Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Well in two more days we will have been in Samoa for 3 full months. We are very busy teaching and doing firesides. They are really trying to get the students interested in the TVET (Technical, Vocational, Educational, Training) program so they can learn valuable skills and get josbs and Pesega is starting a new Form 7 here next year.   Form 7 is a college prep year and they are going to do it here instead of having all the kids do it at the University. It will be cheaper for the students and hopefully help them be more successful when they do go to the University. These firesides are to inform the parents and leaders about what the new changes and opportunities will be here at the LDS Church College at Pesega.

Now for the fun stuff. On Monday, October 15th, it was a school holiday called White Sunday so we took the Osborne's and picked up the Budgett's at the ferry and went to a different island. We got on a boat at Manono-uta Village and went over to Manono Island. It was a 20 minute boat ride. The ocean was smooth as glass on the way over.

 This is the boat we are going to take over to Manono Island.  It cost 100 Tala to take the six of us over and to come back and get us.  We got on the boat around 9:30 a.m.

 These are the Osborne's.  The Island of Upolu (which is the island we live on) is in the back ground.

 This little guy belonged to the boat driver.  He fell asleep just sitting there.  It was so cute.

 You can see the Island of Manono in the distance and see how smooth the ocean is.

 This older boy rode in the front of the boat and was the one who tied and untied the boat.  He finally grabbed this little guy and held him the rest of the way to the island.

 This is the main road on Manono Island.  There are no cars and no dogs allowed on the island.  Yeah for no dogs.  They are everywhere in Upolu and run in packs.  This is the widest the road ever gets.  The women had to put their towels around them to act as Lava Lava's because we didn't know it was a requirement on this island that women had to cover up their shorts.  From now on we will carry lava lava's with us so we won't have this problem again.

 You can see how clear and beautiful the water is. 

 Yes those are two TV's sitting on top of this roof.  We were joking and said it is probably their drive in!

 This is still the main road.  You can see why they couldn't drive any cars here.

 This is still the main road.  Soon it will turn into a grass track.  We walked for about an hour before we could find a place with any sand so we could get in the water.  The boat driver kept telling us there was a great beach just 20 minutes from where he dropped us off.

 They take very good care of their long boats.  Most of them are under covered roofs.

 This is one of the churches on the island.

 A boat that they use to fish in and a little pier.

 Nada is trying to get brave enough to start snorkeling.  There is so much grass in the water that you can't see much of anything.  She is also nervous about what she is going to step on.

 Reed snorkeled over to this boat that was tied up.  This is what it looked like under the water.

 Nada trying to get some of the sand out of her shoes.  These rocks were slippery.  Reed actually slipped and fell hard.  He cut up his toe, instep and elbow.  That did not stop him from snorkeling though.

 We snorkeled for about an hour and need to put our towels back on so we can walk through the villages.  We are to meet the boat at 1:00 p.m. and it took us an hour to get here so we decided to allow an hour to hike back.

 This is part of the main road around the island.

 Just a beautiful view of the ocean from the road.

 Reed standing next to a grave with the ocean behind him.  Off in the distance you can see the ferry that goes back and forth to Savai'i from Upolu.

 You see people playing volleyball all over in Samoa.  Every place you go in the hot sun or in the evening they are out there playing.  Girls, boys, women and men.

These kids just having a great time playing in the fale by the ocean.  They all hollered out to us.  Everyone, every where you go always say, hi, good morning, talofa.

 Elder Osborne and the Budgett's hiking out.  Yes, this is the main road.

 There are roosters, hens and chickens everyone you go.  They are just a part of Samoan life.

 Getting back onto the boat at 1:00 p.m.  He was there waiting for us.  The tide was out and the water was quite rough.  It was a big step down to get into the boat.

 You can see the water was a lot rougher going back to Upolu than coming over to Manono.  The boat handled the waves very well.  Nada never felt very nervous. 

 Nada smiling on the way back and the boat driver in the back.  He spoke pretty good English.  It was a fun day.  A storm came in on our way back and they put a tarp down on the front so the waves didn't keep spraying us and the top kept the rain off of us.

 We went to the new Aggie Grey's for lunch.  It is a resort on the west side of the Island of Upolu between the airport and the ferry.  Aggie Grey is a famous woman from Samoa.  There are books written about her and there are two resorts this one and the one by Apia Harbor that are named after her and that she actually ran when she was alive.

 This is the beach front outside Aggie Grey's Resort.  There is a big beautiful swimming pool right above this beach or you can go to the beach and swim and snorkel here.  It was very nice.

We are going to go back here on one of our days off and eat and swim.  It is one of the nicest beaches we've seen.  This was a great day and fun to visit a new island and see some new things.  We hope you enjoyed sharing this voyage over to Manono Island with us. 

We are grateful to be here in Samoa and we love the people, the culture and the scenery.  We love the gospel and hope we can continue to help these students and teachers progress in the Lord's work.  Until next time.  Love Reed and Nada