August 16th,

We had a scary picture of our sweet grand daughter, Lori, show up on our computer today. She had been thrown from a 4 wheeler and she looked tough! She had road rash on her chin, elbow and legs and she had chipped her two front teeth. She was wearing a sling to protect her broken arm. But the hardest part to see was the sad look in her beautiful eyes. It about broke our hearts to see her like that and not be there to love and comfort her. She’s a tough little muffin though and we know she will be alright. Her mother said that she is loving being so popular. Everyone is concerned about her and bringing her treats and presents. Who wouldn’t love that??

Just have to say how proud we are of Tiffany. This last week has been a huge one in her life. Lots of changes, lots of emotions, lots of trials, lots of prayers and lots of blessings. We are grateful that she can step back and see the Lord’s hand in her life and know that she is in His care. Life is so much easier when you realize that you don’t have to do it alone. The Lord is always nearby. We know that He is watching over all of our children and grandchildren and that Angels are watching over them. We especially know that when we think of how much worse Lori’s accident could have been. She was truly blessed.

By Saturday, August 17th, Lori had been to the dentist and had her teeth fixed. She had been to the doctor and her arm was not broken in a growth plate, a huge blessing! She was sporting a sparkly cast and showing a toothy grin in the picture we received today. Even the scrapes on her chin looked lots better. She should be ready to start school next week after all.

Thursday, August 15th

I heard a wonderful missionary experience today. Elder Makasini, an American Tongan who lived in California, told of this experience. He was preparing to go on his mission to Tonga when he met a Tongan missionary who was serving in California. His name was Elder Hamala. They became friends and when Elder Makasini was ready to leave for Tonga, Elder Hamala asked a favor of him. He told him where his mother lived in Tonga and explained that she was a widow and not a member of the church. His greatest desire was that one day she would be touched by the Spirit and join the church. He asked Elder Makasini to promise him that if he was ever serving where Sister Hamala lived, that he would look her up and bear his testimony to her. The promise was made and the two friends parted.

Elder Makasini didn’t serve anywhere near where Sister Hamala lived for the first year of his mission. He forgot all about the promise he had made to Elder Hamala. Then one day he was on splits with another missionary that took him to the far side of the island from where he lived. They ended up in the humble home of a widow. During the course of the conversation they discovered that she had a son serving a mission in California. Elder Makasini asked her what her son’s name was and the memory of the promise came back to him as he learned that this was Elder Hamala’s mother.
Elder Makasini told this sweet woman about his friendship with her son and then shared with her the message that her son was taking to the people of California and he was taking to the people of Tonga. He bore his testimony to her, the Spirit was strong and then they left. Elder Makasini didn't see her again.

One day, late in his mission, Elder Makasini was walking down the sidewalk across the street from the Tongan Temple. He heard someone call his name and look up to see Elder Hamala running to meet him. After a sweet reunion Elder Makasini said that he had kept his promise and then asked about Elder Hamala’s mother. With tears in his eyes, Elder Hamala told of his mother’s conversion to the church and pointing to the temple he explained that she was in the temple at that very moment doing baptisims for the dead. They were anxiously awaiting the day that she could go through the temple and receive her own endowments. He expressed his gratitude for a good friend that kept his promise and bore his testimony to his mother, starting her on the path to full membership in the church.

                                                      LOVE THAT STORY!!
        

I AM MAKING A CHANGE IN MY JOURNAL WRITING.

I no longer have the time, the energy or the desire to write every little thing that happens everyday. There is to much repetition of unimportant details. I have decided to just write about the things that are important to me while we are serving. Hopefully it will be less time consuming for me and make for more interesting reading. (Just in case someone other than me ever does sit down and read this novel).

Wednesday, August 14th

We were supposed to have a meeting with a Stake President and one of his Bishops today, but they never came. One of us stayed in the office pretty much all day to make sure we didn’t miss them but it didn’t happen. We have got to be more specific about time. We just said “morning” and obviously that doesn’t work.

We did get a call from the FM people though. They delivered our new mattress! When I was home for lunch I made the bed and laid down on it. Whoa, it is FIRM!! I am a little nervous about how hard it is, but they say that a firm mattress is good for your back. I am praying that this will help and not make it worse. While they were at the house they also hung a new shelf in the bathroom for me. I am so excited and grateful. There is no counter space in the bathroom and we have had to keep all of our “stuff” in the bedroom. This will be so nice!

I received an email from the Manager of the Service Center today. It was a notice that there is an Outer Islands Travel Restriction for All LDS Employees and All Ecclesiastical Leaders and Missionaries. For safety reasons we are not allowed to travel by air to any of the outer islands until further notice. Tonga has just put a new airplane into operation here and it doesn’t pass the safety regulations from America, New Zealand or Australia. Therefore, we are not allowed to fly on it. (The Forsyth’s children just flew on it on Monday and they will have to fly on it again in order to get off the island of Vava’u and get home.) Until further notice if we want to travel we have to take the ferry. That trip to Vava’u is 24 hours on the “barf boat”. If the seas are rough, everyone gets sick! I am so grateful we went on our trip earlier in the month. We will be staying put!

We have Dr. Williams, the dentist, and his wife scheduled to fly on that plane the end of the month. We are hoping we can get our money back. This has really messed our dental project up. We aren’t sure what will happen with it now. It is interesting, Sister Williams kept putting off booking their flights, she said that she just didn’t feel good about it. Now we know why.

Alan had to go into town this afternoon to get some wheelchairs and deliver them to the hospital. I wanted to go with him and do a little shopping but I had to stay in the office and wait for the Stake President and Bishop that never came!!! Frustrating!!!

