?

Well, today we are going to visit Tasi and Fae, but we don't know how well that is going to work because Fae's baby is due tomorrow. We'll see how she is feeling. David wants to invite her to church: Good intentions, but typical male thinking she could come on her due date and sit in a folding metal chair for 2 hours. We'll also see how that works. They are a precious couple and I am excited to try to see them. 

I'll wait to tell you the rest of the day tonight after the preview to the arts festival thing. 

Thanks for reading and vote in the poll!

Strategy Meeting

We didn't really do that much yesterday, besides plan out all of VBS and make about 27 lists of things that we needed to get/do/find/sing. We started out the day going to the hospital on island, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Tropical Medical Center located just outside of Pago Pago. It was really interesting to have to go to the hospital to pick up a refill prescription. I enjoyed seeing the hospital, but not waiting like an hour for one prescription. That part was a little agonizing. After that we ran some other errands and came home for lunch. We went again to the seamstress to give her a second set of projects (my matching family outfits) and then we came home. After a little Gilmore Girls, we sat down and planned the VBS with Danielle. We had already planned most of it, but Danielle helped us by saying what the kids could or couldn't do or what we couldn't find on island as far as supplies go. Simple things like beads or brads, can't be found here...weird, huh? Well now our plans are properly adjusted and we are going shopping for all of our supplies today. Tonight we are going to put most of it together and get completely ready. 

There is a HUGE arts festival (held only every 4 years) that incorporates artists from all of the islands. It is taking place on Tutuila, American Samoa this year. It starts right after I leave, but there is a preview thing for it on Saturday night that we are going to. It will all be Samoan on Saturday, but that is the culture that we are learning anyway. 

Our lectureship/VBS is this coming week and it is a big deal for the missionaries. We are hoping for about 40 kids. Chances are the ones under school age (about 7) will not speak any English and we will be working with a translator. Please pray for this effort and our participation in it. Thanks for all the love and support and vote in the poll!

And the Winner Is...

The person that voted orange mango on the poll. I like most of the juice that I have tried, but that one was the winner. 

Anyways, today was a day full of visits and saying good-bye. Actually, only one goodbye. David cooked us a good full breakfast of eggs, sausage, and biscuits that turned out mysteriously like scones, but they were good anyway. Then we went and visited with some people about coming to church on Sunday. David wants to get 125 people at church on Sunday and that involves a lot of inviting. Then we visited Petelo for the last time and it was very sad. We took a video of him singing Savalivali with his guitar. He also signed Wilson, my volleyball. It is amazing how inspiring one man can be. He is paralyzed and such a disciple even though he can't do what most people can. He can't even make it to church on Sunday mornings, but he is dedicated to Christ. His daughter Eme (Emmy) was excited to see us an read with us as always. They are such a special family and I am glad to know them. 

This afternoon we got the rest of the VBS planned and made a list of the things that we still need to get and put together before next week. We have our work cut out for us, but we think that it is going to be a success. At least we are praying that it is.  There are 3 congregations involved in this and there will be about 40-50 children attending it. We have them for 2 and a half hours. 

Tonight we went to "church" or class and talked about instrumental music. The group of about 8 people were very brave in their questions and understanding of the answers. No real conclusions were decided, but no feelings were hurt either. It was a very mature discussion and I am glad to have heard it. I didn't necessarily agree with all of the comments made by the introductory video, but it was good to hear. For those of you who don't know, the congregation that I am working with is very conservative and active in seeking the will of God in the best way that they can. I have really enjoyed working with them too far. 

The sights and sounds of Samoa are becoming more like home to me. I will leave you with this question: How did I ever fall asleep without being lulled to sleep by the delicate chirping of the geckos?

Thanks for reading!

"Son of Man!"

As the sun peered in my open window and the clock screamed at me that it was time to get up, I ached at the thought of yesterday. I prepared my mind for the pain I knew was awaiting me as soon as I became aware of it. But it was not there. The pain from yesterday was gone and I was immediately assured that today was a new and better day. 

Sorry, I felt like being artistic for a minute. Needless to say, I am feeling much better today. I think that the twenty-four hour bug was just that and is now gone. I was still careful with what I ate, but I am feeling so much better it is unreal. 

