October for the Streiff's

Oct.7 2009

Well, the Big relief plane from SLC that was due at 9 PM didn't arrive until 12:30 AM. We sat in our car and tried to sleep while waiting for it but too many things were going on like mosquito’s biting us and people knocking on the window to talk to us. But when it did land it really looked huge compared to the other airplanes at the airport. It was hard to imagine that we would have to unload that whole thing tonight.


These are the cute missionaries unloading the plane


There were five crew members and our two media guys on the DC10. What a way to travel for those guys. They could walk around lay out flat on their sleeping bags and one even got to sit in the cock pit while taking off and landing.
The airport didn’t have a high enough lift to reach the cargo door on the plane so they had to unload each pallet by hand onto the lift, lower it and then reload the pallets to load them on the trucks. There were about 30 young missionaries there pulse 4 senior couples and several employees from the Church Service center. Those poor young missionaries had been working up in the hills all day, digging latrines and would now be up all night unloading and then loading trucks.
Our missionaries digging toilets.


It was a very long process unloading the plane. The media guys were there to take pictures of the whole thing for a documentary. Garret Batty and Lucas McGraw were both from SLC area. After a little conversation we found out that Garret had been Jennifer’s home teacher in Draper and still lives in her ward. Small world isn’t it. They also had to do interviews with several of the missionaries and didn’t finish until after 4:30 AM . We were a bit tired by the time we arrived at our home just after 5AM. It's 3:30 in the morning and Paul is supervising in his lava lava.

We had planned to take them with a group from the stake that was going out to do a Helping Hands clean up project but we were all much too tired to continue without any sleep. We decided to meet at the service center by 8:30 so we had to sleep fast. I had told the two boys (I guess they weren’t really boys, they were both married, but I called them my boys) that we would have them for breakfast at 8 AM. I had to get up early and make apple pancakes for them. So I got 2 hours of sleep that night.

We took them to the service center and got the agenda for the day and then met with the Ministry of Health and the head of the Red Cross. We did interviews with them and took pictures of all the food that had been brought to the warehouse during the night. The last two flatbed trucks had just arrived from the airport at 10am and the TV media was there taking lots of pictures and interviewing our Public Affairs director and our humanitarian director. Each of them was so impressed with how fast the church responded to this disaster. We found out later that Paul and I were on TV that night but we never saw it. We thought we were just in the background helping our media guys.
The Head of the Red Cross


After the ministers had left and all the pictures were done Paul said to me, what’s that big grease spot on your shirt? I looked down and sure enough a big dark spot of grease. I then looked at him and he had two grease spots on this tie. We couldn’t image what we had rubbed up against but we were both stained. A great way to appear on Samoa television.

The minister of Health of Samoa

We drove the film crew around for the first day and then the next couple of days they traveled with the Area President Elder Callister to the affected areas. They got some great stories and shots so hopefully they have some good footage for the story they are doing.
Paul has been busy writing stories of a few of the tsunami victims. Two or three of these have appeared on the country web site for the Church. He has quite a gift for writing and since we still don’t have a media specialist; it’s up to him to get that part of our job done.

Friday 17th
Paul was invited to go with the priest quorum on an overnighter. He and our neighbor, Hatu took ten boys plus all their gear in one Toyota pickup truck up into the mountains. It actually took them two trips but it seemed weird that they would only have one vehicle for a Priest outing. They went up to the top of the mountains which are south of where we live and spent the night in the jungle.
I guess they found an old three sided shack that they cleaned out and used for sleeping, cooking and just hanging out. Paul borrowed a Dutch oven from the Dentist that lives across the street and made the boys some of his famous soda pop biscuits. They must have been a hit because he used the whole bag of flour and said they ate them all. Paul was very impressed with how nice these young me are. Hatu made food and other assignments prior to leaving and the boys took care of everything. Cooking, clean-up, camp fire scripture discussion, the works. It was all very impressive. Once the camp fire session was over, the boys settled down to a good game of checkers. No one brought phones or electronic games, just two home made checker board with soda pop bottle caps for pieces.

They played this till about midnight when Paul and Hatu went to bed. The boys stayed up and sang around another fire they had built out side the shack and kept this up until 6:30 in the morning when Hatu got up to heat water for breakfast. That was one long night.
After a small breakfast of buffalo eye eggs that Paul prepared, they went on a two hour hike to a lake off in the jungle some where. The trail went up and down over mountain ridges and valleys, through very red mud and thick jungle. The lake, which is an old volcano crater was really pretty and offered a cool dip for the sweaty boys. They only stay a short time and then made the two hour hike back to the truck. They arrived home just after 12 o’clock very tired and very dirty, I couldn’t believe how dirty all of his cloths and socks and everything else were but he had a blast. I guess he really misses being with the scouts back home.

Oct 20th Tuesday

Elder Hamula the 1st counselor of the Area Presidency is here for a mission tour. The Haleck’s asked us if we would skip the conference and entertain his three children Julie (17) Jared and Joseph. (13) So we took them for the day. We went first to Palolo Deep for a snorkeling outing and they loved it. It was a little breezy but not too bad, we saw lots of fish. We stayed there for a couple of hours and then we headed for Sauniatu.


At Sauniatu there is a big pool at the base of good sized waterfall. You can jump off the side wall and try to swim to the base of the falls where you can climb up the cliff and actually sit under the falls. It’s a difficult swim because you are swimming upstream and the current can be strong. If you get tired, you just stop swimming and you float back to the shallow area. They really had a fun time there.

Paul in his lava lava but having some trouble with buttoning his shirt.


One of the twins, Joseph climbed up the side of the falls a couple of times and I was a little nervous that he would fall and get hurt (on our watch) but thankfully he was careful.
Salu, Hatu’s secretary, brought Sister Hamula and lunch and met us at Sauniatu I’m not sure what the beef was but the chicken leg was our best choice. I think Paul took one bite and then suddenly he wasn’t hungry anymore.

