Today is Tuesday, December 18, 2012.  We have had a few very wild and scary days.  We had a category 2 Cyclone hit Upolo and it has been a mess.  When we get our pictures together I will blog about that.  Right now we are without power and have been since Thursday the 13th.  They are telling us it could be two to 5 weeks before they have power up and running.  Could be interesting.  We have a generator at our office so we are hurrying to touch base in case they shut that down.

We want to blog about two fun things we did the past couple of weeks and then later when we have power and pictures we'll tell you all about the Cyclone!

On Saturday, December 1, 2012 we drove to the south side of the island to find a beach called Old Hideaway Beach.  It took some looking but we found it.  Beautiful!  The beach was the best we've been on so far and the water was great.  It stayed shallow for a long way out and the snorkeling wasn't real great, however, to just swim and play in the water it was great.  We had a lot of rain but no thunder and lightening this time.  You are already wet in the ocean so the rain doesn't bother you.  We all got so sunburned.  We didn't think to put on sunscreen because of all the rain but we paid for that decision.  We found a lot of great seashells and quite a few sand dollars.  It was a very fun day.  We also found a black sand beach but it was not very good snorkeling or swimming there.

 

 

On Thursday, December 6, 2012 we got up at 4:00 a.m. and caught the 6:00 a.m. ferry to go to Savai'i for a little vacation.  We went with Elder and Sister Osborne and Elder and Sister Budgett met us at the ferry in Savai'i and drove us all around.  First stop Afu Aau Waterfall.  It was only 8:30 a.m. but Reed and Joe decided they were going to go swimming.  Not quite warm enough for the rest of us.

 

Reed and Joe never swim without their shirts but it was so early and mostly in the shade so they did this time so they had dry shirts to put on.

This is a fresh water pond and the waterfall depends on rainfall.  They said the water was quite cool but refreshing.

 

Then we headed to a black sand beach called Nuu.  It was a beautiful beach and the waves were very nice.  These men were taking sand to spread in their village.  That is something they do on all the Islands.

This man kept following us down the beach until Reed turned around and took his picture.  Then he just smiled and went back to digging up the sand.

 

 You can see Reed standing by the blow holes.  You could get right next to them if you wanted to.

 Then we headed to the Alofaaga blow holes.  It cost 10 Tala per couple to drive down there.  They were going off like crazy.  There were probably four of them you could walk up to and others you could see.  It was a lot of fun.

 

Jim was trying to throw a coconut into the hole so it would shoot it out.  If you pay a local guy 10 Tala he will do it but they had both seen it done before and we didn't want to pay this time.  Needless to say it didn't work real well for Jim!

We then headed for the Canopy Walk.  You can see the stairs we had to climb up and then we walked across the rope and netting bridge.  I was fine until Reed got on it behind me and started bouncing it.  That was a little scary.

Our son Kip would have loved this tree house.  It had numerous levels and just kept going up and up.  Once you got to the top you could see all over Savai'i and the ocean.  Beautiful.  It was a fun experience.  Very clean and very well taken care of it.  It cost 20 Tala a person to do this.  We then drove along the ocean and stopped and had a picnic lunch.  While we were eating we kept watching a porpoise jumping out in the ocean.  That was fun.  Then we drove around to the North side of the island to our resort the Le Logoto.  It was very nice.  We each had our own bungalow right on the beach.  They had a swimming pool about 20 feet from our bungalow and a 3 minute walk to the beach to snorkel.  Fabulous!  The snorkeling was the best we've had so far here in Samoa and swimming in the regular pool was very nice as well.

 

Elder and Sister Budgett, Osborne and Spencer having dinner in the dining fale.  It was beautifully done.  The food was good and we had a nice program with local singers and dances.  It was traditional Samoan food and they call this a fia fia (party, celebratition!)  The weather was very nice, not too hot!

 This is the swimming pool and the ocean is off to the right.  The bungalow closest to the pool, where you can see the lounge chair, was #2.  That is where Reed and Nada stayed.

The snorkeling was the best we've had.  There were lots and lots of fish.  There were a lot of schools of fish and just so much beautiful different coral.  It was a snorkelers (Reed's) dream come true.

There was this beautifu purple coral and the water was so clear.

 You can see the school of yellow and brown striped fish here.  They were all over.  We haven't seen very many of these any place else.

This is the beautiful sunset we watched from the dining room fale while the fia fia was going on.  Beautiful!!!

This is the front deck of our bungalow.  We watched and listened to the waves all during the night and day.  It was wonderful. 

On Friday morning December 7th we got up and went for a walk on the beach and then Reed went snorkeling for a short time.  We had a wonderful breakfast and then headed out to the Saleaula Lava Ruins.  They had a 1905 and 1911 Volcano eruption and the lava covered a lot of the island.

 

 

 The lava flowed through the back of the LMS (London Missionary Society) church and towards the front.  You can see that the lava is thicker in the back and more shallow towards the front.

 They call this the Virgin Grave.  The lava flowed all around this grave and if you look down inside you can see where the grave is.

 You can see the interesting patterns that the lava formed.  There is vegetation growing through cracks and holes all over the ruins.

We then went to swim with the turtles.  Reed was the only one that actually got in the water to swim.  Afterwards, Elder Osborne said he didn't swim because he was told the water wasn't cleaned often and you could get Salmonella from swimming in it.  Thanks a lot, Joe.  Reed has not been sick so he is glad he did it.

We fed the turtles papaya.  They kept swimming up to the surface so I fed them and touched their shells.  They felt a little bit like a slimy rock.  It was fun.

