The Secret About Santa

🎅 We had a very merry Christmas in Samoa!  We kept busy Christmas Eve by baking a "zillion" cookies to make up plates to deliver to all of our neighbors and the other missionary couples.  We also hosted a Christmas Eve party at our house complete with Janice's Swedish Meatballs and some hot wassail.  We watched the George C Scott version of A Christmas Carol and visited!  It kept us busy until we could be sure that Santa was going to come before going to bed late.

Christmas morning found us with an abundance of presents under our tree and full Christmas stockings.  After cleaning up we got ready to meet the other senior couples at one of the beach resorts downtown for breakfast.  It was sunny and warm next to the beautiful blue-green surf and palm trees.  As we were eating, who should appear but Santa!  This is when we discovered his secret.  He is Samoan!  This makes perfect sense because we are the first nation in the world to experience Christmas.  He starts here and works his way around the entire earth in the following 24 hours and ends up in American Samoa just a few miles to the east of us (they are on the opposite side of the

international date line).  So he starts in Samoa and ends in Samoa.  We would not be surprised to find out that the North Pole is actually around here somewhere.  That would make a lot of sense since it is so comfortable and if I had a choice, I would live here instead of north of the frozen arctic circle.  You can see by his picture that he starts out fairly young but I am sure by the time he finishes each year, he gets old and gray.  By staying in Samoa the entire year, he rejuvenates to his young self again just in time for his next Christmas trip.

All kidding aside, we are grateful for the Christmas season that encourages all people everywhere to be a little kinder, to act more generous, and to remember the gift that God has given us in his Son, Jesus Christ.  He is our great hope and the exemplar of how to obtain a happy life.  May God abundantly bless all of you with his love.  We love you and miss you!

Savai'i The Big Island

We took the opportunity this week to go to the other Samoan ITEP campus at Vaiola on the island of Savai'i and check out the house that the new ITEP missionary couple, the Fillmore's will be living in. 

Blow Holes in Savai'i

We were so blessed to have Elder and Sister Little get our apartment ready when we came and we wanted to pay it forward just a bit.  The Samoan word Vai means water and ola means life or living.  So the name of the school literally means living water.  I am sure that the purpose of the school is to provide not only a secular education but connect the young people with our Savior, Jesus Christ and the living water he represents.

Steps to the Vaiola Sign on the Hill on Vaiola Campus

A Brave Woman!

We had a wonderful time and a lot of fun cleaning and organizing the house as well as taking a 360 degree tour of the island.  We drove around the entire island - stopping to see the blow holes powered by the surf and going up the canopy walk (40 meters or 131 feet off the ground).  Crossing on the ferry was an adventure but made possible with Dramamine for me.

Janice scraping coconuts to make milk

We have been busy teaching our class, preparing lessons, building and using a coconut bench with a scraper (you have not lived until you have eaten boiled green bananas with fresh coconut milk with onion sauce). 

We are missing our family a bunch during this Christmas season but trying to say busy and serving where we can.  Our hearts go out to each of you and wish we could be there to give you a warm embrace with our love but you will just have to settle for our love alone!

Sliding rocks waterfalls just above our house

Treacle!

Okay, so in preparation for the Christmas party for the neighbor kids, Janice was making some molasses cookies and ran out of molasses.  I was sent on a mission to find more molasses.  I went to 4 different grocery stores and no one knew what molasses was.  I looked in all

Equivalent of Molasses!

the baking sections and no molasses!  I finally took a wild guess and grabbed a dark can labelled "Treacle."  We got home and researched it on the internet and found out that treacle is the equivalent of american molasses so the day was saved and we had molasses cookies (that were very good by the way)!  We had 10 or so kids come over and Janice helped them make paper snowflakes and I helped them make candy cane reindeer.  We had a blast with them.

We are trying to keep the tradition of "taco Tuesday" alive so last Wednesday (which is Tuesday back home) we went to a place on the dock that serves pretty decent Nachos with Taro chips.  We do sneak a bottle of hot sauce in so we can jazz it up a bit.  We included a picture of the Christmas tree on the dock!

Christmas trees from coconut fronds

We are still have a few preparations to get ready for Christmas but it is coming up.  It is really hard to be sneaky to get presents when Janice and I are together all of the time.  We will just have to get inventive!  Enjoy the season!  We love everyone and hope you are staying warm.  We are enjoying a balmy 86 degrees every day here in the palm trees.

New Class

Fale under construction!

Today we started teaching a new class - BYU Hawaii EDU 340 Multiculturalism and Culturally Responsive Teaching (SIOP).  We only had three teachers show up but we will "shake the tree" and see if we can round up a few more.  If nothing else, those three teachers teach over 100 students a day so our class will impact the learning of at least 300 students here.

