Pioneer day in Samoa

July 22, 2009
On Saturday we had another exciting adventure. We went snorkeling over on the south side of the island. We first stopped at the Coconut Beach resort that Paul had read an article about last week. We were scanning articles that mentioned the Church and this one popped up. It was from a dive magazine and the writer had come to Samoa to do some diving and snorkeling. As he was describing the sites as he drove along the north side of the island, he mentions the Huge Mormon Temple that towers above everything else. That was the only mention of the Church but Paul had to read the whole article and discovered that it had a wealth of information about great dive and snorkeling sites. One of them was near the Coconut Beach Resort and it said to check with Roger at the dive shop. Paul went in and asked for him but the lady at the desk had never heard of him. We asked some other people and finally discovered that he had moved away probably 5 years ago and no one there had any idea where the place was as mentioned in the article. We later discovered that the article was from 1989 and we have no idea why the scanning service that we pay for picked it up now. In any event we were out to snorkel and snorkel we did, but not at that resort. We drove about ten miles east to a beach they we had been to before at Vavau. It was incredible. I can’t believe how beautiful the Coral and fish are. There were so many different types.
The blue star fish is my favorite because it is such a bight blue lying on the white coral and makes such a great contrast. We also saw an eel that was all the way out of its hole just lying on the sand. It had really different designs on its back which kind of resembled a rattle snake or something similar.

The couple we were with had just brought their new underwater camera and were on their way over to take a picture but it swam back into the coral before they could get a shot. They took all of these pictures you see here. We also saw several star fish which are called Crown of Thorns. It's below

They are very big and beautiful. They have a grey colored skin with bright red thorns covering their entire body. The first time we went snorkeling, we only saw one of these and thought they were somewhat rare. Today they were all over the place and we probably saw ten or more so I guess they aren’t that rare after all.

This picture is so great because you can see the reflection of the top of the water in it.
Paul and I were on our way back to shore when Paul turned out toward the reef to look at something. All of a sudden we felt like we had entered a river with the current flowing very fast toward the ocean. The coral was getting very shallow and the current was pulling us out to sea over the coral. I didn’t have gloves on and was flying along when Paul, who was able to grab the coral, caught me by my fin and helped me to turn around. He hung onto the coral with one hand and me with the other, pulling us along until I could start swimming again. It had been too shallow to swim because you would hit the coral with your arms and legs. We pulled and swam just a short distance and then it was calm again. We came out with very little damage; I only had a few scraps on my hand and one leg. My other leg must have washed out to sea. Just kidding. We were a little tired after that and had a good rest on the sandy beach.

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On the way home we decided to stop at the National Park where they have this nice little waterfall. There were several pools at different levels. From the upper level of the falls you have an 8 foot jump into the first pool. It looked a lot higher to me but I was looking down at the pool and it’s a bit deceiving. Once you’re in the first pool, there is no way out but to jump into the next pool down. This one is about ten or more feet. There was no turning back once you made that first jump because the stairs that go back up are all the way at the bottom. Paul just jumps right off without a care in the world. I’m a bit more cautious and checked the situation out a little better. I was worried that I might hit the bottom of the pool but I closed my eyes and jumped and was amazed that I never touched the bottom. It was much deeper than I thought.

This is Paul's jumping off the first waterfall.

This is the second jump but you can't see how high is was.
It was great to be in fresh water and I was amazed that I never got cold. In fact I haven’t been cold since we got here. Well, almost never, the other night it got down to 75 and I had to get up and put on a long sleeve shirt. They have a saying here that if you ever get cold, you need to turn off the Air Conditioner.

Shopping at the out door market

Pat trying to pick out some new coconuts

We have had meetings this week with several retired members who now dedicate their time to helping those who are less fortunate. They are Felix Wednt, George Hunt and Daniel Vaoifi. They work as volunteers in the humanitarian services area trying to help others succeed. We’re hoping that they can help us come up with some good ideas for Public Affairs, to help further the work in the islands. They have a really good feel for what’s going on here and seem to know most of the important government contacts that can make things happen. And since we’re always looking for good material for news articles, they can supply us with the information we need from their many projects to just about fill our need for the rest of the year. Right now they are working on several projects including Water systems for remote villages, Computers for a Catholic School and the handover of one of our older churches to a village for use as a community building. We will try to accompany them to island of Savaii next week to help install water tanks and collection pipes for a new water system. We hope to get some good photos and perhaps a few quotes from the village elders about what the new water system will mean for their village. In many of the more remote villages, there currently is no water source and the villagers must spend much of their time each week walking, hiking or paddling canoes to a fresh water source and then back again.
The other day we saw an older lady pushing a wheel barrow along a jungle road with water jugs that she had filled from a spring and was now taking them back to her village. They have to work very hard for things that we just take for granted and it’s such a blessing to see the Church provide so many good things to make their lives just a little better.
We met with our director for public affairs again this week and he is starting to get the vision of what Public Affairs is all about. We get all excited when things start to happen and we see the work moving forward. We have had two stories published in the two weeks we’ve been here so things are progressing nicely

This is Sister Shuster from American Samoa, her husband is the PA Director from there. She is so cute and we love her.

