Scars as Souveniers - Sarah Grace in Samoa

Apparently
God really wants me
to remember my time
here
because he is giving me
very long lasting
souvenirs:
scars.

Not t-shirts
or towels
or things that may eventually
be tossed.

Instead
a scar (or 4ish)
that will forever
carry the story
of my time here in Samoa.

You may have seen
my post about the dog bite.
It still hasn't healed
entirely
(things heal very slowly here).
But it has
scabbed over.

My neighbor,
the nurse,
thinks it will almost certainly
scar.

My newest injury
though,
will undoubtedly scar.

Pretty gross, right?

Not only did I
take a big ole gash
out of my knee:

I also
lost most of
one toenail
and another one
may come off
as well:

And,
I managed
to get a couple gashes
in my other toe too:

What exactly did I do??????????

I wish I could say
I had a fight
with another dog
but won this time.
Or
that I saved
a Samoan child.
Or
gashed it while hiking
one of these mostly untouched mountains.

But, in reality, I fell.

Yep.
I just fell.

Sarah.Grace.Strikes.Again.

Maybe,
here in Samoa,
in the other hemisphere,
my balance is off
worse than usual...?

It was during recreation
for one of our VBSes
and the game
was Volleyball.

This was my one chance
to be possibly decent
during recreation time
because I can actually
play that sport
sort-of
and I serve fairly well.
I wish I could say
I tore myself up
that bad
by scoring the winning point
or making some awesome play,
but, no.

I had been on the court
all of 2 minutes.
I was just retrieving the ball
from the sidelines
(which is where I shall stay
for the duration
of my time
in Samoa).

The concrete was slick
with mold.
Or water?
I just tripped
on thin air
as far as I can tell.
It didn't even hurt,
at first.
Then I felt the blood
trickle down my leg.
I looked
And freaked out,
Especially at my missing toenail.

No glorious story,
just klutsy Sarah Grace.
And a runaway volleyball.
And slick concrete.

I swear
there had to have been
a stick
or rock
or piece of glass
though,
the way my knee was sliced up.
But when I looked
later,
this was all I found:

I know that was the spot
because of the two red lines
in the bottom right corner
which is where
my toe-nail polish
left a mark.

I really have
no idea
how I fell
or how it did the damage it did.

My only guess
is that,
since I was sharing
the message that night,
it must have been really good
'cause the devil
was trying to stop me
from giving it.

I almost didn't
give it
after I nearly fainted
(seriously)
when Sam was cleaning
my cuts.
Hydrogen Peroxide
hurts
and stings.

One girl
described my knee
as hamburger meat.
Ewww.
But accurate.

And all that open skin
has been getting
infected.
Please pray for
a quick healing.

 
But, as one of
the other missionaries
prayed:
God has a plan,
even in this.
Time I spend sitting out
of recreation
Or when others go swimming
(the water is too dirty
here
for me to get in)
May open up
time
for me to
rest
or share
a conversation
or company
or Christ
with someone
who needs it.

So I shall try
to embracewhat else God
has for me
and my bum knee
and toes.

Regardless,
as I said,
I shall leave Samoa
with scars
as souvenirs.

And they will
hopefully
lead to conversation
for me to remember
and share
what God
allowed me
to do here.

PS - thank you to Bekah Shearin for the inspiration of the writing style for this blogpost  :) Her blog is great if you want to check it out!

JLH and TIS: Life in Samoa

I'm adjusting to life here in Samoa. Some things are just like home (JLH) and some are quite different and make us say our new favorite abbreviation TIS (This is Samoa).

Here is a bit of both, things that are JLH and things that are TIS...

JLH: Things are slow here just like the leisurely, lazy pace of a Southern summer afternoon. BUT, even in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, things aren't quite this slow ;)

Yes, that says 5mph

Though that isn't the case everywhere on the island, the speed limits are pretty low here (the highest being 30mph) and they pretty much have to be with winding roads, large pot holes and lots of unfinished roads.

It's probably better with low speed limits anyways since TIS: seat belts aren't required here except for in the front seat and...

TIS: People can (legally) ride around in the back of a pick-up truck. I LOVE IT!!!!

