2017 Stars of Oceania Acceptance Speech - October 2, 2017

I'm humbled to be a part of your event and feel so privileged to be selected among the 2017 Stars of Oceania. I want to first say how pleased I am that this event awards my predecessor, the late congressman, Faleomavaega Eni. He served with dignity for a remarkable quarter century, and he's highly deserving of this honor in his memory. Tonight's beautiful theme is triumph through resilience, healing, and faith. These honorees have inspiring stories and along with them I hope parts of my story can be a benefit to young people, particularly young women and also to cancer survivors as they write their own stories in life. Serving the people of American Samoa is a special privilege, and as most of you know, I ran for this office ten consecutive times before I was elected. To sum up, be persistent, keep believing, and always keep God in the forefront of all that you do. Thank you so much for organizing this program and inspiring people throughout this entire region and the rest of the world. We are blessed to live in beautiful places throughout the Pacific, and this program is an opportunity to share an optimistic look at our future together. I'm honored to be included. Thank you.