How the Restored Gospel came to Niue

They climbed down a 100 ft cliff to be baptized. In 1952, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ was just beginning to reach the tiny Pacific island of Niu. Fritz Krueger and his wife Isabelle moved there with their six children. Fritz traveled around the island showing movies, selling bread, making friends, and sharing the gospel. Soon a Sunday school he started in his home was drawing dozens of people.

Then two young missionaries, Robert Goodman and Wallace Barrett arrived. They began teaching near Alohi, eventually gathering as many as a hundred people to hear about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. But opposition grew quickly. Rocks were thrown at the missionaries. People who listen to them face threats, curses, and ostracism. One missionary became so seriously ill after cutting his feet on the coral that he had to leave the island.

Still, the missionaries kept preaching and the people kept coming. By August, 26 Neoans had gained testimonies and wanted to be baptized. But because the opposition had become so intense, the missionaries worried about holding a public baptism. So, they made a plan. At night, they loaded the converts into a truck and drove to the top of the island's towering coral cliffs. Then, carrying only a few kerosene lanterns, they descended single file down a 100 ft cliff to Amanau Cave.

Something seemed different that night. Elder Goodman remembered that the normally pounding ocean was unusually quiet. Inside the cave, the water was calm and crystal clear. Lantern light reflected across the walls and ceiling like a cathedral, and it seemed like there was more light in the cave than their few lanterns could explain. There, hidden from those who opposed them, the first large group of Nuan converts entered the waters of baptism.

And they were only the beginning. During the first year of missionary work, 65 people were baptized in Niu. To me, that's what makes this story so powerful. The gospel didn't come to Niu because the way was easy. It came because faithful missionaries continued ministering despite the obstacles they faced because they loved the people they had been called to serve. Jesus asked Peter if he loved him and then commanded him to feed his sheep.

Peter spent the rest of his life doing just that despite the obstacles he faced because he loved the Lord. We can show our love for God by ministering to his children. And we can be like these Neoan saints who exercised faith by stepping into the darkness before they could see the light.