Tonga!

Saturday, Feb. 15th

OOOOH, we slept in until 7:30!!! That felt good, especially since I was awake most of the night with my hips aching. There must be a storm coming! I sincerely hope that part of my problem is this mattress. I hate to think I am stuck with this for the rest of my life. There just has to be a way to make this better.

We did the Saturday chores and then went to the prison to buy some cabbage. They have a huge garden at the prison that the inmates take care of and they sell their produce on the road. I needed some cabbage for a salad that I am making for the President’s Dinner tomorrow and there is no cabbage on the island right now. It has been so hot that the vegetables are not doing well at all. When we got to the prison they only had one head of cabbage and it wasn’t very big. I bought it for $2.00. Then we had to drive into town and pray that we could find another one. I found a stand that had 4. They were selling them for $6:00 each! Supply and demand. It about killed me, but I had to have it so I bought one. It looks like we will be going without salads for awhile.

We had a relaxing afternoon. Alan took a nice nap and I was able to put a little bit on the blog. It was nice to have a day off.

We had a musical fireside tonight. We sang two numbers and President Tupou and his family sang two numbers. Two new converts and one investigator bore their testimonies and the President Tupou and the bishop talked. They both expressed their appreciation for the senior missionaries and the sacrifice that we have made to be here in Tonga. The bishop said how much the people in his ward love to see the senior missionaries come to their meetings. They look at us and think, “I want to do that one day.” We sure hope that is true. These firesides are really just about the only missionary work that we get to do.