Missionary day at the Pesega Middle school…..

Weeks seem to blend together here is Samoa. Last week ended with Gramma taking Sister Aland and Sister Spencer to one of her favorite places the Plantation House. I took a picture, but it so humid that my lens fogged up before I snapped the picture. 

On Sunday after church we took the Aland’s to get on the ferry to go to Savaii. They stayed there one night and part of the next day. They took the big ferry both over and back.

After letting them off at the pier we stopped at the Aggie Gray Resort on the way home. We had never been there and Gramma wanted to see if it had a gift shop that she could come back to when it was not Sunday. No gift shop, just Palongi’s with bad tans. It was a fancy place and quite beautiful.

On Monday the Aland’s returned and I picked them up at the ferry. They came on the 2:00 ferry so they could be on the big one. That put them at the wharf at 3:00. I took a picture of the ferry pulling in and tried to catch them coming off, but I missed them somehow and had to hurry down to the terminal to find them. (The same thing happened waiting for Joy, Wayne, Matt, and Cristina at the airport.) They did not want to drive one hour to Apia and then one hour back so I left them at the airport. They had a 5 hour wait because the flight was delayed.

Gramma has done it again. She said she would help the Alamagoto ward with their choir for their ward conference. Their Bishop, Bishop Monoa, is such a nice person and appreciates the help so much it was impossible to say no. So three nights this week was choir practice. The good thing is they do not go over one hour and they start on time.

 Good news, they are starting to work on the bumpy Sauniatu road. They have graded about one kilometre of the 7.5 kilometre’s on the road. The bad news is that they will not be doing it all.
 

Friday they had “missionary day” at the middle school and they had activity areas all involved around missionary work and they all came to school in missionary dress. There was a sunrise devotional, I made it to that, but Gramma was teaching piano students. Elder Fata the area seventy spoke, it was very good. I didn't get picture of the sunrise service but here are some of the other activities. 

They would rotate to the different stations. Some were presentation on certain missions, and others on teaching. There was even a demonstration by the Assistance’s to the President of the Apia Mission.

The next pictures are of Teachers that have taken or are now taking classes from us. Sister Ah Hoy, she was in charge of the missionary day.  Next, Queenah, one of the school counselors, and Sisters Fepuleai and Tulaga two teachers that are completing their student teaching this term. 

The last two pictures are of students in our ward before they divided it, Irica and Betty.

Today we are doing laundry and packing for our trip to New Zealand. I had to buy a new suitcase to replace the one that Matt took Gramma’s Samoan drum home in. We are looking forward to an inspiring conference. We will get to see the other ITEP missionaries in the south pacific and hear from the Area Presidency. We love and miss you and pray each day for you. The Lord watches out for those he loves and He loves everyone. Be good, do what is right, and remember to look out for one another. Tofa Soifua, Gramma and Grampa Hammond.

Busy it is……..

Well, last week it started to get busy and this week it is busy. Besides the classes and in-service we taught, Elder and Sister Aland, the ITEP coordinating couple from New Zealand came for a visit. Also Elder and Sister Spencer came from New Zealand. They are the couple we replaced here in Samoa and they are on another mission coordinating a new program, the “Educational Specialist Program” in the South Pacific. They also will be the ITEP coordinators for a few months until the Aland’s replacement get to New Zealand from the USA. The Aland’s will be heading home in the middle of March. We had our route on Monday and they added a couple of new sets of missionaries. The first picture is of the bridge we cross each trip around the island. It was torn up a little when Joy and the other kids were here. They have repaired it. You can see the new boards on it.

On the way to a new place missionaries live we passed this unusual house. Notice the keyboards, saxophones, flutes, and trumpets hanging as decorations on the trees and fence. We haven’t got the story of why yet, but maybe the Elders can find out and let us know on our next visit. 

We went out to eat with the Spencer’s and the Steven’s. Here is a picture of Gramma, Sister Spencer, and the Steven’s. Elder Spencer was getting the car and I was taking the picture.