This morning we went and visited with a lady from the church named Gwen. She owns a lot of land and her son and his wife work hard to harvest all of the grapefruit, lemons, limes

, taro, bananas, and coconuts that they have on their little "plantation" type thing. That is how they make their living. They have discovered the true way to Samoan happiness: Let the ground grow you life f

or you. Really, with all the breadfruit and taro and bananas, Samoans don't really have to worry about ever going hungry. Gwen was keeping her grand-daug

hter who w

as just precious and we played with her for a while too. Gwen is a great source of strength 

to the church and Rebecca (wife of the man with Alzheimer's) and it was great to visit more with her. Then we ran errands and got ready for the activity. We were supposed to do a scavenger hunt but it was raining so we had to modify it. When the kids got here, it was st

ill raining, so Marci and Melinda ran and got all the clues and re-hid them in the covered area or inside. I tried to play Apples to Apples with the kids, but that didn't work because they don't speak English that well, so we just drew our favorite animals. When we did t

he scavenger hunt finally, the kids loved it. There were only 4 kids that could come today, Roseta, Emme, Ray, and Steven, but they had fun anyway.

 Each of the clues was a Bible verse reference and the kids had to find the verse, read it aloud, guess which word was the most special, and find the clue where that word was (like, "Knock and the DOOR would be opened unto you" might be taped to the front door). They had a really good time. One time, Ray read a verse and it said something like, "The Son of Man is at the window." Ray immedia

tely yelled out, "SON OF MAN!" as if that was what they were supposed to be looking for a

nd it was HILARIOUS. I said, "Well, yes, but that isn't the word that will lead us to the clue." It was great. He real

ly thought that was it. At the end, the last clue led them to the cake that we had made them that had our memory verse reference spelled out in M&M's. I don't think that the kids liked the cake as much as Marci, Melinda, and I did, but that was okay. 

Then we talked

 about a few verses in Romans and I thought they took it up better than the lesson on Sunday. We then prayed (Ray prayed in Samoan, so I have no idea what we prayed for; we

 could have

  prayed for shiny red volvos for all I know!). Then they taught us Jesus loves the little children in Samoan and we stood up when the color of our shirt was said. (I was wearing a pink shirt, so t

hey just told me to be white [haha!]) We played another game and our time was over. 

We went to Mara and Lynn's for dinner and then out for ice cream with Colleen (Mara and Lynn's daugh

ter) and Danielle (David and Danna's daughter). Then we had another Siva lesson and it didn't go so well for me. Cheerleading made me dance too stiff. I need to learn to be more graceful and flow-y and stand up straight...I am working on it. We will do the siva next Friday, so I hope we are ready. (We will be!)

That is all for today. I would ask that you pray for the kids that came today and the ones that didn't. Send up a special prayer for Brenda, Mua, and Douglas, as they couldn't come because they were babysitting their little siblings and that happens a lot. 

Thanks for all the prayers and support!

Under the Weather

I am sad to report that today was very boring because I have come down with a mysterious illness. It is characterized by harsh stomach aches and lethargic behavior. I basically laid around all day today. We have a tween activity tomorrow and so I needed the rest to feel alright for tomorrow. I am hoping that it was something in the water in Apia or just a 24 hour bug that will be gone when I get up in the morning. 

I am sorry that today was not more interesting. It was a beautiful day and I used some of my time to plan out some stories for the VBS. Better luck tomorrow I hope. 

P.S. Being sick in paradise is NOT fun.

Apia and More!

It would take me years to write about everything that we saw and did in Apia, Western Samoa. We left in the afternoon on a flight that took about 35 minutes. We got there, went through customs, exchanged money, and went to the hotel. We got a little dressed up for the fiafia night at Aggie Grey's Hotel and Restaurant. This was a buffet dinner with a very traditional Samoan Siva (dance show) with it. We were in the front row and it was great. I tried sea weed and sea urchin. They were both not worth tasting a second time. We had pineapple cheesecake (yum!) for dessert and went back to the hotel full and entertained. When we got back Spongebob Squarepants was on about 4 out of the 8 channels we had, so we went to bed. 

