On Friday we went back into town to meet with Dr. Mapa from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He had called and asked to meet with us. We didn’t know why we were meeting with him, but when he arrived he had 3 other people with him. One was the head of the Disabled People’s Organization, and the other two were from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.. They are visiting Tonga trying to link all of the policies and the suppliers in the different countries together so there won’t be any duplication and the whole process of helping the disabled will be more co-ordinated. The Church is one of the major players in helping the disabled because of the wheelchairs that we provide is so many countries. They want us to come to a meeting they are having next Wednesday, where they will be putting together a National Disability Policy. That is really humbling. Two unimportant people being invited to such an important meeting, working on a policy that will be implemented by the United Nations! We will be totally dependant on the Spirit that day!
We also met with Mele Folau today. She is our public relations person who has put together all of the volunteers for the Pacific Pharmacy Painting Project. She is amazing!! This is a huge project with 44 volunteers working together for 4 days. Most people would think that it is a lot of work and a lot of headaches. Not Mele. She is so excited about it and she has been working with the Town Officers and District Leader to organize everything. She can’t wait to do this project so she can go out and look for more to do. What energy and enthusiasm. We need more people like Mele in the church!
On our way home we stopped by the new office of the Special Olympics to drop off our gift of the computer to Viliami. He was so thrilled and grateful to receive it. We just hope that it will work for many years for him and we know that it will because he has such great faith. He is a member of the Church of Tonga and his wife is a member of our church, but she is not active. We are hoping that our helping him will soften his heart and he will be more interested in the church. He will not allow any of the athletes to smoke, drink or drink Kava, so he is already on the right path. Today I wanted so much to do more to help him. When we got back to Liahona I went over to the FM and talked to Silongo about letting us have a desk and file cabinet to give to him. Hopefully we can have them by next week. It will be such fun to stop by and give him something he didn’t even ask for. That is what makes our job fun. The joy we feel being an instrument in the Lord’s hands to help His children who really need to feel of His love.