We had a special program for the senior couples. We met with the Mission President and his wife and their guests, Brother and Sister Anderson who stopped to visit them. He is a mental health consultant of the Church Missionary department and she is a family therapist. She gave an excellent talk on the importance of living the Gospel. 

 The Assistant’s to the President can smell food from far away and seem to show up at just the right time. 
 

The next picture is the Aland’s. They are so down to earth and fun to visit with. They will be returning to St. George soon, we will miss them.

 We and the Aland’s were given some beautiful leis by the Middle School Friday morning and here are pictures of the two we got. 

 

We travelled up to Sauniatu Friday afternoon with the Spencer’s and the Aland’s up the bumpy road. Elder Spencer pointed out some rubber gum trees along the road. We have driven up there many times and were so concentrated on the holes in the road we have missed seeing them. He served a mission in Australia and they have lots of them there. He said that is why he noticed them. It is unusual to see them in Samoa.

 At Sauniatu it was a “sports day”. That is when they have activities in the afternoon. They we playing ball, rugby, and these younger folks were doing Zumba.

 

School ended and they all piled on the bus for the bumpy ride down the mountain.

 Sister Aland gave Sister Losi the Sauniatu librarian some nice books.

We have been traveling to Sauniatu for over 13 months, once a week, and have never been able to swim at the beautiful falls there. After school we changed clothes and went with the Aland’s and Spencer’s. What a beautiful place, you have to see it to believe it.

 We are making a list of things we need to buy in New Zealand when we travel there a week from Sunday. Principal’s conference was fun last year and this one should be even better. We hope all of you are doing well. Sounds like many of you have important decisions to make and we hope you are asking the Lord to help you make them. We love you and miss you. Be good, go to Church, and be good examples and help one another. May God bless you all, Tofa Soifua. Grampa and Gramma Hammond

Starting to get busy………

Well, things are certainly getting busy and this coming week with the Aland’s (our ITEP coordinating couple from New Zealand) and the Spencer’s (the couple we replaced here in Samoa) visiting us it will get even busier. Besides our visitors and our classes, we are teaching an in-service on Wednesday.  Busy as we are, we still have a little fun. We went for Chinese last Saturday with some of the couples. Four couples leave in the next couple of weeks and they will be missed. Only the Layne’s have been here longer than us, and the Stonehocker’s, Jacksons came out with us, so we are becoming the couple veterans here on the island.

We had a beautiful sunset the other night with a strip of blue in the middle of it. I tried to get a good picture, but it didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked.

 We have a new TVET couple coming at the end of May. They are the Gillette’s from Gooding, Idaho. They are farmers and will be helping get the Agriculture program started again here at the college. They are excited to come to Samoa and we are anxious for them to get here. I took some picture of the vocational buildings for them and I don’t think I have shared pictures of those buildings on the blog before.
 

Elder Simati that was one of the first missionaries on our mail route went home this week. He was always smiling and had a twinkle in his eye. We got to say our good byes to him this week.

 With visitors coming and a rough and muddy ride to Sauniatu this week, I had the car washed. This is where I usually go to have it washed and they do know how to clean up a car.

 

On Friday afternoon they had a school dance at the college to celebrate a new start of the school year. The music was so loud that when I stood on the stage to take these pictures, it vibrated the bottoms of my feet.

 They had a contest between representatives of the three grades on who could dance a shake out the most ping pong balls tied to their waists. It was a little wild. It was so hot at this dance; notice the wet shirts of the boys in the dance contest.

 

Well, that is this past week. Gramma thought it went real slow, but I thought it went fast. She is teaching 17 piano students in the mornings and some days after school, so maybe that is why it seemed like a long week. We love and miss all of you and hope that as springs arrives you will be blessed. We pray for the Lord to bless you each and every day, some times more than once. Tofa Soifua, Grampa and Gramma Hammond.