Welcome to our Fine Fale (Home)

What an eventful week we’ve had! 

First of all, we were able to move into our apartment! No more living out of our six mixed-up suitcases! Our apartment is the second floor, and we love the view from all sides as well as the cool air that blows up here. 

Our second floor apartment home

Our neighbors include pigs, dogs, and roosters (lots of roosters) on three sides, and they entertain us with their noises. Especially the roosters who start up around three or four AM--seems to be some kind of a competition. 

We really love the sounds from a nearby church. They have services beginning at 5:30 AM, and they toll a bell for about 10 minutes to summon the faithful. One night they had choir practice which was AMAZING—we’ve mentioned how beautifully Tongans sing. And the high school behind us has a terrific marching band. 

Another great event this week was a handover of school desks and chairs to a local high school. This project was organized by Elder and Sister Torres, the welfare/self-reliance missionaries. Furniture for Schools which operates out of New Zealand accepts donations of used school furniture and delivers them to Tonga and other areas in need. We met the principal of the high school, whose name is Atu, through President Kaufusi. He is a member of the Church and played football with President Kaufusi at South High in Salt Lake City and at Dixie College before President Kaufusi went on to play at BYU and Atu played at Utah State. In later years, Atu decided to move back to Tonga to try to benefit his community. President and Sister Kaufusi brought about 20 elders and sisters to help move everything, and it was a joy to see the satisfaction on Atu’s face as their broken furniture was replaced. 

Lovely sister missionaries ready to help

Elders setting up a classroom

A classroom before . . . 

. . . and after

President Kaufusi and Principal Atu

Yesterday we experienced our first Tongan feast! We were invited by a bishop and his wife (Siope and Liu) with whom we are working to help them in a charity they are establishing. They have been taking in girls who for one reason or another can’t remain with their families and fostering them in their home. They have blessed so many lives, making sure the girls go to school regularly and loving them. 

Siope and Liu

When we arrived, the pig was already on the spit and being rotated by an uncle and a couple of small boys. They had an umu (earth oven) filled with wood to heat up the rocks that would cook a variety of starchy root vegetables such as taro, tapioca, and a purple sweet potato. We enjoyed chatting with them for a couple of hours while the pig turned. 

About mid-afternoon the umu was opened and all the coals were transferred to underneath the pig. The umu was then filled with the vegetables and some foil-wrapped containers that reminded us of tin foil dinners. They were filled with either green leaves and corned beef or a different type of green leaves and lamb. We have seen these containers being sold streetside by vendors—they look like giant Hershey’s kisses. 

Filling the umu

After another hour or so of cooking, the feast was ready! The pig was removed from the spit, placed on giant banana leaves, and served along with rice, fried breadfruit, potato salad, roasted chicken, and chocolate chip cookies, provided by some of the senior missionaries. 

Dinner is on!

This week we submitted a project to the area office for approval to install a diesel generator to run the water pump for a village in town.  They already have one generator but it cannot operate 24/7, so this second one will allow the villagers to have water all day and night.  Tomorrow we will meet with the CEO of the Ministry of Health to identify needs we can help address. We hope to have another project or two initiated soon. 

Love from our fale in Tonga.

Happy Birthday Prince Tupoto’a-‘Ulukalala

Two weeks are in the books here in Tonga, and all is well.  Today is Prince Tupoto’a-‘Ulukalala's birthday, so we have a holiday.  

We are starting to lay some groundwork for future humanitarian projects.  We are assisted in our work by Luti and Alisa, managers in the Welfare and Self Reliance office here in Tonga who also assist us in our humanitarian work.  We met with the CEO of the Ministry of Education to see what needs the Ministry has.  He shared with us that they would like to have a laptop in each of the primary/elementary schools throughout Tonga in order to be able to communicate with each of the schools.  He mentioned some other needs as well.  We are waiting for his formal request before proceeding.

We meet with the CEO of the Ministry of Education

We also met with the head of Tonga Health, an NGO funded by both the Tongan and Australian governments, which is responsible for diabetes education and prevention programs.  The area presidency has asked us to focus on diabetes, a major problem here.  Tonga Health has established satellite offices in each of the five island groups, but the representative in each office does not have a vehicle to travel around the island, so we are hoping to be able to assist with this as well.  We are also looking forward to meetings with the Ministries of Health, Agriculture, and Internal Affairs to see what their needs are and how we can assist in meeting those needs.

