Monday, October 14, 2013

Beautiful, but deadly!

My boys love to pick flowers and bring them to me, sometimes they put them up in my hair like a real island girl  =)  A vast variety of flowers grow in Tonga, many have medicinal value.
One day in Eua I was sitting outside with my boys and a bunch of neighbor kids, and they kept bringing me these gorgeouss pink flowers.
Isaac started climbing the bushes the flowers were growing on, and I overheard the kids chattering in Tongan that he shouldn't climb those trees because they're poisonous.
"Say what??!"
I quickly called Isaac over to me, and the children explained that some people don't even touch that tree because the flowers are deadly.  After thoroughly washing my babies I asked the neighbor children "Why do you even plant these all over your yard?"   And they replied, matter of factly, "Because they are beautiful."

"Now isn't that just like sin?"  I asked 'Osi later.  Sometimes we don't even want to touch it, while other times we let it grow all around us, if its beautiful, and just hope it won't poison us or our children. 
Hmmm.  Makes me wonder...what kinds of flowers are growing around my family?   Are we flirting with anything poisonous?
  

Monday, October 07, 2013

Osi preaching

'Osi has been given more and more opportunities to teach and preach every week, since taking the Bible School for the Nations course.  The emphasis for this course is studying the entire Bible and learning how to teach it in story form, and also to put together sermons to teach the people. 
We recognize that 'Osi has a gift for teaching, and have been praying that God will use this course to develop it further in him.  Thankfully, God has been answering this prayer.  He has been growing in wisdom and confidence to share all that he is learning.

The Fakalolo Family


For weeks before we left for Eua, we had been praying for the host family we would stay with.   Praying that we would be a blessing them, and that they would enjoy our children...(Isaac and Allan are pretty active little boys, and lets face it not everyone enjoys active little boys right?)   We were not surprised when the Lord blessed us with a very special family to host us. 
Tevita and Naite Fakalolo and their 3 children were so kind to us.  We spent many hours together talking and laughing, cooking and chasing all the kids.  
      You can learn alot from living temporarily with another family.  We learned about generosity; yielding our rights; teaching our children not to jump on furniture before we bring them to visit other people;  learning to cook familiar food in new ways;  thinking the best about another person when "I don't really understand what they meant by that" .  haha
All in all a good time was had by all - and like 'Osi said "I am just so thankful to have a nice safe place to bring my wife and kids."

That infamous ferry ride!


We were really excited about taking the ferry boat over to Eua island.  For days we were psyching up the kids about it "We're going for a ride on a huge boat to Eua!"
But about an hour into the trip the waters became incredibly choppy and our huge boat was being rocked violently back and forth.  Back and forth...
That sucked all the awesomeness out of the ride as we all began losing our cookies, over and over again for hours....it was horrible.
By the time we got to Eua I told 'Osi "I am not leaving this place, there is no way I am taking that boat back in 10 days!  We might as well settle down here and start YWAM Eua, because I felt like I wanted to die!"
10 days later we loaded back on the boat again, but this time God calmed the sea and we sailed smoothly home.
This experience made me so thankful to be living in modern times though.  I have been reading a Biography of John Williams, one of the first missionaries to the Pacific islands.  And he and his wife Mary had to sail for 9 MONTHS from London to the Pacific!
Many of the missionaries on that boat were sick, and some didn't survive the journey.  I'm afraid I wouldn't have,  so I praise God for allowing me to live and serve in the Pacific in the 21st Century.   And thank you Jesus for airplanes!