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Romanian Pioneers from Tonga
On any given Sunday morning, if you walk into the Hotel Mara in Baia Mare you will hear, from the small conference room, wedged between the top of the staircase and the entrance to the spa, familiar hymns being sung in the poetic vocal tones of native Tongans.
Two families and a single missionary companionship comprise the small congregation. All the men and all six little boys are dressed in white shirts and ties, the two women and three girls in beautiful dresses that complement their beautiful smiles. They would gladly welcome you or anyone else who was interested, to join them.
The Sione and Fineingo Faka’osilea and Sione and Sala Veamatahau -Vaiomounga families have lived in Romania and met together like this every Sunday (but until very recently, without the room and without the missionaries) for just over a decade. Their struggles are real, but they recognize the Lord’s hand in every aspect of their lives.
From The Tongan Islands to an “Island of No Church”
In 2014, Sione Faka’osilea was playing rugby in Tonga, but he wanted a better life for his children. He received an offer for a three-year contract from a professional Romanian rugby union club, CSM Știința Baia Mare to play center and he decided to take it.
His wife, Fineingo didn’t even know where Romania was when Sione decided to leave, nor did she know he had been offered the contract. When he told her, she did not want him to go. But then they agreed that it would provide a better income and was worth a try—her only condition was that when he arrived, he always had to go to church.
On their first call after he arrived, she asked if he had gone to church, he said no. “Have you found any missionaries?” He told her, “There is no chapel here in Baia Mare. And I have never seen missionaries.”
The absence of the Church left Ingo in a conflicted state. It was so hard to be without him and she wanted to come to join him here, but she was equally worried about what not having any contact with the Church would mean for their three children.
With this worry in her heart, every phone call had the same question, “Have you met the missionaries yet?'
Finally, 2015 when he came home to Tonga for the month of December, he reported he had seen missionaries twice; once in Timisoara and once in Bucharest. Both times he was on the train and saw them through the window standing on the platform.
It was not easy to be without his family and no contact with church members just made it harder.
Brother Faka’osilea was converted to the Church in 2009. He had joined a rugby team in the neighboring village and met a beautiful young woman named Sister Fineingo Vailea who had just returned home from serving in the Philippines Tacoloban Mission.
Sister Vailea decided to do a little more missionary work when she met him, but says, he was, 'not an easy convert. Drinking and cigarettes were an everyday part of his life.” But she told him she could never marry anyone outside of the Church. “He never hardened his heart to accepting the principles of the gospel, but it was so hard for him to stop these things. But, little by little and with the help of the missionaries he became the man I knew he was meant to be.”
A few years later, they were sealed in the Nuku'alofa Tonga Temple.
When Brother Faka’osilea left Tonga for Romania, the only gifts from his wife were a Bible and a new Book of Mormon. It was those books that got him through the loneliness.
With tears in his eyes Sione explains, “It was very hard for me to leave my family. When I came here, I only thought about my family and that I was so happy to be a member of the Church. I read the Book of Mormon a lot. On Sundays that is all I did.”
“Honestly,” said Sione, “I didn’t do much else. If I was home, I was reading. It helped me a lot. When I came here, I was looking for a better life for my children, but I came to realize as I read, that I also knew that I had something else to do here. Looking back now, I think it is probably to help the Church grow in Romania and to help Sione’s [Veamatahua] family.”
“We know that the Gospel will always help us. And we always help each other. At home we had extended family and parents to depend on, but now we are far from them, and we learn to rely on ourselves and that also means relying a lot on the Lord.”
The now well-worn books from his wife are still studied every day.
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Sione and Sala Veamatahua
The saga of Sione and Sala Veamatahua’s journey from Tonga to Romania started out much the same way as the Faka’osilea family, but almost immediately took a very different turn.
Sione Veamatahua was a flanker who played for Tonga in the 2011 World Cup. But, he explains, “At home we mostly played rugby for fun. The club we played for there had connections with other clubs in other countries. Those other clubs are looking for players. Everybody made videos to show how we played. If the foreign team likes you, then they hire you to play and pay your fare to come. Baia Mare was looking for players. They picked me.”
“There was really no work in Tonga, so playing abroad was a really great financial opportunity, so I said yes.”
Sione accepted a contract to play professionally for CSM Știința Baia Mare in 2014. He planned on playing a few years and then return to Tonga where his wife Sala and their son were waiting. All was going well until the night of the semi-finals when his nose started to bleed uncontrollably.
That day, the family’s life changed forever because that night, Sione was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure.
For the next three months he was in the hospital and when he was released, he would need dialysis at least 3 days a week for the rest of his life—or until he has a transplant.
The Club let him keep the benefits of his contract until it expired. Then he was on his own relying on help from friends and some money that was raised through fundraising.
