TONGAN UPDATE 05 JULY 2008 SMOOTH SAILIN

Tongan Update, 05 July 2008, Smooth Sailin’

Our last boat trip to the Ha’apai Islands was wild. The ocean was rockin’ and rollin’. Not so this time—it was smooth sailin’. With inspections and cleaning as our goals, we traveled to four different islands where missionary houses are located. We started with a boat full of missionaries who came to Ha’apai for a Zone Meeting,

but at each island we left missionaries behind so by the time we finished, it was only the Zone leaders and two senior couples left in the boat.

First stop-Fakakakai.

After cleaning the missionary house it was off to another island, but first a little snack-mango and fish.

Our next stop was Uiha. The tide was high. The pier was covered with water so we had to walk in water to the shore.

In Uiha it was another cleaning project.

Then a walk through the village passed the Weslayan church,

Then to the King's Royal Retreat,

through the village

to the ancient wall built to offer sacrifices,

and then back to the boat.

From Uiha it was across the open waters to O'ua.

From the dock past the church



Then to the missionary house.

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After cleaning Diane needed to use the village phone, with missionaries patiently waiting.

Then, it was to the school for a picture



We were on the island a couple of hours and the tide went out on us to the missionaries had to push the boat into deeper water. Hey, that's what missionaries are for.



After O'ua it was off to Nomuka.

Because the seas were so calm, to entertain ourselves we answered John’s question, “What was your favorite part of the day so far?” Here were our answers:

Elder Garrett (A senior missionary who helps us with inspections, cleaning and repairs. He found a miracle cleaning product at a Chinese store that takes the stains and smells out of bathrooms. The product is called Wellington so we call him “Hey, Wellington Man.” He takes great pride in seeing the missionary bathrooms shine): “I enjoyed seeing Wellington clean all those toilets!” (Believe me, there is going to be a special place in Heaven for this guy!)

Sister Garrett (Senior missionary nurse): “I loved seeing the whales.” (We had two different whale sightings.

There were two whales in each case, and they were only about 30 yards away from the Molonai, the mission boat. Wow, spectacular!)

Elder Sanchez (Zone Leader):

“The octopus was most delicious!” (We were super cleaning the house on O’ua when a neighbor (the Branch President) noticed our hard working crew.

Must have decided we looked hungry because he came over with two plates of boiled breadfruit and octopus. (What a nice gesture!)

Elder Sanchez surely did enjoy the snack. I had a hard time seeing past the suction cups on the octopus’ tentacles, but the breadfruit (like a potato) was very tasty.

John cut off one of the tentacles and tried to eat it, but gave up fearing he would lose his teeth trying to knar on the tough meat.

While we were on this island, Elder Sanchez showed us a plant with tiny sphere-shaped purple flowers called Mataloi which means “death faker.” When you touch the leaves of the Mataloi, they shrivel up and turn brown.

After about 15 minutes, the little faker turns healthy and green again.

We had one missionary, Elder Masala'a, on this trip who was a Mataloi. He was so sick that he couldn’t help with any of the cleaning. Yeah, like right! He was a faker all the way.)

Elder Hikila (Zone Leader and ex-Office Elder): “I liked climbing the telephone tower on Nomuka.” (This guy was like a monkey…you should see him climb a coconut tree. The tower was 40-50 feet high. “Get down from there, you little twerp!” we yelled up at him.)

Elder Thompson: “I liked the boat ride.” (That wasn’t hard to tell.

While in the open water we pass the Olavaha, The slow moving freighter.

He sang every scout song that he could remember from “Tarzan of the Apes” to “If All the Raindrops Were Lemon Drops and Gum Drops.” Yes, he was a happy camper!). He taught the young Tongan elders new songs. They all laugh as they tried to sing along with him.

Sister Thompson: (I loved the boat ride and the whales, but I wanted to come up with something different.) “I loved the sunset as we were motoring full speed ahead back to the main island of Ha’apai.” (The rays of the sun crept through the clouds creating a fan of golden colors extending into the ocean and around the volcano island of Kao.

We saw beautiful sun rises and sunsets because we left early and returned late.)

There is something that is uniquely beautiful about the islands. It’s hard to describe it. The people are humble and poor. Their lives seem so simple compared to ours, but yet so difficult as they deal with their challenges of housing, drought, food sources, weather, isolation, communication, etc. We met and talked with a few of the villagers.

They were friendly and seemed pleased to have us ask them questions. Everyone liked to have their pictures taken by our handy-dandy photographer, Elder Thompson.

It is fascinating to us how the church has cared for the Tongan people. On almost every island that is populated, there is a chapel and a tennis court.

On the small islands, generators have been installed to provide power because there is no power on the island.

On Tongatapu every village has a chapel and tennis court. Over and over we have asked ourselves, why has “the Church” built so many chapels and in places where there are so few members…love for the people is the only answer we could come up with. Love for the people.

Well, it was a smooth sailin’ trip for us.The night was spent at the Sandy Beach Resort. Hot showers, cooked food, and a comfortable bed.

‘Ofa ‘atu, John and Diane

TONGAN UPDATE 02 JULY 2008 VAVA'U MARATHON

Tongan Update, 02 July 2008, Vava’u Marathon

Many of you run marathons, a puny 26.2 miles. We just finished a trip to Vava’u that was like a four day marathon. Every day was filled with meetings and events that took us from one end of the island to the other end, then back and around again.

