I have set the article in 2 parts, possibly 3 but will see how it goes. That means the one below you about to read is only the first part. This first part serves as an introduction. I do this to avoid make it too long and so it becomes boring. The second part is also almost finish. The second part will focus more on Samoa as Polynesian and how the arrival of the Gospel had shaped the history of Samoa and its people, and more importantly, how this Paselio clan of ours fits into all this…Please read and put any comments or feedback for it is an open discussions, do not hold back whatever you want to say…I will now leave it with you..blessings. Reunion.!!…Interesting topic and very interesting subject…I heard about reunion in early age at Saleaula, but only in recent years did I start to hear about it more so often. In fact here in Australia Samoan people I meet including some of my colleagues at work talk of their family reunion.. Many already finished their second and third and are planning for another one, but still others are currently in Samoa for family reunion that were scheduled on this past Christmas holiday..I tend to think it’s a fever sometimes until I realize our own family-The Paselio clan –is now planning the reunion of its own. Very exciting idea, but the same time remain curious as why this whole thing keep popping up here, there and everywhere. My overall impression as I watch daily the unfolding of events around the world is that this Family Reunion concept is a global phenomenon and maybe, just maybe that it meant to be happening at this time in history. We see in our televisions documentaries of celebrities, tv and media personalities, rock and movie stars travelling to far distances doing research and interviews in an effort to uncover their family roots. We also see the joy and excitement on their faces when they finally meet up with their lost relatives. Quite often on these reunions you see tears in their eyes, tears of buried emotions that had been hidden for many years as they come to the surface. Free at last, After years of searching they have found the missing piece, yep that’s exactly what it means…How fulfilled they seem to be in life when those celebrities and movie stars come to reunite with their lost relatives. One famous actor on Oprah show the other day said, quote: “Never take an advice from another actor “_ That was a comment from someone who lives in the world behind the façade of macho and perfect images portrayed by the movie industry.And how sad it is that these flaw human beings are idolized and worshipped by millions of young people all over the world. The world is in deep trouble, chaos everywhere, people take into the street demanding their rights from their governments, they are searching for answers. Citizens of the world are gone wearied of broken promises from the government leaders. We appointed these people to lead us into the promise land thinking that good time still lie ahead, but we soon realize our misery and frustration would only increase. Then we start to blame and complain to these very people we appointed as if they were the cause of our problems. But we forget that these people are only human just like us, I am convinced most of those who lead our governments are genuinely honest and sincere in giving out their best…Whatever solution governments offer, sooner or later, we will hear the cry, “it just doesn’t work “ One main area nations and governments yet to come to grip with is the breakdown of the nuclear family institution. Most of the world problems are family related. And the solution for this sick world of ours must be at least initiated within the context of the family, notice,: ‘at least‘…The bible tells us that the world was created by the spoken Word of God, (Genesis 1.) Each time God commanded “Let there be –- “], it released at the same time laws that guard and govern those things he created. Nowhere in the creation chapter of Genesis did God say “Let there be a law of nature or law of gravity“ But it’s all there; they were established at the time of creation for our benefit. Moreover when we read Genesis 1 from the first verse onwards, you’ll find the same manner of language God used in His creation until you come to the 26 verse; The process of creating our cosmos was by the spoken Word of God activated through commands and orders. But God refrained from His orders and commands when He was about to make us, or Adam for that matter. Genesis 1: 26--.) The reason for that is manifold., but I like to narrow it down to the one that relate to the context of this article, that is: God resolved that the law and principles of the family would be established based on His two ways relationship with man. Two party obligations..Somehow we find in chapter 3 of Genesis the fall of Adam.. The popular view held in relation to the fall of Adam is that he had disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit God commanded him not to, in which case that is true. Apparently it is a lot more than that. If we take matter as it appears on the surface, then in all fairness to Adam, the man was absolutely right, after all it was Eve who gave Adam the fruit in the first place. It would be better off had Eve wouldn’t existed at all. However the issue was not really the fruit, The issue was that Adam fell not because he ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but simply because the law that God put in place to guard the institution of the family was compromised. That led Adam touched and eventually ate the fruit God commanded him not to. Let me clarify this a bit further;- NO ONE IS PERFECT & NO ONE IS WITHOUT SIN; is the definition of humanity that didn’t fit in Adam’s profile before the fall; He was perfect, he was without sin’ just like Jesus. Adam was perfect in all and in every stretch of the imagination...;In verses 18 & 20 of Genesis 2; It reveals the role Eve would play in their partnerships with her husband God had intended for her. She would be the helper. Adam is the head, he is the power-base and the authority in the house, he is the provider and protector of the family. He makes decisions and Eve provides support and offer advice whenever was necessary...However to be sure, the Devil tried to get to Adam long before Eve appeared on the scene. Satan envied the authority God had bestowed upon the man, and every attempts he made to get it failed, because Adam would knew and picked it up. Satan was afraid of Adam.. To get to the man, he would have to find a way, and he persisted; but then Eve came. Chapter 3 of Genesis is about the fall and the consequences as a result:_ Verses 1-7 provided two possible scenarios we can reconstruct around Adam’s fall to determine what probably might had been really happened in this rather weird and bizarre episode. I would first put forward a couple of questions; Why on earth