Yesterday we had the best testimony meeting ever. We have two Tongan boys in our ward who moved in with their oldest brother about a year ago. They come from a very poor family, and their mom died in 2004. The older of the two boys is leaving on his mission to Detroit in a couple of weeks.
In the meeting we had a temple presidency member and his wife speak, and even though they're great and have had a lot of experience, the highlight was definitely Elder Latu.
Multiple times he quoted scriptures from memory - the best two being D.C. 4 and 3 Nephi 5:13 ( 13 Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been acalled of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.)
Impressive to see someone with slightly broken English (and it's his second language), repeat memorized scriptures so well prior to his mission. Also, the 3 Nephi scripture was so powerful to hear him say. He mentioned how blessed he was to be born into the covenant and receive his calling.
Making the whole event even better was that he could have been in the Olympics representing his country. He talked about that, how despite being so poor he was blessed to travel and was 2nd in South Pacific Games in boxing and 10th in the commonwealth games. He could have gone to the Olympics but when he moved to the U.S., after fasting and praying, he realized God wanted him to go on a mission, not to the Olympics. So he put all his energy into preparing for a mission, and it has been a great blessing for him. Very powerful to hear about this. He talked about his mom being so happy he's going on a mission (she's on the other side of the veil).
The people in Detroit are lucky to have this Elder. Incredibly humble. Very well prepared. An inspiration to us all.
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