Tongan Update, March 19, 2008 Boating 123

Boating 123 March 19, 2008

This week we received the three new mission boats from New Zealand. When the boats arrived, we brought all the boat drivers to Tongatapu for training. After the training was completed, we had to deliver the boats to three different island groups. Two were delivered by driving them to their locations, and one was shipped by carrier to it’s location. I was involved in all deliveries. It was another adventure.

There has been excitement in the air for the past week as people anticipated the arrival of the new boats. They are a funny looking boat, but they are really practical for this environment.

They are aluminum and have a cabin section so travelers can get out of the rain and/or sun. Each boat has a depth finder with a GPS, so the electronics are sophisticated, but no one knows how to operate them. No training was given on the use of these devises so we are on our own. Each boat has a 100 gallon fuel tank. It cost over $1,000 (Tongan dollars) to fill each tank.

After providing classroom and outdoor presentations about the boat, we launched them. It was so funny. They forgot to line up a tow vehicle so we used a small Toyota 4x4 truck.

It reminded me of towing our Calypso with our old Toyota Four Runner.

To gas up, we had to drive through town on Saturday morning, the busiest day of the week. Needless to say, we drew a lot of attention as we traveled back and forth with each boat with the little truck and the large boat.

At the ramp we wanted to practice loading the boat with each driver and practice pulling the boat out of the water, but the small Toyota truck didn’t have enough power to do it several times, so we did it only once. The transmission was smoking after the first pull.

After driving the boats on the water for a while, we tied two boats together, had lunch, and then had President McMurray offered a “dedication prayer”.

The boats were dedicated to the Lord for missionary work. There was a different feeling that radiated through the boats as the prayer was offered. We all knew that these boats now had purpose. They would become the vehicles to transport missionaries and other church officials to many islands throughout Tonga. The movement of these people would be for the building of the Lord’s kingdom--no fishing, no pleasure riding, just service, therefore, our feelings and emotions became more subdued for we knew, we really knew, how important they would become in the Lord’s work in Tonga.

Monday morning a few of us boarded two of the boats-Amoni (Tongan for Alma) and Molonai (Tongan for Moroni) and set off to sea to the Ha’apai island group. These boats, that looked so big to everyone when they were on the trailers, now seemed like little toys.

As we were out on the ocean, there were periods of time when no land could be seen. That’s when I realized how insignificant the boat was compared to the seas.

We traveled to Nomuka in record time (3 1/2 hours). This is the first major island in route to Ha’apai. From Nomuka we drove to Ha’afeva. This took another hour. We left one boat in Ha’afeva. After docking the boat I walked to the chapel to inspect a storage place for the boat. Some of the kids that greeted us at the boat dock followed me like kids surrounding the candy man. I stopped and took their picture. Kids love to have their picture taken.

Some of the people on this island provided lunch for us (a small pig, root plants, and, well, this was hard for me- lobster).

After lunch we traveled another hour to Pangai, Ha’apai. So, this little boat ride adventure was 5 ½ hours long.

When we arrived in Ha’apai, we quickly unloaded our suitcases and several boxes for the missionaries in Vava’u. It was our expectation that we were going to board a plane and fly to Vava’u (the next major island group north of Ha’apai). It was my job to receive the third boat that was being shipped, in a cargo ship, to Vava’u.

Well, we got to the airport and learned that the plane was flying back to the main island (Tongatapu) instead of Vava’u. Tongatapu is the island that we started our trip from. We started to check in at the airport and learned that they had oversold the plane. Some of our group had to spend the night in Ha’apai. Since I needed to receive the boat in Vava’u, I got to return to Tongatapu.

What happened to the boxes for the missionaries in Vava’u? Well, I had to leave them with those that didn’t get on the plane with instructions to put them on the next cargo boat- the Olovaha (this was the cargo boat that our mission boat was on).

While flying back home, another person made arrangements for me to fly to Vava’u the next day. When I was able to use my mobile phone, I called the service Center to get my flight schedule. I was told that I was booked on the 4:00 flight. “Great,” I said, “that will give me time to do things in the office before I go.” “No, Elder Thompson,” the person said, “the plane leaves at 4:00 a.m., not p.m.”

