Update From American Samoa

Around the end of July my work opened up an opportunity for an exchange detail to American Samoa. This meant someone from Utah would switch places with someone from the American Samoa office. For some reason I had a temporary lapse in judgement and signed up. I never thought they would select me to go. Well, I was wrong. I got the job. I called my sister-in-law and asked her if she would like to come with me so I wouldn't have to leave Dalley behind. Shawn and Stina gave it some thought and decided that she and their almost two year old would come with me. That was the greatest blessing. The thought of leaving Dalley for a month made me sick.

So 2 months after I found out, Dalley and I left on our Samoan adventure. We took a very long six hour flight from Vegas to Honolulu. We got there around noon and checked into a beautiful hotel on Waikiki. The next day we met Stina at the airport in Hawaii and took an almost 7 hours flight to Pago Pago American Samoa. Flying with two year olds is a very challenging task, but Dalley and my nephew Ira both did great.

When we got here we were both a little underwhelmed. It may be an American Territory, but it is basically a third world country. We were told not to drink the water, not to swim on the beach out back of our hotel, and about all the creepy crawlies that we could be sharing a room with. Needless to say I slept the first night with one eye open.

Now we have been here for three weeks and we leave in another week. The time has flown by and it has been quite an experience (I will go into more detail when I can upload pictures).
The thing that has made this trip the best is the people. The people here are so amazing. They are so giving. I have visited plantations where they live in shacks and have very little money, but nothing makes them happier than to have something to give. We have felt very comfortable since we arrived because the people are so wonderful.