Queen Mata'aha

MelRae and I are pictured with Queen Mata'aha, wife of the much loved king of Tonga who died last September. The little girl is the queen's oldest great granddaughter. The queen is 81 years old and she joined us in sitting on mats on the floor for nearly an hour as we conversed about our plans to dedicate the temple later in the year. Queen Mata'aha is also the mother of the present king who doesn't enjoy the same love and respect as his father. We just returned from five days in Tonga where we met with all of the government, religious, media, and business leaders in the nation. Our objective was to have those in high positions write positive testimonials about the Church. We will include these testimonials in a media kit that we'll distribute to all media representative in hopes that they will say nice things about us in the newspapers and on radio and TV. We were treated almost as their equal in all meetings and we feel that we are building a strong bond with the wonderful people of Tonga. We will be in Tonga again on June 22nd thru June 25th for our fourth trip since April 13th.