Well, the night was short. They picked me up at 3:00 a.m. We arrived in Vava’u about 5:30 a.m. In Vava’u we drove to the Service Center to find a place to sleep. The Service Center has a two bedroom apartment attached to it. When we got there we learned that one bedroom was already occupied. (We woke him up). I had with me a man (Brother Dallas) from New Zealand, who was helping with the training. He took the other bedroom, and I took a love seat that was in the entry area.

The love seat was wide enough so I could lay down with my legs over the arm of the love seat. When my back started to hurt, I laid on my side and let my legs hang out from the cushions. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well. We got up about 8:00 a.m. After brushing the ants off my shirt, I was ready for anything.

The cargo ship (Olovaha) was scheduled to arrive in Vava’u at 4:00 p.m. We spent the morning looking at launching ramps, tow vehicles, and storage facilities. During the day we learned that the Olovaha was not going to arrive until 7”00 p.m. Brother Dallas had a plane to catch at 7:00 p.m. to Tongatapu. He had to get back to Tongatapu so he could leave the next day to New Zealand. So he left me. I spent the rest of the day with our missionary Zone Leaders. We inspected houses and solved other problems. Later I checked into a motel on the wharf. I then learned that the Olovaha would not arrive until 10:00 pm.

Around 10:00 p.m. I could see, from my room balcony, the Olovaha.

I notified others, and we decided to wait an hour then go get our boat. About an hour later we drove over to the Olovaha.

It was pandemonium--trucks and cars in every direction jockeying for position to get their goods. It was hilarious.

There were two forklifts taking large shipping crates out of the Olovaha. After watching them for about an hour, I noticed that one forklift had broken down right in front of the Olovaha so the remaining forklift had to work around it. It is total chaos at this time--cars and trucks still fighting for space and position.

Finally, about 1:00 a.m., we see our boat. Eventually, they cleared off the goods in front of the boat. There were three storage bins next to our boat. The forklift operator retrieved the top bin and hauled it out of the Olovaha. On the way back the operator stopped at the top of the ramp. The forklift started to smoke to high heavens. It blew a water hose, so now it was out of commission. The ramp was now blocked with two broken down forklifts. It is now almost 2:00 a.m. We were really getting tired. What were we going to do?

We managed to get our small Toyota (4 cyclinders) truck past the forklifts. Then we were able to pull the boat out to the front of the Olovaha, but there, at the top of the ramp, were two broken down smoking forklifts. What a sight. Even at 2:00 a.m. I managed to laugh. It was so funny. I walked to the top of the ramp, looked at several Tongans who were surmising the situation, then, we all started to laugh. After a few minutes of laughter, several Tongans pushed one of the forklifts out of the way. Finally we were able to take the boat to a storage area.

The night was short again. We met at 7:00 a.m. to unpack the boat and get it ready for the water. We had arranged with a farmer to use his truck to tow and launch the boat. We couldn’t find him. He was somewhere out in the bush. So, now what is our tow vehicle?--a small Toyota pickup. Putting the boat in the water was a struggle for the small truck, but we got the boat launched. One boat engine wouldn’t start because one of the batteries was dead. So we sent one of the guys to the store to buy jumper cables. Eventually, we got the engine started. We rode the boat to the various islands where missionary houses are located and spent some time inspecting these homes. The islands and water inlets were beautiful. It was a wonderful day with the missionaries.

Now, getting the boat out of the water was another comedy. We knew that the Toyota truck could not pull the boat out of the water, and we couldn’t find the farmer. Resourceful minds were at work. After about a half hour, I looked out of the boat window. I couldn’t believe what I saw. A mini dump truck was towing our boat trailer. The driver backed up to the ramp and jumped out. He was Chinese, not Tongan. What a community project!

Well, it took a few times to get the boat on the trailer, but, finally, we got the boat out of the water and back to a storage pad at the church school. Does the comedy end? No.