We then drove to Viola which is the church school on Savai'i.  They have a primary and a college (high school) with about 480 students total.  Elder and Sister Budgett are the ITEP missionaries there.  It was a very nice little campus.  It is almost like being in the mountains.  We had lunch at their home and then took the 4:00 p.m. ferry back to Upolu.  We had a great little vacation.

We hope you enjoyed taking this little vacation with us.  We had a great time and saw some very beautiful things.

We love you all.  Until next time,
Elder and Sister Spencer (Reed and Nada)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today is December 5, 2012.  Sorry I haven't posted for a couple of weeks but we have been so busy.  We had prize giving, graduation and then Power School training from 8:30 a.m. until late into the afternoon.  Reed finally went through the pictures and so today we are going to post about all those things.

 This is a picture of most of the senior couples serving here in Samoa.  On Monday, November 12, 2012 we had a farewell party for Elder and Sister Harker and a lot of people dressed up in polynesian attire.  Reed is looking good in his orange Samoan shirt.

This is our Mission President and his wife, President and Sister Leota. 

Reed doing a little farewell number for the Harkers.

You can see the table full of the prizes and trophies for the Sauniatu students.  We were under a big tent but the children are sitting on matts on the concrete.  They sat there for 11/2 hours.  The Year 8 students got to sit on chairs.

A closer look at the prizes.  They are school supplies for next year.  The parents are very grateful to have their kids receive these.  The kids are excited, also.

Elder and Sister Spencer were able to help give the Year 2 students their prizes.  It is fun to be with the children.  Reed is wearing his ie faitaga (lava lava with pockets) and Nada has on her Pula Tasi that she had made in American Samoa.  The man sitting down is Steve Mauigoa the principal of Sauniatu.

This is the Stake President Lorenzo Neria and the young man is the Salutatorian.                Below is the picture of the young girl who was the Validictorian.  The parents make candy leis to give to their children when they do special things.  You can see that she was showered with leis.  It is a fun tradition that we will take home with us for our grandkids!

On Friday, November 16, 2012 we went up to Sauniatu for their year eight graduation and prize giving day.  The year eight students were all dressed up and performed two songs.  They did a great job.  They give prizes to students from years one through eight for all different things.  They give them for top students in math, english, samoan, attendance and cleanliness are a few.  Not all students get an award or they call them prizes.  It made us feel a little sad but they all seemed to handle it just fine.

On Monday, November 19, 2012, Pesega had their awards assembly.  This is different than prize giving days.  These are awards for 3rd term.  Elder Spencer and Sister Spencer were asked to give out the award certificates for distinguished students.  GPA 3 to 3.27.  It was fun to shake hands with all these students and see them smile and get candy leis from their parents.

These students sat on this hard floor, no matts, for 21/2 hours.  Some of them when they stood up limped to the front because their legs had gone to sleep.  Thankfully, we were able to sit on chairs.

 

On Tuesday and Wednesday they did prize giving at the LDS Church College Pesega.  Tuesday the 20th was for years 7 - 9 and Wednesday the 21st was for years 10 - 13.  We did not stay for the 3 plus hours on these two days. 

These trophies went to the top students in each year in variuos subjects.  The man on the far left is Leo the principal of the College (high school) and the other is Mika Lolo principal of the new middle school.

 The pile of notebooks, binder, pencils and pens are the prizes that they receive.  Prizes are given for top 3 students in each subject and top 3 students of that year and a few other miscellaneous awards.  They call this prize giving, not awards.  The girl on the second row of the picture below is one of the students, Penina, that Nada did timed readings with.

 








Graduation was on Friday, November 2012.  They had 113 Year 13 students graduate.  It lasted about 11/2 hours.  They hold it in the big gym here and this time everyone was sitting on chairs.  No floor sitting today.  Elder Jessop from the Seventies was here and the main speaker was the Minister of Education for Samoa.

 The students are lining up for the processional.

The picture on the right are all the administrators and the Minister of Education in the yellow Aloha shirt and then Elder Jessop in the white shirt and tie holding the book.

The 2012 graduates from LDS Church College Pesega.

This young lady is the Validictorian.

Sister Schmidt in the green pula tasi announcing the graduates.

Reed just liked this picture with the young graduate and the beautiful floral arrangement of Teuila flowers.  After they all received their diplomas the graduates stood up and performed a great song that one of the boys graduating wrote.  Then they did a couple of other songs and dance moves.  They love their music.  It was very nice.

 The two young men are Alexander and Jasper.  They are both young men in our ward.  You can see how loved they are with all the leis that were presented to them.  Their moms, aunts and friends wanted to be in the pictures as much as the graduates did.

 This is the view we see every day when we go to the office.  Fabulous.  This is called a Flame Tree.  They are all over and aren't even in full bloom yet.

They held a luncheon in the library after graduation for all the teachers and administrators.  The Validictorian and the two Salutatorians and their families were also invited.  They had the library all decorated for Christmas.  These have been two wild, busy weeks but very interesting to see how they do awards and graduation.

 

On Saturday, November 24, 2012 we picked the Jordans up at the airport.  They came in for an S&I Conference and are going to stay with us.  We took them to the flea market and then we went to Palolo Deep to snorkel for a while.  We had a lot of fun.  It was great to see them again and have them stay with us.  Beautiful sunset that night.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner with all the senior missionaries on Monday, November 26, 2012 and all of them were here.  So we took another picture because every single senior missionary and the Mission President and his wife were at the dinner.  We took it on the Temple stairs.

Well, that catches up our blog for the last couple of weeks.  We hope you enjoyed learning about graduation and prize giving here at the church schools in Samoa.  From the seniors picture, you can see that we have a very diverse group.  It is nice to be able to serve with so many willing capable senior missionaries.  

Until next time, Love Reed and Nada