September 27, 2011

Another week and we still don’t have much rain – the grass is crunchy and there are water shutoffs here and there all over the island.  We had no water at the Mission Home for almost one day.  I feel so involved with the junior missionaries and a few of them have no water in their tanks and have to go to member’s homes to shower.  The church takes trucks around to fill the tanks that are connected to all the churches, and this is where most of the missionaries live.  Some of them just need the tanks cleaned out before they can be refilled.  Lots of the missionaries have to boil their water and this inhibits the amount they drink sometimes.  Of all the ailments I deal with, most are caused by dehydration and I constantly encourage them to drink niu (young coconut) which replenishes electrolytes, as much water as possible  and stop drinking soda.  They are so sweet to deal with – I just love seeing so many of them on Mondays (p-day).  As nurse, I do a Medical Minute in the newsletter and this month it will focus on dehydration, which has been covered many times before.  I have made up a word search with Samoan and English words for them to find and hopefully they will enjoy the “Moment” and read the write-up I have to go with it.

We visited with Amuia on the weekend and their village has no water.  Nance was gone to the river to bathe and wash clothes.  He had no idea why there was no water and we wonder if it has to do with the lack of rain.  The small rivers around the island are just dry creek beds right now.

A couple of weeks ago we went on a detective trip to find the family of the Curries’ adopted grandchildren.  They had left a book to be given to them and we delivered it.  They live way up inland and we even had a walk of about 10 minutes into the bush to where they lived, after we parked the car.  They have no electricity and live in very humble circumstances. 

We have two missionaries in our ward and had them over for dinner for enchiladas one Sunday.  Elder Johnson was quite happy and Elder Alesana did ok too – until we started talking about weird food and we gave him a dill pickle!  Now Johnson teases him about being hungry and they could always go to the Harker’s for a pickle!   

One of the missionaries told me the other day that a Samoan had told him that Samoans don’t eat until they are full – they eat until they are tired!!!  I mentioned that to one young lady in our ward on Sunday and she just laughed and said that is so true!

Farmer Joe’s is where we do a lot of our grocery shopping (other than the market for our veggies & fruit) and I took this picture of the clerks who were dressed up for the latest rugby game.  Go Manu!

My, what a treat to listen to BYU TV in our living room and hear the Women’s Broadcast from Salt Lake City on Sunday.  We are so blessed to have such vibrant leaders in our organizations as well as the First Presidency.  I was impressed that within a couple of hours of Pres. Uchtdorf’s talk about the forget-me-not flowers and the things we shouldn’t forget, someone had made a visual on their blog and it was sent to me by Chelsea.  That will be one talk I am sure will be studied in RS next year.  We are excited to hear General Conference next Sat & Sun and we can see it in our home like a lot of you can at home.  We will go to the Stake Center for one session, probably.

This “flower” arrangement was at the Garden Party at the RLS Museum.  Isn’t it amazing what you can do with leaves?

I have been attending the staff meeting for the mission home and what a privilege to be involved and get to know the Mission President better.  The Assistants to the President are wonderful young men too and it will be hard to see them return home in December.  I know new ones will be chosen but the “changing of the guard” is always hard. 

I have a sewing machine that works thanks to my sister Rhonda.  What a pleasure to be able to confidently make and fix things.  She sent it through the mail to the American Samoan address and it mostly made it ok.  We also got a package today from my dad and sister-in-law and now have a decent pencil sharpener and goodies.  Thanks!

Well, we send our love to you all – give the grandkids big hugs from Nana & Papa.  We pray constantly for wisdom, protection and the blessings we all stand in need of.

September 19, 2011

 Go Manu Samoa!  The World Cup Rugby games are on in NZ right now and the country is in Manu Fever right now.  This picture is of the students at AH Mu Academy doing the haka at an assembly that was taped and aired on TV3.  It was right during my classes so I was able to get some photos of them. 

The past week has been quite busy with Roy's schedule and mine - we have had only one day off together in the past two weeks so we went to the beach on Sat. to Matareva - it only just opened up this weekend as it was closed because Survivor Samoa (Pacific, I think it is called this time) was being filmed in that area and Matareva was where those voted off were kept until they had 6 and they would take them away from there. 

