Telling someone to "have a nice day" seems redundant in the Cook Islands: If one is there, one is likely to have a nice day, according to the president of the Cook Islands District, whose name - Sadaraka Sadaraka - seens an exercise in redundancy.

Pres. Sadaraka's family goes back for many generations of Cook Islanders, and his "double name" reflects the rightful pride his family has in its heritage.If Pres. Sadaraka has any regret pertaining to his family, it is most likely that his grandparents and great-grandparents did not accept the gospel after the first missionaries arrived on Rarotonga, the largest of the Cook Islands, in 1899. Since the missionaries stayed only a few years, it is doubtful his ancestors ever heard their message.

Cook Islanders, by tradition a religious people who had been taught Christianity by Protestant missionaries, generally rejected the messages of the early LDS missionaries. However, when people eventually began to listen, the LDS Church began to grow. Today, some 700 Latter-day Saints live among the islands' 19,000 people. Four branches are on Rarotonga; three other islands, Mangaia, Aitutaki and Mauke, have one branch each. The branches are part of the New Zealand Auckland Mission.

To carry out his ecclesiastical responsibilities, Pres. Sadaraka spends a lot of time traveling. "The road around the perimeter of Rarotonga is only 24 miles, and it takes about 45 minutes to make the full circle around the island," he said.

"But it takes quite an effort to get to the branches on the other islands. We have fairly good airplane connections with the major islands in the group, but we still must travel to the more remote islands by boat. Although the Cook Islands are spread over a vast area of ocean, the land mass is very small.

"The combined land mass of the 15 islands that comprise the Cook Islands is 241 square kilometers [93 square miles]. All that land mass could be placed in Utah Lake, with some space to spare." (Utah Lake, near Provo, Utah, is about 150 square miles.)

Pres. Sadaraka said Church growth in the Cook Islands is not reflected in membership records. "Our population is decreasing because Cook Islanders, being citizens of New Zealand, have free access to New Zealand. A lot of our citizens go to New Zealand to look for better employment opportunities."

Many young people also go to New Zealand to attend school and, once there, decide to make that their home. Pres. Sadaraka was among Cook Islanders who attended a secondary boarding school in Auckland, New Zealand.

"I was away at school when my mother wrote to me and said, `A wonderful thing has happened. We are now members of a new church that has just come to the Cook Islands.'"

Missionaries had been withdrawn from the Cook Islands in 1903 because of lack of success. The islands remained closed to missionary work until 1942. At the time Sadaraka's mother joined the Church in about 1950, there were approximately 170 members in all the Cook Islands.

"My mother kept writing about the Church, so when I went home for my holidays, i went along with her to meetings one Sunday."

Initially, he was not impressed, but when he returned to school aware of the Church he discovered "they had some good Mormon boys there. I went along with them to Church. I was baptized in 1952 while in Auckland."

He married in 1961, and made his home on Rarotonga. Although his wife, Lois, was not a member of the Church, she was supportive of him in his callings and saw to it that their four daughters attended all their meetings and participated fully in Church activities. Just three days before their silver wedding anniversary, on May 17, 1986, she was baptized.

In the brief time she has been a member, she has been a branch Primary president, seminary teacher, and Relief Society teacher. Their eldest daughter is married, and their second daughter, Tania, is serving in the New Zealand Auckland Mission. Their twin daughters are living at home, but plan to go to school in New Zealand soon.

Sadaraka, an independent businessman and exporter, feels the gospel was all that was needed to make his island life a real paradise for his family.