Marooned!

Poling his way across the inlet on his
home-made raft.  There was a pretty
strong current trying to take him out to
sea but he was obviously experienced
and made it across pretty quickly.

A red boat crashed into a blue boat leaving both crews marooned.  Okay, don't think on that one too long.  Becky and I were downtown in Nuku'alofa on Friday and we had a half hour before our next appointment.  Too short to go home but too long to just sit so we took a short drive to the end of Nuku'alofa (end of the tongue on the elf shoe - see map).  As we turned around and were starting to head back, a gentleman on the island just across the inlet caught our eye as he waded into the water.  He walked to a raft that was anchored with a big rock .... threw the rock on the home-made raft, grabbed his pole, climbed on and started across the inlet (even though it was low tide it would have been pretty deep to try to wade across).  I wanted to get a photo so as he got close I yelled to ask it I could take his picture.  He waved and said, "Yes".

Headed back home with his two young
daughters.  No life jackets, nothing to tie
them to the raft but they sat quietly as they
crossed on this home-made raft.  You can
see the island in the back-ground.

I took the photo and headed back to the car with my prized photo but what awaited was even more photo worthy.  As I climbed into the car, Lepeka had noticed two young girls that had started making their way toward the beach.  She told me she thought he was coming to get them from school. They had to climb down several big rocks to get there but with the man's patient help they did.  They all climbed on and started back across the inlet.  They waved but I missed that photo.  Here is the one of them on the raft headed home from school.

This blog is as close as I've ever come to writing in a journal.  I have started several times but never kept it up for more that a few days.  I suppose mostly because my life can be pretty stagnant at times. One of the things this mission has made me do is get out of my comfort zone and do something good every day.  When we finish our Tongan mission I want to try to keep that up.  I have really enjoyed looking for people to help good things to do  everyday.  I have also added a new feature on this blog listed under "Stories of Faith".  You can find them under the "Stories of Faith" tab on the upper right.  My intention is to add stories here that strengthen my Faith.  You can read my first contribution about my dad by clicking here as well.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.  More to follow.

A few words for parents and families of missionaries serving in Tonga.

Elder Woods and Elder Purdy at our
home.  They cooked dinner for us one
night.  Burgers, rice, and baked beans.

We have a few parents and family members of missionaries that read our blog as we are friends on FaceBook.  We want you to know that we love your missionaries.  We care deeply about their health and general well being.  We do our best to respond immediately when they have any issues or questions.   We only post information and photos with their permission.  Also, President and Sister Tui'one are very good about letting missionaries call home if they have serious health issues (in this case, no news is good news).  Most of the issues here are pretty mild ranging from blisters, boils, diarrhea, headaches and general muscle soreness.  They are treated with medical care as well as mom medicine - general treatments may include a batch of cookies, blow-pops, laughter and smiles along with missionary appropriate grandma/grandpa hugs.

There are a few good practitioners here in Tonga that we work with on occasion as well as a Pacific Area Medical Advisor who is very responsive when needed.  Sister Kapp is so good at following-up on any issues with the missionaries and alway tries to make sure they feel good about the care they are receiving (they may get sick of seeing and hearing from us as they heal and the follow-up afterward).  I am at her side and am amazed at how much she does to take care of any and all missionary concerns sent our way.  She never lets anyone slip through the cracks and takes all of their health concerns seriously.  Some of the outer islands are difficult to get medicine to but we are constantly working to improve our processes.

We also inspect their MQs, when we visit them for any reason, and inspect them for cleanliness and encourage the missionaries to call in any issues they may identify with their MQs.  Most are pretty good but a few are still learning the finer points of cleanliness.

We really enjoy learning about their pre-mission lives and about their families at home.  We send photos and post on facebook as well.  You can find us on FB by clicking here if you are interested (we accept all friend requests).  In fact, we feel like we are good friends with many of you even though we have never talked or met.

There was an old man who was dying but wanted to do so at home.  He was not expected to live more than a few days as he was very weak.  As he lay there listening to his favorite music, just a few hours from passing on, he smelled the aroma of his favorite rolls wafting from the nearby kitchen.  With all of his strength he crawled into the kitchen and reached up onto the cabinet to just taste the rolls one more time.  As his hand got close his wife smacked it and said, "Those are for the funeral!"  ... That's kind of what I get here occasionally relative to cookies, brownies and casseroles ... "Those are for the missionaries!  (Okay, I'm just kidding she always makes plenty for me too!)

