Talofa Lava from Samoa.  Today is November 4th, 2013.  We know time really doesn't go any faster but sure seems like it is for us.  We are trying to finish up so many things just like the end of any school year.  The students in the Middle School are testing all this week.  They do not take their end of term or semester tests during their regular classes.  They test for one subject for 2 hours and then the students go home.  The teachers are suppose to stay and mark the tests but they seem to disappear as well.  It is hard for us to understand why they can't test during their classes but oh well.

October was a great month. 

On Wednesday October 9th, Christy and Ryan had their new baby girl come into their family.  Her name is Devree and she is beautiful.  Christy had her at 12:38 p.m., weighed 6 pounds 15 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.  We missed the actual delivery because she wasn't suppose to be born until the next day and we were running our errands so we wouldn't miss it.  Nada, of course, cried because she felt like a terrible mother.  Thank goodness for Skype and email.  As soon as we got on we were able to Skype and watch them bathe Devree and make sure Christy and Devree were fine.  Skype is a wonderful blessing for Senior Couples!  Isn't she beautiful?

On Wednesday, October 16th the middle school celebrated World Food Day.

 Year nine students getting ready to start husking coconuts and building the umu.  These girls were sitting around talking not really participating.

 The boys are building the umu to cook the breadfruit and pig.  They start with coconut husks on the bottom then wood and rocks.

 
 









 Usually the boys husk the coconuts but this young lady wanted to give it a try.  She didn't do it quite as fast as the boys but she did do it!  The boy below is shredding the coconut.  They can do this very fast.  They sit on a stool that has a sharp metal piece on the end like a shoe horn with serrated edges.

 Brother Falute with the hat.  The teachers like their pictures taken as much as the students do.

 Sister Leafa cutting open coconuts with a bush knife.  They will shred the coconut, squeeze it to make coconut milk and then mix it with the mashed up bananas to make what they call poi.  It is much better than the poi we have eaten in Hawaii!  Year Seven students.

 Sister Amani cutting up a fish.  They mix this raw fish with cucumbers and coconut milk and it is called Oka..  Reed thinks it is okay but Nada has never even tried it.  Raw fish, No Thanks!

 These students are peeling and mashing the bananas for poi.

 The umu is hot enough and they are starting to add the food.  While cooking they cover the rocks with banana leaves.

 Year Eight students are in charge of plucking and cooking the chickens.  The students don't even hesitate.  They just go right to it.

 These two students brought us some Taufolo, breadfruit pounded and then cooked in coconut milk and sugar and they slightly burn the brown sugar.  It tasted pretty good, like dumplings.  This is a formal way that they would present food to you.  It is on a plate of woven leaves.  Everyone had a good day and no one went hungry!








Saturday, October 19, 2013 was Reed's Birthday.  We had a wonderful day.  Twenty-one of us seniors went to the Island of Manono.  Elder and Sister Roth set it up for us.  We took two different boats over because they are only big enough to hold around 10 - 12 people each.  Reed and Nada had gone over to Manono last year with the Budgetts and Osbrones but we were very excited to go again and do more exploring.

We left the Mission Home at 9:00 a.m. in three different vans.  We headed to Manono Uta (which means inland.)  Most of the islands have a village on the main island of Upolu where they take their boats back and forth to the islands.  It is as far West as you can go on Upolu and took about 50 minutes to get there. We got on the small boats about 10:00 a.m. and headed to Manono.  The water was calm and so clear.

We are on the boat to the right.  It was smoother and faster.  It was a twenty minute ride to Manono Island.  We were greeted by the Arp Family who made this day possible for us.  They told us to explore and then we would eat at noon.  Reed wanted to find the Grave of the Ninety-Nine Stones.  We asked three different people before someone pointed us in the right direction.  We walked for about 30 minutes and finally found it.  We were underwhelmed.  Reed read a lot about it but it was not marked or very well taken care of.

Reed and Nada standing in front of the Grave of the Ninety-Nine Stones.  It is about a High Chief who wanted to marry 100 wives, one from each village.  However, when he approached a certain village they refused to let him have one of their girls for a wife, hence why there are only 99!
On this island they make the women either wear skirts or cover their pants with a lava lava.

 This boy kept following us around blowing this conch shell.  He got some pretty good sound out of it.  We finally gave him a tala and then he walked on.

 This boy is in a mango tree picking mangos and tossing them down to his family or friends.

 The children are so cute and so friendly.  They all say "Hi Palagi" and "Take My Picture!"  We will really miss these adorable children.

 This area was so beautiful.  Manona is a very clean island and not a lot of people live here.  There are no cars and no dogs allowed.  That makes it even nicer.  You can see a small island off to Reed's left.

 The whole group sitting down for lunch.  We all sang Happy Birthday to Reed.  The open fale was very large and nice and cool.  The food was all Samoan but very well done and tasted good.  We love drinking the nius (young coconuts).
 
 
 

 Reed went snorkeling after lunch.  He said there was not much to see but he did swim for about 10 minutes with a Spotted Eagle Ray.  He said it was quite a thrill.  Our underwater camera broke so we are including a picture off the internet that looks just like what Reed was swimming with.  After we got back he looked it up and found out it is very poisonous so good thing he didn't try to touch it!  Reed said that was a great birthday present.

 After Reed snorkeled for a while we decided to walk on the road (it really is mostly just a trail) around the whole island.  We saw beautiful things all the way around.  This is a traditional fale with original pandanus mats.  During stormy weather or for privacy they put these down, otherwise they are up under the roof.

 Breadfruit Tree with the breadfruit growing.  These trees have pretty leaves and they are quite large.

 Beautiful beach and ocean and skiy!

 A little island off of Manono.  The color of the water was just breathtaking.

 Can you believe how gorgeous the water is?  This beach had a lot of lava rocks on it that get slippery when wet.

 It took us one hour and twenty-five minutes to walk around the whole island.  That was not walking real fast and Reed kept  stopping to take pictures.  It was so nice.  Some people just sat around and visited on this deck while the rest of us swam and explored.

We were on the yellow boat again on the way back.  There was quite a bit of wind and you can see that the ocean was not calm.  Some of the waves actually came over the side of the boat.  It was a fun adventure to get back to Upolu.  You can see Upolu in the distance.  We arrived back on Upolu at 4:00 p.m. and loaded into the vans and headed home.  What a wonderful day.  We have been so blessed to serve in such a beautiful area with so many senior missionaries.  Reed said he could not have asked for anything better for his birthday.

Happy Halloween from Samoa.  They really don't talk about it or really celebrate it muich here.  There were a couple of wards that brought their primary children trick or treating.  They have people in their wards that have lived in America that is probably why.  We usually go to the Temple on Thursday evenings but we went on Wednesday, last night, so we would be home to see these darling little trick or treat kids and pass out candy.

 The kids really seemed to have a good time.  Most of them knew how to say Trick or Treat in English.  Below is a picture of Elder and Sister Goodlet that live across the street from us.  They are from Australia and they said this is the first Halloween they have been involved in trick or treating themselves.  Goes to show we are never too old to experience new things!

On Saturday, Nov. 2, 2013, we decided to visit a couple of places we haven't seen yet.  We drove over the Cross Island Road and said goodbye to Papapapaitai Waterfall.  It hasn't rained much lately so there was not very much water in the falls.  Then we drove to the southeast side of Upolu and decided to take the Ma Tree Walk.  It was about 25 minutes in.  The trail was quite good and we enjoyed the quietness and beautiful scenery.  We kept wondering if we would know The Ma Tree when we saw it.  No worries, you could not miss it plus they actually had a sign next to it saying Ma Tree.  The path ran right into the tree and it is enormous.

 You can see the roots of the Ma Tree.  We never even got a picture of the whole tree.  The root on the right went back in about 12 feet.  We thought the grandkids would love to play hide and seek here.  We were just amazed at how many and how tall the roots are.  The way they curve out.  It was amazing and a great surprise. 

The actual tree was probably 60+ feet tall and very large in circumference.   The roots were really the spectacular part of the tree.  You can see how they curve like a scroll.

We are standing next to a bunch of small roots with big ones behind us and to the left of us.  We are so glad we did not miss this area.  We wish there would have been something to tell us about the tree and how old it is or why it grows here.

We then headed to Old Hideaway Beach for the final time.  We ate lunch, Reed snorkeled and Nada walked along the beach and found 30 Sand Dollars right on the beach or barely in the water.  It was low tide and the water was so clear.  This is a great beach for relaxing and enjoying.  Not a good place for snorkeling.  The water is always warm and we are usually here by ourselves or whoever we are with.  We rarely see other tourists or locals on this beach.

 We left Old Hideaway Beach, it is a little hard to say goodbye to these beautiful places with so many memories, and headed to the last piece of main road we've never driven on.  We drove to a couple of little resorts and then headed west.    We stopped and took a couple of pictures looking back where we had come from.  In the distance on the picture below you can see both Manono and Apolima Islands.    It is amazing how much moisture in the air the camera picks up.  We hooked back onto the Main Northern Coastal Road and headed home.

 What a wonderful day.  We saw so much of the island and did some new and fun things.  We love to explore and have tried hard to see every piece of the island we possibly can.  We love Samoa and its beauties and the people.  We will really miss these beautiful scenes.  We are so blessed. 

Now, today back to the real world of teaching and getting the grades in for the SIOP Course we just finished.  Life is great!  We are both well and trying hard to finish up strong.  We love you all and hope you enjoy seeing this Paradise we are blessed to live in for a little while longer.  We will try to post one more time before we leave on December 2nd and then try to post on our adventures on our way home.  Tofa Soifua and much Alofas from Elder and Sister Spencer.

Wow, where did September go?  Today is already October 3, 2013.  Time seems to be flying by.  During September we had to make all the arrangements for our flights and hotels to go home in December.  It seems hard to believe that it is time to be planning on going back to Utah.  Sometimes it seems like we were just planning on starting our mission and now we are finishing it up.

On Saturday, September 7th after all the weekly chores were completed we decided to take a drive.  We drove as far West on Upolu as we could and then drove along the Main Coastal Road.  The sun was bright and the ocean was many different shades of blue.  We just enjoyed looking at the different villages and stopped along the way to take pictures. 

 This is a common sight here in Samoa.  People ride in the back of trucks sitting, standing, laying and sitting on top of things.  These kids were singing and doing actions.  It was very entertaining to follow them.

 We followed this truck with the young men for most of the way to the airport.

 This is a resort on the west end of the island.  We had never driven this far before.  It was a beautiful resort.

 This is an open chapel.  It was in the village of  Pata. 

 This is looking into the chapel from the outside.  There was a dog laying there enjoying the shade.

 A lot of the chapels here have a small fale (house) built that the missionaries live in.  The building farthest right is the missionaries house.  They use the church restrooms which have showers in them.  This is good for the missionaries and for the church because they are like having security around.

 The smaller building is actually a grave.  A lot of Samoans bury their families in their yards and some of the graves are in very elaborate enclosures.

 We turned off the main road and started driving on this dirt road that became less and less dirt and more and more grass.  We drove for quite a ways but couldn't see an end so we finally turned around.  Reed would have kept going but Nada was worried we might get stranded along the trail!

 We don't see very many interesting birds so when we came upon this one we were excited.  They seem to be more in less populated less traveled areas.

 In some of the more remote, rural villages they just build the road over the river and sometimes you have to wait for the water to go down to get across.

 This gentleman was just walking down the road carrying all this wood on his back.  They must be very strong, it looked very heavy!

 This is a taro field planted on this hill.  We see fields wherever they have land.  It seems to grow no matter where they plant it.  This is a very large taro field, it covered the whole side of this hill.

We really enjoyed this little road trip and saw some beautiful different places.  We took a rough dirt road over the mountain and came back on the south coastal road.  We only have one more area that we haven't been to so that will be one of our next adventures.

On Saturday, September 14. 2013, most of the senior missionaries went to the beach and had dinner at Coconuts Resort.  It wasn't very good snorkeling but it was great to just play and relax in the water and on the beach.  They had a nice restroom that we could cleanup in and dress for dinner.  We had a great dinner, a little expensive but good food, and enjoyed their fia fia (show).  They danced, sang and had the fire dancers.  It was a great day!

 Coconut Beach Resort.  They just finished these bungalows over the water.  They were not there before the cyclone hit in December of 2012.  The rest of the resort did get damaged during the cyclone and it took a couple of months to get it fixed and up and running again.  They have quite a few bungalows along the ocean closer to the main reception/dining fale.  This is a nice resort.

Sisters Spencer, Budgett and Creed relaxing in the ocean.

This worker is taking a rest in this fale.

This is the main dining fale at Coconuts.  They had a beautiful lounge, dining room and patio.  We really enjoyed just sitting there watching the sun set and watching the waves.

This is the restroom and changing area.

The clouds and sunsets are so beautiful here.  They really look like they have a silver lining.

Above is the group that went together. 
Back row:  E/S Creed (dentist), Sister Kamareth (nurse), E/S Rotz (public relations), E/S Goodlet (TVET), S/E Budgett (ITEP on Savai'i), S/E Gertsch (insitutute, PEF and now working as the office couple).
Front row:  E/S Crowley (Temple), S/E Winter (assistant auditors), S/E Spencer (ITEP on Upolu).

Wow, who are those good looking women on the left?

These are the musicians and male performers for the fia fia.

This young man doing the fire dance participated in the competition during the Teuila Festival earlier this month.










September 17, 2013.  Today is our 40th Wedding Anniversary.  Where has the time gone.  So many wonderful things have happened to us.  What a great blessing to be serving here in such a beautiful country and with such wonderful people.  We are blessed to live on the same grounds as the Temple.  We see it every day and are able to go as often as we have time, usually Thursday evenings.  We went out to lunch and then to Nada's favorite restaurant, Portofinos, for dinner.  It has good food but to just sit overlooking Apia Harbor and watch the boats coming and going and the sun setting is a little bit of Heaven!