Why did he not return home? “I am kept alive by the dialysis machines. Tonga does not have dialysis machines, so home cannot help me.”
And so, he stayed, 'For almost two years I was by myself. It was very hard.”
In 2015, Tonga played against Romania in a warm-up game for the World Cup. The gate receipts were generously donated to the family so that Sala and their son could finally afford the flight to join him.
When Sister Veamatahua finally did arrive in Romania it was a shock. The weather, the food, the living conditions and the language were all so different. “The language was so hard. Even now, after being here for ten years, it is still hard.”
But perhaps the biggest shock for her was that there was no Church. “I would call my mom in tears because I had no friends, there was no Church. No one believed the same things I did.”
Besides being worried and lonely, she was frustrated, “I knew I needed the Church, but I didn’t know where or how to start looking. I didn’t speak Romanian, very few people spoke English and I just didn’t know how to start looking.”
Sala is quick to acknowledge that it was her faith that got her through that time, “I come from a small village, but the faith of those people was bigger than the mountain. I had great teachers. My faith was bigger than anything you can imagine.”
Born the eighth of ten children, she had six brothers and three sisters. “My mom is amazing. My dad died when I was 11 years old. Five of my brothers served missions. And five of my brothers have died from the same heart disease problem that my dad had. My oldest brother died while he was on his mission.”
“It was very very hard to move here. But compared to these past problems, we can manage this problem and manage being here.” She actually sees all of this as a great blessing, “If we were in Tonga, there is no way Sione would be alive. Thankfully, he had the kidney failure here, where treatment is available.”
Brother Veamatahua feels the same way. He is grateful for the Romanian doctors and the medical staff that keeps him alive. And grateful he was here when the problem was discovered. “If it had happened in Tonga,” he says, “I’d be dead by now.”
In spite of the challenges and the incredibly difficult day-to-day situation, they are remarkably positive. “As long as we are together, we are happy,” he says. “I used to tell them to go back, but she always says it is better when we are together, and she is right. I married the right person. She is a very strong woman.”
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Finally Finding the Church
A few months after Sister Veamatahua arrived, her friend and second cousin Fineingo Faka’osilea arrived with her three children to join her husband who had been in Baia Mare without his family now for three years.
Fineingo was worried about being here without the Church structure, and hoped she could figure out how to find a Branch, but like her cousin, she had no idea where or how to start.
The first thing Fineingo did after arriving in Baia Mare was go out in the night in search of a pharmacy for some medicine for her children who were sick. Using a sort of sign language for coughing and children, she was successful in her quest.
The second thing she did was to start to look for the Church the next morning. This search was not successful.
“I typed into Facebook— ‘LDS Church Baia Mare’—nothing. Then I tried a few more words on both Facebook and Google—still nothing. It seemed like there was nothing we could do, so we just did our best. I kept praying, keeping God close to my thoughts and actions. That was the best I could do.”
Most days in those first months after she arrived, the families had dinner together. One evening as they were gathering for dinner at the end of their third month here, Brother Faka’osilea came in in tears, the Club had told him that his family had to go home. He could stay, but the family “did not belong here,” and they would need to return to Tonga. Their VISAs had expired, and they would need to leave.
Fineingo said no. “If we go home, then he would be going with us. From now on we would be staying together.” Sione talked to the coach and arrangements were made to accommodate Fineingo’s insistence, but they still had to leave the country for their VISAs to reset.
Sala’s VISA was in the same situation, so the two Tongan women and their five children left one country where they did not speak the language and moved to another where they still could not understand. They lived in Hungary for three months so that they could reenter Romania.
The Fear Evaporated
Soon after they were settled in this even newer country, they again tried to look for the Church. While Sala stayed with the children, Fineingo started walking around the city looking for a chapel.
Again, she tried to ask people, but no one understood and even after several days of walking, she never saw a chapel. After a few more days, she felt a strong prompting to look instead for the mission office. Another internet search and soon she had a working phone number, “The moment I heard the missionary answer the phone, it was as though my fear evaporated. I asked, please, how can we find the nearest church, we want to go, we want to take our kids to church.”
The Hungarian mission office did not know the answer to the closest church to Baia Mare but promised to find out and get back to them. The answer never came, but the fear never came back either. “I knew we were making progress,” said Fineingo.
After they were safely reunited in Baia Mare with VISAs in order, Sione and Fineingo’s fourth child was born that December. “I started doing Google searches in other cities to find the church. I found one in Oradea, so we drove there to bless our son,” explains Fineingo, “We showed up at church and we finally met the missionaries!”
“After we returned from our first day at church in years, I could not stop thinking about how to get the Church and the missionaries here in Baia Mare. I knew I needed to find someone here to teach so that the missionaries could come.”
The two women discussed this new “strategy,” and both knew who that person should be: Sala's husband Sione.
