Return to Tonga

I am overwhelmed with all the support we received. In 2 weeks we raised nearly $20,000 to send 5 missionaries to help the on-site team of 3 Greek men to finish weather-proofing the Church. We covered all our travel expenses, plus labor & materials costs for number of important projects. We are very grateful to everyone who contributed to make this possible.

Myles, Ryan & I are heading out on an early flight to Los Angeles, where we’ll meet David & Fr. Demetrios for the flight to Fiji & then Tonga. Our bags weigh 49.5 pounds each – loaded mostly with tools we expect to need in Tonga.

We have a quick layover in Seattle. Myles got off the plane before Ryan & I, and when we arrived in the terminal he was holding a sign with my name – just in case I might get lost I suppose:

This is the first place I’ve seen people wearing masks due to COVID-19. I don’t know much about it, to be honest. Nobody in Alaska seems to have it or even talk about it much, but it has hit Seattle pretty hard, apparently.

I’m giving thought to how we’ll use our 8 days on the island. We are coming to work, but the primary, overarching goal is to minister to the people. I find myself in charge of a missionary team, including a priest I’ve never even met. Plus, I learned that one of the native Fijian priests from the archdiocese, Fr. Bartholomew Senibulu, will join us in Tonga – I don’t know his relationship to the Tongan community or his involvement with the building project. Then there’s Ilias and his crew, who have been the “boots on the ground” for the past 4 months. We’ll have to get acquainted, set goals and get as much done as possible- all in a very short time.

In LA we grabbed dinner while waiting to meet up with David & Fr. Demetrios, both coming from Colorado. David joined us first, and it is great to see him. We were a lot younger when we spent time together, and now we both run our own construction businesses, so we spent our first hour commiserating about the trials and tribulations of entrepreneurship. Fr. Demetrios showed up shortly before the flight started boarding, so we only had time for a brief introduction. His bright red hair makes him easy to spot in a crowd!

Myles and I are sitting together for this 10+ hour flight. Time to look through the catalog of movies and see how many I get through before we arrive in Fiji.