Tonga!

Friday, February, 28th

When I got on CHAS this morning we could see that the Nukuhelu Project still has not been passed in SLC. Sure hope they get that done QUICKLY or we are in big trouble!! That village has done everything we asked them to do and they are so anxious to get the new equipment installed and running. Alan is going to have a stroke if something doesn’t happen soon. His blood pressure goes up a little more everyday.

Our wheelchair assessors keep bringing in more forms for wheelchairs. We are so excited about the number of people that we have been able to help get wheelchairs. It is an amazing thing to see the joy and relief when they receive their chair. Our assessors are loving that experience and they tell us such great stories.

Elder and Sister Funaki moved into their office in our building today. They are over the YSA program for all of Tonga. There are 10,000 young single adults here. That is a lot of people to try to find and keep track of. We don’t envy them their job. It will be fun to have them in our building, they are wonderful people and we are so glad that they will be here with Ana when we go home. It will make it a lot easier for us to leave her.

Today I worked on trying to put together all of the things that we have done while we have been here for the mission history. That is going to be a bigger job than I thought. When I went back and thought about all of the different experiences that we have had, we really have been so blessed! It will be fun to have a record of the work we have done here.

Tonight we went to the Vakaloa Resort on the far western side of the island. We were hoping to be able to see a beautiful sunset over the ocean, but that didn’t happen. There is another cyclone headed our way and tonight we had some strong winds and heavy rain. We were worried on the way out because it was raining so hard but then it let up and everything turned out fine. The food was really good. They had a good variety for a Tongan Feast. They also had a live band that played really good music, they just played it too loud! I don’t know why they do that. It is impossible to carry on a conversation when the band is that loud.

The entertainment was a lot of fun. They had some good dancers and a good variety. The 7 year old boy that we saw at the closing ceremony of the Pacific Partnership last year, did the fire dance. He is amazing for a child of his age. WOW, what a show he put on. I got it on video so I can show it to my grandchildren when we get home. They will love it.

On the way home it started to rain again and just after we got in the house it really let loose. It rained hard off and on all night. Tonight they said that the cyclone is headed towards us, so it should be a wet, windy weekend. It is only a category 1 right now. We are hoping it doesn’t pick up more force on its way across the ocean.