MANUIA LE KIRISIMASI!!!

 MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope you all are having a great week and things are falling into place for a wonderful Christmas with loved ones wherever you are!  As I'm sure you all know by now,  I love Christmas and the holiday season!  It looks a whole lot different to us this year but I still love it.  We've been busy  this week with figuring out ways we can spread some holiday cheer in Samoa. On Tuesday, we delivered gifts to the missionaries in our zone.  We gave them a big bag of laundry powder (they hate spending their own money on that because it's quite expensive) and some microwave popcorn,granola bars, and candy.  Then we've been purchasing things to put together some gift bags for our security guards.  They work for a security company, not the church, so they don't make much money.  Sister Purcell once told us they only make about 10.00 Tala an hour which is about $3.50 in US dollars. So about $28.00 for an 8-hour shift.  When you put it into perspective with what it costs at the MacDonalds here for one Big Mac and fries (about 50.00 Tala), you realize that they probably never go out to eat with their families!  So we're providing them with some basic non-perishable food items (big bag of rice, a bag of cocoa powder and box of canned tuna), to help ease the burden just to put food on the table.  We also added in a few treats; a package of cookies, a bag of candy, and a bag of apples and oranges.We plan on passing them out on Tuesday, Christmas Eve.  We. didn't drive out to our zone for church this week, because the Elders came to the office after their church meetings to have their PPI interviews with the President, so we spent a little time with them here at the office.  It was nice to have a break from the early Sunday morning and driving. We went to the English speaking ward instead and the youth sang a Christmas song called "Is There Room". While we were walking home from church, we looked up the song on Youtube to listen to the lyrics again.  We discovered it was written by a man named Sailiata Fano, Jr. We watched him perform it with a group of singers and we thought he looked like Elder Fano, one of the Elders in our zone, ao we asked him if he was related to him, and he said "yea, that's my dad"!  Turns out he's a pretty well-known composer/song-writer and he does these Christmas concerts every year so Elder Fano said "I'm going to invite you guys to his concert next year cause we'll both be home by then!" So you should look it up on Youtube.

We had the biggest rainstorm since we've been here on Thursday!  It rained hard for most of the day and night! On Friday, when we drove into town, there was flooding and water covering a couple of blocks on one road and we had to drive through a river!  It's still not completely gone from the road.  

I've been trying to follow the week's Christmas Study Plan that was on the Church website.  I was reading this morning (Monday) about the night without darkness in the Americas as a sign of the coming of the Savior's birth.  "Lift up your heart and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.

Behold, I come unto my own, to fulfil all things which have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world, and to do the will, both of the Father and of the Son--of the Father because of me, and the Son because of my flesh.  And behold, the time is at hand, and this night shall the sign be given."  3 Nephi 1:13-14

Just as the first Christmas was a two-hemisphere story--the Eastern hemisphere (Bethlehem) and the Western hemisphere (among the Nephites), our family is celebrating Christmas in two hemisphere's this year--the Northern hemisphere (where most of the family is) and the Southern hemisphere (where we are). I'm grateful that even though we're far apart this year, we can feel as one family because of God's plan and our Savior's love for all of us which makes it so Families can be together forever! 

LOVE YOU ALL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pictures are of the flooded road, our zone with their laundry powder, 

the hospital waiting area by the lab and pharmacy.

Where did 2024 go?

Talofa!

Hard to believe we're two weeks away from 2025!  I hope everyone is having fun preparing for Christmas and getting together with loved ones over the holidays.  We are sad that we have to miss that this year, but VERY GLAD that you are all getting together anyway without us.  Just remember we are thinking of you all and can't wait to see you in less than 3 months now!

Samoa during the holidays is not much different than any other time. There's not any Christmas tree lots around.  I think that would be way too expensive to bring them by boat! So whatever Christmas trees there are, they're cheap fake ones.  Or coconut trees with lights wrapped around the trunks as far as someone can reach. I'm seeing lots of tinsel garlands like you can get at the dollar stores at home. One of the hotels here has a giant Christmas tree in their front entry made from recycled plastic water bottles that have been painted green! Wrapping paper and ribbon is hard to find.  I'm still searching for that.

Last week was a little slower than usual and that was a nice thing so we could catch up from the busy week before that.  Elder Godderidge was busier than me because of the usual calls after transfers asking for things that seemed to have disappeared with the previous missionaries that moved out. We have one missionary who is a native from Savaii (the same one that terrorized Elder Christensen when he first got to the mission) who always leaves the MQ he transfers out of without any beds!  We've decided that he sells them to people!  Luckily he's going home in January so maybe we'll only lose two more--HAHA.  He prefers to sleep on the floor with a sleeping mat. I guess that's what he's used to.  We've also been battling the bed bugs again.  And bug bites!  All the new missionaries from other places are getting eaten alive.  It happens every transfer. 

Sister Jensen and Sister Johnson have had the cleaning bug since transfers!  They called Elder Godderidge almost every night asking for cleaning advice!  They have affectionately started calling him "Grandpa G."  They're cute, fun, and hardworking sisters that keep us entertained with their nonsense. 

