"Alu Ese"

I was out on a walk the other day when a few girls invited me into their house to have tea. The term tea is used loosely here and generally just refers to a drink and some sort of snack, like panikeke or crackers.   So after I drank my cocoa I went to the front of the house and talked with two older women, They of coursed asked me the typical questions, where did you come from, where are you going, do you have a boyfriend (to which I answered “I just think about God” and got an “Halleluah! Amen!” in response, that was obviously a better response to these women than my other option of “so many boyfriends!”), and then the next question that always comes up (it’s true, ask any PCV!) is “what’s your religion?” To which I respond “Loku mamoga” (mormon church) and generally get a “uggh. you need to change your religion. E le mo’I (it’s not true).” To which I respond, “to me I think it is true.” Side note-I actually really enjoy this part of Samoan culture, people are so blunt to talk about religion.  In the States it’s almost become a topic we are afraid to bring up with strangers (and sometimes even close friends) in fear of stepping on toes. But here, they bring it up with everyone! That also means they feel no shame in saying “your church isn’t true!” But I like it because I feel like it gives me the opportunity to share my testimony a little bit. I’m not here as a missionary and, according to PC rules, we have to be careful not to come here and be perceived as missionaries, but it’s always nice when you have the opportunity to share your testimony!

Anyways, back to the story, so she asks me “do you like bible study?” so I respond “of course!” ok, that’s a lie, the conversation was in samoan so I just responded “fiafia tele” which could either mean very happy or very like, but I she understood that I meant I really like bible study. So she invited me to come to bible study on Friday night! What better way to spend a Friday night??? (this isn’t sarcasm, this is Samoa, there really aren’t many other options...maybe bingo?)

They told me to come at 7:00 because it starts at 8:00, well I thought “I know Samoans, it’s not really going to start before 8:00, I’m not going to get there till right at 8:00.”  So I get there 8:05, thinking “this is good, I’m a little late!” Boy was I wrong! I got there and sat in the back while the kids were getting their hair braided, then I got my hair braided, and then we still had another 30 minutes before the woman who was leading the bible study actually came. So a little after 9:00 we go inside to start eating, me and three other women. And then we sit around and talk for another 30 minutes and then 3 little girls that live in that house came in and so they started singing songs of praise. There were only 3 little girls and 3 women singing, but you would have thought it was a whole choir. One little girl was playing a little music using two spoons hitting them together. One little girl was dancing with her hands (because we were all sitting on the floor cross legged of course) and her eyes closed.  I just listended to them and thought, this is pretty cool.  Slowly more people started coming in. One guy came with a keyboard and one guy with a guitar, they led most of the music. We sang for about an hour.  It was just in this empty room in a small house, with mats covering the whole floor.  The women were sitting against the walls and all of the child were sitting in the middle of the floor in rows facing the guys with the instruments. Then the woman gave  a prayer that I couldn’t really hear because of all of the “Amen” and “Halleluah” people were shouting. “OOH, this is interesting!” I thought. I hadn’t been to this kind of church in a while.  It was the same when the woman was giving her sermon,  everyone had so much excitement in them. They were all so excited to be praising God, even the littlest kids there were lifting their arms and shouting “amen, halleluah, glory!” I just sat there smiling. I was so happy. I honestly could feel their love for God. I looked around and thought this room is literally packed full of people, it’s tiny, there is no furniture, these people have so little in terms of material things, but in that moment it didn’t matter at all.  All that mattered is that they were shouting and singing there praises to God, they knew God loved them and they knew that they loved God. 

 After the sermon, they continued to sing and then the women asked for people who wanted to be prayed for to come to the front. Now at this point, Hour 3 of sitting cross legged on the floor had commenced and I really had to go to the bathroom, so needless to say, I was beginning to get restless. Not to mention, it was 11:00 and I’m usually sound asleep at this time of night. But when the prayers started I got really interested again. They stood holding their hands up in the air while the woman put her hands on their heads and prayed for them.  Most of the people fell down on to the ground and then she massaged their stomachs and other parts of their body while two other women rubbed baby oil all  over them. She was saying a lot of stuff in samoan I didn’t understand but she kept saying “alu ese” which means “go away.” I gathered that she was talking to the bad spirits or whatever bad things were inside the people’s bodies.  So I was watching this for a good 30 minutes or so, and then noticed that she started walking towards me.  So I quickly looked away and tried to look like I was really interested in the geckos that were fighting up in the light fixture, but she came over to me and said, “The spirit is telling me I need to pray for you. Can I pray for you?”  What’s a girl to say? “I’d really rather you not, but thanks for the offer.”  Of course not! So I walked to the front thinking my list of “awkward situations” is going to get very long very quickly here, huh?

She told me she could see that I have a gift of love inside of me (which I like to think is true) but that there is something missing (not sure exactly what that is yet) and that she can tell I’m missing my parents (which is true, not to the point that I feel like it’s negatively affecting my experience but I do miss them!).  She then continued to pray that God will be with me wherever I go and that the devils will go away from me.  And although I don’t really believe there are bad spirits living inside of me (at least I really hope not!) I did think, I do hope that any bad feelings or thoughts that I am harboring will go away.  It really was a nice prayer.  Her hands were pushing really hard on my head, so I understood the falling down part a little bit more, and the women rubbing baby oil on me was a little distracting, and I thought this isn’t normally how I pray or receive blessings, but honestly it was a good experience! I appreciated the things that she said and I did sincerely say a little prayer in my heart, “Yes, Heavenly Father, please do watch over me and go with me wherever I go and be with me here in Samoa and help to always know the things you want me to do. And please do take away any bad feelings or thoughts that are in my heart.”   It was one of those moments when I thought, you know I don’t really know if there is a “wrong” way to worship God. There are different ways, and ways that we  each think are the best for ourselves, but I think anytime we are truly trying to worship God and do what he wants us to do, then it’s good.  And best of all, it was a really cool cultural experience. It was so neat to see the worship that was taking place in this little house.