Contact with Samoan birth family

Yesterday, we got a call from Sister Agnes Aleki, who had been serving in our area and was from Samoa. She became a good friend of our family and was especially fond of the little girls. This past Tuesday, she finished her mission and flew home. We gave her a small package with pictures, salt water taffy and a letter to give to the girls' birth parents. Yesterday Sister Aleki calls from Samoa and has the birth parents standing right beside her. We were so shocked. They don't speak English but Sister Aleki translated and told us they want to have communication with us. She said they were very nice people and she will now be in contact with them when they need translation work done. We were able to find out that Koretta is still on the other island also and that she has 4 other sons. Asega (girls' birth mom) has 3 children, a boy 5 and a boy 3 and a little girl 2. Sister Aleki said the little girl looks like Leah. She took a picture and I can't wait to see it. We told the girls the news and they were very excited to know there were other brothers and sisters in Samoa.

The following is a letter I wrote to Paula Young this morning about another phone call we received in the middle of the night:

Hi Paula, (sorry this is a bit long) but after I spoke with you, I called back and got hold of Agnes on her sister's cell, but our birth parents had just left. So I asked Agnes if she could call Asega and ask her how you can get in touch with Koretta and where you can send letters, etc. I asked her a little more about Koretta to clarify. It's a little confusing, but for some reason 2 of her boys are with her and 2 of them are on Upolu. I asked about her husband and Agnes said she wasn't sure if she was actually married or not with the man she was with. Also Agnes said that when Koretta comes to get her things, they were going to call her so she could translate again.
I think it will be easy to find the answers to most things if I just put them down in an email to Agnes and let her call Asega.

Now, here's another twist to the story. Last night at 1am, the phone rang and of course it scared me to get a call so late. Well, it was Asega. I could clearly understand her as she said, "Kathi, Kathi, this is Asega." So I said hello and then she proceeded to speak very slowly and it sounded as if she was reading something in English. So it was difficult to make out each word, but for the most part she said, "I want to thank you very much for what you give us today." She went on from there and it was hard to make out the words, but she told me how much she loved us, how much she loved Nikki and Leah (calling them by those names) and also something about Nikki's birthday coming this month on the 24th and how she will be turning 8. I told her yes, and that Nikki would be getting baptized (I don't think she understood anything I was saying). She kept thanking us over and over and how it meant so much to her family. She read for about 5 minutes, so I was trying really hard to understand each word. Harold could hear part of it since he was right there next to me. After she finished reading, she just hung up.

I really appreciated her effort and was in shock for a little bit. I can't imagine trying to read something in Samoan, but it kind of made me want to make an effort to learn Samoan.

I asked Harold what he thought about this. He said he expected there to be stirrings when Sister Aleki returned. I guess I didn't think there'd be any contact except through emails with Agnes, so I'm still in a little shock. But this is actually what I've wanted from the beginning, just to have a little contact with the birth mom and now more than ever I feel Asega and I are in this together and I know there are many people praying for Nikki and Leah, both in Samoa and here in our extended family and I feel such a huge responsibility for their spiritual and physical welfare.
I'm sure there will be more to this story and I will be sure to let you know any time I hear anything. Here is Sister Aleki's(Agnes') email address if you want to send her anything. I know she wouldn't mind at all: sisteraleki@myldsmail.net
That's her mission address, but she can keep it for 6 months after her mission.

have a great day,
Love,

Kathi