Janice's Puletasi

Janice had a puletasi made.  I have a matching tie.  We wore that on Friday night to Pesega 4th ward's Christmas party.  There was live music, dancing, performances and of course a lot of food.  We love our ward!





We passed a traditional fale under construction on our way back from the beach the other day.  That was a bonus trip because we found a breadfruit (my favorite) on the road and took it home.

We have our house decorated for Christmas.  I don't think I can put any words on the roof so I am a little disappointed but we will just have to make due.  There are a few other houses that are putting up lights so we are beginning to feel the Christmas Spirit.  Manuia le Kerisimasi!

Hello December!

This past week found us attending Prize Giving ceremonies for both Pesega Middle School and High School along with graduation exercises for the 90 or so seniors at Pesega.  This is the official end of the academic school year here in Samoa with school now being out until the 28th of January.  This is their "summer" break.  We have found a small band of teachers that want that to take a BYU Hawaii education class from us.  We will be teaching SIOP starting December 10th.

We get to attend the temple every week and see it every day!

We were invited to the Senior Prom on Friday night.  Every young person was dressed up in suits and long formal wear in a hall without air conditioning (88 degrees).  The heat was stifling but the kids had a blast!  They danced until their suits were soaked in perspiration.

Janice taught a lesson for our Ward's young women's program today.  It was really good.  She is a wonderful teacher.

We love our mission!  We are sure that God loves us because he sent us here!  May God bless all of our family and friends this holiday.  We send our love to all of you!

Our little garden here in Samoa - Tomatoes, Squash, & Watermelon

They were going to throw these pineapple plants away.  We have a plantation now out back!

Happy Thanksgiving

Coconut Turkey

Thanksgiving Table

This week, we had our coordinators from New Zealand, Elder & Sister Holbrook come and visit us.  We have had a full week meeting with them getting some training.  

Friday (which was Thursday in the United States), we got together with a lot of senior missionaries and celebrated our Thanksgiving feast complete with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and of course pumpkin pie.  It was a delightful evening of eating, visiting, playing games, and just being thankful.

We are preparing for the next course we will be teaching.  Janice is becoming the visual aid queen and is making some fantastic graphic organizers for our lessons.  She is also getting quite handy with PowerPoint and puts the finishing touches on my presentations as well as making many of her own. 

We are going to administer the SLEP test (for English) for the teachers up at Sauniatu tomorrow.  We are hoping that four of them can pass so they can obtain their ITEP Certificates.

As the holiday season begins, we are thankful that we are blessed to be in a good place with worthwhile things to do that benefit other people.  It is also a wonderful opportunity for Janice and I to be working together and being together 24/7.  God bless!

Good Friends Can Share Flip Flops

Fiafia!

We had another great week here in Samoa!  Time is flying by so fast.  We just realized that we have been out for 2 months already!  Our week was focused on deciding on our next BYU-Hawaii class and administering and correcting the final exam for our previous class.  All six of our students passed the class.  We were pleased with how diligent they were in attending and preparing for the class.  We have decided to teach the Multiculturalism and Culturally Responsive Teaching through Sheltered Instruction (SIOP) class next.  It is a great preparation for teachers of all subject areas in addressing the needs of English language learners here.  We will teach it during their break in December and January.

The senior sisters from American Samoa came to a training here this week.  They are teaching Institute in Pago Pago (Sister Kirkham and Sister Westenskow).  Our neighbors across the street (Elder and Sister Swanger) and the sisters went with us yesterday (Saturday) to Fiafia Beach.  We snorkeled and enjoyed the warm ocean water.  We saw beautiful tropical fish, blue starfish, and black sea cucumbers.  We ate at the resort next door and stayed for a live show (the fiafia) which included fire dancing.  It was fantastic!

We are so happy here.  We are working hard.  This coming week we will entertain our coordinators from the New Zealand office, the Holbrook's.  They are checking up on us and working in the three schools here in Samoa.  This week is also Janice's Birthday and Thanksgiving dinner on Friday.  We are really looking forward to it.

Fire Dancers at Coconuts Resort

Siva at Resort

End of Our First Class

Giant Clam on South Side of the Island of Upolu, Samoa.

