Tongan Update, 28 Jul 2008, So Everyone is Going to Lake Powell
It’s August in Utah—the perfect time of year to go to Lake Powell. We have received several emails informing us of the truthfulness of this statement. Frank Overfelt, our friend, is on a houseboat enjoying the sights and sounds of Lake Powell (amazingly he is mailed us from Lake Powell); and our kids, Ryan and Trevor, and their families are heading to the “big lake” this weekend.
Elder Thompson and I will not be making the Lake Powell scene this year. We won’t be driving six hours in our Ford truck pulling the boat from Salt Lake to Bullfrog. We will not be staying in an air-conditioned trailer at Halls Crossing, and you’ll not see us water-skiing or “slime & climbing” the canyons. However, we did have a simulated Lake Powell trip in Vava’u.
It only took 45 minutes for us to fly to this destination,
and our boat was waiting for us at the wharf—the mission boat, that is.
the high rugged canyon walls of the islands,
and John as the proud boat driver.
Sounds a lot like Lake Powell to me!
Actually, John was showing the Tongan drivers how to use the boat’s new GPS system. They installed the new computer chip that contains the maps of Tonga and over a period of time, John and Elder McCarty
(one of our computer whiz elders) figured out how to use the new computer information. While they were doing all the work, the rest of us enjoyed the scenery.
The GPS system will be helpful for night driving because the system tracks every movement of the boat and records it. To get back home at night, the boat drivers can simply following their recorded route.
In addition to training the boat drivers, we were involved in missionary conferences.
The big difference in our Lake Powell trip was instead of all the outdoor water activities, we spent most of our days at Zone Conference and doing Missionary House inspections,
followed by an evening Fireside.
John did another power point presentation on proper use of the Missionary Support Fund. He has presented this presentation five times now and is hopeful that some of the abuses of the past will be history. He has explained the correct principles; now we’ll see how the missionaries do with them.
The fireside was at the village of Mataika. We arrived early to let the President McMurray have a few moment to relax and prepare his message. Just as we pulled into the church parking lot, two elders (Elder McCarty and his companion) showed up in a panic.
They needed transportation to get some investigators to the fireside, so to the rescue we went. In our borrowed van, Elder Thompson and I drove our two missionaries to the appropriate locations, only to find that their prospective fireside-goers had excuses why they would be unable to attend. We drove the disappointed elders to the third house. The investigator was there and wanted to go to the fireside, but he had just returned from working in the bush and needed a shower. While the elders patiently waited, Elder Thompson drove me back to the church so I could be there when the meeting started and support the President.
Shortly after, John, the missionaries, and the investigator showed up. As they walked into the chapel, the President called Elder Thompson to the stand. The president then told the people (in Tongan), “Elder Thompson doesn’t know what is going on, so he is going to be surprised when I ask him to do something.” The Tongans laughed thinking they were pulling a trick on Elder Thompson.
Then president said, “I just told the people that you do not know what I’m going to ask you. I told them that you are here at you own expense; that you have left your family, your four children and eight grandchildren at home; that you have two grandchildren
that you have not seen yet. Now, I want you to tell them why you are here.”
For a few seconds, John couldn’t speak. He was choked up. Tears were in his eyes. I think he was thinking about the kids at home that the president just mentioned to the people. Then he began to speak and the president translated for him. I’m here because I love Heavenly Father. He has blessed me during challenging times. He has heard my pleading prayers. I am here because I love his son, Jesus Christ who sacrificed his life for us. I accept him as my Savior and Redeemer. I am here because I believe the Prophet Joseph Smith’s story of seeing the Father and the Son. I testify that he was and is a prophet of God. I believe he translated the Book of Mormon and I testify that it contains the word of God. It is a second witness of Jesus Christ. I am here because by doing so my children and grandchildren will be blessed and they need all the blessings they can get. I enjoy what I am doing. I have come to love the people that I work with. This is a wonderful place. Sister Thompson and I love being here. Then he switched the attention to President McMurray. What he said made president McMurray squirm. I enjoy working with President McMurray. He is here because Heavenly Father wants him here. His call is not by accident. He is what I would like to be, but am not. He has the gift of tongues. If you will listen to him and do what he says, you will be blessed. He is a good man. I testify of that in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
John then left the stand and came and sat by me. He leaned over and said, “You're next, get ready”. Thank heavens the president didn’t call on me. After the meeting, it was another feast- a Tongan dessert feast, which consisted of: an extra large bowl of ice cream and five different pieces of cake.
The next morning we had a breajfast discussion with the president, then back into the small plane and back to home.
P.S. Aug 1, 2008
Today was the King of Tonga’s Coronation. The evening festivities included series of fires lighting the coastlines of Tongatapu and a spectacular fireworks display. As we were watching the fireworks explosion of colors, I remembered a Lake Powell trip when our granddaughter, Meg, was three or four years old. It was the 4th of July, and John had driven the boat from Hall’s Crossing to Bullfrog so that the family could watch the fireworks there. Dusty, our son, told us how he had taken our dog, Chica, for a walk and she had run away. He looked for her everywhere. Finally he walked back to our house, and there was Chica waiting patiently on the front porch. Meg was enthralled by the story.
“Chica got lost?” she said.
“Yes,” Dusty replied.
“Chica go home?” she returned.
“Yes.”
“Chica got lost?”
“Yes.”
“Chica go home?”
“Yes. Chica go home.”
“Chica got lost?”
This conversation continued on and on. Sometimes Meg added, “Chica run away?”
“Yes, Chica run away.”
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