Scenes from Tonga..

 Beautiful Flowers

 Tough duty.

Are those bats? Yup. They are called flying foxes because that is how big they are!!  Black body and yellow head.

 The waves crash against the reef about 50 yards out.

 The pigs are plentiful and roam freely, but everyone somehow knows whose pigs belong to who.

 The plant life is plentiful.

 Many people still live in these grass huts. . why not??

  This is NOT a painting. . . but a Y shaped palm tree on church campus. Funny, huh!

 What more can I say?

CAN WE EVER GET ENOUGH PICS OF THE WAVES?

NOPE !!!

WE NEVER GET ENOUGH OF BEACHES AND SUNSETS!!!

2 Opportunities

 Just a note and some pictures:

1. Can you see Moroni in the sunset - aaaah!

2.  3 schools met downtown for police sponsored concert to bring people together.  The green uniforms are the church school uniforms, and hair is neatly braided. 

A combination of many schools and band and choir downtown filling the air with music. . . Beautiful!! The green uniforms are specifically for the LDS church schools. EVeryone has their different color

3.  Our first Tongan FEAST - at a member's home.  Way too much food here!  Most of it is delicious. . . ix-nay on octupus and raw fish!!

This good brother is a 2nd cousin of our mission president who grew up in Tonga, lived in Anchorage his adult life and is now called back to his native country, age 57 to help his people. 

He also asked again and again for Sister Myers and I to please teach his people to play the piano.  They are beautiful singers, but don't know how to read music.  I told him that was OK, but he pleaded for us to teach them.  So we will do that in our spare time.  ;-)

LOVE to YOU!!

Ma & Pa

Malo e leilei

This is sometimes a frustrating way to communicate, but it is all we have for now. Just wanted to share some experiences.  Some interesting things we are dealing with are:
 1.  a few jumping bugs . . . they are at least small.  But scare me to death when they jump.
2.  We get water in a HUGE barrel that catches all the rain, which happens almost daily..  Then it is filtered 3 times for us to drink.  But imagine washing hair and clothes in soft rain water.  It is nice! 

3.  Windows are ALL just glass slats over screens.  We can close them a little, but it is like living in a screen door and we welcome a breeze! 

4.  Went to buy temple clothing and smallest size was 18.  But, it has a tie in the back so that I can look less "tent-like"  But all the clothing at the distribution center here is very inexpensive so we bought our stuff instead of renting it.  On Thursday evenings, they have an English session so that's where we'll be every Thursday evening. 

5.  We had a facilities maintenance elderly man show up so that we could have a light in our bathroom, as we have been using a lamp there.  He stayed for hours and had lunch with us and became our friend.  In his broken English, he thanked us for coming to teach his people and is big brown eyes teared up and so ours did too and we told him that his people teach us also.  They are loving, friendly and they like to laugh.   They like to laugh out loud and it comes from deep within like their singing and their spirits. 

That's all, just a little update.

Love, MOM

Tonga- at last

We made it at last and were SO grateful to be here that we could hardly stop smiling.  We were met by SO many other senior couples at the airport and we felt so welcomed!!  We will send pictures!!  Then we got a great opportunity to have lunch one on one with the mission president and his wife.  She asked me if I had any music background and thinks we might have opportunity to teach music lessons to some of the royal family.  We will see how that opportunity comes along, but I would be glad to even meet some of the royal family.  So that happened in the first hour upon arrival.  That  Friday night we got the opportunity to eat with the school principal, the  area Superintendent and his wife and the assistant to him.  They were very so very glad that we had experience with the school program "Powerschool" because they just implemented it and are looking to implement AB block scheduling next year - as in January.  Guess who was over that in the Duchesne district a few years ago?

  So we think we just might be busy. :-)  AND for sure feel that we've been prepared to do a work here as soon as we get our feet on the ground. 
 

 Yesterday, we spent the entire day gathering food at little markets or the "fair" which is a huge flea market.  We found a few cans of this and that at each.  Then went tot he HUGE open air produce market and then the cheese market, then the bakery for bread and it took all day.  Then we had to get it home and wash it in clorox water and get it put away. . . WHEW what a job!!

