11 October, 2011

Happy Birthday Naomi – today, and McCoy – yesterday, and my dad – Saturday! 

It is currently raining – not a lot but we will take anything at this point.  The school at Vaiola in Savaii has no water and they are going to be bussing the residents to a bathing place down by the sea (not happy, say the Gouldings who are the ITEP couple over there!).  They are actually here and will probably stay for a bit until the water is turned on again as you really can’t have school without water.

The clinic has been super busy lately – bike accidents, boils, rashes, dehydration, etc.  It is really nice to have Roy there on Mondays and Thursdays (he doesn’t make his own appointments for those days as he works Saturdays and Sundays with the clerks) and the elders love him to speak Samoan.  He can get across information to some of the local elders when Sister Leota isn’t around to speak Samoan.  Sometimes those elders just love to come into the air conditioning and just have a break.  There is one elder that has captured my heart.  He is Samoan from Utah but his parents don’t speak English and his best friend is keeping him on his mission.  His shoes are worn right through and he has a liner from a ladies shoe he put in to keep his socks from wearing through too.  He has another pair of shoes but won’t wear them until his year mark is up – he has about 6 months to go to that!  These shoes were 4 years old when he came out on his mission.  Sister Leota and I are always trying to get him to change his shoes but he is just stubborn.  His parents also won’t write to him.  They said – go on your mission and you can tell us about it when you get back.  He writes to them faithfully every week – a letter to his dad one week and then to his mom the next.  He told the mission president’s daughter that he gets excited when his companions get letters from home as he feels the encouragement and news is for him too!  He is so sweet and a good missionary.

We have had a house guest for the past week and he will keep our home as a base until he goes back to the USA at the end of October.  His name is Ed Austin and he is on a sabbatical from BYU and studying some of the cultural changes, especially regarding the traditional Samoan dance (taualuga).  He is the artistic director for the International Folk Dance group.  Roy actually taught him in the LTM in Hawaii those many years ago.  Ed’s Samoan is a bit rusty but he tries and is getting along ok. 

beginning of the climb

we made it!

 

I walked up to Robert Louis Stevenson’s grave on Sat. am with Rachel and Pearl Leota (mission president’s daughters).  We had a grand time – starting at 0-dark-thirty in the am to beat the heat.  We actually sat in the parking lot for about ½ hour until it was light enough to go as a torch just wouldn’t have done the job, we realized as we got there.  Later that day we took the girls with us to Vavau beach and enjoyed some low-tide refreshment from the sea.  They are great girls and are so fun to be with.

Vavau

One of my jobs while being nurse is to go through the cell phone bills of the junior missionaries and mark down any calls that are excessive in length (they are allowed 5 min per call but I don’t mark unless they are over 10 minutes) and calls made at the wrong time of day – like 1:30 am, texting the same number over and over and at odd times, etc.  It is quite interesting to see how much one missionary can violate the rules – unbelievable.  The phones are necessary for communication so they can’t take them away completely.

We only have FHE with the seniors twice per month so last night we invited a few of them over (on our off night) to watch the movie 17 Miracles that belongs to the Gouldings.  We all know the story of the Willie & Martin handcart company but it was interesting to see it.  There was such a hush at the end and we had some good discussion about it after.  Our sacrifices as missionaries is certainly insignificant (what sacrifice? – we have nice homes, water, way too much food, fans, air conditioning if we want, etc.)

Our neighbors, the Webers, who are the Dentist couple have had a very rough weekend.  They have 14 children, 6 natural and 8 adopted.  The oldest of their adopted children (37) committed suicide on Friday – leaving an ex wife with 2 children and a current girlfriend with one baby.  They have chosen to stay here (exhausting travel and the expense on top of the funeral, etc) and have a confirmation that that is the right choice.  They are doing relatively well but how do you take away the pain?

Happy Thanksgiving to all our Canadian family and friends (yesterday).  We missed yet another one and hope in two years to have a super big thanksgiving.  We have missed 4 since 2004 and just feel sad that some of our children have no where to go.  They manage though and have dinners of their own and invite others so that is good.  I always try to think of specific things I am thankful for and aside from the really important things like the gospel, our family, etc. – I am grateful for the internet!  Our communication with everyone sure surpasses the snail mail letters we sent in the 70’s.  The progress of the gospel through the internet media is amazing also and we really are blessed.

just a brief stop during a Saturday afternoon drive

Well, again I “leave you within the shadow of the everlasting hills” and admonish you to “go forf wif faif” as you continue in your  own lives.