did Adam remain silent while Eve and the Serpent (Devil) were talking? Sure there was a place for him to join-in and have a say in the conversation. Why didn’t Adam voice his opinion regarding the critical matter Eve and the Devil were discussing? There are at least two explanations: First one is that Adam deliberately ignored his God given responsibility as the head of the family, the one who leads and in this case make and finalise decisions, a well define law between him and his wife. Instead he did the opposite of what he supposed to be doing. So he just stood there, felt proud of his wife and kept his mouth shut while the Sacred law of God was at stake: The second is the one I lean towards as the most likely the reason he did not speak up. That is, Adam’s silence tells me he was not with his wife even though verse 6 of the text seems to suggest he was. To prove the point, we have to remember the nature of the devil (Satan). He was, he is, and always will be a deceiver. In fact he is repeatedly referred to in Scripture as crafty and cunning, master of deception..__ For long he followed, watched and observed every movement, waiting for the time Adam’s guard would drop. He persisted; The other thing to also remember, is that it was not Eve but Adam the devil was after, but as mentioned earlier, he had to find a way to get to Adam.. The very fact when Eve answered the serpent telling the devil God had told them not to eat of the fruit,(Gen3:1-2) is an indication there was a resistance on the part of the woman, sadly though for the woman, she can only put up a fight for so long. She was now exposed to face with a formiddable opponent all by herself, In the end she lost the battle, Adam; her husband and protector when he was most needed was at the sea swimming with dolphins so to speak. Yes trust me on this, the devil is not stupid ..sounds funny and silly, but just think of the problems with many marriages in our modern time._ The bible warns to remember the fall of Adam for it was our fall. And Adam fell when the covering law and principles of the family was ignored. When it says “the Bible warns or otherwise, It simply means, “God warns and or otherwise....” For that reason, I venture to advance a conviction that a divine Hand of God is in the shadow of the reunion which is now in our family’s agenda... Key areas has been taken into account and explored I believe they are vital in understanding the Redemptive Gift of our family. These are, First; the influence of the family in Saleaula; held in high regards by the village. Second; our village Saleaula has Samoawide influence; the top two pule of Savaii alongside Safotulafai. Common practice by Samoan living overseas is that whenever a faa Samoa is underway, people from other parts of Samoa abandon their village matai names and identify themselves as Saleaulan taking on its titles so they can bargain in negotiations for oratory speeches. Third; Savaii island where Saleaula is located was where the Talalelei arrived. John Williams and Charles Barf who brought the Talalelei intended to land at Manono, thats where the Seat of Power were at the time, but made a detour to Savaii in last minute notice, thus fulfilled Nafanua’s prophesy to Malietoa right at the dot. Fourth; the bible was first translated from English into Samoan language in Avao, a village in Savaii very close to Saleaula, same district. Last but certainly not least, is that descendants of Saleaula have already made their mark on the world stage. I am referring to sons of Saleaula who serve to advance the Gospel of Christ around the world, in which one of the key figures is Silo; he is a son of our Paselio clan. Silo has been serving as a Missionary under YWAM for over 29 plus years. He is based in Bangladesh, a part of the world also known as the 10/40 window. Silo is among the top leaders of YWAM worldwide. His son Paselio/Caleb also follow dad’s footsteps, already on the mission field based in Germany, he has already led teams around the world on short term missions, countries like China, Africa, Asia, South America and all across Europe; he is a natural born leader. Another of the third generation Paselio clan is young Silo, Tuaniu’s son, undergoing further training at Vailima at YWAM base there and will soon release to China; in God’s timing. One important point I want to clarify as we approach the second phase of the article. Telesia, our mother recognised the blessing God has on our family and her own life from the beginning when she decided to let Silo go to be where God had called him to be. I remember summoning us all to come one Sunday after the to’ana’i; As we all gathered, she started to speak and suddenly burst into tears and said that she could not anymore refuse to release Silo to go. She told us the night before, she could not sleep even as she tried; until she said to God in a prayer that she would believe to what Silo had told her to be from God and that she will let him go. In fact as expected, when Silo first told mom God called him to be a missionary and that he would leave the family, Mom thought it was all crap, dismissed the idea as stupid and told Silo bluntly “you are not going anywhere “ sort of –period! End of discussion! That was the same night God’s Spirit moved in mom’s heart allowing her no sleep until she said yes to God, and the rest is history. We all know how the story goes; Apparently the story started with our grandfather/great, great great grandfather Paselio. Paselio on his youth years wanted to be a Catholic clergy (Fesoasoani). But with the family of only girls, he judged while being a pastor was a good course, nevertheless the family would come as his top priority. So he reared the family, and we were told by both Kalala and Telesia their father was a deeply religious person. He was one of the main architects for the establishing of the Catholic church in Saleaula. But his legacy will be highlighted by his vision to be a fulltime for God’s work. He didn’t live to see the fruition of his vision when it came to realize through the second generation; but we are thankful for the heritage he left behind for us all to embrace.. The coming generations of the Paselio clan will catch this vision and run with it one way or another. We like our children to get better schooling so they can have a promising future, but we must also accept the fact that God may have other plan. There is a worldwide revival coming. Who knows if the schooling of our kids is their preparation for that move of God. This is not to suggest everyone should seek to be a missionary or otherwise; working in a secular job is God’s call anyway, else the family will have no food on the table. And we can make an impact in our immediate sphere of influence, at work that is or at home..
Posted on: Thu, 15 May 2014 11:34:49 +0000
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