Manuia Kerisimasi Matiu

Now the chase is over

yes, your finally here

I hope you've liked the journey

with family far and near

though we are so far away

with you I'm always home

and as long as were together

it doesn't matter where we roam

with you I have the things I need,

the love to get me through,

the laughter and the joy I feel

whenever I'm with you

so here's to more good memories

both home and far away

as long as were together

it doesn't matter where we stay

in the desert or the ocean

to the moon or just a star

I know if were together

then laughter's never far

Here are Tickets for 2 to Desert Star Playhouse
# 197643

I love making memories with you!

I love you-
Jessica

"That's some high quality H2O"

How can something that brings such joy bring such pain and suffering too? First, the bad news, (I like the bad news first so the good news can linger because you know, “love lingers”) anyway, Several months after we arrived in AS we were having a conversation with a local friend in which he turned to us and asked, “so your boiling your water right”…
“ah, no, are we suppose to?”
Apparently everyone knew that you are suppose to boil your water before use. Everyone except the polongies who have never had to perform such a task as a necessity. (I don’t know if spoiled or blessed would be the right upu…um…word) So, we started buying bottled water and we immediately started feeling better. The physical symptoms that we thought were part of adjusting to a somewhat new diet, subsided. We thought we were home free.
Unfortunately, the water that is bottled off island and shipped in is no longer available. We started buying the local filtered water…the jury is still out on this one. After several kids have been from school sick with fevers, diarrhea, and vomiting because of the water, one teacher informed me that we aren’t suppose to use the water even for washing dishes.
One rainy Sunday afternoon matthew and I were so thirsty and had just ran out of our last bottle of water. “What are we going to do? I’m so thirsty!”
“Well duh, lets get some rain water. What do you think people did for thousands of years?”
So we put all our pans….all 2 of them, out on our car and caught about a gallon of some of the best tasting water we’ve had since we’ve been here! So we are hoping to use rain water for everything now, showering, cooking, cleaning, ect.. (side note: it is now our summer which means less rain. Since we have to wait till it rains to shower you can probably already smell us from the mainland)

As for the good news, we were led to this amazing cove by some great new friends the DaBells. They are AMAZING! and they brought us to this AMAZING beach. We felt rejuvenated, revitalized, and recharged as we climbed down in. It lifted our spirits and as we stepped into the water we couldn’t help but smile to once again have our feet in soft sand and the waves swirling around us, engulfing us in good juju. There are some things that are difficult about living on an island, especially here in AS. But then there is so much that makes up for it and makes life oh so good.

Zakiu he did climb the tree his Lord to see

In church this sunday I was helping with the 4-5 year old samoan class. As soon as I walked into the class already in progress half jumped up and yelled "Jeshka" the other half jumped up and yelled "Matthew." Since Jeshka is hard to say in Samoan and Matthew and I are always together most of the kid asume "Matthew" is another word for polongi and call me Matthew. After using most of the samoan I know.....No fu i lalu (sit down) Filemu (be reverent) and Vaai (look) We got the class somewhat settled down and back to the lesson. The lesson was on Zaccheus (see Luke 19) The rich man who climbed the tree to see Jesus. The teacher pulled out a picture of a white guy in a tree with Jesus looking at him. Of coarse, since its a picture of a polongi and the only polongi they have seen is Matthew they all jumped up again pointed at me and yelled Matiu. The teacher laughed and tried to tell them it was Zakiu, which sounds an awful lot like Matiu. There was no convincing them, Matiu climbed the tree to see Jesus and went to his house for dinner!

knock knock....who's there?

So after the little uh-oh incident we decide we needed to set up some ground rules for the kids. We made the kids all knock before coming in the house. This seemed to be a bit of a foreign concept for some. I'm sure because most of them live with family around and so knocking seems unnessesary but most of the kids caught on quickly. For others all it took was a few fasies and they got the idea. One boy in particular had a hard time but he is the cuttest and chubbiest of them all (I love the chubby ones!) so I tended to be more forgiving with him. But I knew I was getting through to him when after he came in he went over to the fridge door, knocked, and in broken English said, "can I come in?"

Uh-Oh

At times I get so frustrated with the language. I want so badly to speak to these people in their own toung but the words just don’t come and I have no idea what they are saying and I hear them speak and think I’ll never understand. And then there are other time I am quite proud of myself. The other day the kids were out in the plantation searching for coconuts or popos. I stuck my head out the door and hollard, “lua, oi ai uhoh?” (or in really retarted samoan, lua, you eating the center part of the young sprouted coconut?)(if I hear one word about my spelling i'll let ya have it! I can't spell in english, what makes you think I can spell in Samoan!) They all shook their heads and said they were still looking. With that I closed the door, smiled at myself for putting together a whole sentence in samoan and went about my business.