This is a missionary badge from one of our U.S. missionaries.  It is a good old
American name now adjusted for Tongan.  See if you can guess what it is.
Make your guess in the comment section below (please include your name too)
so we can have some fun - We may send your Tonganized name back to you.
Remember, the Tongan alphabet is A,E,F,,H,I,K,L,M,N,NG,O,P,S,T,U,V
 No B,C,D,G,J,Q,R,W,X,Y,Z ... Good Luck!

On the technology front, things continue to improve.  We are starting to communicate better and they seem to be pretty responsive to replacing old equipment.   Firewalls are being reinstalled as many were taken out to simplify connections.  Many of our internet connections have been repaired to the point of being usable now and training classes have started in many different areas.  I enjoy the teaching and building our relationships with the locals (as does Lepeka).  It is fun to teach people when they get so excited to learn.  They are so grateful for every little thing and have brought us lots of naaghi fo'i 'akau pea vesitapolo (fruits and vegetables) as payment.  It is very humbling to have them offer so much when so many have so little.

Keep your knees bent, arms folded and heads bowed!  ... We feel of your love and appreciate all of the prayers and any communications sent our way (oh say ... like email).

Ofa lahi 'atu kiate kimaotolu!  (We love you all!)

Early morning rainbow after it had been raining hard for two
straight days.  You can actually see some of the double rainbow
if you look closely.  It almost looks like the different shades of
blue are separated by the rainbow.

Central Kiwi Kai owned and operated by a woman from New Zealand.
  We occasionally go here for lunch.  They have a pretty good hamburger and Pizza.
They also have chicken sandwiches, chips (french fries and Moa (chicken) Sipi
(lamb) along with other local dishes.  Prices are listed in Pa'anga (about 2:1 USD)

This is an interesting tree they are finally cutting down.
If you look closely you can see that two of the main branches
grew together.  It was by their carport and needed to come out.

1 Nephi 3:7

Data cabinet.  This is typical of most of the installations.  One of
the other issues not shown is that the glass front is covered with
a sticker preventing the ability to see the lights on the equipment

Some of the concerns others have had about Lepeka and I having different mission calls is that that we will either neglect one or that we will burn out.  While it is true that at times we do have to focus more on one than the other and we do seem to fill our days from dawn to dusk and beyond, we have been amazed at how things continually work themselves out.  If we have something scheduled, the missionaries seem to be okay.   When they are sick or need immediate attention, our schedule is flexible.  We are continually reminded of the scripture in 1 Nephi 3:7 (click here to read it).  What a great promise and we rely on it daily here on our mission.

This was mostly a good week for the health of the missionaries.  We had a few calls earlier in the week with mostly more of the same; sprains, boils, diarrhea (thank goodness for spell checker) and headaches etc.  We also have had a virus going around which landed on some of the missionaries but it seems to be controllable and most are over it in 1-3 days.  Most of them are troopers and seem to want to get out and work in spite of being sick.  We love our interactions with the missionaries.  It is fun to learn about their lives and what led them to serve a mission.  There are some heart-warming stories and accounts of tremendous faith as they serve here, some far from home and basically alone with respect to family support.   Even the ones with great family support can get a little bit lonely from time to time and we hope we bring a little bit of "home" to them and that they all feel of our love and admiration for their service.

Friday and Saturday were very light for missionary calls giving us some time to focus on the technology side quite a bit.  In fact, as of this writing at 5:00 P.M. on Saturday the only medical calls were follow-up calls Lepeka always makes.  The day is far from over but not one call yet ...  knock on wood - tuki i lau papa (my translation not theirs).  This meant we were able to get some documentation completed and teach several tech sessions to individuals with various levels of knowledge, from not much at all to I've done most of this before.  Everyone seems to be so excited to learn.  The challenges are mostly systematic here and will be interesting to work through at the least.

Satellite system equipment in one of the
Stake Centers ... complete but never hooked up.

