Hello Family and Friends!

Today is February 26, 2013 and we have been in Samoa for seven months.  February has been much dryer.  We still have rain but it isn't all day or every day.  The water bubbling up through the road and grass has finally stopped.  The rivers are running much lower and no flooding has occurred since February first.  It has been nice.

We hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day.  This is what we did.  We took Faamagalo and Richard to the airport to leave on their missions.  These are two of our Young Single Adult's and they were so excited to go and serve.  We picked Faamagalo and his family up at 10:15 a.m. because their family does not have a car.  We helped him get through the ticketing area and then we visited with him and Richard and said our good byes.  It is hard to say good bye to these young men.  We may never get to see them again in this life but they will always be dear to us and we know we will see them in the eternities!

 Picking up Faamagalo and his family and friends at his home on February 14, 2013 to take him to the airport to leave for the Philippians for his mission.

 Faamagalo's sister Lilly and her son, Faamagalo's Dad, Mother, and youngest brother.
He always smiles like this and seems so happy!

 At the Faleolo Airport.

 Elder Spencer, Elder Taavao, Sister Spencer.  Three very happy missionaries.

Elder Richard Fatupaito going to the Samoa Apia Mission and headed for the MTC in New Zealand. Elder Faamagalo Taavao headed to the MTC and mission in the Philippians.

 Richard and his mother at the Faleolo Airport.

 These two were so excited to leave.  We will miss them both but are so excited for them to serve the Lord! 
We went to the Temple on Thursday evening so we had a very wonderful Valentine's Day!  We even went to McDonald's after the Temple and got an ice cream sunday.

On Thursday, February 21, 2013 Reed taught his first professional development for 2013 at Pesega.  Nada took some pictures of the teachers and Reed teaching.  We had 56 teachers and administrators there.  It went well.





On Friday, February 22, 2013 we attended our first rugby games.  Pesega hosted the National Rugby Seven for age 16 and under and age 14 and under and then our 18 and under team had to go play on St. Joseph's field.  We drove some of these boys up to the games.  We stayed and watched the under 18 boys.  We learned a lot of rules and understand it so much more now.  It was quite exciting to watch.  The Rugby Seven tournament is all played in one day.  The game is two seven minute halfs and they keep playing as long as they win. It went really fast.

 We learned a lot about scrums but we still don't totally understand them.

This is Pesega's under eighteen team in the yellow and blue.  They lost in the quarter finals.

Between games all the teams took off their jerseys to let them dry a little.  It was a very hot day.

These are the two coaches, Brother Leifi, and Brother Elisara.

 This is Pesega's under 16 team in the striped shirts.  They lost in the final game so they took 2nd for the whole Island of Upolu.

 The team with the yellow shorts is our under fourteen team and they won the whole tournament for their age group.  They played on the field right next to our house here at Pesega.

We didn't get a lot of work done today because we went back and forth to watch and support these teams.  It was fun to get to know the kids a little better.

On Saturday, February 23, 2013 the senior missionaries went to the south east side of Upolu to Tafatafa beach for a party. We rented a fale to put all our stuff under. Elder Gertsch built a fire because most people brought hobo dinners to cook for lunch. We snorkeled, swam, talked, ate and just had a really nice time together.

The water was great.  It was a very sunny, hot day and we had a lot of fun.  Half way home it started to rain really hard.  We were glad we were done with our excursion before the rain came!

On Monday, February 25, 2013 we did professional development and our regular classroom management class up at Sauniatu.  It was a long afternoon. 

The picture below is five of the six teachers from our class up at Sauniatu.  These ladies are so much fun.  Starting on the left they are Sister Leung Wo, librarian, Sister Maugatai, year one teacher, Sister Filifili, year eight teacher, Sister Peresetene, year two teacher and Sister Laulu, years 6/7 teacher.

We got home at 6:00 p.m. and then we were in charge of family night since we are the District leaders.  Reed gave a really nice little lesson on Esther and the scriptue that says "Who knoweth whether thou are come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"  We need to all think about this scriture as we serve no matter where we are serving.  We then played a password game with words from the Bible Dictionary and had cake for dessert.  It was a very fun family home evening.

 

We love serving here in Samoa and we love the Gospel.  We know our Heavenly Father loves us and loves each of you.

Until next time, Love Reed and Nada (aka) Elder and Sister Spencer