Wed.
Our plans have changed. We were supposed to fly out this afternoon at 5:00 but now we are leaving at 10:50 this morning. The plane is broke! So we have to fly back to Tonga, wait at the airport until 2:00 and then fly up to Vava’u. The government of Tonga is taking over the airport and the current company that is flying between islands is being forced out of business. Right now they don’t care if people are happy with their service or not. They just try to fill the flights and save as much money as they can.
Our stay in Haapai was an education. The people that live on Haapai just exist. There is nothing to do and nowhere to go. The people raise what they eat and work the land. They cook, eat and sleep, that’s about it. Pigs and chickens wander freely. The people are very poor, but happy. I felt bad that they had to sacrifice so much to feed us.
The church is strong here, they have a middle school and a couple of primary schools. They also have a stake so there are church activities.
Villi, the Service Center Manager also runs the Distribution Center so people on the island can get garments and church supplies. He is a very nice young man and very conscientious. The church accountant told him to have 3 people with him when he counted out the money that we gave the missionaries today. He had 3 people count it 3 times. It was fun to work with him. We will be working with him over the phone and via email. He takes care of the churches and the MQ’s on Haapai.
When we left Haapi we flew on the small plane again back to Tonga. Then we waited at the airport for 2 hours for a flight to Vava’u. While we were waiting we had lunch at the airport. I had a ham and cheese panni and Alan had a hamburger. It was good food and the prices were much better than in town. We were surprised.
Our flight to Vava’u was on what the president calls the “pencil plane”. It is long and thin. There is an isle on this plane but just one seat on each side of the isle. So every seat is a window seat. The problem was that there is no head room. Even I had to duck down to walk down the isle. Tall men had to bend way over, it was fun to watch them make their way to their seats. It had 18 seats, 20 with the pilot and co-pilot.
Elder and Sister Forsyth picked us up and the airport. They are serving in Vava’u, working at the school there. We stayed with them in their 2 bedroom house and the president and his wife stayed at the hotel. They were jealous, they wanted to stay in the missionary housing but there was nothing available. We found out that before he was called to be the Mission President, President Tukuafa was in the construction business and he built the missionary housing on Vava’u. The Forsyths live in a house that is lovely. It is bigger and nicer than ours, but ours is home now and we are very happy there. It is beautiful here, but I don’t know if I would want to live here. The humidity is even worse than it is in Tonga. I am always wet!
Sister Forsyth had dinner planned for us but at the last minute the Zone Leaders and the AP’s showed up so we had to punt. We made cheese sandwiches with chips and gave them orange Fanta. That is a real treat for them so they were happy. We even had ice cream for dessert. After the missionaries left we stayed up until about 10:30 visiting, then got some much needed rest.
