September 30, 2012
Years ago (probably ‘04 or so), Rich and I met a wonderful woman named Diane who worked with the Peace Corps and was assigned to Vava’u, Tonga. She ended up with one of our products: a stuffed teddy bear that says a bedtime prayer, and it had strongly affected some of the young people she worked with. When it quit working; she contacted us and said she would soon be visiting her home in San Diego, and could she buy another bear? Needless to say, we gathered all the bears we had and donated them to her.
While she was in San Diego, we met her for lunch and learned more about Tonga. She worked with this incredible church and its pastor, Pastor Havili, who did so much to help troubled youth in the area. She was in the market for a piano keyboard for the church as the one they had quit working, and did we know of anything? Actually, we did: Rich’s piano teacher had a professional keyboard that he was planning to sell. Rich called him immediately and told him about the church, and he ended up donating the keyboard. Rich arranged to get it on the plane with Diane when she flew back and we paid the extra fees.
Later, we were thrilled to hear how well it was working and how a young man from the church played it beautifully. We hoped to get to Tonga someday and hear it for ourselves.
Well, we finally made it! We met with Pastor Havili and Sione, the assistant pastor who turned out to be the young man who had taught himself to play the keyboard. We visited the church, first going to a special Tongan feast they were holding for some visiting missionaries and then later going to a church service. Music is a very important part of Tongan church services and Tongans are well known for their beautiful singing. They lived up to their reputation as the singing and music was amazing! The keyboard is still working perfectly and Sione is a gifted player. -Cyndi
