Each year our experience is different, but this year
especially, we have been blessed. It’s
been such an amazing week to work with our Samoan friends to serve over 800
patients at the medical clinic and share Jesus with over 150 kids for our Bible
camp/sports camp. The last day for the
clinic and camps are always hard, but our team is proud of the work that we
did. We said goodbye to our friends from
Hawaii on Friday afternoon, but we are hopeful to work with them again sometime
soon!
This year, we experienced the luxury of staying an extra few
days after a week of hard work. On
Saturday, we took a trip into town to do our usual shopping at the flea
market. Afterwards, we were blessed
beyond measure by a surprise trip to a private island. We drove around this beautiful island of Apia
to the other side to take a ten-minute boat ride to the Namua Resort on a small
island. We got to swim in the warm
water, relax in the beach fales (huts), and our hosts BBQ-ed a delicious dinner
for us. Some of our team even took an
epic barefoot hike up the mountain and mud-surfed on the way down. We have never
experienced anything like that before, and it was such a blessing to relax and
enjoy an afternoon with our new friends.
Today (Sunday), we went to church at Great Harvest
Ministry. We sang some of our favorites
(Lord, I Lift Your Name On High & Shout to the Lord). As we were singing, I felt like that’s what
heaven will be like – worshipping with brothers and sisters from different
cultures and languages, but connected by a Great Love. We shared a delicious meal after church, and
are now fully embracing this Sabbath day.
As much as we hate to say good-bye to this community that
has welcomed us with open arms and open hearts, we are excited to be coming
home tomorrow. We leave Apia at 11:30am,
and land at LAX around 1:00pm. DON’T
FORGET TO PICK US UP ON MONDAY!!
Praying for a short customs line and healing of our
countless mosquito bites,
Julia & Katie
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