Talofa Lava from Samoa on August 15, 2012

This week has not been as exciting as the last week.  We have been going to a lot of meetings, going through a lot of files and trying to set up classes and professional development times.
 


They even gave us a new bed what a
huge surprise.

The best highlight of the week was new furniture for us!!!  Not new furniture but much newer than what we had and cleaner and lighter so it really made our apartment (the Seniors call them condos) much brighter and more livable.  Nada would not sit down on the other couches and after we washed these down she is willing to sit on them.  The other bed Reed kept rolling to the middle all night and now we don't.  It is helping us sleep much better.

New living room furniture and they surprised us with
 a new TV, YEAH!

Below you will see pictures of our dining room set with boxes and then a lot of stuff all over it.  These were care packages from Sally.  We were so excited to receive them.  They included food and comforts from home that you just can't get here and that will help make life a little easier for us.  We could not believe how excited we were to get written cards and gifts from home.  Now we know how our Missionary Son's felt.  Email is great but the written card is even better in some ways!  Thank you Sally and Christy!

This is our kitchen.

Nada was so excited to get these packages.

Yeah food from home!

Who would have thought I could ever be so excited about a swiffer and canned chicken.  Getting instant oatmeal is a great treat!

Sunday, August 12th, was Father's Day here in Samoa.  Reed got to celebrate it again.  We went out to dinner on Saturday night and then the ward gave him this candy necklace for Father's Day.  Then they closed businesses and schools on Monday so they could celebrate Father's Day.  They love to celebrate holidays and if they can get out of school or work they do it!

This past week we had two grandchildren get their tonsils out.  Bentley, who is 3 and Brynlee who is 6.  It is hard to be away but Skype made it nice so we could see them and talk to them and know they were alright.  They are both recovering well.

Well that was about it for the week.  We love the people and the water and the vegetation.  We are getting a little better with the food and heat.  Life is good.  The gospel is true and we will do our best!  We love you all, Elder and Sister Spencer.

Well we are starting week two here in Apia.  We are starting to get a little more used to the weather.  The humidity has been down a little because it has been clear blue skies.
Last week we visited Sauniatu Primary School. The school is grades K through 5 or they call it years 1 through 6. The children are being taught mostly in English but they don't speak it very well.

This is the area David O McKay visited as an apostle and called it the Nauvoo of the Pacific.  What a beautiful little village.  It is about a 45 minute drive from where we live and it is up in the mountains.  The area is green and lush with vegetation and a beautiful view of the ocean. We can see why.  It is quiet and preserved.  We will be visiting this school once a week and helping with the teachers and helping the children with their reading skills.  All but one of those teachers already have their ITEP Certificate but still need a lot of professional development.



This is the main school building of Saniatu.

We are digging into the files here at Pesega College (which is middle and high school in the United States).

We have been attending faculty and leadership meetings and trying to learn how things work.  There is a lot of work to be done but the people seem willing to learn and are very welcoming and friendly.


Sister Osborne, Sister & Elder Spencer and Father Chris Ford
who is going to be the new principal at Don Bosco.

Wewere able to attend a very special event on Thursday, August 2.  The Catholic Technology School was having a ribbon cutting ceremony for their new Electrical Engineering building.  Because Samoa is a third world country they get grants from other countries to help build new buildings and improve their economu.  Japan is the country that funded this new building at Don Bosco.  The Osborne's, a Senior Couple here working on technology, was invited and they invited us to go with them.  What a wonderful experience.  We were welcomed with leis and hugs, then we were placed in the front with the dignataries.  We were able to meet and greet the Prime Minister of Samoa, the Ambassador from Japan here in Samoa and the princapals of Don Bosco Tehnical School.  What a great PR move it was for our Church and our School.  They acknowledge us as representatives of the LDS Church and even presented us with gifts which is a big deal here in Samoan.  They fed us and then the boys from Don Bosco, about 200 of them, performed a traditional ceremonial dance.  It was fabulous and they were very well organized and all together.  It wasvery professional.  When we talked to our Principal about it he said they are the best in the the Country!



This performance by these young men was so good.  They performed for about 15 minutes.  It was something we will never forget and were so grateful that we were asked to be there.




Nada celebrated her 58th birthday here.  We went to a nation wide track and field event for high schools.  All the student bodies from all over the country attend.  It was held in Apia Park and it is a big sporting event park like Rice Stadium at the University of Utah.  (Put that in for Sally and Trevor.)  The kids cheer the entire time.  It was a great event to meet the kids and support the school.  It was like a gian pep rally for hours.  That evening we went out with 4 other Senior couples to celebrate Sister Spencer's birthday.  We had salad and pizza that was very good.  It was a great day.