The next morning we got up and had a wonderful breakfast at the hotel consisting of eggs, toast, samoan papaya, fruit, hot tea, french toast, pancakes, muffins, the best bacon in the WORLD and more. (Don't worry, I didn't eat all of that, it was just all there for the taking). Then we got a taxi to the Lolomanu beach on the south side of the island. The view from the taxi was amazing. When we were lead to the houses were were to stay in, a dash of fear entered my heart. It was a hut. Three feet off the ground, suppported by wooden poles, with no walls but just plastic sheeting, roofed by coconut leaves and branches: hut. I told my self it would be okay for just one night, and then was able to enjoy myself. When we got there we chilled in the big fale (like an outdoor lobby/mess hall) and then chilled at the beach. We went snorkeling, had lunch (chips and a Sunkist orange soda) and snorkeled again. We went to dinner and met a really great Kiwi (New Zealand) family. We talked with them and then Marci, Melinda, and I played Uno with them. They called it Uno (pronounced "you know") and they all beat all of us (there were four of them). We talked with them for a long time and learned that things are different but the same in some ways there. It was really fun to find idomatic phrases that didn't make sense to them or us. They call there prom a ball and their school year goes from February to December (southern hemisphere's summer is December-February). They were quite nice and we sat by them the next morning at breakfast. 

We slept peacefully under the mosquito nets they provided and woke up to the cool water and warm sand of a perfect day. But after breakfast, we loaded up and went back to Apia. The drive was absolutely stunning. We showered again when we got there (I hate sand now) and then went to the market that afternoon. I was impressed with my gift buying ability and came in FAR under budget, so I went in again and got myself a purse! That night we ate a Giordano's pizza and had a cool fruit drink (non-alcoholic) and yummy pizza. We played Uno well into the night (til about 9:30) and went to bed. We got up and ate another AMAZING breakfast and went to the Robert Louis Stevenson homestead museum. It was really interesting. The Samoan people really respected him and still do. He installed a fire place in two of the rooms, just to make him feel at home. There is ABSOLUTELY no need for a fire place here...take my word. 

Then we walked around Apia and got more pictures. Then we loaded up and went to the airport for another like 3 hours. We got home right in time for David to play golf. After I unpacked, I was exhausted from a filled week. We watched You've Got Mail (one of my all time favorites) and then I read part of a book, "My Samoan Chief" and went to bed. 

This morning at church I wore my puletasi and the Samoans were delighted. They laughed a little, but I am getting used to that. We talked about self-control in church, but, thanks to some distractions, I didn't feel like I got the lesson across very well. Two of my kids didn't make it to church this morning, but we will see them on Tuesday for our LAST, I can't believe it, activity. Next week is lectureship and the Sunday after that, the missionaries and Marci and Melinda leave island. I am waiting to meet my mom in Hawai'i, so I leave a week later.  But this afternoon we hiked to the most amazing waterfall in the world and got to swim in it. We stayed there for a long time just marveling at the beauty of it, but then some other people came, so we got out and left. 

My vacation to Apia was wonderful and the waterfall was beautiful. These next few weeks will be much busier as we attempt to plan all of the activities and execute them (including the area-wide VBS). Please be in prayer that we are able to reach the kids at VBS so that they will remember what we talk about. 

I hope that everyone is doing good! 

Love from AmSam!

You gotta take the Lord with you, children...

Well, this is my last night in American Samoa...for a few days at least. I am leaving on a plane at 3 PM tomorrow for Western Samoa for a little three day vaca with the missionary families. We are going to go some pretty cool places and stay in a hut on the beach one night. I am really excited. 

Today though, we did some more visits and then did the activity with the kids this afternoon. We played kickball, which was a lot of fun. They didn't care to keep score. They just celebrated when their team scored. They let anyone who wanted to pitch and there was not any like singling out of the slower kids or ball hogs or anything. It was great. These kids are so easy to please. Then we got together and did the human knot (team building activity). They thought it was the coolest thing in the world when they got untangled. Then we gave them three scenes to act out about peer pressure. They had a little trouble understanding what the paper said, but once we explained them, they had a great time thinking of idea of how to do it. I was a dog in my scene because we had four people and 3 characters. Steven had a firm grip of my ponytail (leash) and dragged me right along beside him. It was really funny. Then we talked about peer pressure and what things are bad and do not please God. I gave them a memory verse to work on Sunday and half of them had already memorized it. If I said, "Jump!" they would ask, "How high?" and then do it.  They are great kids. Then we taught them the song "You gotta take the Lord with you..." and they LOVED it! They were so excited to learn a song from us. I need to find some others that they don't know and teach it to them. Check out Marci and Melinda's blog for a video of them singing. I didn't have my camera today, but I am getting some pictures from the girls. Brenda, one of the "tweens" wrote us all out a list of Samoan words and phrases to learn. She is so sweet! I need to learn the words just for her.