Friday night we went to Aggie Grey's Hotel for supper as two of the senior sisters had the same birthday and it was also the wedding anniversary of one of the birthday girls.

We do enjoy having an occasional evening out with other seniors.  Other than that, our social life is not very interactive with them as we only have FHE twice a month.

The past week has been quite busy as Roy and I were asked to speak at the closing fireside for the Pesega Stake Youth Conference that was held this past weekend.  The topic was the 13th Article of Faith and we chose to focus on the SEEK after these things part.  We used a very nice video of
"Live Like You Believe" with music by Jenny Phillips, I think her name is.  We alternated between Samoan and English for our presentation and they seemed to enjoy it.  At one point, we had 4 pieces of paper taped under the bench or in the hymn book slot and needed them to look for them.  It took quite a bit of "seeking" to find them and that was a good object lesson for them.  One problem I found was trying to put them under the benches.  We arrived at the church 1 hour prior to the meeting and our ward already had about 50 youth sitting, waiting for the event!  I was very discreet and moved about but couldn't put any where out ward youth sat, unfortunately.  We felt the tender mercies of the Lord in this as we were asked to speak on any aspect of the Article of Faith that we wanted to.  Choosing to focus on SEEK happened to go along with the theme printed on the plastic bracelets they gave out to the kids (and us) that said SEEK FOR GOOD.  We had no idea about this and it was a great evening and we have some wonderful youth and leaders.

Roy and I went for a drive a couple of weeks ago and this is just one of the coastal areas we stopped at.  There is a chapel across the road from this beach and it is a bit of heaven on earth, for sure.

This is our home, #39 and it has our Hyundai  Tuscon in the drive on the left.  Our palm tree isn't quite mature but the lawns are well manicured and clean.

Robert Louis Stevenson's home is a museum at Vailima and this is a picture of  President Leota on the left, his wife on the right and their two daughters by their sides with a surprise visitor - one of their daughter's best friend  from Australia- in the middle.   Rachel, the daughter in purple has received her mission call to the Provo, Utah mission, reporting in late January.






 Here's yours truly at Aggie Grey's on Friday night. It is the most famous of Samoa's hotels and was here during the Second World War as a hamburger joint for the GI's and developed into a famous hotel.

This is especially for our grandchildren - here is a lizard (a mo'o - pronounced mow-o) on the outside of our screen.










This is a picture of a dead mo'o in our laundry room and my flipflop beside it so show how big it is.  They  do little poops that are quite annoying to clean up.

This is a snail that was in our yard.

Samoa was once a cannibalistic nation and this statue is at the RLS Museum and there is a paper that explains the ending of the custom when the kings own son was wrapped up like a fish ready to cook.  This is a little on the morbid side.

The dogs in Samoa are pathetic - they do have less ribs showing that other times but they just aren't taken care of.  This dog has it's underside ripped open who knows how or why but it has been around the neighborhood for over a month now so it seems tto have healed with all the insides hanging out.  Sorry to gross you out but this is a reality here.  This dog was very gentle and seemed to look at me and say "Don't be mean to me, please".   I just hope this isn't one of the dogs that pack together at night and set up such a ruckus that we can hardly sleep sometimes.



We have had a new batch of missionaries come in this week from the Provo MTC.  I was quite impressed with President Leota as he kept them around the mission home for two nights and three days, having special family home evening for them and training meetings.  There was such a feeling of love and companionship and I really know they feel it.  I call it the NMC - New Missionary Conference.  Sister Leota is wonderful too - she can tell a missionary to shape up and they still love her after.

 There is a real shortage of water in Samoa right now.  In fact, there was no water at the mission home this am and I drove home to use the facilities in the middle of the morning as we still have water at our place.  There is a lot of crunchy grass and there have been fires over by Falealupo.  We have had a couple of good dumpings of rain and actually look forward to the rainy season. 

We leave you all with our admonition to Seek for the good things in life - they don't just come to you, you have to look hard.  As the kids last night found, those who sought hardest were given a treat for bringing the papers up. 

Love, Elder & Sister Harker, Roy & Kathy, mom & dad