Sunday, June 16th

Alan had a much better night but he could hardly get out of bed this morning. He stayed home in bed and didn’t go to church today. Sister Mitchell and I borrowed the ITEP van and went into town at 8:00 to pick up the 5 members of the church that are on the ship and take them to church with us. When we got to the dock we found out that because the weather was so bad last night, the transport had not been able to return to the ship. That meant that all of the military people who worked on the island on Saturday were put up in hotels and were now on their way back to the ship. No one would be going to church with us. We were sad about that, we had really been looking forward to spending some time with the members of the church today. 

I just can’t get over how they do some things in Tonga. I’ve already written about how the High Councilmen don’t like to come to our ward and speak because they don’t like to speak in English. Well, this week was High Council Sunday. Our Bishop is in New Zealand and when the Executive Secretary got to church this morning he found a message on the answering machine. It said that the High Councilman couldn’t make it to church today. So they had to come up with speakers for Sacrament meeting which starts at 9:00. Two return missionaries spoke and then the Executive Secretary and the 1st Councilor. It was a good meeting but I can’t get over what a bad example the High Councilmen are setting for the rest of the Stake. It was probably a good thing that Alan wasn’t able to be there today, I’m sure they would have asked him to speak.

I taught the Sunday School class by myself today. The lesson was on “Obedience” so it wasn’t to hard. We have such good participation in our class that the time went by really fast. There were 10 people in our class and everyone was so worried about Alan. They are so kind, he was remembered in every prayer today

There was a lady visiting from Utah at church today. She is a grade school teacher from the Salt Lake area. Her husband died 2 years ago and she has always wanted to tour the South Pacific so she set up a schedule and here she is. She is traveling all alone and doing whatever she wants. Her plan was to stay in Tonga for 3 days, go to church here and to the temple. She seemed fine with traveling alone, but I sure couldn’t do that. What fun would it be to be all alone?

This evening we had a farewell dinner for President and Sister Tuku’afu. He will be released as our Mission President in two weeks. Sister Tuku’afu has been working so hard packing up their old home here in Tonga and preparing to move into a new home that their family has built for them. She wasn’t feeling well tonight and so she didn’t come. I really missed her, I love that sweet woman and I will miss her.

We gave the President a picture of our last missionary gathering that all of us had signed. He seemed pleased and said that he already knew where he would put it in his new home. Then he told us about his trip to Ha’api to attend a celebration commemorating the establishment of the first stake there 30 years ago. The Governor of Ha’api was there as well as other local government officials. The ministers from all of the other churches also attended. President Tuku’afu spoke about the first missionaries to arrive in Ha’api and that led naturally into an explanation of the Book of Mormon. Then he preached a powerful sermon about the church. I love that man, he has given his life to the Lord and he is fearless. By the time the feast that was held after the meeting was over the missionaries had given out 125 copies of the Book of Mormon to the people of Ha’api. The church is moving forward in Tonga!