We are Here!

Hello all – we have had no internet access. It is intermittent at best in the hotel, and has been unusable. I have access for just a few minutes.

We arrived late Friday night into Entebbe. 10 of 11 bags arrived that night. The other came the next day. Everyone was tired after 30+ hours of traveling!

Saturday, we were up and out the door by 9:30 AM. We spent the day at an orphanage for children under 2 years old.  It was very impacting for the team to interact with the babies. One was only 3 weeks old! These are babies that are abandoned for any number of reasons. Most will end up being adopted by the time that they are two. Our team played with them, fed them lunch, changed diapers, etc. Psalm 68:6 is on the wall and is the motto of the orphanage, “God sets the solitary into FAMILY”.  More on that later…

In the evening, we did a youth service. The team did a fanatastic job with dramas, music and testimonies. It was well received and we were so proud of the students. They were tired, but pushed through successfully.

Sunday morning was spent at a Gaba Community Church in Kampala. It was a unique blend of African and English – full of life and energy. I think the team is going to learn one of the songs that they heard. We they went to lunch where we had ‘fish and chips.’ The fish was whole tilapia rosted with skin and eyes still on. It was a bit of a challenge for some students as it was not something that they had tried before.

Sunday night we went to dinner and a true African experience. It was African BBQ with African foods. Unique and tasty. We then were regaled with songs and dances from tribes all over Uganda. It was an incredible multi-sensory experience.

Today (Monday) we are heading out to the Kumi region to the area where we will do a wheelchair distribution. Its supposed to be 6-8 hours on the road. Thank you for continuing to pray for us.

It is a rural area, so internet may not be possible. If that’s the case, don’t worry!! 🙂

Everyone is healthy and happy and doing well.

Reflecting on Tonga pt 2.

We had the amazing opportunity to be on TV in Tonga.  The girls did three dances with the youth, I shared a testimony and Craig preached.

At the TV studio, thankfully i had a few pics from Tonga on facebook!

The show was aired apx 3 or 4 times over the national TV over the next two weeks.  Just before we left Tonga Craig also had the opportunity to ordain 4 new ministers and we found out later that the service he did was also on national TV that night and the following week as well!

Let’s see we also got to experience our first cyclone/hurricane.  Thankfully it was only a category 2 cyclone when it hit the main island of Tonga that we were staying on.  We lost power for a few hours and when it did come back on it blew our fridge but thankfully we only had a few days left in Tonga at this point so it wasn’t too bad.

Our last full day in Tonga we awoke to another kind of surprise…not a pleasant one!  During the night someone had broken into our home and taken Craigs computer bag that had both of our laptops, all of our passports and his wallet in it.  Craig had been feeling a little unsafe so all those items were in his back pack so that we could easily take them everywhere with us…we didn’t feel comfortable leaving them at the house we were renting.  Every night Craig would take the bag into our room but this one night he was quite tired and had forgotten to bring it into our room.

When he woke up the next morning he went looking for his bag so he could get his wallet out and when he couldn’t find it he quickly discovered the front door wide open and the screen on the window cut where they had crawled in.  This began a very crazy day.  They had also grabbed my bag so my new camera was gone and my watch.  Thankfully they took the $10 watch and left my $300 sunglasses!

We called the police and they tried to get finger prints but weren’t very successful.  We gave a report and they said they would be in touch later in the day.  We were due to leave Tonga the next morning so we had to start the process of finding out about replacement passports.

The Australian Consulate was very helpful and they were in contact with our closest embassy which turned out to be in Wellington, NZ.  It turned out that if our passports weren’t returned we were probably going to have to shell out the money to take the family to NZ for new passports as the consulate in Tonga only had emergency travel papers, not passports.

As we left the consulate around 5:30 with the paperwork in our hands for new passports, resigned to an unplanned trip to NZ we got the call.  The police had found our passports!  The theif had dumped them out not far from our guesthouse.  We were so thankful to get them back!  It meant that we were going to be able to keep our original flight back to Fiji and not spend the $5,000 to go to NZ for a few days for new passports!

The sad part is that we still haven’t got our computers back yet.  All of our hundreds of pictures from the past 3 months are on my computer and there are over 2yrs of pictures and files on Craigs computer that we are really sad to have lost.  We are praying that somehow, someway they will be returned to us.

Well that’s probably enough for this installment…look for part 3 to be posted soon!

– Shanda

Reflecting on Tonga pt 1.

Where do i start?  What an amazing journey we have had these past 3 months in the South Pacific.  It has been such an incredible experience for our family and we are so grateful to have been given the opportunity.

The past three weeks we have been in Tonga.  From the first moment we arrived we were welcomed with open arms.  We were greeted by a few people from the church who had come to pick us up.  We were expecting to see Sister Peta, the Sr. Pastor but she had been called to the Tongan church in NZ for a family emergency so unfortunately we weren’t able to connect with her this trip.

We got settled into our guest house that we realized very quickly was going to be our most primitive lodging to date.  At this point though we were ready for what ever was to come….little did we know all that would hold!

After a bit of a rest we headed to the church for a prayer service.  Right from the start of the worship service i felt as if i had come home.  After two months away from the “familiar” style of church it was so refreshing to join together with our new friends in the Tongan church.  They love to worship and the sense of Gods presence was so strong it brought both Craig and I to tears….it was so refreshing.

The youth and young adults had a lot of fun getting to know the Palangi (white people) and we enjoyed just sitting around and getting to know them as well.  Over the next few weeks we had many times working with the youth and having them over to our place as well.  The taught the girls some traditional Tongan dances and our girls taught them the Fijian Meke that they had learned.  We really made some amazing friendships quite quickly with the Tongan people.  They made sure we were fed and looked after and had us speak at any opportunity they could get together.

I personally experienced some of my toughest moments in Tonga of this whole trip but also some of the most amazing as well.  Slipping at the outdoor pool and cracking the back of my head was definitely a very scary time.  I knew it was serious when i was paralyzed for a few seconds and couldn’t move anything but to call for help.  After 5 stitches in the back of the head, some pain killers and a few days rest things started to return back to “normal”.

We also had an amazing opportunity to speak on national TV in Tonga…but more about that later!

– Shanda

ps sorry there haven’t been any pics lately but our computer were stolen just before we left Tonga…more about that in part 2.

Last But Not Least….A Word From Anika.

On the last day in Tonga a few families from the church came to our house for a goodbye party.  When the first family arrived I was in the middle of washing my feet outside.  Well I wasn’t really washing anymore I was playing with the soap and water in the metal tub.  So not thinking I jumped up and dumped it out right in front of where they would have had to walk to get into the house.  There was  a lot of soap in the tub and it went everywhere! Ha ha ha I was so emberassed!

The others came soon after that.  One of the girls just started cleaning everything up for us, it made me feel like a slob for not cleaning up but they did arrive almost an hour early.  For awhile I just played with one girl, Tupo, while we were waiting for the rest to arrive.  When they all arrived we sang a few songs and then lots of people came up and gave us some different souvineers.

The previous Sunday Pastor Aki had told them that if they wanted to come they had to either bring something to eat or a gift.  I got one necklace that had my name spelt, Onika and another that had my name spelt properly on it.  I was also given two fans which i really like.  One was from one little girl who i had spent a lot of time with.  Her name is Esta (Esther) and she goes to an English school where her teacher teaches in English so it was a lot easier to communitcate with her.  She is Pastor Aki’s daughter and she is about 6 or 7 years old. 

Our family also got many other gifts from the people there.  Then all our family each said thanks and goodbye.  Dad kind of told about the people a little about the break in that had happened the night before.  One of the women said goodbye to us and sang a song, it was very nice.  When it was all over we were able to hang out a little more with them then they left so we could finish packing.  Three of the youth stayed at our house that night in the front room as we were feeling a little unsafe after the break in.  That was very nice of them.  We had some videos that we had bought while in Fiji and my mom gave them to the young men to share with everyone.  My mom told them that some of them we call “chick flicks” in Canada so they might not like those ones and one of the young men smiled and said, “No I like chick flicks!” and his friends laughed.  It was a very nice way to spend our last night in Tonga.

– Anika

Some Final Thoughts From Alaina

While we were at my Dad’s 40th birthday party in Tonga I happened to meet a very cute little girl who was about 3 or 4 yrs old.  When we got to the party i noticed that she was rubbing her eyes and looked very tired.  So i picked her up and was quite surprised that she came right to me, she didn’t cry or anything.  (Lots of the small children have cried when they first saw us).  Instead she cuddled right up to me when i sat down, thankfully it was only about 30 degrees so i wasn’t sweating too much.  We remained like that for the rest of the night. 

