Another week flies by and shakes at the end……..

Gramma had a birthday Tuesday and we were so busy wrapping up tests, assignments, and finals that it was late before we went out for a birthday dinner. She was craving a salad so off to one of the senior couple’s popular restaurants. 

The Final for EDU 300 was on Tuesday at Pesega and Thursday for Sauniatu. We had one student absent at each school so it has delayed turning in grades for those classes. 

The rope came off the flag pole at Sauniatu so I caught this little guy climbing to the top to reconnect the rope. It must be about 30 feet in the air. I guess about the same as climbing a large palm tree to get coconuts.

We use to have a seven passenger van, now we have a seven passenger Tucson. We take many of the teachers at Sauniatu home after class. We had one in the trunk (Pati, he is a teacher and the Bishop of the Falefa ward). Three in the back seat, and they are rather large ladies, and three in the front. Gramma set on a small pillow on the gear shift. The first lady out was next to Gramma and it is a good thing, sitting like that is not good for a senior sister’s body. 

There were three long stake choir practices this week getting ready to sing Sunday night at the big Catholic Church in Apia. Gramma and Daisy are accompanying the choir and went down to the church to check out the piano (keyboard) situation.

They had the national spelling bee finals at Pesega. TV Three was there and it was pretty exciting. We never did hear who won, but Pesega was doing very good when we left.

We met the Gillette’s (the new TVET couple from Gooding) this week and took them to get their drivers licenses. We then showed them the school and introduced them to the principal. We know a lot of the same people back in Idaho that they do, it is a small world. They are enthused and ready to go to work. The only problem is this is Samoa and they have a holiday Monday and Tuesday so you can’t get to excited yet. We have a lot of paper work to do, so we will have some things to do during the holiday, but we hope to get some time off and get caught up on our rest. We have been a little under the weather and the rest will do us good. We were jolted this morning with an earthquake. It shook the bed and woke us up. They have had several while we have been here, but it seemed to be the strongest. We love you and miss you. It is hard to believe that after today we only have three more Sundays in Samoa. Be good and do as you know you should. God bless you, Gramma and Grampa Hammond

Return to Paradise….

That is the name of a movie with Gary Cooper made here in the 1953 and we visited the beach where it was filmed at. They had a big celebration last week as they opened the new resort and several of the actors in the movie returned for the opening. Not many of them are still alive, but more about our visit later. First, on our mail route Monday we found that the pigs had gotten into the church compound at Siumu and rooted up all the plants around the Elders Apartment. What a mess. The Elders tell us it has happened several times. The picture is of Elders Erickson and Hayes. The van in the background is our old van we drove last year. 

This horse was nearby. It is a good example of how skinny the horses are here, I understand there is not a lot of nutrition in the grass they eat. They all need some good Idaho hay.

This building is the lunch program for the school at Siumu (you can see it in the background). A couple of ladies bring some coolers with things in them, a pot with hot water for Raman noodles, and crackers. Mrs. Obama would not approve of the nutrition of this lunch program.

 The east side of the island had a lot of rain so waterfalls were visible.

These three Elders are in Vaimoso the first stop on our route. The big Elder is a Tongan and is a new missionary being trained by the other two. They needed a water filter in their apartment so I went back later in the week and installed one. It took 3 trips to the hardware store to get all the needed connections to hook it up. It is a very humble place to live.

Of course a large portion of the week was spent teaching and trying to finish up several of our classes. The teacher presenting is Loimata, one of the middle school teachers. He did a good job.

Saturday was our visit to the “Return to Paradise” visit. It was raining and the resort closed the beach to swimming because of a very rough surf and high tide. We visited, took pictures, and ate lunch at their restaurant.

The building on the right of the picture has displays of pictures and information of the making of the movie. You may want to rent the movie it has an element of truth about life in a Samoan village.

Of course, Gramma cannot be by the beach without looking for sea shells. When she got back to our apartment and started to soak the shells, she found one had a live hermit crap inside. She also loved the flowers and plants.

This coming week the new TVET couple (the Gillette’s) from Gooding, Idaho arrives. They will be in the apartment next to ours. They have been modeling it with new windows and cleaning it getting ready for the couples arrival. It will be nice to have someone in Goodlets old apartment again. We still have not heard who our replacements will be, but hopefully they will find someone. We love all of you, so be good and do what is right. We are very busy still and the time is going very quickly. May the Lord bless you in all you do. Tofa Soifua, Grampa and Gramma Hammond.

Something to do every day……

Time is really moving quickly. It is Sunday today and we have only 5 more Sundays on this beautiful island and then we will be going home. It was a Regional (all the south pacific islands) Conference today and we had a broadcast from Salt Lake. The message was on the importance of keeping the Sabbath holy, it was very good and inspiring. We picked up the Spencer’s at the airport on Monday. They interviewed all the teachers in the bridging program (that’s a program to help those  that haven’t finished school), visited our Tuesday class, and attended all the bridging classes. Wednesday we had them for dinner and Thursday took them back to the airport. It was good to have them visit again. We will be spending a couple of days with them in Auckland when we go home.

