Celebrating My Birthday in New Caledonia

 A birthday to remember at

Nouvata Parc Hotel - Noumea, New Caledonia

Here we are in Noumea for the second time this year, and we are staying in this lovely hotel complex because our contact here has 'connections'.  I took this photo from our balcony with a fisheye lens.  (I think this is the biggest pool I've every seen.)  This lens makes the ocean look far away, but it is very close, just in front of the hotel.

We are here to assist with the organization of the first stake of the church here in New Caledonia.  For my friends not familiar with Mormon terminology, a stake unifies several congregations.  (The word 'stake' comes from Old Testament imagery where a stake holds up the tent or the church.)  What a great place to spend a birthday!

Phun Phriday

Ahh, the good life!

Sunrise Rainbow - New Caledonia

I think Heavenly Father loves mornings!  I am not a morning person, but it seems that when I make the effort to be up early, I am often richly rewarded to see the beauty of this world revealed to me in lovely shades and colors of light as dawn signals another glorious day of possibilities.  Sometimes day breaks with cotton candy hues of pastel pinks and corals, and sometimes regal mauves and magentas.   Sometimes the sky is on fire reflecting a blaze of color  and sometimes it bathes the earth in a warm soft glow.  And once in a while, sunrise displays every color of the rainbow!

We are in New Caledonia this week.  I woke up this morning to the brilliant rainbow above.  I grabbed my camera, walked out on the balcony of our hotel room, and shot this scene.  As I was enjoying the view, the sun broke through, lighting up the water, and speck of land at the end of the rainbow.  I had my telephoto lens on, so I zoomed in as far as I could and this is the result:

  It's going to be a GREAT day!

Pretty Birdy

Mystery Bird

Well.......at least a mystery to me.  I took this photo in New Zealand and he/she certainly looks like some variety of parrot, but since I know less than nothing about birds, I really have no idea.  (Where are you Robin when I need you!)  He's sure pretty, though, and he posed nicely for my camera.

Sunrise, Sunset in Samoa

Sunrise from our hotel in Apia, Samoa

Sunset from our hotel in Savaii, Samoa

Remembering Gavin

Gavin Celebrates His First Birthday

It is hard to believe that five years have passed since this beautiful baby joined our family, and in a few months four years will have passed since he returned to Heavenly Father.  We miss him and think about him every day, but thankfully our faith tells us that through Jesus Christ we will be reunited and live together for eternity.  We know he lives!  We know families are forever!  We know this mortal life is only a brief separation, then we will be together again!  Happy Birthday, Gavin!  We love you!!!! 

Dawn in Samoa

If we are lucky, there are moments when we are in the right place at the right time to catch a brief glimpse of heaven on earth.  One such moment was this.....dawn as viewed from 'a little grass hut' on the island of Savaii, Samoa. 

Follow the Leader

While I was composing a photo of this church these two young boys walked into the frame so I zoomed in close to get this shot.

Beautiful Boys!

I didn't need to speak Samoan to communicate with these handsome boys.  They wanted to know my name, and they thought it very funny and giggled hysterically when I tried to pronounce their names.  

My sister and brother-in-law travel a lot, and she is a photographer.  Often she takes a small portable printer with her when they travel to remote places and gives the people she meets, pictures of themselves on the spot.  Some have never had their picture taken, and feel like they have been given the best gift.  I wish I would have been able to do that.  These kids loved seeing their pictures on my camera, and their smiles make it all worthwhile for me, but I would have loved to give this photo to their parents.

Samoa Transportation

I took this photo from the balcony of our hotel room in Apia, Samoa.  I took pictures of small and large canoes that were out early morning and late evening most every day we were there.

Head of State, Samoa

His Highness

Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Ta'isi Efi

Head of State, Samoa

Accepting religious diversity is an issue in some of the Pacific Island countries.  Often only certain religions are recognized and fully accepted.  We have just spent 20 days in Samoa organizing a Law and Religion Conference titled "Managing Religious and Cultural Diversity in the Pacific."  We brought together academics and religious leaders from various countries around the world including leaders from Samoa, to share, interact, and broaden the understanding of this issue.  His Highness was in attendance and gave the keynote address.  I had to catch photos however I could, under horrible lighting conditions, with no flash, and while trying not to be too obvious.  During the conference I sat with a clear view of His Highness, and tried to take pictures without looking through the viewfinder.  This was a lucky shot!  To read about this fascinating assignment check out my recent post at  Our Kiwi Krossings.