The funny thing was that i didn’t see her again until another church gathering and i was quite surprised that she remembered me.  At that time though it was earlier in the day so I was able to play more with her.  Her sister told Alexandra that after the first night when we were cuddling when they went home she wouldn’t go to sleep.  She said she wouldn’t go to sleep with out the Pilange (Tongan for white person). They had to take some time to convince her to go to sleep.

Anyways the next Sunday she was there happy and smiling especially when she saw me.  I had to sit in the front but she came and sat in my lap for the service.  She loves to play with my hair and fingers, which i find strange.  The last time i saw her was our last night in Tonga.  Everyone came to our house to say good-bye and they brought gifts.  She was the first one in the house and as i turned around she jumped right into my arms.  I had to brace myself so i didn’t fall as i wasn’t expecting to have her jump right into my arms like that. 

The little girl, i still don’t know her name brought me a present of a little woven basket purse and inside it there was an earring and necklace set.  Another friend brought me another necklace with a very pretty design engraved in it.  She gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek and then went back and sat down.  I was also given a beautiful fan with feathers on it by my friend Julie.  So you can see that i have made good friends in Tonga, I hope to see them all again soon!

– Alaina

A final word from Alexandra

Our family got the amazing opportunity to be on Tongan National TV!  After getting all spruced up we were taken down a dirt road to a very small recording station.  The station, DBN, is actually an affiliate station of TBN, Trinity Broadcasting Network.  We started the evening off with some songs and after a greeting we did our first Tongan Dance.  Mom shared her testimoney, she did an excellent job even though i knew she was a little nervous.  This being National TV and all! 

After that we did our Fijian Meke which we had taught the Tongan girls.  They did a fantastic job.  We then did our Haka, a Tongan dance.  It was hard but very fun to do.  We had not had much time to practice so I spent a lot of time looking over at Cila, my friend.  It was very fun to do though.  After another few songs my Dad got up to speak.  It was a very good sermon and the whole program went very well.  In total it aired i think 4 times, another great adventure in Tonga!

Over my time in Tonga I made many new friends.  One that i got to know particularly well was Cila.  We met the first night that we arrived in Tonga.  She was very warm and friendly and was even the same age as me.  Every time we got together she would come up and start a conversation.  I taught her a Fijian Meke and she taught me two Tongan Meke’s which i really enjoyed. 

One day she came over to our house.  This was the day that my mom smacked her head on a cement stair.  Cila had come to hang out with us for the day and was very helpful with figuring things out after mom hurt herself.  I felt bad though because she had come to go swimming with us and we ended up in a hospital instead of the water!

anyways she was so kind to me and it was really hard to say goodbye.  I hope that we get to see each other again very soon.  I miss her and all of the people from Tonga very much.

– Alexandra

Tongan Videos

Here are a couple of videos from the church we are at. Another fun cultural experience!

#1

#2

JellyFish!

Beautiful Ladies Heading to the Beach!

After staying inside for a day while the cyclone blew through, our hosts wanted to take us to see some of the beautiful  sandy beaches of Tonga. We stopped at a couple of historical sights as well – sight of Christianity coming to the islands in 1826, site where Captain Cook came in 1777 and a 12 century ruin.

We got to this one beach where we were to swim. The day was gorgeous! Deep blue sea beyond the reef with greeny blue crystal clear water inside the reef. The sun was shining and it was a perfect day to be there! We got our sunscreen on and were playing in the waves – body surfing, swimming and attempting to snorkel in the rough water. We were having a great time.

Suddenly, Alaina came running to me, screaming, “Dad, a jellyfish was just on me and it stung me!” She

Here's the mark from stinger!

was screaming and screaming! …Well, I’ll let Alaina tell the rest of it…. Alright I will tell about the process of a blue jellyfish stinging me. it happened when I was a couple of feet away from the others when I felt a sudden stinging/sharp feeling on my arm, naturally suspecting it was a pointy piece of seaweed I looked at my arm to see how I could get it off, but there was no seaweed.

All I saw was something that resembled a line off blue pen. I thought, “well that’s strange, shouldn’t it have washed off In the water? And why is it stinging so much?” that’s when I saw him, the evil jellyfish that did it. That was when I started screaming like a banshee. To get the tentacle off I had to use my finger to ger it off that is how my finger got stung. Once I had got it off my dad and Alexandra dragged me out of the water.

Here's the jellyfish - before it's demise!

I screamed and screamed and screamed. It hurt SOOO bad. Even the finger that I got it off was stinging. We got a sulu wet and dad squeezed my arm – hard. That seemed to make it feel a bit better. Then I took 2 Tylenol. It was very sore and I was crying for about 15 minutes. The pain continued less and less for about one hour.

Recuperating in the shadow of the cliff-face.

 

 

 

 

Now back to Dad: I was so proud of Alaina. She was in lots of pain, but kept strong as she could. After about 90 minutes, she went back in the water. She now kept a sharp eye for jellyfish. There were quite a few on the beach as the cyclone had blown them in. All in all, another experience to add to many we’ve had!

Cyclone Wilma – With Video

We had been hearing that a cyclone was due to arrive in our area, Tongatapu, on Tuesday afternoon/evening. We were listening to the radio on our cell phone to try to get updates. Frustrated by the lack of them, I called my brother Rob to go on the internet to see what was supposed to be happening. By this time, the wind had begun to pick up. I wanted to know if we should be doing something or going somewhere – not having been in a cyclone before. After awhile Rob called me back and told me that Cyclone Wilma was headed our way!

It was a category 2 storm with winds predicted to be between 100 – 150 km/h with heavy rain. By now, the neighbours were putting sheets of tin or boards over their windows to protect them, so we realized it was the real thing.  We had all our louvered windows shut and prepared to wait out the storm. Our power went off and our water as well. Thankfully, we have a 2,000 litre rain barrel, so we weren’t out of water. We also have a gas stove, so we could cook.

We got some candles and proceeded to play some card games. We definitely got strong winds – but not sure exactly how fast they were. The rain came in waves and was definitely heavy. After about 4 hours of high winds, it seemed like it was dying down. Eventually, the power came back on around 9 pm and the water was back the next morning. Alas, the fridge that was scarcely working before the power went off did not survive the power coming back on. I heard it popping and cracking and smelling funny until it finally tripped the breaker. There was no coaxing it back on! So there is no fridge for our final week in Tonga. The pigs over the fence get any leftovers that we have now.

So, another thing to add to our South Pacific adventure. We were in a cyclone! Thankfully, it did not do too much damage (trees and power lines down mostly) and there were no casualties in Tonga. As it left Tonga, it has intensified to a category 4 over the ocean, but they hope that it will be dying out before it hits northern New Zealand.

Here’s Video #1

Here’s Video #2

Watch Your Step!

It has been rainy for most of the first 10 days that we have been in Tonga. We were glad to finally get the chance to go to the beach on Friday, January 21.  It was not actually a beach but a ‘Tongan swimming pool’.

This is a square breakwater built out into the sea. I’d say it was about 300 feet a side. One side is partially open so that the tide refreshes the water twice per day. They’ve dredged out most of the rough coral so that you can have a safe swim. There are steps down to the water in about 6 or 8 places.

We had been there about 5 minutes – putting on sunscreen and such. I was helping the kids at the top get organized while Shanda went down the steps.

That hurt!

Suddenly I heard Shanda calling my name with fear in her voice. “Craig, come quick. I cant’ feel my arms and legs.”  I turned to see her lying on the bottom step. I went down to see what had happened. I stepped on the bottom step and began to slip and went flying into the water, with my phone and wallet in my pockets!

I hurried out to find a lot of blood coming from Shanda’s head. The feeling had come back to her extremeties and I looked to see a large gash in the back of her head. She had smacked her head on the concrete step!  Thankfully, she had not blacked out. The girls were brave as they took turns putting pressure on the towel on the wound.

As my phone was soaked, I had to go find a Tongan with a phone to call a cab to get us to the hospital.  We got the hospital about 20 minutes later – not sure I’ve ever taken a cab to emergency before.

View #2

Thankfully, a nurse saw us in a few minutes and within about 25 minutes of arriving, a doctor was looking at it.  She said that stitches were needed. Shanda was a bit nervous about all this. I’m sure that if you had seen the operating theatre, you might have been too.  I was concerned that everything would be sterile, but my concerns were unfounded.

They did a thorough job with everything coming out of sterile packaging.  It was fairly trying for Shanda, but she did fine and aside from 5 stiches and a patch of missing hair, she is now on the mend.

We’re thankful that there were no broken bones or concussion, and that she is recovering well.