February has been designated as a Pacific-wide “Come and Help” month for members and friends of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In an invitation letter, the Church’s Area Presidency wrote, “We hope many members and their friends will find a community need close by and do something to lend a helping hand.”
Recently missionaries from the Church helped fill a shipping container with schoolbooks and furniture. The items will be shipped to Fiji and distributed by the Ministry of Education to numerous schools, which have been damaged by recent cyclones.
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Scholastic New Zealand donated eight pallets of new schoolbooks to fill half of the shipping container.
Westlake Boys High School donated approximately 200 desks, tables and library chairs ─ surplus to their needs ─ to fill the rest of the container.
The project is called "Furniture for Schools" and is an ongoing partnership between Latter-day Saint Charities and Pacific Assist.
Sariah McQueen, a Latter-day Saint missionary, said, “As missionaries, we always love having service opportunities because it allows us to help others like Christ did. So, we were excited to be able to help load containers with the donated school supplies. Being young people ourselves, it's touching to think that through our efforts all the way here in New Zealand, kids in the islands will have access to better education opportunities.”
"It was some hard mahi [work], but…we loved being able to show our Christlike love and charity by offering service for the children in Fiji,” said Elder Trae Tuhoro.
The Area Presidency invites leaders and members to consider organising a community service activity sometime in the month of February 2021 and to invite their friends to join them in serving.
“Communities will be lifted, our environment will be cared for, and friendships will be strengthened. What’s more, as we serve shoulder to shoulder, we will have opportunities to strengthen our relationships with our relatives, neighbours and friends who are not members of the Church. Members may find ways to serve others who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” they wrote.
Samoa has also requested school supplies and Scholastic New Zealand has just gifted another 13 pallets of new books, so the missionaries will be “Called to Serve” again soon.