Tofa my Feleni

 Tofa my Feleni... Oh, I never will forget you, Samoa e ne'i galo atu ."  That means "Farewell my friend" and "Oh, I never will forget you, land of Samoa".   Our last 4 days in Samoa were bittersweet. It was hard to say good-bye to so many people we know we probably won't ever see again, but exciting to be coming back home.  Our mission has been fulfilling, challenging, enlightening, exhausting, exciting, humbling, comical, spiritual, enjoyable, hard, overwhelming, fun, so much more!  It was worth the commitment and the effort, and we have been blessed to have had the opportunity to associate with so many great missionaries and great Samoan people!

Monday was a finish-things-up-day, and we had our last Monday morning office meeting.  We got to see several missionaries who came in to switch out their vans for new ones. The mission got 4 new vans to replace some that were getting up there in miles.  Monday night we went out to dinner with Sister Schofield.  We went to Roko's, the restaurant with the chicken that tastes similar to Juniper Take-out's fried chicken. I cleaned out my fridge and freezer and gave everything in it away to Sister Schofield and the AP's. Elder Godderidge gave away his leftover Diet Mt. Dew to Elder Blankenship, there wasn't much left, haha.  

On Tuesday, all the missionaries that were going home came to the mission home and they went to Saniatu with President and Sister Reid during the day and when they got back from there, we went with all of them to the temple for an endowment session and took pictures afterwards.

Then we went to the Out take dinner and devotional which was held in the courtyard of the mission home, until it started to rain, then we had to move inside to the conference room for the last half of the devotional. We were worn out emotionally and physically after that was over.  

On Wednesday, we said good-bye to some of the home bound missionaries.We did our final packing. Dad delivered new mattresses to some Elders and took treats to the FM group for the last time and took pictures with some of them.  

Thursday morning we got our bags loaded into the little trailer that they use to haul luggage to and from the airport.  We hugged Tui and Sister Schofield and the Tagg's, then left the mission home in a caravan of vans at 11:00 AM.  27 new missionaries were arriving on the plane from New Zealand that we would be flying back to New Zealand on with four other missionaries who were going home via New Zealand and one who was going to the New Zealand MTC..  When we got to the airport, the Purcell's were there to say good-bye and it was nice to see them once again. We took some more pictures and then checked in to our flight.  We took off at around 2:00 PM and I watched out the plane window as we rose up over the beautiful island for probably the last time.  It was a weird feeling leaving behind all that we've been a part of for the last year.   

For my spiritual message on my last mission post, I decided to include my testimony and message that I shared at the Out take devotional:

Talofa Elders and Sisters!,

AsI was pondering what I wanted to share with you tonight, I was reminded of a hymn that has given me guidance over the past 12 months while serving here in the Samoa Apia Mission as the Mission Nurse.  The hymn is  "Lord, I would Follow Thee."  The third verse in particular, says, "I would be my brother's keeper, I would learn the Healer's art.  To the wounded and the weary I would show a gentle heart.  I would be my brother's keeper, Lord, I would follow thee."

I've tried to remember the words of this hymn as I've gone about helping missionaries with their medical needs.  I've done my best, I know it wasn't perfect, but I gave it my best effort. I'm grateful for all the help I've had along the way.

-For mission leaders who taught me, listened, supported me, and guided me when there were things I needed help with.

-For Senior Missionaries who have been supportive and kind, who have been such great examples of selfless Christlike service.

-For missionaries who have shown acceptance and love to me, who are kind and grateful and have truly been such a joy to serve with.  I feel so blessed to have been able to associate with you!

-For the wonderful Samoan people who are patient, kind, accepting, loving, and always willing to lend a helping hand.

I read something in my Come Follow Me studies last week that I want to share with you.  "Service in God's work has always been about HOW we serve, not about who notices.  However small or unseen your contribution may seem at times, you are a fellow servant in the Lord's great and marvelous work."  That reminded me of a scripture in Alma 37:6-7 that says: "...behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things come to pass...and the Lord doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by small means the Lord...bringeth about the salvation of many souls." 

All you do as a missionary here in Samoa is helping the Lord bring salvation to souls.  It is an important work in this very small portion of his kingdom.  Don't lose sight of your missionary purpose.  The Lord needs all of us to keep doing the small and simple things for him so that he can accomplish His great and eternal purposes.

