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!

Malo, today is Friday, September 6, 2013.  Wow, Summer came and went.  It is hard to believe that all the grandchildren in Utah are back to school and pre school.  Time just seems to be flying by.

Here in Samoa we had a couple of weeks of very nice weather but now it is back to hot and humid!  Reed and Nada just finished turning in grades for our three classes we taught May through August and have started our final three classes before our mission will be completed.The students and teachers here are finishing up third term this month.  They have been involved in a lot of fun activities which we will share with you.

On the third Sunday of each month the four couples that live in teacher housing have Sunday dinner together.  We take turns being the host couple and fixing the main course and the other couples bring side dishes.  This has been great fun.  We have really learned a lot about each other and it is fun to be together.  It has helped us grow closer together.

 We have bananas growing in our back yard.  We have been waiting and waiting and finally one evening we saw this bunch growing.  They are very interesting to watch.  First you see that big thing on the end and then the bananas grow out in rows.  These will be ready to pick in a couple of weeks.  The local people do not eat yellow bananas.  They peel them green and boil them and then put a coconut cream over them.  They kind of taste like hard potatoes to us.  Not something we see growing in our yards in Utah!

Left to right
E/S Spencer, E/S Gertsch, E/S Winter, E/S Goodlet


On Thursday evening August 29th the senior missionaries were invited to Robert Louis Stevenson for their annual dinner/meeting.  Jim Winegar and Rex Maughan were companies here in the fifties and have such a love for Samoa.  Rex Maughan has a lot of money and they have formed a foundation that they pay for the upkeep and running of the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum and the grounds.  They had a nice meeting and they served a great dinner.  They had the Miss Somoa contestants there again and they had a local author, Lani Wendt Young, who has written some young adult literature about Samoan people and legends.  We have read the first two and she was there launching her new book, the third in the Telesa series.  She did a great job.  It was a very nice evening.

Left to right, E/S Creed they are volunteering in the dental clinic for six months.  E/S Goodlet, they are the TVET couple, E/S Spencer and Sister Winter, she and her husband are the assistant auditors.  We are standing in front of the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum.

Reed and Nada waiting for the program to start.  They presented everyone with these fresh flower leis as we came onto the patio.

Jim Winegar in the middle of all the Miss Samoan 2013 contestants.  The girl in the blue with the microphone and crown is the reigning Miss Samoa.

Nada with Lani Wendt Young author of the Telesa series.

Left to right  is Jim Winegar, President of the foundation, Rex Maughan, CEO of the Foundation and a young man who wanted to be up there with them.  These men are very generous with their time and money and are very friendly.  They came around and visited with every single person and table.  It was a nice evening to be part of.

On Friday, August 30, 2013 the Pesega Middle School had English day.  They asked Reed and Nada to be the judges.  The students presented original poems, songs, posters, and dramas.  They participated in Spelling Bees, Scripture readings and explained how to apply the principal in their lives and had a Battle of the Minds competition.  They had some very original poems and songs and they had to all be done in English and incorporate the theme which was, English Is The Gateway To A Successful Future.  It was a fun day and everyone seems to have a great time.

 Sisters Amani, Gounder, Tufuga, Ia'ulualo and Ah Chung were in charge of English Day.  It is very interesting, they make t-shirts if they are in charge of an activity, if they are going on a special field trip or performing they have matching t-shirts or whole outfits.  For a people that seem to have so very little money, they always have money to spend on special outfits.

 Lani Wendt Young was the guest speaker for English Day.  She told the students to have dreams and learn in school and not give up.  She talked about how many times she had her first book rejected and finally went to Amazon and had it published as an e book and the rest is history! 

 Students reading scriptures and sharing with the houses the gospel principal and how it applies to their lives.

 House One doing their poems.  They had to use the theme and have actions and be all together.  They did a great job!

 House Four performing their original song.  It was more of a dance than a song.

The middle school was kicked out of the gym so they finished their English Day under the Flame Tree!  Everyone had a great time and participated well.

After they kicked the middle school out of the gym they set the stage up for The Harlem Gospel Choir who performed for the students of LDS Church College Pesega.  A lot of the middle school students and teachers came in once they had finished up their English Day and eaten their ice pops.

 The Pesega students did some cheers while The Harlem Gospel Choir looked on.  They all had their iPads and cell phones out taking pictures of our students.  The students love to perform and we love to watch and listen to their cheers!

 This choir was very good.  They really had the kids involved and there was a lot of sound coming out of seven singers.

 The principal presented them all with lava lava's as a thank you.  Then the students sang I Am A Child of God both in English and Samoan and did a few more cheers.  The gym was rocking.  It was fun for the students and for The Harlem Gospel Choir.

These men are the US Ambassador for Samoa, New Zealand, and the Cook Islands and also the Charge d'affaires, for the United States.  Nada has actually been to the home of Chad Berber the Charge d'affaires here in Samoa.  He is the man in the middle and the Ambassador is the man on the right with the red hair.






Then they cleared the stage in the gym again and the Year 11 students performed their production they used to compete for prizes in the Teuila Festival.  They had a traditional and contemporary category.  Our students did a traditional performance based on a legend.

