Friday, March 7th
We worked in the office for a couple of hours this morning, waiting for the weather to clear so we could find out if the boat would be going to Ha’api today or not. Just before noon we got word that they would be going so we made arrangements to load the root crops on the boat. We had a bishop and some of his ward members come and a Stake President sent a couple more to help us load two trucks full of the crops and then take them to the Warf and load them on the boat. While Alan was helping with that, I did all of the paper work on a shipment of wheelchairs that we were sending up on the same boat. Once we got the crops on, Alan came back to the office and we loaded up the wheelchairs and took them to the Warf and loaded them on the boat. It will be leaving at 4:30 this afternoon. That will be a good job done. It is very stressful trying to get things to the outer islands right now with the weather so bad.
We got word today that the Area Presidency has approved our Vava’u Hospital project. They are going to send it on to SLC for approval. That was a relief too. We have been working on this project for months. We are happy to see it go through, but sad to think that we will probably not be here to see it finished up. I guess that is a little selfish, the important thing is that the hospital will get the equipment it needs, but we really wanted to be here to present it to the hospital. We have developed a relationship with Dr. Reynold and we probably won’t ever see him again.
We had time in between the root crops and the wheelchairs, to call a couple of our kids on facetime. We called Dave because we wanted to know how Alisha’s doctors appointment went today. He said that the doctor stripped her membranes so we will anxiously wait to see what happens. We were able to get in touch with Kimi and spend some quality time with Grace as she ate Macaronni and cheese. Wow, I don’t think I have ever seen a baby eat that fast. She loved it!! And last, we caught up with Bryan in Island Park. He was on a fishing trip with Lars and we were able to talk to him and see a little of Island Park. Modern communication is really a miracle!
The Funaki’s, another couple who work in our office, went over to Waves, a small restrauant near our office, and brought back some French fries. NO WAY!!! That smell about killed us. On the way home we wanted to stop and have a hamburger but the Cottage Breeze, a cute little restrauant that makes the best hambergers on the island, was not open yet. We had to drive all the way home, wait a couple of hours and then drive back. It couldn’t be helped. We were both dying for a hamberger and fries. Darn those Funakis!!
We knew that it had been raining really hard this week, especially at night, but on the news tonight we found out just how hard. In one night, Wednesday night, between 5:00 in the afternoon and 2:00 in the morning, we received more than the normal amount of rain for the entire month of March, and this is the rainy season. There are still more storms in the forcast. I feel so sorry for the people in Ha’api. The water is good to refill their water tanks, but they are all back in the churches because they have not been able to rebuild their houses yet. I can’t even imagine how hard it must be up there right now.
We tried to end the day with a walk but we only made it half way around the campus and we had to hurry home because it was raining so hard. It could be another long night!
