Day 3

We woke up this morning and headed to the hotel's breakfast buffet at 6:30 a.m.

We had made arrangements with the Samoa Apia Temple prior to our arrival for the three older girls to do baptisms. We drove over in a heavy rainstorm, sat in the van for a few minutes hoping it would subside and then darted for the front of the temple.

We were greeted by the Temple President and he had our girls and Dan join a youth group that was visiting from the island of Savai'i for the week. Julia and I sat on a bench outside the entrance of the temple and enjoyed a cool breeze and watched the rain diminish. I visited with a local member and wrote in my journal. By the time the rain cleared, Dan had finished up and Julia and I followed him next door to the mission offices. We met with two senior missionary couples who updated us on the mission, how many missionaries were now serving and also about their own mission. We expressed to these couple missionaries how our own parents had served missions and what a blessing it has been to our family, especially the grandkids.

After our visit we walked back to the temple and met up with the girls who were soaking wet from walking around in the rain. We also took a group picture of all the local young men and women whom the girls had met and performed the baptisms with.

It was neat to see the temple, (which was first dedicated in 1983 when Dan was serving his mission there), and the newer temple which was rebuilt and dedicated in 2005 after it burned down during renovations. Dan was able to attend the dedication in 2005 with a group of former missionary companions and his mission president, but it was a first for the rest of us.

Following our temple excursion we drove around the block to a new primary school, Ah Mu Academy. Paul Cox, a former missionary to Samoa and a world famous botanist who lives in Provo, had asked us if we would visit this school for him. The last time he had been in Samoa he had seen these school children trying to learn in very primitive conditions. He, with the help of others, built a new school and he hadn't had the opportunity of seeing the final product. We were privileged to visit in his behalf and take pictures of the school children and the facility.

The children loved getting their pictures taken and I'm pretty sure we disrupted their school day for the hour that we were there. It is an English immersion learning program and these native Samoan children speak as well as American children in English.

A quick change of clothes and we headed to the southern end of Upolu to go to one of Samoa's beautiful beaches. We drove nearly 90 minutes to Return to Paradise Beach. A 1951 Cary Grant movie was filmed at this location and after seeing it, I understand why. Sadly, we pulled up and it proceeded to downpour. However, this didn't dissuade us from jumping into the crystal clear, warm Pacific and letting the cold rain fall. We were soaking wet by the time we decided it was too cold and the water was too rough. We headed under the shelter of a palm tree where we found a local cutting open coconuts to drink from. Even in the pouring rain, it was amazing to us that we had been the only people on this beautiful, remote beach.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped to view Papapapai-tai Falls. The falls plunge 100 meters into a rainforest gorge. It was truly spectacular! Unlike Niagara Falls (which are spectacular in its own way), the primitive setting of these falls and the foliage which surrounds them make extra ordinary.

We ended the day at this pizza bar in the heart of Apia. We liked the pizza so much, we ended up eating there another time. We enjoyed the company of a black cat (not really) that Hannah nicknamed Beyonce. I nearly died when the cat strolled to the back of the restaurant and into the kitchen. I said a silent prayer that the cat wouldn't be able to jump onto the counters where the food was being prepared. No cat hair was found and no food poisoning ensued!

Another day and another adventure in the southern hemisphere.