Service done, now off to college in Utah

You may remember reading an article a couple plus years ago about four young people heading off on missionary work to remote locations around the world. Two of the young men are from here in Johnson Lane and have returned with amazing stories to share before they head off to college in Utah.

First let me tell you about David Sturgess. Davis left Nevada headed to the Samoa Apia Mission in Western Samoa for nearly two years. He picked up on the language fairly quickly although admits translating some of their words back to English is difficult for him. The culture in Western Samoa he sums up by describing it as very "Faa Samoa" " their way is you give, you share in respect and love. They believe the most important element in their villages is respect.

Within Western Samoa there are many villages each having a chief with their own laws and they are almost all Christians. Even though they are considered a Third World country, they have plenty of food because they own farms (they call them plantations even though they may be small). They grow lots of cabbage and taro. They take their goods to market and sell it or trade it for their other needs.

Not everyone has a car, they sleep on mats, and most have a television but rarely a game system. I know, how can their kids live without Xbox or Playstation? Up until about 2005, there was only one telephone per village, now almost all the people have cell phones. David's favorite food while he was there is called palu sami. It is coconut milk cooked real thick with the taro (like a yam) wrapped in a breadfruit tree leaf and cooked in an umu pit for about an hour. Then you take the leaf off and eat the fruit or would you call it a vegetable?

Brady Haws, who left on his mission to Montevideo West Mission in Uruguay, in South America south of Brazil. Brady found the people in this region of the world to be very friendly and generous to the missionaries. Because he took Spanish in high school he didn't have too many difficulties speaking with the locals. In Uruguay they raise lots of cattle so Brady quickly got tired of beef. They also have some chickens, ducks, pigs and a few goats.

Some interesting foods Brady ate, carpincho, which is an oversized gerbil or muskrat looking animal weighing 100 to 150 pounds with a texture like beef but more gamey tasting. He also loved the mispero, which is the size of a large grape but looks like a peach. They also serve alfoajaror which is a type of cookie (cake) covered with dulce de leche (chocolate with caramel). They produce lots of squash so almost every meal was served with something made from squash. Uruguay is also famous for its vineyards and the wine they produce.

There were two to three feet long lizards that meandered about the streets and gutters. With a population of 13 million people in Uruguay, transportation is mostly by bus and in the only big city which has 80 percent of Uruguay's population, Montevideo, people travel mostly by scooters or bicycles. Montevideo is said to have the purest and cleanest spring water under it, but the piping system under the city is so broken down that the missionaries always drank bottled water.

Thank you so much for your service in an area that most people tend to not pay attention to, the spreading of the word of God. Bless you David and Brady and keep in touch with your next adventures of going off to finish college.

n Lisa Welch is a Johnson Lane resident and can be reached at 267-9350.