We did it!  We officially taught the last lesson of our class Foundations of Education EDU 212 for BYU-Hawaii.  Their final is this coming week.  We are already starting to prepare for the next class on teaching English through sheltered instruction (BYU-H EDU 340)

We had a wonderful time this Friday attending Sauniatu day celebrating the organization of the town and the visit of David O’Mckay.  He gave an apostolic blessing to the people and the town.  You can still feel a powerfully peaceful feeling when you enter it.  There were speeches, dancing, songs, and a feast of mammoth proportions.  Of course, we were put in the front of the crowd and given their finest food.  These people are so kind and respectful.  It makes us want to do a really good job here when we serve them.  We are hoping that we can get 4 of the teachers at Sauniatu to pass their English test in two weeks.  They can get their ITEP certificates as soon as they pass this test.  Janice has been working with them.

We traveled to the south side of the island yesterday and snorkeled out to the giant clam sanctuary.  The clams grow up to 3 feet across and have beautiful colors.  The tropical fish swim in and out of their open clam shells but if you put your hand close, they close up quickly.

We are working hard every day and hit the bed exhausted every night.  We are working on our Samoan and feel it a privilege to be here serving.  We are very happy!

Beautiful Gift from the Uili Family

Traditional Samoan Cooking

Umu Oven for Pesega Samoan Culture Class

Number 2 pig (referring to the size)

Stuffing the pig with mango and clove leaves and hot rocks.

Another Week in Paradise!

Mermaid Beach

Papapapai-tai Falls

This week went by quickly because we have been very busy.  Our routine daily schedule is as follows:

6:00 AM Get up and shower (our choice, we could get up later if we chose)

7:00 AM Breakfast, Personal Study

8:00 AM Leave for the office (we stop by the Cantina to buy sandwiches for lunch – it costs us just over $2.00 for two sandwiches). As we walk past the classrooms, they are having their devotionals.  We often here them singing a hymn.

8:30 AM Arrive in our office.  Work on planning our lessons that we will be teaching (BYU Hawaii education courses)

12:00       Stop for lunch and go back to our apartment.  We sometimes go shopping or take a quick nap

1:30 PM  Go back to our office and make final preparations for our class

3:30 PM  Teach our class.  We are currently teaching Educational Foundations to 6 teachers.

5:30 PM   Finish our class and either go home for dinner, eat out, or attend a session at the temple

9:00 PM   We sometimes watch pre-recorded episodes of the TV series Blue Bloods then read a chapter of the Book of Mormon out loud in both English and Samoan.

10:30 PM Retire to bed tired and happy to rest up to do the whole thing again the next day.

Our weekends are a little different.  Friday nights, we try to go out to dinner for a date.  Saturday mornings, we take an hour or two to clean the apartment and do our laundry then take off for either an activity with the other senior missionary couples or go off on our own to explore the Island.  Sundays, we go to Church at 7:30 AM to our Samoan-speaking ward.  We finish by 10:30 AM then have the rest of the day to rest, read, nap, visit or whatever we want to do.

This past Saturday, we went to a beautiful beach (Mermaid beach).  It had a row of fales we could use under the coconut palms.  We tied up our hammocks and then snorkeled in a beautiful blue lagoon.  Janice rested in the hammock while I hunted for shells up and down the beach.  I have included pictures on the blog.  On the way home, we stopped at a beautiful waterfall that must have been a 500 – 600-foot drop (Note the lovely lady in blue).  We also stopped at an overlook that showed some of the shoreline and a village.  There are hundreds of villages around the edge of the island.

We are happy, healthy, and working hard.  This is our dream come true.  The only thing that is missing is our family but we have been fortunate to be able to communicate with them at least once a week by phone or facetime.  We are extremely grateful for this opportunity to serve and feel so needed here.

A Great Week in Samoa

Suafa'i (Banana pudding) and breadfruit

Along the Road to Sauniatu

We had a great week in Samoa this week.  Monday was a national holiday celebrating White Sunday which commemorates the influenza epidemic of the early 1900’s where one in four children here perished.  It is a national holiday to honor the children.  The rest of the week was spent working hard preparing and teaching the BYU Hawaii course Educational Foundations.  The book is based on the history of US education so we prepared and presented a lesson on the history of Samoan Education which was quite interesting.  The Church has been a leader in providing the most modern curriculum and schooling on the islands.  We are grateful to have a small contribution to those efforts. 

Friday night, Janice and I went to a restaurant next to Apia Bay and had a lovely dinner at sunset looking out over the water.  We had an outside table surrounded by palm trees and an ocean view for about $22 for both of us.  Earlier that day, we drove to Sauniatu and helped prepare the teachers who still need to pass their English test so they can obtain their ITEP certificate.  We stayed for a delightful morning while they celebrated their culture day by having each class fix their favorite  Samoan food.  We helped fix saufa’i a banana pudding prepared with fresh coconut milk.  We helped shred the coconut and watched them squeeze the milk out of the shavings.  It was delicious.  We also ate some sopapassi made from coco beans and pureed papaya.  My favorite however, was the breadfruit that was prepared in an outdoor oven (umu).  It was hot and delicious as we dipped it in the fresh coconut milk.

