More dogs than birds

Talofa,I finally go tmy luggage last night!!! Woo Hoo!! It is comforting to be in your own clothes and shoes. Since the stray dogs stole my right Sperry I had been using Jaime's 3 inch tall flip-flops. Literally, there were no other shoes for me to wear. I am jsut fine with my height and going three inches taller gave me a complex. I started hitting my head on the top of the porch going into Jaime's classroom. Even worse would be when I had Julia on my hip and she almost hit it too. Picture this, Me, in three inch thick flip-flops which are brown with white florals on the straps, longer shorts than what we wear in the states but not to my knees, a loose 3 dollar t-shirt from some quick mart. I was the epitamy of redneck on the island. Go Gamecocks.
I went with the pastor from Tafuna Ekalesa a Keriso (Church of Christ) to a man named Petelo (I know I spelled it wrong, Philip, I'll correct it later) 's house. Petelo is paralysed from the waist down. I forget how it happened but it has just been since the last two years if I'm correct. Anyway, we went to his house and would read teh bible together. He would read it in English and we would help him understand it and pronounce it. Then David would read it in Samoan. I am not good enough to read it in Samoan. Give it time though. Petelo taught me a little more Samoan. Of course I forgot it as soon as I left. As much as I ran it throuh my head and I still lost it.
Now, Petelo's house. We drove down the unpaved driveway and parked in the yard. We had to walk to his house. So down a skinny trail only big enough for one person, we made it. When I have hours to sit down and upload my pictures I will show you what a fale (house) looks like here. a pretty basic one is a floor set about 2 feet off teh ground and it has walls and a roof. The walls are not thick by any means and neither is the floor. It is more of plywood than anything else. There were two beds on the floor and I saw a burner. Is it called a bunson burner? It was their main source of cooking. I didn't see a refridgerator or microwave or anything else like that. And you sat on the floor. All and all it was a good visit. I enjoyed Petelo. When we began and when we ended they both prayed in Samoan. I could pick out the words God, you, me, and thank you. It was neat.
Well, everywhere I go I see dogs. They are on every street we go down. I have really seen more dogs than birds. Dad would be upset. Dad loves his birdfeeder (I like to call it the yard, since the wild birds live in our yard) and he watches the many different kinds of birds come and hang out with each other and eat and bath. Well, so far I have only seen one kind of bird. And it is not that pretty. Wait, I saw some bats. And I heard there wwere some owls somewhere, but I haven't seen them yet. Anyway, there are enough stray dogs here to make you go insane. They get in the way when you are driving and most are not very friendly. And they steal shoes. Not a fan over here.
Cutting grass. Ben and Rhett could have fun over here there is lots to cut down. the biggest lawn mower they have is used on the random golf course by the Murphy's house. Other than that they used weed eaters for their whole yards. As we drove by a house I saw a kid with most of the yard cut holding a machette. Scared the mess out of me. They say that is one way to cut the grass here. I don't know how you would do it though. Might be interesting to watch. I'll keep the ambulance's number close just in case.I opened my first coconut yesterday! Well, when I say I opened it, I mean, I was sitting on the ground two feet away watching Paul have so much fun wacking it against a sharp rock on the ground. It was nice. The coconut didn't taste like i thought it would. The milk nor the inside. They said it might be because of the age. It's better to get them as soon as they fall from the tree. So I will be scouting for the next few days.
Bible study has been going on the past two nights. Pastor David is doing a study on Matthew so it is going from Wednesday to Friday night (tonight). I enjoy partnering with the local teen girls. I like helping them and they ask. I just don't know what I will start the bible study on. It will be something good though. I pray all is well with you in the states.I'm thinking about all of you!

Thanks! Fa fe tai tele,
Whitney