New Zealand Prime Minister John Key met 20 young missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently, when he visited the Church's new missionary training center in Auckland. Missionaries from Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati, New Zealand, Australia, and the United States and other countries joined in welcoming the prime minister to the training center.
The missionaries greeted the prime minister by singing the New Zealand national anthem in Maori and English. Mr. Key shook hands and chatted with the young volunteers.
The prime minister also met with Elder Tad R. Callister, president of the Pacific Area of the Church, and other Church officials.
More information from the Samoa Observer can be found here. This event was also featured on Skykiwi.com, a New Zealand-based Chinese language Web site.
Richard Hunter is the Church's director of Public Affairs in the Pacific area.