Sione Veamatahua was not yet a member of the Church. His wife was thrilled with the prospect of him having receive the lessons. He was well prepared and ready.
By this time, they knew there were missionaries in Cluj, and Elder Jerome and Elder Green came from Cluj nearly every week to teach Sione. He was baptized on December 16, 2017, in the pool at the Hotel Romanita.
Growing up in Tonga, his mother was a Methodist minister. “For me, at home, we just did what our family and friends did for church.” He explains, “She is a very strong woman. I think God had to send me here to become a member.”
Being baptized changed everything for him, “Having the gospel in our lives here makes everything feel easy. We feel safe. We are closer to God. The gospel is the only thing we have that makes us feel like we are home. We don’t really have very much here, it is hard, but with the gospel, we are complete. We will be fine.”
Even though his wife was thrilled, there was still opposition, “The hardest part was my friend's making fun of me when I wouldn’t go drinking with them. They would yell out the window to me when we were walking at night,” he remembers laughing, “But one of our friends here, who made fun of me actually got baptized. He moved back to Australia, met the missionaries and now his family is sealed in the temple. I think we were an example to him; the Lord knew his timing.”
But Still No Church...
A few months later, the Mission President visited them, and they were given permission to have the sacrament in their home, they were incredibly grateful for that change, but they still wanted was missionaries in the city.
So, like the petitioning widow in the parable in the 18th chapter of Luke, they kept asking. And asking. And asking. For years.
During those years, they would participate in Sacrament meeting via Zoom in Cluj. And after several more years, they began to ask for a place to meet so they could actually leave the house for church.
Fineingo explains, “It was so hard for the children to recognize that we were having church when dinner was cooking on the stove right next to them and they were sitting in the same place where they did their homework.”
Then the COVID pandemic happened, and no one could leave the house, but after that, they asked President Iepure again if they could have a space. A small room was found in a hotel, but it was right next to the hotel’s bar and noisy, so they kept looking for a better space.
Even though they now had a meeting space, they still wanted the missionaries permanently in Baia Mare.
Finally, in November of 2023, they received a visit from President and Sister Fowler who had a great surprise—missionaries would be coming to Baia Mare on the next transfer! Elder Hitz and Elder Bryce arrived on November 28, 2023.
President Fowler explains the story this way: “Sister Fowler and I had heard about these two faithful families soon after we arrived in Romania. We had talked a few times about how to better support them, but we were not sure who to send or when. And then, in the midst of a very busy time in the mission, the Lord prompted me that we needed to visit the Faka’osilea and Veamatahua families in Baia Mare right away. As we met with these faith-filled disciples of Christ, Sister Fowler felt a very strong impression that the time was right to send missionaries to Baia Mare. And we knew with a surety who and when to send them.”
Opening Your Mouth to Gather Israel
An overjoyed Sister Veamatahua explained, “When the missionaries were assigned to Baia Mara it was life changing! It is a big thing for us because the missionaries make the difference in who can be taught. We invite lots of people, and when they want to know more, we can’t teach them in Romanian, but now the missionaries are here we can invite them, and they can be taught in Romanian and understand and have their questions answered.”
Her husband chimes in saying, “Having them here is like a light of hope for us. We want a Branch of our own. And we know we need to work for it, but we really couldn’t do it without the missionaries. It shows the people that there really is a church here in Baia Mare. We ask people all the time, please come to church and they ask which church, and we try to explain that there is no sign, no building, but now we have official representation here and it feels so much better for us.”
A few weeks after the missionaries arrived, with the help of Brother Ene, the physical facilities manager for the Church in Romania, they found a nicer room (the one at the top of the stairs in the Hotel Mare) and they have a sign that says, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that sits on an easel near the door.
Sister Faka’osilea can be found most Sunday mornings in front of the hotel inviting people to come into their meeting. “It is something I did as a missionary, and I love to do it. I love to invite people and to talk to them. I would invite them to come upstairs and just listen for a few minutes before they had to go on with their day. I am so grateful for our little sign; it makes such a difference.”
Her cousin interrupts saying, “Missionary work is her talent. She is so active in inviting people to come; she is always asking people if they want to know about the Church. She is amazing.”
“I feel like I am doing something wrong, if I don’t invite someone every week to church,” continues Fineingo. “A few weeks ago, I invited someone by Messinger at 11:00 on Saturday night. I wrote, ‘Dear family, we will meet at the hotel at 11:00 tomorrow and would love to have you come’—and they came! It is good to speak—as long as we say what we believe and give invitations out of our mouth, it becomes a blessing that will come back to us.”
Brother Faka’osilea added, “It is funny, because sometimes people talk about us, and maybe not in a nice way, but they don’t realize that they are actually preaching the gospel, because just talking about the Church is still making others aware.”
