Kenny & Becky Kapp: Kalisimasi Fiefia

Digicell on Friday ... we feel blessed!

I guess we had our own little Christmas miracle this morning in Tonga. We have been without our internet for 3 days due to a clerical error on our account. When they couldn't get it resolved by Friday close of business, we were pretty much resigned to the fact that we would be without it until Tuesday morning (we have had limited access through my phone but had to use what little we had there very judiciously). Lo and behold, we had internet this morning again. I'll post some more photos later today when we get a break but I did want to post what I had.

Kalisimasi Fiefia!! (Merry Christmas)

We had our Mission Christmas devotional in Havelu on Friday which was really fun and inspirational. I have so many photos that I want to add to this weeks blog but our new internet provider picked the Christmas holiday weekend to interrupt our internet service and (we’re hoping to get it back on Tuesday morning). I have to use the limited data that is available on my phone to utilize it as a hotspot sparingly. If I can’t find a way to get some photos uploaded I’ll have to add those later. (I have lots of photos from the devotional and will try to add them later today).

Va'enuku's and the food baskets.

We were put in charge of the senior missionary Christmas activity which was held yesterday (Saturday). We planned an evening of Christmas carolling to a few of the needy families in Tonga wile delivering baskets of food and goodies. We ended with root-beer float social while playing the videos from 25 Ways in 25 Days. While we knew we’d enjoy the evening I don’t think either of us were really prepare for the emotional experience that would play out.

We have seen some of the poverty and meek conditions
that some live in here along with stories that really tug at
your heart strings but the people always seem so
genuinely happy and grateful for what they do have.

We all climbed onto the bus which would be driven by Brother Tonga for our journey to the towns of Mua’s and Hoi on the Eastern part of the island. We practiced our songs on the way over one of which we sang in Tongan (Silent Night). We also were serenaded by the other members of the Tonga family with a few more Christmas and Island songs. We arrived at our first home which was a very small building (maybe 200 sq ft) that had just been built by the Red Cross since she had been kicked out of her previous shack and it had been demolished so she could not come back. She is a single mom with 5 children one of whom is a handicapped boy about 9-10 years old. He probably has cerebral palsy (Lepekas guess).

When we started to get of the bus (Lepeka was first off) he had staggered over to the bus door grabbed on to her neck and gave her a tight hug and let out a shout of joy that could be felt as well as heard. It took his sister and mom to help get him to let go. I got off next then Sister Oldroyd got the same hug as Lepeka. It was very humbling to feel the spirit of gratitude and happiness on this family's faces as we sang to them and gave the boxes of food we had for them. I don't think there was a dry eye as we boarded the bus and move on to our next family.

After we finished our carolling, we went back to the campus for root-beer floats and to watch the Light the World videos and just socialize. It was a pretty special evening where we were humbled and our hearts were full of love and compassion. We do love the people of Tonga.

It was a little bit of a difficult week which ended in putting a Sister missionary on a plane back to the U.S. so she could get some more extensive testing done for an intestinal illness she has had for a few months. We have taken her to the doctor six times I think and we have not been able to get her much relief. She wasn’t in constant pain or misery but we thought it best for her to return home and get care there. She would have been going home at the end of the next transfer anyway so it didn’t seem right for her to have to continue when we couldn’t find anything that would help her.

She has a good attitude about it and the President and her parents agreed that this would be the best course at this time. The good news is that she will arrive home on Christmas Eve and be with her family. We miss all of our missionaries when they leave and will continue to pray for her health.

A few more photos of our evening out carolling. I'll add some more photos later today.

Ofa lahi 'atu!