We are also part of a slight change in the support model for meetinghouses in Tonga.  We (the FM team is including us in the discussions) are in the process of identifying someone in the FM group that may have some technical ability and/or interest to assist in the process of equipment installation, maintenance and issue resolution.  Once this person is in place we will work to train them on as many of the meetinghouse technologies as possible.  If all goes according to the proposed plan, they will install equipment, resolve issues, inspect contract labor work, and make sure the follow-up on all of the items listed above is complete.  It will be a long process to get to where we want to be and there will probably be many twists, turns and adjustments as we all learn but I am excited for the first step.

Earlier in the week, we had a meetinghouse technology task on one end of the island (the toe) and a medical issue on the other (the heel) with several stops along the way.  We try to organize our days as best we can but some of the medical things just pop-up when they want to.  Lepeka does a good job of prioritization and looking for the best routes.  We seem to drive about 2000 miles per month (on the average).  That represents lots of driving on a 24 mile long island at average speeds of 20-25 mph (30-40 kph).  We have lots of time to talk and plan our work so we are more efficient when we have time in the office or at a meetinghouse.

This week is Father's day in Tonga.  I'm not sure why it's different here but it is.  In fact, President Tui'one is from New Zealand and they celebrate it next Sunday there prompting him to say, "This Sunday is Father's day in Tonga, next Sunday is Father's day in NZ and then it's Father's day in June in the U.S. ...  I'm one lucky man!"  He has a great sense of humor and is a very humble spiritual man.  He and sister Tui'one treat us really well and we love serving here with them.

The weather this week has been close to perfect (especially today)!  It was also a great shopping week as Lepeka found Crystal Light lemonade mix, Golden Island pork jerky (Korean barbeque recipe), Double Stuff Oreos and the Costco Ghirardelli chocolate (triple chocolate) premium brownie mix (there's already a pan of them fresh out of the oven on the cabinet).   She cooked me a Ribeye steak and baked potato for my Father's day meal tonight.

Here are a few more random photos from around Tonga with descriptions  ...  hope you enjoy!

Village Mission Clinic & Pharmacy.  This is one of the few Pharmacies in Tonga.  
It is pretty small but is has a beautiful peaceful setting.

Small open air store onsite at the Hospital in Nuku'alofa
We ate some breakfast here (2 small tables).  

Elder St Claire (Arizona) and Elder Tua'one (Florida) on P-day May 8th 2017.
They were playing volleyball with the locals.  Volleyball used to be banned
but the ban was lifted.  We have had a broken foot and several ankle sprains
in the past month.  

This is a photo of Lepeka, Sione and his mom.  Sione has a bad cut on his arm
and Lepeka helped get them to the clinic to make sure they were getting the help
they needed.  Sione is now attending church regularly and hopes to be baptised soon.

Waiting for the pineapple to grow.  Not many are actually grown here and they
can cost up to $10. (USD) each for a decent sized one.  

They trim the sides of these tree back by climbing on the top of a truck, then
having the person in the truck drive around the tree as each area is trimmed.
The center is (inside all of the leaves) is pretty much branch and leaf free.  It
would have made a great treehouse tree when I was in that mode.

Almost all of the loads in the backs of trucks are unsecured.  Fortunately,
they drive so slowly that they never seem to loose anything.

One of the nearby schools just before session starts in the morning. You can
see the uniform they wear at this school.

At the Airport.  Senior volunteer Dentist and his wife (Brother and Sister Preston)
as they head home to Arizona after 10 week stint (approximately).

Brother and Sister Tiltons - They live in Tonga and are part-time ward church
service missionaries.  They were flying back to the U.S. to see their new grandbaby.

Airport greeting committee as you exit the secure area.  They were there
singing when we arrived as well.

Signs posted around the Hospital are all done just like this.  As you've seen before in our
blog on "Hand Hygiene Happens Here"  There is a definite need to improve the Hospital
cleanliness but they are at least working on it and have asked for Lepeka's input.  Some areas
are much better where the nursing staff are responsible for the cleaning

Hard to Kidnap

Sione (John).  He has tattoo's completely covering
his right arm and his hair was not pulled back.
We thought he looked just like the character Maui
from the movie Moana. 

Some weeks just seem to develop a theme of their own.  As I was looking through the photos we took in the past week, the Tongan men jumped to the forefront.

We pulled into the gas station to fill up the van and saw this man sitting there.   I told Becky that I would love to have his photo and she told me to go ask.  I wasn't sure but what's the worst that could happen????  So I ventured over and asked, "Are you okay if I take your picture"?  His dour face lit up in a smile as he said, "Sure".   I told him why (see photo caption) but he insisted that I be in the photo and had one of his friends snap the shot. Unfortunately, by this time he had pulled his hair back and he is turning a little bit sideways, and you can't see his right arm, so it really doesn't do justice to the way we first saw him (this Sione is not a member or the Church). 

The very next day we were walking down the hallway in the building where our old office was located and we ran into this very large Tongan.  We loved the shirt and thought it was one of the most appropriate "meme's" we had seen in a long time so of course we had to take the photo.  He is about 6' 4" and as you can see, pretty solid.  He also had the Tongan scowl ... which lights up into a smile for any photo op.   I probably should have had Lepeka stand next to him so you could see his size as well. 

Left, Elder Timote Kau (Mr. Tonga 2015) Right, Pres. Tui'one
Not a small man himself.

Next we have Elder Kau one of our missionaries who has been out for about 18 months now.  He earned the title of "Mr. Tonga" in 2015 and has put his bodybuilding career on hold to serve a mission.  He has lost some weight as a missionary but he exercises as much as a missionary should to try and keep in shape.  He is a very humble man with a fun personality.  We were able to spend about a week getting to know him quite well.  He's standing next to President Tui'one in the photo who is no small man.  I think Elder Kau is around 6' 6" so you can tell thy are both good sized men (maybe just average in the Mike and Jenny Wilson family).  As a side note; all of the missionaries have a tremendous respect for President Tui'one and he leads the mission with faith in the Lord and bears a strong testimony in his words and actions.  He has a great sense of humor but is always dignified.  He and Sister Tui'one are certainly spiritual royalty.

I added this just to give a little more perspective to Mr Tonga 2015 (far left)

L-R, Elder Lavaka (Australia) and Elder Takelo (Tonga)

We just had a new Elder arrive from Australia last week, Elder Lavaka.  He is a professional Rugby player who decided to put his career on hold to serve a mission.  You can read a short article about him in the Mormon newsroom by clicking here.  It is a neat story and when you meet him in person you find he is a humble man who is very sincere in his desire to serve the Lord.  His trainer is Elder Takelo from Tonga.  Elder Lavaka is 6' 5" so it is quite a site to see the two of them together.  

Elder Lavaka (near)
Elder Takelo (far)

I snapped a sneaky photo of them from outside the room at the zone conference on Tuesday as I saw Elder Takelo standing on the chair next to his Hoa (companion) with his arm on Elder Lavaka's shoulder (I did tell them and get their permission before posting).   In the first photo they are holding blow-pops (known as lollys here.  I frequently pass them out as we visit the missionaries (especially if their MQ's are neat and clean).  *** disclaimer ***  Elder Lavaka wanted me to make sure that everyone knows the lolly he is holding does not constitute an official endorsement of the product.  ;-)  What a great personality which is so representative of so many of the Elders and Sister we enjoy serving with here in Tonga.

I mention these men in this blog for a few reasons; I have found them all to be very humble soft-spoken men who have one purpose in life right now and that is to serve the Lord.  From large to average to small, the Elders and Sisters here in Tonga are serving because they have testimonies of the Gospel and want to do the right thing.  I have seen them in action, they are bold and yet respectful.  Their real desire at this time in their life is to bring others to Christ.

Loto Road ... one of the main roads that runs
right in front of the Liahona campus.  This tree
is about 1 mile East but as you can see, it hangs
over the road.

About 2 months ago while I was driving one of the main roads, a huge coconut fell onto the road about 20 yards in front of me.  Several of the palm trees bend out over the roads and there is a risk of coconuts falling from the tree and doing some damage or maybe even injuring someone (especially when the wind is blowing).  Ever since I witnessed this first hand I have been just a little bit nervous when driving under one of these trees (even if the risk of one actually hitting the car while driving is very low).

You frequently see cars with dents and broken windshields  (from falling coconuts) everywhere.  Most of these occur when the cars are parked in an area where the trees are unavoidable.  It is not uncommon to see cars driving around with these broken windshields as long as there is still some clear spot for the driver to see where they are going.  I'll try to get a few photos to include in a future post.

Well, my fear of the falling coconut seems to have been supplanted by a new phobia ... the fear of the falling tree!  Let me interject here that no one was injured here even though it looks really bad.  We stopped to see if we could help anyone but they said they were ok.  You may want to click on the photo to get a better view of the damage and the downed tree.  This car was driving down the road when the tree (in the background across the road) actually fell on their moving car.  I'm not sure how they made it through or why no one was injured but now I look at every dead tree along the way in a different light.

Mother's day is almost here so I want to take just a few lines to publicly thank my mother for the wonderful person that she is (Yes, I will still call her on Mother's Day).  I love to hear her share her testimony which she does to me regularly now in email.  I am so thankful that when she heard the truth, she did something about it and was baptised.  Not once have I ever known her faith or testimony to waver.  I always felt so loved by her and dad (even when I may not have deserved it).  She always made my friends feel welcome and is the first one to include any and all who have touched her life into her family circle.  Step children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, ex-sons and daughters-in-law, neighbors, people she met in foreign countries that she grew close to and just about anyone who needs a friend.  She never speaks ill of anyone.  She has made and donated so many homemade products to charity and to the needy.  She built a house in El Salvador (she provided the way and donated thousands herself).  She has had to slow down a bit in recent years but she has not stopped giving.  I could go on and on because she truly is the most Christ-like person I know.  I want to emulate so many of her wonderful qualities and her example of service is definitely one of the main reasons I am serving a mission with my wonderful wife.  I love you mom!

I have also been blessed with a wonderful wife.  We have always been best of friends since we were married over 22 years ago but we have really grown close spending all day every day with each other.   We have had some others tell us that spending 24x7x365 with their spouse can really get to them at times.  I can honestly say that has not been the case for us (Lepeka may have a different take) but hey, I'm writing this.  I love spending time with her.  We laugh and joke, we share spiritual experiences daily that bring out tears of joy.  We kneel and pray together many times each day.  We see and take care of the sick and injured missionaries.  We also often see people in the Tongan community who have health issues and our hearts aches for them.  She helps me teach technology to others without complaint and even waits on me as I work to solve issues that can take hours in some cases.  We drive literally thousands of kilometers each month cooped up in a car together.  Yes, we literally spend 24x7x365 but we are never cross or irritated with each other.  I love her ... she is my eternal companion and I want to be worthy of her so I try hard to always do the right thing and do my best to become a better person every day.  I love you Lepeka!

I'll close this blog with a few random photos that I hope you enjoy.

The Health Fair (Diabetic screening) at the Longolongo ward on May 11th.
This was round 2 where they came back to see if they had made any improvements.
The large gentleman in the lower RH corner climbed on the scale (my station) and
discovered he had lost 2KG (about 5 lbs) and just started chuckling out loud.
No one is self conscious of their weight as they all share each of their screening
numbers with each other.  We are so glad the Waddoups asked us to help.  We have
thoroughly enjoyed it both times so far and hope there are more to come.

Lepeka's new hair dresser.  Haircut and style is $15.00 TOP (about $7.00 USD)
She always gets a tip too.  Hair color by Miss Clairol is a bit more but Lepeka
has been doing that herself at home (don't tell Heidi Raso).

Tongan sunset just outside our front door.  You can see the men's dormitory for
Liahona High School.

A photo of the open market held each Saturday along the
waterfront.  It stretches for several city blocks and you can
get almost anything under-the-sun (literally).  It gets so packed
that you can hardly walk around.  We are there fairly early in
the morning ... hence the long shadows.

Obligatory shot of a a Sow and her piglets (for Mother's Day) nearing feeding time.
Notice the spotted one.  We see some that look like Dalmatians.  We love seeing the pigs
roaming everywhere.  The little piglets are so cute as they scurry around after their moms.

TTFN!

Is it a Green or an Orange?

A Green Orange?

We purchased several limes this week from a local street-side vendor.  We had purchased a few about a month ago but they were small and not very juicy.  These looked so large and juicy and we were excited to finally have some good limes.  We discovered when we cut into them that they were actually bright orange inside and were in fact, oranges and yes they are ripe when green here.  By the way - they are juicy and delicious!

As it turns out, we are used to seeing an orange with orange skin in the U.S. but the color of the skin depends on where it grows. Orange trees grow well and produce fruit in temperatures ranging from about 60 to 85°F.  In more temperate climates, the green skin turns orange as the weather cools down.  This is because the green pigment chlorophyll is removed from the fruit, similar to what happens when the leaves of trees turn brown in the autumn.  However, in tropical climates, like Tonga, it is always hot so the chlorophyll is preserved and the skin of the oranges remains green (isn't this blog so very educational?).

L-R, Sister Vakalahi, Elder
Johns and Sister Peterson.

Can't bear to look.  Actually,
Lepeka is protecting her face
from the metal ring shavings.

We had a good time with a couple of the sisters one day this week as one of the Elders was kidding around with Sister Peterson and he threatened to keep her MTC CTR ring.  When she got it back, she slipped it onto the WRONG finger and couldn't get it off.  She had tried for a few days to get it off but ... no luck. Her finger was starting to swell so after many different home remedy attempts including, dish soap, baby oil, Vaseline, ice, and even the string trick.  Being very careful, we tried to break it off with pliers and cut it off with a small hacksaw blade but these little rings are tough.

Passion fruit given to us by
Sister Tau'tua
(mission finance clerk)

We were finally able to catch Elder Johns (a missionary dentist that lives next door) and he was glad to help out a Sister.  The ring was sacrificed but the experience gave more meaning to Choose The Right (finger).  The sisters were all smiles and we had a good time laughing with them as we got to know them a little bit better through the lengthy process of actually getting the ring off.

We also had our first passion fruit.   You just cut the top off and eat with a spoon.  They are a little bit bitter-sweet but both Lepeka and I enjoy them.  We have a bag full on our counter ready to eat along with some more avocados ready to be turned into guacamole.

Lobster at Chef Zero

We had our Senior Missionary dinner on Friday night at one of the local restaurants so I decided to try my first Tongan steak.  It was okay but pretty gristly and a bit overcooked for my taste.  It was still very tasty and I enjoyed eating a vegetarian animal.  Lepeka had the blackened Tuna and a small salad.  A typical lettuce salad is something that we have not found here yet.  The Tuna was delicious as it was fresh (of course).  One of the couples ordered the Lobster so we had to take a photo.  As he was eating his, one of the claws caught his finger and he needed immediate medical attention (a bandaid).  Obviously the lobster wasn't as happy about being dinner as he was in eating it.

Senior missionary couples dinner at Chef Zero along the water front.  Some of
the couples are not called as missionaries and are actually working here in Tonga.
We enjoy our association with them as well.

Sione Lauti and his son at one of our
computer classes. 

We are teaching a computer class to a few people in the community.  It started as Sioni Lauti wanted some training as an Assistant Technology Specialist for his ward.  It turns out he was a football player at Ricks college during the time that Lepeka was there in  the early 1970's.  There is lots of interest in learning some computer skills but not much motivation.  When we do find someone that follows through, we want to make sure we help them as much as possible.  Who know's he could be a future Stake Technology Specialist.  We now have four people that attend this beginning class we teach on our P-Day.  We're also starting to teach some of the Stake Technology Specialist and love working with them.  The Stake Presidents are very supportive and anxious to get some help in their stakes and wards.  I wish I could bring a couple of my IT friends here for a month to get a few things straightened out but I do think we're headed in a good direction.

The highlights for us here are getting to know people ... missionaries and locals.  We feel like kings and queens here as everyone wants to help us.  When we go to buy our 5 Gallon water jugs, none of the young ladies want me to carry the jug to the car and often just push me to the side to carry it out for me.  Hurts my pride a bit but at least I don't have to feign a bad back and they can pick it up and carry it to the car without even breathing hard.

All is well here.  We are having the time of our lives serving the people of Tonga.  Even so, we miss our family and friends so much ... so don't forget to write!  ;-)

This sign is a little bit hard to read but evidently Mon - Sat 8:00am - 6:00 pm
does not actually include Saturdays as we discovered this tailor shop is
closed on Saturdays.  But they are fast, so we love them anyway.

Balloons are used to decorate cars for special occasions.  This is for a wedding.
A few hours later we saw these cars parked in the Temple parking lot.

A young boy serving some table scraps to his pigs.  The fence you see is around
the house.  We are driving by on the road (you can see the edge of the car mirror).

The pigs here will actually go out into the ocean at low tide to search for food.
You can sometimes catch them swimming.

Simi We'eleli (Jim Wheeler) in training as a young child.
School crossing guards can be young children.  This is along one of the main highways.