Tonga!

Sunday, July 21st

It rained all night long! I didn’t get much sleep. Because we have a metal roof, it is very noisy when it rains. We also had thunder and lightning and the wind howled all night. It was tempting to just go to church on the campus today, but because we teach a Sunday School class we can’t do that. So off we went.

There was a returned missionary who spoke in our ward today. He just got home from his mission to Colorado Springs, LAST NIGHT! He got released this morning and he was a little sad and lost. He did a great job though. I’m sure he was a great missionary.

All of our Sunday School class is now in the Temple Prep class. I don’t know who planned that, but we aren’t saying anything because we love our class and we know they will be back in 4 more weeks. Until then we will just have a little vacation. There was a baptism for the other ward this morning so we went to that during Sunday School time. We know the missionaries and we wanted to support them. Tavita, a man we work with at Liahona, is in the Stake Presidency and he was there. We don’t know if he was there as a Bishop or representing the Stake President, he is holding both callings right now. We also know two other men who are doing the same thing, serving as a Bishop and a member of the Stake Presidency at the same time. It is amazing!! That would never happen at home.

As soon as we got out of church I called Lisa’a house. Lisa, Tiff and Kris were having a baby shower for Kimi and Grace today. (It is Saturday in America) I was feeling sad that I wasn’t there so I called to say hello to everyone. They passed the phone around and I was able to talk to everyone. It was so fun to hear their voices again and know that they were having such a good time together. It made me a little homesick though. I guess it did the same thing to Kimi when they skyped her. Everyone got to see Kimi and meet Grace, but it is just not the same thing as being there. I am really glad that Tiff and her family are going out to see Kimi this next week. Kimi needs to have her family around her and be a part of such a special time in her life. Tiff and Jake and the kids will be there when they bless Grace. I am so glad that someone will be there to represent the family.

After I talked to everyone at the shower, I called Kimi to say see how she was doing. She said that it was fun to see everyone but hard at the same time. It really is hard on the phone or on Skype. You don’t know what to say and you say the same thing over and over. Kimi and Mike seem to be doing great and Grace is a great baby, very content and happy unless she is hungry. Ohhhh, I want to hold that baby!!!!!