A Day at the Beach (Written 10/16/05)

We had our first excursion to a Samoan beach today and all I can say is – its everything you see in a postcard and more. We were shocked by the clearness of the water and just the amazing amount of life that teemed beneath the surface. It was the first time I had ever been the Pacific Ocean so it was definitely a memorable experience in that regard. It was all the first time that I had been into a coral reef and while it looks good in postcards, it looks great in person. The only sad part was that I don’t have prescription goggles so I wasn’t able to see clearly underwater but from what I could see – the fishes swimming in and out of the coral with their brightly colored bodies – it’s definitely going down as one of my top 3 memorable trips to the beach. I also had the opportunity to stand on top of the coral reef and just see the wonder that God has bestowed upon this precious part of the world. It was kind of amazing standing on water in the middle of the ocean – kind of reminded me of someone.  Didn’t think it was possible to do that in any part of the world – but I can say I stood on top of the water while standing the ocean. I saw and touched a sea cucumber for the first time. When you can’t see the cucumbers (which are green in the water) properly, they look like black holes but their skin was smooth and prickly and they were squishy to the touch. I also saw sea crabs and hermit crabs along the rocks in the reef we went to. The pics I have will definitely be worth seeing – when you think of Paradise, you’re thinking of the place we were today. We spent a good 4 hours at the beach and after that we drove to the longest waterfall in Upolu. It was a sight to behold just because I had never really seen a waterfall that was not only tall but also a part of nature. So as you can see, the theme of the day was ‘firsts’. After we got back to the hotel and got changed, a few of us went to our first Samoan church service. Thankfully, we were able to find a church service that was in English so it was not to hard to understand what they were doing during the service. On this particular Sunday, they had an ecumenical service in which the Protestant, Catholic and Angelican churches joined together to hold a combined service. The amazing thing about the service was that a lot of the church traditions that we have back in the states have transferred over here very well – it felt as if I were back home going to a service. The way they sang songs and conducted the service was different, but the general gist of church service was the same. Just goes to show – no matter where you go, we all worship the same God. But the night of firsts did not end there – oh no – I also saw my first movie in Samoa with the Rock in it, ‘Walking Tall’ (for those that do not know, The Rock is half Samoan). I learned something new about the Rock (called Dwayne here) in that the tattoo he has on his left arm that goes from his shoulder bone down his forearm is a traditional Samoan tattoo given to Samoan chiefs. He’s the most famous Samoan that there is right now and thus was given the designation of chief by the head of State for Samoa. His Samoan name is Seiuli (pronounced Say-uh-lee). And thus concludes my day of first – it was a quite a Sunday let me tell you. Amazingly enough, this day of firsts comes one week to the date of my first time in LA. Will this be a weekly occurrence? Stay tuned!