Keywords

Tongan pioneer, persecution, faithfulness

Abstract

Tēvita Muli Kinikini (1905–84) was a Tongan Latter-day Saint pioneer of great faith.1 His father, Taniela Kinikini, was a member of the Free Church of Tonga and also a man of mighty faith and spiritual gifts. Muli married Le‘o Tukui, whose father was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints. Touched by the Spirit while listening to the mission- aries, Muli announced his intention to be baptized. In response, his parents threatened a double suicide, and his uncle, one of the nobles of his island, threatened to take away Muli’s land. Muli answered him: “Do as you please with my land. Take it away. I will go to Tongatapu, Vava‘u, Fiji, or Samoa and get an inheritance of land, but the inheritance in Heaven will not be gotten in any other church but The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”2 The intense persecution was short lived. The mocking stopped when Elder George Albert Smith’s public prophecy was fulfi lled: Muli and Le‘o were blessed with a baby girl. Muli was later reconciled with his parents and his uncle.

Original Publication Citation

Church Growth in Tonga: Historical and Cultural Connections. in Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History: The Pacific Islands. eds. Reid L Neilson, Steven C. Harper, Mary Jane Woodger, and Craig K. Manscill (Provo Utah: Religious Studies Center, 2008), 43-59.