Today was Sunday and we reflect on what a great week it's been and also what a great family we have that supports us SO much.  We truly love you!!!

WE will send pictures in a bit.  We just ran over here because the internet area was open for awhile and we wanted to communicate with our fam. 

MOre to come, Love, MOM

 #1 Picture  - from New Zealand overlooking West towards Australia is the "Tasman Sea"

 #2 - Arriving in Tonga - a windy day.

 #3 - All day shopping in this area - pinch me - is this real????

#4  ... pictures of our apartment and the church campus.

WE see "Moroni" from our back yard.

Across the street is our campus and that's where we go to church.

And then across the campus is the stake center. 

VERY CONVENIENT  !!!

We have arrived!

We are now in Auckland, New Zealand after 22 hours of traveling.  We are tired but will not sleep until we are supposed to.  We will be here 2 full days and then off to Tonga.  That will be Thursday for you and Friday for us.  We are staying in a very nice hotel with a beautiful view of the Auckland Harbor.  It is spring here so everything is green and blossoms everywhere.  New Zealand is a very beautiful place.  We will go to lunch with our directors and then have some training this afternoon.  Tomorrow will be a full day of training.  We will be back here in May or June for about 2 weeks so we will be able to see the sights then.  Love you all.  We will let you know when we are in Tonga but for now we are tired, happy and safe and sound.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Goodbye, adios, dasvidania, and ALU - A!!

We made it to Salt Lake and have a 4 hour lay over so we can say goodbye once again before we leave the country.  We go to LA tonight at 6 and then fly out from there at 10 pm MST.  We leave with hopeful hearts and also a bit tender as we think about times we will miss.  So, let's pray for each other and skype often, please!!

We will be in the air 13 hours and when we will wake up (assuming we will be able to sleep) and it will be Wednesday morning for us.  We actually skip Tuesday somehow.  Go figure. 

   We just want to say thank you for being such a blessing and support to us as we leave!  We've had the sweetest memories this past summer and that will last us a long time!  We've been able to observe each of your families and what a great job you are doing, and how busy you are and you probably won't even have time to miss us.  :-)  And we hope to be busy as well so that time will fly. You ARE the BESTEST!!!  Guess it's time for  us to fly also.  LOL!!

Love and blessings,

Ma and Pa

PS.  Where is this scripture found??  "This is the day which the Lord has given us,  we will rejoice in it and be glad!!"

Big Lesson Learned

Today we studied 2nd Nephi Chapter 4 and I learned things I never knew were in that chapter and I want to share it with you incase you are ever "weighed down"  So, 3 things happened:

1. Lehi blessed his posterity and then died.

2.  Immediately after his death (vs 13) Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael were angry with Nephi because of the admonitions of the Lord.  So Nephi's heart sorrowed and groaned (vs 17 & 19)

3.  Verses 20 - 35 are reasons NOT to be weighed down.  Read them all, but among them are about 21 reasons. 

It really helped me today and I will be NOT be weighed down.  So read and learn and hopefully it will help you also.

Let us rejoice and sing a joyful song!!

Love, MOM

MTC- Ready or Not

Dear friends and family,   Here we go again and ARE most anxious to finally get going as we have had our mission call for 5 months now.  We arrived on September 30th and will fly out on October 14th to Tonga at last. 

Just a short overview of MTC for tonight's update on our journey so far.

MTC STATS THIS WEEK:  Large group of 120 seniors, combined with last week's 60 made it the largest group of seniors yet.  There are 2500 missionaries here this week and another 900 at West campus (RainTree apts. converted to MTC )  773 missionaries will depart tomorrow and Wednesday they will receive about 500 more.  We have a mental picture of watching them eat that  can hardly be described.  Wondrous feat!!

