Sunday, July 2, 2017

Talofa from Samoa! Hope you enjoy our adventures. We'd love it if you'd share your thoughts with us. Our days are filled with a variety of missionary activities. Right now we are focused on three things - the Summer Reading Program, Missionary Support, & the Pathway Program.

Summer Reading Program - Technically speaking this should be called a Winter Reading Program because we are enjoying wintertime in Samoa. But the calendar says it is summer so we'll go with that. The reading program has been spearheaded by Louisa Kuaea. She & her husband lead the BYU Alumni Chapter here on the island. They have joined with the local library & community college to have this program for the children of Samoa. She is doing a wonderful job & we are fortunate to be able to work with her. 

Our leader, Louisa (standing) The girl on the
left is Shadie Bigelow - leader of the Explorers.
Sisters Hodges & Morrissette on the right.
When we started we hoped we could reach 100 children. The first week we had 130 & now we are up to 200. The purpose is to get the children to read & to improve their English. Most everyone speaks English but they aren't all that proficient at it. We meet every Tuesday & Thursday from 9:30 to 11:30. But generally speaking the parents start showing up at 8:30. That's partly because most of them ride the bus & one never knows how long that will take. The bus schedule is less than regular to say the least. After a gathering of all the children we divide into 2 groups - Explorers (5-8 yrs old) & Adventurers (9-13 yrs old). 

Elder Anthon & I help with the Explorers. After the gathering we divide our children into the 4 age groups & then they rotate to 4 different learning stations. We do the communicating lesson. So we do a lot of listening skills & speaking skills activities. 

At the end of the Program we are hoping to give a book to each child to have as their own. A big Shout Out goes to Davis 2nd Ward for collecting & sending books to help make this possible. Thank you so much.

Meeting the children the first day - Elder Anthon at the right


Here are the Explorers on the first day.








One sweet memory from the first day involves a little girl. She was so very timid & overwhelmed that the only thing she would do was cling to he dad & cry. No amount of coxing could get her to join the group. I tried the high five & fist bump, but she didn't want anything to do with me. Finally, I told the Dad to move his chair up to the group so she could listen to the story being read. Gradually she started to participate. Tears changed to smiles. Smiles lead to giggles. And by the end of the day she was sitting next to me as we read a book together. The next week it was just all smiles. Tender mercy from the Lord.

Elders Mounga & Coggins checking on supplies for the week.
They are the West Zone Leaders.
Pathway - We're hoping that this reading program will inspire God's children who are much older than these children to enroll in Pathway Worldwide. This program is a blessing from God. It allows members all over the world to get an education right where they live at a very affordable price. Pathway is being brought to Samoa for the very first time & we are fortunate to be a part of it. The local leaders were hoping to get just 10 people to sign up - this is the minimum number to have a Pathway group. Well, we already have 20 registered. We are feeling pretty good about that. In a couple of weeks there is a Devotional aimed at getting more interested. We are especially anxious for the young single adults to participate. We have attended a couple of ward council meetings to explain the program. The bishops have seen what a blessing it can be for their ward members. As a result we have been asked to hold a fireside for one of the wards. As word gets out, more are enrolling.

Missionary Support - This really isn't our assignment but the couple that had been doing it went home & the couple coming to replace them won't be here until Aug 1. We are just filling in until they get here. Then we will turn our attention to other educational programs that require our attention - self reliance, moms' preschools, etc.

But until then we love doing missionary support. It has given us a chance to associate with the young missionaries. And what a great group of missionaries. They are anxiously engaged in their work. We have attended at least one baptism every week since arriving. We have become quite close with the zone leaders. They are mastering the skills of future church leadership.



Ward Fun Day - Less you think that all we do is missionary work, here are some pictures of the Mesepa International Ward (MIW) at their ward Fun Day. We'd call it the ward party. In many ways it was the same as any ward party but as you see in the pictures it wasn't anything like a ward party in Vernal.

We had baptisms to attend so we went to the party in our missionary attire. When we arrived someone quickly got us a chair. I asked if this is what you do for the old people. He said no, "This is for the missionaries." They treat us so well here. Enjoy the view that we enjoyed.
This is what we sat & looked at while we were at the Fun Day. Beautiful, isn't it!
This little guy is going spear fishing with his dad. He had to protect the spear from other curious little boys.

No paper plate arrow pointing the way for Samoans

Bishop Goodwin helps Arnie carry bananas in from the car. We have a couple of banana trees in our yard so we brought some to share with ward members.


Kids playing at the boat ramp. This bay is on private property.

Playing King of the Mountain - Samoa style


Brother Meretuku - 2nd counselor in the bishopric - sharpens a machete to  cut the coconuts in front.




1 comment: