February 27, 2014

February 27, 2014

Last night, we were invited to a recital of students who completed a music course that was started by Sister Aland and then completed under the guidance of Sister Funaki.  Let me tell you about a few of the students that we were acquainted with.  Three young women had taken our classes held at Vaini who had a great desire to learn music.  We heard them sing at a couple of our musical firesides with the missionaries and because we had experienced their humble wonderful musical abilities, we were thrilled to find out that these 3 young women had continued with their piano lessons with Sister Funaki.  They had practiced and practiced and 2 of the older girls had learned 2 hymns that they could play with both hands. This is quite an accomplishment because they had started out with very little formal musical education, but they loved to sing and had an amazing ability to harmonize with each other to sound like one voice.  These young ladies also sang a beautiful musical number that I think is the song used as their young women’s theme.  As they were singing about beauty and young women, all I could think is these young women shown with the beauty of the Holy Ghost.  We found out last night that they come from a family of 12 children, 8 girls, 4 boys, a girl and boy on missions now with the 3 one leaving in April to serve in Australia.  The mother is now the relief society president of the new Malapo stake that was just formed, the dad was the bishop in the ward that was divided when the stake was split.  Sister Funaki had taken these girls from our basic course and helped them develop and learn so much more which was shown by their ability to play.  Sister Funaki is the energizer bunny, who is bound and determined to make sure that the piano is taught to as many as are willing to take the lessons.  We start with another group next week in a nearby stake.  We were able to award this family with a keyboard from the Harmon grant and we are positive, the keyboard will be used regularly.  We had the chance to meet the rest of the children in the family and are truly impressed with them all.  What a neat experience!

We even got word this week that our official release date in 2015 is February 5.  That kind of shocked me because of the time element of what we are working on.  Everything has been geared to the end of the school year which is the end of November, but we haven’t had time to even think about anything further than that.  We have passed our 6 month mark in the mission field which seems a little weird.  Time is flying but we still stop often and think of home and what is happening there.  We are not getting much communication from our children so many times we are left wondering what is happening.  Not sure why that happens, other than everyone is busy.  So we just keep working and trying to keep up our blog as our mission journal.  It is always nice when we hear something from home.

We continue to work with the TVET teachers, attend daily devotionals, meet with the administration and are currently trying to get budgets worked on, and equipment coming.  Last week, Steve tried to work in the woodworking shop to build 2 war clubs, ( pate kailau) for 2 young men in our stake.  It was actually an exercise in patience and futility working with equipment that didn’t have all the right tools or no equipment at all.  What would have taken a simple 30 minutes turned into total frustration on both our parts. 

When we met with the head of the education from the area this last week, all we could tell him was that even when the teachers are asked to teach with nothing, they still try.  Without manuals, they are blind folded and without proper equipment, they are handcuffed and expected to create projects and learning materials from nothing, equipment that is archaic, lesson manuals from the 1950’s using hand tools and methods.  We have been pretty frustrated with this and finally had a chance to express this to the head dude.  Bruce took our comments in stride and we are trying to find solutions, but it is so difficult with the hoops that must be jumped through both from the ministry of education here on the island and the church.  We appreciate the fact that the church is supporting the schools in the South Pacific, but the channels that must be bridged are overwhelming at times.  Oh well, we will just keep plodding along, praying  to have enough faith to get our jobs completed and the teachers/students well on their way to a good education.

For our senior missionary home evening, we invited Elder Fehoko (fay ho ko) and his wife, Tina, to come talk to us about Tongan history and his art.  Elder Fehoko is ”the master carver” of the South Pacific, who is also a counselor to President Tupou in the mission presidency.  He has an internet site that shows some of his work, I think it is titled Stephen Fehoko, Tonga.  It may have the words master carver in it, we still need to look it up.  His Tongan name is Sitiveni Fehoko.  He has art work all over the South Pacific and it is beautiful, big massive carvings that are cut out with a chain saw.  His wife also does a lot of small Tongan art work that we have purchased and sent to the kids, nativity sets made from coconut shells and tapa cloths. We visit their shop on a fairly regular basis, because they always has something new that they add to their collection.  Many art pieces are sent to New Zealand, Australia and I think Fiji and Europe.  He and his wife are really wonderful people that we have loved getting to know.  When Elder Anderson was here, President Fehoko and Tina, his wife, presented to Elder and Sister Anderson a carving of a hook that was in the design of a whale tail supported by dolphins and other sea animals carved from a dark hardwood, about 15”x30”.  It was absolutely stunning.  Sister Fehoko made a nativity set for them which was also beautiful and another set that was a setting of missionaries.  She makes a box that the sets slide into that is a work of art by itself.  That is next on our list of items to purchase before we leave Tonga.  I’m afraid we are going to have to send home our purchases in a crate; we are getting so many carvings, large by our standards, which we love.  I’m also not sure where we will display them since our bookcases are already covered with pieces by our in home artist.  I guess we will figure that out when we get home.

As I have been reading the scriptures, I had an “ah ha” moment  this morning.  I know I have read the book of Ether many times, but today the story about the brother of Jared really brought a new understanding to me about faith.  I think most of the time, I say I have faith, but do I really.  It certainly isn’t the same as the brother of Jared’s was.  Can you even imagine talking to the Savior face to face and have him reveal all the things that he is, what he has done and still be able to go on living on this earth with all the awful things that were happening at that time or even now.  I am doing a lot of pondering about my new insight.  There are so many things to learn from the Book of Mormon.  It is so important.  So, my children, please be faithful about reading the Book of Mormon with your families.  There are so many answers to help you with raising your children.  Please don’t deny them the privilege of gaining a testimony of the teachings found there.  I wish I had followed that counsel more as a young mother.  Now I am more experienced with a different perspective, so please take time to read as a family.  It really does help and does have the answers if you are willing to be humble and prayerful about what you are reading.