Ofa Attu- Love is given

Vava'u Post #2

We went to the different islands yesterday to do health clinics it was so fun taking blood pressures on the beach! Such a surreal moment and one I will probably never get to do again. We went on this really little boat with the community nurses. And the coolest boatman ever, along with his daughter, probably some of the most hardcore people I have ever met. She definitely peeled a papaya with a machete.

One of the islands we went to in the community hall all of these women were making Ta'ovalas which are traditional clothing pieces worn by the men mostly but also the women, particularly for special occasions. They taught us how to make them too! 

We were prepared for whatever came our way ;)

Chillin with Meleami in the front of the boat.

I'm on a boat!

I got my vans on but they look like sneakers!

Doing blood sugars.

We aslo went to our own private beach and had a really fun time with all of the nurses. They are very modest in Tonga and go swimming in their clothes. We also went to this cave where when you jump in the water illuminates! It was such a clear blue you could see clear down to the bottom. I think that the little droppings of the caves residents (aka bats millions of them) might have been the cause of the luminous water!

 It has been very eventful lately to a late night delivery where the lady came in at nine cm at 1:00 am but did no delivery until 830 am so we were able to help her labor and wow that was a natural birth for a primip(first time mom). We just fanned her, rubbed her back, helped her breath through contractions and made sure she was as comfortable as possible. We did very little but she would keep on whispering "Thank you God" she attributed us being there because God was blessing her. It was interesting because the Tongans are so tough her cousin was there hitting her telling her to stop crying. Remember she was giving birth naturally right? I definitely have a greater respect for mothers everywhere! The baby was small too only five pounds and was not breathing when he came out so we had to resuscitate him. It was scary but thankfully Shelly was there and knew exactly what we needed to do. He was a beautiful baby boy.

Another lady some of the girls helped with during her labor. She named her daughter Toa BYU after us!

Holding the twins Jacob and Essau, we think they got their names from a joke we made about how they looked like they could be.

We also went kayaking which was beauftiful we saw tons of jelly fish just like in finding Nemo. today we all sang a tongan song for the nurses and all the patients at their prayer meeting they have it was so fun and they even put paanga $(their money) on us too, like we were professional dancers! We also sang come thou font and God be with you till we meet again which gets me every time. It is amazing how in short of a time you can form such strong friendships. It was hard to say goodbye to all of our dear friends we had made at the Ngu hospital there. 

Just as a side note. I always wanted to have Fiji water and in Tonga (and eventually Fiji) I guzzled it down like I was so posh only drinking Fiji water every day! Mostly I did not want to get giardia!