August 27, 2014

August 27, 2014

As I have been thinking about what to write this week, the word that comes to mind is meetings, meetings, meetings.  It seems like all we have done is have scheduled meetings, unscheduled meetings, school meetings, church meetings, missionary meetings, organized meetings, impromptu meetings, long meetings, short meetings,  inside meetings, outside on the sidewalk meetings, in my mind meetings, what I wish I’d said meetings and what I wish I hadn’t said meetings.  Now I think I am waxing philosophical about meetings, I wish Dr. Seuss were around, he would probably write a book about meetings.  You name it, we’ve had meetings.

So what have we learned?  We have learned that a lot of things have been put to rest in the last year, but there are twice that many things that now need to be resolved and we are not going to see the completion of all the things we got started.  So now I could start on things I suppose, if I wanted to write about things.  Things I can do, things I can’t, things that are hard, things that are easy, things that have an end in sight, things that will go on forever, things that matter, things that don’t, things that are pretty, things that aren’t, things that are relevant, things that don’t make sense, things that go as planned, things that don’t go as planned, things that develop a mind and will of their own, things that make me happy, things that make me sad.  So enough already of things.

I am really on a roll today.  Our life has had its ups and downs, but this week has definitely been a highlight.  We are seeing the beginning of some good happenings in the curriculum and in the TVET programs at Liahona.  Bruce Yerman, our area director has been here since Friday and we’ve had a chance with the ITEP couples to have some bonding time, to discuss what is happening and what we see as progress at Liahona.  We finally feel like the area is listening to our concerns and are now allowing the school to develop programs that will work here.  For years, Liahona has been paying fees to certifying institutions for their students to qualify for certification, diploma’s Etc. so the students can go on for further education.  After attending the TVET summit in Fiji, the Area people finally understand that Liahona is capable of being its own certifying institution.  Many of our TVET teachers are qualified, ready, willing and able to take on the responsibility of meeting the criteria of the Tongan government to take this step.  We are seeing the fire in the eyes and in the belly of these teachers to take their classes and curriculum’s to a higher level.  There are many students who are ready to take this step.  There are also many who are not, but with help can also step up and advance in their education here at Liahona.  With the self-reliance program that is being promoted by the church, Liahona is ready and willing to take the next steps needed to make the move.  The forefathers of this institution had a lot of foresight in their planning because of the buildings and the surrounding area that has been leased to the church for 99 years by the government.  This is the only school on the island that has the physical support in the way of buildings and property and the capability of working to advance the further education of adults.  The area is looking at offering adult education classes here at the campus when we can get the teachers totally qualified to teach them.  We are pretty excited about the vision of what can happen here.  We keep hearing that “things are falling into place miraculously”, but we all know that Heavenly Father is perfectly aware of his plans; we are just in the right place at the right time.  It’s been a long week, but also a good week.  Much has been learned, but we also know that much still needs to take place to have the vision become a reality.

The students are involved in term testing this week.  In case anyone decides to complain about end of year tests, the students here have 3 hour blocks for their term tests; 2 tests for 4 days, 3 hours each. No getting out of any classes because of good grades.  All students take term tests to be qualified to take the external government test at the end of the school year that they have to take in November to qualify for, to get into a government school of higher learning or a government job.  And they have to take their tests in English, a second language for most of them.  I can’t imagine having to do what they do.  I can only imagine what it would be like for me to take a test in Tongan.  That’s a very bad thought with a equally poor outcome.

We have had a very cool last 2 weeks; the Tongans say that the weather has been ‘very cold’.  Winter coats, hoodies are common in the mornings.  Of course, we are enjoying the ‘cold’ weather because we know that soon it is going to be very hot.  The forecast is also predicting a drought in Tonga which is making many people very nervous because of the food supply here that depends on rain.  I have been told that the situation is becoming critical in Ha’apai where cyclone Ian hit earlier in the year.  Apparently the government has been sending fresh water to them already for drinking.  I haven’t seen it, but I’ve been told that government water trucks have been on campus, pumping water to send to Ha’apai.  Our bishop even announced it one Sunday in Sacrament meeting.  I was a little surprised by that. 

The kids love singing ‘Once There was a Snowman’ in primary.  They have no idea what snow is like or feels like, since they don’t have ice here.  People don’t drink cold drinks with ice.  Ice is a preplanned event of great magnitude.  It’s always funny when the presidency calls on me to explain what snow and ice feel like.  The only they can relate it to is how the ocean feels in the winter.  The water is cold.  It’s also cold when the water heater goes out like ours did this week.  Actually, I am the one that got the cold, trickle of water shower on Sunday.  Steve had the water stop for a brief moment on Saturday but it started right up again.  I had a pencil thin trickle of warm water long enough to shampoo my hair, then had to finish the rest of my ‘shower’ with a cold water trickle. I’m glad it was just a ‘trickle’ of cold water.  Of course, the water isn’t that cold, but…. Steve got hot water from the stove.  Monday, I had to heat water for my bath, which did feel good. I got wet and I got clean.  Steve took a sink bath.  Monday, the guys came to fix the water heater, but ended up making us a make shift water heater to get some hot water into our apartment.  The hot water and water pressure felt wonderful on Tuesday, we were very grateful.  Etu (Ed) stopped me today to ask how the water was.  When I told him we had hot water he laughed and said, ‘your temporary solution may be your permanent solution.  You know how Tonga is; it takes 3 months to get a temporary fix, then 6 months for them to come back with the permanent fix.’  He’s right; we will probably be long gone before the permanent fix is permanent.

Life is good here.  We finally feel like we aren’t just spinning our wheels.  We have accomplished a few things, but have many irons in the fire.  We are trying to get things organized for our replacements.  That sounds really odd to even be thinking about replacements.  Of course, we keep getting asked if we are going to get an extension and quite frankly that surprises me that anyone even jokingly asks that question.  I guess my answer to them is we wouldn’t want the next TVET couple to miss out on the kind of wonderful experience that we have had. There is still so much to do.  We have big events the next 3 months to look forward to and much to complete the last 2 months with the curriculums.  Of course, we are really looking forward to having Cyndee and Margaret come to Tonga in October.  We have lots of things planned, hope the weather cooperates.  It will be fun getting to show them what our lives have been like since we got here.  We look forward to having them meet our favorite people here.