June 30, 2014

June 30, 2014

So much has happened that I hope I can remember it all.  We just returned from meetings in Fiji  from the TVET summit which involved the area directors, HOD’s and Principals from each school in the South Pacific.  We left Monday, 23 June to fly to Fiji and we were extremely surprised to see how mountainous and how big the island was, at least from the air.  We also found out that Fiji has a dry side and a wet side.  We went to Nadi, which is actually pronounced, Nandi, the d is the nd sound.  Our hotel was close to the airport, but because we arrived after dark there was no way to see the landscape.  We had a very pleasant surprise the next morning, to see all of the flowers, same but different from Tonga’s flowers.  We also saw a distinct difference in the appearance of the people.  There is a lot of influence from the people who came from India.  Many people were very tall and slender, with black very kinky, short hair.  Most Tongans have long, usually a more straight dark brown to black hair.  However that is not always the case.  As I make that statement I realize that I can think of many people who don’t fit the description I just gave.  Most Tongans have a stocky body, more compact, but very muscular.  We met some very kind, beautiful people who impressed us very much, others, not so much.  There is also the example of the upper middle class and the very poor.  We only got to see the city part of Nadi, so we did not get to meet any of the villagers.  Apparently, on Fiji there is a stark difference between the have’s and have not’s.  We were met with many people who begged for “coins” from us which made it very difficult to walk downtown, the one and only time we were finished with the meetings on Friday. 

The downtown area, looked metropolitan from the street, and had some surprising items in their stores.  When we went into a store called Jack’s, we saw some exceptional pieces of wood art, which left Steve drooling over the wood.  I think though that I can safely say that we were all drooling over the art work.  Of course, there were the usual tourist items, but all in all there was a lot of beautiful art work.  The only problem though was the concern about how to get some of it from Fiji to Tonga, then Tonga to home.  We thought about sitting in the pots and then seat belting us in the pots.  The wood was gorgeous.  In fact, when we went back to another Jack’s, we asked if there was any way to get a piece of the wood.  The gentleman who waited on us, found a piece from the place where they do their woodwork and brought it to our hotel room that night.  What a nice thing to do, we were truly amazed at his willingness to help us out.  So now, we have another blank piece of wood, which I can’t remember what the name is.  It is light with spalting in it, dark lines that make an interesting contrast.  Steve is going to make a lidded book from it.  He is just itching to get working on it.  But first he has to teach a class starting again tonight and we have family home evening to get ready for.  We have some students from PNG, Papa New Guinea, who will be talking to us about their country, showing us some of the native dances from the area.  I get to make dessert for 30+ people.  We also have dentists and family from the US who have volunteered to help at the dental clinic here.  They brought their families.  The kids were in primary with me yesterday, a real eye opener for them.  They found out that church is church no matter where they are, the language  and the skin color may be different, but what they learn is the same.

We have had several opportunities for missionary musical firesides.  For the most part, these are very spiritual experiences, only lasting about an hour.  However, we went to one fireside that still has us wondering about that experience.  The evening started out like all the rest, other than we were having it in a building that is used for Tongan cultural events.  The building was huge, high rounded ceiling with a thatched roof.  We were surprised when we walked in it to see the timbers and methods of lashing.  We were also surprised to see how many people were there, plus there was a brass band that was playing some very nice music.  I was impressed with their sound.  The first thing that got my attention was the fact that there was a sound system set up with an electric, digital piano for entertainment, which as I think about it now, this was the gathering place for the performances that the school puts on weekly.

As we started the meeting, we were given a program that had at least 10 items listing speakers plus musical numbers.  Unfortunately, the programs were very poor in quality so it was hard to read them.  We realized after we got started that the program had changed, and instead of 10 items, there was about 20 instead.  We were in for the endurance test of our lives.  Most of the speakers spoke in Tongan, with no interpreters, and there were some very interesting musical numbers, plus dances.  We started the program at 7 ended about 10 with refreshments served after that we did not stay for.  By about 8:30, after we had listened to a young woman who spoke English and did the “praise the Lord” talk in English, then watched a Tongan  dance, we definitely knew we were in trouble because less than half of the listed items had been completed.  We listened to prayers that were a shouting match up word to Heaven, hands extended and everything.  I have to admit, I opened my eyes to see who these people were talking to, I couldn’t believe that they were actually praying.  This was not a quiet LDS Tongan prayer that you could hardly hear; it was a yelling match of words. ( We later learned that the minister was praising the missionaries in his prayer, kind of a funny way to praise!) I was afraid that we were going to get struck down.  None of the audience had their eyes closed or arms folded; they were just watching the person giving the prayer.  Elder Funaki, who is from Tonga but who has taught at BYU-H for 37 years, was called from the audience to talk for a few minutes… this was in addition to the already lengthy program.  His remarks were excellent, those that he translated to English.  The mission President, also gave a good talk, some of which he also spoke in English.  Our musical numbers were good, the only problem I had was that I couldn’t see the music, the lighting was so bad.  Luckily I had checked on power for the piano before the meeting, so at least the piano played.  The piano player didn’t do so well.  Next time, I will check the lighting.  We decided that we would be talking about this fireside for months to come after we finally escaped.

