July 20, 2014

July 20, 2014

Life continues to whiz by, and as I think about what has happened in the last two weeks, I realize that I should have taken notes and not depended on my memory.  Too many things happen and the days fly by so fast. 

The 4^th of July was a different sort of a day for us, because I still can’t wrap my head around this being the month of July in Tonga, since itis supposed to be winter here.  There aren’t any pending celebrations except for the king’s birthday which doesn’t mean a lot to us.  We do know that the King is in Vava’u for his birthday, so he won’t even be here.  We did spend time at the beach, ate a picnic dinner with the missionaries.  However, we were supposed to roast hot dogs, but after we went searching for hot dogs, Steve couldn’t even buy hot dogs when he saw what the ingredients were.  I don’t think he reads the ingredients in the states, but when he saw that beef hotdogs were mostly made of mutton here, he decided he didn’t want to chance it.  We’ve had samples of those and they are awful.  So we just ate all the other goodies that the missionaries brought to share and they were super tasty.  We have a senior couple who love to organize activities, so we had a sing along around the campfire. Elder Wood had a fire going in a cave that was a coral formation overhang.  We couldn’t build a fire on the beach because we have had some terrific winds here and we were afraid of putting the island on fire.  When we moved back into the trees and bush, the fire spot was perfect for a fire.

The waves that were crashing into the beach were as always magnificent, awe inspiring.   I took some time and walked down the beach to a pennisula of rocks where I could sit and just think and watch the water.  I needed the quiet time and I had time to reflect.  I thought a lot about mom and dad and family, concerns that have been bothering us for a while.  I also had a chance to count the blessings we have received since deciding on a mission.  My time of reflection brought me back to thinking about my siblings, mom and dad’s family, cousins that we really don’t know.  Then I thought about my own kids, wondering what was going on with them.  The only information we really get is on facebook and that is a totally inadequate way of corresponding.  An occasional picture comes through of the grandkids which we love seeing, but we do feel like we are left out of the loop of family life.  I wish that we, my brothers and sisters and cousins, knew each other better.  I had managed to keep in contact with Marilyn and Roger Luthy a little, so at least when I had my eyes checked, I got to visit with Marilyn.  Roger, we used to see at BMC dinners and work stuff, so I at least keep up with information about Shirley and Kay, but nobody else.  I wonder if we have to die before we can get acquainted with our relatives.

Today we were asked a question by one of the teachers here who has an extremely talented 14 year old daughter who has a voice to die for.  Sula, one of the home ec teachers has a brother who lives in Alaska that wants to take Seidi to Alaska so that she can get some vocal training. I’m not so sure what Alaska has to offer in the way of voice training though.  Sula is so conflicted about the decision of what to do for Seidi.  Seidi of course wants to go to America, but she’s only 14.  As we were sitting in an assembly today, all I could think of was the difference of the education system here and in the USA.  Our US schools have so many advantages not available here. ( I guess that also depends on where you are.)  However, the US is pulling away from anything spiritual.  It feels like the Gadianton Robbers have taken over there.  Here, prayers can be said at school, scriptures are taught, honesty, morality, decency are a major part of campus life. Yes, these young people are protected, their way of live is so much slower, not a lot of hustle and bustle.  At 14, how many kids are strong enough to live in the world and yet live out of the world if they are not living in a strong family unit.  I guess I want to protect her from what happens to many Tongans when they go to the US.  However, with all my thoughts, I am not Seidi’s parent, and mom, dad and Seidi  will have to make this decision.  After being involved with an assembly, we went outside and watched and felt the spirit of the students as they hurried to class.  Tonga does have its problems, but it has a lot of strengths and wonderful people who are trying to make life a little better.  Then my thought goes to what’s better, peace, happiness, or hustle and bustle, money, education.  The thoughts go round and round with no solution.

