Malo our family and friends.  Today is July 1, 2013.  Wow was June a busy and fun month.  On June 1, 2013 we got up early and went to the parade grounds outside the government building to participate in the Independence Day march.  The high school and middle school teachers each had a uniform made for that day.  Elder Spencer wore the high school shirt and Sister Spencer wore the middle school pule tasi.  The ninth grade students and teachers from the middle school marched and the high school students and teachers marched.  We arrived at 6:30 a.m. and the police marching band came at 7:30 a.m.  There were a couple of very short speech's (thank you so much) and then the many different groups marched in front of the grand stand.  We were back home by 9:30 a.m.  It was interesting to participate in.

 LDS Church College Pesega had their own long boat compete in the Fautasi race for Independence Day.  This was the first ever that our school sponsored a boat.  The long boat belongs to the Lepea Village and they let our boys use it.  This was the best place anybody using this boat had ever placed.   Brother Lepule was the captain and it was his first time to be the captain of a long boat.  There were 49 rowers and a drummer.  Our boys took third place which was awesome.  The other teams that beat them were experienced rowers and had much older men on their teams.

Above is a picture of Sister Spencer talking with Brother Gounder in her pule tasi.  The lighter blue ones in the background are the high school uniform.  On the left is the police marching band.

Pesega students marching in front of the grand stands.











On Saturday, June 1st at 1:30 p.m. we met Justin, Lana and Trevor coming off the plane to visit us here in Samoa.  Wow was it nice to see them.  We went like crazy for seven days.  First stop was change our clothes and head to Palolo Deep to snorkel.  They saw so many beautiful fish.  Trevor was amazed, he had never really snorkeled in anything like that before.

 Yay they are really here!

They loved snorkeling and the tide was perfect today.












We also took Christy, Sally and Ryan to Palolo Deep.  They really enjoyed seeing the deep and all the beautiful fish.  Christy and Ryan snorkeling.  Ryan stayed close to shore because he could not wear flippers with his knee. 

On Sunday we went to Church and then packed a lunch and went for a very long drive.  We drove over the cross island road, stopped at the Baha'i Temple, Papapapaitai Waterfall, the treesort and stopped and viewed a lot of different beaches on the south side of the island.  We drove as far east as we could and then headed back to Apia.  We took a lot of pictures and just enjoyed all the beautiful things there were to see. 

The tide was in and so this ford had water and rocks across it.  We went forward hoping it wasn't to deep.  This is as far east as you can go on Upolu and this is where the tsunami hit in 2009.

As we were driving this groups of people were coming down the road, stopping traffic headed to a church just off on the left.  We don't know if it was for regular church or if something like a wedding or funeral was going on.  It was interesting.


You can see the Priest dressed all in his white robes standing up in the back of a truck.

 

 

On Monday, June 3rd we caught the 6:00 a.m. ferry and headed to Savai'i.  We drove to the Alofaaga Blowholes which the kids loved!  We spent a lot of time there playing in the spray and watching them go off.  Justin got knocked down by a wave and we were worried he was going to get washed out.  He hurt his hand and wrist pretty bad and scraped up his arm.  Of course, they had to go back out and try it again to get a better picture!

 They could have stayed here all day, but there was much to see!

 You can see Justin's wounds.  They were much worse than it looks here. The cut under his little finger was quite deep and ragged.  His wrist hurt pretty much the whole week.  We were worried that maybe he broke it. 

This time Trevor and Justin both got their footing secure and stood up through the whole wave.  The lave rocks get so slippery that you really have to be careful.

 On Tuesday June 11th we took Chrsity, Ryan, Sally and Bryce on the 6:00 a.m. ferry and did mostly the same things we had done the week before with Justin, Lana and Trevor.

Reed was the only one not knocked down with the wave and held on to Christy so she slipped and didn't land hard.

Another blowhole injury.  Christy tore up her foot on the lava rock and limped the rest of the week.

We stopped at the black sand beach.  There were some workers there and they gave us niu's to drink.  They were fresh and cool.

 They loved swimming in the Afu Aau Waterfall.  The water was a little brisk but so clear.
Trevor, Reed and Justin

Sally, Bryce, Ryan and Christy in the Afu Aau Waterfall..

We walked around the Saleaula lava ruins.  They are very interesting to see.  They were created during the 1906 through 1911  volcano eruptions.

 

They loved swimming with the turtles.  The water was so much cleaner than when we were here in December.  They each were able to hold one and fed them papaya.   You can see some of the turtles here and there were twice that many more that we saw.  We then went and snorkeled for about 1/2 hour at Le Legoto and then back to the ferry.  We had a very wonderful, busy, full tired.  Everyone was tired and hungry by the time we got back to our house at 7:00 p.m.

The second group did not want to swim with the turtles so they spent more time snorkeling at Le Legoto.  However, the tide was way low so it wasn't very good snorkeling.

 Bryce loved being in the water

Christy, Reed and Sally










We packed a lunch and headed over the cross island road again with Justin, Lana and Trevor.  We did not take the other kids here. We went to do the coastal walk.  We had to walk on a overgrown path because it was still not drivable and got our legs all scratched up.  It took us 50 minutes to walk to where they usually park their cars.  Then we actually began the coastal walk.  Oh my, it was beautiful.  Too bad they don't have the road cleared because many more people would be able to enjoy this beautiful scene.  There were arches all over in the lave rock cliffs out in the ocean.  It was mostly in the shade which was nice.  It was a very hot day.  The actual coastal walk took us about 50 minutes with all the picture stops and then we had a long 50 minute walk out in the hot afternoon sun with not enough water and no shade.  This was bad planning, we had no idea it would take that long to hike in and out.  We were glad to get to the van, turn on the air and have some water to drink.  We vowed never to be without enough water again.

