TONGAN UPDATE 30 NOVEMBER 2008- THNAKSGIVING

Tongan Update 30 Nov 2008 Thanksgiving

Wow! What a wonderful week! Thanksgiving is a great time to be reminded of our blessings, to enjoy tasty food, and to spend time with friends and family. On a score of 1 to 10, this is our score card for this Thanksgiving season in Tonga:

10 Remembering blessings

10 Enjoying tasty food

10 Time with friends (on the island)

1 Time with family (our thoughts were with you though)

We had three different days of Thanksgiving “feasting” this week. At each dinner only “plangi” (American) food was served with the turkeys costing between $78 to $100 each. The farmers do not raise turkeys so the frozen birds are imported into Tonga, and the plangis are charged a lot of money to buy them.

Monday: Thanksgiving with President and Sister Shumway

and the Temple Missionaries at the Shumway’s home adjacent to the Nuku’alofa Temple

It was a surprise not to have Tongan food at this Thanksgiving celebration because most of the people who attended were Tongans. We had a delicious dinner with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes—a regular American traditional dinner. Then each couple shared one thing they were thankful for. John spoke about the blessing of understanding the importance of the temple. Because we love the temple, we were gathered together for dinner and sharing thoughts. We ended the evening by watching a rebroadcast of the 2006 Christmas program performed at the Conference Center.

Wednesday: Thanksgiving with President and Sister McMurray and the plangi missionaries with their companions at the Mission Home

About 40 missionaries snuggled together at the Mission Home for this great meal.

Elder Iketau, our AP, honored us with a thanksgiving pray IN ENGLISH. (Usually people do not get a round of applause for saying a pray, but Elder Iketau did. Because he speaks such a little bit of English, he had to work really hard to put the English words together for the prayer. It was awesome!) After dinner, the young missionaries finished their P-day by playing volleyball and working out at the Liahona High School’s gym. Elder Thompson and I went back to the work of moving the mission offices.

Friday: Thanksgiving with the Senior Missionaries, the McMurray family, and the Jorgensen family (teachers at Liahona) at the Pope’s beach home

It has been a tradition for the senior missionaries to spend Thanksgiving Day with Brother and Sister Pope. (The Popes met each other as teachers at Liahona High School thirty some odd years ago. These two plangis fell in love, got married, and eventually adopted four Tongan children. They live in Tonga full time.) This thoughtful couple share their home and food with the missionaries each year. They have satellite TV so that the men can watch the football game (Texas AM vs Texas this year), and they have a private beach so the ladies can enjoy the ocean scenery and seek out those precious ocean shells. (We’ve taken our snorkel gear three times out to the Pope’s place, and we still haven’t made it into the water yet.)

Our group was small compared to last year, but the two vans full of hungry guests arrived in Fatumu for the festivities.

After the pray, Elder Thompson shared his testimony with us. He expressed how grateful he was for his many blessings…and especially for the gift of LIFE. He then told us of how he was leaning over some boxes that he was going to relocate, when his tie got caught in “the shredder”. (I know, you think we’re into the next episode of “24”, but we’re not!) His tie really did get pulled into the shredder machine used to dispose of private documents. The machine kept pulling Elder Thompson closer and closer to its slicing jaws of teeth. John was laughing so hard he almost forgot there was a reverse.

He explained how thankful he was that the shredder had reverse, and that he knew how to use it. Then he pulled out his visual aid—taadaa--the shredded tie.

Our Thanksgiving Day ended with a telephone call from Dusty and Melissa, our son and his wife…

talk about an almost perfect Thanksgiving week! The only thing that could have made it better is if a few of you would have joined us in the feasting!

‘Ofa ‘atu, Elder and Sister Thompson

TONGAN UPDATE 23 NOV, 2008 GO UTES/

Tongan Update, 23 Nov 2008, Go Utes

Way to gooooo…Utes! Score: UTAH 48, BYU 24! Whaaaahoo!

The game plan for football is for a team of eleven players to move a ball down the field, to get the ball across the end zone, and thusly, score a touchdown which; I might add, Utah did most effectively in the big win over BYU on November 22, allowing Utah to have an undefeated football season, and the chance to go to a BCS bowl.

Our game plan for this week was to move the office from downtown Nuku’alofa, across the island to Liahona, and thusly, score a new residency. The office-complex team (Elder and Sister Thompson, Elder Kairi, Elder Iketau, Elder Karratti, Elder Lyon, and Elder Haltli)

were on their own 20 yard line and ready to start their first drive down the field when the Office Elders were intercepted and had to rush to the airport to pick up a missionary who was being transferred to ‘Eua. So we had to bring in the secondary (back-up) team which was hired by the Church.

This team consisted of 3 men, 4 women, and 1 baby.

The father was the chief supervisor and did very little.

