Temple Trips

 Talofa everyone!

Last week and the coming week we have missionaries coming in for temple trips.  When they come for those, they come as zones and do an endowment session, then eat either breakfast or lunch (depending on whether they have morning or afternoon session) and do their district meeting in the conference room while the mission leaders interview all of them. We had 2 zones come on Tuesday and two zones on Thursday and will have that again for the next two weeks. I usually see quite a few of the missionaries because they're at the office so they come and ask me for medical supplies and advice.  On Monday, one of the new intake sisters was sick with swollen tonsils and couldn't eat or speak because she said it hurt too bad, and she insisted on going to the district hospital to see a doctor.  So that's what we did for half of that day.  After waiting for two hours to see the doctor, she got a steroid shot in her bum and an antibiotic prescription.  It helped, she was able to speak and eat the next day.  Elder Godderidge went to our district meetings in the southeast zone on Tuesday,  but I couldn't go with him because I had to take another missionary to the doctor. He took them tuna sandwiches, chips and drinks to eat at the district meeting and I baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that I sent for dessert.  Next week they will come here for their temple trip so we won't have to drive there for a district meeting which will be nice!   

The rest of the week was pretty quiet.  No medical emergencies,no major housing issues.   We sort of took a p-day on Saturday, didn't go over to the office to work and spent most of the day doing laundry, cleaning, and waiting on hold for three hours for the Social Security Administration to finally answer their phone so we could ask them about appealing our medicare increase!  That was fun--listening to the same music and recordings over and over for 3 hours. We went to a new place to eat on Saturday night called Roko's.  It was pretty good.  I had chicken and chips and the fried chicken tasted pretty close to Juniper Take-out fried chicken so Elder G. says we're going to have to go there again! Too bad they don't have Turkey Steaks too, haha.  

On Sunday we put in a lot of miles-- got up early to make it to our zone on the Southeast side of the island for a 9:00sacrament meeting. Then we delivered needs to all the MQ's in our zone before heading back home. After we ate Sunday dinner at around 5:00, we had to make a medicine run all the way over to the southwest side of the Island and back home-- another two hours of driving!  

Elder Godderidge had a bit of an uncomfortable week.  He experienced his first Boil! He nursed it along all week and after a week of antibiotics it's finally starting to get a little better and will hopefuly will go away completely very soon!  He's going to be mad at me for mentioning it, but that's what he gets for making me write the emails each week!  He didn't let the discomfort slow him down much.  He just kept going like normal.  When the missionaries get them, they act like they're going to die of pain!

Elder Godderidge shared a quote from President Hinckley for me to share with you all:

"All of us have problems.  We face them every day.  How grateful I am that we have difficult things to wrestle with.  They keep us young, they keep us alive, they keep us going, they keep us humble.  Be grateful for your problems, and know that somehow there will come a solution.  Just do the best you can but be sure it is the very best." --Gordon B. Hinckley

We got a nice card in the mail from one of our missionaries' parents this week. They wrote:  "Godderidges, We wanted to express our gratitude to you for your service in the Samoa Mission and specifically to our missionary, Elder Robertson.  He has spoken very highly of you many times and is so appreciative of everything you do, big and small.  Your wisdom, experience, understanding, listening, sympathizing, encouraging make all the difference in these missonaries' experience.  God bless you and your family!  Love, Bruce and Tiffany Robertson. 

That was thoughtful of them!  Made us feel like it's all worth it!  Love you all SO MUCH, and can't wait to see you in 5 weeks!

Last time for intakes and transfers

 

Talofa!

This last week was a busy one!  Out-take, Intake, and Transfers--THE LAST transfer of our mission!  We would have celebrated last night after we spent all day Saturday moving missionaries around, but we were too tired! HAHA!  It's time to start counting down the last 6 weeks of our mission I guess.  We will be part of the out-take at the end of February.  It's a big one, there will be 18 missionaries going home. The Out-take last Tuesday evening had 12 young missionaries and 2 Senior missionaries   Elder and Sister Barkdull have been the office couple for the Island of Savaii.  We had dinner and out-take devotional on Tuesday evening. We were late for it because we had to make a run to the outpatient clinic with a Sister who was pretty sick with a stomach bug and ended up getting IV fluids because she was dehydrated.  But we made it for the devotional part and got to hear all the missionary's testimonies.  Most of them flew out on Wednesday and the three that were from Samoa had family come and pick them up.  On Thursday, we welcomed 26 new missionaries!