Quite a few of the athletes did their events barefooted.

Saturday we went snorkeling at the Upolu Deep.  The water was clear and beautiful.  Reed snorkeled a lot and Nada snorkeled a little.  We saw beautiful fish and a very deep blue starfish and some beautiful corral.  The water was only waste deep until you got to the Deep so it was a safe place for Nada to snorkel for the first time here in Samoa.

Church is a little hard.  It is sitting through 3 hours of nothing but Samoan.  We are learning a little more every week but it is hard.  Most everywhere else we speak totally in English so we are not having to learn Samoan.  We will keep trying.  They asked us to teach the Young Single Adults so that will be good.  Most of them are returned missionaries and they all speak English.  Maybe they can help us with our Samoan and we can help them with their English.  After church we took a 3 hour drive across the Island of Upolu on the Cross Island Road.  We saw a beautiful waterfall, some beautiful vegetation, stopped at the Bahai Temple which had gorgeous grounds, and stood on a sandy beach and looked at the beautiful ocean on the other side.  We saw some people that live very humbly and saw some beautiful homes.  This is truly a country that has modern things and very 3rd world things.  The people are all very friendly no matter where you meet them.

We got different furniture yesterday which really helps brighten up our apartment.  It is newer and cleaner and Nada doesn't feel like she can't sit down.  We are settling in and things are getting better and more familiar every day.  That is all for this week.  We will try to keep this blog up every week but if nothing too exciting happens it will be every other week. We love you all. Reed and Nada

Talofa!
We are here in Pesega (Apia, Samoa) and trying to get settled in . It has been a whirlwind of activity and learning and confusion. Going back a few days...

The Auckland skyline.

We arrived in Auckland, New Zealand after a long flight on Monday, July 23rd, at about six in the morning. Elder and Sister Ronnenkamp picked us up (we were traveling with Elder and Sister Budgett, who are now in Vaiola on the island of Savai'i). It was rainy and a little cool, and we just did not pack anything for the cold! Nada was freezing for three days. We saw a little of the city, but spent most of the time in training at the Pacific Area Office in a suburb of Auckland called Takapuna.



On Thursday morning we flew to Samoa on the island of Upolu. Going from the cool winter of Auckland to the heat and humidity of Samoa...we could hardly breathe when we got off the plane (which we did onto the tarmac). The mission president and his wife and some other senior missionaries and the assistant to the president met us there. It was awesome. They took us directly to our residence (the senior couples call them the senior condos) on the church compound in a suburb of Apia called Pesega. The compound is huge! Temple and temple grounds, regional service center, mission home, Church College (over a thousand students), and all it takes to make it all run--distribution center, grounds, facilities management, motor pool, etc. The photo below is the first picture we took in Samoa, taken standing on our front lawn and looking south (inland). At the top of the hill you can see is the burial site of Robert Louis Stevenson. Here are some other photos of our street.

Friday we spent the whole day getting our licenses and doing some shopping and in general getting the lay of the land. Elder and Sister Osbourne, who are from Davis County, took us all over and helped us in so many ways. Saturday we took off on our own (driving on the left side for the first time!!!) Then our neighbors asked if we wantred to go on a little expedition with them and one other couple who are here for just one month on their own expense (Brother and Sister Bills). I drove across the island to a place called Vanau Beach. It was a resort before the tsunami, and now there are no buildings at all. I snorkeled, and the bottom of the ocean is completely devastated, with piles and piles of huge broken-up, dead coral. Anyway, the area is idyllic, just so beautiful. The pictures will not do it justice.

Today we went to church in our new ward, the Motootua Ward, where we will be attending for the duration of our mission. All meetings are conducted in Samoan...  We met some wonderful people and will try hard to become a part of them. Tomorrow we go up to Sauniatu, about 45 minutes up into the mountains, and then Tuesday will begin to get settled into our own office here at the Church College (in the South Seas a college is what we refer to as a high school). We have met the principal and various other folks, and will figure out what needs to be done as quickly as possible.

The Samoan people are so kind to us. It is a curious combination of first world and third world, of poverty and contentment. We are hot and humid and hate the bugs, but love the people and love our work here. Goodbye for now!!

Talofa lava!

