Senior Missionaries Helping People Feel Remembered and Loved in the Pacific Islands

When Rob and Laura Nelson left their home in Raymond, Alberta, Canada, in December 2022 the winter temperature outside was minus 18 degrees celsius. When they stepped off the plane in the Pacific Island country of Niue two weeks later, it was significantly warmer than that.

The Nelson’s had arrived in Niue in mid-summer. Known as the “Rock of Polynesia” due to its remoteness and terrain, Niue is 2,400 kilometers northeast of Auckland, New Zealand in in the middle of a triangle consisting of Tonga, Samoa and the Cook Islands. They found a beautiful but isolated land populated by just 1800 people, which hadn’t seen any missionaries since the Covid-19 pandemic stopped the world in its tracks in early 2020.

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The Nelson’s are a part of a wave of senior missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints returning to the Pacific area following the end of entry closures due to the pandemic.

Senior missionaries are experienced and mature people, who have typically spent a life serving, teaching, and leading others. They work to accomplish the Church's divinely appointed responsibilities of living the gospel of Jesus Christ-- caring for those in need, inviting all to receive the gospel, and uniting families for eternity.

They can choose to serve a minimum of six months locally, or from twelve to twenty-three months internationally.

“Our mission leaders told us our primary focus should be to help the members feel remembered and loved,” Laura Nelson said. “For many months during COVID this small island nation had been completely isolated from the outside world, and they were in need of meaningful support.”

The Nelson’s have felt the friendly embrace of every Niuean they have encountered upon arriving on the island, finding a people who love music, dancing, and their native culture and language. Their best contributions are being made through working side by side with their Niuean neighbors, making repairs to the local church buildings, teaching sustainable living, visiting locals and just making friends.

“Visiting the people in their homes is something we do every week, usually taking fresh baked bread with us as the sharing of food is a cultural component of life here,” Laura Nelson said.

“Our days are full as we attempt to connect and build relationships with the people of the island while supporting members and leaders in any way possible.”

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3,391 kilometres (2,107 miles) to the northwest, Semisi and Cindy Makai are working through a similar situation in the Solomon Islands. The Makai’s arrived in Honiara, Solomon Islands in February with four younger missionaries, to re-open efforts in the country of 700,0000 people living on six major islands surrounded by 900 smaller ones. Hailing from Lake Shore, Utah, USA, the Makai’s found a country crying out for direction.

“There were no missionaries here for the past four years because of Covid, so it’s wonderful to see the people so excited to see the missionaries come back,” Cindy Makai said.

As with many of the nations in the Pacific, rapid growth in membership means seasoned leadership is in short supply. The Makai’s are working to remedy that situation, but the lack of economic stability in the Solomon Islands is a continual issue for people struggling to just make a life.

“The challenge we see is that the people have no work to support their families and can barely provide enough to survive,” Cindy Makai said. “They want to come to our meetings so badly but struggle because they live far from a chapel and have to walk everywhere they go. They can take the bus but that costs money they just don’t have to spend on something like that.”

“But they have so much faith,” she continued. “We love these people, and the church will continue to grow here because they love their Heavenly Father and they’re being blessed because they know He loves all his children and will bless them, too.”

4,487 kilometres (2,788 miles) to the southeast of the Solomon Islands, Doneal and Claudia White of Mapleton, Utah USA, have found living on Rarotonga, the main island in the Cook Islands, to be an idyllic way of life. An island of lush, tropical vegetation surrounded by a coral reef and lagoon, Rarotonga is the home to 72 percent of the Cook Islands 15,040 residents.

The Whites have also found Cook Islanders to be very friendly and anxious to help them as they serve others.

“They will call out to us with big smiles, ‘Nice to see you ministers of God,’ and they truly love Him and are very respectful of the work we have been sent here to do,” Claudia White said.

“We were sent to look for people in need and to try to help them with those problems and that is what we do every day,” she said. 

Doneal White took it one step further. “We feel like our primary role is to give the people we meet a shot of ‘spiritual adrenaline,’ to help them move to a higher spiritual awareness in their lives."

He said the Cook Islands is suffering from a “talent drain,” where many of the young people feel like they have to go to New Zealand or Australia to make a career and life. So, helping develop young people, and give them hope for the future is a very important responsibility.

“If we can strengthen the youth, if we can help unite families and build their faith in God, we know that we will leave the Cook Islands feeling good about the work we have done here,” Doneal White said.