A Week in Tonga

Airport in Tonga

Sister Thorne and I left March 1st for a principals conference in Tonga at Liahona High School.  We left on Thursday morning and stayed in Nadi, Fiji until Saturday and then flew to Tonga for the conference which began on Monday evening and lasted until Friday at noon.  There are several pictures which follow with some brief information.  The Kingdom of Tonga is a beautiful island nation with LDS chapels everywhere over 110 in Tonga.  Sixty percent of the residents of Tonga belong to the LDS church.  There is a beautiful temple next to the Liahona campus.

View from hotel room

We stayed in a small hotel by the name of Little Italy, which had a nice room with a great view, but even more special it had a pizza parlor on the ground floor.  So we had some good pizza for the first time in over 7 months.  They also served lots of pasta and other Italian dishes.  The ship in the picture run a ground during a typhoon.  They had a cyclone a few weeks ago with grounded several other ships on the Northern part of the island.  It rained over 19 inches in a 24 hour period.

They claim this is the only coconut tree in the world with a fork in the the trunk

Ocean view

Hidden beaches along the shore line.  Few islanders swim so many beautiful beaches are along the coast line

Land Bridge of Pigeon entry way

 A few years ago a group of LDS nurses were doing volunteer work in Tonga.  While visiting this site one of the nurses from Utah lost her balance and fell backward to her death 70 feet below.  Her body washed out to sea before her husband could get down the cliff to try and rescue her.  The body was never recovered.  A new hospital is being built and her statue will be placed on the grounds in her honor.

Blow holes shoot 60 plus feet into the air when the waves hit the shore line.  Dozens of blow holes are seen up and down the coast line from this view area

Another coast line view

This structure built in 1200 AD is similar to the stonehenges in England.  

Sign describing theories on how the structure was built and it possible purposes

Plaque honoring the site where Captain Cooks landed in Tonga in 1777

Two LDS missionaries grave sites who died in the early 1900's of Typhoid fever.  The grave site of Charles John Langston from Rockville, Utah.  One of our friends in the ward is from Rockville

Some ancient wood carving is an old Tongan Village