Mormon woman from Tonga sees vision fulfilled at 102

They called this Mormon woman a liar for decades until at last she was vindicated. An LDS woman in Tonga said she saw a chapel years before it was ever built. Her name was Vicato Tavutu in the late 1930s on the island of Uiha. She was serving as Relief Society president when she became very ill. She feared she might be released from her calling. Around that time, an apostle of the Lord, George Albert Smith, visited the island.

She asked him for a blessing. She did not speak or understand any English, but she understood his entire prayer. In that blessing, he promised her that if she remained faithful, she would one day see a chapel built on her island. And as he spoke, she saw it, a chapel, clear and real. She also saw a steeple shining like gold. She believed it and so she told her people. She shared what she had seen and said a chapel would be built someday.

But as the years passed, nothing happened. Even after decades, no chapel was built. And so the people began to mock her. They said she was a liar. But she never wavered. Then years later, the church sent Tongen building missionaries and a supervisor to Uhha to construct a chapel. As they prepared to build, Vicato described the building. Her description of the layout was so accurate that the missionaries wondered if she had read the blueprints.

But there was one detail she had always described, the steeple. She said it would shine like gold. The steeple that was planned was silver, but unexpectedly it was diverted to another island and so a different steeple was sent in its place. This one was bronze and it shone like gold in the sun. By this time, Vicato was 102 years old, but she worked on the chapel. She arrived before others to prepare the site.

She carried sharp, heavy coral bricks throughout the day. Her hands began to bleed. When she was given gloves, she said, "The Savior's hands had bled for me, and I am not ashamed to have my hands bleed for the Savior's work." When the chapel was almost completed, she said she knew how Joseph Smith felt when the Lord provided witnesses to the Book of Mormon. She felt vindicated. The Lord had given her a witness, the chapel, and now everyone knew that she had told the truth many years before.