Cyclone Pam

From Wikipedia

This is an edited excerpt from one of my letters home - illustrated with a few photos found online.  When I originally wrote home about this I got a few of the details of the story about the phone call wrong...(I thought the missionaries called the Mission president, but apparently it was the other way around.  Also, I originally had named the wrong mission president. )  I'm posting here to relay the story as accurately as possible.

To learn more about this storm and its impact, you can see updates, videos and photos of Cyclone Pam from New Zealand Herald at
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11417853

The  "official" death toll of this storm has fluctuated.  It started out in the mid 20's, then was reduced to  11.  Since then, others have died from the ongoing impact from the storm.  The economic destruction is massive.   People's lives have been hit hard.  But these are a resilient people and many have strong faith.   They are picking up the pieces.
 
The storm just skirted the edges of New Zealand, but it really hit Vanuatu HARD.   Once you get outside of the capital city on the main island where there are more concrete block structures, in the rural areas near 90% of the homes (which are mainly made of native materials)  have been wiped out.  Worse yet, the crops, which provide both basic food source and what little income people of the island have, were almost entirely destroyed.   The power, water system and communication systems were all flattened.  The islands of Vanuatu were devastated by this storm. 

Our friend, Elder Gary Winters had been there just a few months ago, and described that previous visit as being to a lush tropical place of beauty.  This time what he found was heartbreaking when he saw how extensive the damage was.  From the plane it looked sort of like an American winter - there were no leaves on most of the trees and everything was brown.  When he hit the ground the full scope of what the storm did was extreme .

There was debris everywhere.  Any place that had real glass windows now had shattered shards.   Huge banyon trees were upended and pieces of corrugated metal blown from roofs were impaled into buildings or the ground miles away.  The streets were a hodge podge of scraps of people’s lives with bits of clothing, cooking pots, broken tools and everything else they had owned scattered  haphazardly around. 

(Photo of damage in Vanuatu taken 17 Mar 2015 - Getty Images by Dave Hunt)

 Despite all the chaos, Gary was pleased to report the people were hard at work already rebuilding.   No one was sitting around waiting for rescue or a hand out.  They were working together, helping their neighbors, picking up the scattered bits of their lives.

At night there were hundreds of people being housed in our various chapels.  But during the day they were out clearing away debris and cobbling together new shelters.   They were picking up any food stuffs they could find.  They were helping one another.   He did not get a sense of a people who were traumatized by their losses.   This storm was not their first rodeo.   They know how to pick up the pieces and go on. 

For article and video about LDS Helping Hands efforts see
http://www.mormonnewsroom.org.nz/article/video--new-zealand-mormon-helping-hands-volunteers-send-2-000-food-boxes-to-vanuatu

The church is working with the government, other faiths and local NGO’s  to get clean water,  food, tarps and building materials distributed where ever it is most needed.  Members all over the Pacific are working together to package supply boxes to load on the boats and planes to send to our brothers and sisters of the islands of Vanuatu.    Humanitarian Aid funds donated throughout the world are being used  for everything from chainsaws for clearing the downed trees to supplies to replant the crops to sustain them long term.

The Phone Call:
One of the many powerful stories that came out of the storm was relayed by Mission President Larry Brewer.  It was later shared at a devotional  for the Pacific Area Office, which is where I heard the story.  After the storm,  President Brewer made several calls  trying to determine the safety of the  missionaries who were assigned in various places, including some pretty remote islands.  Vanuatu is made up of 85 separate islands, some quite small and only 65 of those populated.   One of the remote islands is called Tanna, and there were 11 missionaries there: 4 sisters and 7 young elders.  No one knew the status of those missionaries since there was no way to communicate.  The power was out, so even if there had been cell coverage they would have no way to charge their phones.  With cell towers destroyed, communication was not possible.   

Parents from all over were freaking out,  wanting to know if their sons and daughters were safe.   All of us here in the Pacific were asked to pray for these missionaries and everyone was on pins and needles waiting to get word.  Seeing work crews in the area where he was laboring to  raise communications as quickly as possible, President Brewer continued to try calling the Tanna missionaries, not knowing what else to do.  Finally, much to his surprise, the call connected.    The connection only lasted a very short time, but it was long enough for President Brewer to be assured that all the missionaries where safe and together.  President Brewer was also able to tell them to meet at the airport the following morning for an evacuation plane.  Then the phone went dead.  President Brewer tried calling back, but no other connections went through.  Just that one very brief phone call was enough, though, to put worried minds at ease.

