The 1st Tuesday Tween Activity!!

So we took the church van to get picked up and so all 3 of us got to have the wonderful experience of us driving in American Samoa, aka Pothole Island, but we survived. We got snacks and drinks for the kids. Then we picked up the kids which takes around an hour. Joe was the 1st one to be picked up and his English isn't as good as the others so I got a little nervous. Then we split up girls against guys and did some relays...Wheelbarrow, Dizzy Bat, and Waterballoon Toss. Just some of the classics you know. Samoans are generally very competitive so Melinda and I fit right in. They loved the water balloons!! After relays were over we had a waterballoon fight which was even crazier and most everyone ended up wet. We used the object lesson when doing the water balloon toss. The water balloon represented trust and when you move farther apart from each other the harder it is to keep the trust from breaking. Most of these kids have not been going to church that long...and the missionaries tell us that this is the 1st group that is really been more along the lines of growing up in the church. So, they want us to work on accountability and not conforming to what the world, their culture, or even some of their family might think is the way to go. We then had refreshments and we bought enough for today and next week, but since all the kids are pretty poor they wanted 2 or 3 drinks and would start hiding the snacks in their pockets....something I guess that I'm not used to. They get fun drinks and snacks only on special occassions. Overall...it went very well and makes me feel more like a child of God. (What I'm saying is it's easy to see these kids love for God in a simple way) especially when they sing every word seems to come from the heart. They are excited to grow closer as a church group and we are excited to guide them some along this journey! Life is good. No complaints found here.

P.S. I love p.s.'s by the way...the kids on the way home taught us a song to teach us some Samoan but also remember the what the words mean in English as well...but of course I was definitely the slowest at learning it...but I did learn it so...I guess that counts.

Here are the words:

Savalivali means go for a walk

Tautalatala means too much talk

Alofa ia to oe means I love you

Take it easy faifailemu.

It's pretty catchy we've been humming it all day and the kids were so pround of us for at least attempting to learn some Samoan...even though mine isn't anywhere near perfect. Will just say it's closer to the other end of the scale. It was really neat...connecting.