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

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Part 2

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Part 2

Robert Lewis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson was born on November 13, 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was a writer most notable for such novels as Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. 
He married Fanny Osbourne in 1856. They had no children together but she had 2 children from a previous marriage. In June 1888, Stevenson and his family set sail from San Francisco, California, to travel the islands of the Pacific Ocean, stopping for stays at the Hawaiian Islands, where he became good friends with King Kalākaua.
 In 1889, they arrived in the Samoan islands, where they decided to build a house and settle. He died 6 years later of a stroke and is buried on his property in Vailima, Upolu, Samoa at the top of Mount Vaea, overlooking the sea. After years of neglect, his home has been restored.

His home from a distance.

Closer view

Arnie on the porch with the beautiful grounds behind him

Here we are in one of the rooms. Don't know why they would need a fireplace in Samoa. It must have been a throwback in memory of his life in Scotland.

Our guide showing us the library

With Elder & Sister Foley

The music nook in the large living room.

A stepdaughter's bedroom - Arnie, Elder & Sister Little

It's a Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Part 1

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Part 1

After 7 1/2 months we finally made it to Samoa (that would be Western Samoa as compared to American Samoa) to visit the Foleys and to tour Upolu and Savaii. This was our Christmas present to each other.

The Plane Ride

The plane ride was quite the experience. We walked to the plane on the tarmac as in days of old. The plan shook and shuddered as it took off and landed. We flew low so the view over the ocean was spectacular. Arnie thought it was better than any ride at Disneyland. I thought it was white knuckle time. 

Walking to the plane on the tarmac just like days long ago.

Arnie watches the pilot get ready for take off.

Good-bye Tutuila - American Samoa

Hello Upolu - Samoa

Sauniatu

This is where the Foleys are serving as ITEP teachers. It is at a  church school up in the mountains of Upolu. For those of you not from Vernal, the Foleys are a Senior Missionary Couple from Vernal. They left on their 2 year mission about 9 months before us.

Welcome to Sauniatu

McKay Fale - named for President McKay after his visit to  Sauniantu.

Sister Foley

Elder Foley

Traditional dinner at the end of the day in the Fale
Elder & Sister Rees, Elder & Sister Little, Elder Anthon, Elder & Sister Foley

Getting ready to go to the bottom of the waterfall. You can't tell but it is raining so hard that we weren't able to go swimming in the pool at the bottom of the waterfall as planned.

Beautiful!

Original church house/school in Sauniatu

At the far end of Sauniatu is a camp that the YM/YW use for camping. Instead of cabins they use fales.

Walking the road to the camp

Sleeping fales in the distance taken from the gathering fale

Missionary Conference

Elder Cardon from the Area Presidency spent three day in our mission holding 3 conferences - one on each of the main islands (Upolu, Savaii, & American Samoa). Here are just a few pictures of our wonderful missionaries.

AP, Elder Tua, Elder Packard, Elder Gomez, Elder Matapula 

Elder Ama, Elder Levy, Elder Amituanai

Elder Leota-Hunkin, Elder Huber, Elder Belnap, Elder Skipps, Elder Juarez

Elder & Sister Wilde visit with Sister Hannemann

Food always makes for happy missionaries

November Fun

Long Boat Races

Word went out that there were long boat races in the Pago Pago Harbor. While we were there we decided to go watch. You can watch the beginning or the end but not much in between. 

It's hard to see but there are 3 boats in the top picture that are positioning themselves to start the race.

You can clearly see the 2 leaders. The small boat in the forefront is the officials. 

Young Men & Young Women Fund Raiser

YW perform traditional Samoan dance

The young men and young women had the annual fund raiser for a temple trip in February. It was a spaghetti dinner and dessert auction.

Elvis aka YM President

The young men seated everyone and helped serve. The young women served and performed for the program.

YW doing a solo

There was also karaoke. If you were challenged to sing and refused to do so, you had to pay $5. If you wanted to challenge someone, it cost $5.

Luisa emcees the program.

Highlight of the program was the performed by the Young Men Presidency and when we paid to challenge the Bishopric to sing karaoke. Sure wish I had gotten a picture but I was way too busy laughing. It was delightful.

Luisa is in the YW Presidency. She is the one who spearheaded the reading program back in June/July.

Another solist

We had a great time, spent lots of money, & took home to much junk food.

Happy Anniversary

My sweetheart

We celebrated our 47th anniversary on Nov 20. We went to a nice restaurant that sits on the edge of Pago Pago Harbor. Food was pretty good. The view was beautiful. The company was the best. 

The view from our table

Our sweet waitress is a Pathway student. At the end of the meal she gifted us our dinner. So, sweet! And certainly unexpected.

We had a very lovely evening!










Happy Thanksgiving

Elder Anthon watch

Our ward celebrates Thanksgiving with a Turkey Bowl. 

Anybody who wants to play comes. They are divided into teams and then play a double elimination flag football tournament.

The Game

Well, that's football with a few modifications - No center to hike the ball. The quarterback just says, "Hike!" - Every play is a pass play. No running plays. 

But it works. We enjoyed it for a while but the game just kept going and going. Finally, we left to go home.

Our bishop is on the left in the dark baseball hat. Brother Wade is on the right checking out the brackets. He's the main organizer. He is the Elder's Quorum President and his wife is the RS President.

Thanksgiving Dinner at the mission home with Sister Westenskow (in the dark blouse) and Sister Kirkham (in blue). They are the new Senior Sisters that are here to teach institute.
Sister Westenskow's daughter used to live in Great Falls and knows Neil & Amber. Small world.