Dec 18th 2009
What a fun day for us, Dave and Ede arrived. They took a rather round about way to get here but they arrived safe and sound. We went to one of our favorite restaurants, Coco Bananas for dinner and half way through dinner we noticed that their eyes were slowly closing, so we took pity on them and took them home to bed.
The end of December turns out to be a convenient time to host visitors because most, if not all, of the people we work with have left the islands for the Holiday’s and there isn’t much we can do this week. The service center seems a bit abandoned so we do most of our work from our computers at home.
The next morning we took Dave and Ede to see The Robert Lewis Stevenson home and burial place. The grounds are so beautiful up there and it’s such a peaceful setting. We didn’t do the hike up to the grave this time because one experience of climbing that hill in this heat is enough for me.
Dave hasn't lost his ablility to pick the girls at the beach. But his eye sight must be failing.
We had a great spiritual family home evening on Sunday night with all the senior couples and it finally felt like Christmas. We sang lots Christmas songs with a few short spiritual thoughts spaced between. They really made me think about the birth of Christ and what a special event it was.
One of the thoughts was that Christ had come to earth three times once for his birth, second to visit Joseph Smith, and third to visit the Nephite’s in the New World. But the next time Christ comes, it will be the final time and he won’t ever leave us again. I loved it and hadn’t really thought of it like that before. It was a wonderful spiritual night.

Brandon and Shayla arrived on Wednesday morning a bit tired but there is never any rest on vacations. So we made breakfast and then changed into our suits to go to Sliding Rock.

Shayla and Pat just enjoying the moment together.

There are three water falls you can slide down. The first one is a bit scary but everyone says it’s the easiest in regards to not getting hurt. I guess it’s because you kind of free fall the last half of the slide.
It was fun to see Dave and Brandon enjoying the slides. Shayla and Brandon did a tandem attempt at the second slide but that was enough for Shayla.

It was a little overcast that day so she got a little cold. This is river water and although it not really cold, it’s not as warm as the ocean.
I decided to try the slides today because when Jodi, Tricia and Lee were here it was almost dark and I don’t like to get cold. It was a lot warmer this day so I went down the second and third one.

Everyone seemed to get a little banged up on them. Paul hit his elbow and had a good goose egg on it. Dave and Brandon hit their tail bones but I just hit my hand and broke a nail on the last slide. The climb back up to the top is a bit scary. I was a little worried about trying to climb out but I guess I’m better than I thought and was able to get out without any trouble. We spent a couple of hours there and while we were playing, Ede was painting and taking pictures. She is a fabulous artist and can see such beauty in things.
Paul Brandon and Dave went golfing with one of our friends, Felix Wendt and Ede, Shayla, Sister Bell and Sister Squire and I went to high Tea at the plantation house. It is such a fun thing to do and we really enjoyed the food and the ambiance of the fale (house).
We shopped for a while and then went back home. The boys had finished golf by the time we arrive home and had taken off to go snorkeling at Palolo Deep.
Ede and I went to the temple because it would be the only chance that we could go because the temple would be closed the rest of the week. I was really surprised that we stayed awake because we had been up since 4:30 AM. I did have a bit of a struggle with my earphones. The left one broke off and dangling off my ear. I never realized how hard it is to use earphones and get dressed without getting things all tangled up.
Christmas morning we had fun opening presents and just enjoyed being with family.

