Kenny & Becky Kapp: TNPLH

Lindsay sent us a few photos of our home in
Bountiful. It looks like the grandkids have been
having fun and it made us a little bit homesick
while at the same time providing us some comfort.
More photos from home at the bottom of the blog.

(There's No Place Like Home) This was a week of getting back into the swing of things. After our ~~four~~ six days in New Zealand it was nice to get back to our home away from home in Tonga ... back to our very firm mattress, our broken A/C unit and our somewhat limited food options (we're really not complaining, it's just the way it is and the AC was fixed very quickly). While it was nice to see to some of the things we are used to back in Utah while in New Zealand, it is also nice to get back to Tonga refreshed and ready to finish our mission out strong. We have a little over six months to go now so the time will most likely pass quickly from everything we've heard from other senior missionaries.

I was also able to watch game 4 of the Utah Jazz OKC Thunder playoff series while in New Zealand. I've followed the Jazz success over the second half of the season closely but have not seen a game since January of 2017 so I did enjoy their convincing win. I was also happy the one their first round series against OKC. I'll remain positive about their chances with Houston but it's going to be a tall order to come out of this round on top.

We know the missionaries well and have come to love them so much. They are so dedicated to serving the Lord and they put their heart and soul into it. Many tell us that they want to keep serving as their time to return home comes around but we know it is time for the next chapter in their lives and it will be an exciting and fun time in their lives as well.

A dentist's work is never done.

We asked him which he
needed more, the ring or
finger since one of them
needed to come off.

We're not sure how he got this ring on his finger but it certainly wasn't coming off easily. They tried all the tricks with soap, oil and even the string but all to no avail. Thank goodness we had one more option. This is the third time we have had to cut a "borrowed" CTR ring from the finger of a missionary since we've been here. Maybe we need to go over what CTR means. Thank goodness for diamond burrs... these little rings are tough!

Over the past few months I have written a program to track the Dental Clinic procedures for Tonga and Samoa clinics. As of the end of April they are on track to provide almost $5M (USD) of free dental care to the people of Tonga. We just started the Samoa clinic on this tracking system so it's a little early to tell how much they provide but I'm sure it's significant. This is all done with senior missionary Dentists and a few short term volunteer dentists who roll through on a frequent basis. They are open 5 days a week and stay really busy. They do this all on a $25K annual budget as most supplies are donated.

I am hoping that we can come up with a simple way for them to keep track of their schedule and appointments as it is currently not tracked at all and creates some pretty long waits for some. Tongans are pretty used to that as the Hospital clinics are done the same way. Show up at 9:00 a.m. and get your name on the list. You may be there all day.

I am also starting a few computer classes at the request of the senior missionaries on Excel and PowerPoint. There are also a few that are interested in just having some time to ask questions about Windows, Blogs and other general computer related topics. I hope they are successful and that I can provide some help. If not I'm sure we can find some answers somewhere.

We had one Tongan missionary leave the clinic this week and even though she was all numb, as they had done lots of work, she was all smiles and said I am so happy to have my teeth clean and fixed. I am going to take good care of them now. She was genuinely happy and so grateful for the dentist.

This week Tonga celebrated ANZAC day (Australia New Zealand Army Corps). It is the day they remember the battle at Gallipoli because of the huge number of casualties (it claimed the lives of more than 11,000 Australian and New Zealand soldiers). There were also 460 Pacific Island soldiers serving in those armies during WWI from 1914 - 1918. You can read more about it on Wikipedia by clicking here if you are interested.

Tonga had a very nice early morning service that was presided over by King Tupou VI. Also in attendance was the Prime Minister (Hon. 'Akilisi Pohiva), offers from His Majesty's Armed Forces, officers from the Australian and New Zealand armed forces, foreign diplomats, members of parliament, and members of the Public. The program included placing a wreath at the Cenotaph (a monument erected to remember these men) and a religious service dedicated to them. There is a short write up with a couple of photos in the Matangi Tonga online (click here).

The weather has been really nice this week and we are solidly into the nicer part of the year from a temperature perspective. It's amazing how much difference cooling down by 7-8 degrees can make.

We didn't take many photos this week here are a few more from our New Zealand trip and a few more from our home in Bountiful. Thanks Lindsay for letting us see the tulips in bloom.