Monday, Dec. 30th
We went into the office and I was able to finish off the finances. We have to go into town to print off the reports. I also closed out the Dental Project. All of the bills have been paid and all of the reports have been written and submitted. YEAH!!!
Ana is back and she came into the office this morning. It was so good to see her again, we really missed her. She brought me a necklace and some earrings from Fiji. That was so thoughtful of her. They will go perfectly with my pulitaha that I wear to the closing ceremonies.
President Tupou dropped in at the office this morning. This is the first time he has been down here and it was good for him to see where we work. He wanted to talk to Jeana about the employment services the church offers here. He has big plans for Tonga and is hopeful to be able to create some good jobs for the Tongan people. He has people in Alaska that want to come to Tonga and serve missions and he is trying to find places to put them. He is hoping to involve a couple with the employment services here. It is so different from the way things were in Ukraine. President Nielsen couldn’t get anyone to go over there and serve and President Tupou is trying to find things for people to do because so many want to come here. They are all friends of his. We are wondering if they will all end up in Tonga, there is such a need for them in other missions throughout the world.
Ateni Helu came to see us this morning. He wants us to do a project that involves helping Tongans to learn how to plant their own home gardens. That fits in with the church food initiative and it is right up Alan’s alley. It will be fun for him to get involved with some gardening over here. The people here have plantations where they grow big crops, but they need small home gardens where they can grow vegetables and start eating healthier food. Ateni is really passionate about this idea and he will be our champion. This would be ongoing even after we leave, but we are hopeful that we can get it approved. It is truly needed here to help curb diabetes.
In the afternoon we sent a few emails , I finished off the new calendar for the senior missionaries and we headed home to cook some spaghetti. Alan is starting to get into cooking --- well, a little. He helped me a lot tonight, we will have to see how long that lasts. We finished off the day with a nice walk. We have to wait until it is almost dark before we can walk, it is just to hot.
