Tonga!

Sunday, August 4th


It was Fast Sunday and once again a very spiritual meeting. The people here love to bear their testimonies and we always have visitors in our ward so there is no down time. The member of our Stake Presidency bore his testimony today and told of a project that was done for a family that lives in the swampy area of Tonga. There is an area here where poorer people live that is flooded every time the tide comes in. It is the only place that they can afford to get land. This family was living in a shelter, not a home and with the help of a group of young people who came from America, a new home was built for them. The father has liver damage, I’m sure due to diabetes, and he has prayed for help to be able to take care of his family. The house was finished on Friday and the visiting group got on the plane to go back to the states on Saturday. Saturday afternoon the father died. He had lived to see that his family would have a place to live and he left them in the care of a loving bishop who will help them through this and get them back on their feet. The people here are amazing that way, they really rally around each other and support one another.

One of the men in our Sunday School class had a stroke this last week. He is only in his 50’s and seemed to be in good health. We aren’t sure what kind of care he is getting medically, but the ward will look after his temporal needs. Alan went to the hospital to see him and he said that he was in good spirits and that the stroke wasn’t very extensive. He works at Liahona and all of his children live in America. He is not married. In fact, he has asked us to help him find a palangi wife so he can move to America and live closer to his children. It has to be hard to be all alone and then have serious medical problems arise. We are praying for him.

Ana Fonua taught Relief Society today. She found out after Sacrament meeting that the teacher wasn’t coming so she would have to teach. She was teaching the Gospel Doctrine class today, so no time to prepare. She went to the Brad Wilcox fireside for the youth with her kids, so she taught the same things he taught in that fireside. That was great because we didn’t go to that one and now we know exactly what he talked about. She is an amazing woman. She can just look at her notes and teach a great lesson for 45 minutes. Her husband was doing the same thing in Priesthood because the teacher didn’t show up for that meeting either. They are the backbone of our ward!

It was a beautiful day today. A great day to read the scriptures, read the Ensign and write in my journal. After dinner we had some of my birthday cake with chocolate caramel ice cream. Alan loves that! He will miss it when we go home.

We will go for a walk at dusk and then come back and watch a movie. Another great Sunday!