Tuesday was kind of a sad day.  I took Sister Falesa in for her 10 month echocardiogram.  She's the Sister that has Rheumatic heart disease and had valve repair surgery when she was 10 years old.. I take her each month for a Prophylaxis injection of pennicillin to help prevent her from getting endocarditis which she is susceptible to because of her damaged heart. They monitor her heart valves with the Echocardiograms every 10 months.  Sadly, her valves have become quite a bit more leaky since her last Echo so she is going to need to have surgery for an artificial valve most likely in the next year.  That means they need to start working on getting her on a schedule with Cardiac surgeons in New Zealand and she can't continue to serve a proselyting mission because it is too hard on her heart.  She was switched to a service mission on Friday morning and has to go back to her home to live.  It's sad that Rheumatic Heart disease is so prevalent here just because people don't get proper medical care when they get strep infections  and the bacteria goes to the heart and damages valves in little children. Maybe  you can all say a little prayer for her that everything will go OK and she will be able to get the artificial valve soon.  Elder Katao has completed his first month of treatment pills for his Leprosy. Another terrible disease that we rarely see in America anymore. We went to the infectious disease clinic Wednesday morning to get his next month's worth and visit with the Dr. Hopefully after a couple of months he will be feeling much better and his red blood count will come back up. 'm glad they have the medicine available to treat him here so he can continue to serve his mission.  

Thursday and Friday was MLC again.  We had Elders Ale and Reupena stay with us on Thursday night.  After they had a huge meal at the MLC meeting, they came to our place and asked Elder Godderidge if he would take them to McDonalds at 9:00 at night!  He told them he'd take them but he wouldn't buy the 40.00 tala  burgers for them. It's highway robbery! They didn't even think twice about it, they bought their own burgers.  I would have been so sick to my stomach after all that food!

On Saturday, we went and cleaned some bed bug mattresses and took medicines to the west zone, then attended the Senior Couple Christmas party during the afternoon. It was nothing like the fun parties we have at home this time of year! Oh well.

Elder Godderidge read a talk given by Elder Neil A. Anderson at the 2022 Christmas devotional.  He wanted me to share a quote from that with you:

"In our times of uncertainty, in our days of trouble and difficulty, in our struggles, let us be faithful.  Jesus came that holy night.  He is the Savior of the world, the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings. He lives, and 'the hopes and fears of all the years are met in him tonight.'  I witness that as we are righteous, all our tears of sorrow, difficulty, and uncertainty will be met and made right in Him, the beloved Son of God. 'Joy to the world, the Lord is come.' in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." 

One good thing about being on a mission far away from home during the holidays is that it keeps things simple and more focused on the real person who's birthday we celebrate.  We wish you a wonderful week as you countdown to Christmas!  We love you all!

O Mai ia Keriso

Outtake - transfer chaos

 

It was a very busy week for the mission last week! It's Monday and I'm just getting to my weekly email--there just hasn't been time.  The good thing about being this busy is the time goes by quickly.  The bad thing is it's hard to keep up! 

I've been doing more driving lately and improving my confidence and skills driving on the left side of the road--HAHA.  I had Doctor's appointments on Monday and Tuesday and borrowed Sister Schofield's car so that I could transport the missionaries to their appointments.  Elder Godderidge was busy with other things and couldn't drive us.  I have another busy week ahead for Doctor appointments so I'll probably be driving more this next week too.  

The sister that broke her leg two weeks ago decided she would not use crutches, took off her plaster splint, and started walking on her foot. She won't listen to anyone when we tell her that she might injure her leg even more if she doesn't follow the doctor's orders.  She had some village medicine lady do some sort of massage on her leg--probably not a good idea to deep massage a broken leg--so anyway, President sent her home to recover since she's from here. She wasn't very happy about that! I don't think she likes me very much.

Tuesday night we had our Out take dinner and devotional.  We had 12 missionaries going home and one going to her permanent assignment.  We had it out in the courtyard again, this time with holiday decorations and lighting.  Wednesday they all flew out, and Thursday 28 new missionaries arrived!  Friday was transfer news via ZOOM and all the new missionaries found out who their new trainers would be and where they will be serving.  Because there were so many new missionaries, it makes it so there's lots of movement in the mission because many of the missionaries who have been junior companions are now moved up to senior companions/trainers. That makes it really busy for Elder Godderidge getting all the new housing worked out and doing repairs, cleaning MQ's that missionaries didn't leave in good shape, buying new beds and mattresses, etc.  On Saturday, transfer day, we had to take the luggage  to the ferry wharf for all the missionaries going to Savaii.  We were loaded to maximum capacity!  Because we got back too late, we didn't go to the baptism in our zone Saturday afternoon, but we attended that ward on Sunday and Elder Godderidge stood in the circle for the confirmation of the newly baptized member.  There were only about 10 men in the whole congregation.  The Elders told us they struggle to have enough Priesthood in the ward.  

