Stories: A 'miraculous' throw
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| One day in 1965 my companion, Elder Randy "Lama" Bott, and I had been helping Ta'ilele -- the old man who lived behind the small combined chapel-and-missionary quarters in Fitiuta, Manu'a -- toli popo i uta. We'd been working up the mountain in the toganiu for several hours and were getting tired and thirsty. The three of us were sitting together and while there were plenty of popo, we could only see one likely niu hanging from a tall tree. I remember asking Ta'ilele how Samoans got a niu like that down if they couldn't climb the tree, and he told us they would togi ma'a, but that wasn't good because it could hurt the tree. I'd always been impressed with the formidable Samoan togi ma'a skill and, praying for a small measure of it, let a rock fly that clipped that coconut perfectly. Oka, o le suamalie ia! It was so refreshing, and more than enough to satisfy the three of us.
Several years later Ta'ilele and his wife, Tu'itu'i, moved to Laie to live with their son, Paulo, and to be close to the temple. Though they both suffered from mümü, Ta'ilele and Tu'itu'i used to average about 30 sessions a month until they passed away -- quite a feat, given the schedule of the Laie Temple in those days, and quite an example to me. |
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