Tonga!

Wednesday, August 14th

We were supposed to have a meeting with a Stake President and one of his Bishops today, but they never came. One of us stayed in the office pretty much all day to make sure we didn’t miss them but it didn’t happen. We have got to be more specific about time. We just said “morning” and obviously that doesn’t work.

We did get a call from the FM people though. They delivered our new mattress! When I was home for lunch I made the bed and laid down on it. Whoa, it is FIRM!! I am a little nervous about how hard it is, but they say that a firm mattress is good for your back. I am praying that this will help and not make it worse. While they were at the house they also hung a new shelf in the bathroom for me. I am so excited and grateful. There is no counter space in the bathroom and we have had to keep all of our “stuff” in the bedroom. This will be so nice!

I received an email from the Manager of the Service Center today. It was a notice that there is an Outer Islands Travel Restriction for All LDS Employees and All Ecclesiastical Leaders and Missionaries. For safety reasons we are not allowed to travel by air to any of the outer islands until further notice. Tonga has just put a new airplane into operation here and it doesn’t pass the safety regulations from America, New Zealand or Australia. Therefore, we are not allowed to fly on it. (The Forsyth’s children just flew on it on Monday and they will have to fly on it again in order to get off the island of Vava’u and get home.) Until further notice if we want to travel we have to take the ferry. That trip to Vava’u is 24 hours on the “barf boat”. If the seas are rough, everyone gets sick! I am so grateful we went on our trip earlier in the month. We will be staying put!

We have Dr. Williams, the dentist, and his wife scheduled to fly on that plane the end of the month. We are hoping we can get our money back. This has really messed our dental project up. We aren’t sure what will happen with it now. It is interesting, Sister Williams kept putting off booking their flights, she said that she just didn’t feel good about it. Now we know why.

Alan had to go into town this afternoon to get some wheelchairs and deliver them to the hospital. I wanted to go with him and do a little shopping but I had to stay in the office and wait for the Stake President and Bishop that never came!!! Frustrating!!!