Area President and Gardening

Our Papaya Tree

It seems like all of our weeks are busy but that is the reality of our assignment here. It really makes time pass quickly.

We are finishing up our Special Education course and will give the final exam next week. It has been interesting to see the light of comprehension in the faces of our students as we talk about different disabilities that some of their students might have. We initially questioned the value of teaching this course to teachers who do not have a special education program in their school but now we see the value in it. We are starting to gear up for (gasp) our Teaching Literacy in the Content Area course. This will be a stretch for us but we will roll up our sleeves and give it our best.

Beach Repose!

We traveled to Fagaloa Bay on the northwestern end of the island. It is isolated by a poor road and is unspoiled. What a beautiful paradise!













Popo lelei! (Good Coconut)

We met with President and Sister Ardern (the Pacific Area President) on Wednesday night and had a delightful visit with them. They gave the "big picture" of the work in the Pacific area from the mature congregations in New Zealand and Australia, the solidly developing Church in the islands of Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji to the emerging pioneers in Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and Kiribati. They were so kind and gracious. They consider themselves ordinary people on an extraordinary assignment. We really identified with that concept.


          Our first tomato

   Our gardening attempts are paying off. We have attached pictures of our pineapple "plantation," our papaya tree that we transplanted from our flowerbed, and our first tomato!

   We are excited to go home for Christmas to check up on some routine health concerns (and visit our family) so don't be surprised if you happen to see us around - you aren't just seeing things. We will have a tight schedule so we can't visit everyone but would be delighted to be stopped, hugged, and loved if you see us!

Our Pineapple "Plantation"

Helicopter & Fish

Another busy week!  We had the Australian Coast Guard land a helicopter on the rugby field at Pesega as they did a recruiting visit here.  It was very exciting!

We also took the opportunity to go for an hour on Wednesday to Pololo Deep (about 10 minutes away) and snorkel.  It was a rare calm day there and the fish were beautiful.

We said goodbye to our interns from BYU Hawaii as we dropped off two of them at the airport Friday after our Professional Development  in Sauniatu.  The other four are spending a few more days here before they fly back to Oahu.  We will miss their laughter and smiles.

The Whirlwind of August!

Wow, we have been busy!  We have been teaching our classes with the addition of interacting with the interns from Sauniatu as well as shuttling around our BYU Hawaii director, Dr. Shute and his Videographer, Jonathan.  They are making a video on the ITEP program and Samoa was their last stop.  They interviewed us and videotaped our class as well as some of our students.  It has been fun but has kept us "hopping."  We also got a chance to meet our new Coordinators, Elder & Sister Poll out of the New Zealand Area Office.  They took an afternoon off of the principal's conference to watch our class and go out to dinner with us.  We look forward to getting to know them better the next time they come.

Lovely backyard chickens that eat millipedes!

Gecko outside of our bathroom window!

We have been blessed to have at least a dozen people helping James move into a new apartment in  Provo now that he has "aged-out" of his current college apartment.  He is doing well and turned 30 today!  We are so proud of him doing that while we are away.

Western portion of Upolu (where we had never been before).

Red Ginger Flower of Samoa!

Heliconia that sprung up in our backyard!

Joe and Janice at Return to Paradise Beach Resort.

Beautiful rocks, water, and plants at Togitogia (place of engraving)

We are hoping that this will be a fairly normal week and we can keep our feet on the ground.  We have a firm testimony that what we are doing is the right thing for us at this time in our life.  We know we are making a difference as we watch our teachers improve their teaching methods for hundreds of students here in Samoa.  We are grateful that a prophet of God called us to do this!  Janice often says that, "We have to make a difference here because anything less would not justify us from being away from our dear grandchildren and family!"

Interns and Pioneer Day

On Tuesday, we finished up teaching our class and came out of our office about 6:00 PM and ran into the primary Pioneer Day Parade!  We were delighted to fall in step with them and follow the covered wagon with about 40 primary children singing.  The police were at the street and stopped traffic for them as they crossed in front of the mission home on the way to the church building across the street.  They had a delightful program with real Samoan Pioneers who had to go to Sauniatu to escape persecution.  The best was the nursery class dancing to Cotton-eyed Joe!

This Friday, we made our way up the mountain to Sauniatu and taught our English lesson and SIOP lesson.  We bundled up the 6 interns from BYU-H and met at our house.  We got a couple more senior missionary couples in on the deal and shuttled them to eat out with us that night at a restaurant at the warf and then cheesecake afterwards.  Three of them stayed in our apartment and the other three stayed with Elder & Sister Williams across the street.  While they were at the temple the next morning, Janice cooked about 30 Norwegian waffles for them after they returned.