Don't forget that the Book of Mormon is the best immunization (protection) available to you from the evils of this world.  It can protect you if you read and study it daily.  I know it contains the truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

The final verse of the hymn I mentioned earlier says: "Savior, may I love my brother, as I know thou lovest me. Find in thee my strength, my beacon, For thy servant I would be.  Savior, may I love my brother, Lord I would follow thee."

I love you all, and "Oh, I never will forget you!"  in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

We are now in New Zealand vacationing for a week before we fly home. I talked Elder G. into going because I've always wanted to see New Zealand and figured we might never get this close again!  So I'll post about our trip and our reunion with our family in next week's post!

I'm putting lots of pictures on this one so I'm going to just do that on a separate email.

   

Our last full week in Samoa

 Talofa Lava!

Busy Week!  Packing, cleaning, making "lists" and notes for our replacements, saying good-byes, plus all the other stuff we normally do every week! And trying not to get too wet!  It rained A LOT this past week! 

On Monday morning, Elder Godderidge delivered needs to the UC zone and I worked most of the day in my office.  On Tuesday, it started raining--more than usual--like most of the day.  I started putting everything into the intake bags for next week's intakes. There's 28 new missionaries coming, so the bags are taking up a lot of space in the office.  We went to dinner with Sister Schofield and the Purcells.  It was fun catching up with the Purcells. After dinner, we went to see their home that they're in the process of remodeling and the additional home that 's being built on their property that  Sister's Purcell's wealthy sister is having built for a vacation home. It's going to be nice when it's all completed.  Wednesday was a pretty quiet p-day.  We were supposed to be picking up the Tutilla sisters from the airport for their temple trip, but the flights got cancelled because of the severe weather.  It rained all day Wednesday too and was kind of windy so the small planes couldn't fly from Tutuilla.  So Elder G. and I went to the temple session that they had booked cause we figured there'd be plenty of open seats.  Thursday there was a severe weather alert in  Samoa so President Reid told all missionaries to stay in their MQ's and not to go out proselyting in the storm. They did a zoom devotional for them.  On Friday, we had our district come to the office for their district meeting and PPI interviews.  So we attended district meeting on Friday morning.  They asked us to bear our testimonies during district meeting.  We went and got them pizza for their lunch and I made them homemade cookies for the last time.  I used up all of my flour so I'm not going to buy anymore since we're going home.  Elder Katoa came to pick up lab orders so he could have bloodwork done one more time before I go home.  I'm really hoping to see his RBC's come up  before I leave.

Since he was here at the office, Elder G. took him to our house and pretty much cleaned out his closet! He gave him some of his pants and most of his white shirts!  I'm sure the pants will be floods on him, but that might be a good thing with all this rain we're getting, haha!

We made him take a picture with us.  It's a bit sad as we're starting to realize we might be seeing these missionaries for the last time as we are approaching the end of our mission. I'll miss some of them more than others--Elder Katoa is one I'll miss! It continued to rain on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and today it's finally eased up a bit. On Saturday, after our morning run, Elder G. went to move bunkbeds to a different MQ, treated mattresses for bedbugs, and then did his last demolition job at the office.  They're replacing the desks in the big main office so he tore out the old ones to make room for the new.

I spent most of the afternoon at home , defrosted the freezer, did some cleaning, and tried to pack up as much as I could so we won't be rushed doing it next week. I also typed up a list of things I felt like I needed to tell the new nurse so it will hopefully make the transition a little smoother for her. 

This morning we attended our last Samoan speaking Sacrament meeting. Can you guess what I'm going to miss most about Samoan church meetings? Yep, the singing!!! Nobody sings like Samoans do!

In Come Follow Me this week, I really liked what was taught about service.

"...service in God's work has always been about how we serve, not about who notices.  However small or unseen your contribution may seem at times, you too are a fellow servant in the Lord's 'great and marvelous work'".

Alma 37:6-7 says: "...behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. And the Lord doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls. "  

I often think I'm really not doing much here to help bring salvation to souls, but I have to remind myself that my small acts of service are a tiny, often unseen or unnoticed piece in helping move God's work forward in the mission.  

Can't wait to see you all in 10 days and counting down!!!