After unhooking the garbage truck from the boat, they decided to wash the boat using a new power washer. One of the guys rolled out a 100’ hose to attach to the house water faucet. He looked at the end of the hose and realized that it didn’t have any connecting fittings on it. In fact, neither end had fittings. We had a hose with no fittings. Well, we looked in the boat and found some fittings, but only enough for one end. We put the fittings on the hose and went to the faucet. It didn’t fit. The faucet threads are smaller in diameter that the hose fittings. So another person went back to the store for some more fitting. We finally got the water hose connected to the power washer, but the small gas engine was locked up. We couldn’t pull the rope out to get it started. Did they ever get the power washer started? I don’t know. I had to leave to catch the plane back to Tongatapu.

Tongan Update March 21, 2998 Meeting John

Tongan Update, 21 March 2008, Meeting John

Elder Thompson and I were invited to the Liahona 1^st Ward’s Relief Society Birthday Party. The Bishopric member who was in charge of the social had all the men sing Happy Birthday to the Relief Society. Then each man had to tell something about their wife. Many talked about how they had meet their spouses. I started to reminisce about how I meet John, and then I decided to write it down.

In 1968 I was at the University of Utah majoring in Elementary Education. As I was running from Orson Spencer Hall (upper campus) to the music building which is in the horseshoe (lower campus) to get to my next class, I couldn’t help seeing many banners and posters set up on the lawn in the middle of campus. It was election time for new University student body officers, and the hopefuls were trying to get our votes. One campaign gimmick stood out above all the others. The posters said, “Everyone needs a John! Vote for John Thompson!” It was the authentic toilet by each of the signs that caught my attention and everyone else. I voted for him! And he was elected as a student body officer.

It wasn’t until several weeks later that I actually met this John Thompson. I had been invited to a Delta Phi cabin party by Jim Hampshire. Because I had to work Saturday morning, Jim and I arrived later to the cabin than the main group. We had followed a map which lead us up Smith and Morehouse Canyon, across the Weber River and into Hidden Lake Cabin Resort. There we finally found the cabin, but no one was there. We decided to go for a walk and check things out. We climbed a hill in back of the cabin where we looked down upon a small lake. We traipsed down the mountain to this lake and saw a couple in a canoe out on the water. The fellow yelled, “Do you want a ride?” I answered, “yes!” as my date answered, “no!” “What?” I thought. I questioned Jim about his decision, and what could the poor guy do but agree to go into the boat.

The people in the canoe were John Thompson and his date. I can’t remember her name, but she was hanging tightly onto the sides of the canoe. She had a distressed look on her face. When Jim got into the canoe, he looked about the same. Upon seeing their panic, some little imp took over, and with a mischievous smile I started to rock the boat. Our two dates were so concerned about their own safety that they didn’t say very much. Soon it was John Thompson and I on either ends of the canoe talking to each other.

Several days later John called me up for a date. I already had other plans. He asked again, and I was busy again. Then he asked me out for lunch. It was a date! But when the big day arrived, I had a huge, huge cold sore. I tried calling everywhere he might be to cancel our date, but I couldn’t reach him. So I couldn’t do anything about it, and he met me on campus after class. I was so embarrassed to have this stuff growing down from my lips that I tried to keep my face turned away from him. When we got to the restaurant, I hid behind the menu. I couldn’t use that protection for long so I put my hand in front of my mouth. It was awful. I thought he’d never ask me out again because I acted so dorky.

But John said it was “love at first sight” for him. It took me a little longer to work a few things out. He gave me a diamond for Christmas that year, and we were married in the Salt Lake Temple in June of 1969, a few days after we both graduated from the University of Utah.

Ahh…such a lovely story. We are now heading towards our thirty-ninth wedding anniversary.

Tongan Update, March 18, 2998 Subway Dog

Tonga Update, 18 March 2008, Dogs

We’ve had a couple of episodes with the neighboring dogs this week. Elder Shaver arrived from the Provo MTC four days ago. I haven’t even sent his parents his “arrival letter” yet. The Elders were walking around the side of an investigator’s house when the dog decided he didn’t like these visitors.

The snarly thing took a pretty good chunk out of Elder Shaver’s leg, enough so that he had to have stitches. Ahh…our Tongan canine friends!

Yesterday President McMurray asked me to get, kind of like, Subway sandwiches for the Zone Leaders who were having meetings in the missionary office. I paid over $70 for fifteen chicken sandwiches which were placed into three plastic bags. After purchasing the food, I returned to the office to find everyone was still in classes. I put the bags of sandwiches on the bench by the classroom door so that the missionaries could grab them and a drink when they had finished their training. When the Elders broke for lunch, they complained that there were not enough sandwiches for everyone. “Oh right,” I thought. “There was more than enough!” So I went to investigate, and there were only TWO bags of sandwiches on the bench. I accused everyone for swiping the food. It turns out that the neighbor’s dog was hungry and decided to share our lunch. He came into the office complex and grabbed one bag. We found the evidence in the street outside.

I apologized to the missionaries for blaming them for the thief. One Elder said, “It’s alright, Sister Thompson. We will just eat the dog next week!”

My reply is always the same to this and similar comments. “Don’t eat the dogs! No kuli! (Tongan for dog) The missionaries always laugh, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that dog is found missing in the next few days. I have to keep saying to myself, “Dogs are just a food source.” Sorry Chica, Sierra, Nina, Pepper, Snickers, Belle, Oreo, Champ, Chief, and Ozzie.

Tongan Update March 4, 2008 Nieu'fo & Elder Sake

Tongan Update, 04 March 2008, S.O.S

Last week we received a phone call from the doctor on Niuafo’ou which is a tiny island that is closer to Samoa than Tongatapu. It is the farthest north island in the Kingdom of Tonga—the island Elder Groberg was on as filmed in the movie “The Other Side of Heaven”. There are no air flights to Nuiafo’ou, and a boat travels there only every three months or so. This doctor said that one of our missionaries was in great pain with stomach spasms and cramps. I don’t know all the details, but Elder Sake needed more medical treatment than they could give on that little island.

Sister Garrett , the mission’s nurse, called our medical advisor at the headquarters in New Zealand. He said, “Get the missionary down to Tongatpu as soon as possible. WE DON’T CARE WHAT IT COSTS!” (They were concerned that Elder Sake might have some life-threatening problems, and they didn’t want to take any chances.)

Trying to charter a plane was quite an ordeal! It was finally arranged to use the king’s plane, and it was to be ready to leave the next day at 5:00am.

Well, this is Tonga. The plane didn’t leave the next day! There was this problem, then that problem, etc…couldn’t find a pilot, had to get him from another island, finally bad weather. (Meanwhile our Elder is in excruciating pain.) So the plane was scheduled to depart at 5:00am the following day. It left about 10:00; but at least, it left.

There were others needing medical attention on Niuafo’ou. The plane ended up carrying several passengers besides Elder Sake. The hospital ambulance arrived late to the Nuku’alofa airport, but the missionary APs were there with their van to transport our missionary to the hospital.

They passed the ambulance in route, and Elder Sake was transferred to the hospital vehicle.

To make a long story short…the doctors are still trying to figure out exactly what is wrong with our Elder. He is having an ultrasound tomorrow. Whatever he has, it appears not to be life-threatening at this time. The cost of the “little” plane ride was over $10,000. Wow! But I keep thinking, if it was me in all that pain up on that little island, I’d pay the money to get me back to civilization and some help. We’ve got a great boss who cares. I’m not sure that many employers would care enough to say, “Do whatever needs to be done, no matter the cost!” We love working for the Lord.

Talking about working for the Lord…this experience was kind of cute.

I was walking to the post office the other day. The neighborhood kids were playing outside and asked me where I was going. I said, “To the post office. Do you want to come too?” An eight year old girl said, “Aren’t you afraid of the dogs?” “No,” I answered, “I haven’t had any trouble with the dogs.” The older nine year old sister responded, “That’s because she works for God.”

