Angels Among Us

We are back from American Samoa--our assignment is complete, but I could not let this experience end without writing about some of the amazing people we met along the way.

This is Bishop and Sister Matagi. He is the Bishop in one of the two wards effected by the tsunami. They were both born and raised in Samoa, but left and moved to the states for thirty years to raise their family. After all of those years they have moved back onto his family land. We met several people like them who move back in their "later" years, leaving family and friends behind. The island just seems to call to them, I guess.

Bishop and Sister Matagi serve as the Savior would have them do. We watched as they tenderly reached out to those people in their ward who were so devastated by the disaster that claimed their homes and all their belongings. Bishop Matagi was the first Bishop we worked with. It was amazing to see him respectfully wait for Reed to explain our purpose and assignment, ask questions and give counsel. Then when Reed was finished he would fill in what was missing. (It was difficult at first with the language. Reed was using words he had never used and we had only been in the country for three days when we got this assignment.) At the end of the day, Reed said that it was the best language lesson of his life.

Sister Matagi has worked tirelessly with one of the sisters in the ward who lost her home, has four children and was just diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer. It was touching to watch as she tenderly cared for someone who has no idea what she is facing in the future.

We attended church at their ward and then had dinner with them. They gave us a beautiful tofa (finely woven mat) as a thank you for all we had done. It was humbling to be thanked in the most respectful way known to the Samoans. We will greatly miss them.


This is Bishop Leiataua and his wife. He is the Bishop of the other ward effected by the tsunami. They too lived much of their lives in the states and have moved back to Samoa. Every week they deliver food that they have grown on their land to their ward members. That may not sound like a big deal but it takes more than an hour to drive from one end of their ward to the other. Their home was destroyed and yet they don't let that stop them from ministering to those who struggle. They do not know how they will rebuild their home and yet their faith never seems to waiver. Bishop Laiataua's father was the first stake president in American Samoa--back when cars were scarce and there was only one stake. He sounded like an incredible man; his son has certainly emulated his father's great service.


This is Wallace Bryce. He is the Church Facilities Manager for American Samoa. That means he handles the budget and all that goes with it, including directing disaster relief. I can't even begin to imagine what his life has been like the last nine weeks. In the midst of everything he does he was just called as the Bishop of his ward. The amazing thing about Wally is that he is ever happy. It would be so easy to get bogged down and discouraged with all that he has on his plate and that just never seems to happen. He was a wonderful guide when we struggled to know what to do, where to go and who to talk to. He became a very dear friend.

A funny story about Wally: We were talking about villages in American Samoa. A particular village was mentioned (I can't remember the name) and Reed said that he had spent time in that village as a young missionary. He went on to say."I don't remember much about it except there was a family with a bunch of beautiful girls that I had to stay away from." Wally started to laugh and said, "I married one of them." We had the opportunity to meet his wife, Iva; what a lovely person she is.


This is Vili, the Haleck's housekeeper; she is from Fiji. How we enjoyed getting to know her and hear her story. She is a single mom; her daughter is now in college. Vili left Fiji three years ago to come to Samoa to work so she could send her daughter to school. What a sacrifice she is making--it made our eighteen months seem like a blink. She will stay and work in Samoa for about two more years. She was converted and baptized two months after arriving in Samoa. She, like Wally, never seemed to be down or discouraged. We have missed our interaction with her since coming home--and no she did not clean up after us!


I am ever so grateful for the people that came across our path as we worked through a difficult assignment. They each lightened our burden in significant ways. There is something indescribable that connects us as God's children despite our human differences. Living and working in a place as unfamiliar as Samoa is has taught me that we all truly are His children.

Papa's First Offical Report

Our first month in Samoa has been what one might expect the first several weeks of a mission to be: challenging; frustrating; hard; bizarre; faith-promoting; amazing; and wonderful.

Challenging: It has been hard being away from the people and things we love. Thank goodness for Skype and the internet. We've been able to feel a lot less isolated because of modern communication. On my first mission here, there was nothing but letters that took 10-20 days to get and send. It has been challenging to be sent to American Samoa with a directive but no real guidance. We have felt like Nephi being sent back to get the plates. Nephi's words in 1 Ne. 3: 7 have come to our minds almost daily as we came to a place completely unfamiliar to us to work through all the challenges involved in helping people through the maze of FEMA and the administration of welfare help from the Church.

