The Latimers in Tonga: Christmas in July

No kidding. Here’s the story.

A month or so ago we had been a little discouraged by the lack of progress on quite a few of our proposed projects. It just seemed like there were a lot of roadblocks that we couldn’t seem to move. Then we had a meeting with the other humanitarian missionaries in our area, and one couple serving in Tahiti (they are French and have the most charming accent) shared a situation similar to ours—they couldn’t seem to get their project to progress, so they decided to fast and ask for the Lord’s help. Soon afterwards, things began to fall into place for them.

Prayer and fasting! Why didn’t we think of that sooner? We had been praying in a general way for all of our projects, but their testimony reminded us about the importance of fasting and prayer in our work.

So we fasted and prayed specifically for those who could give approval, sign papers, give permissions, or any of myriad of things that would clear the way.

And the way began to be cleared! A couple of weeks later, we met with Fineasi, our supervisor, and he gave us an update on all our projects. We were amazed! There had been so much progress. When he finished sharing all the good news, we told him that it must be Christmas!

We also finished our first project last week and had the handover ceremony. We had been working to help a village get a new water pump because they were only getting about 10 hours of water per day. Imagine trying to keep everything clean with water only being available for 10 hours each day.

They had set up a shade for us to sit under, and a member of the town committee conducted the ceremony. In attendance were other members of the town committee, the bishop of the village, and some community members. Someone had donated two lawn mowers and two trimmers so the vegetation around the water pump could be kept down. The bishop was asked to dedicate and bless both the new pump and the lawn equipment.

We have decided that with each handover ceremony we will present Tongan copies of The Book of Mormon to the non-member dignitaries. What could be more important than sharing the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ along with the care He would give them if He were here?

Mary told the story about Jesus saying to the woman at the well, “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13-14).

After the dedicatory prayer, everyone went to the pump shelter and watched as the pump was turned on and water gushed out of the pipe, a true reminder of the Living Water provided by Jesus Christ.

We have had a dentist and his family here for a couple of weeks so that he could volunteer in our dental clinic. He did so much great work, and his family also served by cleaning the clinic. Our clinic dedicates two days a week to doing dental work on Liahona students as well as pre-missionaries and serving missionaries. This work is surely needed because there is a general lack of dental hygiene here along with a literal sweet tooth—make that teeth.

Shortly before the dentist and his family left, they gave a devotional to the young men who come from other islands and live on campus when school is in session. They have a wonderful dorm dad who loves and teaches them. And they, like all Tongans, can really sing! As a gift back to the dentist and his family, they performed some native dances and sang.

Then the 24^th of July came! One of the stakes assembled a parade with each ward represented. It was sweet to see the members thinking about their own pioneer ancestors along with the original pioneers who crossed the plains.

The Primary performed a dance—not to “Pioneer Children Sang as They Walked,” but to “I’m Gonna Be” by The Proclaimers. You probably know this song. The chorus goes

“I would walk five hundred miles and I would walk five hundred more…” Well, that was unexpected! The kids had a great time dancing to this song.

One final experience—as you know, an effort is being made to help the Tongan people eat fresh produce to fight diabetes which is rampant here. To promote healthier eating, the Church farm is making seedlings available to schools. We went to a school and watched the Church farm manager teach the students how to plant seeds as well as seedlings. The kids loved it, and we can just imagine how exciting it will be for them to water the plants as they grow and then eat the vegetables. That memory may help them to incorporate a family farm into their own homes.