We could never really figure out why Paul was on Sants's lap.
We were able to talk to our family who were all together at Tricia’s home. I could tell it was a difficult day because any time Nat or Tricia would talk they would say “Some one is going to have a nap today” It sounded like the usual chaos when you have a combination of cousins being together, no sleep, too much sugar and the general Christmas pandemonium. But it was so much fun to see them open their T-shirts we had sent them.
I made crepes for breakfast and Paul made coco Samoa. It was such a photo moment when Shayla took a drink of it. She made so many different faces that it cracked us all up. I only wished we would have had in on video, it was the best!!!!
This is our beautiful shell Christmas tree.
We took breakfast out to our guard and when we said Manuia le Kerisimasi he started to cry, then he kissed and hugged us.
Our Christmas dinner was Hawaiian haystacks. We tried to find a turkey but the only one we found was close to $80 US so we passed on it. We couldn’t find a ham or anything else that looked good so I used some chicken tenders that we got from American Samoa. Our meal had a real Samoa flair to it with pineapple, coconut, rice and peppers.
On Saturday we took the ferry to Savaii and started off at the famous Blow holes. We had fun watching coconuts go flying a hundred feet or more in the air after dropping them in the blow holes. The boys were thinking how fun it might be to drop other stuff in there like footballs, basket balls, grand kids, all sorts of fun things.
We made our next stop at the beautiful Afu Aau waterfall. This is located up a small canyon on the river. It started to rain and was getting a little cool but Brandon and Paul jumped off the cliffs and swam in the pool anyway. It is one of the most beautiful places we have found.
We found a new favorite thing to do on Savaii was to go to the Turtle ponds and play with the turtles. There is a place just off the ocean where they have lots of turtles in an enclosure and you can jump right in and swim with them if you want to. Paul and Brandon had a ball swimming and playing with them. We had fun just watching them.
Shayla got some chips and started to feed them. After awhile we decided to feed them more healthy things like bread and carrots. It was amazing to see them take the bread and when they closed their mouths, water would shoot out the two holes in their nose. We stayed there for an hour or more just watching, feeding and swimming with the turtles. Of course Brandon and Paul had to grab on for short rides through the water. I guess turtles are very slippery and difficult to hold on to. We would never do that in the ocean but the village said it was ok for here.
We finished the day with a little snorkeling time in a bay near our hotel. It was overcast and raining a little so it wasn’t really the best.

We stayed in the Tanu Beach Fale’s again (little open huts with palm leaf roofs) and the dinner was about as good as it was the last time so we all headed to the van and made some peanut butter sandwiches to fill us up.

It then started to pour down rain so we just sat under the big main fale and talked. When it rains here it is still warm and beautiful. None of our fale’s leaked so we didn’t get wet. We were all pretty tired and went to bed around 9:30. We were just about asleep when some of the locals decided to serenaded us with singing and playing the ukulele. It is so typical of Samoa to have groups of people gather together and sing. I thought it was a nice touch of how Samoan’s end their day but it did make it hard to sleep.
We got up early and had a good breakfast and then back on the ferry to Upolu. We were going to go around the other side of the island on our way home but our group was too tired of being in the van and driving so we went straight home.


Just a great picture we took on our way to a waterfall

Everyone took a long nap and it was a relaxing Sunday. We had fun talking to Shayla’s family in Hawaii. We just love them. (Brandon and Shayla were napping while we were talking.) Her dad laughed when we told him we took Shayla camping. It probably wasn’t one of her most memorable experiences but she never complained once. What a trooper

Monday was our last shopping day and a wonderful lunch at the Bistro. We went to all the shops and did the final packing. Paul had a whole suitcase of stuff, mostly shells, that he sent home with Brandon and Dave has his walking stick and Samoan war club.

I hope we find places to put all of our treasures when we get home.
It was such a fun time and we loved having family with us for Christmas.

Oct 31 2009

Halloween in Samoa was a little different for us. We don’t have any of our scary thi to put out plus there are no real orange pumpkins to carve, just some squash that kind of look like pumpkins. We did find some squash to carve but Paul said that it was really different and that it was hard to get the look he wanted.

He carved one for the office and all day long people would come by and asked if they could have it. Each day we took another one and they were amazed that you could carve a squash that way. Delaney, our next door neighbor was so amazed that she brought seven Squash over the next day and wanted Paul to carve them for her which he did over the next 3 nights.
Our ward did a special trick or treats and asked us if we would be one of the homes that the kids could come to. We live in what is called the upper village of the churches housing and there are six homes in our village so four of them were designated as Halloween homes.

Paul made a ghost out of our light post and a pumpkin head man out of our propane tank, it all looked really neat.

Delaney did a great job of organizing the 7 squash with old bottles with candles in them and it looked very spooky on her front porch. The Mitchell’s, across the street did a little spook alley on their front porch with black plastic and a dummy with a recorded voice.
Shades of the early Streiff years. I guess some of the children were quite scared. We can only imagine what a real Streiff haunted house would do to these innocent children that have never seen a horror movie.

November 7^th

President Uchtdorf arrived in Samoa on John Huntsman’s Private jet. We were at the airport to make sure the media showed up and to see that things went smoothly. When he arrived there were two rows of darling primary children dressed in red, yellow and blue lining the walkway into the VIP terminal at the airport.

