Hello from Samoa - July 22, 2014

Hello, it has been a while since I have added anything to our blog.  Part is because of busyness on our part and part is because of spotty internet access.  When I get ready to blog the internet is not working  ans when the internet is working I don't have the time.  I would have had this one out earlier but I tried to delete a photo and it deleted the whole set of photos and explanations.  So I will send out a series of shorter blogs. It has been an interesting 6 months and the trouble is that it is going by so quickly.  I will start out with some shots from New Zealand and the Principal's Conference we attended there and move forward from there.

This is a picture of all the principals and ITEP couples at eh conference

This is a picture of all the principals and Itep couples from Samoa

This is a picture of our principal Jack Taleni along with the conference mascot and a lady principal from Tonga or Fiji

This is Jack teaching a math lesson to a student who was struggling.

This is a picture of the ITEP couples at the conference.  We are out eating as a group and getting to meet all the other ITEP couples.

This is all of our ITEP couples along with Elder and Sister Jacobsen (front row dark clothes).  We also have two professors from BYU-H, they are at the ends of the front row

This is the Pacific Area Office in Auckland, New Zealand and this is where our conference was held.

This is Elder Hamula the Pacific Area President.  He was released on June 30 and we held a farewell for him in Savai'i.  He and all teh other members of his presidency spoke to us at different times throughout the conference. 

This is Elder Pearson who was the first counselor to Elder Hamula but as of July 1, 2014 he will be the new President for the Pacific Area and one of his counselors will be Elder Gifford Nielsen.  I'm not sure who the other counselor is.

This is us, and we are either in meetings or we are eating.  This is not good  for any kind of a diet

Here we are just finished eating before we go to our next meeting

This is the Samoan Boat Races we watched the day after we got back from New Zealand.  The boat holds 51 paddlers, a helmsman and a drummer.  They start 5 kilometers out and the finish line is in the main harbor in Apia.  The boats are all lined up before they start as it is very hard to turn them

You notice there are some waves that make the race much more difficult I have a short video clip showing some problems when you have waves and paddle boats together.

I'm not sure what the problem is, hopefully you can see the action and what happens.

Here are my two friends that join me when I run past their place.  Teh problem is they follow me home and hang around our place till they decide to go home or their owner comes and picks them up.  He sees me in my house taking a picture and wants me to come outside and run some more.

This is a better picture of my friends.  Most of the dogs are very unfriendly and these dogs are very nice to have along when you meet other dogs.

 This is our Stake Center at Fusi.  We held Elder Hamula's farewell here.

This is a sign put up on the wall to show how the Samoans and the people of the South Pacific felt about him.  He was very much loved here.

These are some of the dancers that put on a show for him.

The south stake had about 200 dancers perform for him

The men invited Elder Hamula to join in a Samoan welcome dance










We have two small ferries and one big ferry that runs between Upolu and Savai'i every day.  This is the big ferry and it will hold about 30 or 35 cars and it can have over 200 walk on passengers as well.   It costs 12 tala (about $6) per passenger one way and for the car and one driver 95 tala (about $48) so it gets expensive if you have to make too many trips.

This is a side view of the big ferry

This is an inside view of the big ferry. That little red car is ours.  In the big ferry the cars ride inside and are usually packed in very tight.  Often they have to let us out before they park the next car because we can't open our doors after the next car is there.  The next three pictures are of the little ferry and you will notice that all the cars are up on deck, it makes quite a bit of difference.

This is one of the little ferries and they don't near as many cars. That little red car is still ours and we always pray for a smooth journey

This is a picture of the little ferry when it is docked just before we are ready to leave.

This ferry is mostly loaded.  They will pull the truck and van behind it strait on and then we will leave.

Sorry, this picture goes back to New Zealand.  They have a Mongolian restaurant called Genghis Kahn which is very good.  You select the food you want and the sauces you want and they cook it on the grill.  I like hot and spicy and they mixed mine and another lady's food up.  The one I got was not spicy at all and the lady down a bit said hers was way too hot.  It all worked out because I was able to go for seconds and finally got my hot and spicy.  It was very good.

