temples are a beacon

it's been almost 2 years since our little family ventured to samoa to visit my parents while they served their mission there. it was an incredible experience that we won't forget in a hurry... the sounds, the smells, the food, the heat... but their solid belief in god, every where we went was what really blew me away. loving the lord is like breathing to them. everyone believes in god there. 

it feels like i took a million photos of this beautiful building, which is a beacon in apia. people constantly give directions using the temple as a reference point because everyone, latter-day saint or not, knows where it is and where it stands for 

that's what i am trying hard to do, make the temple the centre of my life and something i can use to get and give directions ♥

"temples are more than stone and mortar. they are filled with faith and fasting. they are built of trials and testimonies. they are sanctified by sacrifice and service" - thomas s monson (from a talk the holy temple: a beacon to the world)

loving the gospel is easy in samoa

it is so incredibly easy to love the lord and be faithful in samoa. every where you go there is church after church, in fact most villages have 3 or 4 to cover all the different religions. and everyone is respectful of religion. if you are driving through the villages during the nominated prayer time during the evening, there are people standing by the road waving their arms to remind you to be respectful and slow your vehicle during the lord's time. nothing is open on a sunday and in many public places a bikini or the likes is not appropriate, due to it's obvious immodesty.

as we drove through each village i was shocked to see a latter-day saint church in most of them. until mum reminded me what a huge population of members there are here. in fact there are one hundred and nineteen chapels across the two islands. the church has their own college, a temple, 137 congregations between those chapels, a mission and 17 family history centres. in fact 1 in 4 people in samoa are members of the church, compared to the measly 1 in 172 in australia.

the samoans are a humble, god-fearing people, who have great respect and love for the missionaries of the church. what joy it brought me to see my parents loved so very much during our trip. their positions in the school have been such a wonderful experience for them and i am so glad we got to see the world they have loved these past 18 months (well, almost, there's certainly not long until they return home) 

what a blessing it would be to attend a church run school. i was the only mormon in my high school and i wouldn't say suffered, but i was often made fun of - asked stupid questions, perhaps suffered does work here... i suffered from the ignorance of others about our church. what a wonderful experience i then imagine it to be, to be able to loudly and joyfully speak of your beliefs amongst all your friends, peers and even teachers... who all are members of the same faith. what a wonderful place the church run schools are!

our trip showed me more than ever, how strong the gospel of jesus christ is in the world and i am so glad to have had the chance to experience that. 

apia, samoa temple

this is the view of the apia, samoa temple from the main road. it is right there, right in your face as you drive past. in fact, it is used frequently as a landmark for directions - and is mentioned as a "must-see" in every guide book on the island.

the original temple, on this same lot, was dedicated in 1983, but was destroyed by fire in 2003. the church rebuilt and the temple shown was dedicated in 2005, it is believed the fire was caused by an electrical fault, as it was during the routine maintenance that occurs on every temple around the world each year.

the building is stunning and is known by everyone in the islands. the beautiful placement allows it to stand proudly at the front of the church owned land, which contains the mission buildings, the distribution centre, temple accomodation, staff housing and of course pesega college - the church owned college here in samoa.

mum and dad's house is less than a five minute walk from the temple, all through the church grounds... you can see moroni standing proudly on the spire reaching heavenward from their house... and this became incredibly apparent to me when i got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night our first night here and happened to glance out the window and see him right there. what a wonderful blessing, to have a temple within walking distance.

it was a lovely time, being able to wander through the gardens at our own pace, the evening before we were leaving to return to australia, as a family. to be able to take photographs... and to simply stop and look at the effort and beautiful workmanship that goes into each and every temple that the church constructs.

it makes me so happy to know that there are temples built in all four corners of the globe. my favourite "mormon message" which brings me to tears every time i watch it, tells of the struggle of a family living in polynesia, to make it to the temple when they earned such a meagre living. you can watch it here. as more temples are built throughout the world, more people are able to obtain the blessings held within and i know there is nothing better on offer in this world, than to know i am able to spend not only time, but eternity - with my family.

a friends mother wrote in our wedding card, "any of you would go around the world for the sealing ordinance if you knew its importance., if you realized how great it is. no distance, no shortage of funds, no situation, would ever keep you from being married in the holy temple of the lord." (pres. spencer w. kimball - october 1979 ensign first presidency message.)

how true it is. the lord's house is where we need to be. there is no greater possible joy to be with one's family for time and all eternity and the sealing ordinance has made it possible for all worthy members of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints to enter in and partake of that blessing.

my camera certainly got a workout today... i hope you enjoy the pictures! ♥

e paia i le alii

o le maota o le alii

the house of the lord

holiness to the lord

i love this photograph of madeline, she can't wait until it's her turn to go in.

all the windows of the apia temple are set with polynesian inspired artwork. what a beautiful place for the islanders who enter therein. built to suit this gorgeous place.

please if you have time, read a talk entitled, "god's gifts to polynesia's people" by elder thomas s monson 1966. it tells of the faith and love of these amazing people, who love their lord.

fiafia night at le manumea

mum and dad had promised us that before we left, they would take us to a fiafia night at one of the local hotels. "fiafia" means celebration, get-together or happy... and this night was certainly all three!

we arrived to the hotel and were escorted to a table near the buffet table, where we were treated to many traditional samoan foods, such as taro & green bananas cooked in coconut cream, palusami (a dish with baked coconut cream and taro leaves) and oka (raw fish soup). what a treat!... you know because i haven't eaten enough while i've been here... everyone has spoiled us so much, with so much and such good food being served to us each and every day.

