Tonga Mission Trip: July 12-14

I still haven't caught up with my blogging. Surprise, surprise. Haha. But since I had a little bit of free time, I'm trying my hardest to catch up...so in the mean time, have fun reading this post. =)

Sapate Fiefia everyone!!

July 12, 2012

Apparently mosquitoes like my left eye now. It’s super swollen. But, guess what? We got to wake up later! Since today is a legal holiday here in Tonga plus the crown Prince is getting married today, all the shops and schools are closed. We did have the eye clinic open for a few hours at the compound for the conference workers and saw a few dozen people. It wasn’t super busy after the first half hour so I transcribed the interview questions for Bryan and Arody and then ended up helping them with the interviews…ok, more like minimally helped them with their interviews. Lol. Basically I asked some of the questions and stood to the side of the camera so the interviewees had someone to look at so it wouldn’t be as awkward as when I had to do mine and had no one to look at. We first interviewed the one and only Netanya, then Avery, who was hilarious, and then finally we interviewed the Little One, Stephanie, who is super cute. ;) The wind was blowing hard at some points and it was really amusing watching Arody battle the wind with the reflector and then Bryan had to borrow my sweater to tie to his camera…picture to follow b/c I can’t explain it.

After a quick lunch we all scrambled to walk over to where the Royal wedding reception was taking place just to see if we could get a glimpse of the couple from the fence. On our way walking there, which is only a 10 min walk or less, Bryan waved down a truck, who happened to be a church member and we hitched a ride. When we got there we were told that the festivities there weren’t starting till 4pm. Boo hiss. But to our surprise we saw not only Paula in the area, but also Ron…who is a total BOSS b/c he just walked right up in there like it was nothing while the rest of us were stupidly standing on the other side of the fence. Lol. The people were still setting up the tables and others were bringing in food. Apparently different church denominations were responsible for bringing food. So the SDAs were in charge of 10 tables of food but the Methodists and Mormons were responsible for a ridiculous amount of tables…like 40 or 60.

So we walked back and then boarded the trusty bus and went around the island. We stopped by a few monuments like where the first Christians landed, where Captain Cook landed, some Stonehenge wannabe thing, and then we went to see some fantastic blowholes. The blowholes lined the entire coast and the waves were magnificent. I think it took us 4 hours to go around the majority of the island. Yeah, that’s how small it is.

When we finally got back everything was dark and lonely looking since Pastor Joedy and Mrs. Judy were away the whole day and everyone else was too. It was quite depressing. We pretty much foraged for food…ok, that’s stretching it a lot b/c we had most of our kitchen crew with us. Lol. If it weren’t for Paula and the rest of them we’d probably be starving right now. No lie. The pastor later on brought in a TV so that we could watch part of the royal wedding. Well, it was more like he brought in two TVs because the first one didn’t work. We caught part of the engagement ceremony but not the wedding part. It was a lot of singing and traditional dancing and really bad cinematography. You should’ve heard Arody going crazy when he was watching it. It was hilarious. I ended up falling asleep on the bench though. Mmmm…it was such a nice little nap.

Outside all the kids and even a few adults at times started playing the game zip and boing. It was hysterical! I had to stop playing because my face muscles hurt so much. They ended up playing that a bunch of times and variations of it, with Netanya losing on the first round every time, which was really funny. Love you, Netanya! Teehee.

We had to start worship without Pastor Joedy and Mrs. Judy b/c they were late getting in. They had actually been invited to the royal wedding earlier that day (lucky ducks!) and then had to run over to the Chinese church b/c some of the first ever Chinese in the Pacific were being baptized. It’s a huge thing and we all praise God that He’s working on not only the Tongans but also others as well.

July 13, 2012

We had another lazy morning which was super nice since we all got to sleep in a little. After breakfast and worship we took two loads of us in the “Tongan Taxi” (aka the box truck) to the port. We boarded a small boat (V6 150 hp engine b/c I’m nerdy like that) that took us to an island about 10 mins away.

The water was super blue and pretty, but unfortunately it was really windy and since it’s winter over here the temp has been pretty mild. Like ~70° or something exciting like that. The resort was small but still had the island-y feel to it (don’t ask how it wouldn’t have that…). The boys found a pool table and they had a round while Arody and I watched the Alaskan brave the chilly water. Lol.  We decided to walk around the island and in the process ended up losing Netanya and Henry…who we are assuming were steaming some rice…bahahahahah. =) It took us about 20 mins to walk around the island and the other side was really pretty, although there were a few rocky places and Arody got mad b/c he had to change shoes, but seriously? Who goes to an island with socks and sneakers?! Wooosaaaaaa. Anyway, we found a sea snake in the shallow waters and Arody [stupidly] tried to touch it, which he succeeded with, but I wouldn’t let Sophie touch it b/c it was coming towards her and sea snakes are more poisonous than land snakes.

We were really hungry when we made a full circle around the island so we ordered our food and sat outside under a thatched roof and talked. And talked some more. And talked with Ross and Jenni, who are the cutest beast couple ever.

After we all ate we all tried our hand at the rope swing. Some of the boys (and Stephanie, b/c she’s a beast like that) climbed up the rope. I think Riley was the only one that actually got all the way up and touched the top of the tree.

After our awesome group picture on the beach we loaded the boat (well it took three trips to take all of us) and headed back to the port. When I got off of the boat there were a bunch of Chinese people looking at me weirdly and whispering amongst themselves. I’m pretty sure they were really confused. We walked back to the compound since it was actually really close. After a much needed shower Bryan and I had an awesome jam session and then we all ate a quick dinner before headed off to VBS.