There were two or three things to do each day it is so busy with some of our classes finishing and all the other assignments. On Friday we got to speak at the Institute of Religion at the National University of Samoa. It was good to speak to these students again, Gramma used to lead their choir every Friday afternoon.

One of the hardest things about Friday for Gramma is typing up all her student teaching evaluations and having teacher reflections. It takes at least half of the day. It makes it hard to get out of the office at that day.

On Saturday we were invited to the Hellesoe family for dinner. Gramma teaches the two young boys piano and it was a way they wanted to thank her for doing it. The family is Goske (dad), Lucia (mom) and the tree children. The other young man is a relative, but I don’t remember his name. Here is dad and the boys, Neil and Jerry. The next picture is the boys with sister Myrtle. Myrtle was impressed that my Grandmother’s name was Myrtle and that my sister’s middle name was Myrtle. She knew no other Myrtles. The mom,Lucia is the secretary at the Institute of Religion.

They were a wonderful family. Hellesoe’e grandfather was Danish. He was a sailor that had been all over the world and when he came to Samoa he liked it so well he stayed. Tonight we have two conflicting meetings, Gramma will go to a choir rehearsal and I have to go to a Zone Couples leadership meeting that is at the same time. Unless things change, it looks like will be arriving home on the 25^th of June at 9:15 pm at the Idaho Falls airport. Our flight will be from Apia to New Zealand, stay there two days for an exit report, then to San Francisco, Salt Lake, and then Idaho Falls. It will be a long trip. We miss all of you and will be glad to see you, but we will miss this special place and all of our new friends here. We were told this week that they have not found replacements for us yet. They have had two couples wanting to come, but both couple were not allowed by the missionary department to come for medical reasons. This is not a place to be if you have any medical issues. Love you and miss you. Go to church, we learned again today that it is important to go there and keep the Sabbath day holy. Tofa Soifua, Gramma and Grampa Hammond.

Mother’s Day again in Paradise…..

Since our ward was split we arrive about 20 minutes after the Motootua 1^st ward ends. There are not many places to park (six spots in front of the building and about 12 in back). So we park on the street and walk. Here is Gramma headed to church ahead of me. You can see the bus loaded with people ready to leave. The old Bishop (Jessop) still takes one of his buses and picks up members for church. 

Traffic is beginning to be a real problem for Samoa and especially for Apia. Between 8:00 and 9:30 in the morning it is bumper to bumper.

The last night for the Layne’s was at their favorite Chinese eatery. Here they are next to the Stonehockers. The next couple are the Mangum’s. They are the Dentist couple that is helping out until the Layne’s permanent replacement comes in August. Then the next couple is Elder and Sister Shaifermeyer, they are the new technology specialists.

The Stonehocker’s dropped by our office for a visit. They were here to say good-bye to the Layne’s. We have a good conference on all the important issues with the ITEP program.

Mother’s Day in Samoa is a big deal. Gramma Hammond thinks it is as big as Christmas. They started on Friday with a short school day, a short assembly and program honoring all the teachers that are mothers and giving them a gift.

This is a picture of Gramma and Sister Va’aulu. She is head of the English Department and by the end of this month will be one of our teachers earning her ITEP Teaching Certificate.

They then had a special Stake program where the mothers of the different wards performed. Saturday they had an early breakfast for all the mothers of our ward. Then there will be a special Sacrament meeting for mothers, and then Sunday afternoon a special fireside honoring mother’s. On top of that, Monday is a national holiday so everyone can rest up from all their activities. Gramma was asked to dance with our ward for their part of the program. They practiced little and Gramma was not sure exactly of all the moves, but she is a performer and was a big hit. We waited for the program to start. The two little girls are Daisy’s and Nozzi’s daughters. The 4^th picture is Nozzi’s girl with her mother’s Tina Turner wig on.

They hurried down stairs to practice just before curtain call.

The ward before ours was a nice traditional island number. Then Gramma’s group, did a "traditional" rock n’ roll number. (Notice Gramma, below on the second picture is still getting instructions).

The Audience loved it all! 

And here are the Motootua Lua (2^nd) stars of the show! 

This coming week Elder and Sister Spencer visit us from New Zealand. Several of our classes are in the last couple of weeks of instruction, and then it is tests, papers/projects, and grades, at least for those classes. We have to speak at the Institute of Religion at the University on Friday, so things never seem to slow down. We love you, pray the Lord will bless you each day, and miss you. Do what is right! Tofa Soifua, Grampa and Gramma Hammond.