Friday:
We had the handover ceremony for the wheelchair shipment today. At 9:00AM a representative from the Ministry of Health, Elder Tuku'afu, representing the church, and the Administrator of the hospital all met at our office to participate in the ceremony. Alan conducted the handover and Elder Tuku'afu did the actual handover of the chairs to the Ministry of Health. The newspaper and the TV station were both there. Alan and Anna were both interviewed. Ana’s interview was on the Tongan news and Alan’s was on the English news. He did a great job of representing the church. I was so proud of him.
I took care of the food and the reception that we had for all of the dignitaries afterward. It all turned out very well and Elder Tuku'afu said that he was very pleased with how it went. Once all of the ceremonial things were over the work began. We had 12 missionaries show up to help us unload the container. Then the wheelchairs were stacked in the warehouse. It took 2 ½ hours and it was probably 120 degrees in that building. Alan and Elder Bean told the boys where to stack the chairs and I kept a count of everything so that we would know if all of the chairs we ordered were delivered. The sweat was running down my face and it was bright red. That kind of heat can kill people!! The boys just laughed and told me I was part Tongan. They sweat like that and carry towels to wipe their faces. I am going to carry a towel from now on.
After lunch we went into town to rent a car for the Schnebley’s. We will have it delivered to their hotel. The car rental place is right by Café Escape. It was so hot that we decided to go in and get a milkshake to split. I ordered a banana shake and then watched them make it. They used banana syrup to flavor it and mixed it with milk. They put it on the shake machine and that mixed it and made it frothy, but there is no icecream involved and I was surprised that there were no real bananas. It was cold and tasted ok, but it wasn’t what we were expecting for our $7.00.
We spent the afternoon finishing up the details for the Schnebley’s visit. I hope we are ready. I haven’t slept well all week worrying about this training. I will be glad to get it started.
