It was a dark and bone-chilling night. The quarter moon clung to the darkened skies over the island of Tongatapu. Shadows of hundreds of sleeping bats can be seen hanging upside down in the grasping branches of the Silkwood (To’a) trees.
As if given a silent command, these flying foxes
unwrap their half-meter, brackish wings and ascend, circling overhead looking for their unsuspecting prey.
Where will they fulfill their lust for……………………fruit? (I know…I was just trying to make this “update” sound spooky because it’s Halloween, and I know you are in the mist of costumes and holiday fun.) Actually these bats are called “flying foxes” because their faces do have a foxish appearance. They scourer the ground below looking for papaya, bananas, and other fruits…not too scary, but they are very impressive because of their size.
Monday we flew to Ha’apai then took the mission boat to Ha’afeva. Our suitcases were packed with a vacuum, a steam cleaning machine, and cleaning supplies. The Zone Leaders, Elders Sanchez and Alatini,
and the District Leaders, Elders Shaver and Tuimoala,
helped us clean the newly acquired house of Elder and Sister Finau
who are American senior missionaries and have been assigned as missionaries to support the members of the Church on this island.
Elder Finau will be the new Branch President.
Their house was not haunted, but it was full of crawling, scampering, and slithering creatures.
The young missionaries roused out a good-sized mouse from somewhere. They proceeded to chase the little guy all over the house while it scampered around looking for an escape route. My response was to chase the thing out the opened door, but…shortly thereafter, Elder Tuimoala, the executioner, strutted proudly out the door swinging the deceased mouse by its tail. (What do you think, Giolas girls? Have you had similar experiences with mice at the Alta house?)
While Elder Thompson was fixing the broken screen door and steam cleaning the bathroom shower, I attacked the chest of drawers like a wild witch with my Jenola (cleaning product). I threw opened the top drawer, screeched, and took five steps back. Several grotesque cockroaches leaped out at me, sailed with twitching legs onto the floor, and started scurrying to various places. While I was regaining my composure after the surprise attack, Sister Finau was busy crunching the insects with her feet.
Oh yes, Halloween in Tonga.
After our cleaning project was completed,we walked through the palm trees and the tangled plant growth to the other side of the island. We were getting thirsty and started looking for a 7-11. We couldn’t find one so Elder Shaver was kind enough to shimmy up a tree and knock down four coconuts. Elder Alatini, using Shaver’s newly delivered machete, whacked the outer husks off the coconuts creating openings at the top of each coconut. The milk inside was delicious—“Big Gulps” Tongan style!
The last leg of this trip was back to Ha’apai to teach the young missionaries there how to clean and maintain their houses.
We also delivered and installed mosquito nets. (This is an experiment to see if we can keep danque fever to a minimum this year.) We had a District Meeting, and then even had time to look for shells at “Sandy Beach” while the missionaries played volleyball for P-day.
So…how was your Halloween? ‘Ofa ‘atu, Elder and Sister T.
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