The famous McKay Fale at Sauniatu and the Hamula's children

Sister Hamula really wanted to go to a beach so we drove over to Tafa Tafa for a little beach action. By the time we got over there, the day had become overcast so Sister Hamula and I just sat on the beautiful beach. The kids were playing on the beach and drawing “I love Samoa” in the sand. We took photos of them doing pyramids and just playing around.
Paul noticed a lady from the local village, filling up a wheelbarrow with sand and pushing it across the sand to her fale so he decided to help her. In just a few minutes he was wheeling children back from the village and trying to dump them into the ocean. They were too fast for him and would jump off just before he could dump them in the ocean. They would fill up the wheelbarrow and he would wheel it across the sand and return with a wheelbarrow full of kids. They were having a great time.
We really enjoyed the day with Sister Hamula and her children. They are such wonderful people, so down to earth and fun. We got home around 6:30 and were really hungry and since there is no fast food places here except for McDonalds, I thought I would have to fix them some dinner. I looked in my fridge and came up with quesadilla’s. I thawed some chicken fast and cooked it up in my little George Forman grill. I put some taco seasoning on it and cut it up for quesadilla’s.
Just as everything was ready Elder Hamula was at our door trying to find his family. So we invited him in for dinner. It certainly wasn’t one of the fanciest dinners I have ever made but the kids said that it was the best they have had since they left the States.
I thought of what a privilege it was to entertain and laugh with a wonderful General Authority. I was so impressed with him because he is so approachable and warm. I loved his wife the minute I met her. They were going to Pago Pago for a zone conference on Thursday and she asked if there was anything I needed from there. I told her that I didn’t need anything and she just kept asking me so finally I said “OK just get me some Honey Nut Cheerios”. I tried to think of something that didn’t weigh too much because all you can take on the plane is 40 lbs.

Wednesday 21st
At 9PM the mission president called and asked if we would to Pago Pago, American Samoa the next morning and that they would try to get us out on the earliest plane. I had heard rumors for the last 3 weeks that they might need nurses there and that I was going to go, but no one had asked me to go until that night. I hurried and did the wash and packed.


Sister Derrick and me boarding the tiny plane.

We arrived at Pago Pago and were greeted by the Elder and Sister DaBell. They are such a great couple who do so much for the mission.
We stayed at their home along with Sister Derrick, the mission nurse who had accompanied us.

We arrived just in time for the luncheon at the Zone conference that was being held that day and were able to hear President Hamula’s closing remarks about missionary work. I was impressed with his remarks about the earthquakes and total devastation that the Nephite’s experienced after Christ’s crucifixion. Christ came and showed them his wounds and let them all touch him. But then the first instructions were for Nephi to come forward and he asked him to baptize the people. He didn’t say, get all the damage cleaned up or get the people fed or into new homes. He said “Baptize the People”.
Elder Hamula then compared it to Samoa after the tsunami. He said that missionary opportunities and efforts should increase. He also spoke about all the signs that are given now and that it’s not a time of fear but a time of faith. It was powerful sermon that was very close to home after all the devastation that has been done on the three islands affected by the tsunami.

Later that night, Sister Pili who works as a volunteer for the Red Cross came over to the home and talked to us about what we were going to be doing in American Samoa. She said that a lot of the people just needed to talk. We had a feeling that this whole need of nurses was about 3 weeks too late but we were asked to come, so we did.
She picked us up at 8:30 in the morning and after we got into her car she asked if we could say a prayer so that we would know where to go and what to do that day. Sister Derrick and I were a little surprised that nothing was set up for us to do. When I said that I felt they needed social workers instead of nurses her reply was “They just need health care workers.”

The church got water tanks and tents to the members.

So we drove over to the village of Leona where a lot of destruction had occurred. She saw someone at a home and pulled in. It was a two story home and the whole first floor was gutted. She told him that we were nurses from the church and was there anything or anyone who needed help. He said that he was from Guam and hadn’t been here for the Tsunami but he came to help his parents whose house this was. He told us about his sister who was in the house when the wave hit and was in the bathroom and couldn’t get out so she jumped on top of the toilet and found a pocket of air so that she could breath. The second wave hit and it knock down the walls and she was flushed out the back of the house. She managed to grab onto a tree and held on until the water receded.
Another cute little lady who was 82 told us that when the wave hit she was running to get to higher ground with her grandson and daughter. She told them to run on and leave her because if it was her turn to go that she was fine with that. They wouldn’t listen to her so the daughter picked her up by the shoulders and her grandson grabbed her feet and off they ran. She kept pleading with them the whole time. “If it’s my turn to die I should, please leave me and go to safety.” All three of them made it.
Another mother was telling us that when earthquake ended, that the primary school told the children to go home. (Big Mistake)This would put them right in the path of a tsunami if one came. She was running to the school to get her six year daughter and just as she grabbed her hand the wave hit them. It took them inland and smashed them into a truck. Her hand was cut open and it caused her to let go of her daughter. The two were pulled apart and she said that as she saw her float away, that she knew that she would never see her alive again.
She also told us that the night before, her daughter had come in the home leaving the door opened and her mother asked her to close it, so she said “Why is there a tsunami coming?” She couldn’t remember ever mentioning the word Tsunami before. The mother told us that she felt that her little girl was prepared to go and that God had needed her for his garden. The mother had been baptized in the church but had gone back to her other religion because it made things easier in her village but was now ready to get active in the LDS church again and wanted to be sealed to her children. She wanted that assurance that they could be an eternal family.
Several people we talked to were ready to join the church because they saw how our church had come right in and taken care of the people in the villages, not just the members but non members as well.
In fact one village that would never let the church build a chapel had a meeting and the Matai or (Chief) who has blocked the church was the one who said that it was time to let the Mormon’s into the village. They took a vote and every chief voted to let the church build a church if they still desired. They felt it was important for their village to have a Mormon chapel. The Church has since set up a tent so that members can meet in the village and we suspect it won’t be long until we build a chapel there.
I just love our church because it’s so organized, it also is so fast to respond, it helps all the people, not just members and helps the members to help themselves.
Paul has written three stories that have appeared on the church website for the Pacific Area.

One of the stories he wrote was about the two missionaries that saved the three children. This is one of the them Elder Lelea from Tonga next to Paul.

