Talofa! I hope you are all having great Easter Sunday today! Our Easter Sunday was yesterday, but it's still Easter holiday today. In Samoa, they celebrate Easter from Friday thru Monday! We discovered this fact a little too late and found ourselves low on fuel Friday with no way to fill our tank because all the fuel stations were closed. It made for an interesting weekend.
Last week was another busy week for the mission.
On Tuesday of last week, it was Intake day. We had 12 new missionaries come in. We did our first intake training presentations for housing and mission health. I think we did ok. We had another OUT TAKE on Wednesday with 13 of our missionaries going home. All of them were from one of the three islands of Samoa, so there were alot of families there to take them home. The evening before out take there is a big dinner for all the missionaries who are leaving and then they sing and entertain each other afterward. President Purcell made us perform so the only thing I could think of was playing "I Am A Child of God" on the Ukulele and everyone sang along. I'm going to have to practice a little and come up with a few more things that I can play I guess! At the Wednesday meeting, all of the missionaries from Upolo attended as well as family members of the missionaries who were leaving. Each of the 13 missionaries bore their testimonies and then they were all given a gift from the Mission leaders. It's interesting that you can still feel the spirit when they are speaking in a language you don't understand. You could feel that their testimonies were from the heart and that they had loved their missions. On Wednesday night, we went to pick up a sister missionary who was flying back here from a meeting with visa people in Fiji. Her flight didn't come in until 1:10 AMso Dad volunteered to go and pick her up so the Mission President didn't have to. She is going to be serving in Las Vegas when her Visa comes, but starts her mission here until then. We have a lot of "visa waiters" serving in our mission. If they are from Samoa and get called to another country, they start their mission here until they get the visa papers to go to the place they were called to. So some of them might fly to the MTC, then return to Samoa when their MTC training is complete and then fly out again to their mission when they get their visa. It's crazy!
On Friday afternoon, Sister Prucell took us on a drive up over the mountain to the other side of the Island where we saw some more beautiful scenery and finally saw some sandy beaches! We stopped in one place and walked out on the beach for a minute, then ate lunch at a little outdoor beach cafe. On the way back, we stopped to see a waterfall.
Saturday we decided to drive back to the other side and hit some of the missionary's living quarters to deliver whiteboards and hang them up and replace some water filters that were not functioning. We also attended a baptism that was being held for three people. It ended up being two meetings because one of the girls being baptized was also getting married! So they had the wedding first, then the baptism. We are learning more about the customs as we attend these events. You sit with the adult members and missionaries for refreshments and you can't just get up and leave whenever you want to. That would be considered rude. You wait until whoever wants to speak, speaks, and when they all finish, its OK to leave. Some of these speeches can be pretty long-winded and we don't understand a word they're saying!
After we left the baptism, we drove to a couple more mission quarters behind churches and put up whiteboards, and replenished supplies. We got lost once and so it took us longer than we expected. By the time we were heading back over the mountain to home it was dark and we only had 1/8 tank of fuel in the Cruiser. We said a prayer before we left that we would make it back without running out of fuel. Thankfully, our prayers were answered and we made it! A tender mercy for sure!
Easter Sunday was a bit different than usual. No big dinner or Easter Egg hunt with the family after Church. And we couldn't even go on a Sunday drive because the tank was empty! But it was good to spend more time reflecting on the Savior and his Atonement and the significance of that event.
This morning, Monday, we woke up to go on our morning walk and there was a big party going on at the pickle-ball courts! Music, announcer, lots of people sitting around and lots of people playing pickleball. I think it might have been a ward or stake event or something.These Samoans sure do know how to party! And I think the members really love playing pickleball! Julie
Mom really is a legend here they are already calling Ma Ma Godderidge. She taking care of the health better than I am taking care of their housing needs. We love the Samoan people.
Bruce
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