Missionaries on Ha’apai

We received a call from the F.M. (Facilities Manager) on Ha’apai that the sister missionaries were locked out of their M.Q. (Missionary Quarters).

So we drove over there with a key to let them in. It was a really hot day, and they were having a siesta.

They are really nice – one is from Tonga and the other from Hawaii.

Their M.Q. is typical of those you see all over Tonga – generally on Church property adjacent to a meeting house, but not always.

The fenced yard is to keep the dogs and pigs out. (As is the lower portion of the fence across the gate. They gave us several pieces of ice-cold watermelon. It tasted delicious.

We met the elders on the causeway connecting Lifuka to Foa, at about 9:30 p.m. on our way back from Sandy Shores Resort, where we had dinner.

They had been walking for about an hour, enjoying the stars without any light pollution. We were surprised to see Elder Mortensen (who has been an Office Elder for about 8 months, in the mission home). He just got transferred to Ha’apai yesterday. He is ecstatic. In the darkness, he was very surprised to hear our voices.

He had no idea we were on Ha’apai. We gave them a lift to their M.Q., which is right next to the airport runway.

(But there is only one flight a day into Ha’apai now. There used to be two, but one of the planes is broken.) It was about 2 miles to their M.Q.. It would have been another 45 minutes of walking if we hadn’t come upon them. (They were pretty hard to miss on the causeway).

Earlier in the day, we met another group of elders on the road in Pangai. (The Palangi is second one from the right in the photo. I believe he is from someplace called “Utah”).