One Love Inc.

       5 years ago we lived in a beautiful 3,200 square foot home across from a lake in my hometown of Salem, New Hampshire.  Our house was always filled with people visiting or living with us who we still consider as our family.  Then, God called us to move to the tiny island of Tonga in the South Pacific.  We had never met a Tongan or even heard of the country before. And though Tonga is a Christian nation, 4 years later our ragamuffin family of 3 kids and 2 adults, moved to Tonga with approximately $2,000 US dollars.  We felt strongly it wasn't right for us to go from church to church trying to convince people to support us in what God told us to do.  If God said it, He would provide for our needs.

       From spending time observing and getting to know Tongans and their culture we began to see how it wasn't that crazy that God would call us to minister to "Christians" in a Christian nation.  I don't have statistics, but crime rate is getting higher and higher.  Countries such as the U.S., New Zealand, and Australia are cracking down on Tongan illegals and emptying their jails by deporting them back to Tonga.  New Zealand police and police dogs have been brought  to the airport in Tonga to search for drugs because almost all of the drugs coming into New Zealand come from Tonga.  We often see kids here huffing on a bug spray here called Mortein to get high.  And the church is no better.  Just recently 6 pastors from the biggest church here just got arrested for stealing $600,000 from the church.  And this is good news, just a few years ago it would have been hushed up.  Even I have to be careful about what i say in a blog post.  Most tourists would never see this or be aware of the secrets that these beautiful getaway islands hide.

       With all this in mind, we have started a nonprofit organisation called One Love Inc.  And although we love Bob Marley, we named it One Love because we believe One Love is in God alone.  The idea is simple. Provide people the freedom to serve and share with others without needing to take a course, have a degree, or meet a long list of exact qualifications.  God's calling and the gift of the Holy Spirit are enough.

             "Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus."-Acts 4:13.  

One Love Inc. would also provide people a way to serve without needing to spend years raising support and the ability to just go!  Our goals are to grow simple food and provide housing from local affordable materials giving people the freedom to come.  We also want to provide others who do not consider themselves Christ followers an opportunity to share their gifts along side us and hopefully experience Jesus. Chris will be starting out by teaching skateboarding and how to build affordable creative homes with raw, local materials.  We will be applying for grants to lease land for a base for One Love Inc. and bring on staff.  If God wishes to further it, we then plan on expanding this to other South Pacific islands.  One Love Inc.will be unlike anything offered in Tonga.  The kids here have nothing to do, so when kids have nothing to do they get in trouble.  Every Friday three christian schools meet at the bus stop for fights and overtake the main road with hundreds of fists flying.  Girls take poisons to have secret abortions.  Some are now becoming prostitutes to afford phones and trinkets. Stealing begins at a young age and continues into adulthood.   With the strongest influence now coming from mainstream t.v., music that glorifies a gangster lifestyle, and a stream of experienced criminals from L.A., Tongan youth are in desperate need of something positive to do!  The kids are naturally athletic and rough and LOVE watching extreme sports We hope to bring that with skateboarding,BMX, teaching building, and other talents from volunteers who can help bring other options to these kids.
       I wish i could say following God in faith is all gorgeous sunsets and rainbows.  We have faced and are facing many difficulties.  Very little income means sometimes being hungry, washing 5 peoples laundry without a machine,sickness, pedaling/skateboarding miles to run simple errands, and the loss of basic comforts.  A few weeks from now we will be moving from our Tongan house to a stick house until our "tree house" can be built.  Although regaining some privacy (we live with a Tongan family and Tongan culture gives little allowance for privacy) will be fantastic, the anxiety of living in even harsher conditions is very stressful to our family...no running water, no bedrooms, no stove, etc....we don't even have mattresses yet! and we don't know how temporary this will be.  We are truly grateful for God providing us with this place given to us by our friend here,It is an example of God's kindness and mercy.   Our faith has truly been tested here. This journey of faith has been a cleansing experience for us as we get rid of our preconceived ideas of what faith is, to what kind of faith God has called us to.
          23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone wants to come with[a] Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily,[b] and follow Me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will save it.-Luke 9:23-24

I want to thank everyone who gave or is giving to help our family have a place to live here.  We are always encouraged by it.  Chris has been able to do jobs here to help support us, but the pay is around $2.50 an hour.  Thank you for sharing in this with us.