Next, I boiled water and hopped in the shower. Just as I got soap in my eyes I heard a knock on the door. “jeshka you uh-oh”
“ya I’m uh-oh! Go away!”
“Jeshka, you uh-oh” - at this point I realize that on the other side of the bathroom door is a 4 foot tall chubby samoan that dosen’t speak english. I panic as I hear the doorknob twist. I scream and yell the only other samoan word I know, “Lay ie!” or NO! (
The doorknobed stopped and I heard another voice translating what was going on. I said,” tell him to go away, I’ll be out in a minute.” I hurridly finished my shower and went out to find 3 little boys waiting with a fresh uhoh, or the center part of the coconut.

Lord of the Flies

“Jessica, come quick, and watch your step!”….not exactly the call I was expecting this early in the morning. I was hoping more for “breakfast is ready” but this morning I wasn’t really in the mood for what was being served. I walked into the kitchen to see Matthew crouched down on the floor with a paper towel. He looked up at me, “look” he pointed to the floor which was covered with hundreds of maggots. I squealed, but this time it wasn’t so gleeful. I ran to grab the paper towels. “Where are they coming from?” “they hatched last night and now their coming out of the garbage” for the next hour we cleaned up these creepy crawly critters coming from who knows where. I would pick one up in the paper towel and then another and another and then they would crawl out so we learned you have to pop them or they are still alive. We would clean up a part of the kitchen and then go to another area and come back and it would be covered again. So we spent the morning clean, sweeping, moping, and cleaning again. As we ate we eyed our food very closely and watched our step. They seem to be subsiding now….I haven’t seen one in several minutes!

Fale Sweet Fale

As we drove up to our new home we were so excited! It’s 3 bedrooms and 2 baths with a huge family room and kitchen. We still don’t know what to do with all the room! But the family has been very sweet and told us we could paint and make it our own. Matthew went a little wild with the calking sealing every nook and cranny he could find, so far I think the calking count it 12 tubes and counting. The best was when we sealed off a geckos home and a few minutes later the gecko returned and just stared at the place where his home use to be. The next morning we realized what it really meant to not have a hot water heater. When they said their wasn’t one we thought, ya, but it’s Samoa, it’s hot and humid, it’ll be fine…..but we came in the winter and it can actually be below room temperature here and cold showers are just un friendly in the morning. So Matthew, being the genius that he is rigged up a warm shower for us. He found a foil pan and poked holes in it and then we boil water on the stove and pour our hot water in and the cold water from the shower and wamo….a warm shower! That lasted a few days till our tin broke. We went and got a camp shower,so now we take really short showers! Here is a frightening yet modest picture to show you what we mean.




Though we still don’t have furniture except for a bed , table, and a few chairs from the family we are still working on furniture but the home is coming together nicely. I’ve sewn drapes and Matthew has done an amazing job on the painting! I think after a month we’re really starting to settle in but, be it ever so humble, theirs still no place like home!

Talofa Samoa

3 days is not a lot of time when you come to think of it. At the beginning of the week 3 days felt like an eternity before we were to board the plane but for the Hyde’s it was just the right amount of notice, 4 days would have been forever and 2 days wouldn’t have been enough. The Lord sure knows us individually! We packed up, sold our car in a matter of hours, cleaned our studio, said goodbye to friends, received priesthood blessings and our dear friend Lee drove us to the airport.
As we checked in we prayed as our bags were weighed. we prepared to pay about $200 for our baggage. One bag came in over weight and we were asked if we wanted to shift the weight, since we had an extra check on bag we shifted what we could into that and everything past with a nod and a wink from the check in lady. Our passports were checked and we were sent to security without being charged for our bags. Tender Mercy #1. We passed through security and for the first time they didn’t search any of our bags! Tender Mercy #2. We got something quick to eat though my stomach was full of butterflies we still felt relatively calm under the circumstances and as we passed to the gate Marvin stopped us and asked if we knew Jen. Marvin is tender mercy #3. It was so great to see a friendly face and have someone who knew us to show us the way. So we got on the plane and settled in for a long flight.