Frustrating: We have been asked to try to administer the Church's help through the proper priesthood lines of authority. It would be a lot easier for us to dig in and do things ourselves. We spend a lot of time suggesting ideas and hope that people follow through with things. We have gone to meetings where people just don't show up and others where people repeatedly ask the same questions they asked during the previous meeting. We have been frustrated by the inability of government to adjust quickly to needs and get help to the people who need it. The Samoans love to talk. Meetings can last forever while people are showing proper respect to those present and thanking people for their attendance while very little actually gets done to help people who are living in tents and using the jungle as a bathroom.

Hard: Everything in Samoa is harder. Every day we spend a lot of energy making phone calls, scheduling meetings, shopping, trying to fix computer problems, etc. Everything just takes longer and is a lot harder. We get spoiled in the US with phones, internet, deliveries, etc.; we snap our fingers and things happen. Life here is hard.

Bizarre: People who own 10 dogs; sharks on the sidewalks; geckos in the medicine cabinet; dog running across the road with a chicken in its mouth; forests of hair growing out of ears and noses; catching a wild boar by hand; whole pigs sold in the frozen food section; 10 inches of rain in one week; people whose homes have been destroyed welcoming us with a smile and apologizing for not offering us any food because they have none; an entire bus full (people on each other's laps) of saints, who have lost almost everything they have in a tsunami, arriving after an hour drive with smiling, clean and happy people getting off the bus to attend church.

Faith-promoting, amazing and wonderful: Interestingly, the challenging, frustrating, and bizarre things have also been what have made our first month wonderful. Challenging things make us grow, especially as we turn to the Lord for help. As hard as it is to be lonely, feel isolated, and miss family and friends, those things make us appreciate home and rely upon each other and the Lord. The bizarre and frustrating things make us search for understanding and teach us not to be judgmental. We have had to do things that seem impossible and found that with the Lord's help we can do very hard things. We have seen miracles occur as we have left the house in the morning not knowing where to go or what to do but accompanied by a prayer for guidance from the Lord. God loves these people, and it is a humbling privilege being an instrument in His hands to bring hope and relief to some very wonderful people.

Only in Samoa . . .

There are some things that are common to all people and all places and then there are some things that are unique to one people and one place.

Only in Samoa do . . .

• the leaders of the church (Area Seventy, Stake Presidents, Bishops and us) have an important church meeting in a room at the local gas station.

• dogs know how to navigate traffic.
• chickens really cross the road.
• football players sometimes wear helmets. I know that doesn't sound too weird but half of the players on the field had on helmet and half did not. It was like shirts and skins in basketball only this was helmets and no helmets. Go figure.

• you see a boat "parked" in front of a church building. (Courtesy of the tsunami)

• four women ride in the back of a pickup truck in a downpour and act like it is nothing.
• dogs run in and out of an official FEMA meeting. The meeting was being held in a village church hall that had no doors. Five dogs kept running in and out, fighting with one another. Finally, one of the dogs got close to the Samoan FEMA representative and he smacked him. The dog yelped and ran out. It was all I could do not to lose it.

• you see snails the size of your fist!

• you receive an orchid lei simply because you are a missionary.
• you have the opportunity to buy palolo on the street. Palolo is coral sperm that is harvested once a year and considered a great delicacy in Samoa. Needless to say, we did not try any. There is a small fear that we might like it and then we would be eating coral sperm!
• dogs cower and run when you pretend to pick up a rock.
• thousands of frogs sing you to sleep. This is only true of American Samoa. Frogs do not live on the other islands. The Elders told us that the Samoan Elders from the other islands are afraid of frogs when they first get sent to American Samoa.
• you see bats with the wing span of an eagle. They are actually the nocturnal Samoan flying fox. I came running in the house when one got about 20 feet above our heads.
• you have a two year old try to rub the polish off of your toes because he has never seen toenails that are painted.

• you see scenes like this!--everyday.

