The Great Youth of Tonga

 The past couple of weeks have been full of inspiring interactions with the youth here in Tonga. 

We had a great experience speaking at the For the Strength of Youth (FSY) conference!  The senior missionaries were asked to speak on part of the “For the Strength of Youth” pamphlet, and we chose “Loving God, Loving Others.”

There were over 600 youth from the entire country of Tonga gathered at Makeke, the Church camp here on Tongatapu.  It is in a beautiful location on a slope overlooking the ocean.  

Scenic Makeke

There are some dormitories built, and the youth stayed there and in tents.  The gatherings were held in a rectangle of event tents open to the center area with chairs set up in sections for each group—they were divided into companies named after Book of Mormon prophets:  Molonai, Helaman, Alma, Mosiah, Eno, Jacob, Nephi, Amulek, Abinadi, Lehi, and Ammon.

As we arrived, the companies were gathering for the meeting.  We started talking to whomever was there in the different companies, and we discovered that each company had a song and a chant, or at least a chant.  We began asking them to perform their chants, and we were blown away!  It was so powerful to hear them.  One group of young men was particularly striking—they had evidently discovered that they like to sing and are good at it, so they sang more than one song for us, followed by a cheer.  When Tongans sing, they really SING!  What a great way to build cohesiveness in each group.

We join the Amulek Company

Companies were combined to make five groups, and the five missionary couples began teaching a group for about 15 minutes, after which the couples moved to the next group.  Mary had the “Love God” topic, and she opened by talking to them about influencers.  she had a list of influencers from Tonga, and they were surprised and enthusiastic when she asked if they knew each one. 

Then she asked them, “Does Jason Tamulolo know you?” 

After a little laughter, they replied, “No!”

“Does he love you?” 

Again, “No!” 

She then told them that their Father in Heaven knew each one of them and loved them.  God should be their greatest influencer.  We talked about how, when we love God, decisions are easier to make. 

Kyle talked about loving others.  He started off quoting 1 John that says whoever says they love God and hates his brother is a LIAR!  Once they all agreed that loving your neighbor is as important as loving God, he offered five suggestions on how to love others:  1) start at home; 2) treat everyone as the child of God they are; 3) make sure your language (in person and online) reflects love; 4) forgive instantly; 5) pray for your enemies; and 6) serve others.

It was such a fun experience interacting with these terrific Tongan youth. 

After we were done, Elder Wakolo of our area presidency presented a strong message about the importance of getting on the covenant path and staying there, leading to a temple marriage and children who would then grow up on the covenant path as well.  He illustrated by having a multi-generational family come and stand in front so the youth could see three generations in the gospel.  Elder Wakolo then asked what would happen if they didn’t stay in the covenant path, making it clear that they would not only hurt themselves, they would break the chain and lead their children out of the covenant path. 

Organizers had brought a group of disabled people, children and adults, and they were seated in a place of honor where they could see a cultural program performed by the youth—it was so fun to see them dancing and singing some traditional numbers.  They presented the guests with leis and goodies.  A few times guests went up and put money in the shirts of the dancers whom they particularly enjoyed.

 

The whole Tongan FSY group--over 600!

Mary will tell this next experience:

Just a few days ago we were blessed to accompany our ward young men and young women to the temple to do baptisms for the dead.  Kyle is an advisor to the young men, and Mary is the 1^st counselor in the Young Women presidency. 

I had gathered some names from my mom and my sisters, as well as some I had prepared, and so about 50 of the names were family.  When we arrived, temple workers told us that the group after ours had cancelled so we could do 10 names per youth!  The temple added in enough temple names for us to do that many.

Kyle was ready to do some baptizing, but we had two priests in our group, so they did all the baptizing.  We had six young men and five young women, so all together we performed baptisms and confirmations for 110 people!

It was sweet to see the tender care the young priests exercised in baptizing everyone.  They made sure the youth were clasping their wrists and had their right hands free to hold their nose.  They used their right hand to make sure the youth were positioned well in the font.  And they pronounced the names with great care--no small feat since the names were a mixture of Danish, Chinese, Korean, American, and some others. 

One of the young men performed the baptisms in English, and I found out later that he is Filipino, so English is easier for him than Tongan.  This young man is very energetic, always having a goofy smile on his face. However, when he performed the baptisms, he was the best version of himself--serious, careful, and focused.  If he made a mistake, he would pause a moment, think carefully, raise his right arm to the square, and repeat the ordinance.  I told him that he had pronounced the Chinese names very well, and he shared that half his family is Chinese. 

When we began, we did the ordinances that were from my family, and I could feel the Spirit of the Lord in the room.  That temple hush was there, and I believe the youth felt it.  Afterwards, when we were all out in our cars, I made a point of thanking them in behalf of my ancestors.

Such a sweet and powerful experience. 

Our latest experience with the youth was yesterday.  All the senior missionaries participated in a project to build Solar Buddies which are little solar powered lamps.  The Pacific Area Presidency has decided that this will be the area’s Light the World campaign for this year.  Thousands will be distributed throughout the area and 500 Solar Buddies were shipped to Tonga for building and distributing.  Our Welfare/Self Reliance couple was in charge of first having all the senior missionaries build one so that we could help the volunteers.  Then yesterday we had about 80-90 youth and 10-15 local leaders show up at a stake center to go to work.  After watching an instructional video, the volunteers divided up at tables with a senior missionary monitor and flew through the project. Those young minds and nimble fingers did a much faster job at putting the devices together than we seniors had done.  

Nimble fingers at work!

We were in charge of quality checking each light.

These sharp young men joined us in quality check, and then we flew through it!

The assembled Solar Buddies are now repacked and ready for delivery to schools on outer islands where kids don’t have electricity at home in the evenings to do their homework.  Such a great project and a wonderful way to literally Light the World!