Apostle Encourages New Zealand Latter-day Saints to Have a Christlike Attitude

An apostle and members of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints visited Mormons in the South Pacific recently.

Speaking to Latter-day Saints in Wellington, New Zealand, Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles encouraged his audience to be Christlike and to reach out to their neighbors in kindness and service. He asked them to find common ground with people of other faiths.

Elder Oaks was joined by his wife, Kristen, and accompanied by Elder F. Michael Watson of the Seventy.

“Following Christ is not a casual or occasional practice,” Elder Oaks said, “but a continuous commitment and way of life that applies at all times and in all places.”

Local Mormons were grateful for Elder Oaks’s inspiring message coupled with his great sense of humor. They said his message will have a positive impact on the people.

Elder Oaks also traveled to Samoa and spoke to the Latter-day Saints, telling them he has always had a special feeling for the people of Samoa because of stories his grandmother would tell him about her father. His great-grandfather had served a Church mission there in the latter half of the 1890s.

His visits will also include other parts of New Zealand and Australia.

Elsewhere in the South Pacific, Elder Ronald A. Rasband, senior member of the Presidency of the Seventy; his wife, Melanie; Elder James J. Hamula, Pacific Area president of the Church; and Pacific Area Seventy and Fiji citizen Elder Taniela Wakolo visited the chiefly village of Narewa in Fiji.

Elder Rasband presented village gardening tools and a sewing machine to the Fijian to assist the village in its development and beautification.

Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Seventy travel throughout the world, where the Church is organized, fulfilling their calling to minister to the people.

Read more about the Church leaders’ visits on the Pacific Mormon Newsroom website.