Members of First Presidency meet with prime minister of Samoa
President Oaks, President Eyring and Elder Soares greeted Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa of the Independent State of Samoa, in the Church Administration Building
President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency shakes the hand of Samoa’s Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa while President Henry B. Eyring looks on, in the Church Administration Building in Salt Lake City on Sept. 27, 2023.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Members of First Presidency meet with prime minister of Samoa
President Oaks, President Eyring and Elder Soares greeted Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa of the Independent State of Samoa, in the Church Administration Building
President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency shakes the hand of Samoa’s Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa while President Henry B. Eyring looks on, in the Church Administration Building in Salt Lake City on Sept. 27, 2023.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Just days before a temple was announced by President Russell M. Nelson for Savai’i, one of the main islands of Samoa, the country’s prime minister met with members of the First Presidency at Church headquarters in Salt Lake City.
President Nelson, who is still recovering from a recent back injury, was unable to attend, but President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, and President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency, greeted Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, prime minister of the Independent State of Samoa, in the Church Administration Building on Sept. 27, according to a news release on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
From left, Peseta Noumea Simi, chief executive officer of Samoa’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade; President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency; Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, prime minister of the Independent State of Samoa; President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency; and Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles pose for a photo in the Church Administration Building on Sept. 27, 2023.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The prime minister was accompanied by Peseta Noumea Simi, chief executive officer of Samoa’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles also attended the meeting.
The prime minister presented the First Presidency with a gift from the people of Samoa, a tapa cloth, while the First Presidency presented the prime minister with an etched copy of the Book of Mormon.
A gift from the people of Samoa to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, presented by Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, center right, the prime minister of Samoa, is shown to members of the First Presidency, President Dallin H. Oaks and President Henry B. Eyring, during a visit on Sept. 27, 2023.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
On Friday, Sept. 29, the prime minister also visited Welfare Square, a complex located several blocks from Temple Square where the Church manufactures materials to provide assistance to the poor and needy.
During President Nelson’s Pacific ministry in 2018, the Prophet traveled to Samoa’s capital city, Apia, on the island of Upolu, and met with Samoa’s prime minister at the time, Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi.
On the Pacific Newsroom Facebook post, Rosalinda Tovia wrote, how “very beautiful for our beloved prime minister to finally meet with our Church leaders.”
Samoa has roughly 88,000 Latter-day Saints in 165 congregations.
Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, the prime minister of Samoa, takes a tour of Welfare Square during a visit to Salt Lake City on Sept. 29, 2023.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