What a nice thing to say—the little bug is one of the kids that “borrowed” our marbles! ‘Ofa ‘Atu, Diane and John

Tongan Update, March 9, 2008 Transfer Week and good-byes

.Tongan Update, 09 March 2008, Transfers

It’s transfer week again—comes around every six weeks. This transfer hits Elder Thompson and I hard because they are moving the missionaries that have been in the office complex for five to six months to different smaller islands. These Elders have been so much fun. There is Elder Olsen from St George. (He's not related to us!) He is the ultimate AP (Assistant to the President).

Elder Olsen is on the left and Elder Jones is on the right.

He’s tough, fair, great on computers, and can mastermind transfers with ease…and he role-plays everything he tells you. So whenever you talk to him, you get to watch a performance…and he is hilarious.

Then there is Elder Jones from California.

He is Mr. All American football player—confident, cute, and cocky. (There are Tongan fathers that are trying to convince him to marry their daughters.) He actually had a scholarship with the University of Utah to play football. But when he pulled out his shoulder, he lost his scholarships, and then he decided to go a mission. He has a habit of saying, “Follow the rules or I’ll kick you in the face!” It’s not the most loving approach, but the missionaries seem to respect him. He loves to talk.

Elder Hikila is leaving too.

He is from Nuku’alofa. He ended up here in the office because of problems he had with his companion on Nomuka. The Elders were helping the ward members get things ready for a ward dinner. At least Hikila was helping, but his companion decided to visit one of the cute girls in the neighborhood. The companion got suspended for a while. (I don’t think they do that in other missions—send missionaries home for a period of time, then bring them back to the same mission.) Hikila is quiet, a hard worker, and all smiles.

Elder Karratti has only been in the office for a little over a week. He is the first elder on the left.

Four of the Tongan Elders on Ha’apai decided to go partying. They didn’t think Elder Karratti, an American, would realize that they were making their own home-made brew of kava which is a traditional drink of Tonga. Kava is a depressant. Some men will drink kava all night with their buddies, then sleep all day. (You cannot drink kava and go to the temple.) These four missionaries had made many other choices that were contrary to Mission Rules, and they were sent home. Karratti is just here until transfers.

Needless to say, we have been surrounded by action. We think the office is going to be way quiet when the four office elders are gone. But they are all excellent missionaries, and they need to be leaders out in the field. Three of them have been assigned to be Zone Leaders, and Elder Karratti will be a senior companion and a District Leader.

Sister Leha’uli is retiring her missionary pin so we’ll be missing her too.

She has been one of our “presiding angel” missionaries. We have taken her and a companion on many exchanges. To make some those exchanges easier for Elder Thompson and myself, we have taken her to the temple several times and even to our seniors’ Family Home Evening a time or two. This allowed us not to back-track around the island so much as we did the missionary exchanges.

We compared Sister Leha’uli with the mechanical woman at the old Fun House at Lagoon. Anybody remember the Laughing Lady? She would start giggling, then chuckling, then laughing, then laughing hysterically. She would make everyone laugh just watching her. That’s the same as our cute Sister. She is always so happy and full of smiles. Whenever we would go to pick the Sisters up, Sister Leha’uli would say, “Sister Thompson, did you miss me?” And then she would proceed to tell us she had been sick. “Sick for one minute!” She had a lot of those one minute sicknesses.

Well, it’s going to be interesting to meet the next set of missionaries. One thing we can always count on is CHANGE. We don’t want things to get boring here! We love the work! ‘Ofa ‘atu, John and Diane

Tongan Update 19 February 2008 Otuangu and Pong

Tongan Update, 19 February 2008, Our first investigators

Last week President McMurray had conferences for the four zones of missionaries that are on this island, Tongatapu. Each zone had separate conferences held on different days. The theme of the conferences was “how to get people to listen to our gospel message.” Elder Thompson and I listened to about the same talk given by the president everyday for four days. After the first day I had a twinge of guilt that I was not doing my part. By the time the fourth day rolled around, I had a serious guilt complex. Even though we are the office couple, we could still be doing more to actually tell people about the gospel!

President McMurray used the example of the missionary technique that Jesus used when talking with the Samaritan woman at the well in John chapter 4. He had a conversation with her, lead the conversation to discuss a principle of the gospel, then bore his testimony.

