Tonga!

Friday, March 28th

We went into work a little later today. We knew that we would be there all afternoon and into the evening. We were able to do some work at home where it is nice and quiet. I should stay home more often, I get more done, there aren’t so many interruptions.

At 11:30 we went into town and met Ana and the Beckstrands, the new dentist and his wife, at Café Escape. The Beckstrands will be part of the Welfare team, so Ana wanted to take them out to lunch. It was nice to get to get to know them a little better. They really have their work cut out for them, being the first missionary dentists in Tonga. They will have to organize the clinic and then be the directors over the work here. They expressed the need for equipment and supplies to upgrade the clinic at Liahona. We will work with them to make that happen.
This afternoon we had a conference call with Elder Reynolds in New Zealand. We talked about all of our projects and getting them closed out within the next month to 6 weeks. We also talked about two new projects that we will write up but not be here to see finished. Sure hope they find a couple to replace us! I will be writing up a project to upgrade the dental clinic with a budget of $25,000.00. The Beckstrands will be thrilled about that! At the end of the call, Elder Reynolds asked us to go home in June, submit our papers again and come back to serve in New Zealand in the Area Office as the Area Welfare Managers for the South Pacific. It was a huge compliment and New Zealand would be a dream mission, but we would have to come back in September for another 18 months. That would only give us 3 months at home with our family. We aren’t prepared to leave them again that fast, plus I have got to figure out what is going on with the pinched nerve in my back. It was tempting, but we just didn’t feel right about accepting it. We will be going home in June to stay a little longer than 3 months.

We left the office at 5:00 to do a little shopping and then headed to the church. We had the baptism of our 4 young men tonight. Leopeti baptized all four of them. They were so thrilled and they all came up out of the water just glowing. After they had changed, they came into the chapel and bore their testimonies. Michael, the oldest one, thanked “Elder and Sister Webb for feeding us breakfast and lunch everyday.” That about ripped my heart out. Those sweet boys have been through so much at such a young age and they still have a long ways to go. Thank heaven Leopeti found them and we can help make life a little easier for them. What a blessing to have them in our lives!