letter from Savaii

Here is a tid bit of a letter I received from my mom, while serving a mission with my Dad in Savii, Western Samoa.
The things we have and the way we live!!!
Gratitude is not enough.

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Dear Family,

We are enjoying the dry season now. It only rains once a day or so. In fact we miss the cooling effect the rain offers. When it rains the heat diminishes for a few blessed minutes. I’m sure Dace, Laurie and Dusk understand what I’m flappin my lips about. Today we had an earthquake. It was just a little shaker, but both Dad and I headed for the door of our office. I wasn’t about to be smashed in this old school. It didn’t take but just a few minutes until we were back at work because it wasn’t very big.

Tomorrow I am doing the work meeting for our ward. They wanted me to teach them how to cook something. I decided I would try to come up with a dish they could actually make in their fales. Very few of the families in our ward have stoves, refrigeration, or running water, so I decided to show them how to make chicken soup. If they have a pot they can make it over the fire.

We take so much for granted. They don’t have potato peelers, but then who needs a peeler when few can actually afford to buy potatoes. Their life sustaining product is taro, bread fruit and fruits and vegetables they grown in their own gardens. They eat a lot of mutton ribs, chicken drumsticks and corn beef. Span is very expensive here, about $6.00 US a can, so not many people can afford it.

Many people on the island go hungry. There are students here at the school without food. Every day I watch a bunch of kids that hide out so the others won’t see them. They are ashamed to be seen without a few tala to buy at least something. Dad devised a little plan with the principal to help a few students get a bite to eat at the local campus tuck shop, cook shack. It’s like throwing the starfish back into the ocean, we do what we can.
Think about camping outside in a tent everyday of your life with the rain pouring down. All your bedding is wet and you have no way to wash your few items of clothing or your body unless you have a bucket to save the rain water. It is impossible for us to understand the circumstances of the people in Samoa. They say the wind is the worst because when it blows the rain into the fales it never dries out for the duration of the rainy season, which is several months.
We are very blessed in this little village. Most all the teachers and Dad and I have nice houses, running water and electric. Dad and I have food on our table and clothes on our backs and we are thankful for this experience.

I hope we never have to return to life the way it used to be, without the basics of survival, but just in case times get hard we should do our best to learn some basic survival skills.

I am so impressed with the people here. They are happy, they sing all day long, they live without many things, but they don’t know anything different, so life is okay. Really, the only thing any of us have to do is to work our way back to the presence of our Heavenly Father. The Saints here in Samoa can do that as well as the Saints in any part of the world. We need to remember that righteousness doesn’t require massive riches, but simply a contrite spirit and a humble heart, and they have both here in Savaii.

I love all of you and hope you have a great day! Mom