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