Family History Work on the Island of Niue

As I mentioned in my last post, the first LDS missionaries arrived in Niue in 1951.  On 14 Aug 1952 the first baptism were held in a pool at Amanau Cave, bringing 26 new converts into the gospel.  On 28 Aug 1952 12 more people were baptized.  

Elder Pennington and Elder Childs, the two young missionaries currently serving in Niue, took us to the Cave so we could see this historic site.

   

                      

                

                                                                      Elders Pennington & Child at Amanau Cave,        
                                                               Site of first LDS baptisms in Niue   

                                

Rosalina was in the second group of saints to be baptized on the island.  Here she is shown with her daughter who is filling in family information on a pedigree chart for the "My Family 15 in 15" Pacific Area Presidency Goal.

 Currently there are about 200 people on the rolls of the church living on Niue, but many are not active.  The Alofi Branch has about 40 – 50 active members.  We spent most of our time in this area.  

On the northern side of the island is the  Lakepa-Toi Branch which has about 25 active members.  Currently Lakepa-Toi alternates their meetings between two different chapels – one in Lakepa Village and one in Toi.   At one time there were more active members which justified additional meeting houses.  (At its peak the island had 5 meeting houses).  After the major cyclone in 2004 many people left the island.  So now the Lakepa and Toi congregations are combined to one congregation and they take turns meeting at the two different buildings so as to meet needs of folks in both places.       

Alofi Chapel – built 1954-1958                                           

      

Alofi Branch Presidency

There is abundant fresh fruit on the island .  Pictured here is the mission home where the full time missionaries live and a shot from their back yard where they have papaya, coconut and mango trees.  Coconuts are routinely kept in the refrigerator for a cold drink.  We would knock a hole in the top, insert a straw and enjoy the fresh juice

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 Elder Pennington and Elder Child were a tremendous help to us, introducing us to families all over the island.  They were also great learners when it came time to train them in how to use FamilySearch, the church's online program for tracking genealogy.

Missionary Activities:

We had four main goals for this trip, all of which were accomplished.

     1)  Set up Family History Center with new computer  

     2)  Train full time missionaries in using FamilySearch 

3)  Educate branch leaders about My 15 in 15 Pacific Area Goal

4)  Meet with someone from government to establish contact for future negotiations regarding publication of microfilm records.

We felt that our trip was very successful and had a positive impact in terms of promoting the Pacific Area Goal of My Family 15 in 15  as well as supporting the full time missionaries and giving them tools to be more effective in their service there.

Elder Child's Pedigree chart was the first to be printed
 in the newly opened Niue FHC

In addition to helping quite a few members learn how to use FamilySearch to track their family history, in just the first two days the newly opened Family History Center was open there were four people who submitted names for ordinances to be completed in the temple.  The people were so grateful for this.

  

We also had opportunities to visit in many members homes and to help teach a gospel lesson to a young girl preparing for baptism.   

We had dinner with the Lavini family one night.
They were wonderful folks and fed us a delicious meal.

We had a great gospel discussion with Avi, the owner of the pizza house and fish stand where we ate a couple times.  He is an immigrant from Israel who is married to a Niuean woman. We gave him a "My Family" booklet and encouraged him to record stories about his family, then teach them to his young daughters.

 We put in long days and worked hard.  It  was hot and I got eaten up by mosquitoes.  Still, we would not have traded this experience for anything in the world.  In addition to meeting all the objectives for this trip, we felt our time in Niue strengthened our own testimonies and provided vital experience for us which will make us more effective on future travels throughout the Pacific.

Elder Bennett getting his Niue driver's license at the Police Station

Sister Bennett with a Coconut Crab

Mission Trip to Niue

We just got back from our first overseas mission trip - to the tiny island nation of Niue.  It was quite an experience.

Here is a bit of background on Niue:

The following information is taken from the book “Niue of Polynesia: Savage Island’s First Latter-day Saint Missionaries”  by Robert Maurice Goodman. We checked this book out from the Takapuna Library (ordered ahead of time through inter-library loan). It is a worthwhile read and helped me appreciate the place and the people a lot more by knowing a bit of the history. Several of the people mentioned in the book were still strong members of the church at the time we were there.

“Where is Niue?
Niue (pronounced “knee-oo-ay”) is a sparkling, beautiful coral atoll island nation in the South Pacific that is seemingly lost among its more well-known neighbours, such as Tahiti (500 miles east), Samoa (300 miles north), (Fiji (350 miles northwest), Tonga (240 miles west), and New Zealand (1500 miles southwest). Niue is located slightly northeast of the invisible intersection of tropic of Capricorn and the International Date Line, at approximately 19 south latitude and 179 west longitude."

Characteristics of the Land and Its People
"Niue is one of the largest coral atolls in the world. Some people refer to the island simply as “the rock” or “the rock of Polynesia.” This island has a total area of 100 square miles-about the size of Washington DC. It is 17 miles long and 10 miles wide at its widest point, and it has approximately 40 miles of rough coral roads.
The island has two terraced levels, one at 90 feet and the other at 200 feet above sea level. Unlike most of the rest of Polynesia, there are no sandy beaches in Niue. Steep, rugged cliffs of well-pounded coral rock form the shore line. There are very few places through these shear, unyielding black and grey cliffs where one can find access to the open sea.

