Two Moon or Not Two Moon

Okay, you got me, the lower light is actually a street light,
but you can see Jupiter in the background.  It was not visible
to the naked eye but showed up when the camera light adjusted.
This photo was taken about 8:45 P.M. on April 11th 2017
about 100 meters from our apartment on the Liahona campus.
Click on the photo to see a larger version with better detail.

The full moon is just rising in the East at approximately 8:45 P.M. on April 11th.  I tried taking several shots but the this one seems to be the best.  The bottom "moon" of the two, is actually a street light near the Temple. You can clearly see Jupiter in the night sky a little bit above and the the right of mid-center of the photo.  We didn't even know it was there until we came back to our apartment and looked at the photos.  Then we had to do some research to see which planet it actually was.  There are some faint clouds lower in the background and some stars as well.

The iPad SkyView app (shameless plug for a free app) is really a neat app for looking at the location of planets and constellations.  You can hold the iPad up to the night sky and it adjusts to show you what you can see in the sky.  There may be an Android version as well.

Say "hello" to my leetle frind.

This is one of the many little  creatures that roam around.  We also see praying mantis, spiders, and cockroaches (but not too many - only one inside the apartment so far).  Ants come and go as the crumbs are available.  We haven't been bothered much by mosquitos, flies or other flying insects (at least up to now).  Some of the missionaries occasionally get little critters in their MQ's but we spray the outside of our apartment monthly and encourage them to do the same (around screens and doors and that seems to keep them at bay).

Kuo tree in full blossom

We haven't been able to identify
 this flower yet but it isbeautiful.

It has cooled down a degree or two and the humidity has also dropped into the 70% range so it's been pretty pleasant this past week.  Not much precipitation with mostly just a sprinkle here and there.  We got some interesting new orange flowers blossoming on the Kuo trees this week and they are beautiful.

Early morning rainbow captured through
a rain spotted windshield.

We also saw this incredible full double rainbow on Thursday morning but is disappeared so quickly that we only got this one photo. I wasn't fast enough getting the window down and the camera out to capture the double rainbow but at least Lepeka got this shot looking through a rainy windshield.   The photo doesn't do it justice but hey, it does create a great memory for us.  We're trying to get better at having our cameras ready to go as we miss so many great photo ops each day.

First community education session
with a few of the locals.  We ended up
8 in this session which lasted about an
hour.

We also met with a group of 8 locals for a community education session on computers.  There is so much interest and not many places to learn.  We're hoping to work a few of these classes into our schedule as well.  We're actually hoping that some of the people we train will start their own classes with a little nudge and support from us.

Sione Lauti (on the far right in the blue shirt and hat was attending Rick's College at the same time Lepeka was there and an instant friendship was formed.  We met him at a diabetic clinic held at their ward one night and he was interested in learning about computers.  He talked to his Stake President about the STS calling but nothing has come through yet.  We're still hoping as he is very interested.  We'll see what the Lord thinks soon.

Some of the missionaries in the Halaleva zone (April 2017).
L-R, back Elder Soakai (NZ), Elder Teutau (Tonga), Elder St. Clair (Arizona),
Elder Laulea (California) - front Sister Malunganu (Australia), Sister Vea (NZ),
Elder Ofa (Oregon), Elder Moala (California)
There is a serious photo posted under missionary photos.

2 Youngsters playing on a trampoline at a home near the MQs.

At the baptism on Saturday April 15th.  Elder Rosales and Elder Talisa are the missionaries.
The families of the two little boys fed us the crab and lobster you see in the
photos below. They always give their best to guests.
We are humbled by the great lessons the Tongans teach us daily.  We need more of that at home.

This is a short clip of the welcoming committee at one of the MQs 

we visit regularly.  At first, Lepeka was a little bit leary, now she 

jumps out before I can even run interference.

Crab, Lobster, seafood salad and Uli (yams)!
This was really a treat!

Lepeka trying her best with Tongan utensils.

Industrial strength dining utensils were needed.

Liahona students during one of the breaks between classes.
They love having their pictures taken and pose at the drop of
a hat.