2007 Travel Report and Historical Items of Interest, Part II
October and November 2007
We flew out at 11:55 PM on Friday the 5th of Oct. for Auckland, New Zealand. I am not
sure why all of the flights to the south pacific fly in the middle of the night but they do. It
was a nine hour flight and was full. We arrived in Auckland on Sunday morning (we had
to pass the date line so we missed Saturday). By the time we retrieved our luggage and
went through immigrations and customs and got to our hotel we were ready for another
nap. We were pleased to have
Professor Dr. Raymond Thompson
traveling with us. He is over the
special education program in the
college of Education at BYU-H.
He had a meeting with the
minister of Education in Tonga
regarding inclusionary education
for the disabled students in the
country of Tonga. BYU Hawaii is
very involved in the educational
objectives in the Pacific Islands.
We felt bad we could not hear or
see general conference. We will have to read it in the Ensign when it comes out. We
rested most of the day and then took a little walk. New Zealand has wonderful weather,
COOLER and LESS HUMID. It was very refreshing. We did however have to get up
early and catch a 7 am flight to Tongatapu. Our flight was delayed so we did not get into
Nukualofa until 11 am.
We were met by Elder and Sister Embley and Elder and Sister McLaughlin at the airport
after going through immigration and customs again. Elder and Sister Embley are
assigned to Liahona High School and Elder and Sister McLaughlin are assigned over the
5 middle schools in Tonga which are located on the islands of Tongatapu, Vava’au,
Ha’apai, and Ewa. The Embleys are very busy with classes for the teachers working
toward their bachelor’s degrees and McLaughlins are reading specialists and are testing
and tutoring students and teachers in English reading and comprehension. Both couples
are providing such a valuable service and are so faithful in their callings, they are an
inspiration to us.
We stayed in housing for guests on the Liahona campus. It is very nice and has a washer
and dryer out back so we can do laundry as we need. We are grateful to the school
administrators and country directors for the gracious offer of housing while we visit the
schools.
It was so good to meet with Mele the Principal at Liahona and the heads of departments.
We were able to visit at least a half a dozen classrooms and talk with the teachers and
students. There was a special moment when we presented the Bachelors of Science
Degree Diploma to Nautalus Kaho who had finished
her degree at BYU Hawaii but had not yet received
her diploma. We carried it with us and presented it
to her in front of her class of students. She was teary
eyed, as were we. What a marvelous experience for
those students to see. Hopefully it will give them
inspiration to accomplish the same goal.
President and Sister Shumway were
pleasantly surprised when we
presented them with a case of the
books “Tongan Saints” that President
Shumway wrote. They were hoping
somehow they could find a way to
have them brought to Tonga from
Hawaii. We were glad we could
help. We had a nice visit with Sister
Shumway when we dropped them off
at their new home. They have been
called as the President and Matron of
the Tongan Temple. The Temple has just been enlarged and remodeled and they were
having tours before it is dedicated the first week in November. We were able to take a
tour and it is absolutely lovely inside and out. What a wonderful blessing for the
wonderful brothers and sisters in Tonga. We had dinner at the Waterfront Café with all
the ITEP couples, and Mele and her husband. Our flight scheduled to the island of Eua
was cancelled as the travel coordinator for the church in Nukalofa could not promise us
we could be back in time to make our flight Friday to the island of Va’vau as flights to
Eua are frequently cancelled. It is a 6 minute flight but if you take a boat it takes 8 hours.
It is across the Tongan Trench and has at times terrible turbulence on the water.
We had the opportunity to visit the three middle schools of Pakilau, Havalu and Liahona
on the island of Tongatapu. They are wonderful facilities and each staff is excellent. We
visited with each principal and a variety of classes and talked with the students. The
library at each school has been organized and is an inviting place to enter. The students
appear very happy and eager to learn. All of these schools are taught completely in
English. We are always trying to increase the ability of the students to read and
comprehend English. The students are very bright and memorize scriptures exceedingly
well but struggle with the comprehension of the text. Our goal is to help facilitate
increased comprehension and other reading skills. The students were having reviews for
their year end exams that were coming up the next week. .We also, unannounced,
stopped by a government school, Tonga Side Elementary, and talked with the principal
and saw the children speaking English and reading in English. The rooms were small,
dark and well worn but the children and teachers were wonderful. We then had to run to
downtown Nukalofa to use our credit card at the bank ATM for 1000 pa’anga which
equal $500.00 US to pay for our flight to Vava’u and Ha’apai as for some reason the
credit card machine at the Church Travel Office would not accept the BYU Travel credit
card. We hurried back to Liahona campus to attend a class being taught by Elder and
Sister Embley.
