Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Forgiveness (Fa'amagalo)
So, today we woke up and went with David to some people's houses of the children we will be teaching. It was really fun and exciting getting to see the children of who we will work with. The Samoans are beautiful people that have beautiful children. The first family consisted of children named James, Steven, Loretta, and Toluvalu(which means thirty-eight). All the Samoans names have a very meaning name. I don't know why she is named thirty eight, but David thinks she was named for someone in the family. Also, the preacher who is a twin is named Lua-Aso and his twin is named Lua-Po which both mean Lua which is 2 for twins and aso is day and po is night. (They are named for day and night since they were twins). We also visiited Patello who happens to be paralyzed from the waist down. We will see him every Wednesday. His English is amazing and he has a heart for God. He was only paralyzed around 4 years ago when he had a surgery where the doctors messed up and he woke up paralyzed from the waist down. Paralyzed he can't walk anymore and is confined to his very small room I can't imagine being a healthy strong construction man who had everything a wonderful family(which is the most important thing to Samoans) and then losing his ability to walk. But...He has gained a stronger faith he says and he writes songs on the guitar and ukelele(which is a Samoan word pronounced ohhkaylaylay). He wants to record his music so he can share his story of the gospel with all the Samoans. He was definitely an inspiration...and I know there are stories about people in Abilene with the same stories or maybe even worse...but his story is just one that I am getting to know on a personal level it means more when you establish a relationship with that person to me than just someone you don't know at all even though this probably shouldn't be the case since we are all treasures of God. W also learned the word forgiveness in the Samoan culture besides just in America when we sometimes forgive a person and still have a grudge...here it has a deeper meaning and they are called to forget that sin that someone caused against them from that person. Even if a person murders someone here they have a chance to go before the family with a straw mat on top of them in a bowing position and the family can decide to forgive or not forgive the person. But....if they choose to forgive the individual who murdered their family member the family will have to block out that sin that was so devastating. It is just a neat concept that we don't really practice...just some of the things we are learning.
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2 comments:
that's a beautiful thing.
How neat! This place sounds AMAZING! What a neat concept. I love other languages and different meanings of words.
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