Me, Sam (my neighbor the nurse!) and Tim (a boy who lives on campus) off to the beach one afternoon

JLH: Summer showers appear out of nowhere and the bottom drops out of the sky, but just for a bit and then the sunshine returns :)

 I looked like Sam at first with my eyes pelted by raindrops until someone had the great idea for me to put on my goggles ;)

JLH: Palmetto trees blowin' and waves crashin' in those summer showers :)

 TIS: Mountains right beside the beach - so incredibly breathtaking

TIS: Back home we have fresh tomatoes on the roadside; here it is pineapple :) That whole big plant produces just one at a time!?!

JLH: Baking cookies for a church picnic (and eating cookie dough!) in my pjs with good friends... Only, next time we won't bother with the baking because TIS with no AC and our room was about as hot as the oven for hours afterwards!

Me and my co-missionaries/roomies, Bekah and Jenn

JLH: Saturday mornings are spent around the sports field. For me growing up, it was soccer but here I went to a softball game to see Rachel (the little girl who lives on campus) play first base :)

BUT, TIS: I wasn't kidding when I said dogs are everywhere. This dog just chilled on the sidelines and walked onto the field but no one paid him any attention. He didn't seem to have an owner :(

JLH: Kids love peek-a-boo!!!

 Brandon (one of the other missionaries) playing with Tim and Rachel's brother, Demetrius

TIS: They eat bananas hot... either cooking them on a fire like below or boiling them. They end up tasting kinda like a baked potato. 

But, most everything I end up eating here is cold because TIS: we store almost all our food in the fridge (even bread and chips and peanut butter) because, if not, the ants will attack. My roomie Bekah wrote about it in her recent blogpost.

JLH: Kids love VBS :)

We have two more VBSes starting this week. Please continue to pray that students not only come out but that they also connect with us and Christ.

We've recently been looking to the woman at the well in scripture and she is a great inspiration. We don't want to get caught up in hoping huge numbers come out to VBS; instead, we are seeking to focus more on connecting with who God brought us here to love on, even if that is just one child or one adult. One new believer is definitely a praise and can be a powerful influence, just like the woman at the well. Because, TIS, they have villages here instead of neighborhoods and that makes a great parallel with the woman at the well. She connected first with Christ and then shared her experience which led many others in her village to believe:

Many of the Samaritans from that village believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”          - John 4:39

So that is our prayer. For these children to connect with Christ and then share their experience with their families and villages and that God would use that to draw others to believe in him.

Lastly, JLH, I appreciate your prayers and you reading my blog! Thanks!!!

Week One in Samoa

It has been a little over one week and by this time, I'd usually be heading home on most of the mission trips I've previously been on. Quite the opposite, though, I just officially got started. Our first VBS started yesterday afternoon after the last two missionaries arrived Sunday night.

I was fortunate enough, though, to get to fly in early. This week for me has just been a chance to acclimate and explore the island of American Samoa and begin to build relationships with those around me.


Here is a bit of what happened and what I've learned in Week 1:

----------------------------- 1 -----------------------------

The people are BIG here. And some of them are solid muscle. Note this dude's bicep which is the size of my head!?!

----------------------------- 2 -----------------------------

Their hearts are big too - especially the kids who are SO loving!!!

These pics were taken during their last week of school; I just got to observe and hang out and play with them which was sooooooooo wonderful!

----------------------------- 3 -----------------------------

They have great sportsmanship. I watched their softball games. It was the sweetest thing: everyone cheers on everyone, regardless of your team. The players would high five the other team's players for good moves or say "Good try" when they missed a catch or struck out or whatever. It isn't as competitive and mean like in the states where you are made fun of or put on the bench if you're not the best... too bad I didn't play sports in Samoa growing up  ;)

----------------------------- 4 -----------------------------

My leg has been healing; not a lot of infection, praise the Lord!

 

It mostly just bruised, even where his paw got me on my upper calf. 

----------------------------- 5 -----------------------------

I played dodge ball which is pretty much their favorite game!

----------------------------- 6 -----------------------------

I went to two graduations which were beautiful. There were lots of people and even more excitement :) Here are a couple things that are different from the states:

• They give out candy leis - a whole lot of them
• They wear the balloons instead of holding them; normally they tie it to the lei
• Guys will cry; everyone was emotional, even the men
• They run very long with several speakers, often lasting most of the day

----------------------------- 7 -----------------------------

I helped out with their school's field day with games like the balloon toss, over under and tug of war. Larry even got in on the tug of war!

----------------------------- 8 -----------------------------

We went to the market Friday night for their "First Fridays" event. There were craft booths, live music, local food and I tasted my first fresh coconut. The guys literally pulled it out of the box and sliced a hole and then popped in a straw. It wasn't super sweet but it was pretty refreshing :)

That is just a taste but we did lots of other stuff, including buy supplies, paint and decorate for VBS.

I'll try to write a post again soon to update on VBS.

If you pray, I'd appreciate your prayers as we begin our ministry. Even though it has been raining and we haven't been able to go out to the villages as much to invite people, we still had about 80 kids tonight. Pray that they return, there isn't a language barrier, we all have fun, stay safe and share Christ and his love. Thanks!!!

A Dump, a Dog Bite, Broken Shoes and a Shipwreck: my first 24 hours in Samoa

After being up for 26 hours I had traveled through 3 time zones, leaving SC for Savannah, GA and then Dallas, TX and lastly San Francisco, CA before landing in Honolulu, HI for the night. That was my pit stop before a 5+ hour plane ride that finally got me to Samoa late Sunday night. Lucky for me, I had the next day to rest... or so I thought!

Monday was Memorial Day and everyone had the day off from work since I'm in American Samoa, a U.S. territory. For the holiday, 5 of the people I'm working with and I decided to go explore the nearby island of Aunu'u (the tiny blob farthest to the right):

It proved to be quite an eventful trip...

The Dump

We drove along the coast winding around several coves before taking a ferry across to the island of Aunu'u. It was GAWWW-gussssss!!!!

We had a fairly easy hike... only we hiked to the wrong part.

They don't mark things in Samoa so we were just going down a random path that actually led to their dump or landfill or something like that. We were going to try to cut through but - then I saw rats, and decided to turn around. Plus, it smelled pretty bad :/

Fortunately, the next path we took led us to where we were trying to get to in the first place: the cliffs.

It was so VERY beautiful. We sat and watched the giant swells crash into the cave and spray up over the shore:

Unfortunately, we could not sit and watch the waves for hours, though I wanted to. We had to start back down the trail to get back to the shore so we wouldn't miss the ferry back to our car.

The Dog Bite

Hmmm, where do I start.

1) I am a dog lover.  Times a thousand. I've owned one my whole life and we spoil our dogs. Rotten. 
2) It breaks my heart when people are mean to their dogs. Michael Vick level or even just leaving them on a chain outside, etc. I hate to see dogs being hurt.
3) Samoan dogs are mangy and mean. They are not well-fed or groomed or attended. They fight each other and are aggressive towards people. (I learned this the hard way, obviously.)
4) Also, Samoan dogs are everywhere. Outside stores, along the streets, at people's homes. Everywhere. Including the island of Aunu'u...

We were walking back to the shore when the girls ahead of me stopped to pick up rocks because there were about 5 growling and barking dogs running towards us. I followed their lead and picked up rocks too, though I was sure we weren't really going to use them.

Well, I was wrong.

The dogs were coming at us but their owner was trying to call them back. He even threw a machete to try to scare them off. We thought it had worked and, despite the continued barking and growling, the dogs were staying in the man's yard so we started walking past his house. I was second to the last out of the six of us.

All of a sudden, a brown and black dog darted straight towards me and lunged at my left leg.

Rocks in my hand, I froze.

The dog lover in me just couldn't throw a rock at a dog. (And let's be real, I'm sure my aim would not have been accurate anyways!) Plus, he came so quickly.

I felt him get me and the force of his jump knocked my feet out from under me.

I fell. And screamed. And bled.

I freaked out because once I was on the ground, I was like, "Great! Now he's gonna rip my face off." I'm happy to say, that was not the case! I kept from crying but it scared me pretty bad.