Serene, Secluded Samoa

If one is lucky, one might get to stay in a lovely little Samoan resort like this one.  Unfortunately, we didn't stay, I just got to take a picture!  We packed so much work into the week we were in Samoa, it is hard to believe we accomplished what we did.  Since my past several posts of this tropical paradise, we have been back to New Zealand for several weeks, and then returned to Samoa for about 10 more days to complete our assignment.  Now we are back to NZ, exhausted, but pleased that all went well.  I'll tell you about our work there in the next post plus show you some more of this beautiful part of the Pacific.

Sauniatu Waterfall

Sauniatu, Samoa

Isolated high in the mountains and nestled in a lush tropical valley is Sauniatu.  We winded up a narrow road and when the road ended it truly looked like we had reached Shangri-la.  It was beautiful!

These two young girls were sitting in the little fale behind the sign and I asked if I could take their picture.  They were very shy, but after a little coaxing (on my part),  and a lot of giggling (on their part), they agreed.

Samoa's system of government is interesting.  Although there is a central government, most of the power rests with the village chiefs called Matai.  Each village chief makes the rules for his own village.  We also learned that if someone were to break the law, it would be the village that would take care of the situation, punish or impose a penalty.  We learned some of the rules of Sauniatu by reading this sign posted as you enter the village.

A group of fales built to honor a Mormon leader, (who later became the worldwide leader and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints),  who visited  Sauniatu and left a blessing on the village many years ago.

Floral Fantasy

We have never stayed at a hotel in a tropical location that had so many floral arrangements scattered around or lush vegetation.  There were huge vases filled with flowers that stood 5-6 feet high in the lobby and decorating the restaurant and pretty much everywhere.  Here are just a few of the snaps I took of flowers at the hotel:

There were lovely wooden bowls with floating floral arrangements sitting on almost every table in the lobby.

Food Story

Jeff and I are not very adventurous when it comes to what we eat, and any kind of raw meat is off limits.  We both have managed to avoid this......until now.  Here's the story.  We were sent to Samoa to help organize a conference and the first day we arrived we had a meeting with all the Samoan people who were to work with us as a team to pull it all together.  They expressed their frustration with us about how the organization of this event was going up to that point.  Since this was our first meeting with them,  we wanted to assure them we were there to work, ease feelings and tensions and make sure there was a feeling of cooperation between us all.  At the end of the meeting we took them out to lunch.  When you are away from the workplace, it's amazing how people relax and enjoy each other over food.  Because we did not know what to order, we let them do all the ordering and the first thing that was brought out was large plates of raw tuna.  Jeff and I looked at each other and knew there was no way we could politely refuse and risk offending them.  We both managed not to gag, get sick or do something else embarrassing! Here are a couple other examples of local cuisine:

 Jeff enjoying some sea grapes.

The slimy insides of a sea urchin.  We just couldn't go there!!

Samoan Song and Dance

Many of the young men and women employed by the hotel as maids, waiters, etc. are also performers.  Every Wednesday night the hotel puts on a beautiful dinner show with Samoan singing and dancing.

Master of Ceremonies

I wonder how much time was involved in getting these tattoos and if they were done in the traditional way.

There were several dignitaries at the show the night we attended.  This lady I believe, was introduced as the daughter of a former Samoan ruler.  She was invited up on the stage to dance.  Her movements were so graceful and refined.  Her hand movements were especially lovely and reminded me of waves of grain softly blowing in the wind.

The show ended with the fire dance.  There were fire dancers around the pool, up on balconies and on the roof.  It was quite impressive.

Three Lovely Samoan Ladies

These three lovely young ladies work at the hotel where we stayed.  They are very soft spoken, respectful and are always smiling and ready to help.  They work as maids, or servers in the restaurant or in the lobby.  Tomorrow I'll show you what they do on Wednesday night.

Apia, Samoa Temple - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

 Apia, Samoa Temple - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Church Buildings in Samoa

 A Religious People

Our host told us there are no atheists in Samoa.  We thought it interesting that on Sunday, the main town of Apia was virtually deserted.  There were no stores or restaurants open, no one walking on the streets, and no cars on the roads.  All were either at worship services or home with family.  

In addition to the three recognized religions, there are others, depending on the village where you live.  It was interesting to see one very large, elaborate church in every small village, surrounded by very humble fales (homes).  There were no stores or business buildings that we could see in the small villages dotting the land where we traveled, so the church was the only large building.  Here are some: