EMP Sister Profile - Valencia Sekona

Sister Valencia Sekona left Brisbane to serve a mission in Sydney for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on December 3rd. 2009.  On April 7th. 2010, Valencia flipped over the handlebars of her bicycle in an accident that has left her a quadriplegic.  She was 23 years old. 

After 8 months in hospital, Valencia came home to a purpose-built extension to her family home.  She now has some slight sensation in her legs, and can move her arms and fingers a little.  Carers come for 2-3 hours every morning, and about 2 hours every night, to help with meals, personal care and physio. 

Valencia works 4 days a week, doing administration work at Disability Services, where she worked before her mission.  She is the eldest of 6 children, and was born into the Church.  Her parents are Tongan.  The Sekona's live in Springwood Ward.  

What were your reactions after the accident?
"It helped a lot to know that people were fasting and praying for me when I was in hospital - not just for me, but I think it helped my family a lot as well.

"My life has changed dramatically, because I am not as independent as I was.  Some things can be a bit frustrating.  I miss being independent.  It didn't really hit me for a while..  I wanted to go back to my mission. It was when I left the hospital to come home that it sunk in. 

"I think I was very fortunate because of my family.  Of course I've had the biggest help from my mother. Because I've seen her cope really well with it.  My mother's been the strongest.  She's been the 'rod' in the family - the one that has held it all together, from the beginning of all that I've been through. She came to the hospital every day.

"A lot of people ask, 'do you regret going on a mission?' but no, I don't!  People ask if I blame God.  I think I never thought of it.  It's been the opposite way.  I think that's what's helped me.

"It was more that I saw it not being a challenge for me, but for my family.  What helped was, that despite what happened, it made me think of the long-term.  Everyone goes through a challenge in life.  I think that this is my challenge.  I see it as - Heavenly Father wouldn't put this challenge in my way if he knew I wasn't capable of it.  It has strengthened my testimony.  I feel I have more of a relationship with Heavenly Father now than I did before.

"It's what I believe in that has helped.  I always think of the scripture, 'Endure to the end'.  I have to think positive. This life is short.  My Patriarchal Blessing helps me a lot.  If I'm in this wheelchair for the rest of my life, I'm not bothered.  I've accepted it.  I know it's not going to be forever.

How would you describe yourself?
"I'm pretty easy-going and laid-back.  I get along with people easily.  A very organised person.  I plan things a lot.  I'm a 'by-the-book' kind of person; I'm very particular about things.  Quite open to learning about new things.

What has been your happiest moment?
"When I was on my mission.  It was a happy time for me.  It's so easy to talk to people about the gospel.  When you have a companion who has the same beliefs and ideas as you, and you can just talk about that.

Do you have any advice for the sisters?
"I think even though, no matter what I'm going through, that there's always someone else who's a lot worse off than me, and I also think back to the Saviour.  What I'm going through - there's no-one else who would understand that more than the Saviour.  For me, that has helped me tremendously.

What do you enjoy?
"I love food.  I love to go out to movies and I like to eat out a lot.  I enjoy being independent as much as I can.  I have a great group of friends that I enjoy going out with.  I'm out a lot.  I'm very family oriented.  I'm very close to my family and all my relations.  I love socializing."

By Sandy Munro

Sister Ofeila Stowers

Sister Ofeila Stowers was born in Samoa, moved to NZ in 1981, and then to Brisbane in 2009.  She joined the Church in 1999, when she was 31, and her family was sealed in the temple one year later. She and her husband, Peniamina, have 4 children: Monica is 26, Daniel is 21, Ezekiel is 18, and Ezra is 12. Their son Daniel is currently serving a two-year mission in Sydney North.  Although Ofeila struggles to speak and understand English, her skills are improving, and she is becoming more confident.  It can be hard, and sometimes makes her feel lonely, to be almost the only Samoan family in Springwood ward, but Ofeila says she"feels welcome", and "I feel like a part of Relief Society.  I love our Springwood ward sisters - their smiles, their hellos."  Ofeila loves to sing in choirs, but it's harder in English.  She doesn't drive, so catches a bus to work each day.  She loves the gospel and comes to Church every Sunday.  Ofeila's sister, Puna Lepua, lives in Kuraby ward with her family.  

What is the happiest you have ever been?

"When my husband took me and my children to be sealed in the temple.  I am (also) very happy to go to work, to help support my family."

"I only met my husband for two weeks, and then we got married!  He didn't want to wait.  It was not a big wedding."  (Monica adds that her parents are still sweethearts, and that their love is still growing.)

What do you like to do?

"I like to clean.  I work as a cleaner at the Mater Hospital."  Why do you like to clean?  "The patients - I like helping people.  I like exercise.  I go walking every day for one and a half hours.  I like cooking.  And gardening - vegetables and flowers."