The part that scared me most, however, was when the owner rushed off to get me something (which I assumed was some local plant with magical healing powers) and brought back hair from the dog that bit me. Seriously. He just plucked it right out of the dog's side because they believe that has healing powers.

All I could think was "Heck no! Infection!" because the dogs here are so dirty.

Fortunately, a sweet girl I was with diffused the situation by saying that she would take it and give it to me later if I needed it.

I hobbled away and a few minutes later (once we had put enough distance between us and the dogs), I washed it off in the ocean. It kept oozing for most of the day but, lucky for me, I live with an RN. Convenient, right? She cleaned it up good and put fabulous Avengers band-aids on it before I went to bed. I woke up with bruising this morning and it is sore but I think I should be good :)

Broken Shoes

As if that wasn't enough, while hiking in the washed out muddy part of the trails (which at times were like small ponds) I broke first one shoe and then the other. I wish I could say it happened in some grand adventure or while rushing away from the dog or by saving a screaming baby or something, but no. In reality, the mud just suctioned the soles right off of the shoes!?!

But, they still functioned so I made it off the island :)

Shipwreck

K, maybe I took a little too much artistic license on this last one ;)

I did not get in a shipwreck - Praise the Lord - but I did visit one.

After we finished our hike at Aunu'u, this was on the ride home so we stopped to check it out.

______________________________________

That that was Day 1.

Who knows what other adventure lies ahead...

I'll keep y'all posted on future adventures/attacks! Let's pray there aren't any more attacks!

Serving in Samoa - My adventure for the month of June

Where I'm Headed

Samoa.

Have you ever heard of it? I hadn't.

Not until I decided to serve there this summer. It's a tiny Pacific island (only 14 miles long) that is closer to New Zealand than it is to Hawaii.

The teeny orange dot that is Pago Pago is where I'll fly into after about 15 hours in the air. Eww.

BUT, I can't complain too much.

The tiny island has beaches, waterfalls, mountains and caves!?!  Many people go on mission and end up sleeping on dirt floors and pooping in squatty potties but I'll be serving under a palm tree on a sandy white beach like this:

I mean, hey, everyone needs to be reached... even in paradise ;) 

What I'm Doing

BUT, in all seriousness, even in paradise I will be working and I will have stressful moments, I'm sure.

It isn't just a fabulous vacation. It's actually a mission trip.

I will be serving alongside Larry Leming who I worked with last summer in my hometown. I will be doing similar things only in Samoa instead of South Carolina. This includes primarily leading Vacation Bible Schools but also assisting with kids sports camps, community outreach, helping the local church, loving on the locals and possibly more...

Why I'm Going

It all started back in January at the Passion conference. As any of my regular readers know, that conference had quite an impact on me. This particular conviction came in this song:

If you watch the whole video (so worth it!) you'll see that Chris Tomlin invited friends of his from all over the world to sing verses of the song. It was one of the most powerful moments of worship I have ever been a part of.

Though I didn't understand what those people were singing, I knew they were praising our God and that He understood them. It was such a beautiful picture of the church as it should be, all our brothers and sisters of different backgrounds coming together from several nations, just like it talks about in Revelation 7:

(9) After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.

The moment of conviction came for me not during the singing but when Louie Giglio came out on stage before the final verse.

He started talking about how we in the audience were probably all moved by these people and their countries represented on the stage and if not them, then the people and country we had a heart for - the place we had gone on a mission trip or the nation we sent support to or the people group we prayed for, etc. As he was asking us to pray for that particular place or group of people on our heart, I was thinking this:

"Hmmm. No Louie. I don't have a particular country/people group in mind. Dear God... Is it bad or unbiblical that I just like America so much??? It's not that I don't care about these other countries, there just isn't a particular one that I always think of or desire to visit. And not just like a visit for you Jesus... I don't even have a long-time dream of like visiting  Paris or Australia or anywhere for that matter for a vacation. Oh my gracious. Am I that awful, isolated American who only cares about Ah-murica?"