We have enjoyed some wonderful experiences outside the office.  The mother of a Church employee recently passed away, and it is customary for the other Church employees to gather at the employee’s home for a simple memorial service.  We were invited to attend along with the employees.  The service, which consisted of two messages and three Tongan hymns, was all in Tongan so we did not understand a thing, but the singing was beautiful.  A program had the words to the hymns which were not hymns we recognized.  One brother began each hymn by himself, and everyone then joined in.  Their voices and harmonies were amazing.

We attended the Nuku’alofa temple for the first time.  It is located right next to the Liahona High School campus.  It is small but beautiful.  We attended with all the other senior missionary couples and enjoyed the same sweet spirit as we do in all temples.

On Saturday (P-day) we went strolling on one of the beaches with the Hammers and Koops and collected seashells.  As beautiful as the coast is, we were saddened to see the remnants of several resorts destroyed by the tsunami caused by an underwater volcano in January 2022.  

Remnants of a resort destroyed in the tsunami

We met a couple who owned one of the resorts. Their lot is now clear except for new plants they have planted.  They described their experience that day.  They first heard and felt the sonic boom from the volcano which threw them to the floor.  They then heard but could not see the wave coming.  They hurried to evacuate their guests and then they and their three children climbed a mango tree and watched the water swirl below them  The wave did not come from out in the ocean but across the beach, washing everything away.  The couple is very religious and repeatedly praised God for saving them.  They are currently awaiting a permit to rebuild.

All that is left of their resort

We were issued a Hyundai Tucson for our mission car, just like Mary drove at home, and we (Kyle) have enjoyed getting used to driving on the left side of the road.  There are no traffic lights in Nuku’alofa and only a few stop signs and round-abouts.  Thankfully everyone drives slowly through town and is very courteous in allowing others to yield or make turns in front of them.  Kyle is getting better at not turning on the wipers when he means to turn on the turn signal. 

Our housing is still in flux.  As mentioned, we stayed in one hotel the first week and then had to move to another hotel for the second week, which fortunately is next door to our office.  

Hotel part 2 overlooks the ocean

There is no other residence available for senior missionaries on the Liahona campus, so we are looking for an apartment to rent in town.  One that we saw this week looks promising, so hopefully we will have photos in our next blog of our home for the next 18 months to show you.

Love and greetings from the Kingdom of Tonga.

Malo e lelei

September 5, 2023

After 24 hours of travel, we are finally here in Tonga!  And it is beautiful.

The famous blow holes of Tongatapu

We landed near noon, and, after being sent into the much shorter immigration line that was for the elderly and handicapped (which are we?), we thrilled to see all our luggage eventually come off the carousel. 

Another missionary couple, the Hammers, were there to greet us.  They have an awesome blog that really helped answer some questions we had about preparing to serve here.

They gave us a tour of the area, including the Welfare Office, the Liahona High School campus, and the mission office where we met President and Sister Kafusi. They are a dynamic couple who have served during a difficult time that followed two disasters—a cyclone in 2018, and the underwater volcano which blanketed the area with ash and caused a devastating tsunami in 2022.  And, in the middle of all this, Covid. 

President and Sister Kaufusi with us ouside the mission office

At the outset of the pandemic, Tonga sealed off their borders (easier to do when you are an island) and stayed Covid-free until they needed help after the tsunami.  Relief workers brought Covid in, but fortunately very few people died. 

Elder Latimer enjoys a sprouted coconut at the Church farm

 
The Kafusis took us to dinner, and we enjoyed getting to know them better.  We learned a lot about missionary work here and the challenges they face, one of which is that there are 36 inhabited islands out of the 170 that make up Tonga, so visiting all the islands that have missionaries on them keeps the Kafusis on the go.  And yes, President Kafusi did play football for BYU. 

Driving around in Nuku'alofa, we noticed that it is like Utah in that we seemed to pass one of our chapels every few minutes.  Approximately half of the people in Tonga are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

Our hotel (where we are staying until they figure out where we will live) faces the ocean, so we have taken a couple of refreshing walks along the shore and enjoyed beautiful sunrises as well as greeting others out for a walk.  Everyone we have met has been so friendly.

The Dawn Breaks on Tongatapu

So, here we are!  And so glad that we can “lift up [our] heart[s] and rejoice, for the hour of [our] mission is come” (D&C 31:3).

Love to you all, and gratitude for your prayers.