Pray for Our Trip to Arizona...

Please pray for these beautiful faces and all the other children we will be sharing God's love with on the White Mountain Apache Reservation. West Valley has a team of 19 leaving this Saturday at 6:00AM to drive to Show Low, AZ. We will be staying at the American Indian Christian Mission (AICM) for 6 nights. AICM is a boarding school during the school year and hosts missions teams during the summer. Pray for us as we work on the school in the mornings and run a VBS in the afternoons on the reservation.  

TEAM ARIZONA: Tracie Cordle, John Stalboerger, Lexi Hoevel, Bill Reagan, Jeff Burnett, John Hogue, Taryn Hogue, Robert Childs, Dawn Slowi, Juliette Saralou, Richard Cuellar, Lorrie Smith McDougald, Nathan McDougald, Caleb Hoback, Jocelyn Strauss, Shannon O'Grady, Nicco Puccio, Emily Wagner, Coby Borkin

In the air for the last time...

Van + Ferry + Plane + Plane = Home
Well the Samoa TEAM is on their last leg of the trip. Their families are so excited to see them very soon. Thank you for ALL the prayers!

Message from Grace...

The journey back home started at 3:00 am. The sky was still dark. We are excited to return to home, but too sleepy to show our excitement as we waited to board the bus. Between the sleepyhead and those awake, you hear Jens in the background sharing the astronomy of the night sky. Samoa sent us off with views of the glittering night sky and Mars as an added bonus. Thank you a Jens for pointing out the red planet.

The hour and a half bus ride was uneventful and quite. Most slept and a few snored (Greg and Maia). As we arrived to catch the 6:00 am ferry, some of us were more awake and conversant. Holly,Andrew and I played cards to past time. Katie and Anshila went to get coffee (not quite the same as Starbucks). Tim was excited about what he has plan when he gets to Apia.

The ferry ride to Apia took an hour and a half. Although, the water was choppy, everyone did well with battling sea sickness. By the time we got off the ferry, we were all awake and hungry. The group snacked on some peanut M&M and Samoan Peanut Puffs (M&M from our fearless leader, Katie, and the Samoan Peanut Puffs from Allen). Our van finally arrived, without a driver! Chuck and Kainoa to the rescue. Chuck drove one van and Kainoa the other (right side driver and stick shift).

We arrived at Apia, and were welcomed with breakfast by the leadership of Southseas Christian ministry. After breakfast we set out to site see. We divided in groups, categorize by activity (shopping or “inking”). After a couple hours in town, the team headed to the airport (part 3 of our travel: air).

The flight from Samoa to Hawaii was on time and the plane had room for this group of 23 to play musical chairs. Several seat exchanges prior to take off was enough to earn a dirty look and scolding from the head stewardess.
We arrived in Hawaii safely. We have a seven hour layover. In the last twelve hours we have travelled by land, sea and air. We miss home and look forward to share with you our experiences and stories.

All glory to the God. His love transcends all: culture, language, status, age, time and space.
As we left the village and people of Matava’i we are humbled, proud and grateful.

We thank you all for prayers.
~Grace

{photos: Outlet means we’re in the US again!!
Hanging at the airport!)

A Message from Chuck...

We are now on our last day in matavaii and it was awesome. We were able to help over 500 people in the medical clinic this week. God has blessed this team so much as we were able to work as one unit and it all went so smoothly. We are so thankful to the volunteers of the village that assisted us. Multiple surgeries were performed, drugs were prescribed where needed, vitamins and toothbrushes were given to all, and we were able to give out both reading glasses and glasses for distance. I hope this ministry continues to grow and we will be able to come back to this village for years to come. 
~Chuck

Morning Update...

Here are some of our finest getting ready for today’s medical clinic. The rest of our finest are running around being awesome! Katie that everything is amazing but they are so tired! They saw 160 patients yesterday including 17 preschoolers from a local school. Katie asked that we pray for the 3 surgeries scheduled for today and for energy. Today is the last full day. 

Tomorrow is a half day for the medical clinic, a fun treat going for canoe rides, kids camp, and they’ll end the day with the Fia Fia (a special goodbye party). 

Hopefully we’ll hear from another team member today.

A Message From Anshila...

(On Sunday) we got a chance to do a few house calls for the medical clinic. I got a chance to go with doctor Brad to a chiefs house who goes by the name Peter. He mentioned that he had wanted to see if surgery might help his granddaughter walk and talk again. That story was an incredible one in itself, after speaking with Peter for a bit we come to find out that the little girl was actually left in a paper bag on his doorstep in the middle of the night. His wife had woken up to some scratching at the door and when he took the girl in his arms she actually fit in his entire palm. Her body was contorted but this didn’t stop Peter from loving her. God truly works in mysterious ways because that mother knew this home would be the right one for her. Day and night Peter massaged her bones in order to straighten out her body. Even the doctor was amazed at what incredible condition she was in given the circumstances. That is something I will never forget.