The day finally came to enter the Mission Training Center (MTC). We drove down on the morning of July 9, 2012, and checked in at 10:30 as requested. They checked in 102 senior missionaries that day (112 the week before)! They said that the number of senior missionaries has almost doubled from last year. Much to our surprise, our assigned room was at the Provo Marriott Hotel! It was a nice room, but we felt a little left out, as most (but not all) of the other senior couples had rooms right at the MTC. We felt a little better when we learned that the air conditioning didn't work in some of the rooms at the MTC. The first 5 days was focused on learning how to teach out of the Preach My Gospel book. It was pretty intense, complete with several teaching appointments. Our teachers were Brother Wozniak in the morning and Sister Cluff in the afternoon. The Tuesday devotional speaker was Elder Steuer, and he did a great job. He talked about his current project of translating the King James Bible into Portugese.

We were told there are about 2400 young missionaries and our 100 senior missionaries, plus probably 50 more seniors in their second week of training. We thought the food was great. It was amazing to see the food operation...feeding over 2500 people three meals a day seven days a week. They always had several options for each meal. I ate too much.

We came home Friday night and then drove back on Sunday in time for the devotional. Jenny Oaks Baker, daughter of Elder Dallin Oaks, was the speaker and performer. She is a world class violinist. who left first chair in the National symphony after seven years to be a mother and begin her solo career.

Over the week and a half we spent four two-hour sessions with Brother Gardner getting a very effective introduction to the Samoan language. We have learned some words and phrases and feel motivated to press on and try to learn the language.

The second week we participated in Church Education System (CES) training. We also were given a wonderful presentation on how to stay safe. All in all, the MTC experience really was a little piece of heaven. We made some great friends, and spent quite a bit of time with the two other couples coming to Samoa. Elder and Sister Jordan will be on American Samoa, and Elder and Sister Budgett will be on Savai'i, the other big island next to ours (Upolo). We also met for a hour with Elder and Sister Erickson, who are home now (we are replacing them in Pesega, Samoa).

In two days, July 21st, we are off to New Zealand for International Teacher Education Program (ITEP) training with Elder and Sister Ronnenkamp. Elder and Sister Budgett will travel with us and participate in that training with us. Then we go on to Samoa on July 26th.

It is a thrill to be involved in the Lord's

Well, we've been poked, prodded, given shots, learned a little about the language, thinking through finances, arranging for the IRS for the next two years, getting clothes suitable for the heat, thinking about missing our family,  figuring out how to get 18 months of prescriptions, buying some camera stuff, getting a nice snorkel for Nada (just in case), deciding how to pay certain bills while we're gone, making sure we know how all our computer and phone and ipad stuff works, cancelling memberships and certain contracts and services, being released from church callings, sold our car, fixing things around the house and yard, then thinking of more things to fix around the house and yard, making sure we visit with certain folks, ... It's amazing how much there is to do! We will speak in our Sacrament Meeting at a new time and place, since it was just announced that our ward is moving to a new building and meeting time as of July 1st, which is the day we will speak. We will speak on July 1st at the church on Highway 89 (3035 North 1325 West in Pleasant View). Our new block is 1-4 pm, and the Sacrament Meeting starts at 2:50. We can feel that it is getting to be time to get going--enough of the planing!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

We received our call today! The whole family came over and we opened the envelope at 7 p.m. As hoped, we are called to the Samoa Apia Mission as Coordinators over the ITEP Program. We are scheduled to enter the MTC in Provo on July 9th, four weeks later than we originally thought (June 11th). We can expect to receive more information from the mission and the ITEP folks over time. It is a relief to finally know for sure what we are doing. We can now plan and start taking care of things. 

The mission call blues

Greetings to all!

We are creating this blog to record and share memories and events of our mission. We invite all of you to share this adventure with us, and to connect with us so we can keep track of you, too!

After conversations with Steve Ronnenkamp in the fall of 2011, we were invited to send in our mission papers with a recommendation to be assigned to the International Teacher Education Program. The tentative plan would place us in Pasega, Samoa, working with two schools on that island for 18 months. Our main job will be to host courses to help local teachers get licensed and credentialed in other ways--administration, counseling, etc.

Our application was downloaded to Salt Lake on the evening of Tuesday, February 21, 2012 after meeting with our new Stake President, Brad Waddoups. The status was changed to "Ready for Assignment" as of March 2nd, but we have not received our assignmnent yet! Gary Carlston called SLC on Monday, March 19th to see if he could learn what was going on, but made it clear he would not be able to call me back and tell me anything. President Waddoups called on the 20th, and they told him we had put down that we could only go $1400 per month. We checked our application, and we had put down $2400 per month, so we don't know what is going on...

Bishop Coleman said there was no change in the status as of yesterday. So, as of today, we are waiting, and trying (with limited success) to be patient! Maybe next week...