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