My Cave My View

Gary and Dee Torres distributing Solar Buddy lights to students at a school in Tonga. Courtesy photo
It is cyclone season and there are 200 perilous miles of the South Pacific Ocean between where we are and where we need to be.  We are trying our best to deliver Solar Buddy lights to children on remote islands of Tonga that have no electricity.  But we don’t know the way, don’t have a boat, don’t...
If you were limited to owning only ten items, would your scriptures be one of them? Lately we have been visiting homes in small villages where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in partnership with the Tongan Ministry of Health has provided wheelchairs to people in need.  Technically,...
The Caveman and other white-shirted friends hard at work sending Solar Buddy to remote islands of Tonga. Dee Torres photo
Tonga is made up of 176 islands but only 36 are occupied.  There are about 121 small villages on these small outer islands.  Many villages have less than 100 inhabitants and do not have electricity, sometimes a store or a church might have a generator that runs a few hours a day.  Imagine that you...
Just another day on the beach in Tonga.  Courtesy photo
I have been here for four months now, and I am starting to get the lingo down.  For example, if someone says “maybe” that really means that there is a not a chance in Hades that it is going to happen.  If someone says, “come back in the afternoon,” that in no way implies the afternoon of the same...
Shrek gives the CaveGuy a Mo’Bettah haircut. Courtesy photo
We teach an English immersion class at Liahona High School in Tonga using the Book of Mormon to read each morning.  We have twelve kids that are 15 to 18 years old and have been working hard to gain their trust. They are just starting to make comments and participate.  I have also been working on a...
Tongan missionaries pose after cleaning Tupou High School in Tonga, as well as donting new desks and chairs to the school. Gary Torres photo
In the 2010 movie “The A-Team”, Liam Neeson grins, lights a cigar, and says just as the good guys win, “I love it when a plan comes together!” I had a similar experience here in Tonga the other day. Okay, I didn’t light up a cigar, but I grinned and told the Mission President “I love it when a...
Learning a language or traveling to a country that does not speak English poses some challenges.   The obvious is, learning a language is hard, when you are older (dumber).  Older doesn’t equal dumber, except in my case; perhaps!   Oh sure, I am much wiser than I used to be.  And wisdom is great...
A night time banana harvest.  Courtesy photo
Four senior missionaries, two machetes, one dim flickering flashlight, a cell phone with no coverage-not even SOS, in the jungle, at night, in Tonga looking for bananas…what could possibly go wrong?   I guess I should back up to the beginning.  I was studying my Unshaken at the kitchen table when I...
This is my second day in Tonga.  I am here on a humanitarian mission and to teach people how to be resilient.  I would like to share with you my first lesson.  We met a man and his wife.  His name was Mosese Sa’afi.  He was an eyewitness to the largest volcano recorded.  He and his wife talked with...
Its a long way to Tonga, where Dee and Gary Torres will spend the next two years diong missionary service.  Courtesy photo
By the time you read this I will be on my way to Tonga to serve a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I am not worried, although maybe I should be.  The island of Tongatapu which is where I will be stationed is about 6’ above sea level, which makes it susceptible...

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