The next day (Monday) we were getting all set up for the week. I got a chance to help out a little everywhere. In optical (Picked out some stylish glasses for pastor Titi as well) set up the actual med clinic where we take vitals like blood pressure and check glucose. I also had a chance to turn the med clinic into a salon at night by cutting the surgeon Doctor Cecily's hair. Later on in day we did a kids camp for all the children and I never have seen kids have so much energy and sing so loud and beautifully! Their voices praising the most high literally echoed throughout the whole village. It even got some of the volunteers in the med clinic to come up and see what all the commotion was about. The kids have tons and tons of energy like most children do but what I find so intriguing about Samoan children is that they are constantly singing worship songs even while they are playing... even the teenagers believe it or not!
~Anshila

A Message from Andrew...

Our ferry ride was only about an hour and a half, but to Josh it probably felt like an eternity due to his looming sea sickness. Luckily he was a trooper and pulled through without us having to clean the top deck of a three story ferry. As we pulled up to shore, we were greeted with a mountain greener than we’ve ever seen before. We passed by a long line of locals that were lined up outside waiting to board the ferry we just departed as well as children roaming the dock selling local snacks. Allen was the first one to buy a pack of “Samoan Twinkies” and share them with the rest of us who were less adventurous at first. Our bus ride would be around two hours, but it was our first passing glance at the island of Savai’i. The bus began to follow the road that outlined the shape of the island as we passed by different villages.

Before we knew it, we arrived at the village of Matavai to a warm welcome from our host village. Children were lined up on both sides of the road waiving mini Samoan flags. As we ushered off the bus and into the “fale,” we were treated to a Samoan welcoming ceremony. The first recession was the Kava ceremony where they soaked the roots of a Kava plant into a bowl of water during the ceremony. They then proceeded to give a cup to the chiefs as well as Rob, Katie, Dr. Brad, and Dr. Cecile who said a few words before drinking the cup. After this, one of the neighboring villages honored Jack, the head of South Seas ministries, by presenting a whole cow to show their respect for him and what he has done for them and the neighboring villages. The last portion of the celebration was a feast and was our first taste of Samoan cuisine. After unpacking the medical supplies, we had a light dinner, jumped in the pool to “bathe,” and crashed after nearly 27 hours of travel that day.

Although we slept on mats and in mosquito nets, we all slept like rocks. We woke up and took a morning plunge in the pool next to our houses to jump start our day. The men changed into our formal lava lavas, white button downs, and ties while the women changed into their all white dresses to get ready for church. The Samoan pastor spoke in both Samoan and English during his service, but the hymns were sung in Samoan. Every single one of them sung the hymns really well with even more gusto than Greg Green in the back of a Journey service. Lastly, the Sunday school children had practiced a dance for us to conclude the service.

We had a short period between services that we were able to used to rest and prepare for the second service of the day that we (mainly Rob) were in charge of running. We all practiced a worship song and the girls practiced their hula dance they nailed at the end of the service. After Rob spoke and the girls performed, the teenagers had a few more dances to perform for us. Almost everyone was more than willing to swap our subpar worship song for their exciting dances. Chuck was a little bummed we didn’t get to perform but we made sure to console him afterwards that we’d get more opportunities to sing later in the trip.

After service, we began sorting supplies for the medical clinic that would be starting the next morning. Normally, the village does not do any work on the Sabbath, we were willing to let us get sort and sent up tents that night due to the amount of work that needed to be done to be ready for the morning. With a tentative game plan in mind, we all went to bed trying to rest up for our big opening day here in Samoa!
- Written by Andrew Stalboerger

Day 1 of the Medical Clinic

 

Waiting for the ferry in Apia, Samoa

Dear friends and family we started our journey to Samoa yesterday from LA Thursday afternoon, and we landed safely this morning Saturday in Samoa. Yes, we did little bit time travel which we are still adjusting to. The welcome here was amazing, the people are so friendly and hospitable to say the least. Thank you so much to everyone who has offers prayers and support for us on this journey. We will be posting more updates, have a great weekend.

We will be taking a ferry over to the other island, Savai’i this afternoon before driving to our village Matavai.

~Michele and the team

Here are pictures of our first stop for breakfast before heading to the ferry.

Part of our Hawaii team, including Jack Thompson, the founder of SSCM (top right) and his wife (far left)!

           

Their half way there...

The Samoa Missions TEAM safely landed in Hawaii early this morning and once again they patiently waited for their flight to Apia, Samoa. The flight was delayed but finally left the gate at 2:08AM Hawaii time. They are scheduled to land at 6:30AM Apia time. They will be landing to mostly clear sky’s and beautiful 77 degrees.

...they will be livin' on our prayers.

Samoa here they come...

The Samoa mission TEAM is at LAX and waiting for takeoff.

Their flight has been delayed and is currently scheduled to take off at 8:20PM. I'll make an update when the plane in is the air.  

They have officially taken off and are in the air! Amen