As you can see it is hard to keep track of which pile of food is yours but like I said it was very tasty.

Every so often the chef lights up the grill by igniting the oil with a lighter and then spraying more oil on it.  It was quite a show and you could feel the heat when you were standing 6 or 8 feet away.







I am going to publish this post before I lose it like I did the last one.  I tried to delete a picture and I lost the whole thing so I am going to send what I have and will send part 2 tomorrow.  Have a great day!!!    Lots of love from Elder and Sister Stonehocker

Hello from Samoa

Hello from Samoa

During our week break between terms, we were able to get some sight seeing in as well as work.  We were over on Upolu and we don’t get to see much of Upolu so when we had an opportunity to go visit some sight we took it.  They have some big Banyan trees on the island and a couple from Oregon built a couple of tree houses in a Banyan tree.  They have a big tree house and a little tree house and they took us for a tour.  They rent both houses out as a bed and breakfast.  They are very quaint and they are a bit pricey but they are very neat.  We didn’t stay there but we had a tour and we had lunch at their house.  It is all very impressive; here are some pictures from our tour.

This is a picture of some Banyan trees from out of the tree house.  All the big tall trees are Banyan trees.

This is a picture of Sampson, the Banyan tree in which they built the tree house.  This Banyan tree is about 300 years old.  They estimate this age from the time of the last volcano that erupted and covered this land with lava. This is the big tree house.  Sampson is about 180 feet tall and about 140 feet around at the base.  The reason they think that Sampson has withstood the tsunami and a cyclone a couple of years ago that knocked down a number of Banyan trees is that its roots are anchored in the lava flow under the tree.

Sampson is pretty impressive.  Each huge Banyan tree is made up of many roots and trunks of other trees

This is the bottom of the Banyan tree

called Sampson

A better look at the bottom of Sampson

This is the wall of the main bedroom in the tree house.

This is the main bedroom in the big tree house.

This is an interesting branch they had to deal with in the middle of their kitchen.

They made a stool out of it.

This is the wall of the shower .

This is the floor of the shower.

This is the bathroom with hot and cold running water.

This is the shower and shower wall.

This is the upstairs bed in the second bedroom.

This is the way up to the second bedroom.  It's a nice ladder straight up the wall.

This is a resting place on the way up to the rooms.











 These are pictures of the small Tree House.

 It is much smaller and built around a smaller tree but still impressive

The steps are a killer, I would hate to have to climb them too many times in one day.

The outside door to the tree house.

The kitchen, small but all their meals are brought from the main house .

A cosy place for two because this tree house won't hold much more than 2.

This is the only bedroom and the bed has a sky light so you can lay in bed and watch the stars, the sunset or even the sunrise.  They all are beautiful over here.

This is a deck where you can sit and have your meals or just relax and enjoy yourselves.

This is a tree near the small tree house, notice how the roots and vines are growing around the tree.  Many of these vines will actually infuse themselves right into the trunk of the tree itself.  It's all very interesting.

These pictures are from the coastal trail.  It is a trail that leads along the coast that is not protected by a reef.  It has some high cliffs where the waves just continue to come in and beat against the rocks.  There are a number of arches where the water has washed through the weakest points of the rocks.

Joanne standing on the edge watching the water below.  She is a little bit nervous thinking that one of those bigger waves will break down the lava she is standing on.  

These are the lava flats at the edge of the ocean.

These tree all have multiple roots going into the ground.  There is one main trunk but it branches into many roots as it goes into the ground.

There are lots of these trees.  The people here say that these trees help to stabilize the ground so that the waves won't wash it away.  I don't know but that sounds good to me.

These are some of the lava cliffs that the waves beat against.

This shows the power with which the waves hit the banks with.  It is amazing that the cliffs stand up so well.

Here is a lone tree on an island and you can see the holes that the waves have worn. It is an impressive sight.

These are the other couples we are working with. To the left are the Hammonds, they are the ITEP couple from Idaho who we work with.  Joanne is in the middle.  The couple on the right are the Goodlets, they are from Australia and they are the TVET couple who work with the vocational education program.