Small boats can dock at the wharf at the capital city of Alofi, and there are a few canoe landing places at such places as Avatele, Tuhia and Uluvehi. But elsewhere, there are only a few deep, natural chasms, such as those at Vailoa and Matapa, through which one may reach sea level. …

The entire island is solid rock, covered by only a thin layer of soil in which to grow crops. In some places, farmers had to create individual seed holes at an angle so there would be enough soil to cover the seed plant. Because there are no lakes or rivers on the island, people would collect the rainwater that fell onto their tin roofs and store it in barrels or tanks (cisterns) for future use"
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(Note from my experience: A new water system provides plenty of safe drinking water pumped up from underground wells, usually stored in large tanks.)

"During the summer (December through March) the average daytime temperature was about 82 F. During winter (June through September) the average daytime temperature was about 72 F. Although droughts were frequent, and destructive cyclones hit Niue every few years, the trees and foliage of the island were usually lush and plentiful. There were many coconut, banana and papaya trees, along with many exotic hardwoods. Before tractors and defoliants, Niueans cleared the land with bush knives and controlled fires.”

LDS Presence
The first LDS missionaries arrived in Niue in 1951. On 14 Aug 1952 the first baptism were held in a pool at Amanau Cave, bringing 26 new converts into the gospel. On 28 Aug 1952 12 more people were baptized. A few of these original pioneers of the gospel are still living on the island today.

(Goodman, R. 2002. Pg 8 – 9).

OUR EXPERIENCE -

There are somewhere between 1000 and 1200 people who live on the island, mostly native Niuans, along with a small sprinkling of expats from various nations.  Many from Niue have emigrated to New Zealand or Australia, and some to other places after the last big cyclone.  Some of these folks do come back to spend extended visits with family on the island or to maintain interest in land holdings.  But the permanent population is quite small and the degree of established infrastructure is limited.  It's a pretty quiet place with few businesses.

Because of the cost of shipping and the sporadic nature of resupply, anything imported you buy in Niue is relatively expensive.  Niue uses New Zealand dollars. There are no ATM’s on the island and not every place takes credit cards, so it is important to take sufficient cash.  Even if you have plenty of money, however, there  are limited places to eat or shop.  Most tourists who come to Niue come during whale watching season or to enjoy the fishing and scuba diving.   There is no "nightlife" or even much "daylife" for that matter. Particularly when we were there, which was the"off season" as far as tourism goes, it's a pretty relaxed, quiet place.  People were friendly and kind.  The place was quite beautiful.  But anyone looking to be entertained would most likely be disappointed.  This would not be considered a hotspot of the Pacific.  There are no fancy dining places.  Most look something like this:


                                                
But for a relaxed meal at a decent price, we can definitely recommend the following:

Kai Ika (right next to Alofi Chapel) Good pizza! Also good fish.
Crazy Ugas (across from Police Station in Alofi)
Gills Indian Restaurant (in the “mall” in main part of Alofi)

In the central part of Alofi there is a shopping area, sometimes referred to as “the mall”.  However, the stores did not seem to keep any sort of regular hours. This is where the Post Office is and also the one electronics store. Other shops are mainly handicrafts and a hair salon, as well as the Indian Restaurant mentioned above. Our experience was that store hours of operations are somewhat random. We needed to go back three or four times before we found anyone at the electronics store where we needed to purchase a power strip for the Family History Center we were setting up.  We learned that if you need to get something and don’t find them open, don’t give up. Just keep trying!

"The Mall" in Niue

The Niue Information Centre is worth taking a visit to as it as some displays about the history and culture.  I was particularly interested in learning about the changes in Niue since the big cyclone that occurred in 2004.

Elders Pennington and Childs who we worked with during our visit

It is because of events like the devastating loss of records that happened during that storm that the work the family history department of the Church does is so important.   I'll close this post with a video that describes that and tell a little bit more about our activities on this trip in the next entry.

Heading to The Rock

Things are ramping up in the Area Office as we move forward to implement the 2015 Area Presidency goals for family history.   We have had some busy days.  A big part of today was making travel plans for our first overseas trip.  In just a little over a week we will be headed to the island nation of Niue.

I learned a few facts about the place over at Niueisland.com:

Niue is a large upraised coral atoll, and is a standalone land mass in the centre of a triangle of Polynesian islands made up of Tonga, Samoa and the Cook Islands. Located 2400km north east of New Zealand, on the eastern side of the international dateline.

The general formation of the island takes the shape of two terraces, the lower terrace being 28m above sea level and the upper terrace is about 69m above sea level. The island’s isolation and coral makeup creates an exciting rugged coastline and reef which provides intimate swimming coves as opposed to the typical long stretches of sandy beaches so predominant elsewhere in Polynesia. The whole island is dotted with a myriad of caves and sheltered rocky coves, some of which have yet to be explored. The Huvalu Rain forest is home to some amazing indigenous trees and has been designated as a Conservation Area to protect and conserve the islands primary rain forest and natural fauna and flora.

The reason we are going there is to support the members and leaders of the church in recording their family history information on FamilySearch.com   Also, our Mission President wants us to connect with the young elders who are serving there to see if they need anything.  

We are making arrangements to get a new computer sent to the Family History Library in Niue.  When we go we will be sure it is set up properly and that the people there know how to access the program. 

While we are there we hope to get to also get a chance to explore a bit so we can experience some of the beauty of this small, somewhat isolated Pacific island.  I'm excited to be going and look forward to the experience.