This legend is about the love village chiefs showed to each other.  One village comes from another island by canoe with the chiefs son who has no legs and asks the chief of another village to sacrifice his sons legs to give to the first chief's son.  They cut this little boys legs off and give them to the other son.  It was sad and interesting.  Most of the local teachers said they had never heard of this legend before.The kids did a great job.  They performed on Friday night at Samoa College against nine other schools and made it into the finals.

Saturday, August 31, 2013, we took E/S Gertsch, E/S Rotz and E/S Winter with us and we went to the south side of Upolu.  We stopped at the Coastal Walkway and the gate was locked so we went to Togitogiga Waterfall.  Some of the couples had never been there so it was fun to show them and take pictures.

Interesting that they just leave these big logs at these waterfalls and rivers until another storm moves them along.










We then drove to a fale and found out that family has a key to the gate of the coastal walkway so we got it from them and opened the gate.  That was an adventure reaching up inside the post and finding the lock and unlocking it.

 Reed and Elder Winter watching Elder Rotz trying to get the gate unlocked.

 Reed uses our van like a truck.  The road is done about 1/2 way now to get to the car park but then the rest looks like this!  Beautiful trees and shrubs but a little rough on the vehicles.

 Reed and Nada on one of the cliffs.  All along the walkway it is sheer cliffs and beautiful water below.  It is a beautiful, peaceful walk.

The Pandanas Forest here is really beautiful.  Not something you can see just anywhere.  Especially with the ocean right below it.

 It takes about half an hour to get to the cleared lava flow.  We just enjoyed sitting and listening to the waves and enjoying the scenery.

Sister Winter twisted her ankle on the way out and Reed and Elder Gertsch  helped her make it to the van.  She said she was still glad she came.  It was a very clear, beautiful day and we enjoyed it very much.

The above picture is pink Teuila and the picture to the right is red Teuila.  This is the National Flower and it is only pink or red.  The week of September 1st to September 7th is the annual Teuila Festival here in Upolu.  They have activities all day and performances each night.  They decorate with this flower everywhere.  It really is very beautiful and very hardy.




This is on the front of the stage where all the performances have taken place during the Teuila Festival week.

 Wednesday, September 4, 2013 we attended the evening festivities of the Teuila Festival.  All the seating under the tents and all the grassy areas were filled with people.  People were even standing wherever they could see.  It was great to see so many people in attendance.  The six schools that made it through Friday night into the finals were performing.  They did a contemporary then a traditional until all six schools performed.

 LDS Church College Pesega was the second school to perform.  They did a great job.  They had changed it some and the girls dancing had much fancier costumes than they did Friday night.

 This is the chief going to have his sons legs cut off to give to the other chiefs son.

 You can see the bloody cloth with the other boys legs being placed on this young man.

The chief with the paddle is the one that came from Manu'a looking for legs for his son.

The Mom in the picture above is crying over her son who had his legs cut off.  The man on the right and the boy are the chief and his son who received the wonderful, selfless gift.  It was an interesting play.  Pesega won second place in the traditional category and won 4,000 Tala!  The other plays were interesting and then they had some other groups perform while we were waiting for the judges decision.  It was a great night.

The woman and man in this picture were the MC's for the night.  He spoke mostly in Samoan and then she would translate for all the guests.  There are a lot of visitors from New Zealand and Australia here right now.







Today, Friday September 6, 2013 we went down to the festival to watch the police and police band do the morning flag ceremony.  They do this every weekday morning at 8:45 a.m. and this is the first chance we have had to go. We are glad we finally attended.
There were some police in uniform, then some in these Aloha shirts and ie fai taga's and then the marching band.  They march from the police station to the government building that you see in the back ground.  It is about 2 blocks.

Here is the flag being raised by the stage.  It was a beautiful, sunny morning.

 When we were finished watching the flag raising ceremony we decided to try to go to the top of the government building that has a fale on top.  They let us go up and we could see all over Apia.  This is the clock tower road and the main street of downtown Apia.

 You can see quite a ways in this shot.  You are looking at the main street of downtown Apia with the clock tower in the right, Chan Mows. a variety store, banks and misc. stores.  The tents in the parking area are usually not there.  They are there specifically for Teuila Festival.

 You can see the tents and the grassy area where the public sit to watch the different performances going on this week.  We have been watching this church, the blue roof, being built for the last year.

 From the roof of the government building you can see a long ways.  The fales are where they hold different cultural events and the fale on the farthest right is where the visitors center for Upolu is located.  The water is the Apia Harbor where all the big cargo ships come in and cruise boats and sailing vessels.

From the roof you can see to the west of the harbor.  Just a beautiful view.

We hope you have enjoyed seeing a lot of the cultural things that go on here during Teuila Festival week. 

You can see that Apia is a pretty good sized city and the water and foliage are always beautiful.

Well that catches you all up on what has been going on with Reed and Nada the last few weeks.  We are so blessed to serve in such a beautiful area.  We love the people and all the things we are able to do.  We work hard and we play hard when we have the time.  We really enjoy when we get to rub shoulders with the students and be involved in their many activities.

Our classes are going well.  We have just turned in grades for the three classes we taught from May to August.  We began three new classes that will go until the middle of November.  We have two professional developments on SIOP left for this year and have three teachers we are working with to finish up their student teaching and then they will have earned their ITEP Teaching Certificates.  Life is good.

We love you all.  May the Lord continue to watch over and protect all of you.  Much Alofa,
Elder and Sister Spencer