TRIP TO EUA.  3 DAYS - EDUCATION, SCREENINGS, AND SOME TOURING.  In this picture, we are getting ready to board the ferry to go to Eua.  It is a 3 hour trip there and some pretty big waves.  The kids did pretty well, but Ella got a little sea sick.  It was quite the ADVENTURE!  We have a lot of pictures, and I'll try to explain each one the best I can.

This is the ferry.  They loaded all sorts of things on the ferry.  Whatever the island needs, this boat brings it over.  They loaded cars, timber, containers full of produce, clothes, furniture, etc.  The middle deck and upper deck was used for passengers.  We loaded our van on the boat with all our luggage and supplies that we needed.  It worked out really well.

This is our family and Elder and Sister Johns.  We had our family, the Johns, and Elder and Sister Radmacher go with us to Eua.  Both couples are in their 60's and just amazing people.  They loved and helped our kids like their own grandkids.  Braden and Elder Radmacher developed a special bond because both of them love to talk and they're really good at it.  I think Braden was giving him a run for his money.  Braden was giving Elder Radmacher a ton or riddles and tongue twisters to think about on the way over.  Half the trip, the waves were pretty big, so some of the family got a little sea sick.  BUT, they made it and all was well.  :)  1st Boat experience on big waves for the kidos.

Ella doesn't really like to wear shoes.  She's becoming quite the Tongan.  Her feet are looking more and more like a native's feet.  They were even more black than what they appear.  Nasty!

The kids with Elder and Sister Radmacher.  They had to go to the upper deck to get some fresh air and try to weather the boat ride over.

The Barfi clan on the upper deck.  While we were traveling, we saw some "flying fish".  They were amazing!  They would come up to the surface of the water, fly for about 10-15 feet, and dive back down into the water.  We saw them in large schools.  It was an incredible site!

Heidi and the girls not doing too well.  Ella was the only one that "threw up" on the way there.  We couldn't find a container, so we had to use one of the water bottles.  Nasty huh!  

Makayla relaxing at the place we were staying at.   She was still a little sea sick.   The place was called the Ovava Lodge.  The Ovava is a banyan tree.  You'll see some pictures of it later.  The largest Ovava tree is on this island.  It is 800 years old and was the inspiration for the Tree of Souls in the movie "Avatar" (if you've seen the movie).  This lodge was a great place to stay.  No internet, no phones, no TV, just time with family and friends.  The food was authentic Tongan Food.  It was a great place to stay - minus the mosquitos.  :)  We met several other people from Australia, New Zealand, and from other islands.

This was our bed.  It had a mosquito netting over the top to protect us.  It did a good job, but we felt bad because this was the only bed that had it.  So, we spent the first night there and then gave the kids a try with it the other nights.

We had beds all over the floor, but it was perfect.  Everyone slept well and it felt like we were "Swiss-Family-Robinson".  The lodges were up on a cliff edge that was made out of coral.  The lodge was built all out of wood.  The bathroom was right in the middle of both the kids room and our bed.  Pretty smart way of accommodating a family of 7.  These guys were the best!

Outside of the lodge.  The porch was hanging over a coral cliff.  You could see the ocean really well from the top.  At night, you could hear the waves crashing against the coral reef and the wind was pretty strong.  A dream place to go to sleep in as long as the mosquitos were sleeping too.

This is the where we got off of the boat in Eua.  All the trucks and cars were getting off and on to be transported.  What's amazing, is before cars, electricity, etc., the island people of Tonga were doing just fine.  They ate the food that they grew, fished from the ocean, raised LOTS of pigs and cows, and  they drank the rain water that they captured.  They were self sustaining.  As time as gone on, they have grown kind of dependent on the boat bringing some of the luxuries that we are spoiled with.  This island and the country of Tonga is still very much 3rd world, but surprisingly, some of the people have cell phones and cell phone towers.  They live in homes that are the size of most living rooms with dirt or wood floors, wash clothes with a plunger and hang them to dry, some cook their food over the fire, and life is very simple.  Amazing people!  They are so happy and content!

