Christian Churches in American Samoa

I had this post ready this first part of February but posting it got lost in the chaos of Cyclone Gita. Hope you enjoy it now.

Christian Churches

The people of America Samoa are very devoted to their church. Jesus is a very important part of their lives. Here are just some of the many churches on the island - Catholic, London Mission Society, etc. Each church has a very large fale next to it. Every weekend there's a bingo game going on. These aren't just ordinary bingo games - pay to play and hope to win the pot. There's also a large home for their pastor to live in. The pastor is paid from the donations that members give. We hear that donations to the religious leader is a hard custom to break when someone joins the LDS church. There's some adjustments to living the law of tithing.

We had a Merry Christmas

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas! 

But I got a very hot, humid, green Christmas.

The village, Aoloau, on the top of the mountain decided to do a Village Christmas Light display. They were beautiful and the view from up there is spectacular.

The Nativity - Samoans are very religious

At one time a home sat on this overlook. Some time in the past, it was destroyed by a typhoon. These arches are the only walls remaining. The view from here is magnificent.

Christmas trees lined the road all the way up.

You get a bit of an idea of what the view is like from this picture. It was extremely windy this night.

Another view of the Christmas trees

Our Christmas tree - Thank you, Jackie

Snowflakes from JW's girls

Wreath & wall hanging

Christmas Eve dinner with the Senior Sisters and some YSAs.


Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
We had a delightful but different Christmas.
Something to remember forever.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Part 4

The final post of our trip to Samoa.

If you've enjoyed them, we'd love to read your comments.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year 

Part 4

Fiafia

Our final dinner at a restaurant included cultural entertainment. The fire dancers were my favorite.

Christmas Lights

An LDS family had a wonderful Christmas Lights display. Here are just a few pictures of the 15,000 lights. 

I really like the palm trees

Enjoying the Lights

Santa is Samoan! Who knew?

Senior Couples' Christmas Party

The Senior Couples on Upolu have activities on Saturday - their P-Day. Obviously, we can't attend them but it was nice to enjoy the Christmas Party while we were in Samoa. The party included games, eating & gift exchange.

Elder & Sister Little visit with Elder & Sister K (I couldn't pronounce their name, it's about 15 letters long.)

Waiting for dinner

Gifts ready for the exchange game

Arnie got a lava lava. Sister Best is showing him how to tie it.

Accommodations

President Hannemann was kind enough to invite us to stay at the  Mission Home in Apia. The Mission Home is located inside a huge compound that includes not only the Mission Home but also the Samoa Apia Temple, Senior housing, Pegesa LDS School & housing for the teachers, & offices for the senior couples.

That door is the entry for the GA room where we stayed

The area in the middle of the Mission Home. Every night the missionaries would light the trees and then present a Christmas program with songs & testimonies. My only question: Where's the Christmas snow?

Our room

Our room

President & Sister Hannemann watching the missionaries at the nightly Christmas program.

The beautiful Samoa Apia Temple.
We were able to attend one session on this trip.

We had a wonderful Christmas trip and enjoyed it immensely. We made lots of new friends and had some marvelous experiences. We are especially thankful to Elder & Sister Foley who made all of the arrangements. We'll have some great memories to reminisce about when we all get back to Vernal together.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Part 3

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Part 3

Savaii

Savaii is the largest island in Samoa and it is the island that has stayed the closest to traditional Samoa. The young missionaries seem to all want to serve in Savaii. I guess they want that bygone era.

The Boat

Elder & Sister Foley made this trip with us. Elder & Sister Rees, Senior Couple serving on Savaii, were our hosts/tour guides.

We took a boat from Upolu to Savaii. The trip is a little bit longer than an hour. Today the water was a bit rough and the rolling was a bit much for me. I got seasick. Didn't know if I would make without upchucking. The trip ended just in time. 

When we disembarked from the ship, we entered a unbelievable site. Looked like 3rd world chaos. Buses, vehicles, and people everywhere. Crazy!

Above: A picture of  the inside of the boat. Sure do wish I would have gotten a picture of the boat itself.

Right: A hint of what the parking area was like.

Blowholes

In geology, a blowhole is formed as sea caves grow landwards and upwards into vertical shafts that show themselves with blasts of water from the top of the blowhole.

 It's hard to see, but if you look carefully you can see the water shooting into the air behind us. We loved the blowholes.

Waterfall

We had quite the walk to reach these waterfalls. Just in front of the falls is the ocean.

You can't see it but upriver there is a group of people that are slaughtering a cow. Ooooh! Those kids in the background had been playing in the water. Ooooh!!!

Hotel

We stayed in what looked like a quaint, little, cozy hotel. Having experienced it, I wouldn't use those words to describe it. The air conditioning did not include dehumidifying. So the sheets were damp - it's difficult sleeping on damp sheets. In the morning, as I stepped out of the shower, I felt something on my leg. Looked down to see a gecko crawling up my leg. Yuck!!!

The Outside

Just down the wooden walkway

The Room

Is this Gilligan's island?

Canopy Walk

Since I am afraid of heights, this was a bit of a challenge. We walked to a tower that we needed to climb, followed by a "bridge", then up some wooden stairs around a Banyan tree to reach the top. The view was worth it.

The Path to the Adventure
 Elder & Sister Foley, Elder & Sister Rees, Sister Anthon

That's a long ways up

The Bridge

Wooden Stairs

View to the Left - You can see the ocean

View to the Right - Beautiful, again with the ocean in the distance

The End of the Island

Last activity on Savaii was a trip to the end of the island. It reminded me so much of The Other Side of Heaven. 

Very Primitive - Notice the Fale (Hut)
Elder & Sister Foley, Elder Anthon, Elder Rees