Impressions after a week

Abs and I just had the pleasure of a taxi ride all around the North-east coast of Samoa and it was such a gorgeous thing.
As you can imagine in a tropical island environment there were coconut and banana palms all along the coast, most jutting out diagonally over the water and loads of yellow and red hybiscus plants lining the roads and planted around the houses. We passed through many villages by the water. Most of the houses are huts with sloping roofs and no walls, so you can see straight through. There were a couple of guys out in the sun playing volleyball in a slower Samoan style. Pigs, piglets and chickens were roaming free in the front yards. There were also grave stones in the front yards, many being used for extra washing line space.
We saw a church at least every 100m and there were at least 4 or 5 massive structures in each village we passed through. Apparently Samoans get all their money from donations from relatives outside of Samoa, and I'm sure they couldn't build the churches from their own funds unless there was heavy tithing and rich people in residence.
Although the weather is more humid today than it has been for the last couple of days after the last rain, there was such a lovely cooling breeze flowing through the van the whole way along.
We were headed for the Piula Cave Pool beside the Methodist Theological College. When we arrived there we were told that they were closed. Of course they closed at 4pm and it was 4:15 by the time we arrived. Anyways, the Reverend surrended after finding out that we were leaving on Tuesday and that it was our first trip to Samoa and allowed us a viewing of the pool. We drove further down and thankfully someone who had heard the Reverend give us permission passed on the details to the man collecting money at the so called gate. It was quite a dissapointment when we arrived at the bottom and saw the clear cool water knowing that it was too late to swim, especially as we still had to pay the entrance fee of 2 tala each:-) So I dangled my legs and imagined how good it would be to disobey the Reverend and wet my whole body. Thankfully Abs was there as a good conscience, cause I don't think he would've minded too much.
Then it was the journey home.
Although the outcome we expected wasn't reached, we enjoyed a luscious trip round the coast and came back knowing and experiencing that God created it all and that it was VERY GOOD.
It's quite weird to think we've only been here for just a little over a week as we've done so much.
Staffing the centre each day kept us busy and I'm a little sad that that part of the this trip is over already. We read in John the other day about doing things for God's glory and not for the praise of men, and that gave us a bit of confidence to continue through the few rejections.
Everyday we've had a few callers into the shop and people taking leaflets from the outside racks, but we've had 2 people during the week that I've been excited about. One teenage girl that works near the Bible Study Centre came in one day with the Sabbath leaflet and she was SDA and wanted to know if it was scriptually to keep the sabbath. I explained that it wasn't, and took her to some of the standard quotes. She wants to keep in touch and so we're going to meet up again on Monday when we get back from the other island Savaii.
Another wonder was Edward who I gave a leaflet to in the market this morning...one of the 200 leaflets was rewarded with a hearer to the ANZAC Bible Prophecy class. He listened intently the whole way through and then asked why the Catholics weren't teaching him the same stuff. I felt really sorry for him, I would be upset if I was a Catholic and then suddenly came in contact with bible who were real bible studiers and didn't just accept anything that was said from the platform.
But he left with some leaflets and us having his number so I'm hoping that he doesn't do the typical Samoa thing and never follow up – but we'll definitely be following up such a keen contact.
Kids classes after school have been great. We've had some quizes, some lessons and some general get to know them better time. Antonio 'master of the bible' is great in a learning context, but quite difficult to deal with as he answers all the questions and doesn't leave much for the other guys to say at all.
But John has come most days as has Victor and each day there has been a few variations but usually 5-7 kids there.
Thankfully they all came to Truth for Youth: reading the bible for yourself on Friday afternoon and made us feel like it wasn't a wasted venture.
Last night we went to the pentecostal 'Youth' group, and I gave a class on the Kind Samaritan. We were a little hesitant to go, but how can you refuse something that you don't know anything about, and could potentially be a good method of teaching the truth. It was an interesting experience, only 3 ppl there older than 13, and the kids were really great listeners and answered all the questions.
Tomorrow is Memorial at the shop and then we ferry to Savaii island to sleep out in a F'a-le on the beachfront. Monday afternoon we get home and say goodbye for Tuesday morning we fly out.
Unfortunately we don't get the ANZAC public holiday in either country but it definitely helped with leave.
Chiao for now.