We did our little intake workshops and met them all during that time. Right when we were finishing up the workshops, I got a call from some zone leaders to tell me that Elder Bernard had taken an elbow to the forehead during a p-day basketball game and his head was bleeding all over.  So we met them at the ER and spent the evening getting stitches and head x-rayed. 

 Elder Godderidge spent a couple of days last week delivering needs to zones and he put a sink in a member's home who is housing missionaries. It's amazing how much he gets done in a day!  The mission is really going to miss him! 

It gets so chaotic on these 6-week turnover weeks!  It has been quite hectic with crazy medical things lately too so I'm really hoping it calms down for a few weeks.  I want to get the office/clinic all organized, stocked and in good shape for the next nurse and Elder Godderidge will be doing the same with making sure things are stocked up and organized for the new housing guy.  We've been happy serving here and there are lots of people we need to make sure we connect with before we go home to thank them and say our good-byes.  I have a feeling these last six weeks are going to be bittersweet. 

We sure appreciate all of you and wish we could be there to support Jill in her health challenges but we know everyone's been very supportive and I know she's very thankful for all of you.  Our prayers have been with all of you and especially with Jill this last week and I know God is hearing all of our prayers. There are a couple of scriptures I ran across this week that I know all of you take to heart:

 "And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother . " --1 John 4:21

"My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." --1 John 3:18

 We'll keep in touch and we love to hear from you all so don't hesitate to call and chat!

Rain rain rain and more rain!

 Malo Lava everyone!

OK, so this was by far the wettest week in Samoa since we've been here.  It rained Every Single Day! Elder Godderidge sent a WhatsApp video to the family on Monday where several downtown streets were completely flooded!  That happened more than once this week. Flooding all over the island.  Luckily, the church property has some pretty good drainage systems in place so we don't have it too bad here in the complex.  But driving around this week has been a nightmare!  When people drive through flooded streets, they move even slower!  Elder Godderidge gets a little impatient sometimes.  Today, Sunday, was the first day that it hasn't rained this week. We got rained on every morning  when we went out for our exercise. The only plus side, it was a little cooler with the clouds and rainstorms.  

It was a crazy week on the medical side of things,  I had lots of calls, lots of sick missionaries ( I think some of them just didn't want to go out in the rain), and a few too many visits to our lovely hospital this week.   

On Monday night we had our Zone leaders stay overnight at our place because it was MLC again.  Of course Elder G. had to make a late-night run to McDonalds for them again--this time through the flooded downtown!  I don't know how these Elders can eat so much!  Elder Ale and Elder Reupena are pretty entertaining to talk to and mainly listen to, but there's a point where we just have to say "we're going to bed cause us old people need our sleep." HAHA

On Wednesday, I had two missionaries going to the hospital for doctor visits so while I was there in the morning, I got word that one of our senior missionaries was having some heart problems and was coming to the hospital for an EKG and to be seen at the cardiology clinic.  Turns out she was in level 2 AV block, meaning her heart wasn't beating properly and her pulse was running around 30-40 beats per minute.  She needed a pacemaker, and there is no one here that does those, not even temporary external pacemakers.  So the wheels started turning to get her out of here.  And I spent most of the afternoon and evening on emails and phone calls getting instructions for what information I needed to gather to get the process going. Then on top of that, I get a call from our ZL's that they are bringing one of our Elders to the emergency room because he hurt his back playing volleyball and couldn't move! They loaded him onto the van and put a folding banquet table on top of the seats and he laid on that while they drove him in.  I should have taken a picture of it!  So Elder Godderidge and I were going back and forth between the ER and the unit where Sister Hainer was.  The Elder got an X-ray and nothing was broken, so they gave him a pain shot and a prescription for anti-inflammatory and he was suddenly able to walk out of there after that.  As for Sister Hainer, they were hoping that her heart would convert on its own back to a normal sinus rhythm so they could fly her commercially, but it didn't so she was med-evacuated out on Saturday morning . The church missionary medical team works with the church's insurance company to arrange all that--racking up a  $100,000.00 tab for the church.

On Saturday afternoon we drove to our Zone for a baptism that got rescheduled for Sunday morning and nobody told us.  That was fun--so we drove all the way back and got home around  8:30--fixed bacon and egg sandwiches and went to bed!

I'm sure glad Elder Godderidge is my companion on this mission!  When crazy things happen, he is right by my side helping me figure things out and do whatever I need him to do to support me.  I'm not nearly as helpful to him, but I try.  At least he usually gets one home-cooked meal a day out of me.  

