Passion of a Sunday school teacher

By Ilia L. Likou 09 October 2017, 12:00AM

White Sunday is always about children.

But little attention is given to the work of Sunday School teachers to teach them and train them throughout the year – including skits and memory verses for today. It’s a thankless job.

In fact it is voluntary.

For Tamati Te’o of Leulumoega, it is his service to God.

Tamati, 21, is a Sunday school teacher for the Methodist Church in his village.

Speaking to the Village Voice, he said it is an honour to be able to help with Sunday School.

The church, he said, is where you build and develop your spiritual life so you can help someone else. For him, it’s about helping the children.

“I became a Sunday school teacher because growing up in the church, I’ve always wanted to help our community and our village as a whole and I saw the opportunity in becoming a teacher,” he said.

“So not only do I love it, my family has always been supportive of me in this decision as they say it keeps me out of trouble.”

Tamati is also a big help to his family. He farms the land to provide food for his family. 

The Village Voice team met him yesterday when he was on his way to gather food for his family from the plantation. 

“I always make sure to have enough food for my family and our church minister every Sunday.”

“This has always been one of my main responsibilities because I am the fifth child of seven siblings.”

“This is all for our parents and I can never get tired from doing so.”

Tamati said playing a role in the church contributed a lot to his character.

“No one is perfect in this life and just because we go to church doesn’t mean you consider yourself to be a perfect person, no. For me, perfection lies within your spirit and your will to try and never giving up no matter what. It is about having faith in God even at times where you see there’s no hope at all.”

“That’s how the church has helped me because I know with so many things going on around the world; we always tend to lose our faith but being part of the church makes me strong.” 

“Being strong through all the struggles is not easy because we have seen many of our youths ending their lives because it’s too much for them. The pressure and stress is too much for them.” 

Tamati said being a Sunday school teacher was the only time he got to listen to the voice of God. 

“If you do not know how to make time for God in your life, then that’s a real problem,” he said. 

By Ilia L. Likou 09 October 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

Upgrade to Premium

Subscribe to
Samoa Observer Online

Enjoy unlimited access to all our articles on any device + free trial to e-Edition. You can cancel anytime.

>