Auckland to Samoa

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Elder Whidden picked us up at the hotel and dropped us off at church.  He is involved in the Young Single Adult Ward so he went to another meeting.  We were warmly welcomed.  At first there didn’t seem to be many younger families, but in time they began to show up; still, there were a lot of older people there making it about half and half.  We first met Sister Nielsen; we later learned that she is the wife of Elder Gifford Nielsen and he is here in Auckland serving in the Area Presidency.  We missed meeting the Area Presidency while in the office because they were at lunch.  Sister Nielsen is so friendly and lovely, and so were many others.

 

After church was over we walked quickly back to our hotel in a stiff breeze, finished packing and took a taxi to the airport.  It stated on our plane ticket that there was no meal so we bought some snacks to take with us.  Imagine our surprise when we were nicely fed and entertained (movies & talented rap showing us the safety features of the plane).  We had asked for the bulkhead but the gal was a bit reluctant.  When we saw that they were empty we grabbed them after they took off.  Yes, another great flight—about 3 ½ hours.

The minute we stepped off the plane we could tell that we were finally dressed properly—it was instantly warm and humid and this was about 9 PM.  We quickly got through customs and fetched our luggage; as soon as we got out of the airport, there waiting for us was E/S Lata, the humanitarian couple, and E/S Fata, an Area Seventy.  It was so great to meet Sister Lata especially because we had been e-mailing back and forth on a regular basis for months.  They live in San Bernardino, CA but have served 5 missions.  They are going home at the end of January but will return for another mission in 6 months.  They are both Samoan but have lived in CA for many years.  They are great and so much fun to be around and really understand what needs to be done.  The Lata’s are so tired of hearing, ‘But we are so poor,” as they keep their hands out and don’t want to do anything to help themselves.  She said that they have enough money to help out but spend it on other things.  She ought to know because she is Samoan.

We were so surprised at this beautiful hotel.  No, it doesn’t have a kitchen, but it has all the other amenities you would want, most especially a good-working air conditioner.  The hotel is really pretty with shiny, tiled floors, an ironing board, comfortable bed, desks, a soft chair, a blow dryer, and a flat screen TV!  And, we have been told that we will be staying just here so we unpacked—it always feels so great to do that! 

Below: greeted by tropical flowers.                                           

Robert Louis Stevenson is a big thing in Samoa and they even have a museum in his honor.  This is a portrait at the hotel we are staying at.  Sorry about the desk flowers in front of the portrait...