Elisa

Elisa
Friday night started like any other ordinary Friday. I was not expecting it to turn into an adventure. My family joined together for prayer to start the Sabbath then ate our dinner. I was lounging in the house reading when my brother asked about Elisa and wanted to know if he could text her. I figured he was just being Samoan and trying to find a way to get her phone number. When she didn’t answer from my phone, he explained his master plan and why he wanted to get in touch with her.
Her village was having a dance and he was told it would be a fundraiser for her village project. Being a music enthusiast, he desperately wanted to go. I told him I would join in. The first step was looking for a ride. We walked to the main road and started walking towards her village. Finally we found a car going in the right direction and they graciously gave us a ride.
The dance proved to be fun. It was a dance for the youth group of the Congregational Christian Church (EKFS) so I had a good time dancing with dozen of little kids at a time. Sometimes I was honored by some of the women dancing with me. My favorite dance partner that was a woman who was in her 70’s or 80’s. I also got to try my feel for Samoan dancing, although it caused more laughter than anything else.
I love that even though we are many villages apart, the people in my village know and respect Elisa and the same goes for my village. They are all thrilled whenever they see her, and I see the excitement on their faces when I come rolling in on my bicycle. (At least I think it is excitement…)
A few days later I went back to her village and she showed me her village project. They are building steps to the ocean and it is amazing to see. The people of her village are such hard and fast workers. They are so dedicated to their village and trying to find ways to improve it. I know part of the reason is because they have such a dedicated volunteer living there like Elisa.
(On a side note I had gotten sick the previous day, and I was told that my sickness was due to breaking the Sabbath by dancing.)