Reed just kept setting the time and trying to get a good night picture of the two of us.













September was a big month for our students here at Pesega.  They practiced and planned for more than five weeks their big cultural day celebration.  On September 20th the big day finally arrived.  The middle school had their celebration on the malae (grassy area) in front of the Samoan Fale and the high school had theirs in the gym.  Reed and Nada kept running back and forth to watch different events and to take pictures.  The students all did a great job and they really all perform.  The boys here sing and dance every bit as much as the girls.

 These are middle school teachers Sisters AhHoy and I'aulualo with some students from their house.  Here, just like Harry Potter, the students are put into houses and that is how they participate in assemblies, games, activities, etc.

 The middle school brought and cooked food.  They husked, cracked open, grated and made milk out of coconuts.  They also made a dish where they peel and cut up and cook papaya (ese) and add coconut milk to that.  They also peeled and cooked taro.

These are the students sitting with their houses getting ready for their day to start in the gym.  Each house is dressed in different outfits.  It is just amazing to us, they make new outfits whenever they do big performances like this.  They are not cheap. The teachers were dressed like the students in their houses.

 This was house 2.  They won almost every category for the day.  They really did a great job. 

 Brother Elisara, one of our teachers is up there playing the drums for his house to dance to.

 Some of these young men are also in our ward.  They have the girls do certain dances, then the boys do different dances, then they all dance and sing together. 

 This girl is dressed up like a Taupou, the chiefs daughter who is usually young and a virgin.  She does the dance called the Siva.  Each house had their own Taupou dance. 

The middle school also did the Taupou dance.  You can see that they too had matching lava lava's.  However, the high school girls had matching pule tasis but the middle school only wore the same color of tshirts and then matching lava lavas.

This was the most different Taupou outfit we have seen.  The dress is made out of feathers instead of just tapa cloth and the headdress is made out of coconut husks and sea shells instead of fake feathers.  Reed though it was fabulous.









On Monday September 23, 2013 during the school break, we taught a technology class.  We had 23 participants.  We were shocked because we usually can't get the teachers to take classes during breaks.  We taught for five hours on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  We had some of the computer teachers come in and help us with different areas.  It was a very successful class and it is required for their ITEP Certificate so it was nice to get it out of the way quickly.  Reed organized it all and taught about power points, Nada just walked around and helped those who needed help.

 This is our 305 Technology class in the tall lab here next to our office.  The front row of teachers are from Sauniatu and Vaiola.

 This is the rest of the class.

 This is Sister Lesa,  She is the school counselor and also the Relief Society President for our ward.  They held an enrichment night on Wednesday the 25th and showed off the quilts they have been working on all year.

Then we went to the Pesega Lima Ward enrichment night and they had Christmas in September.  They gave prizes for the cutest Christmas earrings and foot wear.  It was held on the deck of one of the sisters in that ward.  They had wonderful food.  People brought dishes that they make for their families at Christmas time.  This was a very busy day and evening.  Nada took Sisters Budgett, Goodlet and Winter to her Motootua Ward night and Sister Goodlet took us to her Pesega Lima Ward night.


On Saturday, September 28th we had the young men and young women from our ward come at 8:00 a.m. to our home.  They had been on a hike to get to the Temple and then came to our house.  The topic was Stand In Holy Places.  They had to overcome obstacles to get to the Temple and then we were to talk about how our homes can be Holy Places.  Reed did a great job.  It was nice to have them in our home along with some of their leaders and the Bishopric.

Most of them understand English and they talked about what we said when they got back to the Ward afterwards.  Some of the parents talked to us at Church Sunday and told us what their children said.  That was nice.

Well middle school is back this week but the other two schools are still on school break so we are not teaching any classes the week of September 30th until October 4th.  Reed is busy trying to get ahead and Nada is going through all the files and making sure they are all current and orderly.  The area has developed a new ITEP record form and they want us to transfer all the records onto those.  It is a lot of work but it will be such much cleaner and understandable when we get them all transferred over.

We are well and busy.  It seems like there is always a lot to do but busy hands are happy hands!  We love these people and this beautiful island.  We feel so blessed to be able to serve here.  The gospel is true and missionary work is alive and well here in Samoa.  We hope you are all busy doing great things.  We send our love and our Testimony that Heavenly Father lives and loves us.  He is watching over us and cares about all of his children.  Tofa Soifua for now.  Alofa, Elder and Sister Spencer!