We have four days before we leave Tonga so we are trying to not buy any more groceries because my mission companion declared that we are just going to eat whatever we have left.
Here in Tonga, we don’t waste anything because if I have learned anything on this mission, it is that Americans have way too much stuff and throw away too much food. Down in Tonga, poverty slaps you in the face when you are wasteful.

As I am writing this, I am in Tonga starting to pack my bags. Eighteen months have gone by fast. 
I am leaving most of my clothes and a few assorted tools I purchased; I am packing a few small mementos and a suitcase of gratitude and wisdom.
When we got here, we committed to “say yes to opportunities to serve others”. 

When the Good Book says, “and the blind shall see”, I have always about the individual that was being given their sight. 
Lately, I have learned that the bystander’s eyes might also be opened to see.
I want to tell you about Mia, an 18-year-old girl, and her blind father. They have been helping me on some construction projects here in Tonga.

Getting older hasn’t been that hard; being old is.  But recently I aged a decade or two as the result of something my daughter wrote. 
People’s words can have this affect.  It’s like the first time the cashier at the store said, “Can I help you sir?” 

It seems that as I look back there are two things that we remember and have made a difference in our life: teachers and primary songs. 
Teaching is a calling; not a career.  So it is hard for teachers to not teach because they love learning, they love learners, and they love bringing the two together. 

When you don’t have many resources such as money or a government social safety net, you learn to rely on the Lord for basics such as health care.
I have learned that Tongans pray with sincerity, frankness, and earnestness and with an unassuming but confident expectation that the Lord hears them and will provide because of their unwavering faith.

As you get older you get disconnected from familiar yearly milestones.  I swear that school and football practice just started.  Bam!  Just as suddenly grandkids are excited to graduate from junior high or kindergarten.  I swear it was last week. 

It is cyclone season and there are 200 perilous miles of the South Pacific Ocean between where we are and where we need to be. 

If you were limited to owning only ten items, would your scriptures be one of them?

Tonga is made up of 176 islands but only 36 are occupied.  There are about 121 small villages on these small outer islands. 
Many villages have less than 100 inhabitants and do not have electricity, sometimes a store or a church might have a generator that runs a few hours a day. 

I have been here for four months now, and I am starting to get the lingo down. 
For example, if someone says “maybe” that really means that there is a not a chance in Hades that it is going to happen. 
If someone says, “come back in the afternoon,” that in no way implies the afternoon of the same day. It means more than likely in the next day or so, most definitely before the weekend.   

We teach an English immersion class at Liahona High School in Tonga using the Book of Mormon to read each morning. 
We have twelve kids that are 15 to 18 years old and have been working hard to gain their trust. They are just starting to make comments and participate. 

Learning a language or traveling to a country that does not speak English poses some challenges.  
The obvious is, learning a language is hard, when you are older (dumber).  Older doesn’t equal dumber, except in my case; perhaps!  
Oh sure, I am much wiser than I used to be.  And wisdom is great when I use it, but I still have my free agency which I frequently use to do something that isn’t so wise, but sure a lot of fun.  

Four senior missionaries, two machetes, one dim flickering flashlight, a cell phone with no coverage-not even SOS, in the jungle, at night, in Tonga looking for bananas…what could possibly go wrong?  
I guess I should back up to the beginning.  I was studying my Unshaken at the kitchen table when I heard a knock at the door, more like a pounding on the door. 

This is my second day in Tonga.  I am here on a humanitarian mission and to teach people how to be resilient.  I would like to share with you my first lesson. 
We met a man and his wife.  His name was Mosese Sa’afi.  He was an eyewitness to the largest volcano recorded.  He and his wife talked with us about losing their home when the volcano erupted and caused a tsunami.