Tofa! (The Goodbye).....I Can't Stop Smiling!

Thursday:

We started out with the classic purple soup song that we use to pass out the kids name tags. It is a simple song with a few funny movements like cha cha and boogie woogie. Then we talked about kindness and gentleness. For gentleness we performed the lost sheep skit, which the kids really enjoyed. We had Colleen hide in the middle of the kids as a sheep, while the rest of us were shepherds looking for her. We would ask the kids if they had seen our sheep. They would reply yes yes yes....she's right here. We would pretend like we didn't see her and keep looking else where. At the end we carried Colleen (the lost sheep) and showed how we were gentle with her. This was funny to explain because they didn't know what a sheep was. We made sheep hands with cotton balls. For our snack we decorated cookies to look like sheep. This was probably one of the cutest things ever, all of the kids had icing and cookie all over their hands and mouths. Don't worry though, we remembered to bring baby wipes. Once we got home we practiced our dance till the wee hours of the night. Marci and I wanted to have everything down perfectly since we would be performing it the next night. So we got kind of frustrated, but we went to bed after we ran through it perfectly.

Friday:

The last day of VBS, and boy did it go by really fast. We've had such a great time with these kids. We were without two of our helpers today, but the day still ended up a success. We talked about self control and goodness. For self control we talked about how Adam and Eve did not have self control in the Garden of Eden because they ended up disobeying God. For our craft we made snakes out of paper plates. This was a very cute craft and the kids loved their really cool super long and slinky snakes. For goodness we told the story of the fiery furnace. All of the kids gave us hugs at the end after we finished the day and passed back all of the crafts.

Right after VBS ended we went to a family's house from church to watch them prepare for the umu that night. It was so fun to be a part of, and we could tell that they enjoyed us being there. First, they offered us some cocoa samoa. This was the second time that we tried it, and this time it was amazing! I loved it, I think it was a little sweeter this time. First, we made coconut milk by wringing out the meat of the coconut into a bowl with the husk of the coconut. After that we learned how to peel breadfruit with a the edge of a can. Next, we learned how to peel bananas with a hand made wooden knife. After that, we scraped the meat of the coconut out by using the hand made metal scraper thing that was attached to a seat. We also learned how to make this dish with taro leaves and coconut milk by taking leaves and putting the coconut milk in them and then rolling the leaves into a bowl. Then, you take the breadfruit leaves to cover it. Finally, we learned how to get the coconut out of it's husk by using the metal pole that was sticking up out of the ground. This was quite a scary task because it almost seemed as if we were going to stab our hands as we tried to get the coconut out. We also tried a lot of things: coconut milk, cocoa beans (which tasted very tart like a lemon....weird, but very good), mackerel with coconut milk, and the meat of the coconut. We watched them get the fire ready. They put the food over the hot rocks, and then cover it with banana leaves and let it cook and heat up for a long time. The smoke was very strong. Salvation also taught us part of a sasa with the coconuts. The umu is something that Samoans do on a regular basis. It was great getting to see and experience what all goes into preparing one. They served the food at the Tofa tonight.

After the food was passed out, we were up. Yes, we had to dance in front of everyone. I was so nervous that I had that yucky feeling in my stomach. We went first and we did our dance without any mistakes. They appreciated us for doing the dance they yelled and clapped once we were finished. I felt so much better once that was over with. Then, we got to watch the Nu Uli church perform a couple of dances, and they were great. After that, Lu Ou called the three girls from Abilene up to the front. He thanked us for helping and said that him and the church wanted to present us with a gift. Then, he said, "Men come on". I looked back and there was a whole line of men coming from out of the house they started with Marci.... they gave her necklaces, earrings, and lava lavas they just kept piling it and piling it on. They came in one by one and would give Marci a kiss with each gift. All I could do was smile and laugh. We could not believe the thanks and what was happening. The last guy tied a lava lava around Marci and gave her a kiss. Before I knew it they were all lined up again and did the exact same thing for me. We were and are still in shock. I don't know if I've ever seen or experienced appreciation like that before. After that, he asked if we wanted to say anything, so I said a few words, and then we walked off with all of our gifts. Once again lots more smiles and us saying thank you. The guys came over and put all of our gifts into a bag for us. We then took a lot of pictures with everyone, even though we're going to play volleyball and see them one last time tomorrow. The tofa is a big goodbye or send off that is a Samoan tradition. I really can't describe the feelings that I'm feeling right now. I know that I will never forget these few weeks, and am so thankful to have formed all of these relationships.