Devotionals and another cyclone warning

To quote the recent Elder DesChamps, Hello people of the world!!

I missed sending an email last week! The internet was really crappy for the last 2 weeks and at times the wifi wasn't even working in the service centre. this helped contribute to my worst day yet in my mission, where I had a meltdown. but Caylah and Susan saved me and the next day all was well!

The weather has been cool, overcast and yesterday raining hard! there have been rumors of another cyclone but nothing had happened until today after church when they sent us home to prepare for the next cyclone - Cyclone Josie. I have a video of me driving through flooded roads yesterday but Youtube is currently not letting me upload any videos. sigh. it says they are the wrong file type. major fail you tube.

its hard to know what to tell you about since its been 2 weeks. I spoke at 2 devotionals at 2 different middles schools the week before last. 250-300 kids for up to 90mins, and me the only speaker!! they did do their devotional at the beginning that took 20-30 mins, but holy cow it was hard. I am avoiding committing to doing one at the High school. The second (Havelu Middle School) was bigger, longer and better than the first (Pakilau Middle School). I took a few photos and a video - think it was them singing this shows what they looked like (if I ever get to upload it, note the matching hairstyles of the girls - there was a lecture about how to do the hair - it has to be braided from the front to the back, and have ribbons tying the bottoms up to make a loop. and the ribbon needs to still have enough to hang down from the bow!!! wow, so prescriptive!!) and also to show the variation in tune that they sing. this is common - Many hymns are sung with just a few note changes - mostly it seems to knock out the really high notes and occasionally it seems to simplify a little tricky bit. but really i am only guessing.

Also 2 weeks ago was a big deal - a fight between Liahona and another high school, Atele, after school on Friday night. it was planned by students apparently, and a bus load of kids chose to catch a public bus to town instead of their school bus home, and there was a brawl. apparently the minister of education witnessed it and videos were on youtube. Interschool fighting has been a regular problem here (high school Alumni is important here and rivalry is continued on well beyond highschool), and Liahona has not participated in interschool sports for a number of years in an effort to reduce the fighting.

Anyone identified on the video has been suspended indefinitely, but it was such a big deal that the minister for education called a meeting with all of the principals of all the high schools and even the Tongan Area Seventy attended. There were all sorts of comments about how the mormons are always involved and blaming the church and everything. No one knows what to do about it and there have been all sorts of meetings about it. Next week a meeting of the student leadership of Liahona and Atele has been organised but from what I can tell of the agenda (the school counsellors have been involved so I have talked with them about it) it doesn't seem like there is any specific goal or aim, and we don't hold out much hope for a positive change.

This is easter weekend and that means friday and monday as well as sunday are like sabbath days. for interest - the tongan word for sunday is Sabate. the E is pronounced 'ay' so you can hear 'sabbath day' in there can't you? so all the shops are closed and you aren't supposed to go swimming or anything. sigh. I was really hoping to go swimming and we will do so on monday, despite the discouragement, that is IF the rain stops and the cyclone doesn't come!! its overcast today but not raining right now, so maybe I will be lucky.

So we have played cards, started a jigsaw puzzle, did some baking (protein cookies!!), watched a video (Love Kennedy - I recommend if you haven't cried enough lately), done some art journalling, and as you may see in the video, went out into town in the rain, just to get out!

On friday night some of us when in a bus out to Oholei, a resort, to have a traditional tongan meal and see a show of cultural dance, it was awesome!! the ota ika (raw fish) was the best Ive had here, I loved it!! and the food was eaten on banana leaf plates - not really a leaf but a stiff curved piece of the plant about 30cm long and curved like half a plastic downpipe. i think I have photos. there was whole pig roasted on a spit, but as i was warned, they like the meat quite chewy, not tender and falling apart like I like at home! there was seaweed that lots of people liked but it reminded me too much of the ones we used to squeeze the little balls of to burst them like bubble wrap, when I was little so i didn't like it. I was so hungry by the time we ate at about 8pm i ate too fast, which is never a good idea for me, and I could hardly eat anything then!

but the show was so good! Tongan dancing is very graceful and uses mostly hand movements for the girls, and this cute head side nod thing. The show was in a cave with low lighting so my videos are pretty dark. but ill try to put them on anyway, one day.

I think I told you I learned how to make coconut milk - well now I know how to make tōpai, coconut dumplings, in coconut 'soup'. they are so delicious. the first time S showed me how, we used self raising flour becuase it was the only kind I had, and well... the dumplings didn't stay together. however it was so delicious and S said it was exactly like heuheu (coconut porridge). then on Friday I had a go and made the coconut milk, and the tōpai completely on my own. She was very impressed and said I was a quick learner. and it was really delicious. so I have a series of photos about this adventure.

I taught RS last week and they told me they ahve put my name forward to be the 4th sunday teacher. they also told me the lesson topic will be the sabbath, for the rest of the year!!! I am pretty sure the topic is going to change, I believe every 3 or 6 months, so that is good. the idea of teaching the same topic every month for a year is mind blowing! so today we got a new bishopric. Interestingly the bishop bore his testimony in the testimony meeting, but none of the new bishopric spoke at all. I thought that was weird. but then we started the meeting 10mins late, and we usually finish sacrament meeting on the hour, never at 10 past, aaah welcome to tonga.

Things I miss

cold fresh NZ milk
wearing jeans
wearing anything other than a skirt!!! so sick of wearing skirts already!!
Pork... hoping to go a tongan feast with a piglet on a spit one day soon!!! (but i did buy pork belly last week and cook it this week.... you probably heard my sigh from NZ!)
cauliflower... most veges, zucchini, celery, lettuce, siiiigh
starbucks (surprised it is this low on the list!)
McDonalds (surprised it is this high on the list!)

Interesting Facts

hymns sung slightly differently... see video
my american oven is so cool! it heats up SOOOO FAST!! why? could it be just becuase the general temp here is higher, no i don't think so, becuase NZ is sometimes this warm and the oven at home doesn't warm up this fast even on hot days! whatever technology they use there we need to add it to our ovens!!!
watermelon and bananas can be bought year round, but the pineapples are getting scarce and there are no other fresh tropical fruits at the moment - no pawpaw or papaya or mango (i haven't seen mango at all since I got here). no avocado - i think I caught the end of that season. im looking forward to whatever fruit might come next - but the cyclone may have upset the normal cycle/season
the sky is so beautiful here at night! so clear because of the lack of city lights! I love walking at night and looking up
There are bats. anything you see flying at dusk will likely be a bat. they don't bother me. aparently they eat them too.

before I go, I want you to know that God loves you. no matter what you are currently doing or not doing. he loves you and is waiting for you!