He also wrote to the newspaper about an erroneous article that appeared in the newspaper that said
“A friend of the paper reckons not many people know there is something missing from Joseph’s Smith Golden figure above the LDS Temple at Pesaga. Not quite sure when it happened but his horn, trumpet or whatever you call it is no longer there. Word has it the entire statue is real gold; Now imagine the person who has the trumpet? He/she would be fairly rich by now, wouldn’t he/she.” Paul wrote in to the paper and the next day they wrote a new article saying
“MORONI, NOT JOSEPH SMITH. The statue standing on the LDS temple at Pesega is not that of Joseph Smith, Paul Streiff of the Public Affairs Department corrected yesterday. He wrote”The figure on the Temple is actually that of the Angel Moroni. His horn or trumpet fell to the ground during the earthquake. The figure is not made of gold but does have a very thin layer of gold leaf covering it.” “So There you have it folks”!

We thought that was kind of funny.


We are busy, busy, busy this week getting ready for President Uchtdorf’s visit to the pacific area starting on Saturday. We have to make sure that that opinion leaders and media are invited and that articles get written for the news papers in Samoa, Am Samoa and Tonga. Richard Hunter our director is coming to make sure that all goes well so we decided to hold a training session for the new public affairs council in Samoa while he’s here. We will be glad when the week is over and we can concentrate on the visit of Jodi, Trish, and Lee. Yeah! “Can’t wait”.

This is my lastest hobbie. I started it in New Zealand where it was cold but it's a little too hot here to have a blanket on your lap.

September 29th

What a day!! It all started off with me jogging. At 6:50 AM I was rounding a corner of the Pesega School complex and I hear this loud noise like a jet plane was going to land on my head. I looked up and could see nothing and then the ground started to move. The signs were swaying back and forth and I had to stop running because I thought I would fall down. It lasted about 3 minutes. After it stopped I ran home to find Paul at the computer checking to see how bad it was.
Paul said that when the earthquake hit, he was walking down the hall and hanging on to both sides trying to save the pictures. So gratefully we only lost a few pictures, a clock and some water storage bottles fell off the shelve. There was very little damage around Apia except Angel Moroni did drop his horn and his thumb and the stake center behind us, had a crooked steeple, which has now been removed.

I got into the tub and was washing my hair when Paul came running in and said we had to go because there was a tsunami warning. The sirens were going off so I jumped out of the tub and put my tennie runners on, just in case I had to run. We grabbed some water and granola bars and then picked up the couple from across the street, who didn’t have a car and took off for the hills. When we were about 5 minutes out, Paul said “Shoot I forgot to get some Coke Zero.”
It was an amazing thing to see so many people heading for the hills. Whole families were walking with back packs clogging the streets.
We decided to go to our friend Sua’s home up the hill. He lives in American Samoa but is building a home here. He had been trying since the earthquake to get a hold of his family but unable to.
We stayed there for an hour and then decided to go back to our home. We called the Squires and I felt bad that we hadn’t checked on them before we left. They don’t have a car so they had started to walk up the hill when some other members saw them and put them in the back of their truck and dropped them off at the golf course.
We stopped at the golf course on our way home to pick them up. Our phone finally started working and we saw a rather worried email from Jodi. We quickly answered it and then loaded the 6 of us in a car built for 4 and headed for home. We went back to our house and made bacon, eggs and hash browns while watching the international news.
We could get CNN which had some coverage and the local news was in Samoan, so after a while we decided to go to the other side of the island to see the damage for ourselves. We had heard that a tsunami had hit and that some people been washed away but we weren’t sure where or how bad it was.
We took the first cross island road to the other side of the island and when we came down the mountain and turned on the beach road we could immediately see where the wave had hit the town of Poutasi. It was very interesting what was gone and what was still standing. All the cute Samoan Fale’s were gone and some of the homes were damaged and you could see standing water. This was now about six hours after the wave had hit.

As we continued eastward you could see a little more damage here and there. We wanted to see if Tafatafa was seriously damaged. It is a beautiful long beach with little fale’s all along the beach front. What we could see of it was that the fale’s were gone but the homes weren’t too bad. Some members live right behind the beach fale’s and their home was still intact so we asked them how they were doing and they gave us thumbs up sign.

We continued on our trek east and the next place we wanted to see was Vavau. Unfortunately it was chained off so we couldn’t go down that road. That was one of favorite places; the people there have always been so nice to us and hoped it’s not totally destroyed. Just down the road we came to what had been our favorite restaurant, called the Sea Breeze. As we drove down the steep road we could see that it was totally gone. It had been in a beautiful cove with little islands in the bay. The restaurant had great food and we had hoped to take anyone who came here to visit to this little paradise.

The top picture is the before and the bottom picture is the after. Notice that the whole resturant is totally gone on the right.

The rest of the trip was difficult because the road was now so cluttered that the traffic was down to one lane, bumper to bumper with devastation on both sides of the road. The road was washed out or undercut in several places causing us to drive through the actual villages to continue on. At this point we kind of wished that we had not come because we felt like we were intruding on their grief and could do nothing for them. It was hard to see these poor people sitting on what was left of the foundations of their homes or sitting in the trees staring into space.

There was so much debris in the water that it looked like someone had dynamited a city and threw it in the ocean. The water was all brown close to the shore because of all the dirt and debris and the land that had bordered the road was simply gone. There were huge boulders and coral head scattered from the beach inland to the base of the mountain with many on top of people’s homes. There were cars in the trees, in the ocean and smashed on top of the people’s homes.

We had been to this side of the island so many times but now we couldn’t tell where we had been. We thought we were at one of our favorite places but when we got there we weren’t sure if it was the right place. We knew we were close because of the little island in front but since all the homes were gone we just couldn’t tell where we had been. There was no trace of a little pink house that we used to park in front of. We kept wondering if the family from this home made it out with their five little children.
As we turned up the east end of the island going north at Lalomanu you could see that it was the worst of the worst. There was nothing left. There were boats in trees, cars smashed everywhere and the road was mostly gone.

