March 2016 Sights and Events in Tonga

Following are some interesting sights that we saw and wonderful activities we had with the Senior Couples.  Hope you will enjoy them as much as we have.

Beautiful road scene.

Just how fast do you want to go?  Only in Tonga!

This is Ela and one of her teachers cutting different shapes from cardboard boxes, then coloring them to use to teach the children their shapes.  They do not have the funds to purchase such items.

This is another little project that we are working on that will finish after we have gone.  They will be doing gardens like this one in 182 families' yards.  They will grow their own vegetables for their families to eat and to sell the surplus at the market.  In doing this they will have sufficient funds to keep their little gardens going.  The Ministry of Agriculture will be teaching them how to retrieve seeds from the plants to start their own seedlings.

This is what the garden spots will look like.  We will provide the soil, manure, and seedlings to start.

More of the little gardens.

This is a classroom at Atele Tonga Boys school, their boys who are in, what we would call shop, do the renovations on their existing classrooms.  More schools should follow this example!

In this picture is Elder and Sister Murdock, and Sister Wunderlich, and Sister Faux, they were kind enough to translate for us at Nakolo Tonga Ward.  They are great Sisters and are doing a wonderful job!

Here all the Seniors went to "Ahopanilolo, a cooking school.  They teach their students about being a chef, hosting, waiters, and entertainment.  It was a wonderful night and a great meal!

Another shot of our wonderful night out!

Here we are at the same place.  We are a little red as there was a red light over us!

These are some of the students from our Viani School Project.  We were checking to see how the new floors were doing and they look great!  So do the kids!

Goodbye to Elder and Sister Tupola, Temple Missionaries.  They will be greatly missed!  They provided all of us with fresh vegetables from their garden that they created while here.

This is Elder and Sister Tupola with President and Sister Wasala, Tonga Temple President.

This a the group that was able to come and tell them good bye!

Final wave goodbye to Tupolas!

It has been raining for two weeks.  The car was very dirty, so in a down pour Elder Murdock took a sponge and washed the car in the rain in his swim suit.  He was soaked!

Only in Tonga would you see some one leading a horse from a van down the side walk in downtown Nukualofa!

We like the shade on this tractor, very unique, very Tongan!

These are the kind of ploughs that they use here in Tonga.  A lot different than what John McNabb uses!

It has been raining so much this popped up in our lawn in just a couple of days it was this big!

This is another school that is requesting help to build more classrooms as they are over crowded.  This is one of the students working a lathe.

This is the welding students.  We thought Nick would enjoy seeing this!

Here is one of the classrooms.  There was not room for all the students, so the rest sat on benches outside and listened through the windows.  They are in great need, hope we can help them!

This was at a special gathering for honouring the Elderly in Houma Village.  We were invited by the Noble as we have been able to get a water project approved for this village.  They wanted us there to thank us for our help.

This beautiful girl entertained us with a wonderful dance.  She was very beautiful!

This is a group shot of all in attendance at this program.

This is just one of the many houses here in Tonga.  You can see the wiring going through the wall and we are sure that it is not working!  This is a typical Tongan house.

Another home of Tonga.

This is our last President's Dinner, therefore we had to say our farewell to all.  It was a lovely dinner and we were thankful Ana was able to be there as well.

Here we are giving our farewell!

This is a shot of the group that was at this dinner.

We are all went to dinner at the Scenic hotel and had a great time together.

This is a shot of our table.

Another shot of our table.

A group shot of all that was able to go.  There is one couple missing.

This is a fountain downtown Nuku'alofa.  They had to put a fence around as the children, even the big ones, would get on it and break it.  Pretty sad, but that is how Tonga is, they have a hard time taking care of their things.

This is a little history of the Royal Palace located downtown Nuku'alofa.

HAPPY 47th ANNIVERSARY!  We took some time out and went to dinner on March 28 at our favourite pizza place, Marcos.  He is an Italian and makes very good pizza!

Following our dinner we headed to FHE for game night with the Seniors.  It is always a fun night!

Picture of the King and Queen of Tonga.

Final hair cut with David.  We will miss his wonderful hair washing massages!

Elder Murdock's last hair cut from David.

Elder Murdock is having his last hair washing massage.  They are so wonderful.  Sometimes for at least 5 minutes!

We spent many hours with this man, Fine from PTH.  This is his little office.  We could not have been able to do as much as we have done without his help in getting us the best price possible!

This is the little homestead we took a picture of at the first of our Mission.  It has grown to 4 other buildings!  I believe they are sleeping accommodations for this family that has grown!  They even have a car now, and running water across the road from a faucet that was installed.  So they have to haul their water from there every day!

We are having our final farewell to Siaosi Palu.  Another man that we could not have done as many water projects without his help.  He was always there when we needed him doing all that he could to make our projects a success!

"Christ's ideal of friendship requires that we be friends on a high moral and spiritual level.  Under his divine guidance and discipline ... our affection and friendship can mature into charity, the pure love of Christ, and we can be Zion, a people with one heart."    Sandra Rogers

Paea-He-'Ofa Kindergarten Project

This project has been a special one to us from the start.  The first day we arrived to look at the school and their needs, the little children came out and sang to us several songs, and one, "I am a Child of God", in English.  They were so adorable in their little navy and white uniforms with white ribbons in their hair.  At the time they only had two small rooms to hold class in for 85 students.  It was wall to wall children.  They were requesting renovation of the existing building, a new multipurpose room, with tile in all rooms and new doors.  We turned the project in and was told that Elder Haleck, 2nd Councillor in the South Pacific Area Presidency, was coming to Tonga and he was wanting to visit this school before he decides whether to approve the project or not.  When he visited the sight, he instructed us to make the new multipurpose room twice the size we were requesting due to the number of students and he then told Ela, Principal and owner of the school, her project was approved.  When Elder Haleck left, Ela through her arms around Elder Murdock and cried for about 5 minutes, thanking Jesus for helping her.  We hope you enjoy the progress of this project through our pictures.

This is the existing building of the little kindergarten.  Very small for 85 students!

Here a few of the students singing to us.  Their leader is Ela, our Champion in this project and the school principal and owner of the school.

This is one of the small rooms where half of the 85 students are taught.

And this is the other room.

This is the day that Ela received the news that her project had been approved and that she would be getting more than what she was requesting.

This is Ela, the contractor, Fine from PTH, Ana and Elder Murdock, measuring the room that will be the new multipurpose room so Fine can give us an estimate on the cost of the materials we will be purchasing from PTH (our Home Depot in Tonga).

The renovation on the existing building has started.  The new doors are on and the tile is being laid.

The footings are being set for the new building, and the outside of the existing building has been painted, new rain gutters to her water catchment tank has been installed as well.

The tile is done in the existing building and the clean up is starting.

First row of cinder blocks are laid with the re bar  in them.  The piles of gravel in the middle are for the base of the floor.

The bricks are slowly going up.

Each day we come to check the progress, there is always a big change.

This was an interesting visit.  They are making the rafters for the roof.  The man on the top of the building is nailing the blocks for the rafters and he is bare footed!

It has been raining for two weeks, but the works is going on.  They have the rafters all up!

The new roof is on and looking great!

These men are preparing the floor by spreading the gravel base, by hand and wheel barrow, so they will be able to pour the concrete floor.

The floor is poured and they are putting up the ceiling.

Ceiling is up and Elder Murdock is talking with the man that will be doing the tile.  He said that he would have it done in one day!

The building is coming along great!

The tile looks wonderful and the painting is coming along.  Won't be long before all is done!

We stopped to check on the project and found most everything is done, just the clean up and decorating for the Handover Ceremony.

School was in session and a few of the students sang a beautiful song for us!  It was so enjoyable!

Here we are waiting to start the Handover Ceremony.  We have the Stake President, Garrick and Susan Parr, Elder Murdock and a representative from the Ministry of Education.  Ela had everything decorated so nice for us!

Garrick Parr is presented with the scissors to cut the ribbon to the new multipurpose building.

Garrick Parr hands the keys to the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Education hands the keys over to Ela.

The children were excited to sit in the new chairs!  Due to the donation of Seren and Peggy Chandler, we were able to purchase 52 new student chairs.  They looked wonderful in the new building.

The students are presenting all kinds of gifts to Elder and Sister Murdock.  We were amazed at what they offered us!  

Elder Murdock and Sister Murdock stand with gifts in hand as the students sang a wonderful song to us.  Such an emotional day for us!

Sister Murdock was ask to give a few remarks of farewell since we were leaving the next day for home!

These four men are the ones responsible for all the hard work and meeting the deadlines we had set for them.  They were amazing as they would do their regular job during the day and work on this project at night, sometimes into early morning hours!

After the Ceremony we all enjoyed refreshments, including the children in the newly renovated building sitting on the new tiled floor.

Ana was then interviewed by the media concerning this project.

Our final goodbye to Ela, so difficult to say goodbye to someone who has become like family to us!

"Being compassionate is a great work of our Heavenly Father and a fundamental characteristic of who we are as a people.  We are commanded to 'succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees' (D&C 81:5)."   Dieter F. Uchtdorf