The third week of June saw us back in Apia, Samoa for an
opportunity to once again visit that beautiful country and reach out to meet
with government and community leaders about the Church and its influence in the
Pacific island nation. Our first visit to Samoa was last September when we had
the opportunity to first get acquainted with members, see the Church’s
operations, meet our Director of Public Affairs, Sapele’ Fa ‘alogo, and reach
out to several opinion leaders in the country’s capital city.
Arriving for this trip on 21 June, we again joined Sapele,
and together, at different times over the next four days, we met with Samoa’s
Attorney General, Herman Retzlaff; Samoa Law Reform Commission Executive
Director, Leota Theresa Potoi; Ombudsman, Maiava Iulai Toma; Angelina
Wilkinson, Chargé d’Affaires for the United States Embassy in Apia; and
Mata’afa Keni Lesa, Editor of the Samoa Observer.
We presented each person with a packet of information about
the Church. The packet contained a specially prepared copy of Elder Dallin H.
Oaks’ recent talk at Oxford University in England about the complementary functions
of religion and government, a copy of the Proclamation on the Family, a
brochure about the Church and its beliefs, a pass-along card about Mormon Newsroom
Pacific, and a CD of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
As representatives of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, we discussed timely opportunities to strengthen religious
freedom, family and faith in Samoa in each of these meetings.
The packets seemed to be well received, and several
expressed appreciation for Elder Oaks’ talk which had potential bearing on the
work they presently are performing in their individual assignments.
Here is a link to Elder Oaks’ remarks in England:
We also had the privilege of spending time with Elder
Meliula Fata, Area Seventy for Samoa and American Samoa.
When we returned to New Zealand, we wrote the following
article for Mormon Newsroom Pacific about our visits:
Susan and I felt good about our time in Samoa, believing it
was well spent and that we had represented the Church and the key issues of our
conversations, religious freedom, family, and faith, in helpful ways. Indeed,
it was a great opportunity for us!
We celebrated the 4th of July with the senior
missionaries at a Saturday afternoon dinner, program, and games activity on
July 2nd. We also sang patriotic songs. Of course, this is not an observance
about which Kiwis pay any attention, but we thoroughly enjoyed being together
and feeling a definite patriotic sense of gratitude for the blessings of being
Americans.
Mid-month we were given an unusual opportunity. The Area
Presidency decided to have a much-needed large boat custom built for the
benefit of Saints in Papua New Guinea as they taxi from island to island
(sometimes 12 hours apart). Before the completed boat could be shipped to PNG,
the engines needed to be conditioned with 15 hours of run-time. They asked for
volunteers to go for three-hour periods throughout the week. Of course we
didn’t hesitate to put our hands up! It turned out to be a beautiful day, even
though it’s winter here, and the run out through the Auckland Harbor beyond
several of the small islands was most enjoyable. We even got to fish for snapper
for just a few minutes, and I caught the largest one of the day!
On 22 July several of the senior missionary couples gathered
at Elder and Sister Grahams’ apartment and held a Friday night activity with a
Mexican dinner. It was an enjoyable evening to end the week and socialize with
one another.
Early Saturday morning on 23 July, we traveled a half-hour to
the Robertson Road chapel in Mangere, where we joined single adults and Church
leaders from several stakes to participate in creating hygiene kits for a local
facility, Tu Puea Memorial Marae. Like the experience in Samoa, it was a great
opportunity for us to give service.
A marae is typically a large group-use facility used by
Maori extended family units for spiritual, celebratory, and recreational purposes.
This particular marae is in the greater Auckland area
and, in May, announced they were opening their doors to the public to help
serve many families who are in great need—some homeless.
The project focused on three major areas of need: manpower
to help sort all the resources and services; food and supplies specific to the
populations in need, especially infants; and also supplies for the marae’s
outreach into the community assisting the needy not in residence. The activity
lasted throughout the morning into early afternoon. It concluded with a
delivery to the marae of all the kits which had been prepared. The humanitarian
effort was warmly and appreciatively received by those who work at and
supervise marae activities for the families who temporarily reside there or are
receiving needed benefits.
