February 14, 2015

February 14, 2015

We are tired.  We just realized this last week, that we are tired, physically, mentally and emotionally.  Until we came to that realization, we kept plugging along, trying to find the abilities/energy we needed.  When we were visiting with the Hamblins at the mission office on Friday, Elder Hamblin told us that he just stayed in bed on Thursday, watched movies and read some books because he was so tired, physically and mentally.  Once we listened to Elder Hamblin speak about his feelings, we realized we were feeling the same thing.  We are tired.  Then we decided it was time to go home after we heard about the hard week that mom had last week.  I lost my cool wondering if maybe mom was on a downward spiral.  I know all about hospice and the changes that occur in the ageing process, sometimes very rapidly, sometimes at a snail’s pace.  I know enough to be dangerous and not when enough to do any good.  However, because of the kind of week that we were having,  I began to think about the realities of life.  And after Annie gave us another perspective to think about, we did some serious thinking, praying and fasting.  We talked with our mission president who also reminded us that family considerations should always come first when making a making our major decision as to whether to stay to the middle of April or move up our departure date. So we are now looking departing March 9 to New Zealand, then home on the 11 March after interviews with the area and a little down time with the Alands.  However this still depends on what happens with airline bookings, etc., so the dates may change some.

That then leaves us in a homeless situation though, but Brian and Loretta have that mostly figured out.  We have a couple of MD appointments that we need to get taken care of first, then I think we will try to visit kids and grandkids.  We are not sure how all this will take place, but we will deal with that when we get home.  I am excited to get to move into the carriage house, I’ve had lots of ideas on what to do about that, so we will actually be glad to get settled there.  Many thoughts are running through my head at this moment, so we are still a bit unsettled about what has to happen first.

The amazing thing about all this change though is the things that are falling into place that we have been stressing about.  The vice principal, who is over TVET and also our Bishop Guttenbeil was finally able to attend a training where he was given the information about the programs that we have been working on so that he can follow up when we leave.  The manager of FM who works with all of the churches in the South Pacific, who is a terrific, well organized man, met with the administration to talk about what the church had approved for the South Pacific.  We were so excited to hear that some of the equipment, large pieces of equipment had been approved and were available to order.  We even got the word about the remodeling projects that we thought were dead that were actually approved.  We needed more classroom space and we were so excited to here that the projects were going forward.  We, listen to me, Liahona is getting some much needed facelift and improvements to classrooms.  It is kind of sad though when comparing Liahona to some of the other schools in Tonga, we have so much more.  We had a very good meeting and a surprise meal afterward.

The atmosphere at the school is so much better this year.  The students are more respectful, seeming to understand the importance of their education better than last year.  The Funaki’s who were originally called to work with the young single adults, are also working with the self-reliance programs are heading up a ‘bridges program’ which will offer education for those young people who failed to complete high school and who have to have a certificate of completion to go to a school of higher learning. The goal is to graduate from Liahona. The classes will include math, English, science and possibly computers.  About 60 people have enrolled in the classes so they can get a high school diploma, then can go on.  Elder and Sister Funaki are fantastic teachers, who have so much experience and know-how for this kind of a program.  The Funaki’s are the parents of Kolo who works with Brad at Raas brothers.  They are wonderful people who we love and admire.  Sister Funaki is also piano lessons to a group of young people who live close to her.  Her goal is to have several young people prepared to provide music for the church.  It is so much better to have someone who can teach in Tongan because the majority of young people do not speak English well and music is an added ‘new language’.

The TVET teachers this year really seem to have caught the vision of having ownership in their programs.  Several of the teachers who teach the hard trades have had an eye-opening experience with Elder Meyers.  He has been working with them on developing projects to motivate students to reach higher, dig deeper in their learning.  The ladies who work with Maopa, Sula and Fefita, are really working hard to get their programs to a higher level. One of the problems that can’t be resolved easily is the classroom and lab space, too many students in with less than adequate spaces to be taught.  They are working on some ideas to present for classroom modifications which will enhance their program, reconfiguring the existing kitchen and cafeteria areas to make a commercial cooking area that would be more compatible to all of the catering events that they get involved in.  Tourism and hospitality are really important training areas in the South Pacific and lots of their students end up in this industry.

