Antoinette and Peter (SA) celebrate 40 years

Antoinette and Peter are serving in Tonga as Volunteers in Mission. This last week Antoinette celebrated a birthday and on Sunday she and Peter celebrated their wedding anniversary.


Sunday 27th August – an auspicious date!! Yes, 40 years ago we made our wedding vows. What life-changing experiences we have survived since then! And where did forty years go??

Church was very thin of numbers, as yesterday was officially the start of the mid-semester break, so most of the single students have gone home. Some of the married ones have also left for the week, so the children enjoy sitting in the pews instead of on the mats on the floor on these occasions. Birthdays were called out so I stood for the prayers. Got quite a few hugs and cheek-presses after, as well as anniversary congratulations.

We have been having a variety of weather – four seasons in a day sometimes. I would prefer the cooler weather to hang on for a while, but so far we haven’t had too many warm days in a row.

The mango trees are in full flowering mode, so we hope they will set this year before the rains or winds demolish them. Not that we’ll taste any of the mangoes as they will only ripen after Christmas. We have several pawpaws on our trees, but doubt that any will be ready to eat before we leave here.

We are seeing more of Tongatapu than ever before – simply by driving into town. The roadside ‘bush” has been cut down and ploughed up, with new crops of taro, cassava and yams planted. Because they rest the paddocks, we haven’t seen these bare before. It makes for different scenery.

* Antoinette and Peter have been serving as volunteers at Sia'atoutai Theological College, assisting students with English, and sharing in community life. Expressions of interest for a PIM placement in Tonga to Kathy Periera, kathyp@nat.uca.org.au, Ph 02 8267 4230.