We found the brand new stake center and at first we thought that it had survived. But as we got closer we could see that all the windows were gone and part of the roof was collapsed or missing. It was obvious the building is a total loss.

Our drive had taken us three hours to get to this point, a distance that should have taken us 45 minute. And what was amazing was as soon as we rounded the next corner there was no damage at all.

We headed home and as we got closer to Apia we saw people that looked like they were in a panic. They had back packs on and were all in a hurry. Cars were passing us and honking at us and we couldn’t figure out what was going on. We were about out of gas and hadn’t eaten since breakfast so we were trying to find a place to eat. When we tried to go toward the beach in Apia the police stopped us and said that there was another tsunami warning and told us to head for higher ground.
These poor people didn’t need this at all. As it turned out it was a false alarm and we were able to go home after an hour or so.
When we got home we made some dinner and watched the news. They didn’t seem to do a very good job with the national news but we were able to get a local channel and see what was going on.
It was a very long day for us and an even longer night. Things kept going through my mind all night. “What if it had happened on this side of the island?” What if it happened in the night?” What if we had been out snorkeling? It was a very long night.
There are several stories that we heard that night from another senior couple. Their mission is to take care of all the missionaries’ fale’s. So the president asked them to take a van out to the Elders. They had grabbed tons of water and took off for the other side.
They were down by the stake center that had been destroyed and were asked to go up to the encampment up the hill and hand out water. They returned just a few minutes later and the area that had once been crowded with tons of people was completely empty. They looked around and saw some people running down the road. They drove to them and were told that another tsunami was on its way. The fifteen people jumped in the van and they took off. Poor Sister Eves kept a steady eye on the ocean for the wave to hit them. But thanks goodness it was a false alarm and nothing came.

I just can’t imagine after seeing all the devastation that had just happened to these poor people, to see them running and to be worried that it was going to come again and that you might be swept out to sea with them. Poor Sister Eves was still shaking hours after they got home.
There is a story about the two missionaries who barely got out of their fale and saw the wave coming right at them. They took off running and up to high ground came upon three little children so they picked them up under their arms and just kept running. When they saw the wave was about to hit them and knew that they would not make it they decided to climb a tree. They got the children in the tree and climbed as fast as they could. The first wave hit and they were praying that the tree would hold and that they were high enough. The second one hit and it came further up the tree and they continued to pray. When the third wave hit it came up to their feet and then subsided. They had made it, the tree had held and their prayers were answered.
Another story was that an Elder got a call to get out of his fale and jumped into his van just as the wave hit him. It took his van inland totally destroying it and he walked away.
Two other Elders were in their fale (home) and it was hit by the wave and taken inland totally destroying it and they walked out of it ok.
The mission president has asked all the Missionaries to write about their experiences and submit them to him. He asked them to do it soon so that they wouldn’t forget how things happened to them. It will be interesting to read the accounts of all of them.
By the evening of the earthquake and tsunami, the Church had already loaded three big trucks with food, water and tents and had them on the way to a rescue site. The call went out at 9pm for our stake to bring clothing to the stake center. By 8am the next morning, there was enough clothing, sheets and blankets to fill about 300 large garbage bags and it took three large trucks to haul it all across the island. Later that day another stake had a similar amount and that plus two more trucks of food went out. Most of the islanders were still in shock and the church had already responded with tons of food and clothing. It was an amazing thing to behold and be part of. The rest of the week was meeting after meeting trying to coordinate with Salt Lake on the needs of the people. There is a lot of work and coordinating that has to be done to able to receive outside help.
We have also been trying to get Media releases done, stories written and we have been inundated with 1000 emails. One guy from the U.S. wanted me to find his family and see if they were ok. They lived in Apia so I just told him that Apia wasn’t damaged and so I thought his family would be fine.

Oct 2 2009
Today we went with a small group of members to the other side of the island to help feed the workers and those that were still there trying to find their loves ones. Some of the sisters from our ward made chicken soup and they put them all together into two big coolers. We also had hot dogs, bread, cookies and water. We would drive along until we saw workmen or other people and wave them to the cars. They would come and we would give them a hand full of food. They have been given some food like rice and other subsistence food but it’s hard for them to prepare things living in the hills. So they would come running to the trucks and they were so thankful.

Paul could see some ladies sitting in a fale off in the distance and wondered if they couldn’t make it to the truck so he delivered food to them. One cute lady said “I love you” and she wanted to give him a kiss to thank him. So he puckered up for a big Samoan kiss. I just wished that I could have caught it with the camera.
We couldn’t believe how much work they have done since Tuesday just three days ago. Most of the roads were passable now. They were working on the power lines and the telephone company was there trying to restore communication. People were still there with sticks looking for the missing and picking up belongings. I am so amazed at some of the people picking up wood and stacking it in piles to use to rebuild their homes.

October 6, 2009
Last night a whole group of our ward members assembled hygiene kits. It was a great assembly line of men women and children, packing shampoo, combs, elastics, deodorant, pads and hand wipes. I was just looking around at how the saints just rally around and jump in with both feet and do service. What a great opportunity it is for us to be here so that we serve. We were able to make about 500 kits from the material we had.
We delivered the kits to the Red Cross today and they were so grateful and appreciative. The director came over to us; hugged and kissed u

s expressed her appreciation for the “gifts for the women”. She said these were sorely needed.

Tonight the big airplane from Salt Lake arrives with something like 60 tons of everything imaginable for the aid of those in need. Paul spotted 100 cases of pork and beans on the list and is already wondering what he can trade for some of them. I can’t wait to have some beans in our little home. What a treat. There will be two media people on the plane from Salt Lake that hope to film stories for the Church. We’ve been asked to escort them around the island for a few days and help them in any way we can. That should be fun and interesting.

Busy as little Bee's

Last couple of weeks in August.