We spent the rest of the day at Vavau beach and had a delightful time with them.  They really cheered us up and put a sparkle in our life.  They are so young and energetic.  We feel lucky to get to show them around a bit.

Time is flying by and we are working very hard teaching and observing.  We feel good that we are making a difference here but are coming to realize that it is hard work!  This is not an assignment for wimps!  We are dead tired every night and work hard just to keep up.  The pay is good however and we have been blessed with health miracles, with financial blessings, and the love and support of our wonderful family.

Lavalavas and Sauniatu

School is back in session and we are back in the swing of things.  We are teaching three nights a week again.  We have started teaching an Introduction to Special Education course.  Janice and I are not real "deep" in this area so we are sticking to the book so we don't stray very far.  The Church schools do not currently have a special education program so it is mainly to help teachers become aware of how they might help students who might have diagnosed learning problems in their classes.  We are also teaching the teachers in Sauniatu on Fridays.  Janice woke up in the middle of the night with a strong feeling that we needed to be up there on a regular basis helping them.  There is one teacher who needs a class.  While we typically wouldn't teach a class for just one teacher, we are combining our teacher professional development there with the class.

Pineapple Field near Sauniatu

Road to Sauniatu

Kids on the street in Sauniatu

I took a picture of the road up to Sauniatu.  It takes 30 minutes to go 4.3 miles.  You have to go pretty slow.  At one time, it was paved but it has been washed out and now it is mainly rocks and potholes.  The drive is worth it however as you reach the remote center of an old volcano and find the beautiful campus of Sauniatu.  It was a sanctuary for early members of the Church in Samoa who were being persecuted here.

Saturday, we helped the Senior missionaries make lavalavas with paint and stencils.  It is a fun process that is similar to screen printing but only uses stencils cut from xray film and paint on a roller.  You can see that Elder Semu (from New Zealand) and Elder Swanger (from Vancouver, Washington) are quite proud of their work!

Lavalavas that we made this weekend

Lavalava Men!

My little papaya tree is going to bear some fruit.  I am pretty excited to harvest some.  Who would have thought we could grow such things?

We just passed the point of our mission where we have a year left to go.  Time has gone so fast so one year should be here before we know it.  We do miss everyone so much and can't wait to be with you again.  We love you and pray God will bless you!

Pacific Games 2019 and Family Reunion

We spent the rest of this week (after Levi's family left) regrouping and watching events at the Pacific Games.  We watched sports we don't normally get to see including weightlifting, va'a racing (outrigger races), sailing, swimming, and rugby. 

Women's weightlifting (Samoa lifting 142 kg!)

 We are getting all sorts of pictures of our family having a good time together in San Francisco while they hold the Family Reunion without us.  We are quite jealous that they are there without us but understand that each of them took a turn missing a reunion while they were on their missions so it is our turn.  We are delighted that they value that enough to do it on their own however. 

Lloyd Family Reunion 2019 (San Francisco)

Levi's Family Came to Visit!

We had a most fantastic time with our Son Levi, our daughter-in-love Rebecca, and their children, Isaac, Eliza, Noah, and Henry.  They came July 2nd and with tears in our eyes dropped them off at the airport on July 9th.  We were in the ocean every day they were here except on Sunday.  They got to share some of our beautiful places here in Samoa with us.  We visited Palolo Deep, Namua Island, Vavau Beach, Togitogia Waterfall, and the giant clam sanctuary.  We saw fire-dancers, ate Samoan food, and cooked on an umu.  They saw giant flying foxes, geckos, and tropical fish! They made their own lava lavas.  They got to sing hymns in Samoan and share some time in the temple with us.  We loved having them here and enjoyed every second.  It was all summed up with Henry's exclamation, "I want to be a white Samoan!"

Eliza and Grandpa at Vavau Beach

Henry, The White Samoan!

Isaac making his lava lava

Levi at Togitogia Waterfall

Noah at the cultural village

Rebecca shopping at the Market.

Grandma and Eliza on the way to Namua Island

We sent them off to return to California with a few souvenirs and all of our love to give to our family back home as they have the Joe & Janice Lloyd family reunion without us.  It thrills us to know they want to still get together without us.  We look forward to a family picture all in their matching shirts this weekend!  We love them so!