Helping the Church Grow in Romania
Sione and Sala Veamatahua and Sione and Fineingo Faka’osilea all believe that part of the reason they are here is to help the Church grow in Romania and they have a plan.
Sala: “We need to share from our experiences back home. There is something that we all are supposed to do here. We all have talents, and we are supposed to share those talents. The Lord expects us to do that. We talk to the Elders about having Family Home Evening that we could invite people to or do other activities where we could include people.”
Sione V: “One of the things we try to do is see what the Romanian people are interested in; it is different from home, and we are trying to adapt so that we can share what we know better.”
Fineingo: “I am looking forward to the summertime so that we can have activities in the park and invite people to come. My husband Sione is a little famous, so we told the Elders that they could invite people to come to our house and have a lesson and meet him.”
Sione F: “If one thing does not work, then we just try to think of something else. I have faith about this place, there is something here. We did not come here only for rugby, there is something else. I share my faith with the other players every time I can. We know everything will be ok. We have the gospel, and it is our job to share it.”
Sala says, “Sometimes it feels like we are turtles. We know what we want to do, but it just moves so slowly. We have been asking for a long time, but it feels like now is the right time for the missionaries. We are ready. We know that there is work to be done here and we know that we will get a lot of opposition, but I feel that there are many people here waiting, they just need to be invited.”
Her husband is quick to add, “We try very hard to be ambassadors for the church. And we are teaching our children to do the same.”
Since arriving, both families have grown. The Veamatahua family has welcomed two more children and the Faka’osilea family has grown by three.
Fineingo says, “Sometimes our children struggle with the new culture, they come home from school having learned different prayers. I tell them to be nice and polite and think about home when they are in school and need to learn what is required. It is so great to have a place for church and not just be at home for church. This has been a great blessing for our children.”
“We are always thinking about ways to share the gospel,” Sala says, “and we want the kids to do the same. We invite the shopkeeper, the people in the bus, the people on the street.”
One of the things they are considering is starting a self-reliance class to invite some friends. They are also planning a family talent show, family nights and other activities in the park so that people can easily join them. “It feels like we need to do more than just invite to church,” says Fineingo.
Her ten-year-old daughter Valencia is doing her part with missionary work too. “I invite my friends from school to come to church with me. Sometimes it is hard for me to keep all the languages straight in my head. We speak Romanian in school, I am studying Spanish too. We speak Tongan or English at home. The languages get mixed up in my head, but I like to share what I know about Jesus in any language I can. Even if my friends are not ready now, maybe later they will remember what I told them.”
“I am happy to live in Romania because I know it is so important for our family to be together. I try to read a lot in any language I can, because my mom says it is important to learn and share our talents however we can.”
Pioneers and Faith
Even with all the struggles of a chronic life-threatening illness, language barriers, missing home, juggling the needs and schedules of many children and meeting financial obligations, both families do all they can to help gather Israel in their new land.
“Church is such a priority for me because of the way I was raised,” explains Fineingo.
Sala agrees, “Our faith in Jesus Christ pushes us to make his Church a priority. We learned that at home. Moving to Romania has made us more committed to the Gospel because it is what we cling to. One day, my husband and I want to be senior couple missionaries. It is our greatest wish. But until the kids grow up, we will do our best to be missionaries here.”
Fineingo also sees it as the work of pioneers: “We did what every pioneer does; we stepped forward into the unknown, a new land, a new way of doing things. In July of 2016, in an act of great faith, we uprooted ourselves from our home soil, leaving behind everything, and transplanted ourselves into a very far away foreign land. It was a giant leap of faith. We didn’t know what would be at the end of our journey, it might be good, or it could be bad. We didn’t know if we would love it or hate it there.”
“I did not know how difficult it would be to adapt to the new culture, the new language, the new environment, a city without the Church and no members to be our friends. I just didn’t know. But what I did know was that the Pioneer’s Heart consists of four characteristics: a spirit of humility and frugality; a faith and optimism for the unknown; a longing for prophetic direction; and a spirit of personal sacrifice.”
“For over eight years our options for church have been a day of travel, zoom online, or home sacrament. But when my husband was here before that he had nothing. I am so greatly thankful that Heavenly Father continues to comfort and bless us. He brings great blessings of hope into our home through our daily prayers, Family Home Evening and Book of Mormon readings. There is a reason why God brought us to the city of Baia Mare. We had pioneer work to do here. Now we have a full-time missionaries to help and that will change everything. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is our rock and our hope in this city. We will work together to share the gospel and we will not fear. I know and testify that the future is going to be as miracle-filled and bountifully blessed as the past has been. We have every reason to hope for blessings even greater than those we have already received because this is the work of Almighty God, this is the Church of continuing revelation, this is the Gospel of Christ’s unlimited grace and benevolence.”