 The hike in doesn't look so bad here.  It was mostly just long and no shade.

You can see all the beautiful arches and the fabulous water!

 

 

We then went to play in the water at old high away beach.  This is a great beach for playing in the water and finding lots of cool seashells.

On Wednesday of both weeks we took our kids to the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum.  That was the first time Reed and Nada had actually gone through the museum.  It was interesting to hear the whole story and see some of their original furniture and items.  They have taken good care of the house.

Reed taught his assessment class while Nada took the kids to the flea market to shop.

We took all of them to  Piula Cave Pool, Falefa Falls and Sauniatu.  We went swimming in the rain and the falls were spectacular.  The waterfall at Sauniatu was way too dangerous to swim in when we took Justin, Lana and Trevor.  We enjoyed all the sites up there anyway while Reed taught his reading class.

This is Falefa waterfall.  Usually it is just a nice calm waterfall but today with all the rain it was rushing and dirty.  It was quite dangerous.

The boys were still thinking they could swim at Sauniatu but as you can see it was far too dangerous as well.  The pool under the rushing waterfall looked more like a roaring rive and was so high.  They were a little sad but they got to see some spectacular waterfalls with all the rain.

Sally, Bryce, Christy, Ryan and Nada in the Piula Cave Pool.








We didn't do Falefa Falls with these kids because we had to be to Sauniatu earlier than usual.  Christy, Sally and Bryce did get to swim in the waterfall pool there though.

We took both groups to the Le Manumea Resort for dinner and the fia fia (cultural performance).  They really enjoyed the food and the singing, dancing, fire dancers and demonstrations.

We headed to Vavau Beach.  First stop, the overlook to Fagaloa Bay, then we stopped at Fuipisia Waterfall.  It cost 10tala each which we thought was a little much but we had never been there so we wanted to see it.  The man said it was the best on the island.  We think he was right.  You had to walk in through some overgrown plants and cross a little stream but then it opened up into a beautiful clearing and wonderful waterfall.




The boys are standing right at the top of the waterfall.  There was no one there to stop you from doing whatever you wanted and no rails. 

Chrsity, Nada and Sally with Fuipisia Waterfall in the background
 

Then we went to To Sua  Trenches.  We had a lot of fun there and met up with the Budgett's and their kids who had come on the same plane for a visit.  We swam for quite a while and then ate lunch and played down on the cliffs.

 

We took Sally, Bryce, Christy and Ryan to To Sua as well.  Ryan actually made it up and down the ladder just fine.

 

 

 

 

 We then headed to Vavau Beach.   They did a little snorkeling and then climbed through these arches to find another secluded beach.  The kids loved being in the water and exploring.  We loved showing them all these places we have been and grown to love.  They saw a couple of octopus while they were snorkeling.

 Lana and Nada walked the beach after we were done swimming and found lots of seashells.  They are nice, cheap souvenirs for the kids.

 We stopped at Sopoaga Waterfall and took pictures.  We had a wonderful day and the weather had stayed mostly dry and warm.










We took Christy, Ryan, Sally and Bryce to Matareva Beach.  We had never been there before and we wanted to try some place new.  It was a beautiful beach, great swimming and snorkeling beach.

We were able to set up the camera to get a picture of all of us on Matareva Beach.

 Saturday, June 8th.  Today is Justin's 38th Birthday!  What a great gift to be in Samoa with your wife, parents and brother.  We took this right before we headed to the airport to take them home.  Justin's birthday will last for 2 days because they will fly to Fiji and then Honolulu and then Utah and it will still all be on the 8th.

Trevor, Justin and Lana under the departure sign in the Samoan Airport.  Headed home after a wonderful week.  We loved having them here and will miss them so much.  It was hard to say goodbye.

As we were saying goodbye to them, Christy, Ryan, Sally and Bryce were coming in on the plane, Justin, Lana and Trevor were flying out on.  The plane was three hours late so their stop in Fiji will be short and they will not be able to go see any of the sites.

Christy coming from the plane.  It was pouring rain.

Sally and Bryce after coming through customs.  It was so nice to see them arrive.  They were able to see Justin, Lana and Trevor through the windows.  They got in late so we stopped and saw some turtles in a pond on the main road and went to the house and fixed dinner. 

On Sunday we took pictures with Bryce in his Ie  fai tonga and headed to church.  Then we drove over the cross island road and stopped at the Baha'i Temple, Papapapaitai Waterfall and drove west instead of east to see the island.

In front of our house on Sunday June 9th.

Bryce, Sally, Christy and Ryan with Papapapaitai Waterfall in the back ground.Ryan did pretty well with his knee.  He said this sock really helped his leg feel better.








 

We bought some niu's and had them for dinner.  They are young coconuts and are full of coconut water.  When you drink them cold they are very good and very good for you.  Some of the kids liked them better than others.

 

Justin and Lana really enjoyed this drink!

 

 

We had to say goodbye to Christy, Ryan, Sally and Bryce at 12:00 midnight on June 15th.  They left at 12:40 a.m.  Nada started to cry and had a hard time saying good bye.  We loved having all the kids here and showing them around.  We were very tired the next day and got the house all put back together.  It seemed very empty.  Back to hard work for the next few weeks to get caught up.

 



There they go home to Utah.  BYE!

 

We hope you enjoyed sharing this big adventure with us through pictures and words.  Samoa is a very beautiful country.  Our children loved seeing where we live, eating what we eat, visiting all the beautiful sites we've been to and meeting the wonderful people.  While doing all these fun things, we still always remember that we are missionaries here serving our Father In Heaven and took care of our missionary responsibilities, just not all day every day like we usually do.  Until next time,

Tofa Soifua and much Alofa, Elder and Sister Spencer.