Water for Tonga

Things are getting exciting here in the beautiful Pacific paradise of Tonga!

We were blessed with a visit from two of our supervisors in the Pacific Area office in Auckland, New Zealand – Taulia Tafiti, the area humanitarian manager, and Fineasi Tamale, the regional humanitarian manager (Taulia’s “deputy” responsible for Tonga and Samoa).  Their visit began with a fun celebrity sighting.  As they exited the airport, we noticed a familiar face also on his way out. It was Iam Tongi, the LDS Tongan American teenager who won American Idol.  Taulia and Fineasi had introduced themselves to Iam on the plane and arranged for him to add a visit to Liahona High School on his schedule.  We got to visit with Iam for a moment and grabbed a photo with him.  

We are such groupies!

This was his first visit to Tonga, and he is quite the celebrity here.  We were already in a meeting elsewhere when he visited Liahona, but we heard a lot of screams from the students on a live stream.

Fineasi, who is from Tonga, had arranged for us to meet with the village officials of 11 villages comprising political district 10 on the east coast of Tongatapu (the main island of Tonga where we live).

Village officials from district 10

His, and now our, plan is to improve the water system for each of the villages.  These villages each rely on a single diesel pump which pumps water from underground aquifers into a main tank which is then piped to individual homes.  Most of the homes supplement their water by collecting rainwater in tanks.  The pumps cannot run 24/7 and often break down, so the villages often have no water.  We listened and took notes as each village official reported on their specific needs.  We distributed a questionnaire for each village to complete to send to us with contractor’s bids for the necessary improvements.  The plan is to collect all 11 plans and submit them as one large humanitarian project to the Church for approval.   The eventual plan is to do this for each of the districts in Tongatapu.  This is very exciting and is the type of large-scale project our area presidency wants. 

Coincidentally (or maybe there are no coincidences in missionary work), the following week we met with the Minister of Infrastructure and his assistant (a member of the Church).  They had heard about our meeting with the district 10 villages and wanted to inform us that for the past year or so they had been meeting with all the villages in district 9 (their home district) and had already collected the same information from almost all of the villages, but they had no funding to make the necessary improvements.  They (the Minister is Catholic) felt like it was a heavenly gift that we had come to Tonga offering such assistance.  The Minister even asked his assistant to give a prayer at the end of our meeting.  Now we will have two large projects to submit for approval! Most importantly, we will be helping thousands of people improve their access to clean water. 

Our meeting with the Minister of Infrastructure

Elder Burgess, an area seventy from New Zealand who is also employed as the area security manager (retired New Zealand Secret Service officer), toured the mission making presentations on safety to the young missionaries at zone conferences.  President Kaufusi invited the senior couples to attend one of the zone conferences.  It is always a delight to be with the beautiful young Tongan missionaries, hear them sing, and it was also a pleasure meeting Elder Burgess.

Elder Burgess teaches the missionaries about safety.

Elder Burgess chats with some amazing senior missionaries after his presentation.

Last Sunday, we spoke in sacrament meeting and received calls to serve in the YM and YW organizations.  We are excited for the opportunity to get to know and serve the youth.  Elder Latimer has now worn the traditional tupenu (men’s skirt) to church for two Sundays, and his exposed white ankles have not scared the children.  He has the ta’ovala (woven mat) to wrap around his waist over the tupenu, but he still needs the kafa (cord) to tie on the ta’ovala before his outfit is officially complete, so a photo will just have to wait (maybe forever). 

Our chapel inside . . .

. . . and out.

As we travel around town (properly on the left side of the road), we are delighted with the sights of Nuku’alofa and some of the fun signs, which we wanted to share with you. 

Have we mentioned that Tonga is a Christian nation?

Yes, it is.

Have you ever felt this way?

Best bread in the Kingdom--and only $1 per loaf!

Not sure what all they offer here.

Truly a fascinating culture.