It seems that we have been on a dead run the last couple of weeks. We have three projects going and they have required a lot of time and effort on our part.
One of our projects was to get things ready for an Area Presidency visit to Tonga to meet the Prime Minister. The church is donating some money to the country to help with the tragedy of the ferry sinking.
Its always amazing to us the assignments we are given. They wanted a letter of condolence from the Area Presidency to the Prime Minister. They also wanted talking points that they could use in their conversation with the Prime minister, and a biography on the Prime Minister so they would know who they were meeting. They always want to make sure there are no political things said or done that could cause people to think the church supports one party over another and that our donation is not a way to garner favors from the Government. All this we are trying to do from Samoa for the Area Presidency in New Zealand for the Prime Minister in Tonga. We contacted our public affairs people and the area authority in Tonga and ask which topics to talk about and which ones to avoid. Then we had to send a sheet for approval to our director who then takes them to the Area Presidency.
It’s a little intimidating writing letters for another person to present to a Prime Minister but we heard that it all went well!!

Just a new waterfall we found
Our next project is the visit of Sister Allred from the General Relief Society Presidency to Samoa, both here and the other island of Savaii. We were asked to set up a luncheon with two of the top female ministers here. We had to pick the women, send bios on them to the Area Presidency and then ask for their approval. We did the whole process and then found out that they weren’t going to be in town so we had to start over again. We have finally arranged a luncheon with two ladies who are the CEO of those same departments. One is over Health and the other is over Women’s Social Services.

It was just going to be a small intimate group of women with a local Authority and his wife. We wanted it to be casual so that the women could feel free to talk about issues with the women of Samoa. It jumped up to 14 people to the intimate luncheon, nine men and the five women. So we asked them if whe could pare it down a bit so we wouldn’t be overwhelming with male leaders who might overshadow Sister Allred and the two government leaders, so they eliminated Paul and I plus one other sister from the single adult leadership. So then it was down to 11 but the ratio of men to women was even worse. We asked our director from Australia for his help and eventually got the final list down to just 7 people, four women three men. We hope that works better for Sister Allred, Whew!!!

Sister Allred and me. I just loved her

Our third project was a request to get information about a group of 50 from Seattle called The Samoan American Pacific Organization they are being hosted in Salt Lake. No one knows anything about them. We have had to make calls to Seattle, Salt Lake, Australia and New Zealand but came up with nothing. Sometimes we wonder why we are given these assignments but we try anyway. It seemed more appropriate for the public Affairs people in Seattle to check this out but it’s in our lap so we did the best we could. After many days of searching the internet, numerous phone calls etc we finally found a small amount of info telling us that they were from American and Western Samoa originally, most are not members of the Church but they are making this trip to Utah to find out more about our church and the humanitarian services it provides. We produced an information sheet that the hosting people can use to tell them all the good things that the Church is doing in Samoa over the past two years so they will go back home duly impressed.

The "Bronze Samoan God" did have some time to get some snokeling in.

We had to speak in Church a couple of Sunday’s ago and as we were on our way to church we saw a bad car accident just one block from our chapel. The car had hit a power pole and there was one fatality. When we arrived at church the power was out. Our Church starts at 7:30 AM and it was a bit dark inside the chapel. We didn’t have any fans, organ or microphone working so it was going to be a challenge to read our notes or to even be heard. I thought about doing the talk in Braille but they couldn’t see me either.
Our chorister gave us a pitch and we started singing. The youth gave their talks and after the rest song, it was my turn to speak. As I started to walk up to the stand the lights came on and I was able to give my talk just as planned. I told them that it was a sign that we were suppose to speak this day, I should have said “let there be light” but the timing was off just a few seconds. Our talks went well and we were given lots of complements. They were probably just being kind.

Paul was so excited to get hash browns from Jodi that he dumped them on the floor.

September 1st
It is the Teuila Celebration this week and events are going on everywhere. Teuila means adorner of the red hibiscus flower. Each evening you can attend cultural performances. The first night was a choral performance of all of the churches here and our church was amazing. There were over 300 members all in white: the men with pink and fuchsia ties and the women with pink and fuchsia scarves hanging on their shoulders. They sang a Samoan gospel song, a lovely melody of songs and a resound rendition of “I believe in Christ”. It was amazing, the tabernacle choir has never sounded better and it was by far the most impressive choir of the evening. It just makes you proud to be a member of this church. Were are trying to get a copy of the video to post on YouTube so everyone can see and hear it.
The second night was singing and dance groups. The third night was the fire dance competition and it was really good. Fire dancing was started in Samoa and some of the guys we work with were famous for it.
The last night was the Miss Samoa pageant. The Miss Samoa from last year is a member of the church and is so amazing and talented.

The picture above is a little blurry but this is Miss Samoa

This is Paul dancing with one of the contestants for Miss Samoa

Every function that we saw her, she was so beautiful and graceful. She was very cordial and you could just see such a light in her eyes. She has been such a great example to all the girls and other contestants. She is a returned missionary and lives in West Jordan. She has been living here for the year so that she could attend all the functions of the reigning Miss Samoa. Two of the contestants this year are members of the church but neither of them won.
Part of the celebration includes a bazaar where they have little booths set up on the grass behind the Government buildings. They are selling jewelry, tapa cloth prints and wood carving pieces.

They also had long boat races that were fun to watch.

They have wood carving competitions going on and they are amazing with what they can make with just rudimentary tools.

They even have a fale were they are doing the traditional tattoos on men. They don’t use the modern electronic tattoo tools; they use a needle made of bone, attached to the end of a little stick and then hit it with another little stick. “Oh My Gosh”, it looked so painful. A lot of people, men and women, have tattoos here. Some of the men have them from the waist to the caves. It is a tradition that is hard to break because it has always been a way of life here. Many local Church leaders are doing their best to overcome this tradition by teaching the principal that heavenly father made our bodies and we should not use it for and art board.
September 7, 2009
Today is the first day of driving on the left side of the road. There has been so much controversy in Samoa about this with many heated exchanges in the paper and protests by Bus operators that are required to cut new doors on the other side of their bus’s and move the steering wheel. They say the cost is over $50,000 Tala.