Now I had a couple of chances to try out that “approach”, but I wimped out. I talked to a few English people in downtown Nuku’alofa who had just gotten off a cruise ship. One even said to me, “You seem like a nice Christian lady.” Now that’s a pretty good comment for me to proceed to talk about the gospel. But I said nothing. Another day I was discussing with my Tongan neighbors about our houses getting flooded. Somewhere along the line, the uncle mentioned something about our Church being a world-wide church. Here was another opportunity, and I failed again! In both incidences the people had lead the discussion for me to have a great chance to talk about the gospel. Where was I?

Hey, it’s up hill from here. We do have our first investigators. The previous office sister, Sister Evans who has returned home to New Mexico, left a note about a Catholic friend who she would like us to meet. We had earlier asked this 93 year old lady if she would like to go to the Open House of the Temple. She politely said, “No.” We had asked her to lunch a couple of times, but something always came up and she couldn’t come. O.K. This was the time to muster up a little courage and ask again. This time she said, “My daughter from Australia is in town, and I won’t be able to come.” “Bring your daughter with you. We’d love to meet her,” was my reply. She said, “Yes.” So Otuangu and Robin came to lunch, and what a delightful couple of ladies. We talked about many things—children, families, USA, Tonga, funny experiences, and religion. Robin mentioned she’d like to know about our church’s policy on families and women. “Would you like to come back next week (they had already been at our apartment for two hours), and we’ll talk about the role of the woman in our Church and how important families are?” (Does that sound like a “real” missionary?) They said, “YES.”

We’ve met with them several times now. They have shared their lives with us—divorce, death of a child, loneliness, unhappiness, looking for something more in life. We are hoping that through the principles of the gospel, they can find some peace and happiness knowing that God loves them. Robin returns to Australia next week, but she has some Mormon neighbors that she is going to contact. Otuangu is a 93 year old ball of fire. She is a feisty little thing with her own ideas, but she says she would love to continue meeting with us. We think she likes our company and the little change of pace we give to her life. That’s OK. We think she is terrific.

Elder Thompson and I are also helping the young Elders teach an English speaking Chinese professor, Pong. (No one in Tonga is called “Mr.” or” Mrs.”). His name is just Pong. He says that he has a testimony of the gospel and wants to keep learning more. His problem is that he has to go back to China at the end of the year. He says he is not a free man, and at this point he doesn’t dare join the Church. I’m not sure how things work in China, but he is very reluctant to get baptized due to his returning to China. He says he needs to wait to truly embrace the gospel until he moves to the United States or somewhere else. So…we’ll just keep teaching him.

Hey, we’re trying! ‘Ofa ‘atu, Diane and John

Tongan Update 20 February 2008 Gage Announcement

Tongan Update, 20 February 2008, We’ve Got a New Baby

Our third son, Troy, and his wife, Gretchen, just had their first baby (if you don’t count their two dogs!) He’s a little boy to be named Gage William Thompson.

He weighs six pounds and fourteen ounces so he isn’t exactly husky, but he’s a fighter, coming out swinging his arms. Wow, it’s a miracle how the birth thing works. One minute the mom-to-be is a pretty good sized lady thinking she’s going to be pregnant forever, and then…wala…a baby in her arms. (Isn’t that how it works?)

Gage has already got his parents fooled. He hasn’t cried much in the hospital so they are lulled into thinking they just might sleep at night. Ha! Troy and Gretchen have some fun times ahead of them—it’s only just begun.

It was extra exciting for us because we were able to talk to our children and grandchildren the day of Gage’s birth. Meg, our granddaughter, was bubbling over with the news of a new cousin. Luke, our grandson, played it a little cooler and told us about his basketball games. What a great day, and what a blessing to get Gage here safe and healthy. Gretchen is doing well too. And…the doctors didn’t have to pick Troy up off the floor during delivery so he did OK too.

This is the best news ever! “Tell everyone!” (Huh, Troy?)

‘Ofa lahi ‘atu (with much love), Diane and John