Tongan Update 08 October 2007, Hapaii Trip
This past week was a real adventure. First, we (President McMurray and I) flew to Ha'apai in a 16 passenger twin prop plane. All bags had to be checked. The inside of the plane is really cosy. We followed coral reefs for about 45 minutes. It is interesting to see the islands and the coral reefs around them. You get a better prospective of the danger of getting in and out of the islands.
Airport of Ha'apai
We landed on an island that has the main road running right across the runway. When a plane approaches, gates on both sides of the runway are closed. A car travels the full length of the runway to be sure that the pigs are off the runway, and then the plane lands. It is really a sight. to see.
This is the runway that we crossed to see missionary houses.
It is really neat to see the beauty of the island as you approach it. Our day was busy. I and another man named Vatuni, toured the main island in a van. We also toured two smaller islands by boat. The President interviewed missionaries while we were gone.
Later in the day, we had a Zone Conference with the elders. Vatuni sat next to me and interpreted for me because everything was done in Tongan. Towards the end of the meeting, President McMurray called on me to give some thoughts and to bear my testimony. Vatuni was my interpreter. I spoke about treating their living quarters as we do chapels. I called their houses "Houses of Worship". I've written a handout for the missionaries that compares chapels to their living quarters. I went over points that are common, and then I asked them, "Is there any reason why you cannot treat your” House of Worship” like we treat our chapels? I then told them what needed to be done based on my inspection of the houses.
It was interesting to me, that even though there were language barriers, there was a common medium that made possible for understanding to occur. It was a testimonial of how the spirit works to provide understanding and allows a spiritual experience to occur. There were things said that Vatuni knew were true. He broke down and cried as we worked together to communicate to the missionaries my thoughts. It is a sacred thing to know that as you are expressing yourself , the spirit is bearing witness to those that you are speaking to, thus you know that your message is being understood.
Then I started to discuss my feelings about President McMurray. We all (especially me) had a spiritual experience than warmed our hearts. He and I are a team. We are like brothers. I think everyone knows that now. After I spoke, he spoke and said similar things about our relationship. It was a tender moment when expression of love towards each other was expressed publicly " I want you to know, "he said, "that there is a reason why Elder Thompson was invited to come to Tonga. That reason will become clearer to you as time goes by. I am just grateful that he is here. He has already helped me in so many ways.”
President McMurray is a wonderful person. He is on fire in this mission. He is so talented. I told the missionaries that I know that we are not to envy others, but I do envy his gifts and talents. He is so knowledgeable of the gospel. He has the gift of tongues spoken of in the scriptures. He is so excited about missionary work. “He is all that I am not," I said. "I provide a balance which keeps his feet on the ground.”
After the meeting we had a Tongan style buffet. It was a royal feast.
Then Vatuni and I went by boat to several islands and visited additional missionary houses.
I felt like I went back in time visiting these islands.
The missionaries live without modern conveniences, without power, without heated water, or even filtered water. They have no cooking facilities in their houses. They rely on members to feed them or they live off the land.
Wires are just dangling.
We visited a Senior Couple (they are Tongan) that are living in a house that is not in the best of shape, but what they said to me was amazing. “We are so thankful for our beautiful little house.” Believe me it was not beautiful, but in their eyes it was. Some people can see cups half full with water instead of half empty. They saw beauty, I saw problems.
We drove to the house which is located close to the shore. We simply drove our boat up to the shore, hopped out, and walked to the house (no docks).
Vatuni stands in front of the house that looks better from the outside than the inside. Inside live a couple that are over 80 years old. I think it is their 5th mission. A couple of reporters for "The Church News" did an interview with them and plan to tell their story in an upcoming edition.
As we walked back to the boat, brother Fiefia wobbled with us to the shore to see us off. Pretty amazing considering his age of 80+.The next day we traveled by boat to Ha’afeva. It is an island so far away that you can hardly see it on the horizon. The water was rough. Some got sick and spent some time hanging over the side of the boat. Amazingly, I felt great. I was in a boat! I was having a great time.
Because it was low tide, we had to go miles out of our way to get around the coral reefs. Our first stop was a small island called O’ua. There is only one village on the island.
As we approached the O’ua dock, the water was so shallow that they had to raise the engines and walked the boat towards the dock, but we couldn't get to the dock.
As we started to get out of the boat (we had rolled up our pant legs), two of the boat hands stopped us and insisted that they carry us to shore. Can you believe that? They, out of respect for us, carried President McMurray and me to the shore. "It would had been embarrassing to us," they said, "had you gotten off the boat and had gotten wet in front of the villagers."
Basket and mat making is a labor-intensive process that requires stripping the bark into long stripes, then soaking the strips in the ocean for several days, then rolling the strips into coils of material. Next the people beat the strips with mallets to make it thin. They pound it until it is paper thin.
Some of the strips are used for weaving into mats, baskets, bowls, and other cases for carrying things like scripture bags.
Walking the village of O’ua was like being in a Disneyland environment. It was magical and unreal. I do not have words to describe what I saw and felt as I walked through the little village, past the LDS chapel to the missionary house.
Here on this island ,that has only one small village, is a LDS chapel and a tennis court for the people to use. All the courts have basketball standards and nets to play tennis and to have social activities.
Rain water is collected from the roofs and stored in large tank, called sima. For this missionary house, they manually pump the water from the sima to the higher tank, then let gravity do the rest.
President McMuray is well known throughout all the islands of Tonga. He is able to talk with everyone he meets.
It is amazing and humbling to me to learn that this little island, with only one village, was and is important enough to the Lord that a small chapel with additional class rooms and a tennis court were built just for them. After inspecting the house and chapel, we loaded back onto the boat (being carried again). We had to drive around another coral reef to Ha’afeva. This island is the center island for a group of islands. It is where District meetings are held.
