How the Suva Temple Remains the Biggest Milestone in the History of the Church in Fiji

It is apropos that the recent events commemorating the Church’s 70th anniversary in the South Pacific island nation of Fiji began at the temple.

Three days of events — including a cultural celebration, sports activities, games and a Sunday regional devotional — started at the Suva Fiji Temple, where Latter-day Saints from all four stakes within the country gathered from morning until evening to perform ordinance work.

Elder Taniela B. Wakolo was born and raised in Fiji and joined the Church in 1994. A few months after he was baptized, he accepted the call to serve as branch president. He became the first Fijian to serve as an Area Seventy, a mission leader and now a General Authority Seventy.

As he looks back on the history and growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in his native country, Elder Wakolo, who now serves as first counselor in the Pacific Area presidency, sees the construction and dedication of a house of the Lord there as its biggest milestone.

“It really helped us to enlarge our vision,” said Elder Wakolo of the dedication of the temple. “The house of the Lord there really helped us to be more focused on eternity.”

In President Russell M. Nelson’s remarks in Suva during his Pacific ministry in 2019, the Prophet encouraged the Saints in Suva to serve in the temple.

“The Lord will open the heavens and pour out blessings,” he promised.

President and Sister Nelson also expressed their love for the people of Fiji. “May I thank you for your great faith,” he said.

About Fiji

The Republic of Fiji consists of more than 300 islands scattered over about 1,000,000 square miles. About 100 of the islands are inhabited. Suva, the capital and location of the temple, is on the southeast coast of the largest island, Viti Levu, meaning “Great Fiji.”

An article published in the “Ensign” magazine in 1993 quotes Elder Glen L. Rudd, a General Authority Seventy who served extensively in the Pacific, as saying, “God created Fiji on one of his happiest days.”

Formed primarily from ancient volcanoes, the main islands retain towering mountains that give way to plateaus, then coastal plains and white-sand beaches fringed by coral reefs, rocks and shoals. More than half of the land mass is carpeted in dense forest, bearing tropical fruits, vegetables and flowers.

“Most anything you plant will grow,” noted Elder Wakolo. Even though Fiji is still a developing country, “no one should go hungry,” he said.

The English lyrics of the national anthem — which has verses in Fijian, Hindi and English — includes the line, “Blessing grant, oh God of nations, on the isles of Fiji, Shores of golden sand and sunshine, happiness and song.”

His country boasts a people who are welcoming, happy and generous, said Elder Wakolo. “The hospitality is real. They are very kind people. Even if they only have a small plate of food that they’re eating, if you go past them, they will call you and invite you to come and eat with them.”

They are also inherently spiritual. “There is a church in every village,” Elder Wakolo said.

Although most Fijians are either Methodist or Hindu, it’s easy to speak to them about the fullness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ “because they’re already living many parts of the gospel in their daily lives and even in their families,” Elder Wakolo said.

History of the Church in Fiji

Unlike other South Pacific islands — such as New Zealand and French Polynesia — which trace roots back to the earliest days of the Restoration, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints didn’t arrive in Fiji until the 1920s, when Tongan convert Mele Vea Ashley immigrated there with her children.

Over the next 20 years, a few more members came from Samoa, creating a nucleus for the first branch in Fiji, which was organized in 1954 when missionaries from the Samoan Mission were assigned to serve there. At that time, 14 Latter-day Saints met in a rented hall in the capital city of Suva.

From there, the Church slowly began to spread across the Fijian islands. In 1972, the first group of Latter-day Saints from Fiji traveled to the Hamilton New Zealand Temple. The following year, the seminary program was introduced.

Also that year, the Church began translating Church materials into Fiji’s seven languages, beginning with family home evening manuals into Fijian and Hindustani (see Church Global Histories: Fiji).

Elder Wakolo noted the dedication of the Church College of Fiji in 1976 as another important milestone, as well as the creation of the first stake on June 12, 1983.

In 1997, Church President Gordon B. Hinckley met with 5,000 Saints at an area conference in Suva. In a column published in 2018, former Church News editor Gerry Avant recalled attending the event as a reporter for the Church News.

Members of the Labasa Branch — many of whom had never traveled away from their island — journeyed four hours on a hot, uncomfortable bus then another 12 hours by boat to arrive at the National Stadium to see the Prophet.

As President Hinckley arrived, the congregation stood to sing “We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet.” Many began to weep, Avant recalled.

As he addressed the members, President Hinckley asked how many of them would like to have a temple in Fiji. “It almost seemed as though an electric current ran through the stadium,” Avant wrote.

Although he did not announce a temple that day, he promised that — one day — a house of the Lord would be dedicated in Fiji. Less than three years later, he returned to dedicate the Suva Fiji Temple on June 18, 2000.

