When in Samoa... Natural Beauty

One striking difference between home and here in Samoa is the beauty regimen, or lack thereof... and I love it.

Back home, I am a girly girl wearing heels and dresses and makeup, the whole nine yards... a Southern Belle has to live up to that you know ;)

Or does she?

NOT in the deep, deep south that is Samoa.

The women here are beautiful - naturally.

Hardly anyone wears make-up or dyes their hair (and certainly not in an unnatural rainbow shade like can be found back in the states). Plus, there are not really hairstyles; the women just have long hair which is often pulled up or braided. Because of the heat, it is unusual for the women to wear their hair "hanging down" as they say :)

Also, fashion is not huge here since they don't have a ton of outside influences or money or even places to purchase new clothes. As a result, when they wear their clothes, they do not necessarily have to match and because of the importance of modesty here, the clothes are very loose and have little shape to them.

So, what has the Southern Belle been looking like here in Samoa...? 

Well, like the saying "When in Rome, do as the Romans do," I have begun to say, "When in Samoa..."

But, it didn't start out that I was doing as the Samoans do!

I packed some cute clothes and makeup and... I'd say I have worn them about 5% of the time, mostly just on Sundays for church or once or twice when we went out to eat. It is just too hot and you get too sweaty so, most of the time, my wardrobe has been tshirts and gym shorts (plus a lava lava: a traditional wrap that goes to the knees to be worn by both men and women for modesty) and flip flops.

I did have sense enough not to pack heels for here BUT,  I am going to claim a momentary lapse in brain functioning to explain why I brought my hair dryer (and my straightener!?!) to a very hot and humid place where I wasn't going to have AC. I still have not figured out how I could have been that dumb; I have used those a total of zero times!

Even if I had tried to wear makeup, it would just melt off my face. And any hairstyle would be blown into a mess by the wind or reversed by the intense humidity. It took me hardly any time to adjust to the Samoan beauty regimen :)


Not only do they focus on the NATURAL beauty of a woman without hiding behind makeup or hairstyles or using clothes as a crutch to create beauty, they are confident, precisely how God made them.

It has made me think of this:

^"3 Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. ⁴ You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God."

                                                         - 1 Peter 3:3-4

And this:

“For Attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
 For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
 For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
 For beautiful hair, let a child run their fingers through it once a day.
 For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.
 People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed.  Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself and the other for helping others.” 

                                                     -  Sam Levenson

And Samoan people do these things: speak kind words, share their food, value their family with everyone (even teenage boys) holding the babies and caring for the younger kids, working hard for themselves and those in their villages, etc.

What will the Southern Belle do back home? 

I'm not gonna lie. I like getting dolled up and enjoy fashion after having worn uniforms for 5 years so I will still rock my cute clothes and accessories and nail polish, etc. BUT, I no longer feel like I have to in order to be beautiful. Crazy what it takes to learn a simple lesson like that and truly live it out.

I feel so liberated by not worrying over outward appearance so much here. I hope to stay in the habit of dressing down a bit more and finding comfort and confidence in my natural beauty. Plus, I want to be like the Samoan women here and I also want live out the excerpts from above by focusing more on my inner beauty.

But, truth be told, step one in my beauty regimen once I get back to the states is a pedicure that my mom has offered to pamper me with and I won't be passing that up!!! One of the ladies here told me I should get a discount since my recent Sarah Grace attack left me without all of my toenails ;)

But, truthfully, even when I am no longer in Samoa, but instead back in the land of people who get dressed up even to go to the gym or the grocery store, I'm going to try to do as the Samoans do and rock my natural beauty much more often :)

Wherever you are as you read this post, I hope you are feeling (naturally) beautiful!

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!!!