This week in Church history
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50 years ago
President David O. McKay was en route by boat to Nuku'alofa in the Tongan Islands where he made his first stop on a 45,000-mile tour of the far-flung Pacific missions, stated an article in the Jan. 8, 1955, Church News.
His historic journey to meet members and attend to Church business began Jan. 4. "Never before has a president of the Church been in any of the Pacific Missions other than the Hawaiian Islands," stated an article in the Jan. 1, 1955, Church News.
The monthlong tour took the Church leader to the Hawaii Mission, then to the Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti, New Zealand and Australian missions before returning in February.
After flying on Pan-American Airlines from San Francisco to Nadi, and then Suva in the Fiji Islands, President McKay boarded a boat bound for Nuku'alofa.
After becoming president in 1951, President McKay was the most widely traveled Church leader at the time.