We got to the island last Monday, got situated, and went to the government clinic to talk to them about what their needs are and see their clinic.  They only have one person that is considered a "Dental Therapist".  She got her training on Tongatapu (mainland), trained for about 3 years, and she can do cleanings, fillings, and some extractions.  She has limited abilities because she doesn't have the proper equipment, instruments, or supplies.  The picture above is of her handpieces she has to work with.  One day recently, they weren't working, so she tore it apart, spliced some wires together, and fixed the problem.  AMAZING!  She doesn't have a "Tech" that she can call to fix it, she is IT.  ONLY HER on the island.  Her equipment, chairs, supplies are ancient, but she is doing the best she can with what she has.  She is the Dental Therapist, the Hygienist, the Assistant, and the font Desk.  We asked her what she needs, and she said she needs so many things donated to better help the people.  She doesn't even have film or solution to take x-rays.  I feel so bad for her.  She's been commissioned to do Dentistry, but with very limited resources.

Another photo of her clinic.  

While we were talking with the Government officials in charge of the Dental Clinic and Hospital, Ella was busy capturing butterflies.  She was such a great sport about being patient while we were busy checking out the needs.  I love this picture!  Both her and Braden have been doing so awesome for how young they are.  They have great attitudes and trying to roll with the punches.

This is the entrance to the hospital.  We spent about 2 hours there assessing the needs and trying to see what we could do to help them out.  

Here is the Sunset on Monday from our front porch.  How beautiful!

Our volunteer group sitting down for some dinner Monday night.

This is a married couple who run the lodge.  They were cooking up some Tongan Pizza in their pizza oven.  It seriously was one of the best pizzas we have ever had.  They had sea food pizza, chicken pizza, sausage pizza, corn-peas-carrots pizza, corn beef pizza.  AND, it was all you could EAT.  AMAZING!  Good way to end the day!  Belly was full!  Maybe too full!

Our girls swinging in the hammock.

Tuesday, we had a lot of education we did with the school kids.  We held the clinics in the church.  We had three different stations that we did.  We first did our presentation to a group of about 70 kids and adults, then we split into the three groups.  One group, we did screenings on so we could assess the need and get them into the Eua clinic or our clinic at Liahona, another group - we had a power point presentation for to do some more education, and the 3rd group - we taught oral hygiene (how to properly brush and floss).  It took us all day to go through everyone, but we felt like it was a success. These students are ages 11-13 and the age where it is so important to have a good diet and good oral hygiene.  Below are some of the pictures of the day.  The kids were a big help as well.

We did a program that was hands on with these kids so they can visualize how we do things.  It's a modality of education called "Experiential Education".  Kids learn so much by SEEING, DOING, and TEACHING rather than just pure seeing and memorizing.  You've heard the old saying, "see one, do one, teach one."  We had the kids see what we were talking about, do what we were talking about, and help teach each other what we were talking about.  We have done similar programs for the schools in Twin Falls, Idaho, but we had to change this program a little to adapt to this age group.  It worked well.  We had a lot of fun with it!  Braden really wanted to help out with it.  He's very comfortable in front of large groups.  It was great to have the family there to help out!

Because we're limited on resources, we were using beach towels for the gums and washcloths for the sugar bugs.  Our tooth brush is a Tongan tooth Brush made out of a small broom head and a large stick we found at the lodge.  "You do what you can with what you have".  That is our motto now.  :)

Here, we're teaching about brushing.  This is Sister Johns doing some education.

We then have the kids do it and teach the other kids how to do it.  

The kids were great sports with everything that we did.  Very respectful and you can tell that they have been raised by great parents.  We had a ton of fun with this group.  

To  have some fun, we did some "Scout Cheers" with this kids to cheer on our volunteers (the students) that helped us with the program.  I'm sure it was the first time these kids have seen some strange "Scout Cheers".  We modified some of them to be Tongan Friendly though.  :)  I know, I know, .... kind of corny, but FUN!

Heidi working her "magic" with the power point presentation helping with the educational component.  It talks more about oral hygiene, diet, and how we can have beautiful, healthy teeth for a lifetime.  We showed this to both the kids and the adults.  Education is the key.  It can break the cycle of what we're seeing happening.  I talked with a pregnant woman that was expecting her 1st Baby and I spent about 20 minutes going through everything with her to make sure that she starts helping her new baby and the rest of her kids in the future have good oral hygiene and diet.  I'm hoping it makes a difference for her and her family to come.  It could last for generations if she does her part.  That's our hope.  