So far, only 16 out of a hundred or so bus’s have made the required change so most of the island people will be walking until the dispute is resolved as the new law won’t permit bus’s without left hand exit doors on the road. Articles have been in the paper everyday with nasty letters to the Prime Minister and a big lawsuit but even after all that they went ahead with the change.
They made it a National Holiday so that there wouldn’t be so many people on the road during the first two days of the switch. They had police on all of the main intersections and the thing that cracked us up was seeing first aid stations here and there to take care of the possible injured.On some of the corners there was a Red Cross sign with two men, a stretcher and a first aid kit. No car or ambulance just two men standing on the corner. They also held a blood drive last week to make sure there were sufficient supplies of blood at the hospitals just in case. The real problem will come in a few days when people think they have it down and start driving while drunk and forget which side of the road to be on. We’ll stay home at night for a while.
We will have to get used to driving on the left side all over again. It became second nature to Paul after a little while living in New Zealand and he even got the windshield wipers down. Then we come here and go back to driving on the right hand side. It did take a little getting used to but now we are back in the groove just in time to change back. Paul always hopes that whenever he turns and flips the wipers on by mistake, that the cars behind us will know that we are turning. Our only problem is our car is left hand drive and we have to drive on the left hand side. It’s kind of tough to pass a vehicle when you can’t see around the one in front of you without pulling out too far. It will take both of us to drive. My mom always said that it takes four eyes to drive one car.

I thought I would show you how cute my first hair cut in Samoa was.

Our couple of the week is really a family this time. We have had a great privilege of meeting James and Brenda Winegar and their cute daughter Becca. Brenda is Chad Hansen’s cousin in our home ward. They are from Provo Utah and are here on mini six week mission. Jim served here as a young missionary, he and another returned missionary, Rex Maughn have been very instrumental in restoring the home of Robert Lewis Stevenson.

This the view from Robert Lewis Stevenson's bedroom.
Robert Lewis Stevenson lived here the last five years his life and built a beautiful home in the middle of the jungle. He died here and is buried on a mountain top close to the home.
These two returned missionaries have put millions of dollars into this plantation and it is now a beautiful, serene place to visit.
We were invited to a big dinner party held there last week with dignitaries, news media, the Miss Samoan contestants and other special guest. It was a beautiful evening with great food and the entertainment was amazing. I love to see the Samoan’s sing and dance. Their voices are so beautiful and the women are so graceful in their dancing.

Becca Winegar, Jim’s daughter, is an amazing 31 year old girl who happens to have Down syndrome. She is so highly functioning that you almost don’t think of her as being handicapped. When she speaks she sometimes stutters but when she sings, she has no problems at all. She can carry a tune and when she sang for a family home evening a week ago, she had everyone in tears. She sang a song called “Just like you” by Janis Kapp Perry.
The evening of the Celebration she and Nathan Wendt, another Down’s syndrome boy performed the song from South Pacific 101 pounds of fun and the song from Oaklahoma. They had the whole audience laughing and got a standing ovation.
She knows her scriptures better than I do. They are completely marked up and her book is twice as big because she has so many notes in them. We went to the temple last week and the sister who took her through the veil was in tears after Becca went through. She said that she had most of it memorized and needed very little help. It’s so amazing to be around her because you know that she is so close to the Lord and is a perfect human being. We just love her.
She and Paul have a thing going about the Y and the U. She knows everything about the Y football team, names, dates, she is an avid fan. Paul gives her a bad time about it. One day she and he were going at it when Paul said “a Utah fan needs love too”. She stopped, looked at him and you could tell she was very thoughtful about it and then agreed with him.
The Winegars are also very instrumental in helping children with special needs here. They are very instrumental in helping the families know that their children can learn and function in society. Paul and Jim became great friends and we were able to get Jim to write a few articles for the paper about Down syndrome children and the Robert Lewis Stevenson Museum and the Utah missionary connection. They are an amazing family and we have felt it a privilege to know them.
This is my twin sister. Everyone gets us mixed up. Sister Squire and I just answer to anything now. Two palagies(white people) We all look a like to them!!!!!

(The Gout Came Back). Paul had a major attack right in the middle of one of the cultural performances and had to get up and leave. By the next morning his foot was really swollen and none of his pills seemed to work. By Saturday morning it was so big that it looked like the Pillsbury dough boy and his toes were starting to disappear. We took him to the hospital and the doctor said this was normal for Samoa as the heat and humidity seem to aggravate the situation. She gave him a shot and tons of pills to take over the next week. By yesterday, the swelling was down and he could get his flip flop on again, he even tried to go snorkeling but the winds were so high that it would have been too dangerous so we just drove back home.
Elder Jessop arrived from American Samoa and brought him a Ukulele last night so I suspect he will learn to play it just enough to be annoying and go off into the sunset singing and dancing in his Lava Lava to the delight of the local members. Or maybe not time will tell.

This is Paul watching the Utah game. We skyped Brandon who put his camera on his TV. They both had a microphone and earphone and if you look closely at the screen you can see Brandon with his head in front of his camera and Paul doing we're number one. It was really fun for them to be able to talk to each other while watching the game.

Another Adventure

Aug

The other day Paul had just come out from his evening snorkeling adventure and was drying off when a local villager came along with a machete. He thought perhaps he was going to cut off his head for violating his beach. He came right over to where he was standing and started climbing a coconut tree. Paul asked him what he was doing and he said "getting a drink". Paul said great, get me one too. He climbed up to the top of the tree and twisted off 4 coconuts and dropped them to the ground. He climbed down and found a large branch and cut both ends to a point. He then pushed it into the ground and began pounding the coconut on the sharp point while twisting it from side to side. It only took him a few seconds to have the entire husk off and then he cut the top off the small remaining coconut and handed it to Paul. He motioned for Paul to take a drink. It was very good with just a hint of coconut flavor. He showed him how to reach inside with his fingers and pull out the very soft white meat of the young coconut. It felt like soft cheese. He said that it was delicious and ate the whole thing. He did the same with his coconut and then went off to play with his little daughter. His name was Red. Paul didn't get a last name but he said he lived right there in the little village that he walks through to get to the beach. He wondered why the coconut wasn't hard like the ones you buy. He said those are older and look black up on the tree. These were still kind of green and much younger and therefore very soft inside.

