September 9, 2014

Last night for family home evening, we learned about making tapa cloth.  That was quite an experience.  I am proud to say, Steve is a great pounder and I am a great looker at what other people are doing kind of person, who wants to see all the projects and be a butterfly.  I couldn't even take pictures, so when Steve was working, I gave the camera to Sandy Hamblin and she took pictures for me. 

Tapa cloth is made from a Mulberry tree.  The bark is pealed off the tree and then the bark is stripped off the fiber that is used for the tapa.  The tapa membrane is then soaked in the ocean to soften it for about 2 weeks, then laid on the ground to bleach the color out of it.  This process can take up to 2-3 weeks.  Many ladies work on stripping the bark from the Mulberry plant to earn money for their families.  The whole process is very time consuming.  The strips are then pounded with a mallet on a log until the fiber is soft, pliable, then pounded into strips.  There are right and wrong ways of pounding the tapa, and we saw examples of both with the missionaries.  Steve pounded out 2 lengths of tapa, then we took it home, put it on the floor to stay straight over night, then on the clothes line today for a short time so it would dry.  Next week, we will glue the fiber together and start painting our own designs on the cloth.  Our teacher is Mele Ofa Uhila, who teaches the Tongan cultural classes at Liahona.  They are trying to preserve the culture here as many of the old ways are disappearing as the young people  are not learning these crafts from their parents, grandparents and do not realize how important their heritage is.  When Mele Ofa told us to take our tapa cloths home and put them under our mattresses, all of the senior missionaries were thinking we needed to put the tapa between the mattresses and box springs.  Wrong!  What she really meant was do the Tongan thing, put the tapa beneath the mattress that is on the floor.  We just used the floor in the living room and put the cushions from the couch on the floor to keep the tapa flat.  We did not sleep on the floor.  Mele furnished all the mallets and the logs for pounding.  We had a few surprises though when we started the pounding on the logs and many, many cock roaches started running from the logs.  Senior missionaries can squeal and jump like little kids when bugs start running all over the room.  We had many more roaches running around again when the logs were moved outside after we finished pounding the tapa cloths.  It would be an interesting dance choreography for someone who could do something like that.   Just a thought.

We had another surprise this week at Sacrament meeting.  A member of our bishopric and the clerk came to our house early Sunday morning to let us know that we would be having Sacrament meeting with the other Liahona YSA ward at 9.  We didn't think much about it since the students have been gone because of term break.  When we got to church, it was fun to see the other ward members and visit with them.  We were just waiting for the announcements to get started when I looked back of where we were sitting and there was 2 Stake Presidents escorting Prince Ata into our Sacrament meeting.  We had no idea that this was going to happen.  Apparently others knew, because they were dressed in traditional clothing, which is becoming a thing of the past.  Steve always wears his traditional clothing.  I had on a pulitaha, but wasn't wearing my kiakia which completes the traditional clothing.  We had a very strong meeting, by that I mean, very spiritual meeting.  It was fast and testimony meeting at which the prince bore his testimony.  Apparently, the prince has been holding family home evenings with his family where he teaches the lesson.  He has taught the staff at the palace and is going to teach  his cousins this last week.  There are many things that have to ben completed before Prince Ata will be baptized, like get permission from his parents.  He is 29 so is capable of making his own decisions, however, he still wants his parents consent and blessings.  He continues with the missionaries teaching him and the President Kupu reported the Prince is reading his scriptures, staying involved and has a firm testimony.  There are many things to consider when you are a ruler of a nation, even a little one like Tonga.

We have started up with the music lessons again.  This time we are teaching lessons at the center stake.  We had about 20 students, mixed group of adults, older teenagers and a couple of young ones that their mom's just knew they needed lessons.  One young man who was 12 has a background in music from his dad who just recently died.  I didn't have the heart to say no, so he will be in the class.