week one of staffing - earthquake!!!

As I write this, I can see the sun shining through my window. I can also hear the percussion of rain on my corrugated tin roof. Ah, Samoa. I took a shower to cool off, since the wind must be on holiday today, an unfortunate side effect of the rain and sun combo. But, now that I’ve put some coconut oil in my hair and sat down with my laptop and instant coffee, I suppose it’s time for an update!

It’s been just over a week since the team left. My understanding of Samoan culture is still… growing. I seem to learn new things every day through observations I make, or mistakes that are corrected. My role on the YWAM Base is not fully defined yet. I am what they call “Base staff” which basically means I am not staff for a particular school. But what I do varies from day to day. A few things I have done…

• I have been asked to help offer tips for hospitality, so I’ve created a cleaning checklist for the Guest Fale (house) then cleaned and prepared alongside the hospitality staff, Mariana.
• I’ve been asked to help with organization in the kitchen and purchasing of food, so I’ve sat down and planned a week’s menu with Apelle, the kitchen manager, and we’ve gone to Apia for grocery shopping.
• I’ve been asked to just help out wherever I see a need, so I’ve weeded in the taro patch with Lina, another base staff. I might mention that weeding here involves machetes, a lot of elbow grease, singing, and frequent “breaks” for papaya and coconut. It’s glorious.
• I’ve also cooked breakfast and helped cook a few dinners.
• I’ve joined in with worship, playing guitar mostly as I am not quite confident in leading the Samoan songs yet. Perhaps next week.
• Since I will be teaching in the DTS next week, I have been also preparing for my teaching, which will be 3 hours a day, from Monday to Friday.

Despite this list, I must say I’ve still had a lot of free time. Free isn’t quite the right word, because I’m not quite free to do whatever I want. Down time… that’s a better phrase. Fono and Sose, the base directors, have said they will sit down with me this week to give me some more responsibilities, which is very exciting. But in the meantime I will just continue doing the little tasks asked of me and helping out however I can, and trying to learn the Samoan art of putting the relationships before the tasks.

Speaking of the relational culture here, I have a new friend, which is wonderful! The School of Missions (SOM) from YWAM Samoa was on outreach in Fiji and Vanuatu, but they just returned on Tuesday and graduated on Friday. One of the graduates is a girl named Emily from Missouri. She will also be base staff now that she has finished her course. I think I have been cautious to not be exclusive or only hang out with the other American and I have been very intentional in building relationships with all of the girls on the base. But… it is so nice to have someone who is from the same culture and speaks English well. Plus, she’s been in Samoa for over a year now, so she’s been great at brushing me up on some of the language and cultural subtleties.

I do have a few prayer requests mostly from what I’ve mentioned above:

• Please pray for my teaching next week in the DTS and for my preparation time this week… I really want these students to grasp the value of Bible study and a passion to know God’s Word for themselves. In a church culture where self-study by lay-people is discouraged, this is a huge prayer point.
• Pray for my role for the next 7 weeks with YWAM Samoa and for clear communication and relationship between Fono and Sose (the Base Directors) and myself. I want to be a blessing to this place and these people!
• Pray for Samoans to respond to God’s call on their lives. I was so touched when Fono shared about the School of Mission’s time in Vanuatu. In 1841 Samoan missionaries went to Vanuatu and were martyred. They were cooked alive and eaten by the locals. Believers in the island where this atrocity had happened so many years ago welcomed the SOM team as the first Samoan missionaries since those martyrs. They had a powerful time of reconciliation and the Samoan students were particularly challenged as they thought of their own forefathers’ sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel and the fruit that came because of their sacrifice. Not white missionaries. Samoans just like them. Pray that many more Samoans would count the cost and take the Gospel to the nations!

Well, the rain has stopped and sun is setting, so I suppose it’s time for me to wrap this up. I wish I would capture the night sky on camera to share with you… dusk in Samoa is simply stunning. As the moon rises above the coconut tree silhouettes and the stars appear… the Southern Cross, the cloudy stretch of the Milky Way… I can’t help but be amazed at our great God who created it all. And for some reason, a song from “An American Tale” comes into my head every time I see the moon and think of my family who sees the same moon from where they are. Just at a slightly different time of the night.

* Side note… I wrote this yesterday before there was an earthquake! It happened about 11:50 pm and the first one felt like someone was moving furniture in the room next to mine… then the second one started shaking everything, complete with the things on top of my bed moving quite close to the edge and a long enough time for me to consider moving out from under the bunk, then deciding against it because the frame is metal and my roof isn’t exactly going to crush me if it falls on me. Haha… it wasn’t that big of an earthquake, just lasted a long time. When it eventually stopped, I opened my door and called out to the boys in the fale next door (I don’t have a roommate yet.) “Did anyone else feel that???” One of the DTS boys, Mark, said, “Yeah, but you don’t need to be scare, its only a little!” ...“Okay, I’m glad it was a small one, I’m going to sleep!” And that’s my Samoan Earthquake experience from last night. :)