Lahi pea Lōlōa!

I'm not sure if this is our offensive line, our basketball team
or our Guardian Angels but in any case, we're in good hands!
L>R, Elder Lavaka (Austrailia), Elder Moala (California)
(Lepeka), Elder Mapa (Utah), Elder Fifita (California)

Lahi pea Lōlōa! (Big and Tall) 

As we were pulling up to attend one of the District conferences this past week we watched as four of our missionaries got out of a compact mission car.  I decided that I needed to get a photo of these four missionaries but wanted to make sure there was some perspective so I asked Lepeka to join them for the photo.

Our missionary friends in this photo are 6'6, 6'8, 6'5, 6'6 (in flip-flops, actual NBA height may be 2-3 inches taller) and Tongan wide.  They could be pretty intimidating to almost anyone but these young men are gentle giants (which is the Tongan way).

Peggy the Chicken

Our one-legged chicken, who we affectionately call "Peggy" (it's really just her foot that is missing) had baby chicks this past week.  We followed them around the front yard and were able to count 7 baby chicks.  It was a little bit disappointing a few days later to see that she only had 4 left.  They do a pretty good job of keeping the dogs off-campus here but there are a few cats that lounge around and we suspect that one or two of them are well fed this week.

Elder Woods surprise birthday party.  L>R Elder Wilson (Utah
Elder Vaisa (NZ), Elder Lomu (Arizona),  the birthday boy
Elder Woods (Tennessee)

Happy Birthday!

We also helped one of our missionaries mom surprise her son with a birthday cake this past week.  His birthday was actually Saturday and since we were already committed to a whale watching tour we set things up for Friday night.  We told them we had some things we needed their help with and that we would bring them their meal that night.  We also invited their zone leader to join us but asked them to keep it a surprise as well.

After looking all over for a red-velvet cake mix (his favorite) we are just about to give in and go with chocolate when Lepeka found one in our local Costlo store.  She also made sloppy-joes and baked beans and we also bought some Doritos to add to the meal. We were originally going to serve some Mac-n-cheese (one of Elder Woods favorites) but when Lepeka dumped the boxes of macaroni into the boiling water the last one had bugs in it so we settled for baked beans.  We'll get him some mac-n-cheese and get it to him one night this week.  We had fun surprising him and learned that this will be the only birthday he celebrates while in the Tonga.  He got here just after his last birthday and goes home just before his next one.  It's fun being surrogate grandparents for these missionaries and they are all so appreciative of anything that reminds them of home.

Our boat is the white one on the far side.
We had to cross over the blue boat to
board.  (For David and Angela ... the
cross-boat shuffle was uneventful.

Whale Watching

We also had the opportunity this yesterday (Saturday) to take a full fledged P-day and go whale watching and snorkeling with the other senior missionary couples and a few of the palangi employees of Liahona.   There were 17 all together in our group and we had the boat to our selves.   We arrived at the port at 9:00 AM, signed the appropriate waver to allow us to board the boat and we were soon headed for the open sea.

L>R, Skipper, Professor, Mr. Howell,
MaryAnn and Gilligan. Ginger was
sitting next to me and wouldn't let me
use her photo.

It was almost a perfect day weather-wize, the sky was clear and we could see for many miles so it was pretty easy to locate the whales and we were soon close enough that one of the few members actually got out and started to swim with them (the president asked that the missionaries not do that). We enjoyed going from one side of the boat to the other trying to capture the perfect shot but mostly just caught the tail end of them surfacing on video.
We did get to see several whales actually breach even though they were a little far away it was pretty spectacular to see.

Our small deserted island.  Love that
beautiful coral blue water!

With boats in tow (3) it was a much
slower trip back to port.

We then anchored just off the beach near a small deserted island so those who wanted to snorkel could do so.  They also had a smaller boat that would take any who didn't want to snorkel over to the island to the sandy beach.  As we finished up and were ready to head back to port we learned that the other two boats who were at the same island had broken down and needed help so our crew got them hooked up behind us (along with our small boat) and towed them back to port.  Their passengers joined us on our boat and we learned that they had not been able to see any whales before their boats broke down.   All-in-all we had a pretty fun day and saw some whales pretty up-close and personal.

The missionaries remain healthy and unchanged for the most part.  There are always a few that we are working closely with and we do our best to make sure they get the treatment and care they need.  We are constantly praying for them and worry over the smallest maladies but so far things have gone very well here from a health perspective.

Our testimonies are constantly being strengthened and we know that the best way to be happy is by serving others and learning to love them with a Christ-like love.  We feel so blessed and encourage all to come closer to Christ.  It is the answer to all of lives problems and even the most spiritual among us can continue along that path.

We do read of the social upheaval and political stress in the USA that permeates the news and hope each of you can find peace.  We pray that love, peace, and kindness to rise to the top and know that can best obtained by following Christ's example.   I love the phrase "Come unto Christ" as that is the only way we can return to live in His presence someday.

Ofa lahi 'atu!


Miscellaneous shots from Tonga

I've included a couple of short video clips from our whale watching excursion.  The best one was too large to use on the blog but I will upload it to YouTube and provide a link in a future blog (I have to upload large files at night when the internet is free ... it can take up to an hour to upload at the incredible connection speed we have at our apartment.

Whale watching excursion September 30, 2017

Disregard the middle section of the video.

More whale watching September 30, 2017

Sea view of the new cruise terminal that is nearing completion.

Land view of the new cruise terminal.

Kentuki, Laise, and Diet Coke at the Mata Fale Kai.
(Fried chicken, rice, and Diet Coke at the Green restaurant)

Lasange for the masses (okay it's for me).
Lepeka does a great job of cooking with the small
range we have in our apartment.  A full sized
cookie sheet won't fit.

Monday morning headed into Nuku'alofa.  You can see the smoke cloud
(a result of some burning brush) hovering over the road (taken through the windshield).