After the activity, we went and picked up our dresses from the seamstress. They are amazing. I love mine. I'll get some pictures of me in it on Sunday. I am amazed at how quickly this lady works and how professional it all looks. I love it!

Then we had dinner and walked down to a little bush store with Colleen to get some caffeine.  We had another dance lesson and I am happy to report that I am getting better. There is just like an essence of power and yet grace in these dances and it's ridiculous to try to imitate. I am looking forward to getting the video of the siva up on the sight after we do it at lectureship! That will be a crowd pleaser...no doubt.

Well, I need to get in bed to wake up in like 6 and a half hours to have another long, busy day. I guess that's alright though. I mean I am leaving the country tomorrow and all...

Alofa tunoa ia [you] (love/grace to you),

These are the great kids that we work with learning "You gotta take the Lord with you..." 

Arts and Crafts with Pua!

Today we had a very busy day filled with lots of different kinds of activities. We started off the day watching the US Open Finals (yay Tiger!) because it was on "real time" which was morning for us. Most of our television channels runs 2 weeks later than the mainland. Then we went and invited people to the church the week before the lectureship. We visited about 3 different families. Then we went to lunch at the ever popular McDonalds. Then we went to the school and met with Pua, Tia's wife. She first showed us how to print on fabric. 

Then she told us to go outside and pick a leaf or flower for us to draw to make a stencil out of. I picked a little white

 flower called a "pua". That was the flower that Pua was named after. Then I attempted to draw it on cardboard. That didn't work so well, because of my lack of artistic ability, and Pua decided to help. Pua grabbed the cardboard and my picture and proceeded to correct my lack of ability. She did a great job really fast. 

Marci and Melinda picked different flowers and Pua helped them draw too. She then showed me how to do th

e painting and told me what she thought would look good. Little did I know that it would take me about 2 hours to paint the 4 flowers on the bottom of my lavalava. A lavalava is basically a sarong. After I finally got finished painting mine (the others girls were done long before I was and I was the first to start), we did the topa design on mine. Topa is where you put a board with a cut out pattern under your fabric and then paint really gently so you can see the pattern. We went around my flower and it was finally finished. I mentioned that my back hurt to Pua from

leaning over. Pua's mother was sort of a chiropractic/indian doctor for her people and she had taught Pua the methods. She gave me a great Samoan massage and my back did feel better after that. Fofo is the technique that she used. It is a very traditional Samoan healing method used by the Samoans for thousands of years. A very sick person would require two days of treatment, but we just needed one session because we are basically healthy. I don't know about the healing aspect, but it really did make my back feel better. She told me that I had a swollen spinal cord in one region and a little lump in another. The second part I knew, and I suspected the first. Pua is so kind. She taught us so much about Samoa today.

Dana, my missionary's wife, told us that we should perform a siva or Samoan dance at the 3rd Annual South Pacific Lectureship in July. This is what we are planning the VBS for. The Friday night of lectureship each congregation that participates provides little piece of live entertainment. This year, we are it. This should be funny. David thinks that this would really show the Samoans that we are trying hard to learn the culture. I am not too sure about this, but if Colleen will teach us, I know it would be okay. We would wear our semi-matching lavalavas that we made today. This would be very interesting. We will take a lot of pictures.

Sorry but we had a little addition to our day: We went to one of David's friend's houses to pick us some fish that he was giving us. When we got there he gave us like half of a fish. Our half is probably about 3 feet long. The fish is a Wahoo(sp?), the cadillac of tuna. We are going to freeze it and have it after our time in Apia. That is what the gross picture is of.

I hope that everything is going well for you and your families. I am praying for all of you who see this blog.