Shredding Coconut to make coconut milk

We attended our new ward for the first time today (Pesega 4^th ward or Pesega fa).  It is a Samoan ward but a lot of our teachers attend and they spoke English to us.  The singing is wonderful and the Spirit is powerful.  We look forward to rubbing shoulders with these good people.

Our First Class

Waterfall at Sauniatu

McKay Fale at Sauniatu Campus

This past week was filled with firsts as school resumed here at Pesega.  We are established in our office now and we quickly organized offering the BYU Hawaii class Education 212 Foundations of Education.  Last Thursday after school, we held our first class session with 6 teachers here at Pesega College.  We also attended a middle school faculty meeting and attended 2 assemblies in the open-walled assembly room with hundreds of students all dressed in their school uniforms of yellow and blue.  They always sing a hymn at these assemblies.  We cannot adequately describe the feelings that come from hundreds of young people singing a hymn without any accompaniment.  Their voices are strong and clear and they sing with enthusiasm.

Students at Sauniatu Primary School

We also took a trip up to the little village school at Sauniatu.  What a wonderfully peaceful place.  There is a spirit of peace and beauty there.  We visited with the teachers and learned how we can help them get their certificates by helping them to pass an English test.  We also visited a beautiful waterfall there.

This Saturday, after cleaning our apartment, we drove around the island to explore a little bit.  We ended up at another waterfall that was delightful and then spending some time on the beach and doing a little bit of snorkeling.  They have the most amazing deep-blue starfish here!

We are happy and healthy and working hard.  We are having the time of our life in this beautiful land with these kind and gentle people.  We highly recommend a senior mission to anybody whose circumstances permit.   

At the top of Togitogiga Falls

Togitogiga Falls

Samoa!

We are here!  Last Saturday afternoon, we flew into Samoa.  What a wonderful paridise it is here.  Our office has a view out to coconut and banana palms.  We cannot believe it.  I will try to post some pictures of our environment.  We have a car (a Hyundai Tuscon) and miraculously passed our Samoan driver's test (they drive on the left side of the road here) so now we have our licenses.  We have met the principals of the schools we will be working with and look forward to getting to know them better.

We had a visit with our mission president, President Ho Ching and his wife.  They are very kind and encouraged us to attend a Samoan Ward every Sunday for church.

We are moving into the next door apartment which is a two bedroom unit instead of a one bedroom unit where we started.  Yesterday, we took our former neighbors who lived in the apartment, the Little's to the airport as they finished their mission.  We only knew them for 6 days but they became very dear to us in that time and really helped us get our feet on the ground.

We are getting to know people around here and everyone has been super nice.  We highly recommend it!  There are hibiscus, orchids, and other colorful flowers growing everywhere.  The people dress modestly in colorful lava lavas and everyone has a smile on their face.

Our school (Pesega College) as seen right out our front door

                                               View of the temple seen out our front door

Janice with fresh tuna purchased at the dock

The MTC in New Zealand

Sister Lloyd with French Speaking Missionaries

While it has been Saturday all day back home, it has been a wonderful Sunday for us here in Auckland.  We attended church at the MTC with the 50 wonderful young missionaries that are here.  They are so enthusiastic and good.  We feel so lucky to get to rub shoulders with them.  They make is feel younger.

After church services, we all went outside to have our pictures taken on a beautiful sunny spring day.  Time is passing rapidly.  We are acclimating to our new time zone and getting in a lot of learning.  We are practicing our Samoan language with the Samoan speaking staff here

Elder and Sister Lloyd in front of the Samoan Flag

New Zealand!

We are in Auckland, New Zealand in the Missionary Training Center with about 50 young missionaries from all over the world preparing to serve missions in the South Pacific area including Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Papau New Guinea, Tahiti, and of course, Samoa.  As it turns out, we are the only senior missionaries here during this cycle so we are being treated quite special.  We have young men and women from France, Canada, The United States, and the South Pacific.  They are a delight!  Some of them are struggling with their English or are studying here in French.  They have been very kind and accepting of us.

We have a teacher all to ourselves.  Her name is Sister Langkilde.  She is of Samoan descent but was raised in New Zealand and has a charming NZ accent.  She also served her mission in Samoa and is bilingual.  She has been patient as we have practiced our Samoan with her.

