Nov 11, 2013

November 5, 2013

It seems like I just get one blog published and its time to start on another one.  And today has been an eventful day, Christmas party for the staff at Liahona and our first music lesson in the next little community.  Humm, you’re probably wondering about Christmas in November, well, in Tonga, anything can happen.  Because school will be out for summer vacation on the 22 November, Christmas had to be celebrated while the teachers were still assembled.  Each department had an “item” , they had to present to the faculty.  What a hilarious group of people.  The item presented went from a scripture recitation, to songs, dances which were both beautiful and funny. The Tongans know how to ham it up, and they did.  We laughed at their antics while dancing and yet were in awe at the grace of the dance.  The Tongan dance is like the Hawaiians, except that all of the expression is in the hands, no swaying of the hips.  After the entertainment, we were treated to a feast, we brought home more than we could eat while we were there, I won’t have to cook for several days, there were that many leftovers.  It was a fun afternoon.

Then we got to go to a nearby village, Ha`alalo, where Sister Aland and I, taught music to 7 children (9-13) and 3 adults.  We had 2 children whose dad is the Stake President,  two of the Bishop children and 3 others.  It was so interesting to watch the young people’s faces when they caught on to the idea of rhythm and timing.  We taught that first, and then we will start with learning the keys.  We are using the keyboard course put out by the church, so all we had to do was download the program and away we went.  There is a lot of good information in the course; students will be able to play simple hymns in about 10 1 hour lessons.  The worst problem that we have is key boards.  The churches here maybe have 1 keyboard per building and not many people know how to play the piano.  However, that does not stop them from singing.  Some of their melodies aren’t what we are used to, neither are the harmonies, but I don’t think there is anything more beautiful than they music they make.  Tongans know how to sing.  They sing with gusto and feeling.  It brings tears to my eyes just about every meeting we attend.  Sister Aland has a connection with a music teacher from BYU who has sent us a curriculum to use for the lessons.  The word is spreading about the music lessons, so I’m afraid we may get very busy with that also.

The other thing that amazes me is the giving nature of the Tongan people.  When we were ready to leave tonight, the children brought out a whole basket, laundry basket size, of fruit, watermelon, papaya, pineapple, banana, coconuts.  There was enough in the basket that four of the girls carried it to the van.  They were so sweet and funny.  Brother Tuiasoa was the one who serenaded me last week when he asked for someone to teach music to his village.  He was pretty excited to help the children learn.  He and his wife lived in Utah 27 years, retired then moved back to his family home to live out his retirement.  He and his wife used to cater parties, Hawaiian style Luau’s and also did the entertainment.  All of their children are still in the US.  Their neighbor kids are now their grandchildren, which is typical of what families do here.  If someone doesn’t have a home, they always make a place for them.

November 10, 2013

We just got back from a fireside in Matahau with the Tupou’s, Hamblins, Aland’s, and our new Elder Berger, who is Sister Hamblins father.  There were about 250 people in attendance, missionaries, investigators, ward members.  An amazing couple of 13 year old girls sang a number that was simply beautiful, both had voices of much older girls.  They were so good, that after the meeting, we had them come to the high council room to sing their number again.  And of course the ward members treated us to ice cream and buns, a sweet roll.  They asked us to come back in 2 weeks and they would really provide a real meal, not a snack.  One of the TVET teachers was there, who had helped most of the young women make pulitaha’s (2 piece dress) like the missionaries wear.  The only way we could tell who the missionaries were was by the name tags.  The young girls were dressed up and looked so good.  Even though we couldn’t understand a lot of what was said, the spirit was very strong.  President Tupou showed a missionary clip about a family who searched for investigators and the results they had.  It was inspiring.

Today we had a talk in Sacrament meeting about family history/ temple work.  The stake director is a member of our ward.  She gave a very interesting talk which resounded loudly with me today.  I got to thinking about dad and mom and not knowing much about their bringing up.  I wondered then if perhaps all of us need to write some remembrances about mom and dad, compile them, before we lose mom too.  I don’t know what mom remembers now, and I’m not sure how much of what she remembers would be correct, but I think we need to do it.  We all remember something different about them; it would be fun to compile a book of their history.  Of course, time is flying by and we are all busy, but it would be so good to do.  We need to think about it seriously.

This week at the temple, I got to thinking about dad, which I haven’t done for quite a while.  It seemed like he was their right beside me, I got such a calm, sweet, peaceful feeling thinking about dad. 

We continue to have experiences that just keep us humbled.  We were invited to a middle school graduation of their form 3 students, those who will be going into high school next year.  It was announced that there would be a light dinner served and was to start at 530.  Of course, it started Tonga time, about an hour late, the meal was really good.  We found out after we were seated in the front, that we, as couples would be presenting the awards to the students when their names were called.  We had a chance to see the names as they were called, so Steve called each student by name, all except one whose name was too long and difficult to pronounce.  After the awards were given out, we had one of the students come up to us and wanted to give us the Lei’s that had been made for him.  He wanted to share with us, because we had presented his award.  Then we had to have pictures taken.  Again, a very humbling experience.  We just keep having those experiences.

A FUNNY EXPERIENCE, I have to tell in capitals.  This week, we were traveling into town, stopped for some eggs, and then went on our way to get more groceries.  We were just traveling along, when all of a sudden, Elder Aland yelled, we flew into the air and the eggs on the back seat flew into the air.  You can probably guess the rest.  Only 10 of the 30 eggs survived the flying episode, the rest were thrown out of the back seat, into the air and fell on to the seats, the floor, nearly hitting Steve and I in the head.  We had to stop and try to clean up the mess, 18 eggs were cracked,  I think a couple weren’t good, so they got thrown away.  The only thing we had with us to clean up was a few wet wipes.  We scrubbed the van when we got back, but tonite, we could smell rotten egg smell, so we will have to try to clean the van again.  We have had a pretty good laugh about the scrambled egg van.  Lots of laughs at Elder Alands expense.  It was pretty funny though.