Day to day in Tonga

Sunrises are as beautiful as the sunsets. This is our house where we are now and it is on the other side of the campus from where we were. Sunday mornings are a little different than other days here on the Island. The sky has a lot of smoke hanging over Tonga, because on Sunday they traditionally cook their meals in a umu (in the ground or in their cook shack). Remember there are NO stores open and noone goes anywhere but to church and then spend time with their families. It is against the law to even go to the beach on Sunday. The police patrol to make sure that everyone is at home.

Each day we are going to the clinic for a full day of work and we continue to see little mouths that are full of decay. It is not getting any easier to see this site. Dad is pushing forward with his program and we are beginning to see some exciting steps happen. We are presently communication with the International Audio Visual Director, from Tim's dept., about the movie and what we want in it. He will be here to do the photograghing in the nexts few weeks and we hope to have that part done before we leave in Aug. That is a HUGE STEP, and an exciting one for us.

On July 20, Dad has arranged for a big meeting with all the Dept Heads, Church leaders, Dentist and the Honorable Fulivai. This is where he will inform them of the program and tell them the role that they will play and how important it is to have them all involved. Dad has asked the Honorable Fulivai to be the Honorary Chairman of his Committee, and this has added a huge amount of importance to the program. To have a Royal supporting this is very impressive and will stabalize it in the eyes of the Island leaders.

Last week the Honorable Fulivai and his family were baptized and this is the first time that a Noble has joined the church after he is in office. He and his family attend the English speaking Branch where we go and so we have gotten to be "good friends" with them. He is really excited about what Dad is doing and the last week that we are on the Island Dad will go to his Island with him and his wife so that they can meet with the leaders there. They had a Fireside for them to tell their conversion story and it was so touching. She was touched by the message of families can be together forever, now and in the next life. She knew that it was true and was so excited about this truth. Her husband was a little slower to accept, but he had a blessing and it was as if his "heart was changed- and I heard and felt things differently". He was then taken on a Father/Son outing and was overcome with the tenderness that he saw between all the dads and their sons. At one time they were to go off by themselves with their sons and just spend time and talk about anything that they wanted to. He said that the most "powerful and wonderful feeling came over me and I knew that I wanted this in my life". They are a young couple, probably in their early 30's and have 3 children. This is a GREAT THING FOR THE CHURCH to have a Royal accept the gospel.

Poinsettas grow on bushes here, and this is in the yard next to ours. It really is amazing all the beautiful, colorful flowers that are here and they grow WITHOUT labor on our part. The weather is cooler but still hot enough for AC at the office and home, yet the Tongans wear coats, jackets with hoods, long sleeves. When they come to the clinic they bring a blanket to put over them or they have a jacket on. It is all what you are use to, I guess.

The girls in green are in uniform for the Liahona and they all wears their beautiful hair in braids, so this makes them all look alike to us. The girl on the left is a sister to Sis. Kaafi, that is serving her mission in the Idaho Mission, and Nicole's family had her over for dinner. We have her family come to our home to email her when ever they want, but they do not come weekly like we would. That is Tongan.

David Bingham arrives this Tues. We are anxious to meet him and have him with us. He is going to love this experience at the office and we have a return missionary who is going to show him around in the evenings.

Love to everyone

Marooned on a Tropical South Sea Island - Your dream?

We're back!!!!!!

Sorry for the lack of enteries lately, but the last 3 weeks of our lives have been out of our control. We had another dentist here from the states for 3 weeks, so Dad scheduled us for a 2 1/2 day "get away" at Ha'apai (a small island in the Tongan chain - there are 70 of them). We had been told by many that it is the best island for snorkeling and shelling, so we were cvery anxious to go. Yes, it is beautiful and very remote. The bungalos, beach and scenery are what we picture as the kind of area that Chad and Ryann were going to enjoy, but it did not work out. We did not have internet either. Sorry yours did not work out - this was wonderful.

A German man and his son have built, payed for and run this lovely resort, with 12 bungaloes each 20 yards from this beautiful sandy beach with coral beds right there, yes it was heaven. No AC and very hot and humid but lovely. Well ,on the day that we were to fly home the airline (has 2 planes, a small 8 seater, and a 40 seater) had a problem with the landing gear on the SMALL plane and so both planes were "grounded" by the Aviation Board. So............. begins our extended "get away". Two days later the Aviation Board lifted the restriction and said that they were save to fly. But..................... the Tongan Government got involved and would not let them fly until they reviewed it, and that led to the next 5 day delay. By the time everyone returned to the island and could "sign" the paper, we were held up a total of 7 days. We did enjoy the extra snorkeling, shelling, reading etc, but it was kind of hard knowing that we should be back to the office with Dr. Pulsipher. I know............ it is your dream to be in this situation, but we got the blessing. Ha, ha. We did have some adventures while there. The airport goes across the only road on the island and so when ever a plane is scheduled to land or take off, it is someone's job to put up the bar to stop the cars and get all the cows, chickens and pigs off the runway. No kidding!! As soon as the plane is gone, a truck full of rugby players pull in and they play their game there too. Multi-facet use of the area. Ha, ha.