We hope to take a couple hours to go shopping tomorrow.  We will leave for Samoa a week from tomorrow and be ready for the leap into the unknown.

Sister Langkilde

Just a reminder that we are 20 hours ahead of Pacific Time so while it is 9:00 PM Friday night, it is only 1:00 AM Friday Morning there.  That means when we get up tomorrow morning at 6:30 AM Saturday, it will be 10:30 AM Friday there.  When we flew here, we lost a Wednesday altogether.  We have been so busy and tired that we have had little time to think but miss you all and are praying that all is well with all of our loved ones while we are away.

On your marks, get set . . .

We leave in just 18 days!  What a whirlwind it has been preparing to leave.  We have had the blessing of spending many wonderful days with our family both at our home and at their homes.  We are filling our "Love Reservoir " enough to last for two years (we hope).  We have been packing, sorting, giving things away, throwing things away, repairing, and preparing our house and property.  The net result is that we are busy and  have not had much time to think about how much we are going to miss our family while we are gone.  We found a statement from our former college president, Elder Jeffery R. Holland (now one of the apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) that seems to help it sting just a little less.  He said:
          " . . . tell your wives that if you can leave your recliner and the remote control for a few short months, they can leave the grandchildren. Those little darlings will be just fine, and I promise you will do things for them in the service of the Lord that, worlds without end, you could never do if 
stayed home to hover over them. What greater gift could grandparents give their posterity than to say by deed as well as word, “In this family we serve missions!”  (October 2011 General Conference)

Indeed, this is a fulfillment of our dream of going on a mission when we retired.  What a blessing to get to go to Samoa and help the teachers there get their teaching credentials.  We talked to one of the former couples we are replacing in Sauniatu and they said that they have 3 or 4 teachers who have passed all of the requirements except to pass their English language exam.  Janice will have her work cut out for her to help them over that last hurdle to get their certificates.

We will keep you posted on our progress after we get through the Missionary Training Center in New Zealand and we are settled into our Until then malo soifua!

apartment in Apia, Samoa. 

Provo MTC!

What a whirlwind of events have transpired since we have received our call to Samoa.  I have subsequently retired from work, taken a cross-country drive to Minnesota, Florida and Utah.  We visited our son Adam and his wife and daughter in Minnesota for a few days, rode our trikes on the beautiful trails there then drove to Florida to visit Janice's Sisters in Jacksonville.  Again, we triked along the intercostal waterway amongst the palms and turtles. We then spent a few days on the ocean at satellite beach before heading back west for an appointment at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah and also to visit our son James.  We had a great visit with him and worked hard at the MTC learning Samoan. We got to meet our tutor, Sister Peo there and got to rub shoulders with all of the Samoan instructors there.  We had a great visit with our son James and got to meet a lot of his friends and co-workers.  He is doing so well there.

We have gotten chest X-Rays to detect TB and AIDS tests for our visa.  We are arranging our typhoid inoculations and buying our missionary clothes.  We are spending the next two weeks with our family here so time is flying by. We have just 81 more days before we arrive in New Zealand for our main training before we go to Samoa. We are praying that we can get everything done we need to.

It Begins

The day we have been dreaming about for years has finally arrived.  Last night, while connected with our friends and family on video chat, we opened our big white envelope from Salt Lake City and found two letters addressed to each of us.  We took turns reading each sentence but while I was reading the third sentence, Janice started pumping her arm up and down because she had read ahead.

We are going to Samoa!  Once the screams died down, we found out that we will be reporting to the missionary training center in Auckland, New Zealand on September 20th.  We will be renting a house on the campus of Pesega College in Apia, Samoa.  We will have a car and be working with the 40 teachers in the high school, 19 teachers in the middle school, as well as the teachers in a K-8 school in a remote village a few miles away.  We will be teaching college-level education courses for BYU-Hawaii so the teachers in those schools can obtain their certification.  In order to finish the program, they will also have to pass a college-level English language test which will be Janice's special assignment.

To say we are excited is an understatement.  Sleep was overrated last night so we finally got up early this morning and submitted our acceptance letters and started learning what we will need to do before we go.  There are a few required immunizations (such as typhoid and hepatitis) as well as a list of clothes and supplies that we will need to bring.  I have a luggage problem and will need to get two checked bags large enough to carry 8-10 white shirts, 5-6 ties, 4-6 slacks, several pairs of shoes, 16 pairs of socks, a suit, toiletries, and other personal supplies as well sneaking in a grandchild or two.

We will keep you posted as we make progress towards our takeoff and landing.  We will also try to keep you posted with pictures and events as we arrive and roll up our sleeves and get to work in Samoa.

Talofa!!