Tongan Update, 20 October 2007, TEMPLE-LIAHONA TEMPLE, TONGATAPU, TONGA

Tongan Update, 20 October 2007, Temple-Liahona

We thought you might like to see what the Tongan Temple looks like so here's a few pictures. The Tongan temple, like all the other temples, is a beautiful place to see and be in. You always feel uplifted being in the Temple, even during the construction and open house phases.

Font of the Temple during construction

East side of theTemple (Baptistry side)at night time through the Coconut trees.

Diane in front of the Temple President's home after a night of cleaning it

Diane is holding crystal for a light in the Celestrial Room

Installing crystal on a wall light in the Celestrial Room

One of the Sealing Rooms

Instruction Room

Celestrial Room

Celestial Room

Baptristy

Oxen that the baptismal font sits on

Entry looking inward

Entry looking towards the front doors

Painting of the first Missionaries meeting the King Tapou I

This Painting hangs in a hallway leading to the Baptistry

Small Chapel in the Temple

Senior Couples at the open house

This painting hangs in the one of the hallways and is one of the last pictures you see before exiting the temple. On the last day of the open house, a mother came by me as I was standing near this painting. She was carrying a small child. As they walk by, the infant looked towards the painting and smiled. Then, as the mother walked towards the exit door, the little child (looking at the painting) began to wave good bye to the painting of Christ.

Tongan Temple

Tongan Update, September 23, 2007 Release Day, Temple, Food Source, Picknick on the Beach

Tonga Update, 23 September 2007, Release Day

Another week! Friday was “Release Day.” We had eighteen missionaries (14 Tongans and 4 American) going home. Most of the Tongans are from this island so they didn’t have very far to go.

Elder Thompson and I had to pick up 6 of the missionaries who were on this island and bring them to the office. Here they are interviewed by the President, given lunch, participate in a career class, eat dinner at the President’s home, and then have a testimony meeting at the church with all their parents and families. We were given a very detailed schedule of who we were supposed to pick up, and where, and who we were suppose to drop off, and where etc. The missionaries need to be with a companion at all times so if we were taking one missionary to the office, his companion needed to be dropped off so he’d have a companion. Whoa!

Well, we go to the first house...no one was there. We go to the second house…no one was there. We go to the third house, and SURPRISE...six elders are there, and they aren’t even awake. They were supposed to be ready for pick-up at 6:00 a.m. It’s now close to 7:30 a.m. We waited for them to get ready. We only needed two of them. Anyway, we were hunting for Elders all over the island, but we finally got them all and only an hour late.

It was a wild day having the missionaries around the office complex all day. We had to set up tables and chairs, get food, have centerpieces. (Hey, this sounds like a ward activity. We thought we were getting out of that job.)

After the testimony meeting, guess who got to clean up? Yep!!! LITTLE ELDER THOMPSON AND ME! The missionaries are given by their families three or four leis , and many of the leis are made with candy in them. The wrappers were everywhere. Some cute girls took pity on us and started to help us, then other people joined in. It was not so bad! We made it through our first “Release Day.”

This has been an incredibly busy week. Any extra time we had, we ran over to help at the Temple.

What a treat!!! It’s incredible!! We are so glad that we can do anything to help. We’ve done some cleaning, fixing, and our favorite was to hang the crystals on the chandeliers.

(That is a time-consuming job!) Next week is the Open House, and the king is coming on Tuesday. We are even going to meet him. (We have an orientation meeting beforehand so we don’t goof up in his presence. Also they are going to train us to help usher during the Open House.)

The Sister Missionaries are also going to usher. They were all rounded up and brought to the mission office for training. Elder Thompson and I had to take a group of them back to their homes afterwards. One of the sisters asked me about my family. I proceeded to tell her, and I mentioned we had two little dogs that we bathed and took to the beauty parlor.

