Sitting here at the front of our fale (a traditional Samoan house without walls), I can see most of the Youth With a Mission base that will be our home for the next two months. Dotted around the five-acre property are fifty feet high palm trees, twenty feet papaya trees, ten feet banana plants and three feet taro plants - the staple foods of our diet.

In the far corner of the property is the giant banyan tree with its spaghetti-like trunk and next to it is the kitchen and dining area. Opposite us are a few of the cargo containers that some of the staff live in, and to the right and left of us are the falies which the single guys or girls live in. In front of the entrance is the “rugby pitch” where I¹ve been joining the guys to play rugby. I not only have to avoid the incredibly fast and fit Samoans, but the palm trees, occasional two-foot deep holes, and numerous rocks on the pitch.

All in all, it is incredibly green and lush landscape : it should be, as it has barely stopped raining the last four days! At night you can see more stars than I thought existed! It actually makes sense of when God told Abraham that his descendants would outnumber the stars that he could see (living in England, I thought that was about 9).

I can hear in my mind the comments that various team members have made over the last couple of days:

“I feel like we are on the show ‘Survivor!’”

“This is paradise!”

“I want to go home.”

“I love this, it’s like camping!”

“I’m not sure I can make it a week here, let alone two months!”

I have to confess that all of these sentiments have run through my mind, often within minutes of each other.

There are a few challenges: as a family we live in one 12 ft by 8 ft room, we hand wash our clothes (an interesting challenge with our two sons, who seem to be magnetically drawn to puddles), cockroaches live in what drawers we have, and even the simplest of tasks, like brushing your teeth, means a hike to the communal showers and loos complete with slugs and other creatures. Even as I write this I’m slapping various parts of my body in a largely unsuccessful attempt to ward of the marauding mosquitoes.

At times, I’ve found myself slipping into survival mode - just another 56 days, 4 hours and 10 minutes, and we can get back to warm showers, dry clothes, and supermarkets...but I know that our outreach is not about enduring the next two months. To live this way will mean that we miss the beauty and joy of this time. How many people get to spend two months living in the South Pacific, not in hotels or even as backpackers, but living with the Samoans, like a Samoan?

The Samoans are an amazing people who have so quickly taken us into their homes and hearts. I’ve heard it said a couple of times now that we in the West spend our lives trying to gain wealth and then hold on to it, but the Samoans share out of the abundance that they have. For someone who has been very possessive about “my things,” it is a whole new way to live. It does mean that you can expect your shower gel and hot sauce to disappear more quickly than normal, but it also means that no one goes hungry and there is a great joy and delight in sharing.