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.