I realize it's been a long time since I last posted.  A lot has happened, changed, and to be honest I was in a very dark place for months and I don't think it would have been a good idea to post anything.  As mom used to say, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all!"

So here we are today still faced with many challenges but thankfully i have a better attitude.  This May will mark our one year being in Tonga!  Pretty crazy for a girl who basically lived in one town her whole life!  Since moving we've doubted God more, trusted  God more, gone hungry, made friends, cried more, learned how to home school, biked our butts off, and seen God do amazing things.

So i figured i'd break it all down where we're at financially, physically, mentally, spiritually...

Somehow we managed to go almost a whole year paying electricity, water, and gas (and even having internet  most of the time) on our only consistent income of $200 a month.  Of course we couldn't have done it without the random giving  from   family, friends, and Chris's income from work, but i can't tell you how many times we've been down to our last dollar, out of food, bills due, and somehow pull it off.  It is exhausting, but sure keeps us praying! I have been pushed to my limits in this area and been frustrated at God.   A few months ago we were hungry, but couldn't eat because we were saving our food for dinner time.  We were down at the wharf and praying that God would provide.  Ariel was playing with some trash (don't ask me why) and ran up to us yelling because she found $15 in a crumpled up piece of tin foil!  We were able to go to the bakery with that money and fill up!  A few weeks ago i was at the ATM to see if  some money had come through and had $1 left in my wallet.  My friend Lela called to me from a bus and asked if i had a dollar i could give her.  The bus driver made eye contact with me and shook his head slightly as if saying, "don't worry about it, ignore her".  I hesitated and then pulled out my dollar for her.  I said goodbye, then checked my account and sure enough the money had gone through plus another unexpected $100!   But i can't tell you how often i am just filled with doubt and fears for these things. Tomorrow our electricity will be shut off.  We have big expenses due in the next month, our visas are up for renewal (we'll be coming in under our new non profit) and they are about $400-$500 to renew.  And our medical insurance which is $1600 for the year.  We have no way of paying this and i admit we are getting anxious.  We are praying.

Physically, things are considerably better than when we first moved here!  The kids were sick off and on almost for almost the first 6 months getting used to new bacteria and a new environment.  Chris had a partial tear in his Achilles tendon from skateboarding, but he's recovered now.  Indy had a slight fracture on his elbow also because of skateboarding, but because our neighbor is a nurse we were able to get it looked at for free!  The kids get weird skin things because of the humidity and I have white spots all over my shoulders, but nothing that will kill us!  Biking in the hot summer sun is difficult and keeps us covered in a nice layer of sweat, but our bikes provide the greatest opportunity for us and earns us respect because we're not like other white people who come and are known for having the nicest of everything.

Mentally, we are tired.  It is hard. Living out of suitcases, washing and squeezing out 5 people's laundry without a washer is not glorious.  We are in contact with a lot of people who are mentally draining.  It is challenging to understand some people's accents and it takes it a lot of mental focus to understand them and answer correctly! I'm also learning to not get hung up on culture differences.  There's the way everyone else does something and then there's "the Tongan Way".

Spiritually,  we are changing, And in some ways it's easier, because there's not as much distraction.  i'm not here because i personally want to be, but because God has called us here.  So my thoughts are forced into focus.  Why am here-to share what God has done for me, share the gospel.  Every day i have to be reminded or else i wouldn't survive.

So please pray for us if you can, Chris has had some interesting opportunities doing some photography for a newspaper and helping promote our friends island and building stools and bar tops. Our friend Ron here is also funding the building of our "tree house".  Which is awesome but may take a while for him to do it by himself.  Please pray God provides our basic needs, we are usually lacking.  Pray for all the people we are building friendships with : My friend who is a prostitute, Chris friend who asked him for help from the demons and vodoo, pray for our Indian friend lucky and his Tongan wife Luse, pray as our non-profit organization will be starting.

JUMP!

    A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to take a small boat with a few Fijians out to a small island off the main island of Tupungato.  It was beautiful.  Quiet, secluded, everything I imagine a tropical island to be.  Chris might be helping build a backpackers resort so we were checking it out and he was taking measurements.  The water is so blue it's almost hypnotizing.  On the boat ride back my seven-year old son Indy did something kind of funny.  We were probably 20 ft. from shore when he handed me his shirt and asked me how deep it was.  I said it was over his head, but not to deep.  I turned my head for a second and he jumped! Indy is just beginning to learn how to swim, but he was keeping up with the boat!  Thankfully, the guy driving the boat cut the engine and Chris pulled Indy back in.  It completely surprised everyone and we all were laughing about it for a while.

It made me think of the jump our family took 4 months ago.  It's scary, we're in over our heads, and we barely know how to swim.  But it gives our faith in Christ a chance to grow.  We make every attempt to "walk worthy of the calling you have received " (Eph. 4:1).  To "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and work out his good purpose." (Phil. 2:12,13)

I suppose it's harder than I thought.  Adjusting to a new culture, being stereotyped because of skin color, the kids constantly getting sick and having skin problems, not living a comfortable lifestyle, waiting for the skateboard and bike camp to begin...

And i realize the pictures can be misleading.  We're not sitting in some fancy or luxurious resort enjoying island life.  We live just like the Tongans do.  In a small fale, with holes and mold in the ceiling.  With buckets all over when it rains to catch the drips.  With spiders, massive centipedes, mosquitos, and streams of ants.  No screens on the windows, and some windows missing the glass panels.  We sometimes eat pretty good and sometimes not.  Some days i don't know what we'll eat or we skip a meal so we will be able to eat at dinner.      It's easy to trust God when our belly is full, it's harder when we're hungry. But God is good and providing for us.  One day at a time.

But we wouldn't have jumped if Christ wasn't worth it.  I see the trials we face because of the choice we made to follow Jesus and i have to constantly be reminded of what Jesus said, "If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me.  For whoever wants save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will save it.  What is a man benefited if he gains the whole world, yet loses or forfeits himself?" (luke 9:23-25)  So we shouldn't surprised at difficulties...Jesus did offer a cross. "I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ[a]—the righteousness from God based on faith." (Phil 3:8-9) I forget this so much and so often want to just give up.  Nobody will think we're weird if we never jump, actually, we might even be thought wise and a good steward if we play it safe.

But there has been a lot joy.  Starting friendships and growing in Christ with our new friends Dennis and Ilima.  Being able to share homemade pizza, muffins, and cookies with our neighbors.  Chris building a coffee table and giving it to our neighbors (they didn't even want to use it because they said they've never had such nice furniture!)  Praying out at the wharf with Ron.  Talking and sharing Christ with murderers, thieves, and drug addicts.  We are so thankful for all these opportunities God has given us and allowing us to become a part it.  I guess we can jump knowing that our Dad's right there to grab a hold of us and say "wow, you did a good job swimming, you kept right up!"

Tonga Holiday spent at the beach with Dennis, Ilima, Agnes, and Nio

family singing and prayer

Our boat driver to and from Makaha'a Island

Our transportation

Chris and Dennis

Sammi is usually at our house before i get up in the morning

watch out for this kid

So we've been here in Tonga almost 2 months now and so much has changed since i last posted.  We've met many people and made many plans.
About a month ago we ran into an Australian girl who works for the Australian High Commission and she was interested in Chris's idea to build Tonga's first skateboard ramp.  I think it was Monday or Tuesday we ran into her and she said Australia gave out a grant every year for 10,000 to fund a Sports program or activity.  It was due that friday.  She said this year only 1 or 2 people had applied so we had a good chance. We rushed to fill out and get quotes.  And handed it in and of course found out about 15 people had also handed it in on Friday!  We won't know till about November....soooo stay tuned?
But i think doing all this work and preparation made it more clear what we really want to do here.  Build a skateboard ramp/park and generate interest...i believe the amount of skateboards here you could count on one hand...and we have two.
Then, if God wants, we build a camp for kids to learn skateboard, bmx, music, art, construction, plumbing, Discipleship training from Kamu, etc...create teachers from the students...and not with the attitude that we have all the knowledge...we learn from the Tongans as well.  Eventually having Tongans run the camp and us being able to start other camps on the other islands.  Enable the Tongan Youth to have SOMETHING to do and enjoy and also the ability to create small business's so they won't sell out their lands to big money making business.
OF COURSE...this all would take a miracle.  And if it seems our plans fail and shift it's ok because God creates and destroys for a better way.