We traveled by small plane to the
island of Vava’u and attended
church in a Tongan speaking ward.
A sweet sister behind us interpreted
for us during Relief Society opening
exercises. Sister Harrison a senior
ITEP missionary gave the lesson in
English and her husband taught the
age 16 class in Sunday School in
English. Sacrament meeting was in
Tongan but we were able to wear
headphones with a Tongan sister in
the back of the chapel interpreting
for us. What an experience! The
Tongan people are extremely
humble and spiritual and boy can they sing! It was a privilege to worship with them.
We also had an “adventure” while in Vava’u. We went on a ride in the new church van
and were heading for a beautiful spot on top of a set of cliffs to have a picnic. We were
well away from houses and going down this dirt road which became muddy and had big
mud puddles. All of a sudden we sank into a large one - and the van was stuck. Elder
Harrison tried rocking the van to get out but to no avail. Then Elder McLaughlin and
Elder Salvesen got out and tried to push - still stuck. At this point the three sisters got out
the back door of the van because the sliding door at the side was stuck in the mud. Then
Elder McLaughlin crawled under the rear of the van and tried to work a jack under the
rear axel. It kept sinking into the mud. I was so afraid that the van was going to move
and sink further and crush him. We were beginning to think that we would have to walk
back to where we left the side road and get some help when I heard the distant sound of a
motor. Over the next 5 minutes the sound became louder and louder and suddenly
around the corner came 5 four-wheelers on an excursion. They were all big men and
were very willing to push the van out of the hole. They accomplished that in one big
push. We turned around and headed back to civilization! We stopped by the roadside
and had our picnic in a safer bug free area. When we got back to the school housing it
was so cute to see the men out there scrubbing all the mud off the van. It looked pristine
when they finished. No one would ever know about our “adventure”
The same evening we were invited to a “Real Tongan Feast”. We drove across the island
to one of its many harbors. There were 6-8 various sized sailing boats anchored and
some of the people from the boats were at the feast. These people were from all over the
world. What a delightful mix of cultures. Also, there were local people at the feast site
with their hand woven baskets, taupa cloths (painted with vegetable dyes), and handmade
jewelry laid out on the ground selling them. It is beautiful work. We also had a Tongan
Band play for us. They had guitars, drums, corrugated tin roofing that they used for
drums, and sticks for beating together. The men and boys in the band were drinking
Kava which made them very happy (they were not LDS). It must have been the first
drink of Kava for one of the younger boys as he tasted it he pulled a terrible face and got
up and ran over to the bush and spit it out. There were some beautiful dancing by the
young girls and boys. It was very well done. We then were escorted to a long table that
had been covered with banana leaves
for the table cloth and the food was
placed in coconut shells, wrapped
banana leaves, stems from the
banana plants. There was no cutlery
to eat with and no plates. We were
instructed that we would eat with
our fingers and no napkins were
provided. The food was cooked in
the traditional umu (outdoor
cooking) on the ground. The menu
consisted of fresh bananas,
pineapple, tapioca root, papaya,
mango, lobster salad, raw fish salad,
baby octopus, a sticky banana bread
wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in the umu, fried fish fritters, dumplings in custard
cooked in a taro leaf, watermelon, bananas, chicken and fish both wrapped in taro leaves
and cooked in coconut milk. I have never had a meal that I had to eat with my fingers
and I knew I needed to try the octopus so I closed my eyes and popped it into my mouth
and started chewing. Amazingly it was really good. I thought it would be rubbery but it
was not at all. I did not however take a second bite. It was a mental thing! Elder
Salvesen enjoyed his whole serving of octopus. It was a wonderful evening. We even
had the opportunity to explain what an LDS Missionary is and what we are doing for our
mission.
We flew back to Tongatapu on Tuesday October 17, 2007, had a dinner hosted by the
Embleys and packed for our flight the next day to Auckland, NZ .
On Thursday October 18th we
rented a car (remember British
countries drive on the other side of
the road) and drove into downtown
Auckland to the church office
building and met with Mark Pugh
who is the CES director of the
South Pacific. It was a great
meeting and we felt so good about
our work connecting CES and ITEP
programs so as to meet the needs of
the students and teachers on a higher level than has before been accomplished. The next
day October 19th we drove to Hamilton and Temple View where the Church College of
New Zealand and the Temple is located. It is about a 1 ½ hour drive from Auckland
through beautiful countryside. It was just turning spring and it was great to see all the
cattle and sheep grazing on the hillsides. We were able to meet with Kelvin Doody who
has been directed to develop the new curriculum for the church schools in the South
Pacific. What a marvelous experience we have had meeting with such great spiritual
men. We then drove back to our hotel for the night and took a noon flight on the 20th
back to Honolulu. We again crossed the dateline so we arrived in Honolulu on the 19th
We were home for two days and welcomed Elder
and Sister Wheeler in from the mission home in
Provo. They were heading to Fiji after a week of
training with us. What a marvelous couple with
great testimonies. They had both lost their spouses
29 years ago and had married and had another
child which gave them a total of 15 children of
yours, mine and ours. I stand in awe of this great
couple.