We made one trip to the airport thinking that we were flying and then it was cancelled again and so we ended up riding in the back of a pickup, sitting on a board, hanging on for dear life going down a typical Tongan road with more potholes than smooth area. The airport is on a separate island to the resort and the two are connected by a road built on the reef, just wide enough for one car and it is surrounded by water at high tide, very scarey to me. But normal for them. You would have all laughed if you could have seen us in that truck. We were laughing, wind blown and waving to all the Tongans walking on the road, and then they would laugh too.

So........... 9 days later we come home and when we open our door we are met with a huge surprise!!!!!

It took only a few seconds to discover that our home had been broken into and we were robbed of all our technical items: COMPUTER, PHONE, cords, razor, curling iron, 8 $100 dollar bills Dad had in his draw for imergency, my 2 beautiful turquious necklaces that Dad made for me, and lots of other items. We were shocked, angry and could not understand what or why this had happened. The house was a mess - they had been eating peanut butter and jam and bread and it was all over the house. Popcorn all over. Smoking using our books as ashtrays. Sniffing glue with the cups all over. Every drawer opened and the content all over. Etc. It was a mess.

We went to Pres. McMurray's home (he is the mission pres. here). He called the police and we went back with his camera to take pictures. The police came and decided to fingerprint all over so we slept at another house that night. Well, we tried to sleep, which did not come. I must admit that I layed all night trying to figure this out and in a very prayerful state, talking with Heavenly Father about all the blessings and miracles that we have had in our live, and there have been many!!!!! And I prayed for a "small miracle" to get our computer back because ALL OF THE DOCUMENTS FOR DAD'S TONGAN INITIATIVE PROGRAM were on the computer. Without them we are at a standstill and much time and effort is wasted. We have felt the Lord's hand guiding us in this effort and have really felt that it is something that we should do while here. I said to Heavenly Father, we need your help, we can not do this alone, we need a small miracle. And prayed that we were worthy of such a blessing.

The NEXT MORNING at 7:00 we packed up and MOVED (yes, another move) to another house because we neither one wanted to stay there. At 11:00 AM we were informed that they had caught the BOYS (14-15 yo) who had done it. My anger turned to sorrow and sadness for them. They are students of the Liahona School. There are 8 of them and they had pretty much been in the house for the entire week, each day.

After a few trips to the police station, at their request, we have received back about 3/4 of all of our belongings. Most important, the computer. When we opened it we were met with another surprise. They had DELETED our pictures, and put theirs in, pictures of themselves (evidence), they had deleted many of our folders, including the one with all of the dental program documents in. We were so shocked. Why??????? Makes no sense to us. They down loaded lots of Tongan music.

Yesterday at church we found a WONDERFUL MAN who is a computer genious (like Trevin and Aaron) who is coming over today and says that he can probably find all that has been deleted. We are soooooooooooo excited. It would be a BIG MIRACLE in our eyes if we can get them back. I felt much better after talking with Aaron this morning and he too, said that they could probably get it all back.

When this all happened Dad was ready to get on the next plane and come home. But with sleep, a small miracle, and a BIG miracle we are both in the groove to continue on and do what needs to be done. Oh, yes, a part of the big miracle...... we got a call from the South Pacific Area President who is in NZ and he had heard about the robbery. We had communicated with them the past month about them helping us make a movie for this program and they are supportive, but not able to do it because of projects that they are already involved with for this year. But Fri they told Dad that if Tim in SLC (Tim Taggart, Dad's cousin that is in charge of Audio/Visual for the church) could do it they would support it. Yeh.......................... that is what we have been trying to get them to say. BIG MIRACLE - THANK YOU HEAVENLY FATHER.

Sorry about the "goofy" entery of pictures, I keep forgetting that I should add them as I am writing. Maybe next time I will get it right.

- I entered a couple of pictures from our bungalo.

- One of Dad about to eat a spider. These are the BIG spiders that we found all over and we actually had to be very careful walking to the beach or we would run into their webs which feel a piece of twine. Yuk!!!!!

- One of the road crossing the airport runway, the runway is running left to right, very small, and when you are on it you are sure that it is not long enough for even a small plane to get up.

- One of the road that goes over on the reef to connect the two islands, very, very narrow, especially at high tide.

Love you all, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma