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    22 April 2015 - Nuku'alofa, Tonga
    News Release

    Seeing Son Named as a New Church Leader a 'Spiritual Experience' for 80-Year-Old

    For 80-year-old woman, Likivai Foliaki, seeing her son Tevita Hikila be called to lead the Nuku’alofa Tonga Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this past weekend, was “a spiritual experience" and "a sign of a new beginning."

       
    Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. 1 / 2
         
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      Mrs Foliaki attended Latter-day Saint worship services as a child and teenager but after marrying a man from another religion started attending his church. Now, many years later, she attended the Latter-day Saint stake conference on 18-19 April and saw her son named as the stake’s new leader. A stake is a group of Latter-day Saint congregations.

      Read more about lay leadership and service in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

      Elder O. Vincent Haleck of the Pacific Area Presidency and Elder Adolf Johansson, an Area Seventy in the Church, attended the conference last weekend.

      Elder Haleck announced that Tevita Hilika would be the new president of the stake, with Lafitani Laulea Taumalolo and Neamani Sateki as his counsellors.

      President Hikila said attending conference with his mother and receiving his new leadership calling “was a joyful experience and a great blessing in my life.”

      During his remarks at the conference, Elder Haleck thanked stake members for donating food to be sent to the people of Vanuatu as they recover from last month’s Cyclone Pam.

      He encouraged members of the congregation to study the talks from the Church’s General Conference earlier this month. In particular, he underscored the themes of increasing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; the importance of the Sacrament ordinance; and observing the Sabbath Day.

      Elder Johansson encouraged those in attendance to “look to the heavens” with a spirit of gratitude, seeking for personal revelation to guide their lives, and blessings for themselves, their families and others. He invited the conference attendees to “ask God what they can do to help their people.”

      Watch a video which shows how Latter-day Saint stake presidents minister to members of their congregations:

       

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