My name is Joseph Melville, or as most of you know me as, “Joe” or “Joey”. Here I am writing about the many wonderful experiences that I had while I was over in Samoa with The Voice youth group.
We left very early in the morning for the airport on the 29th of December, all of us very eager while also feeling very sleep-deprived. The first flight we took was from Brisbane to Auckland, and then from Auckland to the Faleolo Airport in Samoa. This was my second trip to Samoa, and I was hoping I would learn and experience more of the Samoan culture, as well as learning more about my faith. After we unpacked our bags and had something to eat at the retreat centre located at the shrine of the three hearts in Vaoala, we left early the next morning for a village on the other side of the island called Amaile, where we spent the first few days of our trip. We met the deacon’s family and had a beautiful ceremony to welcome us by the chief of the village. Here we got to experience the wonderful hospitality of the villagers and the challenges that villagers face each day through the physically demanding work that they do and the lack of technology and material possessions that we so often take for granted. The highlight of the stay was the beautiful masses that we went to, getting to witness the Samoan people sing with their whole selves and the reverence that they show for the bible through the procession that they do after the opening prayers. Whilst the villagers were very poor, their faith is incredibly rich and is certainly something that all of us took notice of and looked up to. It was a real privilege being next to the beach, and we took full advantage of the opportunity, going a couple of times, with the only downside being the severe sunburns that we suffered. We also had a couple of nights where our youth group and the St Michael’s youth group showcased our talents, with a combination of Australian songs and Samoan dances, with all the villagers flocking around and finding great amusement with the “Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!” It was with great sadness but also great joy in meeting these beautiful people that we said farewell, and we went back to the retreat centre in Vaoala. Here we had the wonderful opportunity of going to early morning mass, if we were up for the challenge of getting out of bed early. We had a three day retreat run by our very own coordinator Joans. During this time we got to learn more about God, about ourselves and the journey we are on towards salvation. There were some really interesting and fun activities that we did, especially a game called “minefield” where we had to work around an obstacle course blindfolded by listening to the voice of our guide while trying to ignore all the other voices that were trying to throw me off. What I learnt from this game is that it is difficult to listen to the voice of God when we have so many other voices and distractions to deal with that are much louder. We also did reflections on the scripture readings for those days and got to share our own small testimonies about our first encounter with God. We visited St Mary’s College, the place where our youth group stayed and where we helped paint some of the classrooms during our last stay. This time we were donating some computers to the school to assist them in their education. Towards the end of our trip, the staff of St Mary’s took us out for dinner at a very fancy restaurant just down the road from our accommodation to express their gratitude for all the help we had given them. I was so amazed by their generosity and realised that even if what we had done for them didn’t seem like much, it definitely meant a great deal to them. On the morning that the Archbishop was to fly overseas, we were very blessed to have mass celebrated with him and meet him in person. We also had the privilege of spending time with the Jubilee Youth Group that was set up by the Archbishop during the Year of Mercy and got to meet the brothers and sisters of the new religious orders that had also been set up by the Archbishop. The first time we met, we had a feast at the retreat centre and then had performances very similar to the ones from Amaile and it was great to see the performances by the youth group. We had mass on the second occasion at Divine Mercy parish further up the mountains and then had a massive feast thrown, the highlight of the night the fire dance one of the guys called Ricky performed. The last mission project we did was the painting of the church where we stayed. Although it took a while to complete, it was worth the effort and the people of the parish were very grateful for our work. The free time that we had for most of the trip was spent catching up on sleep, praying, journeying into town or at the places of relatives of the Thetadig’s. There were so many other beautiful churches that we got to see including St Ann’s Basilica near the airport, the Divine Mercy Church, and of course the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, which is the first time seeing it after it had been completed. Although many of us were unwell for parts of the trip, God was always with us and the power of prayer definitely made a difference. After spending a total of 23 days in Samoa, it was finally time to say goodbye, but not forever. Some of the people from the Jubilee Youth Group came to the airport to say their final goodbyes and I remember Ricky saying to me, “Don’t go, Samoa is your new home”. Although I was tempted to stay, I knew that my mission was here in Australia. Looking back on the trip, I can honestly say that I received so much more than I could ever give to the people of Samoa. Their incredible faith in God has inspired me to live a more Christ-centred life and has challenged me to get out of my comfort zone and go above and beyond what I’m used to. These people will always be in my heart and I hope to go back there again soon. God bless.
0 Comments
|
The Voice BNYGwhere we ramble about the goings on in the VOICE BNYG life. ArchivesCategories |