Tuesday, August 13th

Alan went with one of the men from the FM last Friday to pick out a new mattress for our bed. We thought we might have it on Saturday and for sure thought we would have it yesterday, but nothing! We are still waiting and in the meantime my back and leg are not getting any better. I am really praying that this will help and I am anxious to have it arrive so we can try it.

It rained a lot today. We are hoping the weather is better in Vava’u. The Forsyth’s have waited so long for their kids to arrive and we all want the weather to be good for their visit.

The internet was working well today so I was able to post a lot of things on the Blog. It’s kind of fun to go back and read about what we have done. I don’t even know if anyone is still reading it. I post on it so randomly and then I put on a ton. Oh well, it will be worth it when we get home and I can print it all out.
My legs and hips were bothering me so much today that I had to leave work and go for a walk. I know part of my problem is that I don’t get to walk enough. My body is used to me walking at least 3 miles a day and that just doesn’t happen here. I also have never sat at a desk like this, especially for so many hours every day. I will try to be better at getting up often and moving around more.

We were able to get in touch with Tiffany this afternoon. She told us all about their experiences this past week and how Sunday went. It was so good to talk to her and to hear all about it. We were sorry to miss hearing the beautiful blesssings that Jake received from his dad and from the Stake President, but we know that those blessings will sustain Jake through the coming years. He will be leading his ward through some trying times in the world’s history. Tiffany sounded good and we are grateful that she is getting a handle on all of this. She will be a great Bishop’s wife, the people in the ward already love her.

I made a tin foil supper yesterday so dinner was easy tonight. We just heated up the leftovers. It still tasted really good. We ate a little early so we could go for a good walk and I think that helped. I am also going to take a muscle relaxer before I go to bed tonight and see if that will help. It’s not my muscles that hurt but I know that the muscles are pinching the nerves. Hopefully I can get them to ease off.

Monday, August 12th,

This is a huge day for our family. About the time we were getting out of bed this morning, Jake was being sustained as the new Bishop of the 19th ward. He will be wonderful in this calling. It will definitely be a challenge because he is so young and he has such a young family, but he is certainly equal to the challenge. We know that he has been called by the Lord and that the Lord will always be right beside him. Jake is a very spiritual young man and he has the pure love of Christ in his heart. The people will love him and he will magnify his calling. We are so proud of him and Tiffany. They have done everything the Lord has asked them to do and we know He will bless them and their sweet family. They will be a good example for the other young couples in the ward and we already know that the older people love them. We are hoping and praying that everything went well for them today. Starting tonight -- the real work begins!!

Ana is in New Zealand this week so we aren’t able to meet with some of the people we need to talk to because they don’t speak English. We are catching up on the details in the office and getting everything set to start the Hygiene Program when Sister Uai gets back next week. We will also be able to make some phone calls that we need to take care of and some filing too. We needed this week to catch up!

We called Tiff and Jake tonight to see how things went today but they were already out visiting the members of the ward! Wow, I’m impressed! We had a great visit with Morgan. She’s a doll. How we miss her and all of the grandkids. We will call Tiff and Jake tomorrow. We also called Kimi, just to check on her and see how Grace is doing. It seems that Grace is waking up a little more and making her wants known. Kimi has been spoiled, Grace has been such a content baby. Now that she is acting normal reality will set in.

We had FHE tonight. Elder and Sister Bean were in charge. We played Jeopardy with the categories being: The Old Testament, The New Testament, The Book of Mormon, D&C and the Pearl of Great Price and Church History. We divided into 2 teams and then all worked together to come up with the answers. It was really fun and we learned a lot!! Our team won, but we bet just the right amount of money on the final question so that it would end in a tie if we both knew the answer. It ended in a tie and everyone went home a winner. The Beans had gone to a lot of trouble putting it together. It was a great FHE activity. 

Sunday, August 11th

Because it was Stake Conference today, we were able to sleep in again today. Ohhhh that felt good!!
Our Stake Conference was wonderful. Elder Thompson, the Area 70 from New Zealand, was our visiting authority. He and his wife did a great job, but in reality I felt like the Stake President and the Stake Patriarch did every bit as well, if not better. These Tongans have such faith and such a beautiful way of expressing their testimonies. They really go straight to my heart. The Spirit was strong. The Lord loves the people of the isles of the sea!!

The music was also BEAUTIFUL! They asked us to come and sit on the front row, probably because no one else would, but it made it so that when they sang the music just surrounded us. It really is breathtaking and I love every minute of it. I really cherish every minute of the time I get to spend listening to the Tongan’s sing the hymns in their own language. There is just nothing like it in America.

When the meeting was over Elder Thompson came down to meet the people. He walked over to talk to us as we were talking to Henli and his wife Akata. Henli is the young man that went through the temple for the first time the other night. We introduced them to Elder Thompson and as we were visiting Elder Thompson asked them if they had any children. Henli said, “not yet”. Elder Thompson casually said, “keep practicing.” I about died! Alan’s mouth dropped open and Henli and Akata both turned scarlet red. We were all speechless --- AWKWARD!!
  After church we spent the rest of the day catching up on our journals and wishing we were home so that we could go to church with our kids tomorrow!!!!! While I was feeling sorry for myself and thinking about “Sacrifice” and how serving a mission really is a sacrifice when you miss out on these very special moments in the lives of your family members, I had another “Tender Mercy.” I have been praying for comfort and peace. The impression came into my mind of the Pioneers and the sacrifices they made as they crossed the plains. I also thought of Emma Smith and suddenly my sacrifice seemed so small in comparison to burying children on the plains and losing so many babies and your husband, all for the gospel. I was humbled and I repent. I hate not being there to see Jake ordained a High Priest and set apart as a Bishop. And I miss spending that special time with my family, but we are so blessed to be able to call them and talk to them about it and love and support them instantly from half way across the world. It is no fun to be chastised by the Lord. I will do better.