A Maori Sendoff

Today we were given a wonderful gift at the mission home—a peek of what a heavenly family can be like. A new elder was dropped off at the mission office by his family—all 20 of them.

This Tongan family had taken all their children, natural and adopted, out of school and driven the 5 hours to see their brother off on his mission.

While we waited for President Robbins to show up to do his interview we were privileged to hear this family recite their family motto—all D&C 4—sing to us in Tongan, and have individual children recite Articles of Faith. Once the President arrived and he was introduced to family members it was time for them to go.

The family sang to their brother a farewell song in Tongan. I thought I was standing on the shores of a Pacific Island surrounded by Tongan saints waving goodbye to a love one as they sailed away. The unison of their rich deep voices carried a message of true love deep into my heart and I felt of the mixed emotions they were feeling as they said goodbye for two years and the pride they felt for a righteous brother/son.

Then an incredible thing happened: The brothers took off their jackets and spread out. They then did a Maori Warrior Dance for their brother to encourage him to be valiant. It was loud! It was scary. It was powerful. It was quite the send off.

Then Elder Vakalahi stood by the door and hugged each of his family members as they left. First the brothers filed past and then the sisters. Each was tender and each sibling held a special place in his heart. The last was his little sister of maybe 5 yrs. He picked her up and wept. Last of all were his father and then mother.

I cannot put into words the righteous power this mother had on her son. She hugged him and then spoke quietly to him words meant only for him. Elder Vakalahi hung his head down and listened out of respect and nodded yes. The family left and there wasn’t a dry eye left in the room.

After his interview with President, Elder Vakalahi remained with us in the office for several hours. The office elders surrounded him and had lots of questions for him. They wanted to know how long it takes to cook for that many people and tons of other questions. Elder Vakalahi was so natural and so sure of himself and his family. Everything was matter of fact. No big deal. We even learned how to prepare and roasted a pig from scratch. The office elder’s mouths were watering by the time he finished. I can tell Elder Vakalahi will be a treasure in Ohio!

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