"The first Latter-day Saint missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to labor in the Kingdom of Tonga arrived in July 1891," Kenneth R. Mays writes in the Deseret News this week.
The article continues:
"Elders Brigham Smoot and Alva John Butler sailed from their mission in Samoa to open the work in Tonga as a district of the Samoan Mission."
Because of the small number of converts, the Tongan District was closed in April 1897. Missionaries serving in Tonga were sent back to continue their missionary labors in Samoa.
Riley M. Moffat, BYU-Hawaii (left), professor Fred E. Woods, BYU (center), and Kapilon Savou view the historical plaques at the site of the Haalaufuli chapel in Vava'u, Tonga. | Kenneth Mays
On June 13, 1907, the Tongan Islands were again opened as a district of the Samoan Mission when Elders Heber McKay and William Facer arrived in Neiafu, the largest settlement in Vava’u (the northern cluster of islands)."
Read more at the Deseret News.