When President Brewer saw one of the communications crews working to fix cell towers there in Port Vila, he thanked one of the techs for getting the communications back up to Tanna.  The tech replied:  “we haven’t gotten there yet.  There is no way to communicate with Tanna.”   President Brewer assured him that he had been able to make a brief call that very day.  The tech insisted this was impossible.   There was no way a cell phone could connect with no tower. But the call DID go through.   Frantic families who were praying with all their might got the reassurance they needed.  The missionaries were alerted to the plane on its way so they could be there to meet it, bringing them back to the safety of the mission home.  This is just one of many stories that have shown us all that God is watching out for us all and that prayers are heard and answered.   Faith is a powerful thing.

Road Trip

We returned to New Zealand on March 16 with mixed emotions.  While it is good to get back to our flat and the company of the other senior missionaries we are serving with, we were sad to say goodbye to our dear Samoan friends, the Ah Hoys.  We truly fell in  love with that beautiful country and the wonderful people there..

We were just home a few days before we took off again, this time for a get-away weekend with friends.  Our boss has suggested we take some time off  when we got back, so when one of the other missionary couples invited us for a road trip, we decided to take them up on it.

We traveled to the Central Plains of New Zealand.   Elder and Sister Winters had planned a special trip down that way with family members who had come from the USA to visit.   However, due to the recent cyclone in Vanuatu, Elder Winters was not able to go.  He is a specialist with the Welfare / Humanitarian Aid efforts for the Pacific.  Since he has strong past experience in disaster relief, he was just the right person to go with the team that would asses the damage there and make plans for how the Church could best help those in need. (More on that later).  Unfortunately, it came right at the same time that he had reservations for this special trip with his family.

With Elder Winters unable to go on their planned trip, they had no driver.  Like me, Sister Winters has deferred driving in this country to her husband.  Even if she had decided to brave driving on the left hand side of the road, that option had disappeared for her since she fell and broke her wrist shortly before we took off for Samoa.  She had to have surgery to get it put back together with pins and plates, and her hand is still in a cast.   So no driving for her.   The van they drive is one of the church fleet vehicles that any missionary can drive, but no "civilians" are covered on the insurance.  So her visitors were not allowed behind the wheel.  Since her daughter and son-in-law had just a narrow window of opportunity to see New Zealand during their two week visit, they wanted to make the most of each day they would be here.  Knowing we are usually up for an adventure, Elder and Sister Winters invited us to go along in Gary's place.  Larry was able to do the driving.  Their planned for trip was salvaged and we got a few days of seeing new parts of the country we had not anticipated.  So really it was a win-win.

Our first stop was near Matamata, where we went to tour the Hobbiton movie set.

Having been an avid fan of J.R.R.Tolkein's work, this was a lot of fun.  It's expensive, so it is not something we would ordinarily choose to do on our own.  But since we were on the trip with the others, we decided to splurge.  It was way more fun than I had expected and all of us had a great time wandering around "the Shire".   We especially enjoyed the stories we heard about the making of the movie.  It was interesting to learn about things like "forced perspective" and different things they did to create the illusions in the movies we found so captivating.

Next we headed on to Rotorua where we got to visit a Maori village.   We had a great dinner and got to watch a demonstration of their culture.

After that we got a walk through nearby Rainbow Springs Kiwi Wildlife Park.  Kiwi are very shy nocturnal birds so getting a glimpse of them in the wild is rare.   Here though they have incubator raised birds living in large enclosures so by standing quietly for a while we got to watch them walk around.   They are bigger than I expected, standing about a foot high and looking to be about the size of a long legged fat chicken.  We walked through big redwood trees and jungle plants, gazed at the Southern Cross and generally had a pretty amazing evening.

We spent that first night at Wylie Court hotel where I was delighted to see a luxury I have missed mightily - a bath!   This was no ordinary bathtub, however.   We had a large soaking pool that was heated by local geothermal currents.   It was plenty hot and big enough for the both of us to wallow in till we got pruney.  It was delicious!

The next day we did a bit of exploring around Rotorua.   We visited Kuirau Park where we got to see (and smell) the very active geothermal activity.  There are many bubbling, steaming pools and mud pots that smell like rotten eggs with their releasing sulpher.  We found some geocache and generally enjoyed the area.

After the park we found one more geocache across town that was hidden in an amazing tree that had been very colorfully covered in a knitted wrap adorned with flowers, spiderwebs and other decor:

That tree led us to a cool art gallery where we enjoyed the work of local painters, sculptors and fiber artists.

