Talofa from Samoa

To start fairly, all I can say is “wow!”

I landed in Samoa, a tiny island country in the southern Pacific Ocean, a week ago! It will be my joy to live here for 4 months as a missionary with YWAM. Over the summer I am staffing a Discipleship Training School (DTS) with approximately 50 students: 20 foreign to Samoa, and 25 Samoan students.

This week a few teammates, that I came with from Kona, and myself have been traveling around the country (which can be done in the span of a day) recruiting our Samoan students. It’s been an incredibly interesting experience as we are quickly learning about the Samoan culture. Their culture is very much one of respect, honor, laughter and of protocol. We found very quickly that there is a “right” way to go about things, and a wrong way. Luckily we’ve received much grace as we have tried our best to learn these protocols.

Pray with us as the remainder of our staff fly in today. We will be doing staff training for the next 2 weeks, one week here on the island of Upolu and next week on the bigger island, Savai’i. On June 15^th all our students will arrive and we are so excited with what the Lord has planned to do in us this summer. Also, please pray for all the foreigner’s health – mine has been fine so far, however those who haven’t lived in a developing nation before will likely have some troubles. Pray that hearts would be open, willing to see change in their lives. And that we would all abound in grace towards one another – especially in the area of cultural clashing.

This land is absolutely Beautiful! I hope to share some pictures soon of the country. Until then I’ve put some up of the YWAM base/property I’m living on. Internet is extremely expensive at $3.50USD an hour so my access will be limited.

Love Always,

Marisa Anne