Tongan Update 01 November 2007, Islands of Vava’u
President McMurray and his wife invited us to go with them to the islands of Vava’u. These islands lie 163 miles north of Tongatapu and are considered to be the “Jewels of Tonga.” President McMurray compares Tongatapu and Vava’u to Murray, Utah and Park City. Cruise ships port in Vava’u. There are many sailboats in the harbor. There are hills and valleys covered with palm trees and all kinds of foliage. It’s a postcard kind of place.
This picture is one of the few pine trees on the island, and it stands alone. Similarly, the church stands out as being the only true church of God with full priesthood authority and responsibility to work in His name with His blessing.
Have you ever seen a coconut tree (or any tree) grow out of a truck?
or a tree with a trunk that is 20-25' in diameter and with branches that provides shade for 20 or more cars? The tree is huge and looks ancient with all the twisting bark and branches.
The McMurrays were going to Vava’u to speak at a graduation ceremony, attend Zone Conference, and interview the missionaries. We were going to inspect the missionary houses. The President arranged our flights and accommodations. He had us booked to stay at one of the nicest resort areas on the main island. It is right on the ocean front with a view of the bay, and we even had one of the “deluxe “rooms.
On the morning of our departure, we packed our bags and headed across Tongatapu to pick up the President and Charlene. Low and behold when we reached their home, the McMurrays informed us that our “confirmed” flights were not leaving until 3:00…it was now 9:30a.m. We debated what to do. It was decided that only the President would go, and the rest of us would go another day. (His flight finally left at 5:00 that night.)
The next controversy was who should now go to Vava’u? Should it be Elder Thompson and Sister Thompson OR Elder Thompson and Elder Heimuli OR Elder and Sister Thompson and Elder and Sister Heimuli OR whatever? Anyway, we went, but no “deluxe room.”
We flew in a 50 seat plane which the airline people had brought in from Fiji for travel between the main island of Tongatapu and Vavu'a. They said they were going to try using it for 6 months, but since our trip we haven't seen it.
Our travel to Vava'u was much more comfortable in the bigger plane, than the 16 seater which is normally used. The small plane is cramped and really noisy. John takes his hearing aids out when riding in the small plane because it is so loud. He sits in a quiet environment while others listen to the deafening sound of the props.
From the air you seat beautiful island groups surrounded with coral. You also see farm lands in an organized pattern of ownership. This pictures shows the farm lands (uta) near the airport. The entire island is green with grasses and leafy root crops.
This is Nuku'alofa as the plane turned north to head towards Vava'u. You can see where we live. It's the small white dot. (ha ha). We knew what to look for and could actually see the area where we are now living.
This is the small airport of Vava'u. Each airport has its unique personality taking you back in time.
This welcome sign was put up by one of the wards to welcome leaders to a forum(Pacific Island) retreat in Vava'u. It created major controversy because it welcomed a leader that is known for civil right violations. Some island people protested. Some forum leaders refused to go to the Vava'u retreat. These types of welcome arches and welcome banners can be seen throughout the islands. On Tongatapu, each village made their own banner and arch over the roads. This is the only one that was sponsored by members of the Church. The trumpeting angel Moroni was very distinctive.
We stayed in an apartment that was once used by some senior missionaries who had left for home. And that was OK until 2:30 in the morning. John and I were sound asleep when a cleaning crew of Tongans came to… as they described it, “Clean the bathroom, the toilet, and the chicken.” The “chicken” turned out to be the kitchen. I don’t know…but does it seem a bit early to come cleaning? They were convinced to come back later. So at 6:00 a.m. they were back. When we finally woke up enough to kind of think straight, we made some phone calls and figured things out. We still had two more nights to stay, and we didn’t want anymore midnight visitors! (Why do you think Tongans like to clean in the middle of the night? I don’t get it!)
The next day we visited all the missionary houses that we could drive to in a car. A senior couple ( the Harrisons from Brigham City, Utah) and the Zone leaders were our guides. Now how hard can it be to spend all day driving around a beautiful island? Answer: not hard at all!
Some of the houses are up to church standards like this one.
Others, like the pictures below, are not. We instructed the elders to move out of this place of living immediately. Since returning to the office, we just finished plans to build a new house in this area for the missionaries. Lucky for them. It will definitely be an improvement.
