From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 18, no. 1, March 2003.

It is only on very special occasions that one of the 12 apostles of the church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints visits Tonga. When the Apostle L. Tom Perry came from February 14-17, the occasion was to launch a satellite communication service, which the Church in Tonga could use for national conferences and for communication with other churches throughout the world.

On February 15 the Apostle, Perry conducted a church service at the Nuku’alofa Tonga Central Stake Center, Haveluloto, which was beamed by satellite to 11 stakes in Tongatapu, three stakes in Vava’u and one in Ha’apai, allowing about 20,000 Latter Day Saints members and guests to view the proceedings in real time.  

Elder John Groberg who accompanied the Apostle, said that Tonga was the third country in the world where the church had installed its own satellite communications, the other two were in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Elder Perry pointed out that since Tonga was the first place in the world to welcome the 21st century it was only appropriate for this high-tech satellite communication to be introduced to Tonga. Elder John Groberg also pointed out that international travelling was becoming cumbersome but with an efficient satellite communication system it would make it easy for church leaders to communicate with church members throughout the world.

Elder Ronald Halverson, who also accompanied the Apostle, said that the Church of Jesus Christ was the fifth largest church in the USA, and it was the fastest growing church in the world. In Tonga there are 48,741 Latter-Day Saints members. He said that the Church has 60,000 missionaries serving in most countries of the world. Apostle Perry said that they only sent missionaries to countries that welcomed them. He said that while they were welcomed to Mainland China, the Chinese authorities wanted only Chinese to be missionaries in China.