The Ivie Garden: Why we went to Samoa

Richard and Maralyn, my mother-in-law and father-in-law served an LDS mission 15 years ago in Samoa. It was really hard for Maralyn. The climate and lack of familiar foods was almost more that she could handle. There was a woman that took her under her wing and made it possible for her to stay in Samoa. Her name was Valey Tagaloa. The Tagaloa's lived on the Viola campus and Brother Tagaloa taught biology. Valie visited often and cooked for Maralyn. Richard and Maralyn finished their mission and made life long friends.

While Richard and Maralyn were on their mission, my brother and sister-in-law adopted a little Samoan boy. They took him back to Samoa to be baptized a few years ago, and now they are living there for a few years. Richard has gone back several times. Once he went back to do a water project. He went back for the temple dedication. This time we went with him. We went to visit Pat and Bridgette, and to experience Samoa. We took our three boys, my nephew Roman Dotson and sister-in-law Jen.

When Richard goes back, he tries to do something for the family that adopted them. Most of the extended family lives on the Island of Savii. It is considered a developing country as of last year. During this trip we planned to purchase steel to replace a thatched roof on Luafitu's fale, and to paint a fale that had been submerged by the ocean during the last major tropical storm.

We didn't have much time to complete this project. We tried to fit alot into just a few days. It gets dark about 7:00 pm all year round on Samoa. We started painting at about 6:30 and painted by head lamp and portable lights. We had so much fun! A crowd gathered to watch all the excitement. Lots of Samoan music to keep up the enthusiasm!