Nov. 11/2018

Nov.11/2018

It has been awhile!

Scott and I have been busy delivering school furniture, water tanks, we had a handover for a community fale and lots of planning for the busy week to come.

We had a few great experiences this past week and times when we followed the promptings and were able to help some people in need.

 One of those times was when Scott had been trying for about 3 months to reach a Sister who was left alone with 5 children from ages 18-7, we couldn’t reach her so we kind of gave up hope. Scott had this feeling to try her again a couple weeks ago and was able to finally talk to her. She had moved back to her parents and was living in this very small fale with no water or power. She came in and spoke with us, we decided to take her home and see where she was living and if possible to provide her with a tank. It just about broke our hearts to see what she was living in. We had a tank delivered the beginning of the week. The ward she is in is hopefully going to do a service project there, LDS Charities will provide the materials for some help with her roof and her church family will provide the manual labor. I mentioned to Scott that we do some large projects that effect hundreds of people and some large villages but what touches my heart the most has been the small individual families that we help. To me that is what ministering is all about. Searching out that one person or family that is need.

Imele and daughter

We had the opportunity to finally take some school desks, chairs and a couple teacher desks over to Sili Primary School and another school at Saleaula PS. WE have been waiting since we first came on our mission  and saw the great need for desks at these schools. It is very expensive to try and get school furniture over to the Island of Savai’i so they don’t have the opportunity to receive as much as Upolu. The teachers, students and parents were so excited to see the big container arrive and threw quite a party. After celebrating at Sili we loaded up a truck and headed for the other school and made a drop off there where they served us fresh pineapple, the kids sang, Scott spoke again ( he is getting so good at speaking at all these events). We then took off to catch the ferry home. All in a day’s work!

Old desks at Sili

We also had a handover ceremony at Tafatafa this week. A community Fale, once again LDS Charities supplied the materials and the village supplied the labor. They were great to work with and the handover was so much fun. I cut the ribbon, their Pastor and the LDS Bishop in that area all spoke and Scott gave his words of wisdom which were great. We then ate, danced, laughed and danced some more. It was really enjoyable. I think some of the women took a shine to Scott, a custom is to come over and bow which means they want to dance, it was only a couple women at first then the dancing really started and a couple younger ones with some great moves started dancing with or to him. It was so funny.

Elder Cameron showing his moves!

 We picked up a couple from Utah this week that will be doing some training with the Wheelchair project that the church has here. A container of over 300 chairs arrived last week, which is great because there is a large waiting list here with many amputees on it caused by diabetes; the need is great for chairs, we work with the hospital and chairs are given to anyone in need but the list is longer than we have chairs for.

There is a great video on the Church Website, Scott put it on his email. As we watched it the other day, it helped reinforce the importance of ministering, not just within the church but everywhere. To some this comes easy, I think of many I know and admire like Uncle Don Leavitt that love unconditionally and would do anything for someone in need. I think that is a wonderful gift and one I am continually trying to improve on. I do think that when we leave this life we may be accountable for what we did and who we ministered to and how we treated others. I think if we can slow down just a little and take the time to look around we will see many ways to offer help to others. Whether it’s a smile, a hug or something bigger it doesn’t matter, what matters is that you care.

I was excited and envious that Esther’s parents Wes and Dian are now home from their mission in Toronto enjoying the grandkids and a couple from our ward in Olds, Rosanne and Lavar Adams are heading to Toronto on a 6 month mission. They will love it and will be amazing. I think it is pretty remarkable that senior missionary couples can now serve for 6, 9, 12, 18 or even 23 months if they choose. It is an incredible experience to feel a part of moving this great work forward.

My sister Sande and Mark has finally sold their house in Florida and bought one in St. George Utah, so now a bit closer to home and to mom and dad. I sure loved all the Halloween pictures but Nate’s was the funniest. Scott and I were in American Samoa last week and turned the TV on and there was Dwight from the Office, too funny, Nate you were the perfect Dwight right down to the brief case and glasses.

The fruit and vegetables are plentiful right now and so colourful.  Mangos, pineapple. Bananas, vegetables are yummy and are on every corner. We need to enjoy them as the season is short and we will not be here for the next mango and pineapple season. And there is nothing like a fresh mango just off the tree.

I can’t believe how quickly time is flying by and how much there is to do. It was a busy but wonderful week and the next few weeks will be just as busy and then things will start to slow down as kids finish school and families go away for Christmas and often till the end of Jan. We have many projects we will be able to wrap up here in the next few months and some more we will open. It is a great feeling to see a project through from start to finish and see how it can bless so many lives.  While things do slowdown that is a good thing for us to get caught up and finish some of the paper work and other things that get pushed aside till we have time.

Life is great and we have so much to be thankful for and I’m thankful for each one of you. Have a good week and remember to look around and see who you can help today!

Remember, Be Kind and Be Happy!

Love,

Pam