I Have My Father's Eyes

Happy father's day everyone! Today at church we had a great time. I started out my class by singing and it was great. Class was really short today because the church van carrying 1/3 of my class was rather late. But we sang anyway. Then we read a story about Paul and Silas singing in prison. We talked about how they were joyful even though they were beaten up and thrown in jail. The lesson was about having more to live for because God loves us. It was simple, but well received. When we got into the service, we started off with some songs, in Samoan and English. I think that the Samoan songs were easier today than they were last week, but I still really don't have any understanding. I could recognize some of the words, but I could pronounce almost all of them. I know that it will continue to get easier as the weeks go on. David did an activity that was really interesting. He asked some of the kids to get up and stand in the front. Then he asked the father's of the kids to come up, but not stand by their kid. He asked a visitor that he knew to get up and match the kids to the parents. The man did not know anyone but David and Tia, and none of the kids. He was able to match up Lynn and Colleen, and David and Danielle, but only because they are white. He got some of the Samoans right, but most of them really through him for a loop. David talked about how he could match the ones that looked alike easily. But the ones that looked like the rest of the crowd were harder to get right. He related that to matching us with our Heavenly Father. I thought about it more, as the sermon was translated into Samoan. I thought, I have always been told that I have my father, Dan's, eyes. I have always agreed. I mean blue eyes are blue eyes, but Mom's and Wade's look more similar and my dad's and mine. I thought about the Spiritual application there. Do I have the eyes of my Heavenly Father? Do I work to see the heart of people or do I let myself just look at the surface? I would encourage everyone to give thought to this.

Well, this week is going to be very busy. We are going to visit people tomorrow morning, then going to lunch and to Fiona's with Pua (Tia's wife) to do some Samoan arts and crafts type things, and then hanging out with the high school girls. Tuesday we are going to visit people, do another Tween Activity, and get our puletasi. Then on Wednesday we go to Apia, Western Samoa, for three days and get back Saturday and teach our lessons on Sunday. It is going to be really busy, but all of the work is good and will be fun. I am looking forward to it.

Today we made sugar cookies for David for Father's Day, but I must admit, I am really missing my dad today. I haven't ever been away for a holiday like this. I have another 4 weeks before I go to Hawai'i to meet my family too. I don't mean this to say that I am ruining my time in Samoa missing people, but I do miss my family. I know that I am doing the right thing by being here, but I am seeing that long term missions would mean many more times even more intense than this. I can't imagine missing Christmas, birthdays, or Easter with my family. That is something I have to think about when I say that I want to live out of the US when I am older.

Tonight we are going to have the Bible study with the other palagi (white) Christians and probably get another dance lesson from Colleen. I am going to work on some Maymester homework now and get a little rest for the week ahead.

Thanks for the prayers and support so far. May God bless you and keep you wherever you are.

Bumps, Bruises, Cuts, and Australian Lifeguards

OK, I know I misspelt "cliff" on the video. I wanted to get it up so I went too fast and didn't catch it. I promise to remember the proofreading mistakes I find next time...

Anyway, we went snorkeling today. It was painful too as the title implies, but it was amazing. We saw so many fish, and more coral than you could ever imagine. It was a little rough at Flowerpot Rock, so we went around the island to Tisa's. It was better there, but still a little rough. We swam around and got a little beat up on the coral and the rocks. I'm a little blue and purple tonight, but it's alright; it was worth it. Here was the insight I got:

There are two different feelings or moments when you are out in the water. There are the moments of pure bliss and happiness. You can't believe you eyes. You can't believe you are so lucky to be in this moment. And then the current hits you and you go into "survival mode". You can't hold onto the rock much longer. There is foam in your face and in your snorkel. You wonder if you should do something about your situation, but you can't figure out what. I felt this cycle time and time again today and I decided it is the cycle of my Christian walk. Sometimes, I can't imagine having any more of the Holy Spirit in me. I make insights; I speak to people's hearts. Well, I don't of course, but God speaks through me and I can feel it. Then there are times when I am out of control. I don't feel God; I don't think I am touching people and I can't imagine ever being on that mountain that I just thought I was on. But I left one thing out of the analogy, you can stand up. When we were snorkling today, it was only about 4 feet deep at the deepest point. I can stand up spiritually in those moments to. I can get back to my praying, reading, fasting, and solitude and God can restore me. I don't always do that though, and I need to figure out why. 

