Archive for ‘Pago Pago, American Samoa’

Another Long Week!

10 Commentsby   |  05.30.11  |  Pago Pago, American Samoa

I’ve been using blogspot to blog instead of this. This blog is from yesterday, my most recent blog.

It’s been another long and great week! We have been very busy, especially these last few days. We went out snorkelling a few times, we went golfing a few times, and then got ready for the weekend. On Friday night, we went to Nu’uuli Church of Christ and worked with the teens a little bit. Kristen and I began the night by leading the teens in a game of Magic Carpet Ride. We brought two kitchen mats, turned them upside down, and had a relay of the teens scooting on the carpet back and forth across the floor. They loved it and it was a lot of fun! Afterwards, I led some songs and dad gave a lesson. A great night and I’m sure we will have even more next Friday. We will have to have another game ready for them.

Saturday was a long day with the tweens. We brought them over and started out with a game where we put marshmallows on the ends of a string and had each pair of tween try to swing the marshmallow into the mouth of their partner! It was really funny and a great way to start the afternoon off. We circled up and sang a few songs. The Lord’s Army is our theme song for each Saturday and we found some new versions we are excited to share with them. They love the Texan and Gangster versions! It’s so funny to see the little ones leaning their heads back, putting their arms out, and saying, “wazzup!” After we sang we looked back at Ephesians for the Armor of God and talked about the breatplate of righteousness and the shoes (slippers) of peace. Then each of them made their own breastplates and slippers, we all had hot dogs, and then went home happy.

This morning we taught the Sunday morning classes. I taught the tweens and Kristen taught the younger kids. Today we continued talking about Moses. Today we covered the burning bush and got all the way to Moses on his way to talk to Pharaoh. Next week, we will get through as many plagues as we can. I think I’ll have to find as many of the plagues as I can and throw them at the kids so they know how it felt. Does anyone know where I can find a few pounds of locust? I can get the toads all around the house.

Then tonight we went to the Leone Church of Christ for a great night of singing. I lead some songs and a few other people lead some songs. Kristen, of course, ended up on the floor with a few kids at the beginning. By the end of the service of singing, she had at least 25 kids all around her! She was just a magnet for those kids and they all kept quiet for her. After the singing we went up the hill to the house of some of the members and continued singing and eating some incredible pastries and other bread items that the members of the church made. They own a bakery and it was obvious why their business has been successful! Just incredible. All the people were so wonderful and fun to be with. It was a blessed night and a blessed week. We are definitely looking forward to this next week. Tomorrow we are going to a different beach that we haven’t been to yet. We are looking forward to some good pictures. We will share with you as soon as we can catch a break. This week, anytime we’ve had a break it’s been time for a nap or just going to sleep for the night. Speaking of, it’s about that time.

Goodnight all.
Manuia le po.

So Much Going On!

13 Commentsby   |  05.30.11  |  Pago Pago, American Samoa

I’ve been using blogspot to blog instead of this, so this is just a copy of what I have written on there. This one is from a week ago.

Kristen and I have just been so busy. She has managed to find time to blog and put up some pictures so be sure to check her blog out! www.kristenforchrist.blogspot.com

I have done a lot of sleeping anytime I got the chance. On Thursday and Friday, we spent our time in my mom’s Kindergarten classroom. It was a long day and I don’t know how she does it everyday, but it was a lot of fun and we had a great time. Those kids were all great and we enjoyed playing with them and helping with them. That was just a side thing we did because Mom’s aid was off island for those two days.

Friday night was our first encounter with some of the kids we were actually going to begin to work with. We went to the Nu’uuli Church of Christ and met with the teenagers of Tafuna and Nu’uuli. It was my job to lead them in some songs. Samoans love to sing! They sing so loud and sing so great! We sang in mostly all English and sang for about 20 minutes. I think they’re favorite song was Highways and Byways. They really got into that. After we finished singing, one of the youth got up and gave a few words of encouragement all in Samoan and the leader of the youth at Nu’uuli helped and translated. Then dad gave a lesson about Jesus being a king when he rode into Jerusalem. So everyone made crowns and decorated them and were very sure that Kristen and I had one as well!

Today was our first big day with the pre-teens. We call them tweens here. We had eleven tweens come over to the house today for us to do some activities with. We had tye-dyed a bag previously and we gave them that bag for them to decorate and make their own. We then put prizes in that bag so that they are special to them and they get prizes from the bag that they made. The first game we played was a game where you had to put a string of raw spaghetti through the tab of an empty soda can and, with a partner holding the other side of the spaghetti, transport it to another table and stack three of them like a pyramid. We split them up into two teams and they competed against each other and the team that won got to pick out prizes. They really enjoyed that game!

We are teaching them about the armor of God. Today we worked on the belt of truth. For that, we wrote truths about God on strips of construction paper and then made a belt of those by making them rings and putting all those together. They all looked great in their new belts of truth!

We have now prepared for Sunday morning class and will do that in the morning. It is most definitely time for bed now though. Kristen will put up some pictures, so check out her blog for that. www.kristenforchrist.blogspot.com.

First Day Here!

7 Commentsby   |  05.30.11  |  Pago Pago, American Samoa

I’ve been using blogspot to blog instead, so this is just copying and pasting all the blogs I have written so far for y’all. Thanks!

After a long last few days of preparing and 25 hours of travelling, we have finally arrived in American Samoa! We flew in about 11:00 last night local time and went straight to bed because we were absolutely exhausted. We woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise. We went outside and took some pictures, found some snails, and said good morning to a few golfers who were already on the golf course this morning. Oh yeah, we are on a house right beside the golf course.
The humidity is incredibly high and the mosquitoes love it. I think Kristen already has 5 or 6 bites! Speaking of Kristen, it’s her 21st birthday today! Happy Birthday, Kristen!
There isn’t much planned for today. We are going to take a tour around the island in about an hour, then we will eat lunch with some of the men of the church, and we will go out for a birthday dinner tonight. It looks like it’s going to be a great day and Kristen and I are both so excited to see how God works through us during our time here. We will do our best to keep you all updated and hope you enjoy reading our blogs.
If you have any questions at all, just comment on this blog and I would love to answer. Thank you all so much for all the support you have given us. We wouldn’t be here without you!
Kristen’s blog: kristenforchrist.blogspot.com   (she will probably be more interesting than me)
And for her birthday, and because I feel it is a good verse for the first day of a mission trip, I would like to end with Kristen’s favorite Bible verse.
Jeremiah 29:11 ‘“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”’