The Reason

January 26, 2015
Mary and I first went to the South Pacific as Peace Corps Volunteers (Group78) to the small island country of Samoa in June, 2007. There we became immersed in Samoan culture, living in the rural village of Iva on the island of Savaii.

 
Later groups of Peace Corps Volunteers (Groups 79 and 80) joined us as we tackled our jobs and tried to acclimate to our alien surroundings. One of these volunteers was Rosie Wong, where she taught school and fell in love with a Samoan, Pati Sionaia, at the nearby village of Fusi.

Over the years we kept in contact with Rosie. We even planned to visit her during her subsequent year after Peace Corps as an English teacher in the Japanese city of Aomori. Rosie then moved to Auckland, New Zealand to earn a Masters Degree in Speech Therapy during which time she was joined by her Samoan friend, Pati. The question of marriage was a usual one in our infrequent emails. Then one day she said Pati had proposed and that they planned to get married in Samoa and would I want to be their officiate. My answer was "Of course".

As word spread, two other Peace Corps Volunteers in Rosie's Group 79, John Kleive and Hannah Siemmering agreed to join Mary and me on a return to Samoa with a side trip to New Zealand for Hannah, Mary and me, since we were in the area.

 Ann and David Braden, long-time Edina, Minnesota friends, asked a casual question as to what foreign land we were going to next. We told them. Upon which they replied that they had always wanted to go to New Zealand. "Why not join us?"  Since this was the year of their 40th wedding, it made sense to expand our expedition. 

Plans were set for John Kleive, Hannah Siemmering, Mary and I to meet in Samoa for Rosie's wedding and meet old Samoan friends.John would stay in Samoa a little longer while Hannah, Mary and I would then go to  the South Island of New Zealand to join up with Ann and David. Hannah would later return home while Ann, David, Mary, and I  continued to tour New Zealand's North Island.