Kenny & Becky Kapp: Dirty Phil

Dirty Phil in Veitongo - a cruel beginning but he
is being well cared for now. He loves to pose for
photos.

One of the missionary quarters in Vietongo if famous with us for its pack of dogs. There are usually about 8-10 dogs that show up every time we pull in. We also get a very noisy barking escort when we leave. The exit committee is mostly just 2-3 dogs that seem to like to bite at the tires as we drive away. About a month ago, as we were driving away I would roll my window down and talk to them ... stopping each time they would start to bark. It finally paid off today as they positioned themselves to escort us out as usual. I rolled my window down and said, "Don't you remember me?" They both stopped dead in their tracks and looked up at me as I slowly drove away and left them behind.

This same place occasionally has new puppies that join the gang. The most recent addition is a puppy that the missionaries affectionately named, "Dirty Phil". We're not sure where the name even cam from. Evidently "Dirty Phil" had his ears cut off by one of the young boys in the neighborhood with some scissors shortly after he was born. We have no idea why this would have been done but the puppy survived and is always willing to pose when the cameras are brought out. The missionaries have made a bed for him on the porch and he isn't shy about using it.

Their (Tongans) relationship with dogs here is interresting, they are pets but also occasionally dinner. I'm sure they have their favorites that are their family pets but that doesn't mean someone else hasn't marked them for a meal. During the food shortage after cyclone Gita many had to keep their dogs inside to prevent them from disappearing. Many of the missionaries say that dog tastes good but that's something we'll just have to take their word for as neither of us are interested even slightly in tasting dog meat.

Yep that's Norma! Even though they
unload from the front and back it took
about an hour for Norma to clear
customs and emerge from baggage claim.

Norma Jackson (our friend from Bountiful showed up this week for her vacation. We were able to slip some time in to show her around. Since the Hudsons left for the U.S. on Tuesday, they allowed Norma to stay in their apartment (which is right next door) while they are gone. It has be fun to have someone from home here again. It breaks up the time we have left by giving us these intermediate things to look forward to. Our next intermediate step is whale watching in Early August. We enjoyed that last year as the boat takes us right out into the middle of them and we can watch them all around us.

The waiting area at the airport is always packed as we all wait to greet the newly arrived to Tonga. It can take a while to get through customs especially for the bigger groups. It took Norma about an hour before she came out. This is the longest we have waited for anyone as missionaries usually get seated near the front of the plane.

Crowd waiting at the airport for their friends and family.

Portable Saw Mill

I mentioned the portable saw mill that is going around cutting up the fallen trees from cyclone Gita. Here it is in action in Te'ekiu. It is a slow process but it does help utilize all of the lumber. I don't know how strong the lumber from the coconut trees are but over here nothing goes to waste. We were told that they get about 4 good usable pieces from each log (length varies of course). It is our understanding that they will use the lumber they cut in the big housing project that I talk about below.

Portable saw mill

Tents are still in use in many areas
around the island.

As we drove Norma around the island we took note of many places that still have a lot to do to recover from cyclone Gita. There are still many living in tents and may be there for quite an extended period of time. They recovered whatever material they could and are reusing it but in many cases there was nothing remaining to start building with.

Youth home project in Matahau 2018

We know that the youth program that built 6 houses last year are planning on building 10 this year. You may remember that they bring in about 15 youth with some adult supervision and each group spends 2 weeks here building a home (which they complete from start to finish). They utilize limited local professional labor (2 workers) and the youth provide all the manual labor. It's amazing to see the amount of work they get done. The youth are exhausted by the end of the day but you can see how happy they are providing meaningful service to some very needy families. It's a great experience for them, one that they will never forget.

We have also heard that there is an outside government/church housing project that is planning on building 300 homes to replace those destroyed by Gita. I'm not sure how they decide who what when and where but it will definitely be a blessing to those most in need.

View from our table at Little Italy Restaurant on Saturday night

Gina and Paula Tautua'a. We have
enjoyed our friendship with these two.

The complete dinner crew at
Little Italy

We had a nice evening and dinner with the Tautua'as last night at Little Italy. We enjoyed the company and our dinner very much. They have a family they are teaching the gospel to that also joined us. As we were waiting for our meal we had a Tongan from the SLC area that dropped $100 TOP on our table and said to add this to your pot for dinner. It's not someone that we know at all but we find that so typical of all Tongans. They are always willing to give to others.

We'll end this week with a few shots from around the island.

Elder Tupou and Elder Larson

Sister Hudson feeding the chickens. We started out with 12 chicks now we're down
to 5. You know each day one is going to be gone once the cats start stalking them.

Who knew big foot is a CHICKEN! Look at the size of her feet!

If you look closely at the leaves of this plant it looks like they have yellow
paint splattered all over them.

Norma and Becky at Fua'amoto beach

Does it seem like the trees are all leaning to the left ... or is it just me?
Okay, you got me, the building is leaning and you can see the diagonal
brace that is holding it up (at least for now) as they try to save the building.