Family, Football, and Faith

Hello, I'm Dick Foth, and I'd like to welcome you to known stories to make sense of it all. These stories are what I call walking books, real-life people, different places, different ages, different cultures, and I want to have some conversations with them across disciplines and generations and cultures in order to encourage a kind of knowing fresh lenses through which to see the world. One of those lenses will be Scripture, or more specifically, Jesus of Nazareth, whose life I believe changed the course of the history of the world. So thanks for listening in. Great to have you with us. Well, I speak to you today from the great state of Oregon, and it's Oregon in the sunshine. That's almost an oxymoron, but we're great for, aren't we, Roger? Very grateful. It's been too wet lately. It's great to see the sun out. That's great. I sit today with my friend, Roger Levassa, from Tualiton, Oregon, just outside Portland, and I want to talk to you today, Roger, and we've chatted about this a bit. I want to talk to you about family, football, and faith. Are you game? Sounds good. Okay, let's go. So let's start here. What kind of a name is Levassa? Levassa is a Samoan name. It means the tide of the ocean. Okay. So you're from Samoa. I was born in Western Samoa in the capital city of Nepal, which is on the island of Pulu, which means absolutely nothing to most people. Well, tell me, I mean, it sounds very exotic. Samoa out in the South Pacific and all of that Polynesian islands. Talk to me a little bit about the culture of Samo. How is it structured? Talk to me about family, and I'll just butt in along the way. Sure, sure. There's one word that every Samoan can relate to, and it's called fa Samoan means the Samoan way. And there's a particular way in how we do family, how we do life. Every village has a history. Every village has families that are represented by chiefs, and so each family has a chief that holds the title of that family, and that represents that family within that community. So that's by villages. It's not a tribe in the traditional sense. No, it's more of a village. Every village has a family. Every family in the village is represented. It has a place at the table, if you will. And your place in the table is usually determined by your history of the family name within that village. So give me an example of that. Well, for example, if we sit down to dinner, you know your place in the picking order by the part of the fish that you get. If you get the head of the fish, that means you got a pretty high title. Your big time to get the head. If you get the head, if you get the tail, not so much. So your parents came from two different villages. Right. Talk to me about that. Well, my mom, my father was born in a village called Uofato, Fungalua. It's a, for lack of better, it's like a hillbillies. So he came from the backwards of San Juan. Like Jesus town, it's like Nazareth. Right. Right. Okay. And my mom was born in Savayi, which is the village of kings, if you will. She was born in the, so that's where she comes from. I see. So your dad married royalty of a kind. Sort of, sort of, yeah. She, she, she, she caught his eye and he caught her grace. So you were telling me something about how story works in your culture. And since known stories to make sense of it all is part of the theme of this. Talk to me about that. The place of story in Samoan culture. Well, every village has a story. There's a history and part of it is mythology, part of it is facts. And every, every village has was in the past down from generation to generation, which includes the chiefs, the families of that village, the major events that have happened in that village. And so it's, it's oral tradition. It's oral tradition. Okay. And so that's how it's passed on. And let's say, for example, that, that the year from fourth village, and you approach the La Vasa village. Right. And you want to have a conversation with us. There's something that you want from us, whether it's pigs, cows, or women. Okay. Brides hand. Right. So you come to us. And, and before you cannot, you're not going to have an accommodation. Your talking chief will begin telling me the fourth talking chief will start telling the La Vasa talking chief about the history of their village. So you'll tell me my story. And what that does for me is it opens me up to the, to the understanding that you know my story. So now, not that you've told me my story, I'm open to whatever you're here to ask me about. Okay. So, so I'm, I'm big on people sharing their stories with other people. You know, we've talked about that right about and all that. But you're saying that if I'm going to approach you for something, I need to know your story, have found out about it. Ask questions about it enough