Upolu Zone Conference

President Leota wanted to have the Upolu Christmas Conference before transfers, so we all worked to have it on the 31st of December.  My husband and I picked up hamburger patties, buns, and ketchup and Afulua put together the other food to make this day a success.

They had their devotional first where President and Leota talked to the missionaries.  We then went into the skit portion of the program.  The couples serving in Upolu were of course expected to put together a skit.  We came up with the idea of singing 12 days of Christmas with props.  Sister Gertsch worked on changing the words and we had fun putting on our skit in front of the missionary.  Elder Partridge and I of course had Partridge.  We couldn't decide whether to do a Partridge in a palm tree or a Partridge on a par three.  So, we had fun doing them both which ended up getting a cheer from the missionaires every time.  Some of the other items used  were pigs squeaking, geekos hiding, taxis honking, guards waving and various other things unique to Samoa.

The missionaries really enjoyed having hamburgers from America (frozen patties).  Several of the couples had cooked them ahead of time because the kitchen natural gas was gone.  We had pineapple, egg foo yong, lettuce, tomatoes, and pickled beets on our hamburgers. We also had chips (which were from here and not very good) and various soft drinks. 

After we all ate, we cleaned up and did the games.  We didn't stay for the games but were told that the missionaries had a good time.  Elder and Sister Hanson were on hand in case there was any medical emergencies. 

That evening we had a couples New Years Eve party.  We have a couple from Layton, Utah that serve as vocational missionaries.  They are going to Fiji for their next assignment.  So we had a going away party complete with pizza.  We had sort of a roast and spoke of their fine qualities and sang the Samoan Farewell Song.  They left yesterday morning for their new assignment.  They are serving for 23 months and will spend five to six months in an area. 

The next day we had transfers, which ran rather smoothly.  Elder Partridge was busy arranging travel for those traveling to and from American Samoa and I was busy typing the position change letters.  Most of the missionaries that were transferred are in their respective areas not except a few that need to wait  on Visas to go to American Samoa.

On the weekend we traveled to the North Stake center and waded in the water at the beach.  It has been a busy and eventful week.