A Chapel Foreshadows Growth

In 1924, 30 years before missionaries arrived in Fiji, Mele Vea moved to Suva, Fiji. She had been baptized at age 14 in Tonga, but in Suva she lived in isolation from other Saints until 1936. That year, the new president of the Tongan Mission, Emile Dunn, visited her while waiting in Fiji for a ship to Tonga. Mele Vea was overjoyed with this answer to her prayers. Dunn was not only a member of the Church, but he was also a priesthood holder who could bless her baby.

Other members moved to Fiji, but in the absence of organized Church meetings, many associated with other faiths. After Fijians Cecil G. Smith and Amely Hicks Smith joined the Church, they began holding meetings in their home with Mele Vea and her daughters. During a rare visit, Dunn baptized the Smiths’ older children. This small group of Saints continued to meet regularly until missionaries could be sent to Fiji.

In 1951, Mele Vea sent her daughter Alice on a 10-day round trip to Tonga. Alice took her mother’s accumulated tithing to the Tongan Mission president along with a request for Church literature. Mele Vea was delighted when Alice returned not only with a tithing receipt but also with new books.

Mele Vea and her children continued to meet with the small, isolated group of Saints in Fiji and to share in their joy when they received visitors. In 1953, LeGrand Richards of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles met with the Saints in Fiji during a Pacific tour. The next year, another Tongan Saint, Emma Lobendahn, and her family moved to Fiji. When missionaries from the Samoan Mission arrived in 1954, Mele Vea and her children formed part the nucleus of the first Church branch in Fiji. Cecil and Amely Smith served in the Sunday School, and Emma Lobendahn ministered for 20 years as the first Relief Society president.

Only a few months after the missionaries’ arrival, Church President David O. McKay stopped in Fiji. Hearing McKay was on Viti Levu, the missionaries sought him out—to his great surprise. McKay had not known there were missionaries in Fiji. The elders quickly organized a meeting for Sunday. The meeting was held in the Smiths’ home, with 28 people present. McKay returned two weeks later, this time with the mission president, and met with both the Saints and the public.

Suva Fiji Branch with Church President David O. McKay and his wife, Emma, January 1955.

Because the Saints needed a place to meet, the elders showed McKay a site overlooking the Pacific. He authorized its purchase if they could also buy the adjoining lot. The adjoining lot was the one purchased. There a meetinghouse was built—similar to a stake center—far larger than was needed at the time, both foreshadowing and facilitating future growth in Church membership. Goodwill was generated by allowing the Fijian Symphony Amateur Broadcast to perform in the recreation hall. McKay came a third time to dedicate the building. At that time, membership stood at 120 Saints—Fijians joined by Europeans, Tongans, Indians, Samoans, and Kirans.