For years Church members in the Marshall Islands have desired to have a stake there. On June 14, 2009, their desires were fulfilled. Elder David S. Baxter of the Seventy, who organized the stake, explains: "It is remarkable how the membership grew in the past couple of years. The stake was created because the development of the Church there made it inevitable. But it has been a long time in coming. Members had to overcome a number of challenges."
Marshall Islands stake president Arlington Tibon (above; released January 2011) taught members while he served as district president that if they wanted a stake, they would have to work for it. He instructed district leaders to teach members from Malachi 3 and 3 Nephi 24 about the blessings of paying tithing. Leaders also encouraged youth and adults to study the Book of Mormon. They even held a successful event where the youth read the Book of Mormon for 12 hours straight.
President Tibon also set a goal to get members to understand "how important it is to be sealed in the temple," explaining that receiving "the endowment helps them overcome a lot of things, makes them different, changes their lives."
Under President Tibon's leadership, members in the Marshall Islands visited two temples: one in Tonga and one in Hawaii. Each visit came after significant sacrifice. But, as Angela Tibon, President Tibon's wife, says, those trips "have had a great impact on how committed members are to Heavenly Father and to the Church."
"Yes," echoes President Tibon, "we saw the spiritual life here in Majuro go way up."
Above left: Hirobo Obeketang (also shown with his family on the previous pages) works as a hotel manager. Below: Patricia Horiuchi was a leader for the Marshall Islands' first young single adult conference in June 2009 (bottom right).
"I have a strong testimony of repentance," says Lydia Kaminaga, shown here with her husband, Kaminaga, and their daughter, Wellisa.
Photographs by Joshua J. Perkey, except as noted; photograph of sailboat © Getty Images
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