Well we made it through our first week at the MTC and the daily 8 hours of Preach My Gospel" training -  and then yesterday and today was a constant feast of food and spirit.  We had the sessions of conference, and also 3 extra meetings and devotionals.  We were so overcome with emotions so many times we felt like a balloon expanding until it is ready to burst.  Truly an overload and we humbly give thanks for this time here! One young sister described MTC as My Time with Christ.    It has been a needed boost to launch us into our mission.

THIS WEEKS QUOTE:  Missionaries leave their families for a short time, so that others can be with their families forever!

Our love and blessings to you,

Elder & Sister John and Marsha Aland

MTC- Week One

First Picture, first day - kind of exhausted this day just getting things done at home and arriving.  But we HAD to take this picture of where we're headed!!

Met LOTS of new friends and learned something from each of them.  It's amazing the connections we have made.  And somehow, throwing us all together at this space and time has instantly bonded us. . . kind of like gorilla glue . . a STRONG bond!!  For instance:  Picture #2 - friends of ours - the Carters -  that know our Tongan mission president personally and that are headed to our city of Tomsk, Russia

MTC STATS THIS WEEK:  Large group of 120 seniors, combined with last week's 60 made it the largest group of seniors yet.  There are 2500 missionaries here this week and another 900 at West campus (RainTree apts. converted to MTC overflow)  773 missionaries will depart tomorrow and Wednesday they will receive about 500 more. 

Well we made it through our first week at the MTC and all the training and then yesterday and today was a constant feast of food and spirit.  We had the sessions of conference, and also 3 extra meetings and devotionals.  We were so overcome with emotions so many times we felt like a balloon expanding until it is ready to burst.  Truly an overload and we humbly give thanks for this time here!  It is a needed boost to launch us into our mission.

THIS WEEKS QUOTE:  Missionaries leave their families for a short time, so that others can be with their families forever.

WE LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!

MTC Friends

MTC happenings:

   Well we are officially here.  The first day is kind of a "deer in the headlights" day because we were getting the last minute things done before leaving that we were sleep deprived.  But we were glad to be here with all the other "deer" missionaries.

So we introduced ourselves to several couples that we found out were headed to Russia and they wanted to know all about the 100s of things they worried about.  Hopefully we put their minds at ease, somewhat. 

So today, one of the couples came up to us and because of VISA delays, they are being sent to our fair city of Tomsk.  They got their first transfer before they even got there and now are headed to see our eternal buddies in Tomsk.   Anyway we were thrilled and immediately took pictures together and then gave them a list of people to say hello to and to follow through with and even a few baptism candidates.  IT WAS a tender mercy for us!!  NOT a coincidence!!

What a wonderful, amazing work we are all part of as the gospel rolls forth through out the world.  Everyone, do you part and help to hasten the work. Whatever you do, no matter where you are, it all counts!

Hope you are looking forward to conference, as we are.

Love & blessings to all!

Marsha & John

I forgot to mention, this couple that are going to Russia, are from Anchorage where our Tongan mission president is from and know he and his family personally. Cool huh!!

We Are Here

Hello from the MTC.  

 

We left this morning at 5 am, arrived early and had a smooth check in.  We have one day under our belts and love the spirit here at the MTC. The missionary assigned to help with our luggage was none other than the Hamblin kid from Roosevelt (Michael?)  Dad was his bishop and they gave each other BIG hugs.  It was pretty cool.  He is going to Japan.   We also saw Shane and Gail Gardner.  They came in today also and are going to the Marshall Islands.   Saw some friends from Russia who are going on another mission to Poland this time and there are 3 other couples going to our mission in Russia.  They have been getting info from us all day and are nervous for some reason about going to Russia?!?  Go Figure!!  We reassured them that they will be taken care of and have great tales to tell.
  We received a wonderful blessing from our stake president last night when he set us apart and we know for sure this is where we should be because he promised us that all our family would be richly blessed while we are serving.  We are very tired but feel good and will have another busy day tomorrow.

We love you all and that is why we are serving and give huge hugs to all the kids and tell them grandma marsha and papa john love them bunches.
PS.  We DO love our kids and spouses also!!!