Tonga!

Tuesday, March 18th,

I did fine all night, but as soon as I ate a little breakfast this morning, I was in trouble again. I had to stay home again today. It wasn’t a bid deal, because Alan was going to check on a project and he brought the folder home on the Niua’s so I could work on it here if I wasn’t feeling better. I went back to bed until I felt a little better and then got up and went to work. I got the Niuatoputapu Project all written up and ready to transfer into CHAS as soon as I am where there is internet.
 
Once that project was done, I decided to call Tiffany and Kimi and check in with my daughters. That’s what I really needed to make me feel better. Both of them asked me how I was feeling before I even told them I had been sick. Clint told them, when they wrote to wish him a happy birthday yesterday. He put it on face book! Good Grief!!! I hate that thing.

Alan came home for lunch and he was hyped up! He went to the village of Nukuhetulu this morning to watch the new engine be delivered and installed. When he got there, there was a tent set up, balloons everywhere and chairs for the guests to sit in. The Weslyean Minister was there to bless the new machine. Villagers started arriving and they were going to have a ceremony --- without us!! Ana called Alan and said that the bishop had just called her really upset. He and the Stake Presidency knew nothing about this ceremony and it was the Mormon Church that had donated the new engine! Ana was supposed to be with Alan but she was still in town. Alan was the only one out at the village and no one there spoke English. What a mess!!! When Ofa, our contractor showed up with the engine, they tried to stall as long as they could hoping Ana would get there to translate for Alan. It doesn’t take long to hook up a machine and by the time Ana arrived, the minister was already blessing the machine. The villagers sang hymns and they had a nice little ceremony. The Bishop arrived, dressed in his work clothes, because he had been at work and then the fun began. They found out that this had been arranged by the Town Officer, who isn’t a member of the church. It just turned out to be a misunderstanding. He somehow didn’t know that we had the closing ceremony planned for Friday. Alan had Ana translate for him and he tried to explain to the villagers what had happened and that we couldn’t close on the project until it was handed over to the village by the Stake President. He told them that we would do that on Friday and asked if they would all come back. They said yes, but we will see.
 The Mormons will but I’m not so sure about the rest. We hope they will. WHAT A MESS! Life is an adventure everyday in Tonga. Before Alan left, the villagers filled the car with baskets of food. Coconuts, avocados, bananas and papayas. I picked a really bad week to be sick. We have SO MUCH FOOD in this house!

Then Alan had to run into the office and get some wheelchairs on the boat to Ha’api that leaves tonight. Once I got some food in him and he had talked everything through, he calmed down and was fine. I bet his blood pressure was really up there this morning!

I got dressed and walked over to the Conference Center to call Dave and Alisha. I wanted to see my baby!!! He didn’t stop moving the whole time we were talking to them. Dave said that he did alright last night, he sleeps good, he just wants to eat every two hours. Yep, that’s what babies do. Sure glad you have them when you’re young and grandmas and grandpas just get to love them and spoil them.

When we got back home Ana dropped in. Howard had been in touch with her and he needed Alan to put 4 rolls of barbed wire on the boat to Ha’api by 5:00. REALLY??? How long had he known that? It was 3:45 so Alan had to drop everything and head back into town, buy the barbed wire and then get it to the Warf and on the boat. He had quite a day!!

After dinner we went for a walk. I needed to get out of the house and Alan needed to relax.