There's a little shanty town on the edge of Nuku'alofa that is extremely poor and trash is piled up everywhere!  I think from flooding?  We biked down there the other day and it was hard to see.  Seeing poverty is not fun. chris and i are trying to come up with ways, ideas to bring food and get to know these people.  We want to become friends with them.  Maybe pass out icecream cones? Come by every week and sit by the water and share food?  I'm not sure what we're going to do.  But we need to do something.

We also have had the opportunity to share with our neighbors and so have others in the United States!  We heard that our neighbor was just eating cassava (a root vegetable) and was feeding their 6 month old  baby Milo (similar to carnation breakfast) because they had nothing else.  I freaked out a little thinking of the baby.  We bought them bags of groceries and diapers and very nervously brought them over...later finding out we were the first white people to go to their door!  The women was very shy probably because a whole herd of us came loudly over and probably overwhelmed her! Her husband hid in the other room! We posted this need of theirs on Facebook and someone donated money to give.  I went over by myself  this time and she was much more open and talked.  I explained this money wasn't ours but from someone else.  She was very grateful but embarrassed , and i had to reassure her i knew what it was like to be in need to!  She said they respected us Palangis (white people) because we live here the way we do.
To give to her in this way and talk made all the crappiness i had felt earlier worth it.
Some moments i feel homesick. lonely.
Sick of bugs and never ending stream of ants.
Lice..they are despicable
living in a house with holes in walls, ceiling, doors.
doing laundry 50's style
sleeping on a thin piece of foam that makes you feel like you got beat up in the morning
Sometimes it can get to me but this moment with our neighbor made it worth it.  And i'm thankful.  Chris reminded me the other day how we don't want to go through the hard times and just want to skip to the end. To benefit and grow we have to go through them.
Tonga has made me realize how selfish, prideful, and coveting i am.  It has dug up all the ugliness i could easily hide from myself and others before.
I see really it's all about Jesus.  Just Jesus.  Falling in love with Him. I read the Scriptures and reading about Jesus can bring me to tears. Sometimes i go through the day praying that God will give me grace to do what i don't want to do.
I realize i can't love all of Tonga and that used to bother me.  But.  I can love Kamu and Saane. Soteria, Latu...I can love crazy little Sami next door...I can love the women at the market i buy vegetables from.  It can start small.

singing with everyone

15 mile bike ride one way to the West Side

Run or Die!

The land where time begins...

During the past week and a half our family has traveled through multiple time zones, eaten to much plane food, carried massive amounts of luggage, chased crabs and frogs in Fiji and finally arrived in the Kingdom of Tonga.  We share a ranch-style fale (house) with our friends Kamu and Saane.  The gate on the side is our entrance to our side of the house.  Being almost a week now since we've been here we're starting to settle in and adapt.  Gradually we've been picking up some essential items that we couldn't bring with us.  We're living with a lot less which i like, but can be frustrating when i want to do basic cooking and chris is trying to fix up the house.
   
Everything is expensive here!  We are helping out to pay the electric, water, internet, and trash bill.  The price of food and simple appliances is crazy high since almost everything is imported.  We will be planting a garden to use the vegetables and also sell in the store out front.  We also bought a truckful of coconuts so we can make coconut oil, coconut milk, coconut water, and cups.  In December all the fruit trees around the house produce fruit so we will be overflowing with papaya, orange, watermelon, mango, avocado, lemon...

chris has his hands full with husking the huge mound of coconuts..

We are in the cooler, rainy season so it feels similar to a New England summer.  Some nights it can get a bit chilly even.  Most days are humid, but not all of them.  Their are bugs, cockroaches, spiders, and ants everywhere.  I'm surprised at how well everyone is handling it!  Twice i've seen spiders so big it's taken me about an hour or so to recover.  I'm very thankful for a cold shower and mosquito net at night to get rid of the sweat and the constant flow of critters!  We love the geckos that crawl around though, they eat all the bad bugs!