so I can recite your story to you. Yes. And why is that important? It's a matter of respect. That's just the way that we, you have to receive. You're showing us honor and respect by telling us our story. So, so I had to have thought about you and your village and your family enough to have asked around or whatever it takes. To know that story before I approach you. That's correct. That's correct. That's amazing. Yeah. That is, that is very cool. Let me, let me shift from that a little bit to say, okay, that's, that's the culture of the islands, if you will, those islands. Your family was part of that. You were brought up. You, you told me you're not big on veggies. No. Tell our listeners why you're not big on. Well, the Samoan diet is kind of very unique. The only vegetable that I ever was exposed to was the taro leaf. And it's, we call it, it's, it's taro leaf with coconut milk. Okay. Palusami is the name of the, we, we call it Palusami or Samoan steroids. But they're really tasty. But beyond that, everything else was pig, you know, chicken. Really? Wow. So it's mainly a lot of meat fish. Okay. But, but your family left Samo out when your dad went into mission work where? Papua New Guinea mom and dad did some missionary work there for 14 years. I was raised in Papua for seven of those 14 years. Right. Before they, they left and made their way to America. Okay. So, so you go from Samoa to Papua New Guinea and end up in Southern California. Long Beach, California. That's what you call a cultural shock. I would think. Quite a shock. Quite a shock. Very different from you go from palm trees to pavement. So, so, so where did you, where did you live in Southern Cal? I grew up, we initially landed in Wilmington, California and moved over to Long Beach, California where my dad took over as a pastor of a small Samoan congregational church on what we call the west side. Okay. And so, that's why I was raised with the elementary and middle school, uh, Webster Elementary School. So, so the city's divided into west side and east side? Well, the way we look at it, it's the east to west. The northerners like to be recognized too, but we just recognize Long Beach as east and west. Okay. And you, you were brought up in a culture of, um, football players? Yes. So, let me, let me shift to football just a little bit here or not a little bit. Let's just talk about that. You grew up playing football. Yes. Talk to me about that. Well, football, back then when we grew up, we played football, tackle football at the park, at the church yard. That was just a normal part of what we did. We didn't need shoulder pads or helmets. We just went out, went out each other, um, to poor to pay the fee to pay in any club teams or pop one or team. So, we just kind of did it on our own at the park or in a church lot. So, that was our exposure to football. We loved it, played it and, uh, didn't really get serious about it until we got into high school. Then we realized, oh, there's a, there's a method to this madness. There could be money in this. Well, not, not really for us, for, for me personally, might escape in playing footballs. I didn't want to go home and do chores. Oh, there you go. So, the thing that motivated me to play is that I could tell my dad or mom I was hoping to teach her. I got to do it. Yeah, there you go. So, I like that thing you told me about the guys who would tag stuff or do graffiti to tell us. Well, on the west side, you know, in many neighborhoods, there's, there's protocol. Yeah. And, uh, and so the gang gang bangers would tag different parts of our neighborhood, the bar, local bar, but they would skip our property, which was the church property, and they referred to that area as the islanders court. Okay. Santa Fe and Warlow. Yeah. For those who were from the area on 223rd that turns into Warlow Avenue. So, on the corner of Santa Fe and Warlow was, what they called islanders court, that was kind of don't touch, because if you touch them to some, some own boys might roll up on you. And then, and most of you guys aren't, forgive me, you aren't, necessarily small, right? Are there, are there some smaller, smaller guys, but they are also like kindergarten, obviously. So, we have that reputation of being heavy, big, and all of that. Lineman. Lineman linebackers. Yeah. Running backs. So, so Tuyasa Sopo, and names that some of our older listeners might might recognize. Yeah, probably the first wave of Polynesians into the pros were the Tuyasa Sopo family, whether the Tautolo's, the Tautupu, Mosita Tautupu. So that was the first wave in Manu and his family were instrumental in us coming from San Moa to America, we kind of lived together. So, who was the, who was the fellow played for the Steelers, the linebacker guy? Troy Polamano, I'm sorry. Troy Polamano. Okay. Troy