Tipo Ralifo, president of the Labasa Branch, Labasa Fiji District, was among several thousand members who gathered at National Stadium in Suva for the express purpose of seeing and hearing President Gordon B. Hinckley in person as the prophet visited South Pacific islands Oct. 10-17. (Please see Church News, Oct. 25.)

Pres. Ralifo and 45 other Labasa Branch members were part of a group of 100 Latter-day Saints who undertook an arduous journey from Fiji's island of Vanua Levu to come to the main island of Viti Levu. The Labasa group traveled four hours on an uncomfortable bus over dusty roads. After the bus ride came another challenge: a 12-hour trip by boat. Deckside was the most comfortable place for them during the day but at night, as temperatures chilled the air, they were forced to go inside the cabin, which was extremely hot, humid and crowded. There was a tremendous compensation, however. The captain, a Latter-day Saint, arranged to have "family home evening" on the boat.It was the first time many had traveled away from their island. New experiences inundated their senses, from the bustle and congestion of traffic in Fiji's capital city of Suva to the delight of making new LDS friends. Members of the Nasinu Ward in Suva provided food for the visitors and sponsored a dance for them.

Excitement, to say the least, ran high. But nothing was more exciting than being in the prophet's presence. The meeting was not scheduled to begin until 3 p.m. on Oct. 15. Nevertheless, the members from Labasa went to the stadium before noon. They watched people arrive by the hundreds until about 5,000 had assembled; their eyes widened in amazement as they, for the first time, found themselves in the midst of a vast congregation of Latter-day Saints. Pisa Damuyawa, a member of the district council, said the experience "helped give our members a vision of the size of the Church in our own area in Fiji." Some commented that although they had been told that there were 10 million members of the Church throughout the world they never imagined there were so many Latter-day Saints in Fiji. Happily, they spent the hours before the meeting getting acquainted with many other Church members. "It was like we have a brand new family," said Salome Damuyawa, Young Women president in the Labasa Branch.

For a while, time seemed to stand still. President Hinckley's plane had been delayed in leaving Tonga earlier in the day. As 3 p.m. came and went, members looked every few seconds toward the portal through which President Hinckley and his wife, Sister Marjorie Hinckley, were to enter the stadium. At about 3:10 p.m., the moment came. Everyone stood and began singing: "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet." Instantly, tears welled up in their eyes, but they continued to sing, "To guide us in these latter days. . . . " Emotion overcame control. They used handkerchiefs, scarves, backs of hands, shirt tails, dress collars to wipe their eyes. They wanted clear vision to see the prophet.

"I couldn't hold my tears," Pres. Ralifo said afterward as he described the "unspeakable joy" he and others felt upon being in the presence of the prophet. "I know we will be very different from now on. We will be better people."

Sister Damuyawa talked with members of the branch after the meeting, asking them to try to put into words their thoughts and feelings. "All were in tears," she said. "They had a great feeling of something they could describe only as spiritual. I have never had an experience like this before. They had not, either."

Attending the meeting in Suva came at great sacrifice for many members in Labasa who began saving money to pay for the trip as soon as they learned of President Hinckley's upcoming visit. They did without things they ordinarily would have bought for daily use. Some put all their savings into bus and boat fare; others saved enough to buy clothes and shoes for their children and themselves that they felt more suitable than their ordinary attire to wear for the special occasion. Some from Labasa were able to attend the meeting only through the generosity of Latter-day Saints in another hemisphere.

Richard and Evelyn Henriksen, who served as missionaries in Labasa from 1988-90, went to the island of Vanua Levu a week before President Hinckley's visit. (Sister Henriksen and Sister Hinckley are sisters.) With donations from friends in Salt Lake City, the Henriksens helped with transportation costs for some members who could not afford to go to Suva on their own.

The thrill of attending the meeting and of seeing and hearing President Hinckley was long-lasting. While packing up belongings in preparation for the long journey home, one woman said, "All we did was talk about it all night long. In the morning when we woke up, it felt like we had been to the temple."

Reluctant as they were to leave Suva - the city President and Sister Hinckley visited - the members from Labasa had something else to look forward to: on the return journey, they would have a testimony meeting aboard the boat.