On Saturday Aug 1st we decided to drive over to the black sand beach. We had been told that it was closed because they are filming Survivor near there. We found the road going to the beach through the jungle and the sign said that you needed four wheel drive but we had been told that it wasn’t too bad so we decided to try it anyway. The first part was a little rough but not too bad then we came to the river. It had covered about 70 yards and as we drove in we noticed that the water came up to the top of our tires. We were, or should I say I, was a little nervous but Paul just barreled on through. Our battery light came on and the air conditioning stopped but we continued on.

After we went through the first river we came upon a car coming the other way and we asked them if the rest of the road was better or worse. They said that the first river was the worst and that there were just a few more but not as deep or as long as the one we had just gone through so we continued on our merry way. He mentioned that the week before, when he came through, his car started to float away and he could hear the tires spinning in the water. I guess he made it because he was here to tell about it.
We made it to the beach and found that we were the only ones there. After we had been there for about 30 minutes another car pulled in so we didn’t feel so isolated. They came over and we were talking to them and found out that he was here filming the Survivor series for TV and his wife had flown over from San Diego for a couple of weeks to visit. We discovered that he was originally from Utah and he said that he had gone to Ghetto Tech, Paul said “West High” and he said yes. It turned out that they were members of the church. It’s so amazing that we come all the way around the world and drive to a secluded jungle beach and run into an Utahan that went to West High, what are the chances. The snorkeling was not great but it was a beautiful beach and we enjoyed the afternoon talking to Russ and his cute wife and little boy. They came to our ward the next day so we got to see them one more time before they had to go back to the other side of the island to work. Nice people.
On Monday we learned that we would be going to Savaii, the Big island of Samoa, to help with a water project at a small village there. We had asked the humanitarian people to take us along on their next trip so we could help out and then take some pictures and notes for a newspaper article. So on Wednesday afternoon we loaded up our bags and drove down the island to the ferry boat landing. The drive takes about an hour. You sit in line for an hour and then the boat ride to Savaii takes just over an hour.
It was raining but the seas were calm so the trip went very smoothly although a little wet. All the seats inside were taken so we choose to sit on the open deck and the rickety roof over our heads provided a steady little drip, drip, drip to keep us from going asleep and missing the view.
We arrived on Savaii just after 5pm and went down the stairway to where the cars are parked. Trouble was, the door had been bolted from the other side and the attendant wouldn’t open it. The lady in front of us kept pounding on the door but still the attendant would not open up. We were second in line and the stair well was backed up with people all the way to the top and beyond. There was no going back. Finally after being in port for want seemed like 15 minutes, (really only 5) he let us out. We discovered that our car was the only one left in the bay. We later found out that just before landing, they announced on the loud speaker (in Samoan) that car owners need to come down the center stairwell to board their cars. The speaker was terrible and of course we don’t understand Samoan. But we learned a valuable lesson here. Get to your car early and use the center stairwell.
Our hotel was just down the road from the ferry so we were at our hotel and ready for a nice hot shower and dinner in a matter of minutes. The room was cheap, $129. Tala, ($40 US a night) and looked every bit the part. One decent sized bed and one couch bed. A small sink and fridge, (disconnected) and a small bathroom with a sink and shower stall.
Paul jumped in first and turned on the water. I heard a loud gasp as the cold water came down. He turned the tap left (cold water) and then right, (more cold water) After much adjusting he finally found the answer, more cold water. I checked both sinks and came to the same conclusion. This room does not have hot water. Great! I decided to forgo my shower until after dinner when we could talk to the hotel management. (A small girl at the front desk)
The restaurant look very nice with a wonderful view of the palm covered beach and ocean. I ordered a grilled chicken breast fillet with veggies. Paul ordered Spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread. We waited for what seemed like 30 minutes or more and our scrumptious meal arrived. There was just one little problem, it wasn’t what we ordered. Instead of a grilled chicken breast I had deep fried leg and thigh with some kind of thick cheese sauce over the top. Paul got what looked like spaghetti noodles but with some kind of cheese sauce mixed with meat served cold on a lettuce leaf. (gross) He took one bite and pushed it aside, I shared my deep fried leg with him, it wasn’t what I ordered but at least it was hot and edible.
We would have sent both orders back but it took too long to get this one and we were tired and wanted to take a hot shower and go to bed. We stopped at the front desk to inquire about the water and were told that all the rooms on that side of the hotel do not have hot water. We asked if we could move to the other side of the hotel and she said sure, but they don’t have hot water either. We asked if any of their rooms had hot water and she said only the new section overlooking the beach but the room would be 2 1/2 times as much. We decided to stay where we were for the night and worry about it tomorrow.
We met our two companions, George and Danny from Humanitarian services, at the complementary breakfast the next morning. Danny is 74 and was a very famous fire dancer in his younger days. He performed in Hawaii, England, Lebanon and eventually Southern California where he stayed and raised his family. George is 64 and was a professional singer and wrestler in his younger days. He performed with Elvis Presley in the movie Blue Hawaii and showed us some pictures of him relaxing with Elvis between takes.
We ate a meager breakfast of toast, cereal and papaya, and headed off for the other end of the island. Our destination was the village of Neiafu located about half way around the island and a two hour drive.
About an hour into the drive, we received a call telling us that a ferry boat, traveling between two of the Tongan island had capsized and sank during the night with the majority of the passengers’ going down with the boat. Early estimates said that there were 85 on board and only 40 had been rescued.
Our Auckland office wanted us to contact our Tongan representative to get the whole story as soon as possible. We soon learned that there were actually 154 people on board and only 45 were rescued. The rest, including 18 members of the Church went down with the ferry in over 300 ft of water .A tragic accident.
The final story came out yesterday saying that the ferry started leaking shortly after leaving port at 5pm. They found that the pumps were not working so the crew was trying to bail the cargo hold out with small buckets. As the compartment filled up with water, the cargo made a sudden shift to one side and the boat rolled over and sank. Only those who were on an outside deck and the captain survived. (All men) All the women and children plus the other men, went down with the ship. They said it sank in just two minutes. One member of the crew said that he saw another crew member who was a recent return missionary; try to run back inside to help a little girl who was screaming, nether were seen again. Only two bodies were recovered that floated to the surface. The rest remain in their watery grave. This has been a real tragedy for the people of Tonga.
In spite of the horrible news we traveled the rest of the way to Neiafu to complete the water project. The village is located at the end of a long dirt road right on a beautiful beach. It’s a rather small village with 30 or so fale’s. You could tell that the village is very poor with little means to make a living and only one old truck for transportation.

