Tonga!

Monday, Feb. 17th

At our devotional this morning Howard Niu wanted to talk to the FM Managers about the upcoming visit of Elder Andersen. The only problem with that was, most of the managers weren’t there. Since the first of the year the attendance at the devotional has been dwindling. He was not happy today. There is so much to do before the Apostle arrives and they weren’t there to co-ordinate it. I felt bad for him. He is the one that is held responsible in Tonga and he isn’t getting the support he deserves and needs. Now he will have to talk to them at a different time and that is just one more thing in his busy schedule.

We went into the office and the Town Officer from Nukuhetulu was there to meet with us. He checks in every week to see if the project has been approved. We know that it will be, but it isn’t official yet because SLC hasn’t approved it. But they usually do if the Area Presidency approves it. Still, we can’t tell him that it will be done. I feel bad, he is so anxious about it. It seems cruel to make him wait. We encouraged him by telling him that it was approved by the Area Presidency so that helped. We will let him know as soon as we get the official approval.
Alan got a note today from our contractor that they have the engine we need for the Nukuhetulu project in stock. That will mean that we can get this project done very quickly if they don’t sell the engine to someone else while we are waiting for approval. Alan wrote to Elder Reynolds in New Zealand and told him about the engine, then asked him what he thought we should do. He wrote back late this afternoon and said, “Let’s gamble. Buy the engine.” We are excited to know that we can complete this project so quickly. We were worried that we might not get it done before we go home, now we should have it done in a few weeks, depending on the weather.

We are in the rainy season here now. We have had major rain storms every night lately. We hear really loud thunder in the night and see some lightning. The rain comes down in sheets and the streets and sidewalks are flooded all night. In the morning there are just puddles and in the daytime the showers are much lighter. All of that water goes into the ground. Everything is so green and lush. Now I know why my hips hurt so much at night. A lot of it has to do with arthritis and the barametric pressure.

We called John Pepin for his birthday but we didn’t get to talk to him. Hopefully he was out celebrating. We hope he had a good day and will have a great year.

This afternoon I spent some time at the Service Center posting some things on the blog. I am always so far behind on that thing. It will be good not to have to worry about that anymore, but it is a good way for us to show the family what we are doing.

Alan and I made a tin foil supper tonight and while it was cooking we called Bryan and his family. Bryan pointed out the fact that we haven’t talked to HIM since Thanksgiving. We couldn’t believe it. He was ice fishing when we called on Christmas and when we have called and talked to Lisa and the kids he hasn’t been home. We felt bad! We will have to do better!! Lisa said that she thinks he misses us, which was nice to hear, but we need to connect with him more often.

We went for a walk tonight. That felt so good. It has been awhile since we have been able to walk and I really need to do that everyday.