Tonga!

Wednesday, July 3rd
Sister “Y” came into the office today with the translation for the hygiene program. That hasn’t turned out quite like I had hoped it would. She translated it, then Ana had to go over all of it and “fix” it. Our cute little secretary that took over for Ana Lupe while she is in America, typed it all up and she fixed a lot of thing too. She just graduated from Liahona last year and she is working on getting her mission papers ready. She is very smart!! We love her. Anyway, this has turned out to be a bigger process than I anticipated. I should have known better. Oh well, we are just about ready to get started so I am excited about that.

I had a little time this afternoon so I was able to get the Family and Friends letter put together and sent out. Thank heaven! That took such a long time to get put together and it was weighing heavy on my mind. I am glad to have it done.

We went to a baptism this evening. A mother and two of her children were baptized. She is going to be a great influence for good for the church in Tonga. She is the lady who sings opera. She sang at our Black and White Ball. She is very well known and highly respected. It was a beautiful evening and the baptism was so special. What a sweet experience it was to watch her watch her son and daughter be baptized and then to see the emotion in her face when it was her turn. She spoke after the baptism and bore her testimony. She told of how very hard it has been for her to give up smoking and drinking but she was determined to do it. She was so grateful for the principle of repentance and to know that she was washed clean meant everything to her. Then to conclude, she sang “I Need The Every Hour”. When she got to the second verse “temptations lose their power, when thou art near,” is was very emotional for her --- for all of us. What a special lady. We are so grateful that she made this decision. She has set the course for her family, for all eternity.

After the meeting was over, she invited us to a “little party”. It turned out to be a huge feast. I hate going to those things. They always make the palangis go first and they seat us at the best table. It wasn’t about us, it was about her and we didn’t want to take away from her big night. The Stake President came and sat with us. He is a very important man here in Tonga. We found out tonight that he wrote the Tongan to English, English to Tongan dictionary that all the missionaries use. He served here years ago but he is a couple of years younger than us. He and Alan had a lot to talk about. That’s the one good thing about going to these parties. It gives us a chance to mingle with the local people and get to know them better. We love the people!

We didn’t get home until almost 10:00, so we went straight to bed.