Musings from Tonga ~suit required!

Folks,

We've been in Tonga for 1 month now.  Here are a few reflections on the journey thus far.

When we got our mission call it said to bring 6-7 whites shirts, 5-6 ties, and one suit, amongst other items.  Our mission president said I would probably wear the suit to and from the mission and that would be about it.  That’s not how it has worked out.

When we got to the MTC, the late night check in guy said a white shirt and tie would be fine for the coming week.  Not true.  I found out the next day that seniors are expected to wear a suit.  OK, 7 straight days of wearing the same suit.  We went to Salt Lake City for specific Perpetual Education Training, at the Church Office Building.  That’s right, suits are required wear.  5 more days of the same suit.  We flew to New Zealand the next day after training and you always travel in a suit.  At New Zealand we were trained further at the area office in Auckland.  That's right, a suit is required.  4 more days in a row.  Then we flew to Tonga.  Yep, same suit.  If you do the math, that was 18 straight days in the same suit.  When I took it off here in Tonga I didn't hang it up.  I simply leaned it up in the corner.  Of course we have been to 2 wedding receptions since being here and guess what the attire was.  That's right, a suit.

In case you thought about shipping anything heavy to us I'll tell you about the Smiths. They left our mission a couple of weeks ago.  They were supposed to be able to take their two 50 lb bags with them each.  However, the flight was weight challenged and they could only take one bag each.  The other two bags were shipped home at a cost of $800 pa'anga, or about $500 US.

I bought a bag of sugar pops that had come from the United State in a crate with other stuff they sell randomly here. Unfortunately one of the other items was shampoo.  Have you ever tasted sugar pops with a VO5 aftertaste?  I have!  The taste isn't very good, but my stomach is clean.

We can always tell when the humidity is up.  I brought one of my fishing hats to wear on P-day, just a standard baseball cap.  When it’s humid it just turns color and is wet.  But, it is cool to the head so it works.

We love Tonga and its people.  We teach Gospel Doctrine each Sunday and work with some great young people during the week.  We are learning a lot from these humble spiritual people, well grounded in the gospel.  The Tonga temple is absolutely gorgeous and we can attend an English session each week. 

Alu' a,

Elder Bean