Murdocks In Tonga: Guests from New Zealand

On January 6, we had our Supervisors from Auckland, New Zealand arrive here in Tongatapu. We got them settled into House #1 on Liahona Campus, which is a very nice house. It has 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, a beautiful sitting room, formal dining room, a full size kitchen and a family room off of the kitchen. It had full time Internet, a big flat screen TV with a dish with many channels. We did not know that such a thing existed here in Tonga. Usually the General Authorities stay there when they come. We had to get it stocked with food for them for the week that they were planning on being here before they came.

We had a meeting with the Self Reliance team and us, the Welfare Humanitarian team. They talked of the work in Ha'apai as to how it is going. Following this they ask if anyone had anything else to talk about. Elder Murdock informed them that we had some people that we would like them to meet. It was Bishop Huni and Tui Vata. They are wanting help with a big farming project for the community of Veitongo. They are arranging for 280 families to have an acre of ground to plant food. Enough for themselves and surplus that will be sold to support their families. It will also help to prepare for any disasters that may happen here in Tonga. One of their needs is a tractor to plow the ground, either to purchase one or pay for someone to come and plow.

In this project they would also be taught how to test soil and to grow their vegetables organically, so it will be healthier for them. The Ministry of Agriculture here in Tonga will be teaching them this. We also will ask the Self Reliant team to help teach them about budgeting and organizing the sell of their surplus produce. We are so hoping that we will be able to help them with this in some way.

Following this meeting we headed to Little Italy for dinner.

This is our group at Little Italy, from left to right - Hans Sorenson, Elder and Sister Delong, Elder and Sister Winters, Ana Ika, Elder and Sister Van Den Akker, and the Murdocks

Another picture of our dinner at Little Italy. It was a very nice restaurant.

On January 7th we loaded our guests up and headed to the air port as they had a meeting in Ha'apai with the Delongs concerning the rebuilding project there. When we got there we dropped them off and headed back to the office, only to get a call from them saying their flight had been cancelled and the plane they were to go on came in with just one engine working. So we picked them up and took them back to Liahona to put away their luggage. Then back to the office for some work. After we took them out to dinner to Chef Zero, a quaint little place that we found through other missionaries here.

Here we are at Chef Zero

January 8th we again took them back to the airport to catch another flight to Ha'apai. We are hoping it has both engines working on this one. We have heard that the volcano is causing some problems as well. Here we are at the Domestic Airport sending them off.

Here is the little domestic airport. When you check in your luggage not only do they weigh your luggage but they weigh you as well. The plane is very small and can only carry so much.

They were only to stay in Ha'apai for the day and was to fly back in the afternoon, but we got word from them that the flight was cancelled due to the volcano. So they had to find accommodations in Ha'apai. They had not packed anything with them, no tooth brush or extra clothing. But we make due with things like this here in Tonga. We were very worried that they would not get back for the big meeting that we had set up with the Ministry of Health and head of the Diabetes Committee on Friday. We had to call them several times changing the time of the meeting, but they were very good about it.

On January 9th they did fly in, very tired and hot. So we took them to Liahona first to freshen up for our big meeting. The meeting was at noon. We had food brought in for a light lunch for everyone. Ana went all out in setting up the room as we were running our guest all around the country.

Here is our guest returning from Ha'apai on their little plane. The isle between the seats is 6 inches wide.

Our guest very tired and hot coming from Ha'apai and they have meetings all day today.

The meeting turned out very well and they seemed to be willing to work with us on the issue of Diabetes. We so want to make a difference here in Tonga and they are willing to partner with us on this project. We will be meeting with them again later in the month so that hopefully we can work something out.

Following the meeting we headed out to some primary schools that we feel are in great need. As you will see from the pictures that are following. We are hoping that our grand children will see these and be very appreciative of the schools they have the opportunity to go to.

This is inside of one of several schools that we looked at that is in great need as you can see.

Another class room. We hope that our grand children will look at these and appreciate the wonderful schools they have to go to. These students do not have any water to wash their hands and no water to drink.

In this school there is 500 students. This is the bathrooms for the boys and the girls, one side for boys and the other for the girls.

This is one of the girls stalls, not much left when school is starting again in two weeks.

Here another girls stall, the pigs have been wandering in and out as well.

This is one of the boys stalls with just a 5 gallon bucket for them to use.

Another boys stall,this is the make shift door for this stall. A piece of tin, the answer for all Tongan problems.

Following our tour we went to Hina Cave for dinner and a show. It was a unique place, but a Tongan Feast Buffet. The dinner was an hour late starting so the show was even later. At 10:15 the show had not started yet. Our guest were pretty wore out from the day so we did not stay for the show, instead we headed back to Liahona. Following are some of the pictures of the evening.

Here we are at Hina Cave just before going in for dinner. It was a unique place.

Inside Hina Cave Restaurant. The leaves are the table clothes for the tables.

This was our entertainment, they were pretty good, but very loud of course like all Tongan music.

Here is the Tongan Feast Buffet, the white tubes on the side are banana bark bowls for our plates.

Here is a sample of the food we are eating, even Elder Murdock had a hard time eating this, and it was $40 a head!

Our guests seemed to be okay with it, but Elder Winters and Hans love all kinds of fish.

On January 10th we had a meeting with Elder and Sister Beckstrand. He is the dentist at the dental clinic on Liahona. We have a project with them and they were wanting to see what the clinic looks like that was set up through the church. Following our meeting we took the Beckstrand to dinner at the Ever Green Restaurant, a Chinese restaurant. It was very good. It was nice to know that there are some nice places to go out to dinner here in Tonga!

This is our meeting with Elder and Sister Becstrand at the Liahona Dental Clinic.

This is our dinner at Ever Green Restaurant, it was very good food!

On Sunday we all went to church. They had a meeting with some people, so we went home and prepared dinner for them and took it to their house. We had a nice dinner, but all were tired with the long week. We have an early morning as they are scheduled to fly out for home.

After checking their baggage in we headed to the Scenic Hotel for some lunch, just across the road from the airport. We had a nice lunch, but when we returned to the airport we found that their flight had been cancelled due to the volcano, a lot of ash in the air. So they picked up there luggage and we headed back to Liahona, then on to the office for a little work. They helped us to start to put together a project, that we are hoping will get approved right away.

Here we are at the air port ready to send them off to New Zealand, we thought.

Our lunch at Scenic Hotel by the airport before they "fly" out, we thought!

On Tuesday we again headed to the airport to get them on to their flight home, but again their flight was cancelled due to the volcano. Again back to Liahona and then back to the office to try and get some work done. Elder and Sister Murdock had an appointment to see a man that is trying to start a bridge school for kids that did not finish high school so they can go on to college. Kind of like some one in America getting their GED. There is nothing here in Tonga like that. The church is starting a pilot program at Liahona for this, but it is for members only. Following is some pictures of the place this man is going to start this school. He had accreditation from the Ministry of Education to start it but they do not give any funding for it. So he is asking for help getting tables, chairs, computers and any books for grades 11 and 12, which they call Form 5 and Form 6. It was just a warehouse that he is setting up in, but it was better than some of the grade schools we visited earlier in the week.

This is the Tonga International Academy, the bridge school this gentleman is trying to start.

This is Ana checking out the rooms for the school. It is just a big warehouse and they have put dividers in to make class rooms. It is very bare and sparse.

Following our day we then took them to dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant. It was a very nice place with very good food. Again we did not know there were so many nice places to eat. We then headed back to Liahona as we will be heading to the air port again in the morning.

Wednesday, January 14th, we headed to the airport again only to learn that the flight had been cancelled again due to the volcano. Our guest are getting a little frustrated and are ready to be home so they can be with their families. We decided that we would go to the other end of the island to see the volcano, this thing that is causing so much havoc with the flights in and out of Tonga. Following are some pictures of the volcano.

This a picture of the volcano. It is about 50 miles from our island.

This a zoomed in shot of the volcano.

As we were having dinner we received a call from Ana stating that a flight from New Zealand was coming in, so we dashed back to Liahona, they got their luggage and we made a dash to the airport only to learn it was a flight for the scheduled passengers only. Our guest were very frustrated that they had not been notified and was not allowed to try for standby. There were 10 passengers that did get on through standby. We then headed back to Liahona as we learned that there were three flights scheduled the next day to take care of all the passengers that were stranded here in Tongatapu. Our guest were scheduled on the last flight. This was not acceptable to them as they had been waiting the longest for a flight. We left a little discouraged only to get a call stating that they would be on the first flight out in the morning. We Hope!

The morning of January 15th, we headed to the airport for the 5th time to try and get them on a flight back to New Zealand. From the time they came to when they left we have made 8 trips to the Airport. We definitely know how to get to the airport. These trips to the airport are about 30-40 miles round trip, so it takes some time especially when you can only go between 25-45 miles an hour. We all prayed very diligently that it would happen today! Following are some pictures of the airport and their flight finally here!