Shawn's farewell

We had a whopper of a weekend. Grandma, Frank, my aunt Laurel and a couple grandchildren arrived on Thursday, and on Friday and Saturday we whiled away the hours of the hot afternoons at the swimming pool. I took Sam and all the girls to a drive-in movie to see Toy Story 3 and The Prince of Persia on Friday. We got home just before 2 a.m.

Sunday was Rachel's birthday and Father's day; it also was Shawn's "farewell" talk at church before he leaves on his mission to Argentina on Wednesday. Grandma Jensen, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends all came to hear him speak and we had a big party at the Reed house afterward. I love big family get togethers. 

Seeing a Princess

We got to see Princess Salote Mafile’o Pilolevu Tuita our very first full day in Tongatapu. There was a program for the demolition of the old building of Viaola Hospital. We came about a half hour before it started, and the students were asked to line up with the Queen Salote School of Nursing students. All of the students lined the drive up to the ceremony area right by the old hospital where the princess drove up in her van. In fact, two of our students were closest to the princess!
After the demolition ceremony, we got to tour Viaola Hospital, and at night got to do baptisms for the dead. What a great first day on Tongatapu!

Malo aupito, Vava'u

We finally made it to Tongatapu! The week before we left Vava'u there was a crash landing of one of Chatham Pacific's small planes. All of the passengers and the pilots were uninjured, due to the skill of the pilots. The crash landing happened because the landing gear would not come down. The Tongan government grounded all Chatham Pacific planes until an investigation could be conducted, and until the Tongan Prime Minister signed a document saying it was okay for Chatham's to fly again.
As Chatham Pacific is the ONLY airline to provide inter-island flights, we were also grounded in Vava'u. We were scheduled to leave on Friday, May 28th, and finally left Tuesday, June 1st.
So now we are in Tongatapu, the "big island", which the locals call "Tonga". It does really seem big, especially after Vava'u. We are staying at the Liahona school housing, which is right by the temple. Liahona is about 15 minutes from the main town of Nuku'Alofa. While we are close to the temple and love the area, it is far from internet and shopping. We are glad to be here!