Everybody wants better teeth - Let's make it happen

Hello Everyone,

We are keeping busy here at the Dental Clinic, and we still have patients waiting for us each morning when we arrive and the office is packed all day. I guess that is really a dentist's dream in most places. Most of them are here because they are in pain, but we are beginning to see a few that are coming back to get identified work done. We now have a 4th year dental student here from Canada, Lemi Lafontaine. He is doing a good job and learning from this experience. We can see a change already and he has been here just 2 weeks. He will go home on Aug. 16. Some of our equipment is a little "outdated" as you see what Dad is using on me. "Ouch"

David Bingham is here also, the predental student from Eagle, that found this clinic on the web. He is staying at our house and is delightful. He is assisting Lemi and learning lots, and still wants to be a dentist. He will be going to Pocatello this fall and then the last 3 years at Creighton University, the same school that Kenyon went to. He is getting into Tongan life in the evenings and is involved in all the events that are here. He is really enjoying it.

The big excitement for the last week is that we received the first script of the movie for the program that Dad is putting together. It really sounds good, and Dad added a few suggestions and he sent it off, and the next morning we had a revised edition on our email. It is so exciting to be working with professional people who do not take a ton of time. This is exciting for Dad because it is the first tangible item from his 5 months of hard work.

He will have his BIG MEETING this coming Tues. where he will present the program to all the Ministries and the professional people that will take over and carry it out. After this meeting he will pretty much have it in their hands and will concentrate on the movie. He is hoping that the photo shooting will be done before we leave, so in the next couple of weeks, hopefully there will be someone here in Tonga to do the visual part of the movie.

We have made a couple of beach trips and it is really nice now that the humidity and temperature are down. This is Nau Beach and it was very peaceful. We loved just watching the waves come in and crash up agains the reef. Not many shells and a few fish, but very fun day. We were there with all the people that work at the clinic (Fusi, that works at the desk and is an RN, Charlie that helps with cleanings and extractions, Lemi and his family, David, and us. It was a good day.

It is customary in Tonga that when someone dies the family and close friends dress in black with their traditional tapa wrap and they will dress this way for as long as a year. Many of the people on the Island are dressed in black because there are so many funerals.

The first picture is of Noble Fulivai, his wife Helen, and their 3 children. He is the first Noble to be baptized to the church and they are a wonderful family. They are in their early 30's and have bore testimony to the goodness of the gospel and how it has changed their lives for the good. He will be the Honorary Chairman of the committee for the Tongan Dental Initiative and this will really add some importance to the program as he stands and says that he supports it and will be involved in seeing that it comes to be.

Lots of love to all of you. We will see you soon,

Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma