June Sights and Outings in Tongatapu

Following are some photos of some of the activities we were involved in and some wonderful sights as well.

We were amazed to see a poinsettia flower this big, it is a bush!

A night out with the other Senior Missionaries and visiting dentist, Dr. Ralph Larson and his grandson, Jake to the Korean Restaurant.  Good Dinner!

Rest of our group at the Korean Restaurant.

This was a Stake dance.  They hold these whenever it is Stake Conference Weekend.

At these Stake Dances, each ward is to have a floor show.  It was amazing to watch.

This is our Ward, Liahona 2nd YSA Ward.  They did a beautiful waltz.  We were amazed to see their costumes.

This Elder Erickson and Elder Stivensi who are the APs for the Mission President.  They do the office work as well.

We went to Tsunami Rock Beach to watch the sunset.  This Elder and Sister Wolfgramm walking in the water.

Elder Murdock and Elder Wolfgramm - beautiful sunset.

Sister Wood could not resist looking for shells in the water while enjoying the sunset.

Here are the young Elders on a big service project.  They are painting the fence all around the Palace.  Since they were inside on palace grounds, they have to wear their Sunday best.  They had paint everywhere!

More pictures of the Elders painting the Palace Fence.  The Palace is in the background.

All over Tongatapu, the Villages are putting up these arches and decorating along the roads for all of the Coronation celebrations that are coming up.  The King and the Queen have been doing drive through inspections of the Villages, so they are really trying to clean up their places.

Some of the decorations of this village.  They like to use used tires as planters.

Here is Elder Wood shredding coconut on his back deck.

Along came to Tongan school children to show him how it is really done!

Here we are getting ready to do our Service Project on the Palace grounds.  It is a little rainy, but we will not be allowed to take our umbrella on the ground and put them up, so we planted and weeded the flower beds in the rain.  It looked very nice when we were done.  Again since we were going to be on the Palace grounds we had to be dressed in Tongan attire.  Strange way to plant flowers!

Elder Murdock felt we needed this picture showing that we are still taking care of our teeth.  We had a visiting Hygienist from Idaho Falls, so all the Senior Missionaries had their teeth cleaned and checked. 

A visit to the Blow Holes.  Waves were pretty wild today.

Another picture of the Blow Holes!

The Blow Holes.

This is the President's Dinner and Father's Day Dinner, as well as a farewell to Elder and Sister Hamblin.

President's Dinner

The Royal Army was out on the field today.

Here we are at an outdoor theater, Sister Murdock and Elder and Sister Wood.  We came here to watch "Hamlet". A group from London came to perform here in Tonga, one of the 250 countries they will be performing for.  It rained all through the play, we all were soaked, but the play was very good.  The actors did a wonderful job.

More of our group at "Hamlet", Elder and Sister Van Den Akker, and Elder and Sister Holbrook.

We were amazed with this project - "Road Marking"!

They hand paint their lines on the road with a stencil!  How would you like that job!

This is the daughter of  Dr. Clark, one of the visiting dentist from Idaho.  She climbed all the way to the top of this coconut tree, just like the Tongans do.  We were amazed!

This was a big International Block Party one night, just one of the many celebrations they are having preparing for the Coronation on July 4th.  There were two of these dragons doing a lot of dancing down the street!

This is the arch in down town Nuku'alofa with the name of the celebration on it.  As you can see there were many people there!

This is Elder and Sister Beckstrand, she had to have a flashing pink crown.  She definitely is a "pink crown girl"!

This is just the start of the celebration!  The crowds got worse the later it got.  Kind of looks like Eastern Idaho State Fair!

This is the King and Queen of Tonga.  He is the one who is going to be crowned on July 4th.

Another arch with a big crown on top.  They are going up all over the island!

"The kingdom of heaven, including the Church, and comprising all nations, will be set up with power and great glory when the triumphant King comes with His heavenly hosts to personally rule and reign on the earth, which He has redeemed at the sacrifice of His own life."   James E. Talmage

June 2015 Projects in Progress

This project was Furniture and Supplies for six Government Primary Schools here in Tonga.  All furniture and supplies, two twenty foot containers, were donated by schools in New Zealand that were updating their furniture and supplies.  The church then paid the shipping cost from New Zealand to Tonga.  It was a fast and furious week for us to get them all unpacked and organized for the day that we would have the Hand Over Ceremony.  Following are some pictures of the event.

This is just one of the truck loads of furniture and supplies delivered to our office complex from the ship.

Still unloading!

This is half of the furniture to be unpacked.......

and this is the other half.  Much work to do to unpack all of these desk and chairs and organize into groups before the Hand Over Ceremony in two days!

Starting the unpacking!

Now what to do with the packing material so that we have room to organize the desk and chairs into groups.

We called a wood carver that does a lot of shipping of his art work thinking he might like a little of the packing material.  He wanted it all!!  But we did take a load to one of the worker's house.  He wanted to use it to line his inside walls as there were many cracks with the wind blowing through.

Here we are all organized into sections.  Very tired, but glad it is ready for the Hand Over Ceremony tomorrow.  We are wearing our LDS Charities shirts that we received at the Fiji Conference.

Here the Stake President is officially handing over the furniture and supplies to the Ministry of Education of Tonga.

Part of the Hand Over Ceremony.

Refreshments following the Hand Over Ceremony.

Elder Murdock serving some refreshments to some of the children that were there to help load the desks, chairs, and supplies.

This is one of the schools with their load of desks and tables.  We were worried that they would not make it back to the school.  The children were on top holding the desks and tables so they would not fall out of the truck.

Another truck load on its way!

Final truck load and the parking garage is empty!

Also this month we made a trip out to our Veitongo Farming Project to see how they are progressing.  We were amazed at how the crops are growing.  We are so very proud of the people in this Village, how they have pulled together to make this project a success!  Following are some pictures, hope you enjoy them.

This is the first phase and the manioke is growing well.

Another parcel of the first phase  and the manioke is flourishing.

We were so excited to see how beautiful all the crops are and how well they are doing.

The farmer of this parcel wanted to plant peanuts in his acre.  This is the second phase of the project.

Another beautiful field of ufi and giant taro growing and doing well.

In this month we have had four new projects approved as well. One is for a new engine and a pump for the Village water, a new school library, new play ground equipment for a kindergarten, and a new farming project where they will grow peanuts and sell them to help provide income for the families of the Village.  As progress on these we will keep you updated with photos.

"We must live as true followers of the Christ, with charity toward all, returning good for evil, teaching by example the ways of the Lord, and accomplishing the vast service He has outlined for us."  Gordon B. Hinckley