In October general conference, Elder Kearon spoke about our church of joy. Similarly, this has been a mission of joy, especially the past few weeks. Here are several recent joyful experiences:
Trip to Eua – We traveled again to Eua which is the nearest inhabited island. The last time we visited we took the 3-hour ferry ride. This time we flew, and the flight, on a small 15-seater plane, is only 7 minutes from take-off to landing. We accompanied two other senior missionary couples who serve in the mission office and were going to inspect the young missionaries’ quarters, while we met with the local hospital staff to discuss what needs they had. We also spent a half-day seeing the very impressive nature sights of Eua – stunning!
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| Stunning Eua |
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| This is all one gigantic tree! |
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| Sweet sister missionaries in Eua |
Trip to Ha’apai - We traveled again to Ha’apai which is the third largest island group in Tonga. This time we traveled there at the invitation of an LDS member of Parliament who wanted us to meet with village officials in his district to discuss their water needs. Once we landed, we went to the wharf and jumped on a small fishing boat with the Parliament representative and others and took a lovely 30-minute boat ride to Ha’ano island. There we met with the officials from several villages. The meeting began with the attendees singing a local Tongan hymn in loud and beautiful acapella harmony followed by a prayer. Each official then shared the needs they have (new pump, new piping, new storage tank, etc.). The residents rely solely on collected rainwater, so when there’s a leaky tank or pipes or a long dry period, they are in trouble. After the meeting, we returned by boat to the main island and held another similar meeting with another group of villages in need. We hope to be able to put together a project to assist these wonderful people.
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| On the way to the island |
Fehi’s graduation – Fehi Sanft is a lovely, recently returned missionary in our ward. Her family is one of the stalwarts in our ward, and Fehi serves in the YW presidency with Mary. After returning from her mission, she enrolled in the police academy for the 6-month training program. Her family invited us to the graduation dinner which was held in a large convention hall. Each graduate’s family is assigned two or three tables for their invited guests, and the family is responsible to provide the food for their guests. In typical Tonga fashion, the food was plentiful and delicious.
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| Fehi--now a member of the Tonga police force |
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| Elaborate tables for each graduate |
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| We ate the grapes... |
Ngele’ia Primary School – We received a letter from the PTA of Ngele’ia Primary School, which in addition to the regular school, they have a separate program for children with various disabilities. They are requesting a shuttle van in order to transport the special needs children to and from school and for their teachers to make home visits. We went to visit the school with Elder and Sister Torres, the Welfare/Self Reliance couple who had previously provided used desks and chairs to the school and were now bringing books. It was so touching to visit with these sweet children, some autistic, deaf, Down’s syndrome, and with other conditions. We were also so impressed with the dedicated teachers who devote their lives to trying to teach them, and we hope to be able to provide the van for them.
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| The beautiful children and teachers of the special needs classroom |
Country office Christmas party – We attended a wonderful early Christmas party for the Church’s country office employees and senior missionaries. They hold it early because many of the employees save their annual leave and take the entire month of December off. Last year we had lunch at an Italian restaurant and then went to the hospital to sing carols and provide gifts to the children in the pediatric ward. This year we gathered at the Church farm for a traditional Tongan feast. Each table had a roast pig and ours was placed directly in front of us. After the meal, each department performed a dance number from a different country. We had been assigned Fiji and Mary performed with some of the ladies.
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| We felt a little guilty eating with this view... |
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| Faux Fijians |
Fehoko party – President and Sister Fehoko, who previously served as mission leaders in Papua New Guinea, invited all the senior missionaries to their home on a Saturday for lunch and a craft workshop. President Fehoko is a nationally renowned wood carver and his wife makes a lot of crafts with tapa cloth (made from mulberry tree bark) and other local materials. We first had a delicious lunch and made our own lu. Lu is a common tin foil dinner consisting of tarot leaves, corned beef, onions, and coconut milk cooked in an in-ground stone oven called an umu. This time the Fehokos had prepared several different chopped vegetables which we added to the lu before they were placed in the oven. They cooked while we had a craft class with Sister Fehoko who taught us how to make notepad covers with tapa cloth. She also gifted each missionary with a tapa cloth angel ornament. A delicious and delightful experience! The Fehokos are now awaiting another mission call to serve at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii.
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| Brother and Sister Fehoko |
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| Brother Fehoko with his grandson and one of his beautiful wood creations |
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| Our lu dinners ready to go into the umu |
Stake cultural dance festival – One evening our stake held a cultural dance festival. The Relief Society of each ward performed a traditional cultural Tongan dance. The costumes were amazing and colorful, including ankle bracelets made out of empty soda cans which sounded like cymbals as the ladies danced. Our ward’s sisters performed an intricate stick dance. We were sitting by the stake presidency and were presented leis along with them.
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Our ward's stick dance
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| Elaborate costumes |
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| Beautiful Tongan dancing |
Vehicle handovers – We were delighted to be able to present new 16-seater vans to House 9 and to Tonga National University’s School of Nursing and Midwifery. We have written before about House 9 – a home for abused kids (mostly girls) run by a devoted LDS couple at their own expense (plus donations). We gathered at their home with our Area Seventy Elder Tuione and the local stake president. We are making a concerted effort to involve local church leaders at our handover events while we step back out of the spotlight. The couple and Elder Tuione offered moving remarks and the stake president presented the kays to the van. They are so excited for the new transportation and will no longer need to rely on multiple trips in their one family car to get the kids to school and church each week.
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| Siope and Liu of House 9 and their new van |
Later that day we moved on to Tonga National University. Unfortunately, Elder Tuione and the stake president were not able to join us. We had a brief meeting with the university and nursing school staff and some students where we presented the keys. They suggested that everyone jump in for a quick spin around the campus. They then provided a lovely lunch with entertainment from a band of students and faculty and a cultural dance. We will soon complete the rest of the project which is to provide a large amount of medical equipment for the nursing school and books for the library.
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| Our good friends at Tonga National University--and the beautiful new van |
Oh, how we will miss this tropical wonderland and its beautiful people!