After those thoughts, I was snorkeling out past everyone else, leading Marci and Melinda to a really cool spot I had found and Melinda grabbed my leg. She pulled up out of the water and advised that I did the same. We looked to the shore and saw David and our Australian lifeguard calling us in. We walked back to shore and learned that we were in trouble. We had gone too far. Without realizing it, we had put ourselves too close to the breaking waves and rip tides. Oops, I thought as I sat on the sandy beach. But it was okay. We got in just fine and survived the whole ordeal. 

When we had played in the sand and rinsed off a little (not near good enough for me), we got in the van and headed to the other side of the mountains. We drove up a steep incline and then got to the ridge. I could see the Pacific north and south of the island. There was no way to photograph it but it was too cool. Then we went down the other side and to the national park over there. We went on a jungle trail and ended up getting some really good pictures. We ate a Carl's Jr. on our way home and then showered for like 30 minutes to get the sand off. There is still sand everywhere and thus the second insight: 

I wish that Christianity was more like sand and church was like the beach. When you go to the beach, you get covered in sand. Everyone does. It is inevitable. However much you try to stay out of it, it is like jam and small children. They get the jam on their hands and it is sticky everywhere, but that is beside the point. And then you go home from the beach and you take it with you. Every vehicle you drive in every person you encounter and touch, is left with the sand. I think that perhaps we are too quick to "rinse off" after our time with our Church. We don't want to be bothered by the "sand" and so we try to get it off and leave it in the bottom of our shower. The analogy ends there, but all that just to say, I wish Christianity was more like sand.

 I do love comments and emails [wink, wink]...

Painfully Plucked Pineapple Proves Perfect

Yesterday was, as anticipated, a quieter day for us. We started the day off with a bowl of ceral, Honey Nut Cheerios if you must know. I then drove to the mechanic, following David to drop off our van to get fixed. It was making a really interesting noise. Then we went to the Pacific Island Cable company to put an ad on T.V. for the Annual South Pacific Lectureship that we are going to have in a few weeks. We are in charge of the VBS/Children's class for the week. We have 2 and a half hours to fill for 5 days in a row. We are going along with the adult theme of the fruits of the Spirit. We are working hard to get that planned before we "leave island" on Wednesday. I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but we are going to Apia, Western Samoa, next Wednesday until next Saturday. We are going to see giant clams, visit Robert Lewis Stevenson's house (author of Dr. Jekel and Mr. Hyde, Treasure Island, etc.), snokel, stay in an open air fale (house) on the beach and see the site of yet another country. I am really excited about that. David says that I will never look at the beach the same ever again. It is supposed to be even more untouched, sandy, and beautiful. I can't imagine a place much more beautiful than our island. 

We are starting to work hard on inviting people to the lectureship and to church the week before lectureship. Tia, one of the elders, is very busy with visitors on the island, but he has invited me to email him and come to his forest preservation office and kind of shadow him. This would be a really cool way to look at the island from a biologist's perspective. 

Today we are trying to go snorkeling, but it might rain on us again. We are going to see. I am looking forward to spending some time outside today because we spend most of yesterday planning things for our classes and VBS inside. We spent last night with David and Danna's daughter that lives next door having a girl's night. We made chocolate chip waffles and brownies. We danced off the calories playing Dance Dance Revolution and singing karyoke. Then we watched Gilmore Girls (no, I wasn't in charge of the entertainment, we all helped plan). It was a lot of fun and a little crazy. I think all dinners should involve chocolate in at least two ways. That was amazing. Anyway, more on chocolate later...

I hope that everything is well with you. I am praying for all of you who read my blog and I continue to ask for prayers for my missionaries, the kids we are working with, and the people of this island that are so genuinely Christian. It's not pretend and it's not easy, but they do it anyway.

Love from AMSAM!

Pictures!

Here are some more pictures that I stole from Marci and Melinda's blog. Three with plants are of the garden we went to and the two with children are our tween activity that we did. From left to right: Marci, Joe, Douglas, Brenda(back), Ray (front), Kate (me), Roseta (front), Mua (back), Steven (back), Salvation (front), Melinda. The bananas do grow upside down like that...I am guessing it is because we are south of the equator, but I could be wrong...(joke). More pictures to come!

