A Joyful Reunion in Port Vila

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When Elder Robert H. Simpson first arrived in Port Vila, Vanuatu as a young missionary in 1976, he never could have imagined the future welcome he and his wife, Jinny, would receive when he returned almost 50 years later as a visiting Area Seventy for The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints.

Elder Simpson was one of the four original missionaries to come to Vanuatu.

An overflowing chapel that spilled into two tents set up in the parking lot could barely accommodate the 1,200 local members of the Church who were gathered to meet and worship together at the Port Vila Vanuatu Stake Conference at which Elder Simpson was assigned to preside and to speak.

Addressing the large gathering in the local Bislama language, Elder Simpson recalled the first time he came to Vanuatu, then called New Hebrides.

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He arrived in 1976, with three other young missionaries, to find about fifteen members of the Church scattered around Port Vila. None of the young men could speak Bislama when they arrived, there were no authorised church services being held and they were an ocean away from their mission leader, President Kenneth Palmer, who was directing the Fiji Suva Mission.

Elder Simpson remembered that President Palmer organised the four missionaries into leadership positions so that they could begin holding the very first sanctioned worship services in Vanuatu.

He said, “Our Mission President assigned and extended leadership callings to the four of us. Mark Strother became the Branch President, Stephen Kenyon was the Primary (children’s organisation) President, Dale Hampshire served as Young Mens/Womens (youth organisation) President and I was called as a Relief Society (women’s organisation) President!”

That caused the congregation to chuckle as it is unusual for nineteen and twenty year old boys to hold lay leadership positions in Primary and Relief Society. These are generally assigned to women.

However, making do with the four young elders who had come to serve the Lord, the first Church congregation was started in Vanuatu. The missionaries invited people to join them at the small house they rented for worship services two days after they arrived. A Tongan family and two Tongan missionaries who spent about 9 months in Port Vila had baptised the three families that made up that original congregation.

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The four missionaries worked well together. Three of them had attended Church College in Hamilton, New Zealand. Dale Hampshire, from Canada, was the exception.

Mark Strother recalls that it was an honour to serve two years together as they were “all obedient” and they “all loved the humble, friendly people and could feel God’s love for them.”

The four missionaries began learning Bislama in order to better communicate.

Stephen Kenyon noted that “the Primary children were our best teachers.”

The four companions would translate scripture stories as best they could to share with people when they taught, but it was the Spirit of the Lord that the people felt and heard as they were drawn toward the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As the young missionaries grew to love the people, so grew a seemingly impossible dream that someday their faithful friends would have a temple. In 1976, there were only 16 Latter-day Saint temples throughout the world and one in Vanuatu seemed completely out of the question.

“And yet,” Elder Simpson told the conference audience, “while I was serving my two-year mission here, I promised the Vanuatu saints if they would continue to be faithful and obey the commandments, one day they would have a temple. I was overjoyed to tears when I heard President Nelson announce plans to build the Vanuatu Temple at the October 4, 2020 General Conference.”

The temple grounds in Port Vila, Vanuatu were dedicated at a groundbreaking ceremony held on the 10th of June this year. Elder Simpson reminded his beloved Vanuatu friends that the two-to-three-year interim until the completion of the temple should be a time for them to prepare.

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Elder Simpson said, “The House of the Lord will not only bless the lives of members, but it will also bless the entire nation. During this time of construction, how and what can you do to be prepared?”

He urged the Vanuatu people to attend Sacrament meetings and to keep the covenants that they have made with the Lord. He spoke of the importance of laws and commandments and how they bring joy into our lives.

As the membership grew between 1976-1978, the missionaries needed increasingly bigger accommodations for worship services. By the time they left in 1978, Elders Simpson, Strother, Kenyon, and Hampshire had helped the Church with the purchase of the land where the large Port Vila stake centre stands, the very building where Elder Simpson now spoke to the gathered crowd.

When the four companions completed their two-year missions in 1978, there were about 70 members regularly attending meetings. The quality of those stalwart members made all the difference. They lived the gospel and continued the work of gathering and teaching others, some bringing hundreds into the fold.

Jake Taso was one such special man that the missionaries remember. He was an elder and lay minister from another church who was ostracised for his interest in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Stephen Kenyon spoke of him, saying, “When his wife fell ill, he asked us to pray for her. I suggested we follow the instructions from the Bible, anoint her with oil, and give her a priesthood blessing. Taso was intrigued because it was a concept he didn't fully understand. We gave her the blessing, and his wife quickly recovered. He felt the power in that prayer and it was a beautiful testament to the power of God in their lives. He joined and taught the gospel to hundreds of others. Taso was one of the first members from Vanuatu to receive ordinances with his family in the New Zealand temple.”

Mark Strother remembered a remarkable incident with a man named Henry Willy.

Strother recalled, “His wife and children had joined the church and we were teaching Henry. We showed him a picture of the prophet at the time, President Spencer W. Kimball. Henry Willy instantly recognised President Kimball as a man he had seen in a vivid dream with his family, all dressed in white clothing. Willy became a wonderful member who shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with others and brought many in.”

What was begun in 1976 with four missionaries and a tiny congregation has now grown to over 11,000 members, a mission based in Port Vila, and a new temple under construction.

Elder Simpson’s visit was a time of both remembering and looking forward with gratitude and joy.