We used the stage to do the Clinical Screenings.  We laid down the towels, had the kids lay down, and assess what their needs are.  It worked out perfectly!  The kids looked at us weird at first, but they did it, and we got done what we needed to do.  We had to do Dental work standing up.  That's how they used to do it in the "olden days".  This is a picture of Dr. Johns and Elder Brown assisting him.

The other Elder assisting me, grabbed my phone and took some pictures of us as well.

This is our x-ray station.  We had to get x-rays to see what teeth were infected, what teeth needed to be extracted, and what teeth needed fillings.  Sister Johns and Logan helped out doing that.  They did an awesome job!

Makayla took a turn helping to educate the kids.

Heidi and Maddison teaching and showing the Middle School Kids how to Brush and Floss.  They had mirrors so the kids could see how they should be doing it.

This was an interesting case.  This is called a "mesiodens".  There is an extra tooth right between the two front teeth.  Sorry this isn't the best picture, but it's not every day that you see this anomaly.  Us Dental "nerds" think it's pretty cool.  

This one of the homes that's right next to the church.  The church is definately the nicest building on the whole island.  The church that we were working at was only built 3 years ago.  This home and the  land around it is actually pretty nice for the local people.  Very poor physical conditions, but very rich in tradition, family, and the things of God that matter.

This is the church where we were working.  What's interesting is the gutters on the roof.  If you look at them, the gutters collect the rain water, they go into the ground, and it's ran to the back of the building into some large containers where the rain water is filtered, collected, and used for drinking water.  There are some places where they cannot drill for water, they have to collect it from the rain.

I brought some tennis balls to play some games and these girls took them and were playing a fun game during lunch time.  The Tongans are so good at any game that involves a ball.  They are great at volleyball, tennis, basketball, rugby, and especially soccer.  Oh, and they can also juggle really well.

Logan doing some more training.

3 girls Maddison's age that are waiting their turn on being seen.  They are such beautiful people!

More education with the boys.

The two Elders helping us out with assisting.  They were awesome both days!

This is the principle of the school.  She is amazing!  She cares so much about these kids, she drives all over the island to pick some of them up to make sure they are able to come to school.  She runs one of the best schools in all of Tonga.  A very caring and skilled educator.

Ella made a very dear friend.  Her name is Tema, but Ella calls her "Noodles" because of her hair.  Tema calls Ella "Spaghetti" because of her hair.  The rest of the two days we were serving here, they called each other Noodles and Spaghetti.  This picture, they swapped hair.  Ella is looking more and more like she fits in with the Tongan people.

This is the Principle's  ta'ovala which is a type of Tongan dress, a mat wrapped around the waist.  It's a formal type of dress.  Kind of like a fancy dress for a formal occasion.  

Later that night, we went for a walk on the beach of Eua.  Another beautiful sunset.

Wednesday morning, we woke up about 6:00 to see the Morning Sun rise.  Tonga (especially Eua) is the 1st place on the Earth to greet the new sun.  We were the very first ones to see the sun rise.  That's pretty cool.  Not only are you the very first ones, it's a really cool place to be to see the sun rise.

On Eua, it was a totally different climate.  It's not very far away, but it has a different elevation.  It was a lot colder there than on Tongatapu.  This is just before we saw the sun.  Everybody was cold, sleepy, but in good spirits (maybe not Ella - if you look close, she's still waking up and a little crabby).  BUT, we all made it.  What an amazing site!

I tried to capture a good picture of the whales that we were seeing, but this is the best you get.  The small black dot in the middle is the hump of the hump back whale.  As we were watching the sun rise, we also saw some whales.  They were just off the coast.  There are some people that go on excursions and swim with the whales.  Tonga is one of two places where you can do that.  We like watching them from the shore.  The kids were so excited to see whales coming to the surface.

There is the sun poking it's head out of the clouds.  We loved watching how the sun rays changed every time the clouds would pass by the sun.  What an incredible view!

