Talofa lava!
This past week was a busy one! We attended our first "Island Conference" and took our first Ferry ride to Savaii. We also crashed our first wedding! Haha.
The beginning of the week I got in a de-cluttering mood and cleaned out some of the stuff in our office that I didn't have any use for. There were old electronics, old phones,and boxes of outdated stuff that isn't being used anymore. I cleaned and reorganized and even though it's not completely de-junked it looks a.lot better than it did. Elder G and I also cleaned and reorganized a big closet in the conference room near the kitchen that has food pantry items, chairs, banquet tables, tablecloths,, paper products, and other miscellaneous items. We'll see how long that stays organized! We went and purchased a new very large chest deep freezer to replace one that wasn't working properly so the new President's family would have plenty of freezer storage space. President Purcell has quite a bit of money left over in his budget so he's trying to spend it on things the mission could use before he gets released. They are starting to box up all of their personal belongings and get ready to move out on the 22nd of June. Then there will be a week of remodeling done on their living quarters before the new President arrives on June 28th. The Purcell's will work from a motel for their last week.
On Thursday morning, we got up at 5:30and left to catch the 8:00 AM ferry to Savaii. Elder G. took some motion sickness medicine to prepare for that! You drive onto the ferry and they pack in the vehicles so there's only a tiny bit of room between cars. I think it fits about 30 vehicles. You can pay 30.00 tala extra to go up top and ride in a VIP air-conditioned room or you can just stay in your vehicle for 10.00 tala per person. The trip is a little over an hour to Savaii. It gets kinda stuffy and warm because you can't leave your car running while you're sitting in it on the ferry. But we made it without getting too sick and Elder G. didn't throw up! The ride back home the next day was a little stormier, so rougher, but he survived that too! I got out of the vehicle on the way over and climbed up some stairs to a walkway on the side of the ferry and took a couple of pictures . I can tell why it's a rough ride when you see how it moves through the ocean and waves crash against the boat! I'm glad we don't have to ride back and forth every day like some people do!
The Island of Savaii is beautiful.. It's more rural and the homes are a little more spread out. Just like Upolu, there is one main road that goes around the outside edge of the island. We only went a little way on it, so we didn't get to see that much of the island. We drove past the temple site and to the church school there called Viola. We spent most of the time at the Island Conference. It started at 11:00 AM and ended at 2:00 PMand then we ate lunch at the church with all of the missionaries, sang songs, and the missionaries said their farewells to the Purcell's. And of course, they did a Haka dance for them. We stayed over at a nice resort hotel called Amoa.
We ate dinner there with the mission leaders, the AP's, Office Elders, and STL's.
There was a guy singing at the restaurant for entertainment during dinner and then he opened it up for Karaoke and three of our missionaries entertained us with their Karaoke skills! We had to get up early to leave for the ferry at 4:30AM so that wasn't fun! It was a long day Friday! We had a bunch of catch-up work to do when we got back. I had 8 sick calls while I was gone so I had to follow up with all of them.
We went to bed early on Friday night and woke up an hour later than usual on Saturday morning! I guess we were tired.
The baptism we decided to attend ended up being a wedding first and then a baptism! I thought it was kind of strange that there were so many people at the baptism when we got there because there usually isn't that many. Of course, we don't understand what they're saying so we thought they were just giving the usual talk before the baptism but turns out it was for the marriage. When the speaker finished, the bishop stood up and the couple went to the front and he married them! Then they had another hymn and talk, this time for the baptism, and the new bride was baptized in her wedding dress! So after the baptism, people kept inviting us to stay for the "refreshment." We didn't want to offend them , so we stayed. They brought us a HUGE piece of chocolate cake and a huge bowl of half-melted ice cream
(ice cream doesn't stay frozen for long in Samoa)! Then next thing we know they bring us these meals in take-away containers! That's when I thought to myself "I know what it's like to be a wedding crasher now!" HaHa! We were stuffed after the cake and ice cream so we politely declined the meals and asked them to give them to someone from their ward who might need them. We did take time to congratulate Elizabeth (the bride who got baptized) before we left!
I asked Elder G. what he wanted to share in the email that he had learned or studied
this week. He showed me a quote from Elder Holland's last conference talk "I bear witness that when Christ comes, He needs to recognize us--not just as nominal members listed on a faded baptismal record but as thoroughly committed, faithfully believing, covenant-keeping disciples. This is an urgent matter for all of us, lest we ever hear with devastating regret: 'I never knew you,' or, as Joseph Smith translated that phrase, '(You) never knew me.'" Our challenge to you? Try to get to know Jesus Christ a little better this week. We love you all and miss you!
Pictures of the Ferry ride to Savaii (loading cars, view from the walkway on side of boat) pictures of Savaii, Island Conference photos and videos, Karaoke videos, pictures of cake and ice cream at wedding celebration, 
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