Our race started in the morning with the alarm clock announcing, “It’s 4:30, time to get up…it’s 4:30, time to get up…it’s 4:30, time to get up.” We grabbed our bags, and off to the airport we raced.

President McMurray and his daughter, April, joined us. It was only a forty-five minute flight to Vava’u

where we scrambled into the Zone leaders’ van, drove to the chapel, and had an all-day conference with the missionaries.

The theme of the conference was “How to teach from the Book of Mormon.” President McMurray had rounded up a replica of the Golden Plates which made a very effective visual aid. I did Sister Garrett’s power point presentation on how to stay healthy, and Elder Thompson did his “Houses of Worship” power point presentation. We wrapped up the meeting with pictures and then preceded full speed ahead to the Tefisi Ward Open House.

While in Tefisi we met a former Sister Assistant to the President, Sister Leha'uli. She is the sister that giggles like the fat lady at Lagoon.

The meeting was a missionary oriented meeting for members and non-members at Tefisi.

The Tefisi Open House started at 6:00pm, and Elder Thompson and I had to give talks. President McMurray served as my translator. He used to be a translator for the church during General Conference, so he is really good. A member of the Stake Presidency translated for John.

Our messages were on the Book of Mormon as well. The meeting was followed with “a feast,” and you know how we love those feasts. The feast was given to honor the speakers (President McMurray and us) and invited guests (the Stake Presidency). After eating President McMurray and his daughter, April sang a song that President McMurray wrote. It is a catchy song about a couple traveling from island to island.

Everyone loves the song and laugh all the way through it.

While the guest eat others sit around to be available for one two of the eating. Children were givenh ice cream to settle them down.

While the hungry ward members waited for the final touches on the food, we entertained the children with “Little Peter Rabbit Had a Fly Upon His Nose.”

The song was a hit! The children love to be entertained.

After eating we were driven by the Zone Leaders to our motel, the Pua. The building sits right on the ocean front overlooking the bay. The mooring sailboat images were reflected in the still water.

We watched the Olovaha, the freighter ship from Tongatapu, slip into the harbor. The view was much nicer than the accommodations. Even Boston Marathon runners get a break, so we went to bed. Mission accomplished for day one.

The next day was Saturday, our P-Day, and the marathon continued. Elder Thompson and I raced along with President McMurray. As he did interviews with the missionaries, we inspected their living quarters. With that leg of the race completed, we changed clothes, picked up the Heimuli’s and Jensen’s (senior couples that work at the church operated school-Sineha) and drove into the jungle to hike Mo’ungalafa…an actual kind of mountain.

Because it had rained during the night, the dirt road to the trail head was a track of mud. Our mission van got stuck,

and it took the ingenuity and strength of the mountain racers to push the van out of the mud.

While thinking about what we were going to do this farmer road buy with his son and pony.

We managed to turn the van around and parked it in the bush and began walking. Due to our episode in the mud, we didn’t have a lot of time to reach the summit of Mo’ungalafa before dark so we were force to turn around and go back to the van. The hike was a jungle type of an adventure with Brother Heimuli leading the way with his machete cutting through the thick tropical jungle.

Before we reached the top we determined that we needed to turn around because it was getting dark. Thank goodness for ex-Scout Master Thompson. As we climbed the mountain, he marked the trees with his faithful machete. With the markings we were able to find our way back to the van. Had he not marked the trail, we probably would have spent the night in the woods because everything looked alike coming back. The trees and other growth were so thick.

Later in the evening all the senior couples gathered for dinner at the Mango (pizza and sandwiches)…a slight reprieve from the marathon.

We resumed the race on Sunday.

Early in the morning we drove to the wharf and boarded the mission boat. Other stake leaders rode in this rented boat. We passed them on the way out to Ofu.

We rode the Molomona to the little island of ‘Ofu where we joined the saints in their Branch Conference.

All talks were given in Tongan during Sacrament meeting, but the Sunday school and Priesthood meetings were given by people who could speak English. President McMurray served as our translator again during sacrament meeting. After the meeting another “feast” was provided for the invited guests.

We didn’t want to stay because we had another meeting to get to, but we finally agreed to stay on the condition that we could excuse ourselves early to get to our next meeting. After eating we again climbed into the boat and cruised back

to the main island where the Zone leaders picked us up at a remote village dock

and drove us back to the village of Tefisi to continue participating in their Ward Conference. We were late and the usher escorted us to the seats behind the pulpit.

We were relaxing in our seats when, would you believe it, Elder Thompson and I were called on to speak AGAIN? A member of the stake presidency served as our translator. We think President McMurray set us up. Our messages this time were on “how to gain a testimony.” After the meeting, there was another feast

and again the kids wanted to sing about Peter Rabbit.

So we entertained the kids until the food was ready. John took a picture showing what his eyes saw as he was sitting at the end of the table.

After the feast we continued on to another Missionary Open House in the village of Ta’anea. This tired couple did not have to speak at this meeting, and thank goodness…there was not another feast.

It seems like every plane flies early in the morning, so before the sun was up, it was back into the van to drive to the airport. After an hour flight,

we reached the finish line--Tongatapu, the island we live on.

‘Ofa ‘atu, John and Diane