We also met with the PA director from America Samoa this week and took him and his wife to lunch. They are wonderful people. He worked for the U.S. government most of his life while they were living in California. After he retired he decided to move back to Samoa where he could find ways to help the Samoan people improve their lives. They currently live in American Samoa where most of their children are but spend a fair amount of time in Western Samoa where they are building a second home. Or should we say a forth home, because they still own a home in Seattle, and have two homes in American Samoa. He has children living in those extra ones. His wife is a cousin to the royalty in Tonga and Su’a is a chief in American Samoa.

After a busy week of meetings, it was fun to enjoy a Saturday celebration of our pioneer heritage with the members of our ward. In honor of both the original pioneers from the U.S. and also the early Samoan pioneers here on the islands. They decided to have a short trek up the canyon to a place called Saniatu (Prepare to go forth). Everyone met at the main road and then the hearty ones made the 4.5 mile trek up to the property. The road started out fairly steep but quickly leveled out and was just slightly uphill the rest of the way. We had been assigned to drive up and down the canyon ferrying the drivers of cars back down to the starting point after they had parked their vehicles at the top. Once we had everyone on the road, then we just made sure that everyone was OK and not in need of help. Many of the older members also walked and they are in the late seventies. Pat joined in the walking about half way up and made it to the top with just a few blisters for her trouble. Since I’m still having trouble with the joints in my big toes, I stayed in the car to provide help and water to anyone that needed it.

Once there we enjoyed a delightful afternoon of playing in the water, jumping off cliffs into beautiful ponds that are fed by stunning waterfalls.

This is Paul and Sister Anderson. Notice that everyone wears their clothes when they swim.

Our Dinner was hot dogs and sausage’s and we ate until we were about to burst (they call this a sausage sizzle) and then we listened to the stories of the early Samoan Pioneers and all the trials that they faced after joining the Church.

Our sausage sizzlesSaniatu is an 800 acre piece of land that the Church purchased from a German rubber plantation back in the late 1800’s. As missionaries went forth teaching and baptizing people, a problem arose when many of them were rejected by their villages for joining the new Church.
They were expelled and even assaulted with stones and clubs and told to never come back. They had nowhere to go so the Church bought this land as a haven where they could live in peace. There were many tales of the hard ships and trials that they experienced over the years as well as the many miracle’s that they witnessed of healings of the sick, turning away storms and lightning by priesthood power, and many others.
We have found that the Samoan Saints have such great faith and testimonies and miracles are almost a daily occurrence for them. One group of saints after being rejected by their village, were told that they had to pay for their past food that had been consumed in the village. Not having any money or other earthly goods to use as payment. The group promised to pay the village back just as soon as they could harvest crops from the new land they were going to. The village elders rejected this offer and demanded payment before they would let them leave. All they had was the clothes on their backs so they gave them everything that they owned and then made the trek to Saniatu totally naked.

We suggested that they recreate that version of the trek on Saturday as we were sure that it would make a splash in the local news papers. We public affairs people are always thinking, that’s what we’re good at.
Over the years, the Church has developed the property and today it has a beautiful school, a modern chapel and homes for all the teachers. It sits in a most beautiful setting with streams running along both sides of the property, with cascading waterfalls and pools along the way. The Prophet David O. McKay paid a visit to the site in 1921 and declared it the first Temple in the pacific. A traditional Samoan Fale was built for this most special occasion and remains to this day with a plaque identifying it as the McKay Fale. It was truly a marvelous day and one that we will remember for a long time.

This is the McKay Fale

The Kimball's, Squire's and us eating fish and chips before the trek.
Our featured couple this week is Elder Ron and Sister Janice Squire. Ron was born in 1948 in Canyon city Colorado and was raised in Westcliffe Colorado. He attended Western State College and majored in mathematics. Upon graduation he took a position as a High school Math teacher in Snow Flake Arizona. There is an old story that still circulates around the town, to the effect that Ron and his friend rode into Snow Flake on Harley Davidson Motorcycles with sporting long hair and beards. Ron denies this story and said he didn’t buy a motorcycle until years later but local residents swear by their version.

Ron worked in the school system and eventually became the principal of the school. He was a non-member when he and Janice married in 1973 and joined the Church in 1996 after attending and holding calling for much of that time. He eventually became Bishop and also worked in the Boy Scouts, Young men and Stake High council.

Janice was born in Rigby Idaho and raised in Ririe Idaho on a Dairy farm near the Snake River. She lived there until going off to first Ricks College and then BYU where she received a teaching degree. She was offered a job at the High School in Snow Flake Arizona. Where she met Ron and married in 1973. She was a lifelong member of the Church. They have 4 children 2 girls 2 boys. And have 8 grand children with one on the way. This is their first mission and they are serving in the CES dept. They teach school in Apia and will begin teaching local teachers in the next month. The Squire’s have become great friends, and we spend most Saturday’s with them, exploring the island and snorkeling in the beautiful ocean around Samoa.