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| A facebook picture from one of the BYU nursing students - Mom and Dad with a translator and classic polynesian/extremely dorky hand signs |
From Dad:
Well we are halfway through our stay. And you know what its like, with living with Girls from OSSO. It's like that. Boys, School, Clinical, and stuff. A couple of the girls have I-phones, and I think mom needs one, but don't say anything to her about it. She is kind of like you, strong willed! against anything that might cost any money etc.
We are surrounded by Brits, Australians, and New Zealanders. Their accents are strong. Its quite far away from The USA, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I don't hear any North Americans accents either. Tonga is on the international Date line; so we are a day ahead of you and the kids at home. They are 18 hours behind us, or 5hours ahead of us when we call them. So when its 8:00AM here, its 1 pm there. and when its 11pm there, its 5 pm here in Tonga. And when you have 12 nursing students trying to call their boy friends, husband"s, or Parents! its sometimes hard to get on the phone at the right time.
We have been doing clinical in two hospitals now, and on Monday will be three. Many of the students have been sick, and 3 have stayed the night in the hospital. Mom is a little tired of spending the night in the hospital with the girls, and dealing with the insurance company and doctor's on the phone. There is a sister missionary who stayed with a couple of the girls one night too. We are trying not to be a burden on the mission here, and the mission president gave them new rules about taking members around in the mission cars too.
Its been fun here, though it's been hard to be away from work, and the apartments too! Neil is handling everything at home. However, he hasn't gotten all the rents yet, which worries me, and we have an empty unit too. Uncle Garth is there at our house for a wedding in his family. He took the kids out to Chuck-a-rama, which the kids liked. We just happened to call Neil's phone since no one was home which is how I found out.
Annie told me she is just trying to finish up school! She said there is only 16 days of school left. Wow time flies by when we get older! I asked Sam if he is doing his homework, which he claims he is, and eating dinner too. He worries me about how thin he is.
Well I love you! I know this letter is getting long so I guess I'll say goodbye!
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| This is the caption for this facebook photo: "Mike, our trusted co-leader and Shelly's husband, AKA the Tuna Fish and Mustard Connoisseur |
From Mom:
We went to the island of Eua this past week. You would love it. It has the only national park in Tonga. and has the red parrot there. I saw it last year, but only heard it this year. We did a health fair/screening at the stake center there. Even though it said "English speaking" at the church, most of the older people only knew Tongan. So a member, a young woman, stepped up and translated all of our talks. I talked to her later, and found out she had attended BYU Hawaii, and knows Shawn. Her name is Tema, and she was very excited to know we were his parents.
Yes, we did have a lot of trouble with illness this week. 10 out of 12 people got sick, and three were hospitalized overnight. I think we got giardia from the water. The doctor prescribed 5 of the girls medication for this at my suggestion. Everyone seems to be getting better. I am glad--it is very hard to focus on what you need to do when your are sick.
We came to the island of Vava'u yesterday. This is where we spent most of our time last year. It is like coming home. It is a beautiful place (although I think Eua has more cool nature things). The people are so friendly. We had a health screening in the market place this morning. We screened about 220 people with blood pressure and glucose checks, and found 70 new cases of hypertension or elevated blood glucose patients. The nurses were there and arranged follow up visits for all.
It is really nice being here with Dad. I can totally see us going on a mission like this some day.
I love you!!
Mom
3 comments:
Dad, I think we're doing pretty well at home. I wish I could see a red parrot! That would rock. Have you guys been swimming yet?
It sounds like you guys are having a wonderful time! I look forward to more posts about Tonga.
Everything's good, Neil says that he has most of the rents in and as a gift Rebecca got one of the 4th north apartments rented. We cleaned the house yesterday and went over to Blake and Brita's for dinner, which was a lot of fun. A lot of people have been bringing over dinner and snacks for us, such as Kathy Thatcher and the Gutierrez's, and that has been really nice! Neil's gone shopping TWICE! I'm so proud of him. I love you both, and I hope everyone gets better so you can enjoy your time there!
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