Holidays Samoan Style

 Manuia le tausaga fou!

Hope you're all gearing up for a fun Happy New Year celebration!  We are trying to take it easy this weekend since the mission leaders, AP's and office Elders are all in Tutuilla until the new year.  It's been pretty quiet for the last couple of days since Christmas.  

It was fun checking in on the parties you had for the Skidmore and Godderidge families last week!  Thanks for hosting them in our barn and for all the work you put in to pull them off!  I'm sorry we were not able to help out this year.  It looked like it was lots of fun.  Our couple of days before Christmas were busy getting our gifts ready to give out to our friends here in Samoa!  We purchased 15 big bags of rice, 15 bags of cocoa powder, 15 cases of tuna fish, 15 packages of cookies, candy, apples, and oranges to finish off each bag.(well actually there were two bags for each person, we couldn't fit it all in one

 bag). On Tuesday morning, we started passing them out to the night and day shifts during their shift change.  They were very pleased and appreciative!  We finished up with the rest of them on Christmas day and a couple that we missed on the day after Christmas.  Matteo is a very talkative security guard and was so happy!  He told us about the party they were going to have on Christmas morning for all the guards and they were going to be getting their Christmas bonuses at the party. "50 Tala!  no more, no less!"  That comes out to be around 20.00 US dollars.  But he was very excited for it.  The day after we gave him our gift, he brought us 2 pineapples from his "plantation" and the next day, mangoes and sour sop, a very strange looking fruit with mushy white pulpy stuff inside that had kind of a tart apple taste. 

Our Christmas Day celebration started with an 11:00 AM devotional for all the missionaries on the island.  It was held in the gym at the Pesega school.  It was so hot in there!  The President and Sister Reid and AP Kakou gave Christmas messages and then each zone had been assigned to perform a Christmas song. Our zone sang "Little Drummer Boy". They were joined by Sister Falesa, who lives in the area of Southeast Upolu and since she's now a service missionary living at home, she is part of our zone. I think their song got the biggest applause-- probably because of the RUM RUM PUM PUM chorus. I'll send the video.  After the devotional, we had a buffet meal--lots and lots of food! And then they played games the rest of the afternoon. Before they all went their separate ways, they filled up plates with leftovers and ate again! I think it was one of the hottest days of the year.  Everyone was drenched in sweat.  So that was our Christmas in Samoa this year.  

Thursday and Friday were nice and quiet for the most part.  Saturday, we did our longer run in the morning, Elder G. took down Christmas decorations at the mission office, we made a few housecalls and bought pizza for the 4 sisters in the "big house" MQ because they didn't have 

 a fafaga (a dinner " feed" from a member)

This morning, we got up early and drove to our Zone for Sacrament meeting, delivered needs to our zone after that and then checked in to "Survivor Beach Resort" for a one-night stay since it's our anniversary.  I got brave and finally tried out the snorkeling gear!  It was easier than I thought --should have done it sooner. HaHa.  I saw a few fish, but nothing like what Bayli and Ethan saw when they went snorkeling in Samoa.  It's a nice remote beach area though and feels good to take a little break from the usual routine.  Tomorrow we'll head back to the mission home, and get back to work! 

Have a happy New Year's celebration this coming week and we wish you a year of peace, hope, and blessings in 2025!  IWe're looking forward to the new adventures that lie ahead and reuniting with family and friends in 2025!  Love you all!