I made it to the very hot and humid island of Samoa. I have now been here for almost 2 weeks which seems crazy.
Weather:
I have never been in heat like this before even in Africa. The humidity is so high. I rarely sweat, but here it doesn’t matter. Everyone sweats. When the Samoans say that it is hot, you know it is hot; and they have been bemoaning the heat daily. I think I have been in over a 100 degree heat differential since I left. Sunday after church, my friend, Tiffany, and Kiwi (New Zealander) Don, and I decided to hike to the top of Mount Vaea on the island of Upolo to Robert Louis Stevenson’s grave. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it for a while because the heat and humidity zapped away every bit of energy I had and breathing even became difficult. Thankfully when we reached the top, the clouds came and with it some much needed rain to rid us of the humidity. From then on I was fine and able to enjoy the rest of the hike around the mountain. The best part was the waterfall and small pool at the bottom which I definitely jumped in to cool off. It has been quite dry for the rainy season. They all are telling me that I brought a reprieve in the rain. The last two days though have been quite wet. There are nice breaks between the deluges to get things done.
Housing:
I live above the Learning Center in a small room with a Fijian girl named Leba. She has very good English and is in charge of hospitality on the base so it works well. The Learning Center itself is an open Fale with a few tables and benches in it as well as a chalk board and white board. Most of the Fales on the base have the open living area which can be closed off with tarps or woven palm leaves and then living quarters attached behind. There are also a few buildings (where the boys live) that are made of shipping containers made into housing. They work well in this climate because they are cool, dry and won’t get blown over by cyclones. We live in community and therefore share bathrooms which have cold running water for showers.
Typical Samoan Fale- Open in front as a living space and bedrooms in the back
Daily Life:
Breakfast lasts from 7-8 which can be pankake (a fried dough ball), cocoa rice, fruit, or oatmeal. From 8-9 we have either worship or intercession times. The rest of the day with the exception of an hour break for lunch is reserved for work duties. This could be working in the piggery or fishery, construction, working the plantation, cooking, etc. My jobs have consisted of going through and organizing all of the materials for the Learning Center. Things have just been boxed up and placed willy-nilly depending on space. Every time I thought I was finished I found more. I have also been helping with communication for other Palagis (or non-islanders) and writing grant proposals to redo our field. It is currently rocky and uneven. The volleyball court is even worse and semi-dangerous especially if barefoot (I always wear my shoes mom don’t worry ;) ). We hope to have a space where the community and also the children from the Learning Center can come to engage in rugby, basketball, soccer, ping-pong, and volleyball. Ideally we would like to run sports camps and host tournaments. I am also in the cooking rotation and have been weeding on the plantation. After 6, is free time; most of the base staff play volleyball or soccer in the field. Jam sessions happen quite frequently as Samoans are incredibly musical. I have somehow gotten myself roped into being on one of the worship teams as well. Dinner is between 7 and 8 and usually consists of some sort of chicken, fish, or pork with some sort of vegetable (carrots, cassava, Samoan spinach) and either taro or boiled green bananas.
The base is currently running a construction workshop for the base staff. The guys are building a new fale for a library and while waiting for the building permits, learning to build canoes. (This is in the Learning Center)
Learning Center:
As generally happens on the mission field, our plans are not always God’s plans and what we think might happen often doesn’t or happens differently. The plan currently is to have the Learning Center up and running in MARCH! As in next month March! This is a little bit daunting honestly. I thought I might have a little bit longer to prepare and learn the language, but I guess we will all learn as we go. I am a bit terrified by the thought, and yet so excited as this is why I came here and what God has been preparing me for. I am excited to start doing what I was called here for. I was a bit taken aback when I went to a church and was introduced by one of the staff as the new “principal of the Learning Center.” There are two others, John and Leba, who really love kids and teaching who along with me will make up the core team. Several others on the base are wanting to help out as well in a smaller capacity. School will run from 9-12:30 Monday-Friday. We are hoping to break them up into smaller groups according to age and capability. We have some supplies here. There is not tons in terms of curriculum, but enough to get started with. Towards the end of February we will go around looking for the children who are not in school and speak to their parents about enrolling them in the Learning Center. When it was running a year ago, they had approximately 50 children. 
The Learning Center- you can see my window on the 2nd floor.
Culture:
The Samoans are a wonderful people who are incredibly loyal, loving, and giving. They are fiercely protective especially of the women and their families. Whenever they have guests the number one rule is to feed them. They don’t understand that I am not as big as most of them and therefore cannot eat as much. Dinner time is always fun and interesting as it is first come first serve and food tends to jump from one plate to another as people become full and dump their leftovers on others’ plates. They love to sing and dance, and you can always find someone somewhere singing and dancing. Most constantly have a smile on their face. Samoans love to laugh about anything and everything and teasing is constant. Now that I have been here a while, the teasing towards me has started which means I’m one of them. They laugh at my attempts at learning the Samoan language as many words are so similar and I either can’t hear the difference, say the difference, or mix them up. for example foot is va’i and water is vae. I should be fine as long as I don’t have to say my foot is in the water. I am learning quite quickly although not as fast as I would like, but the Samoans are quite impressed. One said that it took a palagi 3 months to learn to count and I mastered it in a little over a day.
Me Personally:
I have been doing well. God is so faithful and doesn’t give us anything that we can’t bear. The hardest thing has been the heat as it wears me down. I have to be smart and restrain myself at times because I know that it is not good for my body-and hydrate! Being one of two palangi staff is challenging at times (especially since the other has been married to a Samoan for over 35 years). There is a language barrier and although the Samoans are doing pretty well including me, it can still be lonely as I miss out on many of the jokes, laughter, and just don’t know what is going on half the time. Being alert and engaged all the time while trying to remember names and information about everyone and understanding broken English gets very exhausting after awhile. Thankfully I have Tiffany here who understands and just lets me escape to her bedroom or take walks together without having to talk or think. I have fallen asleep on her floor at least 2 or 3 times. It has been so wonderful seeing her and getting to rekindle that relationship after 2 years! There has been a lot of laughter and stories.
Tiffany and I hiking the mountain!
Prayer Requests:
- Learning Center
- Wisdom as to how to run it, what to teach, how to divide responsibilities, humility to learn from each other
- Children to come to the Learning Center
- Health
a. Protection from sickness.
- I had a funny allergy thing after our hike in which my eyes got incredibly itchy, goopy, and puffy. Thank God for Benedryl.
- Mental and physical strength.
- Relationships with the other base staff, locals, and students that will be coming to the Learning Center
Sunrise over the base
I’m sorry that this update was exceptionally long. As the first one since being here I thought I would fill you in. I will try to make the next ones more concise. Miss you all. Hugs and blessings!
