Only in Tonga- part 2

Sister Bean and I spend our mornings at the Welfare office at Ma’ufanga/Toliki.  This office is on the waterfront just across the street from the ocean.  The road is lined on the water side of the street with tall coconut palm trees.  One morning we were looking out from our office that faces the ocean when we saw a mini dump truck pull up on the other side of the road with 4 young men in the back.  Shortly thereafter one of these young men was climbing up one of the trees.  I went out to watch as this particular tree was probably 40 plus feet tall.  I thought he would stop below the crown of the tree and knock the coconuts off to the waiting crew below, who throw them in the back of the truck.  To my amazement he knocked aside fronds in the way and climbed up on top of the tree and proceeded to knock the coconuts down by kicking them with his feet.  He then climbed down and the whole crew moved 50 feet down the road to another tall coconut tree, where the process was repeated.

Another day Sister Ben and I looked out our office window and saw some quite large guys saunter by with athletic shoes in their hands.  Most were wearing the same kind of jersey.  Then it dawned on me that it was the Fiji National rugby team in Tonga for a tournament.  They were staying in a hotel just down the beach and they were going down the way to work out.  On their way back Sister Bean and I ran out and met some of them.  We took a picture with a couple players and wished them good luck.  They did indeed win the tournament beating Samoa and Tonga in the process.  The Bishop of our ward, Bishop Fifita, was a member of the Fijian National rugby team and then Tonga’s National team for 11 years.  He is a stout fellow and looks the part.  He is also an outstanding Bishop.

There are no real serious holidays in Tonga in the fall.  They don’t celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving.  So, starting in September they start to play Christmas music on the radio and TV.  We think we start early in the states, but Tonga leads the league.  Sister Bean and I were sitting at our office one morning last month when we started doing the shimmy.  The blinds started swaying back and forth and it wasn’t because of the wind.  Yep.  We had just been in an earthquake.  We had known of another earthquake the month before that we did not feel, so I decided to check.  Tonga averages an earthquake a day.  There had been over 300 so far in the year.  Thankfully nothing too big that would create a tsunami.  Because the high point on the whole island is only 290 feet, a tsunami would be devastating.  As I sat there looking out at the ocean after the earthquake, I had thoughts of wondering where the earthquake had originated and was there a big wave headed our way.  Thankfully it was not big enough to create one.

Sister Bean stopped by the post office on the way to our office not long ago at about 8:40 am. The post office opens at 8:30 AM.  She mailed a post card and a letter for a fellow senior missionary.  She then asked if she could buy some stamps.  The guy at the window said just a minute and left the window and went into the back room.  After about 5 minutes the fellow had not returned so Sister Bean read the sign on the counter that says to ring bell for service.  Only there was no bell.  She yelled,” You who,” and the guy eventually came back.  He told her the woman who sells the stamps was late and would not be in for 10-15 minutes.  Cath asked if someone else could sell her the stamps.  He repeated that the only woman to sell stamps was not in yet.  This is the only post office on this island.  Evidently there is only one person who sells stamps at the post office.  A day later I went to buy the stamps.  There were several people at the window.  When I asked about stamps they yelled in the back and a nice lady came and sold me 10 stamps.  

Sister Bean and I teach the Gospel Doctrine class in Sunday School.  During one of our lessons about the house of Israel and the remnant in the Americas I asked the class about their heritage.  They fully believe they come from the House of Israel that was in the Americas.  They believe they come from those people that left in Hagoth’s ships and were not heard from again.  Their Patriarchal blessings have their lineage through Manasseh.  

Sister Bean signed up to feed the missionaries who are in our ward for a Monday.  Fully expecting them to come to dinner Monday night Cath planned a nice meal of mama’s chicken, one of our boy’s favorites.  She even had rice and corn and another veggie, fruit, plus bread.  However, we found out Sunday if you sign up for feeding the missionaries you feed them during the day as well.  So we took them food in the morning on the way into work too.  

Elder Groom is a big guy from the states.  Elder Halaliku is a Tongan from West Valley, Utah and not very big at all.  We figured Elder Groom would really put away the groceries.  Were we wrong.   Elder Groom put a nice portion on his plate, while Elder Halaliku piled it on like there was no tomorrow.  I looked at the pan of mama’s chicken and thought we’d still have some nice leftovers for later in the week.  Wrong.  Elder Halaliku finished off his plate of food that was literally 3 inches high, and proceeded to fill his plate again only a little higher, cleaning out the chicken, rice, and corn.  He had earlier cleaned up the bread and most of the fruit.  A few minutes later Elder Halaliku was cleaning the last of his plate.  Sister Bean was started to put away a couple slices of apple that was left and Elder Halaliku asked if he could have those as well.  We served them ice cream for dessert, and yes, Elder Halaliku piled it on.  My jaw was on the table.  Unbelievable!  Cath and I have laughed over and over about Elder Halaliku.  In speaking to the mission office couple Elder Halaliku has spent the first year of his mission on little islands in the north country, and had not had the opportunity to eat good American type food.  The night at the Beans is now legendary throughout the mission.

The mission has had a terrific year in convert baptisms.  The mission baptized about 1,000 in 2011.  They are on pace to baptize 1,100 in 2012.  When you consider that there are only 100,000 or so people in the whole country, and ½ of them are already members, they are baptizing 2% of the available non members in the kingdom each year.  Unbelievable!  The missionaries live in MQ’s(missionary quarters).  They are very small independent little huts usually in the yards of members.  No hot water or air conditioning.  They wash their clothes in a bucket.  They are all on foot except the zone leaders.  There are only about 10 cars in the whole mission.  The members feed the missionaries each day 2 meals.  Because the nation is poor and not many have cars, the Church has built lots of meetinghouses all over the islands.  There is a building in about every little area/village.  They are the nicest buildings in Tonga, and the temple is the nicest building by far.  These missionaries are pretty special.

In a more serious note, Sister Bean and I visited a beautiful part of the island known as the Pigeon Hole or Land Bridge.  It is a very pretty spot on the coast where there is a hole that the ocean has created going inland at the base of the cliffs.  There is another canyon like hole on the other side of the land bridge that meets the ocean as it roars through the cliff.  The canyon like hole is very steep and is probably 100-150 feet deep where the ocean comes in.  

The nursing students from BYU Idaho used to come to Tonga during the summer to provide service at the hospital.  Several years ago, a nursing professor and her husband took about 20 of these nursing students to the land bridge.  It is said the professor thought one of the students was getting too close to the edge and stepped forward to pull her back.  The earth gave way and she fell into the hole.  She hit the rocks below and then the ocean.  Her body was never recovered.  The tide was going out at the time and recovery was unsuccessful.  BYU Idaho has not been back since. This was a very sad event that everyone in Tonga knows about.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We took the morning off and got together with the other senior missionary couples and a few other people and had a full turkey dinner.  There were 24 of us.  We cooked one of the three turkeys and made gravy.  I also made a Dixie Salad with Craisins instead of pomegranates.  All of the couples brought their favorite Thanksgiving dishes.  We had mashed potatoes, stuffing, apple and pecan pies etc.  It was very nice to meet together and give thanks for all of our blessings.  Our family is really being blessed while we serve here in Tonga.  We miss them all, but love serving.  I’m attaching some photos that go with this.

   

         

Only in Tonga!

Most Tongans are pretty quiet.  They don’t say a whole lot, even when asked questions.  Sometimes they don’t speak to you at all.  If you ask them a question and the answer is yes, sometimes they don’t speak, they just raise their eyebrows.  At first you think they have something wrong with them, but it is just one way they communicate with you.  When Sister Johnston, the mission nurse met our mission president she was getting frustrated because he didn’t respond to her questions verbally.  It was 20 minutes into the meeting before she found out he was communicating with her, the Tongan way of raising eyebrows.

Tongans love to sing, dance and play rugby.  They also really love to eat.  Friday night, October 12, we had a High Priest social.  There were some salads and fruit, taro, green bananas in coconut milk, red snapper fish, BBQ’d chicken, and chicken cooked in an umu, and coconuts.  An umu is a pit lined with rocks, covered with banana leaves, chicken put in, covered with more banana leaves and hot rocks placed on top and covered.  It was delicious, all of it.  Tongans can really put away the groceries.  They don’t eat until they are full; they eat until they are tired.  Just about everything was consumed.

Tongans don’t like the sun.  They wear hats and use shade umbrellas.  But, they wear black clothes just about all the time.  When we first got here, everyone was still wearing black in mourning over the King’s death.  But, the period is over and black is the color most worn in the country.There is not a traffic light in the country.  There are only a handful of street signs in downtown Nukualofa, with a couple of streets lined.  You drive on the left side of the road which is crazy for us right siders.  On top of that the Tongans are terrible drivers.  The reason they are so bad is there is not a test to get a driver’s license.  You just pay your $60 pa’anga and you get your one year license to create mayhem on the road.  We pray for safety daily!

There are government schools and private schools in Tonga.  Some cost more than others and the curriculums can be quite different.  But some things are the same.  All the kids wear a uniform to school.  Each school has its colors.  The girls wear a jumper with a white shirt underneath.  The guys wear their tupenus (guy skirt) with their ta’ovalas and kafa wraps.  Flip flops or sandals for the feet.  The girls all braid their hair which is mandatory.  It makes deciding what to wear to school each day pretty simple every morning.  However this sameness makes it hard to remember names of some of the kids.  It’s not like you can remember hair styles or clothes to help you out.  We love watching the Liahona High School students come to school every morning.  Some of them ride a regular bus, but most of them are jammed into the back of a pickup or flatbed truck.  There are no seatbelt laws in Tonga. 

Many years ago, the first king conquered the many villages and islands of Tonga.  In the early 1900’s one of the later kings who now owned all the land in the kingdom, consolidated all the village chiefs down to 23 Nobles in the land.  The king took most of the land and divided it into 8-10 acre plots for each family in Tonga.  These plots have been passed down from generation to generation.  The Nobles own land and have titles, and most of them are in Parliament, earning gov’t money.  The King owns great chunks of the island and is basically supported by the taxes, fees of the people.  The Royals and Nobles have all the wealth in the kingdom.  The commoners have small plots of land, but the family and extended families still have the original plots.  They call them plantations, but most are used for subsistence farming to keep the family alive.  Most of the people are very poor.  They say they are going to the,”Bush,” when they go to their plantation.  Usually they are carrying their machete with them.  These plantations can grow tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, taro, yams, manioke (tapioca), coconuts, bananas, cucumbers, and the like.  It’s hard to believe there hasn’t been a revolution.  However, the people reverence their king and the nobles.   

Our air conditioning stopped working a couple of weeks ago at the office at Ma’ufanga.  On top of that the room would smell bad when we opened it up in the mornings.  Now that the weather is turning warmer I decided to call the facilities maintenance people to have them look at it and get it fixed.  I emailed the boss man, and within 60 minutes a guy was out there.  He poked around a bit, swapping batteries in the remote, running a different power line, etc. and decided to call in an electrician.  A team of 3 guys came a while later and began to take the unit a part.  The 2^nd guy opened up the electrical part and said it smelled really bad in there.  When he got the electrical unit pulled out he found a fried gecko.  Evidently the gecko had managed to crawl up in there and when the juice was turned on it cooked him and he shorted out the unit.  They could not fix it right away and had to order a couple parts.  The guy said he had seen this once before in Tonga.  Only in Tonga!    

I have attached photos of some ‘Liahona High School buses”, some Liahona High School students at a career fair, some missionaries who wear the traditional Tongan clothing with the tupenu (man skirt), ta’ovala (waist wrap), and kafa (rope-like strand that Tongans use to tie their ta’ovalas around their torsos. I have also included a beautiful Tongan sunset, and the picture of the dead gecko that got fried in our air conditioning unit.

Fried Gecko in AC unit

Elder Bean and missionaries wearing traditional Tongan clothing

High School Transportation!

High School Bus

Beautiful Sunset

High School Girls in school uniforms and braids

Dodging Pigs

Bob and I were up very early and got to the mission home at 7:30 AM.  We went with the zone leaders, Elder Rose and Elder Pau’u to deliver money to the elders and sisters in their zone.  They are allotted $90.00 per month.  A senior missionary couple always goes with the zone leaders to deliver the money.  They drove along the east side of the island, which we hadn’t seen much of.  There were 3 sets of sister missionaries, and I was able to deliver money to them. Bob and the zone leaders delivered to the elders.   We also checked to make sure their phones and DVD players were working.  

The missionaries live in what we call MQ’s (missionary quarters).  They are very small homes consisting of a small living area, a bedroom and a bathroom. The MQ’s are usually on a member’s property.   The MQ’s do not have kitchens and they do not have warm water.  There is a water tank near the MQ’s which provides cold water for them.  The missionaries eat two meals a day with the members.  They do not normally eat lunch.   The main course that the members cook can be a dog.  Most of the missionaries I talk to really like cooked dog.  That includes the missionaries from America.   

I took a photo of the missionary’s washing machine.  It is a bucket and a PVC pipe.  They put cold water in the bucket, and use the PVC pipe to wash their dirty clothes by hand.  Then they hang them out on the clothesline to dry like we do. The missionary’s clothes always look very neat and clean.  The MQ’s are always inside a gate.  There is a very large cement block that you need to climb over to open the gate.  I was wearing an A-line shirt, and it was a challenge to climb over the cement block. I told the missionaries I should have worn my hurdling skirt.   

I asked the missionaries why the MQ’s all have those cement blocks in front of the gate.  They said it was so the pigs won’t get in their yard and eat everything.  We did see pigs running all over.  You see large pigs in the streets, and lots of little pigs.  Roasted pigs are always served at special occasions.  At one MQ that was in a member’s yard, there were 2 return missionaries roasting a whole pig on a stick over a fire.  The sad thing was that there was a pigpen right behind them that had lots of pigs in it.  The pigs in the pigpen could actually see the other pig being roasted.  I wondered what they were thinking.  It could not be good.  

People over here cook in the ground.  You can see smoke from outdoor kitchens all the time. Last week Bob and I were driving down a bumpy road on the way home from the airport.  We heard a very loud bam on the passenger side car door.  We could not figure out what we hit.  Bob looked in the rear view mirror and saw a black chicken wobble across the street.  It had flown right into our car door.  It left a black mark, but no dent.  We just hope we don’t hit a big pig.  There are also lots of dogs running all over.  Bob does a real good job of driving on the left side of Tonga’s bumpy roads, dodging pigs, chickens and dogs.  

   We are really enjoying our time in Tonga.  It is a privilege to be missionaries.  We certainly appreciate the things we take for granted in the USA.  I am attaching some pictures of our trip with the missionaries.

Love, Sister Bean 

Tongan Faith

Meet Lopeti and Lusiana.   

Lopeti was introduced to the Church as a young man by a friend.  His father was a drunk and very abusive.  He did not want Lopeti to investigate the Church.  Lopeti would go to Church and Mutual and each time he would come home his father would beat him.  Finally, one time after coming home from a Church activity his father started after him again.  Lopeti went to the Kitchen and grabbed a knife and handed it to his father and said, “You can kill me if you want, but I am going to join the Church.”  The father realized that Lopeti was fully committed to the gospel and left him alone after that night. 

Lopeti was baptized and after being a member of the Church for just a little over a year he accepted a mission call.  His father had died a few months before he entered the MTC in Provo.  While in the MTC he had a dream.  He saw his father dressed in black tormented and in sorrow.  His father asked him to help him.  Lopeti went to the MTC President and related the dream.  They came to the same conclusion that his father wanted to have his work done in the temple.  Lopeti received permission to go to the temple and perform the ordinances for his father which he did.  The next night He had another dream.  This time his father was dressed in white and very happy, thanking his son for doing the work.

Lopeti is one of our Returned Missionary Grant recipients, working part time and going to school full time after filling a very successful mission.  He is married to Lusiana.  They do not have any children of their own, but have taken in 7 young men who would have just been on the streets.  They have all joined the Church and 5 have gone on missions, one physically unable to and another preparing to go next year after being a member for a year.  They recently took in a 6 year old.  

Lopeti serves in the Bishopric of his Ward and has taught the Stake mission preparation class for 8 years, continuously.  The class is taught every Sunday morning starting at 6 am.  Kids from other Stakes also attend as well.  Over the 8 years he has seen over 1,000 young men and women go into the mission field.  If someone says they don’t want to go to the class anymore, he simply says, “Be there, I know where you live.  I’ll come and get you.”  They love him and the class.  Talk about making a difference. 

Meet Siope and Liu.

Siope and Liu are both teachers at Liahona High School.  They have five children of their own in a small house on the Liahona campus.  In addition to their children they have taken in 4 young women, who are the only members of the Church in their families, so there are 11 in the house.  They have cared for and nurtured these young women and helped them in every way.  All of them are doing well.  Toa will be going to BYU Hawaii in January; Siu is waiting for her mission call, while the others continue their studies at Liahona. Siope serves as the Young Men’s President in the Ward and does an outstanding job.  

