Monday, June 17th

Alan slept alright last night, but not great. His back is a little better but still very stiff. I got ready and went to the Monday Devotional. He stayed home and took his time getting ready. I made a rice pack for him on Saturday -- who would bring a hot pad to Tonga? He was sitting with that on his back when I got home from the devotional, so I went to work without him. It is such a blessing that our office is just across campus now. He came over later and did what he needed to do in the office. Today was Father’s Day in America and he received some great emails from the kids. Our kids are amazing and it is wonderful to see how much they love their dad. That really lifted his spirits.

I called Ying, the lady I go to for a massage and made an appointment for Alan. While he went in to take care of that, Ana and I went down to the dock to see if we could get a schedule of what is happening and when. We just happened to walk right up to the man with a written schedule so now we know when the LDS Charities items will be given out. That was not a coincidence, it was an answer to our prayers and another tender mercy. We would have been lost without this schedule and now we will be going to different primary schools Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Today we drove to the different village clinics to see how everything was going and there are hundreds of people showing up for medical check-ups everyday. It is great!!!

We also stopped at the hospital to talk to Sione about the prosthetics project. We didn’t have any idea what had been done here in the past and we are having a conference call on Wednesday with Australia, New Zealand, Samoa and the US to discuss doing a new project in Tonga. Diabetes is so prevalent here now that many people are losing their limbs to amputation. We want to keep as many of them out of wheelchairs as we can, especially the young.

When we got back to Liahona, Ana drove Alan over to the office so he could work for a few minutes and then we walked slowly home. I think he is doing a little better. He said that Ying really worked on his back but so far he doesn’t feel much different. Hopefully he will sleep well and things will be looser in the morning. We have a full day tomorrow and he wants to be back at work.