No. I don't think I'm awful. BUT I did realize in that moment that I didn't have a cross-cultural experience as a Christian. And largely because I had never really left America (unless you count a cruise or two and our vacation last year just across the border to Nova Scotia).

I began to realize that I should visit another country for Jesus. Um, hello, the Great Commission? ALL THE NATIONS.

"Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ²⁰ Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

                                                                                                 - Matthew 28:19-20

So, then what?

 

Even though I realized I should "go," I had no idea where to go.

I began to pray that God would give me a people or a place to go to this summer. Especially after I found out I wasn't working for my other job during the summer (there is a lot less to do for a collegiate ministry when college is out of session!).

I couldn't go on the Baptist Collegiate Ministry summer mission trips because I was no longer a student. My parents weren't thrilled with the idea of me (a little white girl inexperienced with travel abroad) taking off to India to fight human trafficking first hand which is what I was leaning towards.

BUT then, I ran into my good friend Larry at our state BCM conference where he was recruiting people for Samoa. Since this was not an official BCM trip, I could go. Plus, my parents were much more comfortable with me being halfway around the world with someone we had known for years and in a less hostile place than high-human-trafficking-locations.

All I needed then was my plane ticket, though that cost a pretty penny (or two, or like 200,000).

Although, I have heard that for mission trips if it is God's will, it's God's bill.

And what do ya know. In my case it was true:

I went to close down an old bank account that I thought was nearly empty but it had had money direct deposited into it. How much money? Oh, just within about 100 dollars of what I needed to buy my plane ticket. Yes, my accountant mother was horrified that I had not kept better track of my money BUT I had been operating without it in my budget so it was available for a plane ticket.

Boom. Done.

With the financial backing, I had nothing blocking me. After some prayer and a bit of planning, I committed to this mission trip.

And, now what? 

I leave in about a week!?!

I have to figure out how to pack for an entire month. Never had such a long trip.

I probably should hit our beach here to attempt to tan so I don't look like Casper among the Samoans ;)

I'll be praying and I ask for your prayers, especially for
   - Safe travels
   - Connection with my co-workers and the locals there
   - To be in tune with the Holy Spirit as I prepare and while I'm there
   - I'll probably have more specifics once I get there...

I'll try to send a post of life for the Southern Belle Feminist  in the deep deep south of the Pacific in the culture of Samoa :)

What is beauty?

Beauty.

What is it?

I found this cheap necklace at Claires when I was about twelve and even though it leaves a green ring around my neck every time I wear it, I cannot toss it out because I fell in love with its definition of beauty:

"The quality present in a person or thing that gives intense pleasure to the mind."

Intense pleasure to the mind. Not the eye. I love that.

Because beauty cannot be put into a box. It is embodied... not just a body. 

Being beautiful is all about playing up and becoming more of what YOU already are...

It is something altogether different from being "pretty."

Pretty is all about playing up and becoming more of what they tell you that you should be, what is trendy. "They" being the magazines, music videos, celebs, etc. in society who tell you how to look.

 

But often that image they present is unattainable and distorted.  

They. Limit. Beauty.

But, I believe, every single person is beautiful. Truly.

I realized this last year at a retreat where we sang "You're Beautiful" by Phil Wickham over and over again.

The lyrics talk about how nature like the stars and sunrise all proclaim to God: "you're beautiful." And then it hit me that all of God's creation declares that He is beautiful, including people.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said this:

Colossians 1:16 says

for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see--such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.

Genesis 1:27 talks about how people are made in God's image... How incredibly offensive that must be for us to call His creation, in particular one of his people that carry His image, anything less than beautiful.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time.

Granted, there are times like now when I have a mountain range of zits on my face, I'm in need of a haircut and my finger nail polish is chipped that I feel like today may not be my "own time" ;) BUTTTTTTT, all in all, God made each and every one of us beautiful.

And we should rest in that. On good days... and bad days.

He does.

Even when we/others don't. 

Beauty is so much bigger and fuller and deeper than being "merely pretty:"

I hope instead of trying to fulfill society's limited scope of "pretty," that you aim to own what God gave you - and embrace it because...

So today - and everyday - I hope you know that you are