They gave him, his wife and his daughter lei’s and flowers and then started to sing primary songs both in English and then in Samoan. You could tell that he was so touched by the beautiful voices of those gorgeous children. Some were barefoot but you could tell that they were all clean and in their very best.

While here, he met with several high ranking government people including the Head of State who attended the member meeting and asked if he could say a few words.
He expressed appreciation to the church for its rapid response to the relief effort after the Tsunami and said how important it was to Samoa to have a leader of a worldwide church come to Samoa.
Then President Uchtdorf spoke. He told the saints to reach out to others. He told them that they were strong, resilient and were so faithful. He also said that when comparing his flight to Samoa that was a little rough and how they had to go around the storms but did manage to make it safely. He said that “God promises a safe landing but not a calm passage.” It really made me think how true that was. That life is tough but that we have the promise of eternal life if we are faithful.

I was so impressed with him and it was fun to be able to hear him speak two times, once with just the missionaries and then at the member meeting.

When he was about to leave, Paul and I were standing close to the back door of the VIP room where they were taking pictures and all the high ranking church officials were talking to President Uchtdorf. (We always try to stay in the back ground and just lay low and take pictures.)He looked at us and crossed the room to come and shake our hands. When he saw our name tags he said “Streiff”, that’s a name I know and can say.” He shook our hands and then his wife hugged us. What a blessing and a privilege it was for us. We had worked so hard for his arrival and this was the greatest reward we could have. Then he was whisked off to the plane.

November 18^th What a fun day for us.

Jodi Tricia and Lee arrived. Their plane was supposed to be in at 5:30 in the morning but they had a late start in LA so they didn’t arrive until 8:30. It was so fun to see them start shedding their clothes as soon as they got off the plane. It was a typical warm humid day in Samoa.

We went home and had a great breakfast and then Paul and I had to go to work for a few hours. We needed to send all our pictures and the news reports to the Area Office and to SLC from Uchtdorf’s visit. He also wanted all the addresses of all the dignitaries he met.
Then Tricia, Jodi, Sister Bell and I went to a Tea Party. The boys went snorkeling at Palolo Deep. Our Tea party was at the plantation house and sister Wendt was the hostess.

Each of us had a different tea cup and we were served herbal mango strawberry or lemon grass tea. The table was set so beautifully and we even had glass knife holders. The first course was scones all wrapped in a napkin with a ribbon tied around it and decorated with fresh flowers. Each course was delicious and the presentation of everything was so amazing. I wish that I had a fancy hat on and then I would have felt like a real English lady. Each tea cup had a history to it and Sister Wendt told us all the stories on how she had started this tradition. It was such a fun thing to do with my cute daughters. The next day we spent around Apia. This is Lee looking for his breakfast. He tried bread fruit, coco Samoa, and some kind of roll. He said that it all had a hint of ash taste to it.

We went to the Robert Lewis Stevenson home and then did the hike up to his grave.

I’m glad I finally did it, but it was a hard hike and we were dying with the heat. It’s a beautiful setting on top of the mountain and I’m glad we did it but don’t think I will need to do it again.

That afternoon we all went to the beach at Palolo deep for snorkeling. We had fun taking underwater pictures and Paul was so proud of his sea urchin garden. Paul in his garden

Tricia and LeeJodi

We barely made it to the temple that night wet hair and all. It was quite crowded so we asked if we could do sealing’s. What a blessing it was to be able to be in the temple with your children and see them kneeling at the alter.

On Friday we got up early and took the ferry boat over to Savaii. (The big Island of Samoa) We pick up another missionary couple and they took us to the Alofaaga blow holes and then to the Mu Pagoa waterfall.

Everyone had fun jumping in and it was an amazing place. Water was coming in all around the main fall. It was really a gorgeous setting. We then went up north to see where we were staying for the night. I must admit that when I saw our fale’s I was a bit nervous but I thought to myself “I can do anything for one night.” I think the girls saw my reaction to the place and kept saying “Isn’t this going to be fun?”