During the service project, the group was joined by a member
of the New Zealand Parliament, Su’a William Sio who represents Mangere, a
suburb of Auckland. Of the activity he commented, "In Samoan we would say,
'alofa tula’i,' meaning walking love—he or she who comes to my aid is blood and
flesh, family, to me. The Church has united with the marae in a big way to help
out. It’s a good sign—the community coming together—love in action.”
Like many of our Public Affairs missionary activities, we
wrote a news story about the Tu Puea Memorial Marae hygiene kit activity for
Newsroom Pacific which can be found here:
A few days after this service project, we enjoyed an evening
dinner with Member of Parliament Sio and his wife, Jean, and our Directors of
Public Affairs for the Auckland Coordinating Council, Muriel and Junior
Samuela. We were also joined by two of our Young Single Adult representatives,
Emma and Kissy. We had a delightful dinner together and were able to strengthen
our new friendship and also talk about building the public affairs work in the
Auckland area stakes of the Church.
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| Muriel and Junior Samuela |
This past week we enjoyed an opportunity to meet with all
the missionaries, regular and senior, from the northern one-third of the
Church’s Auckland New Zealand Mission, of which we are a part. Two additional
meetings were held on subsequent days for the balance of the mission’s
missionaries. We enjoyed socializing with these missionaries and being taught
by our new Area President, O. Vincent Haleck and his wife, Peggy, and our
mission president and his wife, President Frederick Balli and his wife Robyn.
We also enjoyed a lunch together at the Sunset Stake Center in the North Shore
area of Auckland.
Here is an article about President Haleck as our new
president of the Pacific Area of the Church:
And here is an article about the Ballis:
Just a few days ago, we joined with several Pacific Area
Office employees and senior missionary couples to spend an afternoon at the
Auckland City Mission. There we sorted cans of food into boxes so that it could
be distributed to homeless and hungry people in need. We were grateful to be
part of this effort to help others.
The next day, as the Public Affairs staff in the Pacific
Area Offices of the Church, we celebrated achieving 20,000 Facebook Page ‘likes’
of the Pacific Area web site. We prepared a large banner, hats, and bags and
invited all the senior missionaries and office staff to enjoy a large sheet
cake and share additional story ideas for future Newsroom stories.
In between our public affairs missionary work, Susan and I
continue to enjoy occasional opportunities to see additional areas of this
picturesque country. A couple of weeks ago, on a Saturday, we took a one and
one-half hour hike (one way) to see Wairere Falls, near the small community of
Matamata, New Zealand.
We loved the hike, even though it was steep and long. We
particularly enjoyed walking among huge boulders (some as big as a good-sized
storage shed) and in and around the crystal clear river below the falls as it
winds its way down into the nearby valley. We crossed several suspension
bridges and climbed several steep sets of stairs until we finally reached the viewing
platform near the base of the falls. It was a beautiful sight!
We could have continued the hike to the top of the falls,
but that would have been an additional one and one-half hour hike, and we were
already “running out of gas,” and it was beginning to get dark by the time we
had hiked back down the trail to our waiting car. We drove from there into
Matamata and enjoyed a lovely and very tasty Italian dinner before driving the
two hours home to Takapuna.
Attending Church on Sundays at our Glen Innes Ward in east
Auckland continues to be a joy for us. We love the Saints there and always feel
the Spirit of the Lord. It’s a happy occasion for us, and we recognize it will
be hard to say goodbye when the time comes to do so.
We have been on our mission for one year. In six short
months we will be coming home. But for now we are happy to be engaged in the
work to which we have been called, to serve and care for those around us, and
to have faith in our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ.
We love the gospel, the Church, and our family and friends,
both here and at home. We pray each day for each and all of them—and for you. And,
we give thanks for our many, many blessings in this life.
Until next time . . .
Elder Barry and Sister Susan Preator
