The Work Hastens

Our humanitarian work has really picked up, and we are so excited!  We have been meeting with government leaders in the areas of education and health, and also the Red Cross, asking them if there are needs in Tonga that the Church could help address. 

Our meeting with the head of the Red Cross in Tonga

They have responded with proposals such as an evacuation center on a tsunami-ravaged island,  and  upgrading water systems in villages whose water is compromised by problems such as pumps that don’t function consistently, decaying pipes, and undersized storage tanks.  We may be able to help more than ten villages with this problem.

In addition, we are looking at helping an organization that works to help encourage healthy lifestyles expand their office and get vehicles to use in their work on outer islands.  They are particularly focused on diabetes, a major problem here in Tonga.  Because of diabetes and associated problems, life expectancy in Tonga is 65 years.   

In January, the first Tongan university was established, and we met with the Vice Chancellor of Higher Education, the delightful and energetic woman leading the new university.  They have many needs, and we hope to do a major project for them. 

We meet with the Vice Chancellor of Higher Education

We are thrilled to have so many important projects beginning to coalesce.  We will share more information as things move forward. 

 We recently heard of a Chinese member of the Church here who is the bishop of one of the wards.  Of course, with our background in Taiwan and China, we wanted to meet him.  We stopped by the store he owns, hoping he might be available.    

When we met and Kyle and I started speaking Chinese with him, he was delighted.  After some introduction to who we are, what we are doing in Tonga, and how we learned Chinese, Kyle asked him about his conversion story.  He started to answer and then invited us to come and sit down.

He led us out the back door to their home behind the store where we met his three beautiful kids—a boy and two girls.  The boy is about 12 years old and spoke good English because they attend an all-English school.  He apologized for his untidy appearance, but he and his family had been cleaning the church as they and the other members of his ward do every Saturday.

He pulled three chairs together for us to sit on, and then he told us this story.

“You know,” he said, “Chinese people don’t have the tradition of believing in God.  They used to believe in Buddhism, but the communist government stopped allowing religion, so most people just believe in themselves.  They don’t believe in something unless they can see it and feel it.” 

“I came to Tonga 16 years ago.  In 2009 I was living on Niuatoputapu [Elder Groberg’s mission island].  One day I looked out to sea and saw a large wave approaching the island.  I turned and started to run away, yelling for others to run as well. 

“It was so frightening.  Then, as I ran, I heard a voice in my ears say, ‘I will save you.  Believe in me.’  I promised that if I survived, I would believe in God. Seven people died, but I lived.

“Afterwards, as time passed, it was easy to get involved in other things, and I didn’t follow through and look for a church where I could worship God.

“Then one Sunday I woke up crying.  I didn’t know why I was so sad.  Then I heard the voice again.  This time it said, “Remember your promise.”

“I started looking for a church where I could learn more about God. I attended a Chinese church, but it was mostly a social group.  I attended some Christian churches, but I didn’t feel that they lived as followers of Jesus Christ should live.  I remember talking to one of the ministers and asking him, “How can I know which church is true?”

“Then I started attending our church.  I felt that the lives of the members showed that they were true Christians.  I decided to get baptized.

“It wasn’t easy.  Chinese people socialize and do business by drinking and smoking when they get together.  I did that like everyone else.  I had to stop doing those things.

“Going to the temple has strengthened me.  I wish the Chinese members who have stopped coming to Church would go to the temple.  It would really help them stay strong.”

So now he is married to a Tongan sister who served a mission in the Philippines, and they have the three beautiful kids we met.  He served as ward clerk for several years and has been a bishop for the last five. 

There are so many stories here, as many stories as there are people.  We love the people here who smile and greet us, and sometimes share a little sheepishly that they used to be members of the Church.  Fortunately for them and for all of us, it is never too late to start again. 

Love from Tonga.