The Story of Lio Aisea

The Aisea family lives on Savaii in the village of Samalaeulu. This is a story of faith
and courage. It is as he told it to President and Sister Pauga and me Sunday, 24 January
2010. He only speaks Samoan. Too bad I could not understand it at all. They retold the
story to me later that evening.

In about 1975 his father, an active member of the Catholic Church, served on the matai
council of the village. The Matai are the leaders, the decision makers for the village.
Some things had been happening in that council that distressed him very much. (I did
not learn what those things may have been, but I suspect it had something to do with
religion.) He determined that he would resign from the village council and would no
longer associate with the Catholic Church. The elder Aisea traveled to Tuasivi where he
asked the stake president to come baptize his family. He wanted to be LDS. (There are
details here I would love to know, but they were not vital to this story.) Although they
had not ever been taught by missionaries, the entire family did join the Church.
Gradually others joined with their family on Sundays and the meetings were held in their
fale (open air home).

The Aisea family held property rights to two separate pieces of land, on each side of the
river at Samalaeulu. Over the years the membership of the branch there increased in
number. The family's fale was becoming far too small for everyone to sit in it for the
meetings. The Aiseas sought permission from the Matai council to erect a chapel so
they could meet more comfortably. It would be built on the family's land. The council
did declare that their village could have four churches—Catholic, LMS (London
Missionary Society—now called Congregationalist), Seventh Day Adventist, and LDS.
The council had drafted a letter stating such which was given to the family.

After some deliberation, the originally planned site was decided against. They would
build on the family land closer to the road on the other side of the river. The head of the
family, the one who had originally made the decision to be LDS, and his wife left the
island to go to New Zealand. (I do not know if this were to relocate as such, or just to
visit for an extended time.) The son, Lio, became the head of the family.

He made arrangements for the Craig Builders to come. The Craig family live on Upolu
and have been the builders of all the LDS chapels on these islands. They are rock solid
members. He prepared the land for the construction and went through the legal
requirements, obtaining a lease for the building. The foundation was being set when he
received a letter from the Matai council. They had changed their minds. The village
only needed two churches—LMS and Catholic. Do not build the chapel.

Evidently the actuality of another church building, especially one so visible and
accessible was more than the paid clergy of the village could allow. They must have
prevailed upon the council with their strong arguments so this atrocity would be stopped.
The SDA church had not tried to put up a building. They also were to disband.

The year was 1996. But since the first letter had been filed with the government, Lio
saw no legal reason for them to have to cancel the construction of the building. When it
became obvious the Aiseas would not comply but would persist in their abomination, the
village matai council sent a second letter. The construction would cease and the church
would disband. This must have been strongly worded, because Lio asked his wife “How
strong is your testimony?”

Lio traveled to wherever the head of government is on Savaii. The original letter
showed that this was started in the proper way. Once the money had been put out and
the bricks and other materials were on the site it was not right to make them stop. The
walls were erected and building continued. A third letter came. Evidently they were
being threatened, for his reply to the courrier—the taulealea—was “I am ready to die for
my church!”

The exterior of the building was complete and interior finishing was underway. A fourth
letter was delivered to Lio Aisea while he was at home by the taulealea, but he arrived in
a diner truck—one that can be opened from the side and used as a diner. This home is
on the side of the river away from the chapel. Lio obviously showed that he would not
comply with the demand. Sudenly the truck opened up and a crowd of men piled out of
it. They snatched up Lio, tied him up, and transported him away. The Craig builders
came and took his wife and children to the police station, 40 minutes away, for their
protection. Who knew what other evil had been planned?

Meanwhile the crowd of men drove over to the village malae (sort of like a village
green, the open place in the center of town) where they set him in the middle and poured
baskets full of wood on top of him. They lighted a fire on each side of him and waited
for him to burn. But the Lord was watching over him. It began to rain; not a gentle rain
but a downpour. The rain put out the fires. The hostile men dissipated and went their
separate ways.

When the family had been safely taken to Tuisivi, the police there said they had no
vehicles and not enough manpower to do anything for several hours. The Craig builders
went back to Samalaeulu to do what they could for Lio. They found him still tied up,
covered with wood and soaking wet. They returned to Tuisivi with him.

The police said that he could file charges the next morning. By this time it was too late
to do so that day. But he said, no. He didn't want to press charges. He would forgive
the village for this. He just wanted to resume his life with his family and finish the
chapel. The police said they could not let him do that. It was too dangerous for him and
his family. The hostile environment was something this distant police station could not
control.

So he and his wife and children left Savaii and joined with some other family members
who lived on Upolu in Apia. But they did bring suit against the matai council for their
forbidding the building of a church after they had approved it. It made the front of the
news reports. Not the atrocity of trying to burn him—after all, it was not all Mormons
being persecuted, just Lio Aisea who was defying the council—but rather the question of
who is in charge. The Matai won. The decision was that the village matai council owns
all the land of the village and the leases and the buildings themselves.

The Aiseas of course contested this and it was hotly debated all over Samoa. It was not
right for any group to have authority over who lives and who dies, and all property
ownership. Others said that the ways of Samoa must allow the Matai to be the final
authority on all questions. Samoa must be allowed to be Samoa. Arguments about
human rights came into play. Back and forth the arguments went.

Finally it was decided, although of course there will be those who disagree. This time
the Aisea family won. So in 1999 they moved back to Samalaeulu and the building was
made ready for use. That year he was called as branch president and has been in that
positon for the past ten years. This building was where we were meeting last Sunday.