Vava'u (Va va Ooo)

Thank you all SOO much for your prayers. Our boat ride was longer than expected, but we traveled faster than expected. We are currently in Vava'u, the northernmost major island in the Kingdom of Tonga. It is known as the most beautiful island in the South Pacific. On our way through the islands on the boat ride in, it was like we were boating through paradise. In all my adventures, i've never seen such beauty. I will have to come back here sometime to explore and adventure, becuase we are here for ministry this time. here's a scenopsis of our journey here: When we arrived the dock to leave the main island, it looked like a scene in a movie where everyone was trying to immigrate. There was a funeral and they loaded up the cascets first then everyone dressed up from the funeral. Everyone was squeezing through a small fence gate and once a few people were on the boat, everyone was passing their bags up to people on the boat. While loading one of the trucks, the forklift tipped over and the truck fell almost all the way in the water...it got pryed inbetween the dock and the boat, so we left at 7pm instead of 5pm. On the boat there were no seats, no trash cans, and one bathroom with 3 stalls labeled girls, one labeled males and two urinals next to the sinks. There were about 3-400 people on the boat so we all piled in a huge group with our stuff on the outsides and two sleeping bags in the middle where we layed in a huge cuddle puddle. The larger group got off at Hapai at about 4am and while offloading the vehicles, one of the barrels fell inbetween the dock and the boat and spilled desil(from what I heard.) So we left hapai around 6:45 instead of 5. (3 hours wait) Just before 1pm we arrived Vava'u. The seas were expected to be "rough. Not smooth like you americans might think, but really rough." I can not thank you enough for your prayers. Our whole trip we got smooth seas and not a drop of rain. The stars were amazing and the seas were so calm I was suprised. I remember fishing in a 15 foot boat with swells worse than our 100 foot boat was going over. It was amazing...seriously. Today we went to a high school and just talked for about 40 minutes and then went on a prayer walk through town(which is hard to do because everyone is so friendly and talkative it's hard to pray because everyone is so interested in the Palangi's (white people)). We found out that we can go to one specific internet cafe for free when we go with diane. So we are here now. Not sure for how long or when I can come back. But it was a plesant suprise. Our living situation is wonderful. We live with a older lady whose name is Diane and her dog Roger. Not sure her story, but she is from the states and lives here now. She has 3 bedrooms (3 beds) and we are sharing them appropriately. It is a nice appartment and we (sometimes) get warm showers, and she showed us the best places to get palangi food. Tomorrow at 10am we are going to have an extra girl joining us.(Callie) She is flying here(3x as expensive as the boat ride..but worth it for her since she gets so sea sick). Our ministry here is not set in stone like it was in Fiji. We have a couple things planned and the rest of the time we will be praying about what God wants us to do. So I would really appreciate prayer in the realm of our team hearing God's will for our day as each day occurs. Everyone here is so friendly. At the pastor's house last night we met the noble's son, Sampson (14 years old ) and it was an honor for us to be in his presence. Very polite boy. He will be the noble of Vava'u when his dad dies(his dad just became the noble). All in all, it has been tiring being here, but good. We will rest this afternoon and then join the youth group tonight at 8pm. We will be leaving here next thursday or friday...so we will only be here a week. I will post pictures from Tonga and vava'u as soon as I find possible. Thank you all for being a part of my life and my adventures. Joel