Auckland Latter-day Saints and Friends Participate in Easter ‘Walk with Christ’ Activity

“We can preach and talk of Christ, but how can we help our families and friends feel that they have really experienced and even walked with Christ?”

This is a question that leaders of the Auckland, New Zealand Waterview Stake (group of congregations) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been asking themselves, and God.

Last weekend they found one way for their Glen Eden community to sincerely engage with the Saviour this Easter Season, by bringing them together for a “Walk with Christ” event on Saturday, 1 April 2023.

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It is estimated that more than 400 members of the community responded to the invitation to come to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meetinghouse which had been transformed into a living, immersive experience into the last few days of the life of Jesus Christ.

Stake President Michael F. Satele and his counselors, Taulauniu Seumanu and Tevita F. Kau, invited the seven wards (or congregations) under their care to each transform a room at the meetinghouse into a dynamic reenactment of the events of Easter week.

Tavita Kau noted that their purpose was to lift people’s sights to the Saviour and His atoning sacrifice as Easter approaches. “It has been amazing to feel the love of the Saviour as we have prepared this event, just amazing. And now, the people have encountered Christ here. His Spirit has been with us and we have felt it. Easter will be more meaningful for us this year.”

Guests were taken in small groups through each of the seven rooms which reenacted a pivotal event in the Saviour’s life including the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Judgment, the Scourging of Christ, the Cross at Calvary, the Garden Tomb, and His Resurrection.

Participants then were given an opportunity to share with their group the feelings they experienced after they had stepped into the Saviour’s life. Emotions ran deep, with many tears shed as tender thoughts were expressed. One elderly gentleman shared with conviction how the captivating scenes felt to him. “I know Christ lives. I felt like I was there. I was there,” he said.

The “Walk with Christ” ended in a large meeting area with three 20 feet high murals of Christ that guests were given a chance to write on to leave a thought to memorialize their experience. Profound expressions of love for the Saviour were penned on the canvases by young and old. A Catholic teenager wrote, “I am proud to be a son of God, King of Kings.” Some wrote lengthy tributes, others wrote simply, “I love you” or “Thank you, Jesus.”

The three actors in the Last Supper room, brothers Latu Selu, 17, and Edward Selu, 18, along with Algy Fermanis, husband and father of two, conveyed how the opportunity to participate profoundly affected them. Each played an apostle in the Last Supper scene.

“There is a feeling that has drawn us closer to Jesus Christ and we have been able to imagine Him sacrificing Himself for us and we can imagine Him with us as we share the sacrament. Hearing about it in church is different than reenacting something that is so sacred to us. I will remember what Jesus went through for me and Easter won’t be about chocolate eggs anymore.”

22-year-old Salote Otulau attended a “Walk with Christ” event years before as a youth. “I tried so hard to explain to my family the joy I experienced there, when I had the chance to walk with Christ. It was important to me to share and to invite others to come unto the Saviour. This time my family came with me and we all cried, we all felt the joy.”

Mele Vaisita Toutai was asked to coordinate the room representing the Garden Tomb where Christ’s body was laid. “I prayed and fasted to know what to do, how to decorate. I began to see how to transform the room so that it would be sacred, so that people would feel the reverence I felt and they would feel that they were actually in the tomb. I began to sense that Christ was with me and I kept saying, ‘Thank you, thank you, Heavenly Father, for letting me be Your Hands. Every time we practiced our script, we cried.”

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Mele spoke of her children’s reaction to the event. “They came to me teary eyed and said ‘I don’t want to do bad things anymore. I feel like when I do something bad I pick up a nail and crucify Christ.’ I’m so glad it taught my family to want to be better and to know more about Him.”

Natasha Lameko, who provided the script, saw a group do something similar over 15 years ago. She spent time studying and pouring over the New Testament to improve upon what she had seen and to make it more scripturally accurate. Natasha’s adapted script for Walk with Christ has since been given to many organizations over the ensuing years with very much the same effect felt on Saturday.

Natasha noted “Walk With Christ” has resonated with people for years because it makes Christ and His Atonement real to them. Easter becomes real. Because the experience immerses them in truth and scripture, it comes alive and they better understand what Christ did for them.”

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Congregations all over New Zealand have used Natasha’s script and some as far away as Tonga have requested one from her.

Tetoki and Terina Tepaki directed Saturday’s Walk with Christ event. Terina said, “We felt the Spirit of Christ all along the way and witnessed many small miracles as we prepared. What everyone experienced on Saturday is what we hoped for.”