Alei loves doing dishes here

We are the pālangi(white people) here, and though the tongans are hospitable and friendly, unfortunately, being a pālangi is not usually a good association.  The tongan's go out of their way to honk, wave, stare, and say hello to us.  They are generally kind, but it will take time for them to trust us and take us seriously.  We are excited because soon we will be presenting an idea to the minister here to build a skatepark so we can get to know the kids here, build relationships, and make a good name for us here.  If this all works out we feel strongly God wants us to later move up to the island of Vava'u once we have established ourselves here in the big city.  For now we will be working on opening up the small shop in front of the house, taking shifts in the store, fixing up the house,and getting to know the neighbors.

so are we happy here?  i feel we are, it's a different lifestyle, less entertainment and more work.  But the Tongans take everything at a more relaxed pace.  We believe we are where God wants us to be and doing what He wants us to do. We will be living more day by day for our needs to provided but that makes it so much easier to depend on Yahweh.  Thank you all so much for your words of encouragement, prayers, thoughts, and giving.

Chris and I love this song by Kendall Payne called Pray and it has been constantly going through our heads. It has changed they way we pray and see situations, and reminds me of the type of person I want to be.

I will pray for you now, for you have been my faithful friends
While the road we walk is difficult indeed
I couldn't not ask for more than what you've already been
Only that you would say these prayers for me

May your heart break enough that compassion enters in
May your strength all be spent upon the weak
All the castles and crowns you build and place upon your head
May they all fall, come crashing down around your feet
May you find every step to be harder than the last
So your character grows greater every stride
May your company be of humble insignificance
May your weakness be your only source of pride

What you do unto others may it all be done to you
May you meet the One who made us
And see Him smile when life is through

May your blessings be many but not what you hoped they'd be
And when you look upon the broken
May mercy show you what you could not see
May you never be sure of any plans you desire
But you'd learn to trust the plan He has for you
May your passions be tried and tested in the holy fire
May you fight with all your life for what is true

I have prayed for you now all my dear and faithful friends
But what I wish is more than I could ever speak
As the way wanders on I'll long to see you once again
Until then, would you pray these prayers for me?
Oh, that you would pray for me

May 3

I've been hesitant to post.
How do you express 532 emotions in one blog post?
So here are the facts:
our visas were approved
bought tickets (with the help of carving sales, donation, chris working, and tax refund)
flight out of Boston May 3

MAY THIRD

crazy.   There's so much to do it almost paralyzes me.  All my years of making fun of list-makers is biting me, i'm forced to make lists of things we need, thing to do.  We have to get rid of a lot of junk, figure out what's essential to take, what we can get in Tonga...there's a limited amount of information so i'm running off a peace corp list.  My sister-in-law suggested i put up a list of things we need, it hadn't even crossed my mind.    So i'll be putting it up shortly.

Knowing we'll be leaving in May has made every day living surreal.  Ever since we found out i've been debating what to post.  I wanted to be honest with my thoughts and portrayal of the situation.  I'm excited, but i have fears.  Especially concerning my kids.  What kind of faith (in Jesus) do i have?  If it's been all talk, well, i'll soon find out.  I can be fearless if  i fully believe God is real and good.  I won't cling to save my life so much but fearlessly give it to others even in dangerous situations.   But, honestly, what holds me back at times are these two questions:  Is God real?  and is He as good as He says He is?  Because if it's a yes, then when He says:

²⁷ “Consider how the wildflowers grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! ²⁸ If that’s how God clothes the grass, which is in the field today and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more will He do for you—you of little faith? ²⁹ Don’t keep striving for what you should eat and what you should drink, and don’t be anxious. ³⁰ For the Gentile world eagerly seeks all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

   ³¹ “But seek His kingdom, and these things will be provided for you. ³² Don’t be afraid,little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom. ³³ Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Make money-bags for yourselves that won’t grow old, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

then...i literally should not worry about holding on to my possessions or if we'll have money for food in Tonga.  Chris and I are constantly struggling to not be manipulative.  I constantly have to check myself and why i'm saying something.  It would be easy to manipulate or say things people like to hear so they will help fund our trip.  I want to look back and see how God brought us to where we are, how He provided for us.   Not how i guilted them or used the Bible to get what i want.

Last thought, here's what we decided to do about the Fiji guy.  On our way to Tonga we don't have a lot of extra time, so we decided to stay in Fiji for 3 days and hope to stay at his hotel and talk with him.  We have to come back to Fiji in a year when our visa's run out so that we can renew them.  If we meet up with Fiji guy on our way out we'll plan to go to his village in a year.