Here's a picture of a rat trap that Elder Godderidge asked Sister Johnson and Sister Jensen to put peanut butter on for him so he could set it under their MQ.  Notice where they put the peanut butter!

I wanted to share an email that Elder Hainer sent after they arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii:

"We arrived in Hawaii at about 6:00 pm.  Got to the hospital at about 6:30.  A good flight, the med-evac team was outstanding.

After the turnover, the Queens hospital staff got her situated and hooked up to the monitors.  There was at least one staff member with her at all times.  About a half hour after arriving I was talking to her and she said, 'What's happening?'  I looked at her bpm and it was 0.  It stayed there for about 30 seconds.  The staff jumped in and started doing their thing and got her stabilized.  They did not have to shock her.  Afterwards I heard one nurse say 'I thought she was going to code'. 

Instead of waiting for Monday, they called in the duty cardiologist and they put a temporary pacemaker on.  She is stable and alert.  The plan is to put in the permanent pacemaker on Monday.  Looking back you can see the tender mercy of the Lord.  You all saved her.  If she had been in Samoa, I think she would have died.  If we had been delayed an hour I believe she would have died. We were in a top trauma center only one half hour before everything came undone.  I am grateful to all of you for listening to the Spirit!!!!

They said that once she has the pacemaker they will keep her overnight for observation and then discharge her.  How do flight arrangements get made for the final leg to Seattle?"

Elder Hainer

There were alot of prayers being said for Sister Hainer, and I believe God heard them!  

Love you all, have a great week!

Holidays are a little bit boring in Samoa

 Talofa!

It was a bit boring this New Year's holiday week here in Samoa.  No fireworks, stores closed, no parties to attend.  The mission leaders and office missionaries were all in Tutuilla for most of the week so it was pretty quiet around the office too.  We came back from our  Survivor Resort one-night stay on Monday afternoon and it was nice to get away for a little break.  But then when we got back we found that all government offices were closed all week and most of the downtown shops and stores were going to be closed on Wednesday, and Thursday.. On Tuesday, we spent all day going to our zone's district meetings. Now that our zone has 18 missionaries, they split into two districts so it takes up most of the day for us with the driving distance.and attending 2 district meetings. There's also been quite a few missionaries with colds (sore throats, runny noses, coughs) so I ran out of cold medicine this week and couldn't buy more until Friday because the pharmacy wasn't open either. We've started preparing for the new intakes that will be coming in  Mid-January. I've been reviewing their health histories and physicals and starting to put together intake packets and  Elder Godderidge has been getting a few new housing quarters ready to open up to accomodate more missionaries.  We have 12 going home and 26 coming in so our numbers are increasing!  On Saturday, we attended a baptism in our zone.  They were 3 children from one family that were past 8 years old and hadn't been baptized yet and one 8 year old from another family.  The father is inactive so the missionaries did the baptizing. We challenged them to work a little harder on trying to get their father reactivated.  Sadly, many of the wards we attend have very few Priesthood holders in attendance.  We sometimes wonder if they have to follow the same rules we do at home when they organize new wards and stakes with the Priesthood holders being at a certain number before they can make a new ward boundary.  

Sunday, we slept in and went to the YSA ward at 10:30. Then, after our fast, we were invited to dinner by one of the Senior couples, the Strobel's, so all I had to cook was dessert! 

I listened to a talk given by Elder Uchtdorf this week that was suggested in Come Follow me studies.  He reminds us that the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ is more than past events (the translation of the Book of Mormon, the receiving of Priesthood keys, the organization of the church). "In reality, Restoration is an ongoing process; we are living in it right now.  It includes all that God has revealed, now reveals, and many great and important things that he will yet reveal---the exciting developments of today are part of that long-foretold period of preparation that will culminate in the glorious Second Coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ."

He told us no to sleep through it, not to be a passive observer, but to roll up our sleeves and labor with all our heart, might, mind, and strength to help build up the kingdom of God.

He talked about three obstacles that might hold us back; Selfishness, Addictions, and Competing Priorities. He encouraged us to not let these things "lull you into indifference or detachment from blessed discipleship and ennobling service."  We should not give only a half-hearted effort to this sacred work.  "Being a disciple of Jesus Christ--is an effort of once and for all." 

It was a good "pep talk" for me.  And a reminder about the important things to be focusing on that will bring eternal blessings.

Love you all!

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! 

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