DAY IN THE MARKET AND THE LAND BRIDGE.  Today is Saturday and we spent half the day shopping in the market and the other half exploring part of the island.  The top pictures are pictures of some of the market.  Every Saturday, people set up their booths and sell all sorts of things.  There are a lot of the Tongan people who have family back in America or New Zealand, or Australia that send big shipments to them from their where they live to Tonga for them to sell and provide for their families.  They have all sorts of different products from food, clothing, tools, whatever.  It's like a big garage sale.  It's fun to walk down and see what everyone is selling.  We went to about 5 different stores to get what we needed for this next week.  Heidi said today that she misses Winco Foods and Costco.  There is no "one-stop-shop" here in Tonga.  Kind of a different way of doing things.

This is the LAND BRIDGE.  Behind us, you can see it.  This looks like a scene out of Pirates of the Caribbean.  It's one of the must sees on this island.  Below is a picture of Elder Steve Johns and our kids.  You can see the land bridge a little better there.  It's strong enough on top to drive on.  Breathtaking views!

This is a secluded beach that is at the bottom of the land bridge.  You have to hike down to it from the top, but it is one of the best areas we've seen so far.  This was at high tide so a lot of the beach was covered by water.  We were able to hike around in/around the rocks and find a lot of colorful, amazing sea shells.  These beaches seem like they've been untouched by people.  Today, we were the only ones on this beach.  It was quiet, beautiful, and peaceful.  The kids had a ton of fun searching for shells, wading around in the water, and playing in the sand.  We were there for about 2 hours and then we had to go home.  Below are some more pictures of this beach.  

Our cute women.  We love these girls so much!  We don't know what we would do without them.  I had to add this in because I think this is a beautiful backdrop for some beautiful little women.

Some of the shells we found.  Amazing how Mother Nature is!  If you look close at the sand too, you'll see that it is crushed coral, not really true sand (like what we're used to).

The kids were jumping in when the waves were coming in.  They were trying to jump above them and not get wet.

We were having some fun with the other kids while Heidi and Makayla were preparing dinner.  Makayla has to prepare and cook meals for two weeks for one of her young women projects.  SO, while they were preparing the meal, we were dressing up like the Tongans getting ready for a "Balloon War".  We brought these balloons to blow up, make crazy things with them, and give them to the Tongan kids in the clinic.  We've been doing that, but we thought we would have a little fun with them tonight as well.  Braden was a fierce warrior!

Our Betty Crockers hard at work.  They did a great job on dinner and Makayla got praises from the whole family.  Great job Makayla!  She made pigs in a blanket for her 1st meal for this project.  Job well done!  You're hired!  It was a hit for the rest of the kids!