"Good bye, Elder Tipa...Fa'afetai"

This is Elder Tipa. We shared our office with him and Elder Gage, the other Assistant to the President...until today. Today, Elder Tipa finished his mission and flew home to American Samoa. (The Mission Office is located in "Western Samoa" in case you are confused.)

A couple of weeks ag0, we celebrated his birthday with him.

It is hard to believe that we could become so attached to someone in just a few short weeks. But Elder Merrell and I did just that. We quickly grew to love his smile, his teasing and his ability to connect with everyone he met.


For the past few weeks, Elder Tipa and Elder Gage have been teaching a Samoan class to the senior missionaries. I am sure they must have been amazed at how we struggled with simple words and phrases, but they were always patient with us.

One night, Elder Tipa told us a story about some turkeys who spent the day learning to fly and then walked home, afterwards. He did not have to call us turkeys to make his point!

For me, the word I struggled with the most was "fa'afetai" the Samoan word for "thank-you" I simply could not remember it. One day, as I was using my notes to converse with him, he said to me, "Now Sister Merrell, You Know This!

On his last night at Samoa class, Elder Tipa testified that the gift of tongues was real. It was then that I realized that one of his greatest spiritual gifts was Elder Tipa's ability to believe in everyone.

We will miss you, Tipa.....Fa'afetai!

I think it is fitting to close with this video of Elder Tipa singing a song that his grandfather wrote. It will melt your heart.