This sweet, demure Sister said as a matter-of-fact, “We eat our dogs!” Yes, it is true! They eat them!!! Yep, they are a food source. They put them on the dinner table and devour them…their pet dogs.

One Elder said he (and three other missionaries) was on the island of Vava’u, and the members had not fed them. They were so hungry that they dared each other to ask a member if they could eat their dog. The member said, “You want to eat our dog?” The members were so excited that the Elders wanted to eat their dog. They killed it, skinned it, cooked it, and…..yuck….ate it. They said it was delicious, but not as good as horse. Talking about horse…remember the horse that I said was in the neighbor’s backyard? It’s gone!! What do you think? Someone’s dinner?

We did have a beach party with the Senior Missionaries. We built a big fire and roasted hotdogs (notice the “hot”, not just “dog”).


These senior ladies know how to find stuff and make wonderful salads and desserts. (Is Tonga the place I’m going to learn how to cook? Everything has to be made from scratch because there are few packaged or canned items.) We walked along the beach, but it was too cold to snorkel, and the water was too rough. I know…you’re asking, “Too cold in Tonga? It’s still winter.

Here are a few things really hard about this mission:

1. To remember to call John, “Elder Thompson”

2. Typing the Tongan New Member names (like ‘Amanaki he Lotu Lelei Sa or Esther Ashiel Litiola ‘I Loto Suva) into the computer

3. To remember to wear my name tag

4. Where’s our family and friends? We miss you all!

‘

Tongan Update, September 16, 2007 Little old Lady and the three hairs

Tongan Update, 16 September 2007, Little Old Lady

I have a little story for you today. It was told in Relief Society by one of the Sisters. Try to envision in your mind this little lady in the story.

There once was a little lady, and one day she looked into the mirror, and she had only three hairs on her head. “Oh my,” she said. “I guess I’ll braid my hair today.”

The next day when she looked into the mirror, she had only two hairs. “Well, I can part them down the middle.”

The third day she looked into the mirror. You got it—only one hair. “I’ll wear it in a ponytail,” she thought.

Yep, the next day—no hair. “Now I don’t have to worry about my hair!”

NOW HOW IS THAT FOR HAVING A POSITIVE ATTITUTE!!!??? (I thought the story was kind of funny. What do you think? Come on…)

Talking about stories…once a week Elder T. and I are going to a village elementary school, Fatai Elementary Government School. I’m going to read stories and do some art with the children, and John is going to pull out his hammer, paint etc.

At the public schools the students where uniforms. Red is the uniform of this school.

Who said we were retired? I was really surprised at how clean and neat the five rooms of the school were. However, the teacher sharpened the children's pencils with a knife, and there were very few crayons and paper supplies.

Each village on Tongatapu has its own school, its own set of churches (usually an LDS, Catholic, Seventh Day, and Weslayan),

and a series of little stands that sell a variety of interesting items. The people used to walk everywhere so every village needed to have schools and churches close to them. That isn’t the case now. There are way too many cars here, and they’re all being driven on the wrong side of the road.

I thought I was ready to “drive” to the post office in Nuku’alofa with its many crazy drivers.

Not good! Believe me…the Lord watches over His missionaries.

These are pictures of one of the round abouts. Some are just a pile of cement blocks like this one below.

I went around a round-about (a corner where cars can go straight, turn left, turn right, or flip U-turns, or go any other direction that they want to go), and I thought a bus was blocking the traffic. So I zipped out across the lane and whoa!! A car came from behind the bus, slammed on its breaks, and came to a screeching halt barely missing me. Sister Christensen (She and Elder Christensen work in the office with us.) says she’ll always bring her walking shoes to the office from now on. We usually walk to the post office to get the missionaries’ mail and send the mail. She hadn’t brought her good shoes, so thusly, the “Mad-Hatter” drive to town. See…it was all her fault!

So, the University of Utah’s football team is the pits! The word Utah (uta) in Tongan means “bush.” It’s where the farmers plant their crops, out in the bush (uta). So when you say, “Go Utah,” we Tongans think, “Go Bush!” (Ha,ha! This is a little political joke…get it?)