The Suva Fiji Temple: ‘A Fortress of Faith’

The dedication of the temple in Suva in 2000 as well as its rededication in 2016 following renovations were surrounded by turmoil.

In 2000, rising political tensions between ethnic Fijians and Fijian Indians boiled over. Armed rebels took deposed Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and other government leaders hostage. The military declared martial law and imposed curfews. Several businesses in Suva were looted and burned. Random acts of violence were being committed throughout the city.

Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who was then a General Authority Seventy serving as president of the Pacific Area, met with military leaders to discuss the planned temple dedication. The military leaders said they could not guarantee the safety of a prominent American Church leader and advised against any large gathering.

On Sunday, June 18, 2000, President Hinckley and then-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles flew to Fiji for a three-and-a-half-hour stop. Only about 80 members gathered in the celestial room for the dedicatory service.

The Church News article about the dedication noted that “many indigenous Fijian Church members were mingling in love and unity with Indian members, despite the political unrest in the country.”

The temple is situated in the hills above Suva with a view of the city and the Pacific Ocean on three sides. During the dedication, Elder Cook read from the area history compiled by Elder Allen Christensen, former Pacific Islands executive secretary. While preparing for construction, several large underground concrete bunkers were discovered from World War II. “Where once stood structures erected to resist [invasion] will now stand a fortress of faith, a House of the Lord, … where the blessings of eternity can be given to the faithful,” he wrote.

In a Church News article in 2016, Elder Wakolo recalled, “You could feel the pain in the hearts of the members of the Church” who could not participate in the dedication or see President Hinckley.

However, “we started to see the blessing to the land” immediately following the dedication. “It is a significant sign that God loves Fiji and all its people,” he said.

Fijian Latter-day Saints recognized and were grateful for the “act of faith” of visiting Church leaders to come to Fiji despite the civil unrest. “Anyone discouraged was encouraged immediately. … When I saw them coming I started to see and feel hope. The message they carried with them was hope. … I did not think Fiji was the same again after the dedication,” Elder Wakolo said.

Then, during the rededication 16 years later, Tropical Cyclone Winston made landfall in Fiji in the hours between the youth cultural celebration and the rededication.

Despite the devastating impact of the worst storm ever to hit Fiji in recorded history, President Henry B. Eyring, then First Counselor in the First Presidency, offered a rededicatory prayer on the temple and the people of Fiji on Sunday, February 21, 2016.

Once again, very few were able to attend. Power outages, downed trees, damaged buildings and blocked roads made travel difficult.

Vito W. Qaqa, president of the Suva Fiji North Stake and local chairman of the Suva Fiji Temple rededication committee, spoke of having to remove a grill from the front gate of his home in order for him and his wife to slip through to make their way to the rededication.

“No one will stop this work,” he told the Church News. “We are so blessed in Fiji. Now we have a Church school and a temple. We have everything we need. They are preparing Fiji for bigger things.”

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Today, some 25,000 Latter-day Saints gather in 52 congregations across the Fijian islands. Fiji is its own mission, and the country has its own house of the Lord, which provides the full blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

During Fiji’s 70th anniversary celebrations, Elder Paul B. Whippy, an Area Seventy, shared his amazement at the growth of the Church there. “Brothers and Sisters, this is a miracle. This is truly a miracle that started with 14 members of the Church in 1954,” he said in a report on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

Going Forward

The foundation of peace and hope brought by the temple will act as a springboard for the growth of the Church, noted Elder Wakolo.

During the recent celebrations, Elder Wakolo told Fijian Latter-day Saints that renewing their covenants by partaking of the sacrament each Sunday and attending the temple is “a memorable way of preparing ourselves for the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Church in Fiji.”

In an interview with the Church News, Elder Wakolo noted the counsel and encouragement offered by Church leaders unique to Fijians in recent years.

More recently, Elder Cook returned to the island nation during a ministry to the Pacific Area in May 2024. And Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles visited Fiji as the last stop on a four-nation ministry this past May.

Among other counsel, Elder Bednar taught listeners of the power that comes through their temple covenants or becoming yoked with the Savior. “This is not some abstract idea, just some lovely thought. It is a spiritual reality that we can be yoked with Him, and He will pull with us, and we will then have capacity to do things we would never be able to do in our own strength,” said Elder Bednar.

Following the Apostle’s visit, Elder Wakolo met with ward, stake and district leaders from throughout the area and discussed “What will the Church in Fiji look like in 30 years for the 100th anniversary?” The answer, he said, was to identify individual sons and daughters of God and help them progress toward the next ordinance on the covenant path.

“I think that’s how we prepare Fiji better for the Second Coming of the Savior,” Elder Wakolo said.