This is the main island for distributing things. Boats from the other island groups come here once a week to deliver supplies. We send up barrels of fuel for our boats and diesel fuel for the power generator that provides power for the churches on the smaller islands. This is the only dock for the Ha'afeva island group.
From the dock you see this as you look towards the chapel.
From the dock we drove between these two fences to the the chapel with a few supplies while the boat moved and anchored just in front of the chapel. There is not a dock in front of the chapel so you wade to and from the boat.
We had lunch with the people on Ha’afeva, and then Vatuni and I left to visit two more islands while President McMurray met with the missionaries. On these islands there are no missionary houses, so the missionaries live in one of the class rooms at the church. Almost all the chapels in these islands are built right on the coast line so the view is spectacular. The purpose of our visit was to inspect the church property and to determine if a missionary house could be built on the same property. I felt a great need to carefully consider whether a house could and should be constructed on the church property. I knew that my recommendation would be heavily relied upon. I felt empowered with additional ability to see and think about the possible locations. The conclusion for both islands was, yes, lets build the missionary houses as soon as possible.
From the boat you see a narrow grassy area before the fence, then the chapel of Untanga. Currently missionaries use a class room to stay in when they are here.
This is the church on Untanga. It has just a few class rooms. All the floors are tiled. All chapels in the Kingdom of Tonga have floors that are tiled.
This view is looking toward the chapel from the generator building. Between the chapel and the generator building we will build a missionary house in order to get the missionaries out of the church.
From the front porch of this chapel (and most of the chapels on these remote islands) you have a beautiful view of the ocean.
On another island the chapel is located on a point with sandy beaches around it. Again, there's no dock.
On this day it was rainy and windy. We had trouble anchoring the boat. When we left the island the wind blew us into the other boats. They couldn't release the front anchor so the branch president came on board, went to the front of the boat, and dove into the water. He then followed the anchor rope, dove down. and then released the anchor from the coral. After releasing the anchor, he just waved good bye to us. No big deal.
Almost all churches here in Tonga have a tennis court with basketball standards. Most of the courts have lights so they can be used at night. This island was no exception. What was interesting to me was that this little chapel, probably only 40 square feet, still had a tennis court. The location of this little chapel was absolutely beautiful.
The small chapel
The thing that made my day was this: When we arrived on this island, it was raining hard. But six young men were playing tennis in the rain. It was so fun watching them have fun. Tennis in the rain, anyone?
The Chapel is on a hill overlooking the ocean
After visiting with the Branch President, we returned to Ha’afeva and joined the president who was having a Zone Meeting. After the Zone Meeting we had another buffet style feast. We were given lobster and crab to eat along with chicken, beef, and other Tongan foods. In the evening we had a District Fireside. President McMurray spoke and sang a song that I haven’t heard before, but his voice sounded so angelic to me. It was beautiful. He is so gifted. After the fireside the district members had a dance on the tennis court. Just when the dance was to begin, it started to rain hard, but that didn’t stop them. They danced in the rain. I haven’t seen so much fun being displayed in a long time. They were having a blast. They danced with the lights on until about midnight, then the lights were shut off, but the dancing continued until I don’t know when. 
People from other islands came in small overloaded boats to attend this district event. They simply camped out in the church or with other members on the island. They had a wonderful time.
Another assignment I had while on this trip was to inspect one of the mission boats.
Last month they called and said the boat was cracking. I told them to stop using the boat until I could see the problem. Fortunately the fractures are on the deck and hasn’t affected the hull. There are four areas that need reinforcing. It is a manufacturing problem. They just didn’t reinforce areas that are subject to stress when the boat is in use.
This boat was just in for repairs on the bottom of the boat. The above are fractures on the deck. Besides having cracks, none of the electronic equipment (lights, radio) work. The mission boats have no flotation foam or bilge pumps.
Now that I have seen the problem, I know the solution. Sometime in the near future I will be going back to Ha’api to repair or supervise the repairs of the boat (since starting this summary of my Ha'apai trip, new boats have been ordered. Actually, by the time I finish this summary, the boats will be here).
The next morning we prepared ourselves to return to the main island (Pangai). Those that came to the fireside were loading also. It was so funny seeing how they loaded (overloaded) the boats.
This picture is of all the missionaries that are on the small islands near Ha'afeva, President McMurray, Vatuni, and myself. Two of the three mission boats are in the background. One of the boats has been restricted in use because of the cracks.
There were times when I was sitting down and looking out the side window that I realized that the waves were higher than the boat. As we rolled out of these low points, the boat would then slam into the next wave jarring our whole body.
I never felt threaten. I thought things were under control. It was just rough. As I was sitting and pondering about our situation, I became disappointed. We had a prayer before we started our return trip. We asked that the seas be calmed. We were on the Lords errand. We had done good things. I was with a righteous man-the Mission President. Why weren’t the winds and seas calmed in our behalf? In all probability no one would have gotten sick had the waters been calmer. Why was our prayer not recognized? We continued to bounce around for the rest of the trip, but these thoughts continued to be in my mind. The water never did smooth out for us.When we got back to the main island, we split up again. Vatuni and I inspected additional houses while the President had meetings. Off and on, as we drove in the van, I thought about the rough waters. My questions troubled me. Now that I have had time to think about it, I think I have an answer. I’ll explain later.
As we flew out of Ha'apai I felt a great love for what is going on here--the people andall the churches and their beautiful settings. It is amazing how these people deal with life. It is amazing what is going on to bless them. The church has been more than generous to them at a great expense.
I wonder what God thinks as he looks down from the heavens?
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