Plucking Pineapples Proves Painful -or- Tautalatala *too much talk*

Hello everyone! I hope that you are all well and good and that you are finding your summer satisfactory thus far. Today was a very full day and I am quite tired actually for one of the first times since I have been here, besides the time change adjustment. We started off our day quite early with a McDonald's breakfast sandwich and the decisions by my coconspirators, I mean teammates, that today should be "Surprise Day!" We decided not to let David tell us where we were going at all today so that there would be mystery and intrigue and guessing involved all day long. We started off by picking up and dropping off brochures, very exciting and then drove again toward our house. This was merely a deception though as we missed the turn-off for our driveway and kept going on past the house. A couple of coconut moves down the road (This is where a coconut is obstructing the path and the driving assistant (front seat passenger) gets to get out and chunk the coconut into the nearest neighbor's yard. It is very exciting.) we arrived at a house with a large yard. We got out and just as we turned the corner, and passed the shack on the right, we were in the most amazing vegetable garden I have ever or may ever see. There was cabbage, papaya, sugar cane, cucumbers, green onion, tomato, beans, taro, bananas, and coconut but the surprises were not over. In the front, Fae and Tasi (the caretakers of the house and garden) led us past a beautiful flower garden to the front garden were the most deadliest of all plants lived. You guessed it: Pineapple. There were little green baby ones and big ripe yellow ones. It was incredible. If you don't know how pineapple grow, you should look it up. Marci and Melinda got a picture. It is like this razor sharp circle of serrated green knives offers it up to the sky and the stalk is attached only to the bottom of the fruit part. If you have ever cut a pineapple, you know that you must be careful or you will get poked or stabbed by the top leaves. You have NO idea what the long leaves out the side of the plant can do to your legs. As I wove my way around the plants very delicately, it wasn't probably 30 seconds before I was bleeding. It hurt, but boy was it worth it. You could smell the pineapple from feet away. (If you know me well, you know that pineapple has lately been giving me funny reactions, but this was too good to miss out on.) We are having the pineapple that Tasi gave us for breakfast tomorrow morning. I can hardly wait (granted that my leg wounds, battle scars if you will, heal soon).  Did I mention that the lady in this story, Fae is 8 and a half months pregnant? No? Well, now you know. Her first baby, a little girl, is due this month. Maybe we will get to visit them after she is born. All of there family is in mainland China too.

We then went to Patelo's house for the reading of the Bible and his wife and daughter were there. He and his daughter are great singers and song writers and he had his 9-year-old daughter record the song that he had written for a funeral on a tape recorder while we were there. It was beautiful and those who understood what she was saying (it was all in Samoan) were in tears by the end of the song. The little girl, Emmy, is just precious. Patelo has David come every Wednesday and translate a paragraph or two of Scripture back into English from Samoan. Patelo recently picked Revelation to re-translate. This week we had Bibles and we read the Samoan and English with them. I sat by Emmy and she shared her Samoan Bible as I shared my English one. It was a really cool experience. We are getting better at reading Samoan, although we still don't know what we are saying. It is like the Let's Start Talking program, but reversed. We sang Patelo our Samoan song, Savalivali, and he wants us to record that for him next week. More about Patelo later.

This afternoon, after lunch, we went and did water aerobics at the pool. There was a swim lesson in progress for a bunch of Kiwi (New Zealand) stundents, so although we had to stay at the side of the pool, we got to listen to their AWESOME accents. The little Kiwi kids are so cute. 

Tonight we had only two other people come to church besides the missionaries and Marci and Melinda. We tackled, or attempted to tackle, the question of suffering in the world and why God doesn't do anything to stop it. Rebecca, the only Samoan that came, had some great insight and yet some great questions about it. She deserves to though, she has taken care of her husband, 24 hours a day for the past 3 years. Her husband, Eric, is in the first stages of Alzheimer's disease. He is at the stage where he looks fine and healthy, but he might wonder off or get really impatient. Rebecca is such a sweet lady and she loves to come to church because it is her escape from the stress of taking care of her husband. Did I mention that she is a breast cancer survivor and suffers from Diabetes as well? No? Well, now you know. Please pray for Rebecca as she is in need of a lot of patience to take care of the failing health of the man she loves. If there is someone who knows suffering, it is Rebecca, and she still loves God and loves her church family. 

 

Thanks for reading. I would make it shorter, but every part of today was just too special for me. Less might happen tomorrow...