They brought with them their own moving vehicles—2 vans, a flatbed truck, and 1 rattle. On the offense this team was great. But on the defensive side, they kept breaking down. Every time the engine on the one van was turned off, it had to be started by compression. So the Tongan secondary team would hook up a tow rope from their first van to their second van, drag the van far enough to start the engine, and then they were on the move again. Needless to say, there were many fumbles and time-outs during the first half. But the team did score a touchdown by getting all the items moved from the living quarters of the missionaries to Liahona. We had only one casualty. Our quarterback (Elder Thompson) was side-lined with a pulled groin muscle.

During halftime we had quite the entertainment. The Tongan women move-team took turns picking lice out of each other’s hair.

The second half was very slow and uneventful. There were no long rushes, interceptions, or “Hail Marys.” However, we did score a huge touchdown—we DID GET everything moved over to our new accommodations!

For the after-game party, we still need to unpack and find a place for everything.

OH, BUT IT’S FUN TO WIN! (Go Utes!) (Yeah Mission Moving Team!)

‘Ofa ‘atu, Elder and Sister Thompson

TONGAN UPDATE 12 NOVEMBER 2008 " 24", PART 2

Tongan Update 14 Nov 2008 ’24’ Part 2 and Finale

This week’s episode: Bauer and the MOC operatives resolve the problems of Luther Finau and do everything in their power to mentor the MOC recruits (the senior couple) newly arrived from the states.

1:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.

Police Task Office Falemai

strolled into MOC headquarters

. She insisted that all operatives (Elders Karratti, Lyon, and Haltli)

were present as she discussed the aftermath events with Luther Finau. Apparently he is a self-serving con-artist who is well known by the police force. He has many convictions for drug abuse, and according to Falemai, he was on drugs when he came into MOC headquarters to retain funds from us. There was no murder! It was all an elaborate scheme to elicit money from us.

While the operatives were being debriefed, Agent Bauer (Elder Thompson) and Audrey (Sister Thompson)

were out in the field on another assignment from their superior (President McMurray). They were to train the new recruits (Elder and Sister Wood).

In order to update the Woods in the workings of MOC, they were sent to research possible locations for attacks around the island of Tongatapu.

First they examined the site of Mapu ‘a Vaea (the blow holes).

Everything checked out satisfactorily there except for the missing “Minister of Tourism” signs that were recently installed for the King’s coronation. It was at the Hufangalupe Archway, known as Pigeon’s Gate, that imminent danger awaited.

The Operation’s Handbook (Tour Guide Book) described Hufangalupe as the site where the sea pounds through an opening in the coralline limestone and tears at 30m high walls to create a natural bridge and adjacent pit. As Bauer and the “green” recruits approached the archway, they determined that indeed, the information was correct. It was possible to climb all the way down to the sea in the gully, but it is very steep and the coral rocks are razor sharp.

The operatives decided “negative” to that idea, but all seemed satisfactory at this site also.

The MOC team

got into the Mobile 1 Tumbler (van)

with its scratch-resistant paint and see-through windows. They had just started plowing through the “bush” when their vehicle met with resistance. Oh no! They were being attacked on all sides by oozing mud.

The more strength the operatives produced, the more the mud flexed its muscles. There was screeching of wheels and flying of mud, but the sticky monster of the earth could not be extinguished.

The MOC team was overmatched!

Shell-shocked, Bauer called for back-up.

The assault team of operatives went into action. They grabbed their “rescue kit” and scrambled into Mobile Tumbler 2.

Armed with hand grenades, AK1s, and taizer guns, the team, wearing invasion clothing, came screaming onto the scene. There was grunting, groaning, snorting, but no cussing (we are missionaries, you know) as the combined forces of operatives battled this international crisis. The enemy slowly succumbed. The ultimate punch was the three-stranded lasso used to corral the Mobile 1 Tumbler. Once the vehicle was encircled with the twisted strands of hemp, Mobile 2 Tumbler yanked it from the monster’s grip. Once released from the mud, both tumblers navigated the terrain together returning back to MOC headquarters.

Bauer was satisfied with the safe return of all the MOC operatives and their assault vehicles.

(All this to say, “The van got stuck in the mud, and that the office elders had to come and pull it out.”)

2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.

NEXT EPISODE: After the successful completion of two episodes, this series is temporarily being terminated. Two of the main cast members, Bauer and Audrey, are being replaced by newly-assigned operatives, Sperry 1 and Sperry 2.

‘Ofa ‘atu, Bauer and Audrey

P.S. Bob and Elaine Sperry are members of our own home ward in Salt Lake City. They will be joining us in Tonga sometime in January. As a lad, Elder Sperry served as a missionary in New Zealand. They are really excited to come, and we are really excited to have them be part of our Tongan missionary force!

WE ARRIVE HOME ON 10 FEBRUARY 2009!!!