All You Need is A Full Moon, The Ocean, and New Friends

Today starts with the amazing experience we had last night. Coleen, a Samoan native, took us out to see "Sliding Rock" at night. She told us that the ocean had to be seen at night...and I had my doubts...but I definitely now am a believer. The moon was full and there was a slight breeze but what we saw was the magic, the amazing creation, of God. The moon's light would reflect on to the waves right before they would crash. This made the waves look like they were sparkling...folks, this is not an exaggeration. To make it seem relatable it was like when King Triton gives Ariel legs for forever and when he sticks out his trident (sp.?) the waves that are flowing towards Ariel seem to sparkle. This was to an extent what the ocean waves seemed to look like. It was the 1st time we have really gotten to take lots of time just to sit in awe and admire God's gift, his creation. We ended up singing praises to Him and I have not been that flabbergasted at a sight in a long time. It is a memory that I know will last forever. We couldn't capture it on film...maybe somethings God just intended for us to admire in person instead of the ability to have the memory on film forever....or maybe we just didn't have a good enough camera??...but whatever the reasoning it is one part of God's creation that I will always take with me.
Now....we wake up it's Tuesday...
We got to different places to invite them to the 3rd Annual Lectureship that will start not this coming Sun. but the next. Then after lunch it was time to pick up the Tween Class. One girl, Brenda wrote out a list of Samoan words for us to learn...now we have no excuse not to learn some more Samoan. (Even the simple things in life like her writing ourwords for us mean a lot). We then played a game of good ol' fashioned kickball...which I don't think any of them had played before so that was fun. Then we got into groups and acted out different peer pressure scenarios...we let them be in charge of them and they had lots of fun with it and did a good job. Then we had time to sing and Kate taught them "You Gotta Take the Lord With You" they love love to sing and loved the motions that went along with it. They learned all the English words very quickly and we sang it over and over until they had it down. One boy, Joe, does not speak much English at all. And his smile and him trying to move his mouth and sing some of the words might have been the most inspiring thing of all..Singing even the boys love...who would have thought?? Not like I remember in my youth group....they have hearts that's for sure!!
We then went and picked up our Pula Tasi's...Our Samoan dresses. They are worn basically almost everyday...it's either that or the lava lava's(the wrap around skirts, which me wear too). They are really neat and is something that will spark memories every time we wear them. We then went upstairs for supper with the Ashley's and shared in a meal. After came the scary part....We are performing the traditional Samoan dance for Lectureship representing the Tafuna Church...Cross your fingers b/c I started out pretty rocky. Picture a tall non-coordinated girl + any form of culture dancing...yeah I started laughing too....It's just going to be the 3 of us interns...It shows appreciation and respect for their culture...and it shows them that we want to get to know who they are as a person...Not only their spiritual lives, but who they are entirely so we can form relationships with them...So practice makes perfect..at least that's how the saying goes. We then walked to a Bush store, which is a tiny store that is basically a convenience store and all had cokes. We are leaving for Western Samoa tomorrow so our sharing of our journey with you all will be put on pause until Saturday, but we will try to make up for it...I know you all are probably terribly worried....But..We hope all is well and will leave you with God is in everything!!