Saturday, July 1, 2017

Exams & Brother Woodruff's Visit

This was midterm exam week for the Vaiola College (high school) students.  Exam week is intense; students sit for two two-hour exams each of four days.   Then on Friday the high school students participated in field events and the Primary school had a special "English Day" event.  Karla had the opportunity to give a five-minute presentation on how English opens the world of opportunities by creating a hot air balloon prop with an umbrella and describing the vistas of education, careers, learning, etc.  "Elder & Sister Rees" were judges for the mini competitions for songs, poems, battle of the minds, and character modeling.  It was a lot of fun to see the children acting their various parts, modeling costumes, singing, and reciting.
Earlier this week we were blessed by a visit from Michael Carthew of the New Zealand area office over Pacific Island schools and from Mark Woodruff, Assistant Commissioner of Church Education from Salt Lake City.  This was Brother Woodruff's first visit to Samoa.  We were privileged to pick them up at the wharf and drive them back to the ferry.  They were here to meet with school administrators.
Thursday night we had 3.42" of rain!  And we found out that the wind can blow. 
Friday we took the car into a tire shop which was efficient and well-equipped; they pulled a nail from our tire and made the necessary repairs. 
Friday movie night we showed "Eight Below Zero" to the international boys and girls.  The night marked the beginning of a two-week school break and for that reason, we furnished buttered popcorn as a treat.
Saturday was a kick-back kind of day for us and it so happened we found the village with the sports fields where they play soccer, etc.  We arrived in time to see the Vaiola girls play a soccer game.  This is the first girls team that Vaiola has had in a few years.  They won 1-0.  The boys won their game earlier that morning, 8-0.  The school coaches are not compensated for their extracurricular responsibilities.  Each teacher is assigned some activity.  They know it is important for the students to have opportunity that otherwise wouldn't be possible.
We did catch a glimpse of a flying U.S. flag along the main road Saturday.  Happy Birthday, America!

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