I was teaching our Gospel Doctrine class a couple of weeks ago.  I was using a story to illustrate the need to build our foundation in life on the rock of our Redeemer.  I was in the Nisqually earthquake some years ago.  I was on the 36^th floor of the 5^th Avenue Plaza Building when the earthquake hit.  After I told the class about my experience that day I asked them why the building did not collapse.  I was expecting the response that it was built on a firm foundation, when Knowlton Itaehau said, “Elder Bean, the building did not collapse because you are supposed to be here in Tonga now.”  I just said to myself,”Wow!”  I love these people.

You’ve heard of the double cross, cross your heart and hot cross buns.  Have you heard of the Southern Cross?  When you look up into the night sky down here, it looks a lot different in this hemisphere.  No North Star or dippers.  The most famous constellation down here is the Southern Cross.  It appears on both the New Zealand and Australian flags.  Right next to the Southern Cross is the constellation Scorpio with its big stinger.  By the way, the sunsets are spectacular especially when the clouds are above the setting sun.  Unbelievable. If a Tsunami hits Tonga, it’s been nice knowing you.  The highest point on Tongatapu, the main island, is 90 meters high.  Most of the island is at 25-30 meters high.

Brother Finau.

Mom and I were just ending one of our walks one evening when Sione Finau, one of our Ward members, happened by.  He loves sports and knew that I do too.  We were talking football as he raised his family in the United States and his last son Teki is a very good football player.  He turned down a scholarship to play football at USC to go on his mission.  He is currently serving in Sierra Leone, Africa.  Sione happened to mention he had a nephew in the United States who is a pretty good basketball player.  His sister’s son lives in Chicago and is starting his senior year coming up, is 6’ 9” and is being recruited by about everyone in the country.  His name is Jay.  I asked if his name was Jabari, and he said yes, Jabari Parker.  Yep, the one who was on the cover of Sports Illustrated.  Jabari is still talking about a mission and at least has BYU on his final 10 list.  Sione is going to the States in November for a few weeks to stay with his sister.  He says he is going to try to talk him into going on a mission like his older brother.  His dad is not a member but would be fine with that decision.  According to Sione the dad is getting closer to joining the Church too.  How’s that for some athletes in the family?  By the way, the Finaus are a great family.   

A Typical Day.. And a Few Pictures

August 5, 2012  Tonga: 

Hi friends and family,

    

Elder Bean and I are doing great in Tonga.  Some of you have asked us what a typical day is like for us, so here goes.  I get up between 5:30 and 6 AM every day.  After prayer and stretching exercises I get ready for the day.  It takes me a while to get the kinks out of my hair.  My hair is still a work in progress.  The humidity here makes it really kinky.  Elder Bean gets time to get ready in the bathroom about 7 AM while I make us a lunch and eat my oatmeal.  We drink filtered water, and use it to brush our teeth.  I am attaching some photos of our duplex.   

We head for the welfare office about 8:15 AM.  We pick up Fipe who lives nearby and works with us.  She is a PEF volunteer from Tonga.  We drive through the town of Nuku’alofa, and arrive at the office shortly after 8:30 AM.  We always have prayer with the other members of the welfare team each day.  The welfare team consists of Elder Bean and I, the education  missionaries,  Fipe, the PEF volunteer,  the welfare person, the humanitarian missionaries and the employment person.  We all support each other. 

Elder Bean and I spent time with students helping them find ways to finance going to school.  I have been calling the schools on the island and setting up times to meet with the principals.  So far we have visited 4 colleges.  They don’t look like much from the outside, but we have been impressed with what they have to offer.  We eat our sack lunch at the office and then I call my parents every day at 1:30 PM Tongan time.  That is 6:30 PM the day before in St. George.  After the phone call, we do much the same as we did in the morning.  Elder Bean has been telephoning the students who already have PEF loans to see how they are doing.  They need encouragement to continue paying back their loans.   

In addition to the PEF loans, there is a return missionary grant that students can apply for.  This one does not have to be paid back.  We also help students get that submitted for approval.  In order to qualify for either the loan or the grant, students need to take a workshop called “Planning for Success”.  It will be held every Saturday for the month of September.  We will offer it again in October and November.    We got schedules out to the 13 stake presidents on Tongatapu yesterday to give to the bishops in their stakes.  Communication is a bit different in Tonga.  People do not have addresses.  They announce things on the radio.  People can have Post Office boxes and pick up their mail at the post office.  The mission has one.  

