Haka What?

"She'll be right, mate": A kiwi phrase meaning that everything will be okay; also used in the context of meaning that you don't want to put in the effort.

Example:

"I haven't heard from my friend in a while, I wonder if he is OK?" "Ah, she'll be right, mate."
"I'm thinking we might want to put some more gib on the wall there." "Nah, just throw some of that over there and she'll be right, mate."

It's been a busy busy week! My time has mostly been consumed with tearing down an exterior wall to the church building, and rebuilding it with steel. It makes it difficult when the guys you are working with all call their tools different names than they do in the States. The cool thing about working with these guys is that they aren't Christian. These guys are actually Corrections workers tryings to work off some community service hours, meaning that we constantly have the opportunity to share our love of Jesus Christ with them. Since this building project is pretty major, I haven't been able to get off the property this past week, so when I received an invitation to have dinner at someone's house, I definitely didn't want to resist!

I had the privilege of having dinner over at a woman named Esther's house. Esther recently was paralyzed after a surgery that was necessary for her to have in order to survive. Esther is of a Samoan descent, so communication was a little difficult at times, but we talked for hours. She had such an amazing spirit an attitude despite of her condition. A Maori (indigenous New Zealand people) fellow named Steve cooked the dinner, which was fantastic! I was about to die though because there was so much food on my plate. After I finished my food, they brought me fruit. Then, a HUGE bowl of ice cream. After the ice cream, six cookies and a coffee. While I was suffering through eating so much, Steve and the boys performed a Haka for me. It was quite intimidating! Here is a video of what the Maori Haka is:

After the Haka and singing some songs, everybody in the room went around and gave me a speech. Even though it was a little awkward for me, it was an amazing experience. Esther's mother, whom everyone calls Nana doesn't speak English. So, she gave her speech in Samoan, and Esther translated. It's hard to describe accurately, but it was such a surreal experience. They were all so blessed and grateful for my acceptance of their invitation, but it was truly me who was blessed to have been a part of such an incredible night. Leaving, they kissed me goodbye and all asked me (repeatedly) to tell my friend and family about them. I'm not sure why, but I agreed :)

When talking with people back home, one of the things they always ask me is "What are the people like, there?"

Well, since I don't do a good job describing people, I thought I would just show you! These are videos of two islanders that call themselves Laughing Samoans. These guys are hilarious...and I am NOT exaggerating when I tell you that this is exactly how the islanders here act like. You have to be careful to believe what they say sometimes, and definitely have to be careful to not laugh at their accents and sayings  :)