L-R: Elder Wilson, Elder Cutler, Elder Mikkelson and  me,
enjoying Sat. morning breakfast

 Talofa Lava Family and Friends,
I am at the office this afternoon because I had a hard time deciding which pictures of fish I wanted to include. (Brent took a lot of pictures!)  Yesterday morning we fed the missionaries and then went down to the wharf to the large fish market.  The boats come in and dump their haul early every morning. The variety, patterns, and colors are amazing!  I hope that everything they bring in is used for something.  I would not have the faintest idea what to do with most of what we saw.   I remember reading about the problem of over fishing our oceans, and when you see the literally thousands of fish and critters brought into this one wharf every day, and sold so cheaply, it makes you wonder if anyone is paying attention to supply and demand.  I came
 to this market with Afalua earlier in the week

Colorful fish at the wharf marketweek and bought a tuna fillet

Thousands of fish are lined up on huge metal/tile  tables -
with not an ice cube in sight.  People stand over them and
fan off the flies.

 and bought a large fresh tuna fillet for $15 WST (about $6.50 USA).  It was definitely enough for two meals.  I cooked it in coconut milk with onions.  It was good, but would have been better if I hadn't cooked it so long.

When we returned from the market we discovered the power was out, which meant no air conditioning.  We have been spoiled, and so suffer when the luxury of cool air is not available.  The power goes out regularly on Sat. for some reason, so we are learning to live with it.  It was with great relief we packed a lunch and left around 12 noon with the other seniors for one last day at the beach with the Jacobs before they head back to California.  Again, this was a new beach for us so a new place to explore.  The snorkeling was like being in an aquarium with small brightly colored fish darting in and out of the coral.  Brent likes to go way out, but I am not comfortable enough in the ocean to get to far from shore.  At this beach you did not have to go far at all to see beautiful fish.  I'm amazed I get in the water at all after seeing all the things that live in there with claws, teeth and stingers!

The Jacobs warned us about posting too many beach pictures on our blog.  They said it gives people the impression that all we are doing is playing.  That could not be further from the truth.  I am still playing nurse.  This week we

More sea creatures - Anyone hungry?

 had a dog bite (Not serious), another Dengue Fever, colds and Plantar Warts.  Last Monday I took five missionaries into the doctors.  I sat in the exam room while the missionaries came in one at a time.  The doctor did not wear gloves, wash her hands, or change the bed linen the whole time I was there!  Not even after seeing the Sister who she diagnosed with body lice! (I went straight home and scrubbed every inch of me in the shower.)  As I was leaving she was turning the same linen sheet to the other side, to ready for the next patient. Welcome to Samoa.  

On our Saturday (Halloween) I left about dawn

Tuna of all sizes - it is the one fish we buy

 for my walk.  In the early light I was treated to seeing two large fruit bats and a cat.  For several days now I have loved seeing Venus, Jupiter and Mars in the eastern sky.  Last Monday we had a full moon.  Walking home from FHE we saw a spectacular moon halo.  I looked it up on the internet and it said it was an optical phenomenon.  The halo is always 22 degrees away from the moon (Whatever that means?) The halo is caused by the light reflecting off of ice crystals.  Look it up on Google under moon halo.  It was huge and spectacular!

I have been thinking this week what a blessing

Matareva Beach on the SW side of Upolu

 it is that there are so many things that are
predictable in our lives.  It gives me a sense of security knowing the sun will always rise and the moon and planets follow set orbits.  My scripture for the week is D&C 88:42. "And again, verily I say unto you, he hath given a law unto all things, by which they move in their times and their seasons;

 43 And their courses are fixed, even the courses of the heavens and the earth, which comprehend the earth and all the planets."  

Ellsworths, Jacobs, Whittles, Gillettes
and Lorentzs

I have noticed since living here that the moon is different . In the Southern Hemisphere the moon is opposite than the way you see it in the North.  (I checked it out on Google to make sure I wasn't imaging things.)

This week is full of activities as we welcome the Schaefermeyers home for a visit from American Samoa, and say good-bye to the Jacobs.  The office should be fairly quiet, barring an outbreak of the plague, and hopefully I can get caught up in submitting the baptism forms.  We have made wonderful friends here, but have not forgotten the family and friends at home that we dearly love and miss.  Get up early one morning and take a look in the pre-dawn hours at the planets and moon, and know that I am looking at the same planets and moon and thinking about you.  I send my love a best wishes for a wonderful week.  God Bless!  Patty