And the beat goes on....

Well, not much new here in Tonga folks. This was one of our quietest weeks here and that is really saying something. Monday was a holiday, so no school. Tuesday was a Ministry-wide school clean-up day, so we worked with the kids to clean up the school and then went home. Our principal, Tevita, got really sick this week, so he did not come to school. Days without Tevita are pretty much a free-for all playdays, which can be sometimes be fun, and other times grind your nerves down to dust.

Thursday night the moms and the children from the Mormon Church in our community came over to do 'ngaue ofa' (a gift of volunteer work) in our yard. After seeing Ryan tear down all those trees a couple weeks back, it seems that the village finally realized we also care about the appearance of our house. With that information, they sprung into action!

The afternoon began with all the kids and the moms coming to our place to get it started. Oh what, you thought yard work was immune from prayers, songs and religious speeches? Oh dear reader, no chance, in fact, MOST of yard work is simply prayers, songs and religious speeches :). After the festivities, the kids sprung into action and oh boy, we've never seen anything like it. Our students were armed with machetes (both boys & girls) and the little ones had Tongan brooms to clear their work. The strength, efficiency and speed with which the kids cut our grass, cut down trees and rid our yard of weeds was simply shocking. We have never seen anything like it. More than that, they just hopped over the pig fence and cleared out our entire bush. To everyone's delight, we found a previously undiscovered orange tree in the bush, which was full of slightly over-ripe oranges. Given that orange season has come and past, it was like Christmas as we all ate our bodyweight in fresh oranges.

Starting it of with a prayer, a speech and a song:

 

Poetry in motion:

 

A team effort:

 

 

Goodbye 'uta, hello oranges.

 

Nothing more exciting than finding fresh oranges to pick!

 

 

Per usual, he was no help at all:

The afternoon ended with more prayers, speeches and singing. Abby and I provided fruit punch for all the kids (thanks to our dear family and friends who have provided us with enough Crystal Light packets to last us at least 50 years) and they had candies for the kids. It was a fantastic, energizing afternoon. Lots of fun.

Only 17 days until we spend a week visiting Fiji. We have never been more excited for a vacation and can't wait to tell you all about it!