One Year Update

Elder and Sister Latimer in their office

As we recently passed our one-year mark of humanitarian missionary service, we thought it would be a good idea to provide a status report on our pending humanitarian projects.  We have about 20 pending projects in various stages of completion, from initial concept to awaiting approval from the area office or Church headquarters to completion.  We have previously reported having provided 1) crushed coral to the flooded yards of homes in Sopu Village; 2) a healthy breakfast twice a week to all primary and middle school students throughout Tonga; and 3) a new water pump for Fahefa Village.  We are now in discussions with the Ministry of Education to annually provide some of the funding for the breakfast program.  Please note that when we say “we,” of course we are referring not to us but to the humanitarian fund of the Church which consists of generous donations from Church members like you and other organizations.

In addition, we have received final approval to proceed with funding the following projects:

1.    Building two nurseries for the Ministry of Agriculture, Farms, and Forestry for their program to provide vegetable seedlings to promote home gardening and healthy eating;

2.    Providing textbooks, learning supplies, and a shuttle van for the School of Nursing and Midwifery of Tonga National University;

3.     Upgrading two of the surgical rooms at the main hospital to allow for more complex surgeries and building a shed to house the oxygen plant for the hospital;

4.    Building a two-room addition for two middle schools;

5.    Expanding the head office of Tonga Health and providing shuttle vans for their outer island officers;

6.    Providing computers, office furniture and supplies, and a shuttle van for the Tonga National Vision Impaired Association; and

7.    Building an evacuation center on one of the remote islands often impacted by cyclones.

We are very optimistic that we will soon receive final approval to fund some other large-scale projects, including:

1.    Providing the materials to build 50 homes as part of the Prime Minister’s program to provide homes for those in extreme poverty and the furniture for 70 of those homes;

2.    Upgrading the water systems in 11 villages on the east coast of Tongatapu, the main island; and

3.    Providing much needed equipment to a hospital on one of the outer islands.

The work is exciting and very rewarding, the people here are deserving, and we are blessed to represent the generosity of Church members in providing this much needed assistance.  Now we just hope we can complete as many of these projects as possible before our time is up, or at least have them well underway for our successors to complete.  No, we are not trunky!  We have too much fun stuff to do.

A couple of other wonderful experiences we’d like to share. First, our stake had a fun cultural program where the youth of each ward presented a dance performance representing one of the Pacific Island nations (Tonga, Fiji, Kiribati, Rarotonga, New Zealand, Tahiti, and Samoa) and Hawaii. Our ward youth represented Hawaii, and we were fortunate to have former Polynesian Cultural Center performers in our ward as instructors. All the youth practiced hard for weeks and performed very well. You may remember that Kyle is a Young Men advisor, and  Mary is 1st counselor in the Young Women.

Young women in their costumes with their advisor (seated), previously a performer at the PCC

Young men with their Hawaiian "hang ten"

Second, the Bicomong family in our ward consists of father Restituto from the Philippines, mother Teuila from Tonga, son Richie who recently received a mission call to Perth, Australia, daughter Alexandra, and young sons Denver and William.  There are two older daughters, one engaged and attending BYU-Hawaii and one on a mission in the Philippines.  Before Richie went to the temple in preparation for his mission, he wanted his parents to join him and then have the family sealed.  Well, his wish came true, and we were blessed to participate with Mary as Teuila’s escort and Kyle as Restituto’s and Richie’s escort, along with Richie’s cousin Samuel who recently received his mission call to the Philippines.  It was a glorious day!  As the sweet temple workers brought in the three younger kids for the sealing ceremony, it brought back sweet memories for us with our children.  The two older daughters are now anxious to come home and be sealed as well. 

Such a joyous day!
L-R William, Restituto, Teuila, Alexandra, Denver, Cousin Samuel, Richie
 

L-R Elder and Sister Latimer, Restituto, William, Teuila, Alexandra, Denver, Richie, Cousin Samuel, Bishop and Sister Lakai

We love these sweet people!