the dancers for the fiafia night were incredible at le manumea - the costumes so well made, the women smiling all the time (which unlike some dancers did not look in any way forced - they seemed so genuinely happy to be there and to be able to entertain.) and such an amazing portrayal of traditional polynesian dance. i loved watching them, with their fluent and effortless movement as they went from each dance to the next.

there was education included also as we were taught all the uses of the coconut. nothing is wasted. you can drink the water, eat the flesh, make cream and milk, make a wonderful natural oil that can be used for so many things including skincare and cooking, the stringy part can be used as a loofah and then the husk is burnt to cook umu once everything else is done. what an amazing tree to be blessed with!

we were also told about the malu, a sacred tattoo originally given only to the daughters of chiefs, which extends from the upper thigh to below the knee. they are now more common and even tattooed on some that would be considered "not worthy" of the honour, but are still held sacred to the samoan women.

the log drums used by the group were incredible. huge - with such a distinct sound. for doug it was love at first sight... we may have to look into getting him one!

a demonstration of 5 different ways to wear a lavalava (sarong) was done by the girls and as they displayed each one - i finally found mine! i had spent my time here looking at each one we came across... but just wasn't keen enough on any of them to buy one. however, in the demo a rainbow streaked purple one caught my eye, which was being sold in the hotel gift shop! yay. one more thing to check off the must-do/ must purchase list here in samoa.

the men in the group also performed during the evening doing tribal dances, a slap dance... and were even quite comical, dressing a little to demonstrate the fa'afafine... the "third gender" of the islands. (this is a little difficult for me to explain because it's new to me... take a minute and read about it here - it's genuinely quite interesting) they were so funny and had the audience roaring with laughter.

near the end of the evening, the fire dancers performed... it was like nothing i've ever seen before. i said to mum that i was amazed no one had burnt themselves - and she assured me that they do. all part of the job. one of the boys in their primary class at church is learning to be a fire dancer (he is 8) and has had plenty of little burns along the way.

i was even lucky enough to snap a few good shots. what an amazing thing to watch.

after the finale, doug and madeline were lucky enough to have their photo taken with the cast who were ever so kind, very obliging and very attractive haha. what an awesome experience, i would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting upolo.

flea market

today was our market day. i have always loved markets and was so thrilled to head off to the flea markets to have a look around. it was a muggy day, and under the tin roof it was sooooo hot. i can't even imagine how the vendors can spend their entire day in there. they must be used to it though... 

what a gorgeous place to look around though... there was a rainbow of colour, with all the hundreds of lavalavas, dresses and shirts hanging from the hooks at the top of each stall... there were carved drums, necklaces, other jewellery and animals made from wood and coconut. there were fans and bags, made from the dried out coconut palm leaves... and lots of local food for sale.

i bought a few fans and a few other little things for friends - and doug was stoked to get his hands on a tribal print t-shirt. joseph and maddie also were spoiled by their grandmothers who both were with us, oli bought maddie a cute little tribal dress with a coconut tie and joseph a teeny t-shirt and my mum bought maddie the cutest little straw bag. it looks like licorice alsorts and she is obsessed. carries it everywhere and keep telling everyone proudly that "nanna bought it to me!" and looking for things to put in it. but the buy of the day was definitely a little carved drum for joseph... it will be going on display in his room so stay tuned... i'll post pictures soon enough.

what a wonderful place to visit... we are loving buying things here, as the exchange rate of the australian dollar compared to the samoan tala is so good, that we can half the price of everything... the woven bags i bought were only $10au each!! and the little drum? $12.50! winner! there are so many lovely things to be had, let's just hope we can fit it all in when it's time to go home. :)

my honest apologies to whoever owns these pictures... i forgot my camera the day we went to the markets and i have taken these from google images

lupesina treesort

last stop for the day was the lupesina (white dove) treesort. nope, i did not spell that wrong, it is a resort, in a tree. long story short, an american couple retired to samoa and bought last on which they planned to build a house and relax. the land had a giant banyan tree on it which was hollow inside (if you go read up on banyan trees - they pretty much strangle the tree they grow on and take over, leaving it to die and rot away inside) and the gentleman had a brainwave that he was going to build a treehouse! not a house in the branches like we all know from our childhood, an actual house. in a tree. inside the tree. and it is incredible. it has running water, power, you name it, it's got it. it has a shower inside the trunk of the tree. it's even built an impressive 13 metres above the ground - so as to take advantage of the amazing view, straight across the rainforrest to the ocean. there's also another smaller treehouse 11 metres up called the stargazer, which has a glass ceiling in the bedroom! unfortunately when we popped in, it was a muggy day and there was fog everywhere around so my pictures don't show the view. i must confess i kind of like them though, they were like a real life fairytale and reminded me of "the magic faraway tree" by enid blyton. we could only look from the verandah as there were guests in the treehouses, but it was still impressive. 

please please please go and look at their website here and check out their pictures. they are amazing and make me so sad that we couldn't stay there (or even have a look inside). we actually planned to stay there a night but with both the children were so clingy and so sad all the time that i wasn't brave enough to leave them. not that joseph could have been left anyway, he was coming everywhere we went whether we liked it or night. he likes the milk far too much, but next time, for sure!!

we spoke with the owners for quite some time and they told us how well they are doing now, they are starting to even have celebrities come to stay and have had to arrange a guard post at the entry road as the resort is becoming so famous that people are starting to drive up to the houses and try to go in, or take pictures while they have guests there!

the stargazer ♥

the road into the property was barely drive-able but the treesort has attracted so much publicity and tourism for the islands that the samoan government has even built them a road into their place and they are going to be featured prominently in all future tourism campaigns. what an awesome place! exactly like a real life fairytale.