blackrockbulletin: Adventures in Paradise 30

Adventures in Paradise 30

Kia Orana, everyone! Our excellent adventure continues with thoughts on comings and goings. Most of us look forward to coming events. It’s exciting to circle a special date on our calendar. Our sense of anticipation only serves to heighten this excitement. Most of us enjoy looking forward. I, personally, have always loved calendar boxes. Those little daily squares can hold such promise and can be filled to overflowing with coming events. It’s just too wonderful to flip through the months and savor the future!

Late Wednesday evening, long after our last appointment was over, Ward and I decided to watch a movie. Our “vast” movie library includes “The Other Side of Heaven”, which is the true story of John Groberg’s LDS mission to

Tonga

. This movie holds special interest to us because it was not filmed in

Tonga

. The Tongan government chose to charge exorbitant fees to allow the filming, so the producers decided to look elsewhere. Their elsewhere became Rarotonga and several of the scenes were filmed right on our beach! Now that we know our little island so well, we love watching the movie so that we can spot not only locals but the local scenery as well!

As usual, Ward fell asleep during the first scene, so I was left in the dark enjoying this little story by myself. Having seen the movie several times (all of our visitors enjoy it as well), I was well aware of the ending, so it came as no surprise to me that Elder Groberg is finally released and leaves Tonga for home. What surprised me Wednesday, is the depth of emotion I experienced as I watched that young man say goodbye to the people that he had grown to love. There on “our beach” was a scene that I will be playing out in the future. It was a box that I had already marked on my calendar months ago. I had marked my coming release before had I learned to love this place and it’s people. But now, as I watched this young man, draped with leis, and tears streaming down his cheeks, I became acutely aware that I too will be going. I felt, Wednesday evening, that same sense of loss that the actor was portraying. I could feel it. It was real! As much as I miss home, how can I ever leave here?

This brought to mind the song from Camelot, “If Ever I Would Leave You”. Lancelot is telling Guinevere of all the times that he wouldn’t or couldn’t leave her. As he sings, he says that he couldn’t leave her in springtime and he tells her why. As the song continues, it becomes clear that there is no season when he could leave her and that he will not leave her at all. That is what I am feeling at this moment. How can I ever leave here?

So, if you have access to that music, or if you can hum along, please have in mind that lovely song as you view the photos of times here, when we cannot imagine going.

As usual, we are happy and trying to work hard. Sometimes we are so busy that we don’t know if we are coming or going, but it is all good. We are determined to make the best use of our time here, all the while knowing that it is limited. Perhaps, I should just mark another calendar box by drawing a big heart around it. This would feature the day that we are going to see old friends and family again.

Love, Ward and Susan Elder and Sister Belliston, serving in the Cooks