On October 29, 2007 we dropped the Wheelers off at
departures at the airport and drove around to arrivals
and welcomed Elder and Sister Smart coming in from
Samoa. They had just completed their 18 month
mission at Pesega. We were privileged to have them
here reporting their mission to the School of
Education Staff and then drove them to the airport to
catch a flight to home on Wednesday the 31st of
October.
On Sunday October 4th we drove again to the airport
and welcomed Elder and Sister Ratliff coming in
from completing their ITEP mission at the Church
College of Fiji in Suva, Fiji. Monday October 5,
2007 they gave their report to the School of
Education Staff and then we headed for the airport
with the Ratliffs to pick up Elder and Sister Winegar
coming in from the MTC in Provo on their way to
Tarawa Kiribati. Elder and Sister Ratliff rode with
us and we all went to dinner at Haliwa Joes in
Koneohe and then drove back over the mountain to take the Ratliffs to the airport to catch
their flight to the mainland at 10:20 pm. The Elders and Sisters are amazing people that
have taught Mike and I much by their examples and testimonies.
On Friday October 9, 2007 we drove down to the airport to welcome yet another
returning missionary couple Elder and Sister Harrison who have been serving as ITEP
missionaries on the island of Vava’u in Tonga. This is their third mission and served 21
months working hard with teachers and students at Saineha High School. On Sunday
October 11, 2007 we had both couples over to our apartment for dinner. We served them
roast, baked potatoes and carrots with green salad. We know they can’t get good beef in
the South Pacific and sometimes none at all. Later that evening we drove the Winegars
to the airport to catch their flight to Kiribati which took off at 12:35am on Monday
October 12th. As you are beginning to notice that all the flights going back and forth
from the South Pacific go and come in the middle of the night.
On the 14th of October we said goodbye to Elder and
Sister Harrison at the airport for their 11:20 pm flight
to the mainland and home. We then we had an hour
drive back to Laie. It is only 32 miles to the airport
in Honolulu from Laie but the road curves along the
edge of the island and thus takes an hour.
The next week we had the first ever phone bridge
with all of our ITEP couples in the islands, CES in
Auckland and CES in Salt Lake City. We are going
to make this a monthly occurrence. We are so grateful for all the technology that has
come into our lives that keep all of us connected. We are also working on providing
satellite distance education to teachers in the South Pacific that are working for their
Bachelors Degrees and Teaching Certificates. There are so many irons in the fire it is
hard to keep up. We have no boring days in our life and thus our mission is flying by.
On October 21, 2007 we had a
lunch meeting with all the ILDS
students, President and Sister
Wheelwright from BYUH and
Elder and Sister Baxter of the South
Pacific Area Presidency. We were
spiritually as well as physically fed.
We feel very grateful that we are
able to have so many spiritual
experiences. We know our
Heavenly Father is in charge and he
willingly teaches us line upon line,
precept upon precept.
Elder Salvesen and I have been meeting by video and phone bridges in the past three
weeks with Church offices in SLC, Area Presidency and CES Offices in Auckland New
Zealand and BYU Hawaii to review and fine tune the plan for school curriculum and
coordination of the CES (Church Education System), ITEP (International Teacher
Educational Program) and BYU-H programs so they are on the same “page” and can be
more effective in providing necessary material and information to the students and
teachers. It has been a wonderful experience to meet and discuss the issues with such
capable and inspired leaders.
The Church Education System has allocated $300,000 this year to start replacing the
textbooks in the Church Schools in the South Pacific. This is a huge help as the
textbooks they are now using are outdated and there are not enough to go around. We are
so excited about this advancement. Next year they are planning for a $300,000/year
budget to replace textbooks and add to the libraries.
A senior missionary ITEP couple
(Elder and Sister Jensen) is
helping to organize all the libraries
as they travel throughout the
schools and in addition Elder
Jensen teaches science classes.
Sister Jensen was a library
specialist and Elder Jensen is a
PhD meteorologist and science
educator.