I got up this morning anxious to get into the office in order to get caught up on a number of things that had piled up while we were away last week. I got into the office a little before 8am. Shortly after I arrived, the Syphus’ knocked at the door of the mission office ready to say good-bye. The assistants were ready to take them a little earlier than they had originally arranged. I sent them on their way after thanking them again for their willingness to serve and they were off. It turns out that the Muirs were flying in to the same airport from Vanua Levu and were landing about the time the assistants and the Syphus’ were going to arrive at the airport. This was going to be very handy for them to catch a ride back to the mission office. We had agreed that the Muirs should come to join the temple excursion from their area that were here this week. I was able to get quite a bit accomplished in following up on a number of administration issues as well as do 4 or 5 additional temple recommends. I do have 2 temple recommend interviews scheduled for tomorrow morning but then I think the rush will be over for a few days. Once a month the senior couples in the area get together for a pot luck dinner and a fireside-like family home evening. It was the Barfuss’ turn to “host” the event, however, there are typically about 18 to 20 people at these events so they only have about 3 places where they can actually meet for these events. Tonight it would be at the mission homeJ. Tonight, the Muirs were in from Vanua Levu but the Larson’s were not able to be here. We had the temple president, President Woolley, and his wife. In total, we had 16 senior missionaries including us. We also had the Sandford’s who are serving as national employment specialists for all of Fiji (Church related assignment). In addition, President and Sister Joeli Kalougata were here as he was to tell his story for our fireside after dinner. We had a very nice dinner and we settled in to hear a very moving story. It is my understanding that his story was published in the Ensign in 2004 and was titled something like “The Loan Survivor”. This is my recollection of his story as he related it tonight:
The Kalougata family lived on one of the outer islands of the Lao group in Fiji. Joeli’s grandfather had been instrumental in welcoming the first Methodist missionaries to their island. He then said that his father, a school teacher, was quite a student of the Bible and, over time he decided that the Methodist Church was not for him or his family. One day, when Joeli was about 10 years old, a cousin came to their home visiting from Hawaii. As the mother was preparing tea for everyone, this cousin announced that he didn’t drink tea. His father asked if he was Seventh Day Adventist. He said no but that his Church taught them that they shouldn’t drink coffee, tea, Kava, alcohol, use tobacco, or other harmful substances. He asked him what his church name was. He said that some in America call it the Mormon Church, but that the actual name of the Church was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His father sat up quickly and asked, “Did you say the name of your Church was the Church of Jesus Christ?” He nodded. He then said, “Do you have a prophet?” “Are there 12 apostles and seventies?” After further questioning, he became very excited and wanted to learn more about the Church. The cousin explained to him that he could contact the Church in Suva and they could get him any information he needed. He contacted President Davis (the mission president at that time and who will be our new temple president in November). He received a number of pamphlets and a copy of the Book of Mormon. He was so excited to learn about this Church and wanted his whole family to join. Over time (about 2 years), he made arrangements that he and his wife and three children still at home would come to Suva at the end of the school year where they would meet their other children who were already in Suva and the whole family would be baptized.
The time came and they got onto a boat bound for Suva. The boat was a copra boat (copra is a dried coconut meat). There were about 120 passengers. Tragically, as the boat was traveling to Suva, a typhoon swept through the area and the boat was capsized. As Joeli found himself in the ocean, he was able to grab hold of a bag of coconuts. His mother found him and swam to him. She told him that he should hold tight to that bag and it would save his life. She then swam away looking for the other children. He never saw her again. All but 35 passengers were drowned including Joeli’s parents and brother and sister. He was the only member of his family who had boarded the ship who had survived. Three days later, he was rescued and taken to the hospital in Suva to recuperate.
He went to live with an older sister who had moved to Suva years earlier. In the chaos following the tragedy, President Davis lost track of Joeli. He started a search for him but, due to the poor communications of the area, he was unable to find him when his mission concluded. He passed on the story and the charge to find Joeli to his successor. Joeli grew up without the Church and moved to Vanua Levu and married. In 1985, as he was working cutting copra when an older couple came up to him and asked him if he knew Joeli Kalougata. He asked them why and they explained that they were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was so excited that he pressed them to teach him all 6 discussions in 2 days and he and his wife were baptized. He had always remembered the conviction his father had even though he had not taken the initiative to seek out the Church.
He said that he and his wife scrimped and saved and by 1998 they traveled to Tonga to be sealed in the temple. Then when the Fiji Temple was completed and dedicated in 2000, his then 5 children were sealed to them. They subsequently had one other child who was born in the covenant.
He also told the story that one day after he had been baptized, he was staying at a members home when Elder Russell M. Nelson was also staying there. He didn’t realize at the time that an apostle of God was with him. Elder Nelson came up to him and asked him if he could give him an apostolic blessing. He agreed. During the blessing, Elder Nelson told him that he was a descendant of Hagoth (a ship builder in the Book of Mormon) and that through him many of this people would be brought into the Church.
As he finished his story, he bore testimony of how grateful he was that his father was such a spiritual man. He also expressed gratitude to the Lord that the missionaries finally found him and helped him embrace the gospel. He has 4 sons and 2 daughters. He has a son currently serving in the Californian Riverside Mission. Elder “Fiji” is having a great experience there. President Joeli Kalougata was nearly lost at sea and, though he survived, he was lost spiritually for nearly 12 more years before he finally found his way to the Church his father had found for them on a tiny island in the far reaches of the Fiji Islands. This was indeed an inspiring story and a very memorable evening.I fielded a call from some missionaries and then a call from one of the Branch Presidents visiting from Vanua Levu. I slipped over to the mission office and helped one of his members with a temple recommend before retiring for the evening. It was a thrill to have met one of the great pioneers of the Fiji Islands.
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