At the Presidents dinner though, the following Sunday, Sister Tupou gave us something different to think about in regards to the above mentioned fireside.  She told us about how she and President Tupou had prayed about the fireside.  President Tupou said he was reprimanded for complaining about the length of the fireside and what was included in the fireside.  He was told that these people don’t know any different and it is up to the missionaries to show them a better way.  That is what missionary work is about.  I sat there and thought, oh my goodness, I really did complain a lot about what happened at that fireside, so if Heavenly Father was displeased with the President, what was he thinking about me.  It was another learning experience, another lesson to be learned.  We have been to another fireside the following week that was exceptionally good.  The Relief Society teachers sang some amazing musical numbers, there was a translator who actually did more than just breathe, and the testimonies from new members were good.  We did well with our musical numbers and I felt the spirit, a whole different experience from the last fireside.  A member of the mission presidency spoke, Elder Kaufusi, who is married to one of the counselors at Liahona and he is a convert to the church.  She is called “big Vika, versus little Vika” who is also a counselor at the school.  We love them both. To top it all off, the meeting was only 1 hour.  Hurrah!

Now, back to the meetings we attended in Fiji.  Both Steve and I had presentations that were assigned in Fiji.  We had both worked really hard on the preparation for these and they went well.  However, after I printed my talk off Monday morning before we left, I checked carefully to make sure it was in the computer case so that it would be where with our other papers and where I needed it.  Only problem with that was that I put it with my computer which I had decided not to take.  Monday night, when I was thinking about not wanting to look at it because I was sick of it, I went to the computer bag, checked out all the papers, but couldn’t find my talk.  I went through everything, every single paper at least twice, and then got this awful thought in my mind.  My talk was with my papers in my computer that was sitting on the couch at home that I decided not to take  because of the weight of the computer.  I simplified.  Too bad it took me many hours to recapture what I had written.  Good thing was that I had with me in my Ipad, the books and the conference talks that I had taken my talk from, most of them underlined.  However, the talk took on a life of its own, after many prayers.  I could not type it out, I had to hand write and my writing, by the end of the evening, looked pretty bad.  I was lucky the next day that I could even read it.  Steve and I thought about just trading places, since his talk was to be given on Thursday, but all I could think about was, the talk is still pretty close in my mind and it would be better to just get it over with, since we didn’t know if the assigned days had a theme to them.  I figured Heavenly Father could only work on my brain for so long.  Thankfully, many prayers later, I did give the talk.  I felt good about it after it was done, soooo…. Then Steve continued to worry about his until Thursday.  By the time, he gave his talk, he really wondered what he had on his mind when he wrote it.  He was still working on it until about an hour and a half before we left on Monday.  But a least he made it to Fiji with his talk.  He gave an excellent presentation on teaching, I was super proud of him.  I could see why he was such a good teacher.  We saw many great presentations given by the TVET missionaries.  The meeting was a huge success, we came away with a new determination to get the problems worked out with the programs.  Our school is the largest in the South Pacific and we had the most completed as far as programs go, with lots of things we still need to change and add to the programs.  We were later thanked by the Area Directors for our work and encouraged to keep working on what we were doing.  We came away tired, but energized to tackle the challenges ahead.  So much to do and so little time.

When we start thinking about all the things that need to be done by November, we realize that time is flying.  I know that I keep talking about that but; reality doesn’t set in until we start thinking about our timeline and the work that needs to be completed.  We are in the planning stages for the November, graduation ball that Steve is helping with. That hasn’t changed much since he retired. For some reason, he just keeps on doing the dance decorations, at least the framework for the decorations.  He just had a meeting the Ola, who is the chairman of the committee and they have talked about her plans and his challenges.  They really go all out, it’s hard to think about these are the things we got involved with when we first got here and that a year is coming around in August.  Wow, time does fly when you are having fun.

We finally had to say our goodbyes to the Aland’s on Friday.  I felt like I was losing my best friend.  They were excited to finally get back to Auckland and to get their new job started.  We having been putting off our good-bye’s but the time finally came for Marvin K Mooney to go home. We will miss them.  We are trying to figure out a way to take time in Auckland to visit with them, so we are planning ahead on how to combine our report with them, then do some sight-seeing in Auckland.  I now know how the young missionaries feel when they leave a best friend companion at transfer time.  We really found a connection with them; we have planned for them to visit with us when they return from their mission next June.  We are looking forward to renewing our friendship at that time.