SUNDAY - CHURCH and PACKING for the island of EUA.  

Today's church was great!  We talked a lot about being "instruments" in the hands of God.  Our Sunday school teacher was Elder Radmacher.  He held up a guitar and struck a few cords that were beautiful to the ears, and then he struck some cords that were hard on the ears.  He then related that to us as servants of the Lord.  If we are in tune and allow the Lord to use us as "instruments", we can help make a huge difference in the lives of others.  I loved that analogy!  So true!

Story of Today - Elder Radmacher has an amazing conversion story.  When he and his wife were newly married, he had long hair, grew weed (marijuana) in his farm field, and was in a rock and roll band playing the guitar.  He was in the garage one day working on a project and saw an old Book of Mormon sitting in a part of the garage.  He picked it up and the pages fell to a verse that said, "...give heed unto my word, which is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, to the dividing asunder of both joints and marrow; therefore give heed unto my words.........(D&C 6:2)...it goes onto say in verse 7 - "Seek not for riches but for wisdom, and behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich.  Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich.)  He read this, dropped the Book of Mormon/ Doctrine and Covenants and said to himself, "These guys are crazy", and left the garage.  He said that when he read it, it scared him.  The next few days, he snuck into the garage to read from the Doctrine and Covenants and the Book of Mormon.  He couldn't put it down.  He knew it was true.  He later asked his wife what he had to do to join the church.  He has been committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ ever since and has served the people around him with all his heart, might, mind, and strength. 

We will be going with them to the island of Eua tomorrow to help the people over there.  We are excited to spend some more time with them.  Good people trying to make a difference for these wonderful people of Tonga.  We will be doing some Preventive Education and Screenings for the kids and they will be doing some training with the Education programs that are there.   I may not post for the next few days because we'll be gone until Thursday evening. 

Braden lost is front tooth today while trying to learn how to juggle tennis balls.  Good Sunday activity right?  The ball hit him in the face and knocked his loose tooth almost out.  We had to extract a tooth even on Sunday.  

The girls were gone for a young women activity making donuts, so the rest of us played "Phase 10" and had some ice cream (Tongan Delight Ice Cream).  They put a little too much red dye in it (as you can see).  Heidi looks good with red lips, but me.....hmmmm.

The other kids got a little carried away with the Tongan Delight Ice Cream as well!  We look like Joker off of Batman.  Fun Sunday activity as a family!