Jan. 28th, 2013
We got up at 4:00 am and were at the mission home before 6:00. We went to the airport to find out that our flight had been cancelled. The plane was “broke”. That made me just a little nervous. We watched a plane take off for Aua and then waited until it came back to take us to Haapai. Our Mission President and his wife and the AP’s had breakfast at the airport but we had already eaten. We just had a bowl of mixed fruit. We finally left at 9:45.
This plane ride was an adventure. We flew in a very small plane, It had 8 seats. The doors just latch shut -- so we could open them in case of an emergency, and right behind my seat was the life raft that I was instructed to unzip and pull out if necessary. The landing gear did not retract and the cabin was not pressurized. There were small windows in the big windows that we could open to get a little fresh air, but that just upped the noise level. The engines were so loud that Alan’s ears are still ringing. However, there were some perks to flying in this plane. It flew so low over the ocean that you could see all of the islands. That is if you weren’t sitting by the wing. We got bounced around a little but it was by far better than any ride in Disney Land. Just pure fun!! When we got to Haapai I could see that the runway was the width of the island. If you don’t stop in time you end up in the ocean. But small planes don’t need much room to land so we did just fine.
We went right to the church and the members there had fixed lunch for us. They had prepared way more food than we could ever eat, but that is “The Tongan Way”. Then we spent the rest of the day traveling the island with the president and his wife. He did missionary interviews and we inspected the mission quarters. He took us all over the island and made sure to visit places that Alan thought he could remember. Everything is so different that it has been hard for him to really picture where he lived. We went to the island of Foa. It is close to Haapai and you can walk to it when the tide is low. Alan served on Foa for quite a while. Now there is a resort located there. It is called Sandy Beach. It is beautiful and VERY EXPENSIVE! The sad thing is that this resort is the only thing on these two islands that a tourist would want to see. There is no where else to stay and no stores just a few small Chinese shops. It is very out of the way and very quiet. The resort is a great destination if you just want to sit on the beach and relax. But there is nothing else to do.
Haapai is more like the old Tonga that Alan remembers. Dirt roads and a few grass follies. (huts) The standard of living is much lower here than it is on Tongatapu, where we live. The church has one house for a senior couple on the island. The couple that was serving here went home in January so that is where we stayed with the president and his wife. It had two bedrooms and two bathrooms with a small kitchen, so it worked out just fine. It is not as nice as what we are living in, but doable.
