Liahona Middle and High School in Tonga

Tonga Temple, we were able to attend two sessions at the temple (one in English and the other in Tongan)

Originally our flight plans had us going to Suva, Fiji for 5 days and staying in temple housing.  We were looking forward to spending considerable time in the Suva, Fiji Temple, however at the last minutes our flight plans were changed and we went to Nadi, Fiji instead for three days and then directly to Tonga.  It was disappointing but we did get to attend two sessions in the Tongan Temple (one in English, the other in Tongan).  Ear phones were provided so we could hear the session in English.  It was a special experience, since there is no temple in Kiribati.

Liahona High Schoool

Sign painted on hall way at Liahona

The principals conference was held at Liahona High School, which is the largest of the Church secondary schools.  The campus is large and spacious, similar to a college setting with green lawns, trees, and very inviting landscaping.  The campus is also the site of Liahona Middle School.  There are two other middle schools on the island that serve as feeder schools for Liahona High. Next to the campus is the Tongan Temple and the distribution center and service center are across the street from the temple.  Tonga is about 60 percent LDS with over 110 chapels on the islands.  The Church is putting a new emphasis on vocational and technical training and Liahona is the first to pilot the new program.  

The pictures that follow show some of the changes and upgrades for the TVET (Technical Vocational Education Training).  Elder and Sister Osborne are doing the training and upgrades (He worked at the Ogden Weber Technical College and she was a home economics teacher.  The spent 6 month in Tonga and left last week for Samoa, then to Fiji for 6 months and then will be in Kiribati for the remaining 6 months of their mission.  Prior traveling couples help establish counseling programs and improved library services at Church Schools

Home Ec Sewing room

Native dress sewed by a student

Student art work

Drafting lab at Liahona was moved to a larger classroom in a more central location

School Band class practicing

Several hundred middle and high school students performed a traditional sitting dance
for the visiting general authorities at the principals conference

Liahona High School Principal kept rhythm by striking two sticks together and five other students used large drums

After the performance two students wanted to pose for Sister Thorne,
one of them gave her a lei she used during the  performance

On Thursday evening all the principals, ITEP couples and visiting authorities met a home on the campus for supper and a "No Talent Night".  Some of the performances were quite good others lived up to the theme of the evening.

Elder and Sister Bowden and Administration from Saineha High School in Tonga
performing a traditional dance in their traditional dress

Wayne Maurer, Michael Carthew, and John Miller performing an Australian folk song "Waltzing Matilda"

The best performance of the evening was Lita and Rusila performing a traditional Kiribati dance, which lasted several minutes.  They followed up the dance with a song  describing the key components of SIOP model

 I

Principals from Samoa and Fiji performing a dance

The ITEP couple performed a song Lean on Me, fortunately we have no photos of our performance as Sister Thorne and I tried to show some false enthusiasm as we swayed and sang the song.

The cyclone a few weeks ago went through the Liahona campus with 80 plus MPH winds, the tops of several trees were blown down but there was no damage to the buildings and structures on campus.  Elder and Sister Smith have a rain guage at their apartment and said it rained 19 inches in 24 hours and that doesn't count the amount that fell the day before and day after.  The soil has a lot of coral rock and immediately absorbs large amounts of water.