We were greeted by the village elder and after exchanging pleasantries they helped us unload the two 600 gallon water tanks and set them on the concrete pads that they had poured the previous week. The collection system consisted of one long piece of PVC rain gutter, perhaps 14ft long and pipe to carry the water to an opening in the tank. The fale’s were carefully selected based on the condition of the metal roof. It would only take one side of the roof to keep this large tank full of water all year. It rains a lot in these islands.

We wondered about the cleanliness of the water coming off the roof and were told that the majority of the villages get their water this was and it’s clean enough to drink.

This village has been relying on four old wells that were dug over 100 years ago. They were very shallow, about 4ft deep and the water was not clean at all. To make matter even worse, when the high tide comes in, the wells get polluted with sea water making it too salty to even drink. It always tastes salty, even when the tide is out but they were drinking it anyway.

We finished the first tank by about 1pm and were about to go to the next home when the village elder came out and invited us to have lunch with them. We walked into their humble little fale and found the aged mother sitting on the floor weaving a large mat. She told me that she used to be able to make a mat like this in about a week but with her old age it now took her over a month.

They brought chairs into the room for George and me and Paul. Poor old Danny, the oldest of our group at 74, elected to sit on the floor. They pulled a little table over in front of Paul and me and then brought out plates of food. The meal consisted of a half of a cooked bread fruit. Two scoops of white rice. A large chicken leg in a little bowl of broth and a cup of some kind of chopped up meat, probably corned beef. The chicken leg was the best and the broth tasted very good. The corned beef would have been better hot but was not too bad.

The village Chief gave a little speech in Samoan said a prayer and we began to eat. Paul, after taking just two bites of his chicken, had a black and white cat appear between his legs. It sat staring intently at his food and then suddenly without as much as a meow, sprang onto the table and in a flash he disappeared with Paul’s chicken leg. I have heard of cat reflexes but this was amazing. We had two little boys fanning us as we ate. When they saw the cat grab the chicken leg, their eyes got as big as saucers, and they even looked frightened. Paul and I just started to laugh and they relaxed with a big smile.
It was a humbling experience to be in such a poor home, have them feed us such a big meal, with young boys fanning us as we ate.
The next water tank went a lot faster because the men now knew how to do it and put all the pipes together in about 30 minutes. As we were watching the work we noticed these darling children watching us and I couldn’t help but start playing with them. They would call me Palangi which means a white person. So when they would say it, I would run after them. If I caught them I would pull their little pony tails. They would laugh and the game started all over again.

I then started to say things in English and they would say it in Samoan. The only English they knew was “give us your money”. I thought that was quite funny.

We finished the second tank, said our goodbyes and hit the road. Paul and I decided to take the road around the other side of the island to go back to our hotel. This way we would have driven completely around Savaii. It took us a lot longer than we thought it would. It started to rain and then we came upon a huge flock of flying foxes or fruit bats.

They get up to 3 feet wing spans. They stretched out for more than a mile. There had to be thousands. One of our friends said that they are very good eating. Taste like chicken liver.

It was dark by the time we made it back to the town we were staying in and it was a little daunting trying to find the Hotel. There are no road signs, no road lighting and all we could remember was that we thought there was a traffic light on the corner where we were suppose to turn. Paul told me not to worry because he had iron boogers and would never get lost. We did find our hotel, right where we left it, and were anxious for another chance at having a good meal.
They messed up my order again. I got mashed potatoes for rice and I’m not sure what was under the sauce of the so called grilled chicken breast with herbs. Paul got mostly what he ordered so all in all we were ok.
We got up the next morning to a heavy rain storm and decided to head back to Upolu for two reasons. One was because of the Tongan ferry accident. We wanted to be able to on top of it for the Area President and two I was hungry for some better food. We had taken peanut butter and jam with us and it has never tasted so good.
On the way back to the ferry I told Paul that we should get out our snorkeling stuff and keep it with us on top of the boat, so that if the boat started to sink we could swim for safety. He gave me the thumbs up on that one.
All and all it was an amazing adventure.

This is our future dinner.

Our feature Missionary couple this week is, President Phillip Hanks and his companion, Sister Dawn Hanks.
Sister Hanks was born in Tetonia and live there until they married. They met at Teton High school. President Hanks was also born in Tetonia Idaho in 1932. He lived there until he left for college at Idaho State University where he earned a degree in Music Education.
He served a mission to Samoa from 1953 to 56 and they came back to Samoa in 1958 as a school teacher and stayed until 1961. He was called that year to be the Mission President of the Samoan mission at the ripe old age of 29. He and sister Hanks arrived with two children and left with four at the end of their call. They returned home in 1965 and he earned his Master’s Degree and a Doctorate in Education.
They lived and worked in Parowan Utah for a few years and then returned to Salt to take a job with the CES department of the Church. In 1993 they came back to Samoa and worked with the Church Education system for three more years.
They retired in 1996 and served another mission for the Church until 1998. In 2000 they were called to a mission in the Ukraine. They served a second mission to the Ukraine from 2003 to 2004 and then to the Freiberg Temple from 2006 to 2007. Their latest call came in 2008 to be Temple President in Samoa.
An interesting little side note. In 1961 they had just finished their teaching contract in Samoa and were planning to take a position in New Zealand for the next four years. The First Presidency had sent a letter to Samoa calling him to be the Mission President which read “Please let us know within the next five days if this will not work for you”. The letter was held up in the U.S. for several weeks due to an airline strike and before it even arrived, the announcement and his photo appeared in the Church news as the new mission president for Samoa. All their family members knew about the calling before he did.