Close to 70 members and friends of a new Tongan branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tauranga New Zealand held their first worship services on Sunday 25 March.
Asking "Could you ever have conceived that you would be attending Church services in the Tongan language outside Tonga?" local Church leader, Francis Fitzpatrick, expressed gratutude for the new congregation.
Branch President Folau Alusa leads the new congregation.
Original estimates were that approximately 40 people would attend the Branch's first meeting on 25 March 2018, but that estimate was exceeded by more than 50% when 66 people actually attended.
Fitzpatrick, the president of the Tauranga New Zealand Stake (a group of congregations), told the assembled congregation that the Tongan Branch was "established in part due to your faithfulness."
He continued, "As you teach principles and doctrines of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, the Branch will flourish."