We enjoyed a wonderful trip to Ha’apai this past week. Ha’apai is a group of 51 islands between the Tongatapu island group (we live in the capital city of Nuku’alofa on Tongatapu island) to the south and the Vava’u island group to the north, all part of Tonga. Just 17 of the islands are populated. We spent the majority of our four-day stay in the capital village of Pangai on Lifuka island, while our hotel was on the neighboring island of Foa connected by a single-lane causeway.
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| Sandy Beach on Foa Island |
We had the option of taking a 14-hour ferry ride or a 50-minute plane ride. Naturally, we opted for the plane, although that was an adventure as well. Both the airport in Nuku’alofa and the airport in Pangai are very small. As you check in, they weigh not just your checked and carry-on luggage, but you as well! There is zero security as you walk out to the tarmac to climb aboard the plane, which was a small, rickety old plane with 17 seats, three rows of 2 on one side and 1 on the other, and one row of 2. We were in a middle row, and it was a tight fit squeezing into the seats.
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| Our plane |
On the flight home, thankfully, we got the front row which gave us some leg room, and we were only an arm’s length (literally) from the doorless cockpit. We could have shaken hands with the pilots from our seats if we wanted to. It was reassuring to watch and hear the pilots go through their pre-flight checklist.
Thankfully we arrived safely. We were met by Moale Finau, a member of the Church and the Parliament representative of one of the two districts in Ha’apai. He took us to a wonderful lunch where we were joined by Elder and Sister Fatongia who are serving in Ha’apai. They are an angelic couple, both Tongan, but they have lived in Hawaii for the last 40+ years. We had been communicating with Moale for some time as he hopes to have the Church’s humanitarian fund help fund the construction of a sea wall along Ha’apai in an area damaged by the 2022 tsunami. After lunch, he took us to see the site of the proposed wall.
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| A lunch feast with Elder and Sister Fatongia provided by Moale Finau |
We then checked into our hotel, the Sandy Beach Resort, which is on the northern tip of Foa island in an idyllic spot. The resort is made up eight “fales” or individual small houses which open right on to the beach.
As we waited at the outdoor restaurant for an early dinner, much to our delight, sixyoung missionaries walked up. They had come to eat at the restaurant after their district meeting. We enjoyed visiting with each one of them. They all had interesting stories. Only one of them was from Tonga, but all the others had Tongan heritage. Most were learning Tongan for the first time. They were from California, Washington State, Oregon, Utah, and Hawaii (Lahaina—his home was burned in the fire), and Australia. They were all great ambassadors of Jesus Christ.
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| Dedicated missionaries wait for their pizza |
Back at our fale, we were lulled to sleep each night by the sound of the waves hitting the shore right outside our large open-air but screened window.
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| Our Fale |
The next day we met with the local representative of Tonga Health, the agency that provides education and programs to promote healthy living, to discuss how we could assist in her work. We then met with officials of the local hospital, and they provided us with a wish list of the equipment they need to provide adequate medical care. We hope to be able to provide what they need.
We then picked up Elder and Sister Torres, the Welfare and Self Reliance missionaries with whom we serve, at the airport and met with the local stake president to inspect the emergency container, discuss the needs of the local members, and discuss possible schools where we could at a later date deliver the Solar Buddies we previously wrote about.
We had a poignant experience as we visited the graves of two missionaries who had died of typhoid in 1922 and 1923. Elder and Sister Fatongia have cleaned up the graves and laid some flowers on top, accompanied by Sister Fatongia's gentle tears of gratitude for the missionaries' and their families' sacrifice. We took a moment to reflect on Elder Oborn and Elder Rasmussen who sacrificed all to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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| Elder Oborn's and Elder Rasmussen's graves |
The next morning, with the invaluable assistance of Elder and Sister Fatongia, we located several recent recipients of wheelchairs provided by the Church to conduct follow-up interviews. It was a sobering yet sweet experience seeing the difficult circumstances in which they live but also the joy in their faces as they expressed appreciation for their increased mobility.
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| Following up with a wheelchair recipient |
Our last meeting of the trip was with two village officers who described for us the problems every village was experiencing with their water supply, which depends primarily on rainfall stored in tanks. This is one of our priority tasks for our mission, so we hope to bring them some relief.
What a sweet blessing it is for us to be supported in our service by the extensive Church humanitarian fund, which, of course, is provided by the generous donations of members and others.
When we arrived at the airport, we saw a cute family with 5 kids, and we remembered Mary's sister Jolene had given us some small pictures of Jesus to share with children. Mary asked the mother if she could give the pictures to her children, and she was happy to approve. Mary went down the row giving a photo to each child, and they seemed to really like them, keeping them in their hands as they waited for the flight. A few minutes later the mother came and asked us whether we had a box to put the photos in so they wouldn't get folded. Mary gave her the package with the rest of the photos in it, and she was, again, delighted. It's so fun to represent the Savior in a land that honors Him!
On Saturday after our return, we enjoyed watching some girls’ rugby games. Part of the event consisted of a tournament between under-16 teams from different places in Tonga. They only play 7-minute halves. Another part of the event was an exhibition game between older girls’ teams from the USA and Australia. We were happy to cheer our team to victory! Those young ladies hit hard!
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| A rugby scrum |
That's all for now. Thank you for your prayers and support. They mean so much to us!
