Hao, an atoll. Seriously crazy!

Sunday, July 23rd we flew to the atoll island of Hao (pronounced "How"), in the Tuamatous archipelago in French Polynesia (look it up)...So interesting! An atoll is a coral island that formed around a volcano millions of years ago. The volcano has since disintegrated and all that is left in the middle of this island is a huge lagoon. The lagoon in the middle of Hao is large enough to fit the island of Tahiti. It is so large you can't see the land on the other side of the lagoon. The actual island looks like a large misshapen donut from the air and is anywhere from 20 to 200 yards wide. One side is the ocean, the other the lagoon. The inhabited area is about 10 miles long. The lagoon is so still...it feels as if time doesn't move there.

The dock on the lagoon side of Hao island.

  

Hao island lagoon.

There are about 1200 people, depending on the time of year and whether the head count was done recently, who live on the island. We were there for a Juenes, Soyez Forts conference (EFY French style). There were 60 youth and about 30 adults there for this conference and it was the biggest thing to happen on Hao in years.

You can only fly in to Hao two to three times a week so once there you are committed for a few days. The airport is only open for a few hours those days. The only work on the island is fishing or coconut farming. There are schools up through Jr. High and after that the kids have to go to Tahiti for school. There is no tourism at all. There is just not a lot to do on this little island. We enjoyed meeting the two missionaries who are there and spending time with them.

We arrived back in Papeete Tuesday evening. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we had all day Zone Conferences. It was wonderful being with the missionaries those three days. The training is all done in French so I am being stretched language wise as well. I did half my training in French and had one of our assistants translate the rest for me.

Saturday we finally had a day to be home...first one in a while. Unpacked our things that had finally arrived from the states, and prepared our talks for the next day's Stake Conference. I gave a very short talk in French for the Mahina Stake (about 800 people). I was even complimented on my French! (I think they were just being nice😉)

We have our first departing missionaries today, so we are experiencing the sadness and joy of seeing a missionary complete their mission. I can only imagine how excited their mom's and dad's are as they await the arrival of their son or daughter!

We love these missionaries and are experiencing the good and the bad with them. We love them and truly rejoice and mourn with them. It is a ton of work, but the missionaries are the best part.

Hope all is well for all of you at home. Love you!

(A few more pictures from Hao)

At the pass (break) between the ocean and lagoon.