Here is a little info about our mission. We have about 176 missionaries in 6 different zones. Four of the zones are on Tongatapu which is our island.

They names the zones HAMM , which is Hilamoni, Amoni, Molomona, and Molonai. The other two zones are on islands further north of us. They are called Nehai and Lehai. When we go to inspect houses, we go every Thursday, which is your Wednesday. We inspect one zone each week which consists of about 12 to 13 houses. The “cottages” (that’s what we are calling them) are very small and quaint.

Don't be mis-lead, these are the better houses for missionary use. Other are the same in size, but the setting is not as nice.

They have no kitchens or eating areas. The missionaries are expected to be feed by the members. (The members call it “missionary feeding.” I think that sounds like feeding animals at the zoo.) The cottages just have a bedroom and a bathroom—now that’s not much to keep clean, is it? Well, the missionaries move (transfer) every six weeks so they aren’t exactly getting greatly attached to any one cottage. What it boils down to, is that the cottages are not very clean. We need to do a lot of training with the Elders especially.

Friday the Sister missionaries came to the office area for special training. They will be ushers at the Temple Open House. Needless to say, that is the big topic of discussion for the Church members here in Tonga. Everyone is hoping that President Hinckley will dedicate the temple, but we hear that his health is really failing. Many people have been working night and day to get everything ready. John and I have even done a little bit of cleaning. Oh, it is a beautiful temple, just perfect for Tonga!

This week was the Church’s school, The Liahona, 60^th Anniversary. The school (middle and high school only) was organized 60 years ago. We were invited to go to their celebration on campus which is right next to the Temple. We wore earphones to interpret the Tongan speakers, and the Tongans had an interpreter to speak English for them. The meeting was looong, but at the end of the program some of the students performed some Tongan dances. The girls do little movements with their hand and take slight steps.

The guys, on the other hand, are jumping and knocking each other. They looked like they were having more fun.

A lot of people were happy here when the Tongan rugby team beat the USA. You could get free beer from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. in Nuku’alofa to celebrate. Oh, brother!

We are doing well.

Tongan Update, September 9, 2007, The Mission Office, Elder May, Pictures of Tonga

Tongan Update, 09 September 2007, "The Mission Office"

Right now it is winter in Tonga. The temperatures run from around 70 to 75 degrees. It is perfect, but everyone says wait until December when temperatures are expected to rise! We’ve had a little rain, but not much.

Well, what do we do in the office from 8:00 until 5:00? Keep Busy! John is doing a lot of financial things, and I’m doing things that concern the missionaries—like getting their mail from home at the post office and sorting it, putting stamps on their letters to home, making files for new missionaries, taking care of flight plans for missionaries that leaving, keeping all the young missionaries healthy, etc.

Font of the Mission Office in Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Inside court yard of the Mission office

Keeping the missionaries healthy is fairly interesting since I have no nursing training. But we have a few items in the office to help with the minor problems.

Elder May has had a unique experience. He was angry with his companion. Instead of hitting him, he hit a wood post (neither one was too smart). He didn’t break his hand, but he tore open the skin. He now has an infection which is slowing been moving up his arm. We took him to the hospital, and he has now been there for four days and still counting.

We have been to visit him one or two times a day taking him food and water. This hospital is nothing like the hospitals at home. I pray I never ever need to go there. The new part of the hospital is not so bad, but the old section is frightening. You expect a hospital to be clean and bright. Well, this one isn’t. Missionaries with extreme problems are sent to New Zealand for treatment.

Another part of our jobs is to inspect the missionary homes. (We all need to count our blessings for the homes in which we live because the missionary houses are some of the nicest in Tonga, and they are in a world of hurt.) My, these are small (really small), two bedroom places with a tiny bathroom.