We asked the owners where we could go snorkeling and they said to just go up around the next corner so we did. It turned out to be a great place, Paul and Lee found several cowry shells and each were so excited.
That night we spent at the Tanu Fale’s and they were basically just an open hut with Palm leaf roof with a foam mattress placed over a woven mates. They did have a mosquito net over each mattress which made it nice. You could raise or lower you walls made out of woven palm leaves. It was a beautiful setting to be on the beach, just 10 feet from the ocean. You could hear and watch the waves all night long. I wasn’t sure I liked having to walk to the bathroom in the middle of the night so I stopped drinking after dinner.
It turned out to be a wonderful experience and I really appreciated how so many of the Samoans sleep every night of their life. Saturday morning, we ate breakfast and took the ferry boat back to Upolu. Tricia and Lee at Paradise Beach

We met our friends the Squire’s and then stopped at a couple of beaches and another waterfall as we drove home. Everyone had a blast, jumping off the water falls and Paul even got Lee to do a back flip off the last fall. So crazy.

Paul Jodi Tricia(aka Big Foot) Lee

Paul Jodi and Tricia
On Sunday we all got ready for church in one bathroom and we made it to our 7:30 Sacrament meeting on time.

After church we stopped to take pictures at the temple and then took off to show the kids the southern part of the island that had so much devastation from the tsunami. Over there they met a brother with his sister, who are members of the church, who had lost both of their parents. The brother had also lost two of his children. It really drives the point home how terrible the tsunami really was.
I can’t believe how much work they have done in a little over a month. They have cleared most of the debris and have built some new fale’s with others in various stages of completion. The kids couldn’t believe the amount of devastation through. In many places, whole villages were wiped out. As we rounded the end of the island and headed home, we stopped at several waterfalls along the way and the kids couldn’t believe that people had these beautiful falls in their back yards.
This is our own rendition of Bali Hai

Their last day here was spent mostly shopping for souvenirs and Jodi even found a new boyfriend.

Ben, who is a handsome young man that works in the open market. He thought that Jodi was the most amazing person he has ever met. He said that she was so nice and that he had never met anyone who treated shop workers with such respect and was so kind. Later that night we took them to the airport for their 12 o’clock flight. It was sad to see them go but it had been so much fun, sharing our mission and Samoa with them.

On the last day Lee decided that wearing a skirt (lava lava) wasn't that bad.

Wednesday, just two days after they left President Haleck called to see if I would accompany Sister Tofu home from her mission. She is a senior sister Missionary that had been ill for a while and just wasn’t getting better. They needed a nurse to travel home with her. I was to drop her off in Las Vegas and then go to Utah to stay a week until the next flight to Samoa. It was a hard flight taking care of her every minute, but when I was able to see my new little grandchild, my mother, my children, family and friends it was so worth it.

I hadn’t told Natalie that I was coming because I just wanted to show up at her door and say Hi. Jodi helped me by knocking on her door and when Micah opened it and yelled “Jodi,” all the other kids came running. Jodi then said “Where’s your mom? So Natalie came around the corner and said “What are you doing here.” I couldn’t see her face but she really had a concerned look on it. Jodi told her that she was at the airport last night and met a friend that wanted to meet her. I then jumped out and we all screamed and then we all started to cry. We hugged and poor Micah wouldn’t leave my side. She just kept asking Natalie if she could please stay home from school. It was so good to surprise Natalie because she is always getting me with her tricks.

The timing of this trip was so that I got to see McKenna and Emi in a dance recital, go to lunch with my girls, and lunch with great friends.

I was even able to go to our ward Christmas social and my cousin’s Christmas parties. I got some shopping done for some of the other senior couples and even had time to pick up some big chocolate Dunford donuts to take home to Paul.

It was a whirl wind trip but I loved spending time with my family.When I got off the airplane back in Samoa, there was Paul standing there with a Santa hat on, Christmas tie, red croc’s sandals, wearing his lava lava and a sign saying “Welcome home Patty” What a funny man I’ve married.

When I got home there were the same signs all over the house. Except in the bathroom it said “Welcome home Potty”
He also had a beautiful flower arrangement on the dining room table and had decorated the house with all kinds of Christmas things including a big Santa hat that he made for our water cooler and sea shell ornaments and star on the Christmas tree. Everything looked so great.

I had such a great time that I’m thinking that I might like to do that again. Some of the senior missionaries better watch what they eat over the holidays and especially should avoid Patty’s special brownies. Heh, heh heh..