On Saturday, which is our P-D, we spent time doing our laundry.  We have a washing machine out back which takes one hour to complete the cycle.  Then we hang the wash on the line.  We visit with all the other senior missionary couples as they hang their wash on the line.  I also make sure to do my Pilates exercises and Elder Bean and I take a walk around the school.   The church has a cattle ranch behind the school.  It is different to see cattle grazing amid palm and coconut trees.  We also grocery shop and clean our house on Saturday.  We have to go to several stores to get the items we need.  Nothing is ever all at one store.  We know which store has chicken breasts and bacon, and where to get vegetables and fruit, and where to get ice cream.

Sunday is much the same as back home.  Our church starts at 9 AM.  The Tongan people are wonderful singers.  The harmony is amazing.  They also have strong testimonies.  I can feel the love they have for us.  We teach the Gospel Doctrine class.  We usually go over to the Liahona school and email and Skype after church.  Because school is not in session, we can usually get good internet service.  I am going to try and attach some photos of the things I described.    

Sister Bean

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

The Blanket

Dear family and friends,

   

Elder and Sister Szoka live next door to us here in Tonga.  Sister Szoka is an excellent writer and asked if she could write about us in her blog.  She blogged about an experience Bob told about at our mission president's house.  It involves the wonderful blanket that Ofa gave us.  We all call it the Ofa blanket.  The Deseret News picked up Bea Szoka's blog.  You can click on her link to read about us here in Tonga.  

Love, Cathy

Adventures in the South Pacific: SOMETIMES YOU CHOOSE: Sometimes you choose, sometimes you’re chosen. Jim and I chose to come to Tonga.   We continue to choose to be here.  We choose to work i...

We've arrived in Tonga

Receiving traditional leis on arrival at the airport

Dear family,

Elder Bean and I have been in Tonga for a week now.  We have a nice apartment and are adjusting just fine.  We have gone in to our Perpetual Education Fund office every day, but we have been having Internet problems, which makes it hard to do our work.  The Internet people were on the roof working on the problem when we left on Friday.  Hopefully it will be fixed on Monday.  I continue to be amazed at how many resources the Church puts into Tonga.  They are really committed to helping people here.  We have had the opportunity to do some very fun things these past few days.  On Thursday we were able to go to the wedding reception of the mission president's son.  It was a traditional Tongan wedding reception with roasted whole pigs on the table, traditional dancing in costume, long speeches in Tongan etc.  It was very enjoyable.  We had to show our invitation to be admitted, and there was a guard there.   

Last night we went to a resort on the beach.  We were able to see the sunset and look at the constellations.  We saw the Southern Cross, which is not seen in the Northern Hemisphere.  There was a large buffet and Tongan dancing and singing.  One unusual thing for me was that when the host welcomed everyone and told us the buffet was ready, he said that in the Tongan tradition, before they started serving, a blessing on the food would be offered.  He called on a Tongan gentleman to give the blessing.  It sounded just like any Mormon blessing.  I asked him later if he was a member of our church, and he was.  We enjoyed the buffet complete with roasted pig on the table.  We also enjoyed the traditional Tongan dancing and singing.  They even did a few fire dances. 

This morning Dad and I took a walk.  The church has a cattle ranch behind the Church High School.  There were lots of bulls grazing.  That is normally not unusual, but these bulls were grazing among coconut and palm trees.  We also went to the market this morning.  (Today is our P-Day, which is Saturday.)  One of our best finds at the market, was being able to buy scotch tape.  It is amazing the things that we get so excited about here.  There is a small American mini-mart here.  The owner is a member of the church.  He is going to the states in a few weeks and is taking orders from people here.  Most of the things he gets are from Costco.  We have a list for him.  We do not have Internet in our apartment.  Some other senior missionaries work at the Liahone High School across from our home.  They let us come to their office today to use the Internet.  We'll try and keep in touch.  Thanks to Janell Bean Carter for setting up a blog for our mission.

Love, Cathy

Elder Bean after church on their first Sunday in Tonga

Greeted by Senior Missionaries at the Airport

Young Men at EFY (Especially for Youth) Dance Festival

Cheers!

The start of their journey

This is the beginning of a grand adventure