At the airport when we arrived we pulled up to the airport and there were people on the runway asking if we wanted to buy some fish. (j/k…that’s a joke for our Samoan friends) but they did let us off on the tarmac, That was our first hint. There weren’t a lot of lights around the airport but we could see the golden arches which offered little comfort to Matthew. We walked into the airport and showed our passport hoping the guard spoke English (most people speak at least enough to get by), then we waited for our baggage so we could take it through customs. With security behind us we walked out to greet Samoa. We walked out to a sea of faces and banners waiting for loved one. We walked through the masses and then I heard my name. “Jessica” I turned around and there was Helaman! My first instinct was to cry as I ran and hugged him. I was so excited to know someone in this crowded throng. Matthew was behind me pushing our bags, waving to all the people thinking they all showed up to meet him. My excitement continued as I saw Myra who hugged us and asked, “what’s your plan?”…..My excitement waned. We were expecting to find the family at the airport with smiles and hugs all around and then to go home to our new rental would be waiting to greet us. This question was a bit unexpected.
We were quickly informed that the adult Myra, our new landlord and Jen’s sister was coming next we and they were expecting us to be on the flight with her so the house wasn’t ready. With that new information we decided to go to the hotel for the night, which is where tender mercy # 4 came. The Hotel van drove up right behind us and Nana and Papa went over to make our arrangements. Next thing we knew we were on the shuttle to the hotel.
When we arrived we were a bit shocked at the price but relieved at the accommodations. We stayed at the tradewinds, which is like a Marriott. We had a nice room where I didn’t even have to use my hotel sheet (mostly because I was so tired) . After a run around with the internet and a run in with our first fafafine (more about that later) we plugged in our new magic jack. It only took till 3:30 in the morning but we got it working for the next days work for Matthew. And with that we were off to bed but we were up again at 7. We had our continental breakfast of cold imitation cereal and warm milk product from New Zealand and went off to work. Matthew was able to get to all his clients which was tender mercy #5 since now we know that he wouldn’t have been able to do that had we been at the house sine we are STILL waiting for the internet. After Matthew’s clients Uncle Larry, Auntie Bernie, Hewitt, and Myra came to pick us up at the hotel and take us to our new home.

Aloha Oi Hawaii

By now most of you have heard that we have moved to American Samoa (ya, it’s a real place, go look it up on a map). After some quick packing and a lot of prayer we arrived here safe and sound on May 20th. On the 16th, which was the Sunday prior to our departure we were greeted at church by our wonderful bishop Schlag.( We believe he was asking questions in regards to a few possible callings, that’s really why we left so hastily J) “Hello bishop! “ “and how are the Hydes today?” “we’re doing great, thanks, and yourself.” “doing well, Congratulations on your graduation.” “ Thanks bishop, it’s been a long time in the making!” “Well congratulations, and how long are you planning on sticking around now that school is finished?” “ we’ll we’re not quite sure about that, we’re still waiting for a little direction but when we know, you’ll know.” “ I appreciate that. You two have a great Sabbath.” “ You too bishop”……that was the last time we ever saw bishop Schlag . Which reminds me, I need to let him know we’ve moved.

Anyway, that got us thinking, we need to make some plans. So we arrived home from church with a bit of an uneasy feeling. As we were discussing this feeling Matthew blurted out, “lets move to Samoa.” To which I offered a sarcastic “ um, okay, I’ll start packing.” Surprisingly, Matthew was serious. As we applied reason to this seemingly unreasonable decision it truly started to make sense, that’s when we knew we were in trouble. So we decided to leave it to the Lord. We decided to go and prayed that the Lord would confirm our choice if it was right.

With our prayer said, Matthew set off to choir practice like the valiant saint that he is and I stayed behind to chat with family online. Several minutes passed and I got a phone call in Samoan! My friend Jen Fiso from back home called and started talking to me in Samoan with such a thick accent that I had no idea even who it was. Once I figured out who I was talking to I told her we were thinking about moving to American Samoa, and by the end of the conversation we had a place to live and someone to pick us up at the airport. …..The Lord has such a sense of humor!

When Matthew returned from choir practice we started making our list of what needed to be done by Thursday at 5 o’clock pm HST. Why Thursday you may ask? Because that was the next flight leaving for American Samoa, and we were going to be on it!

Prince Charming

Now is as good a time as any to brag about my AMAZING husband! I just wanted to take a minute to really let everybody know how great he is, although everyone who has met him already knows!

When I first met Matthew I asked all his friends and family to give me the dirt on this guy and all I got was...."he's a BYU fan." I am here to report that after 4 years of marriage, I still can't get any dirt on this guy. He is the man of my dreams and he just keeps getting better.

These past few months as I have been in school he has really stepped up! He's taken on all my secretarial duties, he's cooked, cleaned, and worked his little buns off, (not that he had any in the first place). He has been such a great support! I really owe a lot to him for helping me finish this goal.

He has also accomplished so much since we have been here. He has kept working with clients, doing his scripture memorization (that's one a day for the last 3 years and still going strong!!!) and he has been reaching out and making so many treasured friends....most of them under the age of 10.

Whenever we go to the beach (he's become quite the expert body surfer!) he finds some kid that becomes attached to his new "uncle."

His gifts have also grown so much since we came here. Last week we met a young girl who has been on crutches for 6 months because of a growth problem. Within a week Matthew had her off crutches and playing basketball. He has helped so many people in so many ways. I am so proud of him for that!

On a side note, I also think that Matthew has gotten cuter! He's gotten this great tan that makes him hard to resist!

I am so grateful for the time I have had to be with this special man in this special place. We still don't know where we will go from here or what the Lord will have us do next but I will always treasure my time on the North Shore with Matthew. This place means so much to me and being here with Matthew has only made it better.

I can't believe we're approaching our 4th anniversary! The time has flown by so quickly. We have done so much already and I'm so excited for all we have yet to do together.

Thank you Matthew for all you do to make all my dreams come true.

P.S. Thanks so much to Stephanie for the fun photo shoot and the great pictures!!

Milledrive - Food, Inc (2008)

Here's to the slow food movement! If anybody says they can't afford to "eat healthy" this will prove they can't afford not to! If two newlyweds living on a college budget in hawaii can afford it, anybody can!! This is an hour and a half long movie (plus about 10minutes of buffer time) So grab a bag of organic edamames, put the kids to bed, and enjoy the show!

Milledrive - Food, Inc (2008)

We're Ready!!!

Aloha! We are so excited to share the news that we have completed our paperwork and we're now available to adopt! Though we have had several generous offers from friends for us to adopt them, we have been hoping for someone younger, and more Samoan :) Feel free to check out our link at it's about love and to forward others there as well. https://www.itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/24027218/ourMessage.jsf We are so excited for the opportunity to adopt! Thank y'all so much for all your prayers in our behalf and helping us get the word out. We have a testimony, now more than ever, that it's through others that our Heavenly Father answers prayers. Thank you again! We are so grateful for all y'all! LoveMatthew and Jessica

The Danger of Comfy Pants

Last year for my Christmas pajama’s Matthew bought me a pair of extremely comfy pants and a soft cozy zip up sweatshirt. I immediately fell in love with them and wore them whenever I had the opportunity. When we moved to Hawaii I couldn’t bring myself to pull them out of the suitcase since I was already dripping in the heat and humidity. I left them there to wait for a cooler day at a latter time.
The other day I went rifling through my suitcase to find some books when to my utter glee I came across these comfy pants. I longingly remembered the peace and joy I had previously felt when I wore them on those brisk winter and spring days back on the mainland. I thought how nice it would be to once again feel the soft, calming fabric against my skin. To cuddle up with a handsome man and a good book. I knew nothing would be more rapturous then to again feel that magic around me. Without a second thought I was resolved. I ran through the house opening all the windows. I turned on all the fans and savored every moment as I slipped into my blissfully comfy pants. Though no where near what could be deemed as “chilly” I was able to wear my comfy pants without discomfort in regards to the temperature. I quickly found our latest dickens novel and set out to make my blissfulness complete. I next found Matthew and made him sit on the couch and let me sit on his lap while I soaked in the ecstasy that was my current state. After a sentence or two Matthew got hot with me sitting on him in my winter attire, the cool breeze had ended and thus my comfort as well and the moment of elation had ended.
The battle of the comfy pants had been lost but the war was not yet over. The next day was dark and wet and could definitely be categorized as “winter “weather. I once again slipped on my comfy pants and enjoyed the gentle material and all it entailed.
Those first few days were such a comfort, A sweet reminder of winter and a joyful cue to prepare for the Christmas season. But, now here I sit, dishes in the sink, surrounded by my homework on every turn, Christmas to be prepared for, a husband to feed, laundry to be done, and a lesson to plan. Oh the danger of comfy pants! They lure you into their blissful rest till WHAMO! You’re hooked to their cozy, cottony, comfort and have lost the drive. I keep saying “tomorrow, tomorrow I will go back to my shorts and put these away.” But then the rain comes and a cool breeze blows and the idea of those comfy pants and a cup of hot chocolate tempts me away to a perfect pants paradise.