The "Resort" We Call Home

We thought we were finished with our assignment here in American Samoa. We met with Elder Hamula yesterday and he asked to stay to do some more work. He would like a needs analysis done for each family so the church can make a decision has how to help. We will be assisting in the formulation of the needs analysis and continuing to be an advocate for our families with FEMA. We have no idea how much longer we will be here--maybe two weeks. Lest you feel sorry for us I have included in this post photos of the Haleck's home. They have graciously allowed us to move in until our assignment is over. Since they are not here we have the place to ourselves.

Our bedroom

The living room



The front of the house.

The backyard--right out of our bedroom door.

Looking up to the top of the house from the back patio. The entire upper floor is the master bedroom.

Finally!

I finally waited long enough for the internet to upload the images. It took about a half an hour. These pictures correspond with the last blog entry.

On the airplane to American Samoa. I'm sure we were in first class.

The shore line of Malaela on Upolu. The village was completely destroyed.

Tsunami destruction in the village of Tula.

Sister Silao's books drying in Tula.


Destruction in the village Alao.


Temporary school in Tula.


A member's "home" in the village of Asili.

Destruction in the village Amanave.

The Halloween party in Leone.

Reed dancing at the Halloween Party. We were invited to dance by the commentator. At least the floor was filled with others including many children.

It still was stressful--you all know how we dance!

It is hard to believe that we have only been here a little more than a week. We have seen much, learned much and have had our spirits filled much. I don't have any idea where we will go from here and what we will be asked to do. What I am sure of is that whatever it is will surely not bring more satisfaction than this work has brought. We feel humbled and blessed that we have interacted with these sweet people whose lives have been turned upside down. I am also positive that what we have received from them is far greater than anything we could have given.

Miracles in Paradise

I have been trying to add pictures and an update to the blog for three days now. The internet here is so slow that I can't get it to upload the pictures, so they will have to wait for another day.

We arrived on Tuesday with an assignment to see the homeless families through the FEMA process and provide information to the Area Presidency on their situations. We felt like Nephi going back to get the plates from Laban--no clue how to accomplish our task. In the first forty-eight hours we were able to contact both Stake Presidents and two of the three Bishops we needed to see. The Bishops just happened to show up at places where we were which was a great blessing because the two areas that were most affected are on opposite ends of the island.

The third day we were able to begin visiting families. Fortunately for us the Bishop accompanied us as we wandered through destroyed areas looking for families. The destruction was something to see. I could not believe the force of the water. One of the villages had lost all of the vegetation and topsoil leaving only a gravel pit. The people were trying to reconstruct their lives as best they could without bathroom facilities and running water. It requires many of them to walk to a neighbor's home to borrow the bathroom and bring water back. Many are living in tents provided by the government or the church. Most are scared to rebuild their homes on the shore and are planning to move inland up the mountain. One sister described the wave as coming and receding seven times. By the time it was over she could see all of her possessions including furniture and appliances floating on the water. She expressed how the ocean used to bring her such peace and now brings only anxiety.

The most amazing thing that we witnessed was the spirits of these sweet people. They have lost everything and yet they were kind and cheerful and resolute about rebuilding their lives. Many apologized that they did not have food or drinks to offer us. Reed was great with his Samoan. I felt badly for him because he had to use language that he had never used before like application, loan, grant money, etc. At the end of the first day he commented to me that this had been the best language lesson of his life as the Bishop helped guide him when he lacked the necessary word.

We attended a Halloween party out in the Leone 3rd ward where many members suffered loss from the tsunami. It was Halloween Samoan style. Lots of dancing and singing and candy throwing. It was nice to see the members forget their burdens and have fun for a short time.

We also attended church in Leone today. I was amazed that these people who now don't have homes or running water were at church in clean, pressed clothing. I truly don't know how they accomplished it. They all have to ride a bus to get to church. Some of them leave home at least an hour before 8 am church because the bus must make many stops. Reed and I were waiting for church to begin wondering where everyone was. The bus pulled up and the entire ward got off of the bus. There must have been 50 people crowded into the bus. I thought about how we can be unhappy because we have to drive more than ten minutes to the chapel where we meet.

How grateful I am for this experience--there is much to learn in paradise.