Then we walked along the "Sulpher Lake Sculpture Trail" that was nearby.

                                                 
                                  

We enjoyed the artwork and the lovely trail, but the lake was pretty stinky so we did not stay long.  So on we went to the next part of our adventure, down to Turangi.

We drove along Lake Tapo where in the distance we could see the peak that was used for "Mt Doom" in the Fellowship of the Ring movies (with some generous computer enhancements).

Lake Tapo is huge - and beautiful.

When we got to Turangi we stayed at a cute fishing cabin near the Tongoria River.

Larry and Jake went out fishing on Saturday.  While they were out Susan, Sara and I did a couple great hikes and found more geocache.  The guys brought in a couple of nice looking trout (which they let go) and we had some fabulous views.

On Sunday we went to church and then stopped by the National Trout Center to walk through the

river trails and view the fish at the observation deck.   It was a beautiful place we thoroughly enjoyed.

Then finally we were ready to head back to Auckland.   We had a delightful trip and very much enjoyed seeing more of the country.   I'm glad we went, but it's good to be back home.

Tapa Cloth

Larry and I had an opportunity to go to a cultural demonstration showing various aspect of traditional Samoan life.  One of the things I appreciated the most was seeing how they make tapa cloth.

Tapa cloth is a much sought after souvenir for many who visit the Pacific Islands.  Made from the inner layer of bark from certain trees - most often the  paper mulberry saplings (called u'a in Samoa) but also sometimes from breadfruit or fig trees, the cloth is decorated with various designs that traditionally were unique to the particular village where it was made.

For detailed history and information about tapa cloth you can see http://www.tapapacifica.com/

From that site: "Each culture has its own indigenous name for bark cloth and each retains its own characteristic techniques for producing it.  In Tonga it is called Ngatu, in Samoa - Siapo, in Nuie - Hiapo and in Fiji it is known as Masi."

The saplings that are grown for making tapa cloth are carefully tended, keeping all leaves stripped off the length of the plants to create one straight piece with no branches.  They are harvested when they are about 2 inches in diameter.

The bark  is carefully stripped off in one piece with a skilled hand.

After stripping the bark from the limb and separating the inner and outer layers, the soft inner material is soaked in water.  It is then scraped with a clam shell against a board to remove any remaining pieces of the outer bark and to softens the material, spreading out the fibers. Two different kinds of shells are used:  first a serrated shell and then a smoother one. This step takes quite a lot of exertion and care to get the material spread evenly without tearing it.

Next the cloth is beaten with a wooden mallet that is has flat sides and a rounded side.  This beating process thins out and stretches the material,  The steady whacking of the mallet against the cloth is a sound common to village life. When the beating process is complete, the artist making the material will carefully check for any holes or tears which will be patched by gluing on small patches with a tapioca paste.  This is why it is so important to take great care when the sapling is growing, because any place where a leaf was growing or a branch starting to bud out will create a hole in the bark.

This gluing with tapioca is also how the larger ceremonial pieces or curtain pieces are made, by attaching several of the small sections together.

Once the piece is spread evenly and all holes are patched, it is layed out with stones to keep it stretched while it dries.

When the piece is fully prepared it comes time to create the design.  Some pieces are painted by hand.  More commonly in Samoa they are placed on a wooden template that has the desired design carved into it.  The artist beats the cloth against the template to make the pattern embed into the fibers.  Then dyes made from different trees are added to create the shading desired.  Different plants result in different colors, which is why tapa from other regions will have a distinctive look.  Nearly all the tapa we saw in Samoa was dyed with browns and blacks with some limited uses of red for detail.

 Tapa cloth is used in nearly all ceremonies and rites of passage.  It has been a significant part of Polynesian cultures for thousands of years.   Whether holding a piece of common tapa made for sale in the tourist market or looking at the vintage museum pieces, I can't help but feel some awe for the effort that went into making these.  Even when using a template that will create the same basic design in dozens or even hundreds of pieces, each finished piece will be unique to the artist who made it.

Photo of Tapa Room from http://www.tapapacifica.com/

Now when I consider the tapa room I saw in the Robert Louis Stevenson museum  "Villa Vailima" the first week we were in Samoa I have a whole new appreciation for the work that went into creating those pieces.

Engaging the Youth in Family History

Steve Rockwood addressing students at the Pasenga School in Samoa

This week we participated in some powerful experiences with the youth of Samoa.  First, there was a special assembly at the Pasenga School.  Then there was a devotional for youth and YSA.  Over 1400 people attended at the Latopa Stake Center where the speakers were.  Others joined by broadcast at stake centers all over both Upolu and Savai'i islands.