This is my favorite picture I got of the sun rise.  This was the morning of July 13th.  This picture is amazing, but it doesn't do it justice.  When you have all 5 senses working well and you see this view, there are no words for it.  One of God's miracles!  What a blessing to see this amazing sight!

Here's another one for you.  This one, I love how it shows all the sun's rays shooting out.  How cool!

We see this quite a lot with the Tongan kids.  All the teeth have decay in them.  We call it "generalized gross decay".  These poor kids have not been taught about diet and oral hygiene.  Their parents don't know what's going on until it is too late.  This poor kid's Mom is working so hard and this kid is sucking in "lollipops" all day long.  Tonga is in desperate need for a Pediatric Dentist.  All the government does is extract the teeth.  They usually don't restore the teeth.  This child will be edentulous (without teeth) until he is 7 or 8.  We spent quite a bit of time with his parents educating them about what is happening and what they can do with the other kids.  There are 5 kids in their family.  All of them are very similar.  

This is the Stake President of Eua Island (President Mau).  There are 6 wards on the island and he is in charge of all the members.  He was just called a little while ago and has a great vision for his people.  He organized several adults to come see us today to be looked at, assess their needs, and help get them taken care of.  We saw about 60 adults today from different villages.

One thing I noticed about this good Stake President is his form of leadership.  When we were having lunch, he gave everyone else time to eat lunch, and when we were just about done, that's when he took his lunch.  He waited for everyone else to have what they wanted, and then he ate his lunch.  Talk about a great humble leader that shows such a great Christ-like service to everyone.  Incredible leader and example to all his people and to us.  After we were done with serving the adults, he took us for a 3 hour tour of the island.  A lot of amazing sites to see on this small island of Eua.

President Mau and I discussing his Dental needs.  We used normal chairs (not like the kids) to look at everything.  Again, he let everyone else go before him.  he was one of the last patients.  

The Sister missionaries were seen after we saw all 60 of the adults that needed to be seen.  They were a lot of fun!  Great missionaries helping out the people of Eua.

After working until about 1:00, President Mau took us for a tour of the island for a few hours.  It was amazing!  Below are some of the sites and information about them.  I have pictures of the signs that tell about each of the sites.  The bird at the top of the sign is the local parrot that you might see and "malo e lelei" is "Hello" in Tongan.  

The kids and Heidi said they saw the parrot flying around.

Here is where the Hafu Pool is.

Here is the Big Ovava Tree.  They say that this is the tree that "Avatar" the movie is based off of.  This tree is 800 years old.  It's quite the Jungle Gym.

Beautiful Trees next to the Sink Hole.  Man could not duplicate that in a million years.  Heavenly Father's creations are incredible!  Look at that perfect form!  

Here is the Sink Hole.  It is SOOOO deep.  It just goes on forever down there.

Steps going down into the Sink Hole.  

This is where the wild horses roam on Eua.  

This is President Mau with Braden.  Braden was getting too close to the edge, and President held his hand to keep him safe.  I love this picture because it shows perfectly that their are other people (other than parents) that can help mold and train young children or young men to be incredible Men when they are older.  It takes a village to train a young man or women.  

President got a kick out of Braden.  Braden just kept talking and talking.  The people we were with got a big kick out of him.  He was sharing some of his riddles and jokes with them.  

This is the Rock Garden.

While we were taking some pictures, we saw our shadows and thought it would be cool to take a "shadow picture" of our family.  This is what it turned out to be.  We really thought it was a cool idea!

Story about that area.  We couldn't find the fruit, so we couldn't see the turtles.  :)

This is a Tonga Pillow.  This is what they would lay their head on at night time.  Crazy huh!

The Tongan women are preparing some Toppa cloth for a funeral.  They crush a type of tree and then make ornamental paper out of it.  It takes a long time to do, but they are incredible with the resources that they are given.  

They are putting flour mixed in water over the top to glue everything together.  

Pictures of the boat ride on the way back.  It was better coming back.  

This is a basket that is hand woven that is used for funerals or other big gatherings.  This one basket takes about 1 full day to produce.  President Mau and his wife makes these.  Amazing family!