This week I had a couple of missionaries who had allergic reactions, one to a wasp sting on the lip and the other to who knows what?  The sister with the wasp sting started laughing when she saw herself in the mirror and then said "Hey, some people pay big bucks to look like this! " Made me laugh!  I'll send the pics.  

Since I'm slow doing my email, I watched the Christmas devotional on my computer today(Monday) while working.  I liked the suggestion of three Gifts to give this Christmas:

The gift of Testimony (bear your testimony to someone )

The gift of forgiveness (forgive someone who has wronged you)

The gift of Love (Help others feel the love of God through you)

We're sending our ten grandchildren some money via their parent's Venmo accounts for each of them to pick out something from the light the world giving machine that is supposed to be in Logan this Christmas season.  Hope you'll have fun picking out a gift to give to someone in need!  Parents, thanks for taking them to do this since we won't be there to take them. 

We're also looking forward to giving some gifts to some of our new friends here in Samoa with the money and gift items that have been sent to us by family members.  You are all Awesome! 

Thank-you for giving us this opportunity to help out some friends iin need here in Samoa! 

Love and miss you all!!!

PS- Check out the Samoa Apia Mission 2024-2027 Facebook page for the latest videos of  New missionaries and Transfers

It’s beginning to look a “little” like Christmas

umble confidence that God acknowledges our service with approval and approbation.  He smiles upon us as we offer these heartfelt acts of compassion, especially acts that are unseen Talofa All! 

It's just hard to imagine Christmas with green grass and tropical scenery, and very warm, humid days and nights!  But we are seeing the Christmas lights popping up everywhere and the stores are getting holiday "stuff" in them. And my email is blowing up with Black Friday deals!  I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. On our Friday, the Seniors got together for a traditional Thanksgiving meal, so at least we didn't have to miss out on the Turkey and pie and side dishes! We. missed being with family though.  

This past week we've been working on things to get ready for the upcoming Outtake,Intake, and transfer week coming up.  I've put together 32 new intake welcome bags, Elder G. has been purchasing new sheets and pillows for all of them and some mattresses for new mission quarters that are opening up to accommodate the increase in missionaries. We have only 12 going home and a few Visa Workers leaving, so that still leaves quite a few more missionaries coming in than leaving.  Hard to believe we only have one more outtake/intake to go before we will be "outtaking"!  It's going by pretty fast. 

The Elders from Tutuilla flew in on Tuesday for a temple trip.  Elder Clark (from Wellsville) came over to visit us with his new companion from Lehi, Elder Revill.  I was just finishing making taco soup for dinner ao they ate a bowl with us and drank Diet Coke and Diet Mt, Dew from Elder G's stash. Elder G. gave them both a Jazz jersey. We've given most of them away now, only about four or five left.  Thanks for sending them, Whitli!  

We were able to go to the temple ourselves last Thursday.  That was nice, we haven't been able to find time for a few weeks.

On Saturday, we went over to our assigned Southeast Zone to scope out a new mission quarter and then attend a baptism. This one was unique-- the chapel is a big covered porch on the Bishop's property.  It's just one big room with benches and a pulpit.  When we got there, it was filled with members who were practicing and learning how to play on portable electric keyboards.They put away the keyboards and moved the benches back into place to get ready for the baptism when we pulled up.  They had the opening exercises there and then we all loaded up into vehicles and drove a couple of mikes down the road to a river where there was a collecting pool and that's where they baptized him.  Then we loaded back up and went back to the "church" and had the closing exercises. During the Bishop's closing remarks, we heard him say "President" a couple of times and after the meeting the missionaries told us he thought we were the mission leaders and was thanking us for coming!  This has happened to us a few times now and I've heard some of the other Senior couples say it's happened to them too! I think the mission President needs to get out into the areas a little bit so the members can get to know who he is!   HaHa!

Today after church, Elder G. had to go over to one of the Sister's MQ's and bury 9 dead premature puppies that were born right outside of their house.  While he was digging a hole for them, it started to pour so he got drenched!   Another first in the life of the mission housing coordinator duties.  

I read a conference talk last week by then President Uchtdorf  called "The Greatest Among You". Here's a few quotes  from the talk I want to share:

"God's greatest reward goes to those who serve without expectation of reward.  It goes to those who serve without fanfare; those who quietly go about seeking ways to help others; those who minister to others simply because they love God and God's children."

"In the eyes of God, there is no calling in the kingdom that is more important than another. Our service--whether great or small--refines our spirits, opens the windows of heaven, and releases God's blessings not only upon those we serve, but upon us as well.  When we reach out to others, we can know with humble confidence that God acknowledges our service with approval and approbation.  He smiles upon us as we offer these heartfelt acts of compassion, especially acts that are unseen and unnoticed by others."

"Each time we give of ourselves to others, we take one step closer to becoming good and true disciples of the One who gave His all for us: our Savior"

"He that is greatest among you shall be your servant."

Have a "Seki" week! That's Samoan slang word for (awesome, great, best)!