We have arrived

 Talofa!

That's the extent of my Samoan language speaking so far, haha. It means Hello I'm working on it a little but I'm struggling to remember anything I'm told because I'm being bombarded with so much information!! And everyone seems to want to speak to us in English anyway so that' a good thing. Hopefully I can pick up some basic words eventually.  

We've been here for 8 days now and we are getting accustomed to senior missionary life.  We were so tired after our long flight, but last week was one of the busiest weeks ever for the mission, so we really didn't have time to rest up.  The first evening we got there, they fed us dinner at the mission office with the Livingston's (the couple we're replacing) and all the office missionaries and STL's. Then they showed us to our apartment and we unpacked a few things before we went to bed.  On Tuesday, we spent the day with the Livingston's so they could show us a few things.  I went with Sister Livi and the Area Medical Advisor and his wife who happened to be in town this week (they are based in Auckland, New Zealand), and she showed us around to some of the medical places she used for the missionaries  when they needed to go for treatment.  She introduced me to the pharmacy folks at "Maria's Pharmacy"and showed us the hospital and place where they take X-rays and one of the Doctors that she used often. We are finding that people in Samoa are all so friendly and so willing to help out! Elder Godderidge went with Elder Livingston and he showed him around to places where he will need to get housing supplies and stuff.  We had dinner again at the mission home for "Out take" Sisters and Elders who were going home this week.  There was one Elder and one Sister and then two Senior couples, The Livingston's and The Fawcetts who've been serving at a remote church school on another part of the Island called Viola.  At the dinner, we were able to meet some of the other couples who are also serving here. That was when we had the four different meats that I sent a picture of!  Way too much food to eat!  On Wednesday we went to the Out take meeting that was held at a church building in the downtown Apia area.  Some information about the LDS churchs here--there is no AC!  They are quite open and have big windows with shutters and big fans in the ceiling that just push around the hot air!  We were sweating SO BAD. Something I'm learning is that I will never be NOT sweating while I'm out and about or in a church house or market because  there is no AC in any of them. I'm so grateful we have it in our apartment even though it doesn't cool like the AC at home does .At the out take, the missionaries who are leaving all bore their testimonies and President Purcell talked. And of course, we sang! Singing is a huge part of the culture and the islanders can sing loud!  Nothing like the way we sing our hymns at home.  Amazingly, I haven't heard any of them sing out of tune.  It must be a gift.  After the meeting everyone moved to the back of the building, the "church gym", and the missionaries gathered around the outsides and sang some more to the missionaries that were going home.  President Purcell even did a Samoan dance and a couple of different groups of missionaries did their HAKA dances.  Each of the islands seem to 

have their own versions so one group was native Samoans and one group was native Australians or New Zealanders, not sure which. It was quite entertaining!  Wednesday or Thursday afternoon (I can't remember which), the AP's  took us to the DMV to get our drivers licenses. We didn't have to take a driving test or anything!  They just looked at our passports and licenses and filled out the paperwork and printed out our Samoan Drivers liicenses.  Wednesday evening was the first night we actually cooked our own dinner at home.  Thursday I got my first nurse calls.  It was funny because they didn't have my e-sim entered into my phone yet so no one could reach me.  Then they added me to the mission website whatsapp and all of a sudden I had 4 or 5 messages or calls!  Nothing serious, but it kept me busy for a good part of the day.  Elder G stayed busy cleaning out the housing supply shed and going to get supplies for houses,  And trying to figure out how to get things fixed that are broken.  He's going to be busier than me I think.! 

Thursday afternoon, Elder Rasband arrived in town!  The missionaries were all contacted and they showed up along the main road that goes from the airport to downtown and through several of the districts so there were missionaries all along the route waving to him.  Someone was following the motorcade, because they kept updating where he was passing by.  We had a pretty good group outside of the mission home too!  On Thursday evening , he did a multi stake devotional for the youth which we didn't attend.  Friday he was doing leadership meetings with several stakes. It was a very busy day at the mission home because they were picking up all the missionaries from the airport that flew from American Samoa (Tutuilla) and at the Ferry dock for the ones coming from Savai'i (the other island).They stayed at hotels. Then on Saturday, we had a brunch at a church house for all the missionaries before the missionary devotional on Saturday afternoon.  They used public transit buses to take all the missionaries to the devotional.   An interesting note about the public transit here:  There's just are all sorts of old buses with no windows that people just pack onto like sardines!. I hope I never have to ride on one. The devotional was great and Elder Rasband talked about what he saw as a "seer" about the things that would be happening in the future for Samoa! His main message was about encouraging the native missionaries to get really good at speaking English through the church's English Connect program while serving their missions and then when they go home to enroll in BYU pathways to earn their college degrees.  He said the church has been working with many big companies around the worrld who want to hire remote employees so if they get educated, the Samoan people can get good-paying jobs without having to leave their homes and famiies.He also talked about Easter and the significance of the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ for all of us. A couple of the Area Seventies and their wives that traveled with Elder Rasband also bore testimonies at the meeting--Elder Jaggi and Elder Johnson. After the Devotional, the missionaries were bussed back to the church that we had the brunch in and were fed a nice dinner and dessert.  We helped in the kitchen with the dessert preparations-- banana splits-- so we didn't get to eat because they ran out of food (these Samoans know how to put down the food!) So after the clean-up, the Senior Couples were invited to the Mission home for Steak and Lobster dinner that they ordered from a restaurant in town.  Sunday was a good day to rest and worship after a long week.  We attended the English speaking ward and had our own Sunday dinner at home. It was nothing like Sunday dinners with all our family.  I think I will miss that the very most! So that's a recap of the first week in Samoa!  

Being able to see and hear from an Apostle of the Lord was a blessing.  I was reminded of how fortunate we are to have General Conference coming up in less than 2 weeks where we will have the opportunity to listen to "seers" who will not lead us astray.  Mosiah 8:16-17 says: "And Ammon said that a seer is a revelator and a prophet also; and a gift which is greater can no man have, except he should possess the power of God, which no man can; yet a man may have great power given him from God,  But a seer can know of things which are to come, and by them shall all things be revealed, or, rather, shall secret things be made manifest, and hidden things shall come to light, and things which are not known shall be known by them, and also things shall be made known by them which otherwise could not be known."   Conference weekend will be different for us this year. We won't be able to watch from the comfort of our own home, and the Saturday and Sunday meetings will be on Sunday and Monday for us, but we will all be able to hear the same thing wherever we are in the world from prophets of God.  I'm thankful for that.    Hope you all have a Happy Easter this Weekend!  Take time to remember what the Savior did for all of us and what a wonderful gift he gave us. 

Sorry so long!  There was alot to share. 

LOVE YOU ALL!