Marriages and Baptisms - In That Order

The missionaries were teaching two good people who wanted to be baptized.  Elders Cook and Meldrum had been teaching Ruben Luna, but he needed to be married to Estrella, his girlfriend and the mother of  Christian,  C.T.R. (his nickname) before he would be worthy for baptism.   Sisters Ika and Tuileto'a were teaching Eileen Joseph who had a beautiful family with her boyfriend, Moso. They  had three little girls; Micky, Lecka and Daedae.  Both Ruben and Eileen were taught by the missionaries with many lessons and Family Home Evenings to prepare them for the great days to follow:  their marriages and then their baptisms.  We hope we've captured some of the beauty of these events in some pictures we took.

These are Ruben's marriage, a tradition here is to pin money on the newly married couple as they dance the first dance at their wedding party.  We have seen no wedding gifts, just the pinned on dollars.   And a picture of us with Elders Meldrum and Cook following the baptism.

Mohokoi Finau Sunia and Eileen Tamon Joseph

      We were blessed to able to meet the Sisters at Eileen's home and teach her and Moso the Gospel a few times.  The home is small  with about three sisters and a couple of husbands/boyfriends and lots of their children living there with Grandma Vecenta.  On a dark night in the jungle, the home is not very well lit by electricity, but it was lit by the Spirit as we shared family home evenings and Priesthood blessings there.  Although we were going there to teach Eileen, many other family members sat and listened.  As we left one night, Elder Jones said to me, "many baptisms could come from that house."  We came to love Eileen so much as she looked to us with trust as we encouraged her to work on an eternal family.  We will never forget her!