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