Wow, another week has passed with so many things going on. It's hard sometimes to go back to try to figture out what has happened. We fed the missionaries last night and this am. We have 2 Elders who actually come from this island, even the same ward. The other interesting thing is that one will be leaving in 2 months, the other just got here. The youngest missionary speaks much better English and has all the enthusiasm tht we expect new missionaries to have. The more experienced missionary is very shy and not at all confident with his English. We spent a lot of time talking to him about how important English is. Elder `Ahokava wants to go to school when he completes his mission, so I hope he is able to get all of it figured out. We do have a PEF couple coming in the next month, so I hope he can get connected with them before he is released.
We took the time last week to visit a TVET teacher in the hospital. He has been very ill with systemic boils, which means he's got them all over his body, back, legs, arms. Moale teaches the automotive classes and is also very shy. He is much younger than he looks, 54 and looks about 70. He has had a hard life. Moale was pretty surprised when he saw us show up at the hospital, we couldn't stay long because we had a guide that needed to get back to her job. He will probably be there for about a month. Boils are really bad here because of the water and diet. The hospital was different and like all things Tongan, not planned out very well. Most people say don't get sick and go the hospital. Patients family has to stay with the patient, bring in all their own food and bed linens. It was pretty interesting, seeing what we saw. The hospital didn't surprise me though, Sister Mitchell had warned me about it.
We also looked up a lady that we met at one of our music lessons, who was the assistant administrator at the Queen Salote college of nursing. We were given the grand tour of the nursing school and a tour of the hospital. At that time, we also got meet the administrator of the nursing school. We had a very good talk and learned alot about what happens with government politics. I guess when you pay for a college to function, you get to decide who gets admitted to the nursing school. The government only takes the top students from the Tonga High School who in turn take their top students from the public high schools. So the elite students go to Tonga High School and these students get the first choice at admission to nursing school if that's what they want. We were also given a personal invite to the graduation that was held of Friday.
We attended the graduation which was also attended by the current Queen who awarded the diplomas. There was a lot of pomp and circumstance, bowing and scraping and a long program with 23 items on it. We had to be in our seats by 630 to be ready for the Queens arrival. I must say though that the program really was pretty good, other than too many people like to hear themselves talk. One visitor from Australia couldn't quit talking, other people gave their talks in both Tongan and English which made for a long evening. Luckily, we had to leave about 10 because Steve was sick. I say the lucky part, tongue in cheek, because he really was sick. I don't know how high his fever was, but his clothes were wringing wet, cheeks flushed, ears were almost glowing they were so hot, he really was burning up. He left early, Sister Mitchell, the mission nurse and I, followed after him, but to our dismay, we couldn't get the car out because someone had blocked us in with crazy parking. So Sister Mitchell and I went back to hear the rest of the program, while Steve tried to rest in the car. We went to stand at the back of the assembly hall, where an elderly lady and her husband were sitting on chairs. When they saw us, they promptly moved off their chairs and sat on the floor. We were so embarrassed that they would move and insist that we take their seats. We didn't stay there long because we were so embarrassed. When we decided to go, a car had moved so we were able to get out and we left the graduation by about 10. We heard that the program went to about 11pm. We were glad to get home and go to bed. Steve is still trying to recover from what ever it was that he had, still has a lingering cough, but the headache, muscle aches and pains have pretty much gone away. Sister Mitchell reported that many missionaries have been sick with t he same symptoms.
Scott Wilde, the assistant director of church education is here this week visiting the church schools. We had a devotional with the whole student body, middle and high school on Tuesday. The Tongans go all out when they have a special visitor. The students are no exception. The head boy, and I don't know what that equates to in an English school, gave an excellent talk. He is in our ward and is a super young man. He is one that you can picture as a bishop, stake president or even a mission president. He is really sharp. Bother Wilder gave an outstanding talk at the student body assembly. I took notes, but of course, I don't have them with me, and a senior moment has taken over my mind. All I can remember is that I was going to remember his talk. Dah!
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