MAUI'S FISH HOOK - There are a lot of crafts made out of wood and bone that look very similar to this.  Here is the legend of Maui (Polynesian God) and how the islands of Tonga came to be.

"One day, Maui obtains a fish hook from an old fisherman named Tongafusifonua.  Naturally, Maui decides to go fishing.  He drops his hook into the sea, but when he tries to pull up the line, it seems to be caught upon something.  Maui tugs and tugs until his hook appears once more, but with it also comes an island!  Well, Maui knows a good thing when he sees it, so he keeps throwing back his hook into the water until the main islands of Tongatapu, Ha'apai and Vava'u are all pulled up form the ocean.  (Eua and some of the smaller volcanic islands were created separately by the god craftsman Tangelo whose wood shavings fell from the sky.)  Maui named the largest island "Tonga" in honor of the old fisherman, and that island is now Tongatapu.  Maui grows so delighted by his success that he continues fishing, eventually pulling up most of the islands of Tonga, as well as - depending on the legend source - some of those in Hawaii, Samoa, and Fiji.  That is the story behind the Tongan fish hook.  "AND, now you know the REST of the STORY".  :)

Maddison and Makayla both assisted today.  This week has been root canal city.  We have done so many root canals on people.  We are saving a ton of teeth.  These two girls are assisting "Rock Stars".  They have been such a huge help and have had such great attitudes!  These pictures are of both of them assisting with Root Canals.  They are troopers and I'm happy to have them help in the clinic!

BEFORE - We were thinking of possibly extracting one of the front teeth, but we were able to save it.  From the front, it doesn't look that bad, but from the back you could see almost the whole tooth was decayed and almost unrestorable.  We put on our capes and tried to do some super hero dentistry.  This girl is a young teenager.  She needs her teeth, especially her front teeth.  I told her that if we take the time to do all this work, she really has to promise to brush, floss, and have a proper diet.  We can try to fix teeth the best we can with the materials that we have, but the patient has to do their part as well.  We spent a lot of time restoring, but we also spent a lot of time educating her.  

AFTER - Here is the after photo.  The gums are a little inflamed with all the work done, but these should last a very long time if she takes good care of them.  I wanted to close the gap between the front teeth, but if I did, they would look like "horse teeth".  There are a lot of Tongans that have gaps between their teeth.  The patient was so excited after we were done.  I'm hoping this helps her to smile more and helps her understand that she needs to make some changes in her life.  It's humbling to know that there are so many people that we can serve, but we're only helping just some of the 130,000 people that live here in the Kingdom of Tonga.   I feel like there's so much more work we can do, and we only have a limited time left.  I really do love these people and I love trying to help them.  I feel that our whole family has fallen in love with these people and this island we call home.

Maddison wanted to ride in the passenger side of the car (shotgun) once in Tonga before we left.  Notice it's on the wrong side of the car.  We have adjusted to everyone driving on the wrong side of the road.  OR, is it that we drive on the wrong side of the road?  

After work, we went to a very poor village to pass out some clothes, Makayla's bracelets she made for Young Womens, and our sport balls (football, soccer ball, tennis balls, basketball, etc.).  The following pictures are of us passing those out to some of these people.  It was a highlight of today.

Makayla passing out her bracelets to the little kids.  

These kids were using an old phone cable to jump rope with.  We gave them a new jump road and a volleyball.  They were so excited!  These kids use anything they have to play with.  Next time we do this, we are going to bring a ton of balls to pass out.  It was fun to see the excitement in their eyes.

As we were leaving, the kids all gave us a "thumbs up"

We drove around the village looking for kids that could use a little "pick-me-up".  We passed out the soccer ball and football to these little kids.  They were SO happy.  The little boy down below just kept throwing the football up in the air and trying to catch it.  How great is that!

We came home and an hour later, the picture below is the scene we had from our apartment.  Good night!  It's been a great day and we're going to try to soak up the most we can before our time comes to a close.  I feel like all of us in our family have worked so hard and tried to make the most of this trip.  This trip has far exceeded our expectations.  We have learned so much and have grown so much!  We count it a huge blessing from Heavenly Father to be able to come and fall in love with the Tongan people and their wonderful islands of Tonga.  It's been a great adventure!