One of the key messages brought to the young people here is the importance of their role in "hastening the work" and especially in advancing family history.  They were reminded of Elder Bednar's Conference talk from October 2011 in which he spoke of how this rising generation as "digital natives" are uniquely prepared to carry the work of preserving family records forward.

Steve Rockwood reminded the youth about the story in the Book of Mormon in which the prophet Lehi sends his sons back to Jerusalem to get important records, the Brass Plates of Laban.  It was the young people of that day who were needed to get the information which would be vital to their family and their whole civilization moving forward.   Likewise, it will be the youth of the church today who will bring energy and vitality to efforts in seeking out and preserving key family history information.


Brother Rockwood also taught them the analogy of the bow tie.  He selected young people out of the audience to come stand at the podium to represent a family.  He started with one young girl, an individual who had the opportunity to decide that night whether she would be like Nephi who said: "I will go and do the things which the Lord has commanded me,.." (1 Nephi 3:7)  He then began pulling up other people to represent her parents, her grandparents, her great - grandparents...those we have been teaching about as "Sulima / Sulima"  (15-15)...  meaning the 15 people who represent someone's 4 generation.  He also added some others to represent aunts, uncles and other extended family.

Brother Rockwood talked about the decision this girl would make that night about whether or not to take on the challenge of the 15 in 15 program would have eternal consequences for all those people standing there....but that was not all.   He then showed the other half of the bow tie - her future spouse, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.   With energy and passion Brother Rockwood  helped the young people participating at this devotional how one person's commitment to living the gospel, teaching their family, and searching out their kindred dead could truly bind together the generations in a way that would ultimately influence hundreds of lives.

As members of the family reached out to share the blessings of the gospel - either as full time missionaries or simply in conversations with their friends and associates, they can help others to discover the blessing of family history.  With that, the ripple effect goes even further.

It was a powerful lesson taught in a way that touched many hearts.

Throughout the night I kept noticing a young girl in the front row of the chapel who simply radiated joy.   Her eagerness to learn and her readiness to feel the spirit were so evident.   After the meeting ended I had an opportunity to meet this young girl and visit with her.  Her name is Miracle.  Somehow, that name seemed to truly fit.  I believe she can be a miracle to her family and her community.  I see this wonderful young woman of faith and virtue doing some big and important things in her life that will influence many generations.

It has been so powerful to be part of these meetings.   As our time in Samoa comes to a close, we are being reminded all over again why we are doing this mission.   Families are eternal.  The gospel is true.  There are remarkable promises of blessings for those engaged in this work.  We want to share those blessings.   So yes, sometimes it is hard and it most definitely requires sacrifices. It has certainly taken us beyond our comfort zone.  But when it gets tough, we just say "bring it on".  We are ready for this work.   We wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

Our Visitors from Salt Lake

For several weeks now we have been making plans for assisting with a tour of the Pacific by some special guests from Salt Lake.  Elder Allan Packer, General Authority Seventy and  Executive Director of the Family History Department and others are visiting New Zealand, Australia, Samoa and American Samoa.  Elder Packer is being accompanied by his wife, Terri Packer; and the Family History Department’s Managing Director, Dennis Brimhall, and his wife, Linda Brimhall. Steve Rockwood, an international director for the Family History Department, and Mike Higgins, Family History Manager for the Pacific Area, are also travelling with the group.   We picked them up at the airport here on Thursday evening and have been their guides and driver during the time they have been here.

Sister & Elder Allan Packer, Sister & Elder Dennis Brimhall, Steve Rockwood & Mike Higgins

Elder and Sister Packer

Elder and Sister Brimhall

Steve Rockwood

Larry has been chauffer for the group,  driving us all around in one of the big church vans. The van happens to have a standard transmission which ordinarily would be no challenge for him, but since here the driver's side is on the right that means he has to shift with his LEFT hand which took some getting used to.  Still, he has done a great job.

We have had various conferences, firesides and assemblies with them.  We also took them to visit a local family history center and then had time for a quick trip up to Saniatu.

We've very much enjoyed getting to know them all.   I was particularly impressed by the love Sister Packer had for the children here.

We have heard some fabulous council in these meetings and have also enjoyed our private conversations with them in the car as we traveled from place to place.

I have especially enjoyed hearing Steve Rockwood reinforce the importance of family stories.  He is a wonderful story teller and filled each meeting with power and energy I will not soon forget.

This whole week has been a wonderful opportunity.