The bathrooms are hard to keep clean because of the high humidity, and there is only cold water. We take the missionaries cleaning supplies and check to see if repairs on their houses are needed. The sister missionaries have cute embroidered pillow cases and nice things hung onto their walls. The elders just exist in their places. Most of the houses are located in back of the church buildings which are beautiful with lovely landscaping, but there are some that are not the best places for missionaries to live in. We are moving them to other places.

The Church keeps the church yards so pretty and maintained. They certainly set an example.

You definitely can tell all the church-owned properties on the island. The properties have fences around them to keep especially the pigs out. Every chaple stands out as a place of beauty.

Oh, the pigs!

The come in all sizes

They run around everywhere—in town, out of town, in yards, on the side of roads, etc. The big pigs are “interesting”, but the little ones are fun to watch. They play with each other like puppies. They jump on each other and chase each other. It’s cute.

We saw some pigs rooting for food on the beaches where the tide had receded.In this same area the people were looking for shell fish and octopus. The people keep what they need and then sell the rest of the shell fish etc. at by-the-road shops or tables.

I had my first experience of driving on the opposite side of the road. (John made me!) I did OK, but it surely seems strange. John is always opening the door to the car for me because he has gone to the wrong side. I’m always going to the driver’s side, and John wants to give me the keys so I can drive. John is turning on the wipers when he goes to signal to turn because it is on the opposite side he is used to. You can tell the new drivers because their wipers are going! (We’re mixed up!)

Last Saturday we were invited to two little girls’ (Joanne and Tiki) baptisms. The fonts in Tonga are outside in a small court yards, and they are elevated. You climb up and in instead of down and in.

They were dressed in fancy, white dresses, not the usual jumpsuits. It was a simple, but very humble affair. After the baptism there was a dinner. Boy, these people know how to “bring on the food”! This next picture is at a zone conference, but a similar thing occurs at baptisms. It is a major party.

This reminds me of James who I wrote about in my last letter.

He works at an Australian pharmacy and actually lives in the back section of the pharmacy. His employers told him to stop talking to the Mormon missionaries or they would make him move out of their housing and threatened his job. So things have gotten a little tougher for James as far as the gospel goes. What do you think he will do?

On our P-Day we toured the east side of the island. We came across a white sand beach.

To get to it, we had to walk through a cemetery.

Their cemeteries are different than ours in that the Tongans don’t dig into the earth; they build a mound over the body. Then they decorate the mound with flowers, lava rocks, quilts, and beer bottles. Yes, beer bottles. They turn the bottles upside down in the sand so you see the bottom glass. It adds a sparkle to the grave site.

Oh, talking about the dead…we accidently got into a funeral procession. We thought we were in a parade or something because there seemed to be a float at the front of the long line of cars which were being driven down both sides of the road. All on-coming cars were yielding the right-of-way to this procession. When all the cars turned into the mortuary, we realized what was happening.

The float turned out to be a pickup truck with the body in it. The people had put a canopy over the bed of the truck with streamers hanging from it. The next truck in line was filled with the mourning family. There were about twenty people standing in the bed of that truck. The rest of the cars followed into the dirt parking lot of the small, blue mortuary (falemate).

We were told that this had to be a well-to-do family because they had actually gone to a mortuary. The common people do not go to the expense of embalming their dead.

Well, we had a picnic breakfast out in the courtyard with a few missionaries this morning.

Diane, Elders Fine'isaloi, Lauaki, Finau, Holloway

I even put flowers on the table. It looked pretty official. The poor Tongan Elders (Fine'isaloi and Lauaki) were intimidated and didn’t want to come. With a lot of coaxing, they came and seemed to eat just fine. (Our communication skills are lacking, but it’s was fun to try to figure out what everybody was saying.) We also baked cookies to take to our Tongan neighbors. Only one family was home. After they called off their two attack dogs, we had a semi-nice visit. Their children came over later and said the cookies were good!

Life here in the mission field is great!