CULTURE WEEK AT LIAHONA

Malo e lelei,

The past week was culture week at the high school.  We were treated to different parts of the culture every day.   Unfortunately, we work in town and so we were only able to catch a few things which are pictured here. On Monday they all dressed in traditional Tongan attire.  You'll see that in some of the dance photos.  On Wednesday we stuck around in the morning and watched each class perform their version of the typical Tongan dances.  They mixed it up with some silliness, so you  may see some odd stuff.  Friday was food day and we missed that.  All was not up to Polynesian Culture Center professionalism, but was fun to watch.

Most of the girl's dresses are home-made Tapa cloth, made from the inner bark of local trees.  
They use brown liquid from another type of  tree and
mix it with coconut juice if they want to make a black design.

As for the work, we are busy still learning how to operate in Tonga and under the umbrella of corporate LDS.  I just thought I would never work for a corporation again!  Not a problem, however because we're doing our best to help these people (mostly young adults) better their lives through more education.  Lot's don't even finish high school.  Over 1/2 are not employed.  Our mission president is really on the returning missionaries to get in to school and use the Self Reliance Center as a "bridge", as he calls it, to continuing education after the mission.  They learn really good habits while on the mission, but many don't continue with the good work and study habits that they learned through Preach My Gospel training and the discipline needed to be successful in any endeavor.

The mission president actually has us come in to the office on the day each group is released and give a one hour presentation on Self Reliance...what it is, and what it is not and what is offered right here locally to help them continue on with education through schooling, workshops, scholarships and loans.

You would not believe the amount of attention Self Reliance is getting from "The Brethren" these days.  Think about it....where is the church growing the fastest....mostly 3rd world countries.  How does the church sustain this growth when folks can't even provide for their own families, let alone pay tithes and offerings?  Trouble,too, is that there aren't jobs to be had in many of these areas.  That's why there is a new emphasis being put on self employment.  This will be launched around here in September, we hope.  Big challenges for us here in Tonga where the practice for many decades is to sit back and let that part of the family that is in Australia, New Zealand, USA or wherever send enough money home to keep things just barely going here.
The CIA website actually calls this practice one of the main sources of income for the kingdom. (Remittances)  So there's my soap box for today.  The people are great. They are warm, friendly and always laughing.  It is not hard being around them.  They make living here quite pleasant,  and the weather has been much better than expected.  Mostly low 70s this time of year,  and a fair number of dry days.

We're still working on trying to get movie clips to play on this site.  Maybe another time.

SO HARD TO HAVE TO LOVE FROM A DISTANCE..........New Baby FORD GOLDEN ROPER

We were so excited that Cody survived about 18 weeks of bedrest to get this
adorable little guy here in good health, born on May 12.

HAWAIIAN WEDDING-----WYLIE AND EVELYNN

 We left Tonga to attend Wylie and Evelynn's wedding in Hawaii.  You would think that since they are all Polynesian islands, it wouldn't be too far to travel.  We had to go through New Zealand to get there.  With layovers it took us 23 hours of travel time.  And it was well worth going.

The wedding was simple and beautiful, performed by a very humble Samoan sealer.  One of the photos is in front of the Hawaiian temple, and the rest are in a grove of spectacular banyan trees, then more were taken on the beach by their professional photographer. We then had to leave for an appointment with BYU Hawaii Admissions to learn more to help the Tongans with their applications and to get them involved with the "IWORK" program (to work their way through school at the Polynesian Cultural Center) and to learn about the scholarships available.

We were watching scuba divers along this rugged southeast coastline on Oahu

Back in Tonga----One of many strange vegetables we are learning to cook with, purple KAMALA.

The long brown root is KAMALA,  purple inside.