Tonga is the only remaining indigenous monarchy in the Pacific islands.

Ofa atu from Tonga!

The Work Hastens

Our humanitarian work has really picked up, and we are so excited!  We have been meeting with government leaders in the areas of education and health, and also the Red Cross, asking them if there are needs in Tonga that the Church could help address. 

Our meeting with the head of the Red Cross in Tonga

They have responded with proposals such as an evacuation center on a tsunami-ravaged island,  and  upgrading water systems in villages whose water is compromised by problems such as pumps that don’t function consistently, decaying pipes, and undersized storage tanks.  We may be able to help more than ten villages with this problem.

In addition, we are looking at helping an organization that works to help encourage healthy lifestyles expand their office and get vehicles to use in their work on outer islands.  They are particularly focused on diabetes, a major problem here in Tonga.  Because of diabetes and associated problems, life expectancy in Tonga is 65 years.   

In January, the first Tongan university was established, and we met with the Vice Chancellor of Higher Education, the delightful and energetic woman leading the new university.  They have many needs, and we hope to do a major project for them. 

We meet with the Vice Chancellor of Higher Education

We are thrilled to have so many important projects beginning to coalesce.  We will share more information as things move forward. 

 We recently heard of a Chinese member of the Church here who is the bishop of one of the wards.  Of course, with our background in Taiwan and China, we wanted to meet him.  We stopped by the store he owns, hoping he might be available.    

When we met and Kyle and I started speaking Chinese with him, he was delighted.  After some introduction to who we are, what we are doing in Tonga, and how we learned Chinese, Kyle asked him about his conversion story.  He started to answer and then invited us to come and sit down.

He led us out the back door to their home behind the store where we met his three beautiful kids—a boy and two girls.  The boy is about 12 years old and spoke good English because they attend an all-English school.  He apologized for his untidy appearance, but he and his family had been cleaning the church as they and the other members of his ward do every Saturday.

He pulled three chairs together for us to sit on, and then he told us this story.

“You know,” he said, “Chinese people don’t have the tradition of believing in God.  They used to believe in Buddhism, but the communist government stopped allowing religion, so most people just believe in themselves.  They don’t believe in something unless they can see it and feel it.” 

“I came to Tonga 16 years ago.  In 2009 I was living on Niuatoputapu [Elder Groberg’s mission island].  One day I looked out to sea and saw a large wave approaching the island.  I turned and started to run away, yelling for others to run as well. 

“It was so frightening.  Then, as I ran, I heard a voice in my ears say, ‘I will save you.  Believe in me.’  I promised that if I survived, I would believe in God. Seven people died, but I lived.

“Afterwards, as time passed, it was easy to get involved in other things, and I didn’t follow through and look for a church where I could worship God.

“Then one Sunday I woke up crying.  I didn’t know why I was so sad.  Then I heard the voice again.  This time it said, “Remember your promise.”

“I started looking for a church where I could learn more about God. I attended a Chinese church, but it was mostly a social group.  I attended some Christian churches, but I didn’t feel that they lived as followers of Jesus Christ should live.  I remember talking to one of the ministers and asking him, “How can I know which church is true?”

“Then I started attending our church.  I felt that the lives of the members showed that they were true Christians.  I decided to get baptized.

“It wasn’t easy.  Chinese people socialize and do business by drinking and smoking when they get together.  I did that like everyone else.  I had to stop doing those things.

“Going to the temple has strengthened me.  I wish the Chinese members who have stopped coming to Church would go to the temple.  It would really help them stay strong.”

So now he is married to a Tongan sister who served a mission in the Philippines, and they have the three beautiful kids we met.  He served as ward clerk for several years and has been a bishop for the last five. 

There are so many stories here, as many stories as there are people.  We love the people here who smile and greet us, and sometimes share a little sheepishly that they used to be members of the Church.  Fortunately for them and for all of us, it is never too late to start again. 

Love from Tonga.