February 1, 2015

February 1, 2015

We have just completed teacher in-service meetings, and the first days of school at Liahona.  Although the school year has flown by quickly, there seems to be a blur in activities that we have been involved in since school let out in November.  We had some very nice, well deserved quiet days after the holidays and now it doesn’t seem like school ever ended.  However, some of the students are new and we are getting acquainted with some of the new teachers.  Many changes have come to the TVET  program with the department splitting because of the numbers and we now have applied technology #1 and #2.  Maopa Finau who was the former HOD of TVET is now the HOD for applied tech#1 which is the soft trades, fashion design, cookery, tourism/hospitality and art.  Paula Moli is the HOD of applied tech#2, is a new hire teaching electronics from Vava’u, and heads up the carpentry, welding, drafting and automotive.  There were many changes in what classes the teachers were going to teach which didn’t get announced to them until about the last day of inservice.  That is one of the very difficult things that happen here at Liahona, classes and teachers are changed by administration, not necessarily by what the teachers background may be in.  Some of that is good, but I can’t imagine walking in and teaching a class that I have no knowledge or experience in.  But since that is the way of life here, the teachers just seem to take it in stride and go on.

Steve taught one of the in-service sessions on teaching truth.  He did an amazing job even though his session was after lunch and that is not the best teaching time of the day.  He worked very hard on his talk as he always does.  He had a visual aid that he had made that had three different shapes cut out of a piece of wood and gave the challenge to find one shape that would fill all of the spaces in those 3 holes.  He gave examples of how you would teach the students and what was actually the best way to get student involvement and learning.  He also gave an experience from his schooling that gave a negative of what could happen to a student who was not taught correctly.  I thought of all the students at Liahona who have had that experience, teachers who sit at their desks and watch their computers, students writing and talking and not being taught.  So the emphasis this year was teaching to the one, 90% teachers on feet and teaching, 10% sitting.  The administration is going to work on getting out of the office and observing classrooms.  The principal no has three assistants, so the goal is  one administrator in the office, and 3 out on campus for observations.   They are also setting up a new mentoring program which I think will help.

We have one teacher in the automotive department that was gone most of last year due to illness and consequently missed about 80% of the year.  Unfortunately for his students, the subs didn’t teach either so the students got very little instruction.  So the group of students got lost for the year.  We had another sub who came in at the end of the third term when one of the regular teachers decided to move to New Zealand with notice.  This sub, Spencer, went right to work learning about where the students were in their learning and set to work.  He had attended school at Liahona about 10 years ago and has been working in construction with his own business.  We loved having him around because he was such an asset to the school, always prompt, eager to teach and eager to learn.  We kept hoping that he would get hired as a teacher, although he also doesn’t have any post high school graduation requirements.  But he wants to get more education and is willing to be trained.  His wife is working on her bachelors degree in education and they are both hard workers.  Spencer did get hired as a substitute to help the art teacher who has a double load of students with no extra art teacher.  So Moeaki is teaching Spencer about Art and is overseeing Spencer and the extra Art class until they can find an art teacher.  The tail wags the dog here sometimes.

Viliami who is the carpentry teacher will be going to complete his certification training the end of April, so Spencer was supposed to cover for Viliami  the rest of the year.  We don’t know what will happen now with Spencer helping with the art classes.  The good thing is that Steve has worked with Spencer, Viliami and Moeaki earlier in the year teaching them how to use the new pieces of equipment that were delivered after school was completed last year.  These guys have art in their bones, so the scroll saw that was delivered plus the sanders and commercial vinyl cutter have just increased the capabilities of these art enthusiasts.  Steve feels really bad when he doesn’t have time to go ‘play’ or someone ‘to go play with’.  He has had some great times with these guys and has learned some new crafts himself.

Dengue fever has hit Tonga and many people have been very sick with it.  There is also another virus that is also working its way through the people here.  The heat and humidity complicate the healing process and many people have ended up in the hospital.  President Tupou got sick about 2 weeks ago and because he is such a hard worker, he tried to fight his fever, but ended up after a week in bed in the hospital with IV’s to rehydrate.  Many people do not like to drink water, so they get dehydrated.  The hospital has to send all blood work to New Zealand for analysis, so diagnosis is slow as is treatment.  When President Tupou went into the hospital, his wife and the Hamblins asked the missionaries to fast and pray for the President.  Elder Hamblin sent a note to Prince Ata, who the president has been teaching, about what was happening to the president.  Prince Ata called Elder Hamblin and offered to come to the mission office to pray for the president not knowing that he could just add the president to his prayers.  Elder Hamblin told him, sure just come, set up a time and they would have a special prayer for the president.  Well, we just happened to be at the mission office when Prince Ata arrived, so we were invited into the prayer circle for President Tupou.  As we were conversing, Elder Hamblin asked the Prince if he would like to give the prayer.  We were surprised that he accepted the offer.  I think he felt like he could because we were palangi’s and Elder Hamblin teaches the gospel essentials class that Prince Ata attends in his ward.  Although Prince Ata is still not a member by baptism, he really is a member.  He lives, loves and attends like a member.  Apparently there are still issues with his parents, the King and Queen.  Prince Ata spent the last month with the missionaries who taught him in the states, California, Alaska and Utah.  Prince Ata is becoming more comfortable with the members and they are starting to relax a little around him.  He just wants to be a part of the membership and be treated like anybody else. Being a noble is very hard work. He has a young cousin who is leaving for Manchester to serve his mission in 2 weeks, who looks just like him.

We got a surprise last Saturday and were asked to attend the baptism of a young man whose mom works at the service center and whose brother had been taking piano lessons from me until school ended for the year.  When we got to the church, there were people milling around waiting for the service to begin.  This also happens to be the ward that Prince Ata attends.  Anyway, the piano music person didn’t show up by the time the service started, so Supi, mom, asked me if I would play the music for the baptism.  Of course I said yes, how hard could that be, but when I got the piano, I about died.  The piano did turn on, the sustain pedal did not work.  The music stand was also broken and one of the musical numbers was to be taken from the children’s primary book, of which there were none in the chapel.  So, I tried to play the piano like an organ holding down some keys so that there was a hint of sustained notes.  I also had to use my IPad to hold the music in place on top of the piano so I could play and then I had to find the music on my IPad to be able to play the second musical number.  I noticed just as I got started on the primary song, that I only had 10% power left on my IPad.  It was so much fun!!??!!  We made it, then about the time we were finished, I noticed the real music lady in the audience.  This lady is one of the 2 people who is a really professional musician on the island and who can play anything and for anybody.  We just laughed about our musical experiences.  She also told me that no one even noticed how much fun I was having at the piano.  I was grateful for that.

After the baptism, we had a huge overload of cake and ice cream.  Nobody eats ice cream like the Tongans.  The cake was also a new experience.  It was called a marble cake, the colors being red, blue, green, yellow, orange, purple and brown.  The frosting was also many different colors.  Apparently they make many cakes of different colors, pour different layers of colors on top of each other, then swirl the cake batter in the pan.  It’s a pretty colorful cake and the longer it sits in the pan, the more moist it becomes.  This particular cake was made on Tuesday and according to Aleki, it hadn’t sat long enough, ‘too dry’ according to him.  We ate enough ice cream to last for several days in that setting, and were offered much more, many times.   It was so funny, the next week when we were in the service center, Supi came up to me and asked me how I liked the cake.  We laughed about the colors and she is going to get me the recipe.  I’m not sure though how moist the cake will get at home with our dry air.  I don’t think a cake will last that long at home anyway.

Heat, humidity and time have all managed to catch us unaware.  We have had to give our passports back to the mission office, so they can start working on return flights for us.  The heat and humidity have returned with a vengeance and we are longing for some cool air, knowing that when we get home, we will probably long for the heat and warm ocean breezes.  I don’t suppose there is a perfect place to live is there, where the weather is always nice?  Then I suppose that depends on what ‘nice’ is defined as.  So our thoughts have turned homeward again, wondering what it will be like and will we think of Tonga as just a dream.  Because we did not thnk about needing an extension on our visa when we extended our mission, we may still be home earlier than we thought.  So far, our release date is now April 20^th, however, if the extension on our visa is not granted it may be March 20.  We don’t know, we will do whatever we are told to do.  We have done a little packing of items that we do not want to carry on the plane, large art items, wood found, purchased or given to us.  We are going to share with the Hamblins and Elder Berger to send a crate, so that we will not have to carry on all our items.  We want to travel light, so are trying to plan ahead.  There is still so much to do and so little time.  Bishop Guttenbeil, who visited Utah during Christmas, told us that in America time controls the man, but in Tonga, the man controls time.  I think he is right.  We shall see.