April 29, 2014

April 29, 2014

Yesterday I spent all day composing my blog for the week, finished it at home last night, hit save and realized early this am that I didn't have the internet on so it couldn't be saved.  So now I have the second book of Bonnie that will probably be greatly condensed from the original version.  I do remember that Steve had been working on the preparation for a class that he is teaching called Reading in the Content area.  After I read a few things that he needed to teach, I wasn't sure that I'd even be able to write something that would make any sense.  I had started writing my thoughts down when we had to leave to pick up 2 sets of missionaries who were flying in from New Zealand.  The Woods are ITEP missionaries who will be working with the middle schools and will be stationed at Liahona replacing the Johnsons who left while we were in Vava`u.  The Simmons are also an ITEP couple who will be working in Vava`u who flew out today.  We picked up their luggage, distributed it to their various places of residences. We had dinner with them last night and spent time with them trying to explain all the things they might need to know.  Steve and Elder Aland took them downtown this am to shop for essentials.  We all had lunch together then dispersed to our various destinations.  I am so glad to be past the deer in the headlights feeling and not starting all over again.

We have had several interesting events happen since we returned from Vava`u Thursday.  We were able to spend some time on a beach Saturday with other missionary couples that was a new experience for the rest of them.  We hiked down to a beach by the natural bridge, which is a pretty interesting experience in and of itself.  The climb down to the beach is fairly steep, the trail is most exposed roots and coral formations that you get to climb over and around and through and so on.  The trail over head is completely covered with trees, vines, lots of green things.  If it rains, this is not a trail, its a river.  Tonga doesn't have rivers, but this is one not to be used if its raining much.  The first time we climbed down it, I knew I was going to die.  This time, the rest of the missionaries wondered if that was going to happen to them.  We also do not go down this trail during high tide because the water comes right up to the bottom edge of the sand and coral.  When the tide is out however, the view is spectacular and the climb is well worth the effort.  The water was low enough that we were able to wade through the water to the coral reef that surrounds the island and around the high rugged coastline.  I loved being able to stand on the high part of the reef while the waves crashed below me.  The coral reef is pretty much submerged when the tide is high.  The roar of the crashing waves is wonderful and I love it, but only at low tide.

We watched a native man hunt for fish, clams and other see goodies while we were there.  He was thrilled to have his picture taken, holding onto an octopus that he had caught.  I couldn't stay far enough away, but still wanted to see what he had caught. I haven't figured out how come they eat Octopus.  It was a pretty slimy looking critter, probably about 8-10" long.  The fisherman had a long pole that he used to poke into the deeper tide water pools, finding things such as clams and other sea critters.  I was glad to eat a lunch of chips and other junk food.  We had taken coconut, freshly chunked, almonds and craisins the we love.  Wash that down with cold water and that's about as good as it gets.  Some of the other missionaries were smart enough to bring sandwiches.  That didn't even cross my mind, but oh well.

After the beach, we had Stake Conference at Navu Stake Center.  As we were listening to the proceedings, we noticed something happening to the floor.  The floor felt like it was rocking, then it felt like an ocean wave.  It was really strange and it took a few minutes to figure out what was happening.  I looked up at the ceiling to see if the lights or fans were moving and noticed that we were sitting under the support beams that hold up the roof and hold the building together.  Then I got a little concerned.  I looked at Steve and the Alands, Marsha had just accused John of making the benches move with nervous legs had told him to hold still.  Then we realized that we had just experienced an earthquake.  We were apprehensive, but about the time we realized what was happening, it quit.  That didn't stop the question of --- is that going to happen again, are we safe, what do we do if it does start again, and then finally, well at least we are in church doing something good.  Sister Tupou who was the next speaker, expressed our thoughts as she talked about her fears, then realized that there was not a look of concern of the faces of the Tongans in the audience.  Apparently this is an almost everyday occurrence.  We have only felt a tremor once before when we were being set apart as officiators at the temple.  President Hopoate spent at least a half hour talking with us at the time, telling us about the scriptures that had come to mind when he was giving us our blessings.  At that time, he just told us, "isn't this a good place to be when something like that is happening outside".  All I remember thinking was, was that really an earthquake?  Wow.  So anyway, another adventure we lived through and could tell about. We found out later, that the quake was a 6.2 on the Richter scale, was about 40 km away and about 43 km deep in the ocean.  Apparently this kind of quake activity is common here. Interesting experience.

I have been reading the new book about President Eyring that I have thoroughly enjoyed.  There are several chapters about his experiences as President of Ricks College as it was known as in our college days.   He became President in about 1970,71 I think?  He was the president when the Teton dam collapsed.  The author of the book did a really good job explaining and telling the story about the Eyrings.  I loved that fact that we knew many of the people that were talked about in his Rexburg days.  He had to come to the college after President Clark had been there for 27 years.  President Eyring had many challenges to go through to help expand the vision of Ricks.  He also was the commissioner of Education when the announcement was made to change Ricks to BYU Idaho and to become a four year university.  The groundwork was put into motion during the time President Eyring was President of Ricks.  I loved the book and there were many things that I read and then reread.  I plan on reading it again.  Its a good read, hard to put down.

President Hopoate and his wife were released as temple president in November and have just recently received a call to serve in Papa New Guinea, Guam.  He spoke at our home evening last night and I was totally captivated by the talks he and his wife gave.  They have served in many leadership jobs in Tonga since they returned to his roots in 1974-5.  They met at BYU Hawaii, moved to Tonga after they graduated and she finally decided that she would marry him.  They have moved all around the South Pacific and raised a family of 8 children. She could remember dates that just amazed me. I can't remember birthdates so for her to remember when he was called to what position and when just astounded me.  President Hopoate told a story last night that reminded me of a similar incident when we were traveling with children.  He  told the story of coming home from a long church assignment.  He had called his wife prior to his departure to the airport to bring a truck because he was bringing home some big boxes.  He was so excited to get home and his family was so excited to get him there.  They loaded up, the kids in the back with the boxes, mom and dad in the cab.  They lived only about 3 miles from the airport, so it didn't take long to get home.  When they got home and were unpacking the truck, their neighbor came over to the house and told him that the police had called and needed to talk to them.  They called back the police wondering what was wrong, found out that they had left one of their children at the airport.  So back they go, and there was their young son standing crying with a melting ice cream cone in his hands.  The young son had run to get an ice cream cone while his family was loading the truck without telling his parents what he was doing.    They didn't know where he had gone or that he had even gone.  What they saw when they returned was a very sad little boy who had forgotten all about how important his ice cream was when he couldn't find his family. He pleaded with them, "don't ever leave me alone again". Elder Hopoate then related that to us and families. 

 I had to take it a little further and think of the time that Michael and Krista came up missing on a similar family expedition and the panic that we felt when we couldn't find them.  We all know how we feel about our families.  Do we want them to be alone? So we know that Heavenly Father will never abandon us, but we, in our quest for worldly things, walk away from that which is light and good, that makes us safe.  How do we relate that to teaching our children, or even how do we make  our own decisions and for what?  What choices are we making and where are they leading us?  Are we making choices that put us where we need to be?  We have many choices that we should be very careful and prayerful about making. We need to consider, do we want to be alone, will this decision make that happen?  What do we need to do to keep our families forever?  It is simply a matter of choices.