We are continuing with our work in educating teachers.  Steve is teaching classes which he enjoys. There’s lots of preparation time involved in what Steve is teaching, but now the teachers each have a section to present.  Although many of the teachers get very nervous about having to do a presentation, because of the English requirement, they don’t give themselves enough credit for the good jobs that they do.  He is always impressed with their work.  We have also been observing teachers and classrooms.  I got the assignment to visit a teacher in seminary.  Wow, I was impressed with the teacher and the students.  Most of the students were engaged in the conversations, but one girl kept laying her head on her desk.  I started wondering about her family, what kind of situation she came from.  Many of the students don’t get breakfast and sometimes no lunch.  Many kids here also live with relatives, not necessarily with parents.  Some situations are not good.  I suppose the same applies to US students also.  It’s sad to see what happens to the kids in any country.  I was asked at the end of the class to speak a few words.  That was an interesting thought which caught me a little unprepared.  However, I made it through and even managed to tie my thoughts into what they had been studying that day, Alma 33-36 about prayers.

We had a fun family home evening when it was our turn to take charge.  We have several students from Papua New Guinea who live in the dorm who are in our ward.  We asked them to come to home evening and talk about their country.  The missionaries asked questions, a bijillion at least, we learned a lot about their country.  PNG, short for Papua New Guinea, is still pretty uncivilized.  The people do not travel village to village without being in a large group.  The country is still very unsettled, they have the gadianton robbers in full force.  The PNG students talked about snakes and alligators as being common place critters, they have to deal with.  Yuck!  The island is mountainous; the people that live in the mountains are taller than those who live on the plains.  The languages are as numerous as the villages, at least 800, but each village has a pidgin language.  I think each one of the students said that their parents each had a different language that was spoken in their villages, so the children sometimes had 2 different languages to learn in their homes, plus English in school.  One of the 8 students attending Liahona had been at Liahona for a year, the rest just started school this year.  When the PNG students come to school, they live on campus until they have graduated from school.  The students have families that they live with when school is out for summer vacation, related or unrelated.  Catherine, the young lady who has been here the longest also spoke the best English and was the tallest.  These young people then performed some typical dances from their island which were quite an athletic event.  I was amazed at the agility, speed and grace as they danced. They got quite a work out. The dances kind of reminded us of line dances, only with fast, fancy footwork.  It really was a fun evening, which we enjoyed a whole bunch.  We are now the resident PNG gathering place, when the students need to recharge their computers and put food in the fridge so they can actually keep it safe and available for them.  They also make sure they speak to us when they see us on campus, instead of looking at their feet.

We were sorry to hear about Summer’s grandmother’s death.  We had the chance to talk to Michael and summer.  It is really hard to have someone you love die, it is also extremely hard when family members are at odds with each other.  Death is hard enough alone without having to deal with unhappy family dynamics.  We tried to lesson some of the pain that they are feeling, but unfortunately, no one can take away the feelings of loss.  Time does tend to soften the pain, but we all have to make our own decisions about how to handle the loss.  Life is not fair, but… we do what we can and go on.  Alma 34:41… have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions.

We have another missionary couple coming in today.  We have been a little apprehensive about what they will be like.  We live in a tight knit community, so I hope are all compatible.  I know I shouldn’t worry about that but we all come from different backgrounds, life experiences are different.  The unknown is scarey.  We really enjoyed the Alands, the Webbs and Sister Mitchell, it was really hard when they left.  However, we have found new friends and are enjoying our neighbors.  We are a diverse group of “oldsters” set in our ways, trying to make a difference in the lives of the students and teachers here in Tonga.  We are feeding the Holbrooks tonight with the Woods.  We are making pizza.  I’ve actually started to enjoy making it but most of all I enjoy eating it.  My pizza is much better than what can be bought here.  Besides that we love leftovers.  It’s a little harder here to go out to eat, but we do have a few favorite spots.

We still have many roads that we haven’t explored, so there is still much to do.  Steve is going to have a show and tell at the woodworking shop tonight, while the sisters learn how to make paper necklaces.  Sister Wood and I think we may go with the men to see what Steve creates on the lathe.  Hummm, will have to see what happens tonight.