You may be asking yourself, "why are we showing you these pictures that are not pleasant to see?"Well, everything in Tonga is not beautiful. We have been, and still are, dealing with things that have been ignored for years. We believe that "raising the bar" is more than preparing for a mission. We believe that missionary behavior, living quarters, treatment of mission vehicles, use of time, etc. all need to be raised.
We raised the bar in boat standards. We are getting new boats in three months. We are raising the bar on living quarters (we will build 7 new houses in the coming months). We are getting missionaries to clean their "Houses of Worship" better. It is a challenge, but we know that a clean and orderly house will invite the spirit of the lord to be with them. They are improving. We are see a difference and to us it is refreshing to see the difference.
Because of limited time, we continued our inspections late into the night and used the lights from the van to help us see the outside condition of the homes. At this house we discovered that the elders were gone and that the door was unlocked. As we walked in and walked from room to room we found, on the floor of the bedroom, a male adult was sleeping on the floor next to the bed. Even though John turned on the lights and we talked over him, he didn't move. (He must have been a sound sleeper or a good faker.) Having non-missionaries in the house is against mission rules. We talked to the Elders later that night and had them move the sleepy guy out. It's a conflict that we deal with. Some Elders think that they can allow non missionaries to stay in their houses even though Mission Rules prohibit it. Some missionaries don't understand that the rules are designed to protect the property and to avoid situations where improper things occur.
The following day we went by boat to three of the smaller islands. Most of these smaller islands have only one village on them.
This boat is one of the mission boats and will be replaced. None of the electronic equipment (lights, horn, radio) work. It is also cracking. How can people ignore the problems on these boats?
We saw beautiful sights along the way.
This is a coral reef we traveled through. The water was only a couple of feet deep. To the side of us, the water was breaking against the coral so our travel through the coral was in a narrow passageway (a coral trench). Missionaries sat on the bow of the boat pointing out coral formations that we needed to go around. Needless to say, we repair and replace props often because of the coral. Every trip is different due to the tide.
This is a narrow passageway we came through after navigating around the coral breaks above. Had we not been able to go through this passageway, our ride would have been much longer because we would have had to go around additional coral reefs to another passage way into a bay for this island.
We stopped at this intriguing water cave. The driver drove the boat inside of it.
As the boat turned around, this was our view looking out of the cave.
My, my! a day in paradise!
A lot of the missionary houses are in need of repair. From the outside, this rented house looks good.
But the inside? Well, there is work to be done.
It was fun to traipse around the little villages, visiting with the people, watching the pigs, and collecting shells.
This church building is located on the shore, with the missionary house and tennis court located in the back of the church. On the shore are boats that members use to come to Church and to use for fishing.
The chapels are simple with tiled floors, but they reflect a reverence that is truly noticeable. You feel a spirit that is sweet, because you know that people partake of the sacrament in these little rooms and are teaching one another things of God. As you look upon these simple room, you also know that special things occur here. The Sacrament is blessed, testimonies are borne, and messages are given that remind members to be more Christ-like.
As you leave many of the chapels the view is inspiring--makes you want to just sit on the steps of the church, look out, and appreciate the things the Lord has created. The views inspire you to be thankful.
Can you imagine how they must feel when they leave church and see a view like this?
We had to kind of smile at the missionary district leaders who reside on one of the islands. They had cleaned their house perfectly. Then they gave both of us flower leis to wear. They went overboard to impress us.
Here, Elder Kairi sits proudly and smiles with his pleasure of presenting to us a clean house.
If we could just get other missionaries to make their homes places of paradise! It would be wonderful.
Here the missionaires have to sleep in one of the classrooms of the church.
Then you have some other Elders who need to get to work and clean their living quarters. You see them all!
With our inspections done, we were going to hike up a small mountain that overlooks the whole island, but it rained…and rained…and rained. We didn’t think our plane would take off because of the rain. But it did.
Oh by the way, we did go to the post office. There were two mail slots for mailing things, but we learned that everything really goes by boat.
What a lovely three days!!
LIFE IS GOOD IN TONGA!!!
It sounds like those missionaries are keeping you on your toes. Remember that they are boys! How often did we (your sons) keep our rooms clean? Tonga looks amazing. What a beautiful place. Keep up the good work.
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