Tues.
It rained hard all night but the weather cleared in the morning. We went to the Chinese shop by our house and bought some oatmeal and milk. Then we set out for the day. We met with Villi, the FM Manager for Haapai. He is great and it should be easy to work with him. We checked out the supplies for the MQ’s and then went to Zone Conference and did our presentation. The local people brought lunch and once again it was all Tongan food, and more than we could possibly eat. Alan and I shared one lunch and took the other one home for dinner. Alan took a quick nap and I went out on the dock for a walk and saw WHALES playing way out in the ocean. It was so fun to see them jump and splash, but they were too far away to get a good picture. I had to call Kimi though, she loves whales.
When Zone Conference was over we went back to the church and handed out the month’s money to the missionaries. The president has been so kind. He is so grateful for the load that we are taking off of his shoulders and we are so grateful for the chance to be with him and see these islands. He did interviews until almost 8:00 so Alan and I went ahead and ate our left over lunch for dinner. We were glad that we did. A little after 8:00 more of the local members came with a roasted pig and all the trimmings. It was just a baby pig. I may never eat baby back ribs again. The locals love this food and this was a real sacrifice for them. They are so poor, but they love the Mission President and his wife. There was an older Tongan couple that came to Zone Conference. They are serving on one of the outer islands. They stopped by and were happy to share the nights meal. They love the skin of the pig because it is crunchy. ohhhhh They also drink HOT CHOCOLATE with their dinner and breakfast. Even if it is 100 degrees, they love their hot chocolate.
Alan and I went for a walk down to the pier. It was just at sunset so we got some great pictures. There were lots of the locals there swimming. They think the white people are crazy for going swimming in the day time when it is so hot. They swim in the evening. I think the parents take them there to take a bath.
We had a nice conversation with the president tonight. He is such a spiritual man. He told us many of his experiences as a mission president. It is a 24x7 job for 3 years and many nights he doesn’t sleep. When he got here the mission was not running well and he had to send quite a few missionaries home. Most of them were Tongan. It was hard on him. Just as we were leaving to come on this trip, at the airport, he got a call telling him that one of the missionaries father had just passed away. He was so humbled that he had been inspired to put that missionary in a companionship with another missionary whose father passed away while he has been serving too. It has been very special to have him share some of his spiritual experiences with us.