Polamano changed the dynamics of how the positions, and he, and he did the long hair from under the old, iconic. Right. Now, all the guys that got the apparently that becomes kind of a signature for Polynesian is the long hair. So, and today, people in football, you know, one of my favorite quarterbacks, the college level, area ever, and I apologize this because you're an Oregon state guy. You're a beaver, and you went on to play with usFL for a while, but this fellow named Marcus Marriota, who comes from Hawaii, right, but he's San Moan descent. Right. He's a father San Moan, and he's representing the people really well, and we really appreciate him playing, and he's a good position. He's the quarterback. Quarterback for the Tennessee Titans. Somebody that might be recognized even more is this fellow Dwayne Johnson, right? Right. He called the rock, the big dude. Rocks got some Hamo in him. He called it. Hamo? Yeah. So, he's San Moan. He's right. His mom was San Moan, and his dad was a famous wrestler. Wow. Rocky Johnson. So, here you are. You graduated high school, you went to Oregon state, played for years for Oregon state, went on to the USFL. Now you're in a pastoral role, not unlike your dad, if you will, but many of us would know what it's like to sort of buy into family faith. That is, you know, my folks were believers, therefore I am. When in your life did faith become more personal and more real for you rather than just more cultural, if I can put it, even if it's family culture? Sure. Well, faith for me was always a part of my life in the sense that church was important. The Bible was important. You know, dad made sure that we didn't miss church, and if we did as a San Moan kid, most San Moans would know this, you'll get beat on a little bit if you try to skip out on church. But it became my faith, if you will, when I was a senior at Oregon State University, my senior year, from the outside looking in, people would think good guy, good athlete, all of this stuff, but inside I was just bankrupt, and I wasn't unlike most many teenagers. Teenagers, I was trying to find out what the purpose of life was, and for me, I wasn't happy with the person that I'd become. If my father knew half of the stuff that I did, me and you would not be having this conversation. I get it. But I remember a young man speaking in the middle of our campus at Oregon State University talking about Jesus openly, and I remember thinking to myself, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I found that young man later on came and invited me to a meeting, a Christian meeting where he was the talker or the preacher. And while he was talking, I remember thinking to myself, either he's lying, well, I'm not a Christian. And that thought had never entered my mind before, because I was raised in the church, I did all the church stuff. And so I thought I was a Christian, and yet my lifestyle reflected that was far from it. And that became apparent to me that night, and he gave what I now know is the altar call that night about giving your life to Jesus. I just remember thinking to myself, I have to do something about the fact that I'm not a follower of Jesus in that evening. I gave my life to the Lord. And that changed things. Changed the trajectory of my life, changed my friendships, changed the context of how I did everything. You know, football was not the God of my life anymore. It wasn't what dictated how I do or how I do life, but it should have been all along just a fun sport to play. If you had one thing to say to younger folks, by younger, let's say people in their teens or 20s or early 30s, just about life or faith, what are one or two of those things that you might want to say? And I know I'm springing this on you. Sure. Well, you know, the danger of saying what I'm about to say is that's the religious pattern, sir. Okay. And it is what it is, but the truth is, God has created eternity within the heart of every man. Church won't feel that God, that whole Bible study won't feel that whole, praying won't feel that whole success in athletics won't feel that only God can feel that whole God alone. And that's what I discovered is you can try to pour temporary stuff into an eternal hole and it's not going to work only God can feel that. And so that would be my advice to the young people is you're looking for love in all the wrong places. You can only be found in God and he made that available to us to his son Jesus Christ. Okay. Tremendous Roger. How would you say to me in Samoan? And you could say anything because I won't know. But some of these guys listening might know, yeah, how would you say to me, have a great trip home, folks. Have a good journey. Same to you, Roger. Thanks a lot. God bless. Great to hang out. God bless you. Thank you. Bye bye.