It was our last time at the Vini church so it was quite bittersweet. There were tons of kids too. Probably 60+ kids squished in a small room plus kids outside looking in from the windows. I must say that it has been great getting to do VBS with the Chetwyn group. It’s been a joy getting to play with the guys during praise and worship as well as watching and participating in the improv skits.

After VBS was done Finau hustled us to go try on the dresses that had been made for us. They all fit to a tee!! Since this was our last night at that church there were many many goodbyes. Some of the little girls didn’t want Netanya to leave and kept pulling her out of the bus till Pastor Mark pulled her into the bus. Those little girls are super strong and violent. Lol.

When we got back we had another bonfire with more singing and sharing. This time we had homemade choc-oat cookies that Ms. Judy made!! And I gave massages to Laura and Rahel while Arody was being creepy in the back per usual. Haha, JK, I love you Arody!! =)

Before bedtime I was trying to give Laura advice on life and school, not that I’m the best at that , and then I spent some time with the girls talking and dog piling everyone before crashing. 

July 14, 2012

So it was a lazy morning again since we officially were done with everything. Ok, maybe not officially since Ross and Dr. Randy went back to the construction site to finish some wielding. Most of the group went into town to get souvenirs and stuff. I sent Sophie and Netanya off to go find presents for Pastor Joedy and Judy (since this was their last official mission trip before retiring) as well as Arody since it was his birthday the next day. Meanwhile, I was going to help Bryan and Arody with interviews…but all the people they wanted to interview were either busy or sick. So what did we do? Bryan and I had deep conversations about life while laughing at Arody being moody and angsty. Arody isn’t always the most cheerful in the mornings, especially if he hasn’t recharged all the way. We decided it takes a lot of energy for Arody to be himself so that’s why he’s not awake during the mornings….he’s still recharging. HAH. After a close encounter with a truck almost running Arody over while he was sleeping (don’t ask…ok, so it wasn’t really a close encounter…), we made our way over to the compound for choir practice. So for those of you who don’t know, the Melashenkos are known for their family choir and Pastor Joedy has an amazing voice! So they have tracks they sing with and so Pastor Joedy played them a few times and we just kinda jumped in. The ladies sang second tenor (or at least I think we did? Maybe we sang first tenor…I’m a horrible music major) and the guys sang…the other part….while Pastor Joedy and Bryan sang bass…or was it baritone? Wow, I’m awful at this. Anyway, we learned a bunch of songs really quickly but I started getting extremely sleepy to the point where it was extremely hard to wake up. So I went up to our room to get my water bottle and realized that my blood sugar was getting really low (I have spontaneous hypoglycemia which is really annoying), so I quickly found my secret stash of granola bars and chomped on one…plus a coconut that Netanya graciously opened for me.

So after choir practice, which, btw, we sounded good, we all boarded the bus to head to Beulah College for the farewell feast they were having for us. Once again there was TONS of food. Somehow right before we started eating I inherited a cute little girl that wouldn’t let me put her down and she kept on playing with my sunglasses and camera. So Bryan started me a plate until the little one finally decided it was more awesome to run around the floor…so I started getting food on my plate…till she grabbed my hand and dragged me all over creation. No joke. Then she got more interested in running around by herself again and I was able to eat in peace with everyone else. That’s when all the speeches started. Most of the pastors there plus Ana from the eye clinic and a few from our group said things that were really moving, real tear jerkers, and things that pretty much summed up our experience. It really hit me when one of the pastors said that they are so thankful to our group and that the only way they know how to say thank you in their culture is to have a feast for us, which is why they kept on making food for us. The clincher is that many of these people really couldn’t afford to be making all this food for us since cost of living is so high on the island and most people’s salaries are tight. Some of them go home to an empty fridge or an empty kitchen after making food for us. That really hit me. These people are so giving! How many people do you know would make food for total strangers when they don’t have enough for themselves? It really boggles my mind and I can’t really wrap my head around it. We presented our gift to Pastor Joedy – a coconut shell that had engraved on it, “It all goes back in the box Tonga 2012” (if you’ve never been on a Joedy mission trip, you won’t understand) – and we got Judy a really pretty tupenu, and BTW, Sophie is really great at making speeches, just saying. Then after that the church presented us with some Tongan gifts that they have collected. As if the food wasn’t enough, they go and outdo themselves and give us gifts on top of everything! These Tongan souvenirs or what-have-you are NOT cheap, mind you. The spirit of giving that these people have has been overwhelming this whole trip. We didn’t deserve any of this, yet they still gave to us. And this is the part of the show where I could start sermonizing on this, but since this is already super long, I won’t. I’ll save it for when I really go give the sermon at my church. Haha. But seriously, do you get the point I’m trying get across here? Ok, enough about that.

After all the tears were shed, the speeches made, and the gifts given we went to Kolonga church (the one the construction team had been working on) for a mini dedication. They had pews in the sanctuary, which was really awesome, so their church choir sang a bunch of songs for us and then – surprise, surprise – there were more speeches, tears, and sharing with each other. The church apparently hadn’t been finished for 6 or more years b/c they didn’t have enough money or man power to finish it so it was a huge thing for the QH team to come in and help them finish it so they could start worshiping in a proper church again. It’s a good feeling, even though I wasn’t with the construction crew at all.

When we got back to the compound we divided/raffled off the gifts that had been given to us and Sophie was gracious enough to trade her fan with mine since she got the sea turtle fan. ;) I la-la-love you!! During dinner I was given the task of gathering and compiling everyone’s pictures. Altogether it was something like 8,000 pictures/videos which took up 38 GBs or so. So, um…anyone bored?

Then we signed each other’s t-shirts and there were piles of them all over the place and no one knew whose was whose. And in the meantime we had another choir practice with more people. Yay!