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Not Perfect but Still Wonderful
Sunday Worship at Home with the Tofa Family
For mum-of-five, Jacinta Tofa, preparing to hold her family’s first Sunday worship at home was nerve-racking. She just wanted their meeting to be orderly and elegant—like it is every Sunday at their Otahuhu Ward in the Auckland Otara Stake, New Zealand.
To serve the sacrament, Jacinta hunted her kitchen for a decent pouring jug and a set of small cups. What she found instead was an ice-water bottle and some teacups that matched. It would have to do, she knew, feeling a little discouraged. “And we only had dollar bread,” she laughs, referring to affordable loaves of sliced bread often sold at a neighbourhood shop. “It wasn’t even the nice, fresh, bakery stuff.”
Jacinta turned her attention to the living room next, figuring that a big clean-up would at least help to invite the Spirit into their home. She wasn’t the only one in preparation mode.
With the support of some of their children, her husband, Elnez, was practicing the sacrament blessings so he could recite them by heart. “We knew the bishopric wouldn’t be there on the day to approve the prayers,” Jacinta says. “As it was going to be his first time conducting a sacrament meeting, I could tell my husband was also feeling a huge responsibility to get everything right.”
Still, they wanted their first Sunday worship at home to be a positive experience. To mark the occasion, Jacinta—who usually selects the church attire for her young children—allowed each of them to choose his or her own outfit, as long as it was made up of their ‘Sunday best’. The children were delighted.
Sunday morning arrived in a mad rush to set up the living room, rehearse talks and musical items, get the children dressed (as Mum turned a blind eye to bare feet and any mismatched, favourite clothing) and to begin their service on time.
When the family finally sat down together, Jacinta was suddenly impressed by the solemnness of what they were doing.
On this special morning, in the humble setting of their own home, she and her children—one infant, one preparing to serve a mission and the rest still in Primary—gathered under the presiding authority of the holy priesthood, which her husband is worthy to hold.
“Seeing the father of my children bless and then pass the sacrament,” Jacinta recalls, “it was really emotional.” In that moment, she was overcome by a deep sense of gratitude and increased understanding.
At a troubling time like this, with no access to a chapel, to be able to hold a sacrament meeting for her family under the same priesthood authority, and to feel the same Spirit they would have in a congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “It’s a true privilege,” says Jacinta.
“I have a new appreciation for the power of the priesthood. It is humbling and profound that my husband is worthy to bless our family with its power. Whatever is happening in the world right now, I know that our cup is overflowing in our home.”