We had a final meeting with one of our area directors, John Millar, who has worked to get new technical programs into the schools.  This was a trial of fire, with which many adaptations had to be made to make it work on a high school level, trade certifications.  There are still many concerns that need to be addressed, but the administration is aware and working on them.  The 5 year plan that we worked on raised so many questions with the area, that this project was put on hold until after John retires because of a possible direction change.  Whatever changes may be made, the TVET area of the school needs an almost total overhaul as far as the equipment and facilities go.  A new area director has been hired, Ameet who has a forever young looking face but who has his head screwed on right, is learning very fast about what needs to happen in the South Pacific schools.  Every island has different education/vocational needs.  The area will again reassess and hopefully come up with a better, more refined plan for the schools.

The temperatures here are in the high 90’s to 100’s with 70 to 90+ humidity.   I can’t believe how much we sweat and that is not even describing it accurately.  We move slowly from air conditioning to air conditioning.  We have taken on the hand towel, Tongan handkerchief, to keep the sweat from running our foreheads into our eyes or down our necks.  Or we just sweat, standing in place with no effort.  The senior missionaries who missed last summer were very skeptical about how hot it would be because December was much cooler than last year.  They are believers now. Our cold water from the tap is hot.  I have been taking cool showers after I get back from my walk and try not to move too much so that I will start sweating again.  We have to dress slow also.  Our clothing sticks to us and any cool breeze is welcome.

Saturday, we had a rare opportunity to visit the prison here in Tonga.  One of the inmates who took us on the tour, has a daughter who is living with the Akau’ola family who were featured in the Jan Liahona.  This young daughter was baptized with her father’s permission. It was because of this guy that we were able to take a tour of the prison. I did not get the information if the dad is a member or not, but he reads his Book of Mormon daily and leads the prisoners in a morning devotional every day.  ( Steve just told me he is not a member.) We do not know why this gentleman is in prison, but because of his good behavior, he is the prefect of the prison or a trustee.  We don’t even know how long he will be there, but he certainly had a good spirit about him.  At first, we thought he was one of the guards, but realized after that his clothing was torn and falling apart.  He was a very nice man.

The prison is 40 years old, high concrete walls with wire on the top rim, no air conditioning, no private bathing or toileting areas, two inmates per room.  Dreary, dark, hot, musty, awful, are some words that could be used to describe it.  And get this, the inmates at the prison have to work to pay the government 300,000.00 pa’anga’s per year to pay for their keep.  There are no amenities.  Some prisoners though commit crimes so they have a roof over their heads and food to eat.  Those who are admitted to the prison system, have to stay in an isolated area for a month to learn the rules of obedience.  If the inmates are obedient to what is asked them, they get to move into an area where they live with another prisoner in a room that was about the size of our master bedroom closet, with a toilet between the 2 bunks in the room, no mattresses, mats on concrete.  There was a common room though that when their work was done that they could lounge,,,, on the cement floor, no chairs.  They did have a TV though which surprised me.  They wash their own clothes in a bucket and hang them on the fence to dry. I’m not sure there is any laundry detergent.  If the prisoners don’t obey the rules, they were moved to a maximum security area that was really a dungeon, no windows, no air except for what breeze blew through the wire of the door that fenced them in.  If they were really bad, there were metal cages on the outside that had no protection from the sun or rain.  We weren’t allowed to take pictures here, but it was much worse than a dog pound.  There was one inmate here, who we weren’t allowed to talk to.  The food is prepared by the inmates in an outside cooking area, over a fire and I suppose there wasn’t much variety.  The prisoners who had earned the privilege did not live in a locked area,  but they lived in a house not much larger than 12’x15’ with about 10 bunk beds, one toilet and one shower, no hot water of course.  It was so surprising to see the walls lined with pictures on Christ.  Brother Akau ‘ola told us that there has never been anyone take a tour of the prison since it was built.  One of the missionaries who is serving here in Tonga has a father in prison.  He and his companion were visiting with his father when we arrived, so the missionaries took some of the tour with us, but could only spend a few minutes with his dad.  I don’t have any information about what his dad did to get the prison sentence or how long he will be there.