Lyn
Guest
"(most of the money going into Tonga is from Tongans living abroad, the second most is from Mormons)"
You mean like how our South of the Boarder friends send money home to their impoverished families, or some Phillipino people in Hawaii work really hard at multiple jobs to send money home to their families too?
You are all correct about the high Mormon populations in Tonga. My friend and her husband are both US college educated. Her husband has a PH.D in engineering. The following is what she told me about Tonga and the Mormons: "The King "owns" the land and leases it out to whomever he wishes. In those instances where the Mormon's actually purchased land, it was through privately held property. The LDS (Mormon) church builds schools to help educate the children. (She sees this as a positive benefit for her people.) There are LDS church buildings in almost every village ( the land is leased), but there are other churches too, including Protestant, Baptist, Catholic, etc. The LDS church only builds church meeting houses to provide for a place of worship when the membership in an area exceeds a certain number. They do not build the church or school before there is enough membership in hopes of filling the buildings. BTW, she said that non-Mormon children attend LDS schools and that the schools are not exclusionary. There is only one temple."
I guess this is like Hawaii, where English missionaries came in to convert the population and in the meantime, built schools to educate/convert the people. Some of the best private schools in the nation are in Hawaii started by missionaries. Hawaii has approximately 25% of its' school population attending private religious schools. The highest percentage private school attendance in the nation. These schools are better, in both financial resources and quality of education, and many families seek to send their children to them. It is only natural for parents to want their children to get the best education possible. My own children attended religious schools when we lived in Hawaii. (Congregational Christian/Protestant and Jewish-we still make latkes every Hanukah
)
I was again perplexed by this statement, "The mormons have supplied Tongans with plane tickets to the US to encourage conversion and to help them emigrate. All of this is well documented.
http://books.google.com/books?id=EABPLrDovFAC&pg=PA33&lpg=PA33&dq=Tonga+..."
'It is the Mormons' stated intention to transform Tonga into the first Mormon state'
I looked up your citation. Apparently, the first author listed is a travel guide writer?
Here are some sites "out of the horses mouth" as it were : http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/contact-us/tonga
http://www.tongatapu.net.to/tonga/convictions/christianity/lds/lds.html
Many religions send missionaries around the world to encourage conversion. A high school friend of mine went on a mission for the Baptist church. She was given a plane ticket and paid for her services. My cousin's husband and her entire family were sent to South America to preach and be a Protestant minister at a church there for multiple years. I have seen Mennonite missionaries, and have had Jehovah's Witnesses come to my door. Nothing out of the ordinary as far as religious proselytization is concerned. I believe it is the intent of every religion to gather followers.
My Tongan friend's response to the plane tickets for emigration were, " To obtain higher education which is non-existent in Tonga, we need to qualify through grades, test scores, teacher recommendations; and pass entrance exams like any hopeful college student. Many LDS Tongans with college aspirations try to qualify for the BYU-Hawaii campus because most families are poor, and the university sets up a work/study scholarship program to aid the students. However, the plane tickets to fly to Hawaii from Tonga must be provided for by the students own families. The Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii is set up to provide jobs for students to help them pay for their education and expenses. Students must also maintain a certain GPA to be part of the scholarship program, similar to any other university. It is not a free ride." She doesn't know of any instances where people were given tickets to just emigrate.
I’m sorry this is longwinded, but I just wanted to make sure that she and her people were represented from her point of view. I am uneasy when people are grouped into stereotypes, regardless of race, religion, persuasion, socioeconomic status, educational back ground, etc. It is my ongoing desire and wish that we all speak well of each other and try to avoid misunderstandings. Call me idealistic, but I still hope for world peace.
Oh, and I apologize in advance if I misunderstood anything you were trying to say.
You mean like how our South of the Boarder friends send money home to their impoverished families, or some Phillipino people in Hawaii work really hard at multiple jobs to send money home to their families too?
You are all correct about the high Mormon populations in Tonga. My friend and her husband are both US college educated. Her husband has a PH.D in engineering. The following is what she told me about Tonga and the Mormons: "The King "owns" the land and leases it out to whomever he wishes. In those instances where the Mormon's actually purchased land, it was through privately held property. The LDS (Mormon) church builds schools to help educate the children. (She sees this as a positive benefit for her people.) There are LDS church buildings in almost every village ( the land is leased), but there are other churches too, including Protestant, Baptist, Catholic, etc. The LDS church only builds church meeting houses to provide for a place of worship when the membership in an area exceeds a certain number. They do not build the church or school before there is enough membership in hopes of filling the buildings. BTW, she said that non-Mormon children attend LDS schools and that the schools are not exclusionary. There is only one temple."
I guess this is like Hawaii, where English missionaries came in to convert the population and in the meantime, built schools to educate/convert the people. Some of the best private schools in the nation are in Hawaii started by missionaries. Hawaii has approximately 25% of its' school population attending private religious schools. The highest percentage private school attendance in the nation. These schools are better, in both financial resources and quality of education, and many families seek to send their children to them. It is only natural for parents to want their children to get the best education possible. My own children attended religious schools when we lived in Hawaii. (Congregational Christian/Protestant and Jewish-we still make latkes every Hanukah
)I was again perplexed by this statement, "The mormons have supplied Tongans with plane tickets to the US to encourage conversion and to help them emigrate. All of this is well documented.
http://books.google.com/books?id=EABPLrDovFAC&pg=PA33&lpg=PA33&dq=Tonga+..."
'It is the Mormons' stated intention to transform Tonga into the first Mormon state'
I looked up your citation. Apparently, the first author listed is a travel guide writer?
Here are some sites "out of the horses mouth" as it were : http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/contact-us/tonga
http://www.tongatapu.net.to/tonga/convictions/christianity/lds/lds.html
Many religions send missionaries around the world to encourage conversion. A high school friend of mine went on a mission for the Baptist church. She was given a plane ticket and paid for her services. My cousin's husband and her entire family were sent to South America to preach and be a Protestant minister at a church there for multiple years. I have seen Mennonite missionaries, and have had Jehovah's Witnesses come to my door. Nothing out of the ordinary as far as religious proselytization is concerned. I believe it is the intent of every religion to gather followers.
My Tongan friend's response to the plane tickets for emigration were, " To obtain higher education which is non-existent in Tonga, we need to qualify through grades, test scores, teacher recommendations; and pass entrance exams like any hopeful college student. Many LDS Tongans with college aspirations try to qualify for the BYU-Hawaii campus because most families are poor, and the university sets up a work/study scholarship program to aid the students. However, the plane tickets to fly to Hawaii from Tonga must be provided for by the students own families. The Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii is set up to provide jobs for students to help them pay for their education and expenses. Students must also maintain a certain GPA to be part of the scholarship program, similar to any other university. It is not a free ride." She doesn't know of any instances where people were given tickets to just emigrate.
I’m sorry this is longwinded, but I just wanted to make sure that she and her people were represented from her point of view. I am uneasy when people are grouped into stereotypes, regardless of race, religion, persuasion, socioeconomic status, educational back ground, etc. It is my ongoing desire and wish that we all speak well of each other and try to avoid misunderstandings. Call me idealistic, but I still hope for world peace.
Oh, and I apologize in advance if I misunderstood anything you were trying to say.