Why did you join the Church?

"The missionaries shared the Book of Mormon.  I feel the Book of Mormon is true.  I believe it.  I always went to visit my grandparents, (in Samoa), when they were alive. They always shared with us the Church. They always read the Book of Mormon to me."

What would you like the sisters to know about you?

"I want the sisters to know I not speak very well and I understand just a little bit.  If they need help cleaning, then let me know to help.  I'd like to help.  I enjoy giving service.  I want to come to Church.  To meet new people and to set an example for the children."  

Monica added: "She's a great mother.  She's very sensitive.  She is nice and cheerful if you need someone to listen.  She really loves her family very much.  She talks to her sister nearly every day."

Do you have any advice for the sisters?

"To smile. Say hello.  Love.  We need to share the gospel with our children.  Have Family Home Evening.  We have always had it and it has helped our family, and especially to share our thoughts. Read the Book of Mormon and read it to the children.  Try to set an example to your children by always attending church and sacrament meeting, and showing them how much you love the gospel. Teach your children to serve the Lord."

Monica:  "She teaches her children the right things.  To go to the temple and temple marriage."

"My good friend is Sister (Marlene) Glass.  She always walks around my house and says 'hello', and always comes to say 'hi' to me when I come to church.  When I go to the temple I always talk to her.  I love my Visiting Teachers (Lyn Mieklejohn and Sarah Mahler) because they always visited me!"

How would you describe yourself?

"Love.  I like sharing.  I like to help people.  I like to talk.  Caring."

Monica: "She's a clean freak! We learn from her a lot, from her actions.  She always thinks about us kids before she thinks about herself.  She always finds a way to provide for us.  She is very quiet and shy.  They (my parents) are nice people.  It is hard for them to understand, and they are scared to speak English.  But they always try their best to say hello."

By Sandy Munro

Sister Vivian Villalobos

Vivian is Spanish-speaking, and is finding the language barrier very difficult since she moved to Brisbane.  Although her daughter, Helen, was there to help, Vivian really speaks English very well. 

What would you like the sisters to know about you?
"I would like the sisters to know that I am always available to help and to be a friend!  I am always grateful for my own leaders in our stake and in our ward, and all the efforts that the Church puts in.  I feel a lot of love and respect for all my sisters, but I can't express it very well.  All the sisters are an example to me.  I have a big testimony of the Church.  My testimony is very important to me.  It's helped me a lot in my life, in so many different situations.  I know I am a daughter of God.  I know He loves me.  Sunday is very important to me."

Vivian and her husband joined the Church almost 30 years ago.  Eleven months later, as they were preparing to visit the temple in one month's time, Luis had an terrible accident.
"I was pregnant with Helen; it was Christmas time, and I had two children.  Our Stake President gave him a blessing and it was the only thing that (Luis) remembered.  He was in a coma for three days.  His eyes were closed, but they opened when our stake president gave him the blessing.  He was very sick for a long time. He could not remember anything of the three months.  But he remembered that the Stake President came. The blessing saved his life."

What makes you happiest?
"The Gospel. Children. Family. The scriptures. Heavenly Father.  When we feel bad, I know reading scriptures and my prayers helps me to feel better."

What advice would you give the sisters?
"I like always for the sisters to say hello and be happy.  For the sisters who are very cheerful and have love, who greet others and make them feel welcome - to keep doing it. And for those who don't, just to maybe build the courage to do so.  Just to maybe even be more aware of those who may need the smile.  Sit close.  Say hello.  Sometimes we are so busy, but it's the simple things."

Past callings?
"Primary president, Relief Society president, Young Women president, and Compassionate Service Leader, in my (Spanish-speaking) ward in Sydney.  I love to give service and to have callings and responsibilities. I love to be more actively involved in Church.  My favourite calling is compassionate service."

How would you describe yourself?
"Friendly.  Gets nervous easily.  Very family orientated.  Hard worker.  Determined.  Loves being a mother." Vivian's mother says that Vivian is:  "a very good daughter to her."  (Helen added: 'Very humble. And very strong.')

Vivian was born in Chile.  After joining the Church, her family came to Australia.  They were very happy in Sydney, then moved to Brisbane eight years ago for Luis' work.  They have five children - three boys and two girls, and 41/2 grand-children.  Their youngest daughter, Karen, is currently on a mission in California.  Vivian's husband, Luis, was diagnosed with bowel cancer and operated on eight weeks ago, but is doing well now and is back at work. Vivian loves dancing, and is a wonderful home-maker, but her particular interest is in flower-arranging.  She worked for 19 years as a florist in Sydney - something she misses a lot!  Vivian also has a wedding hire and decorating business that she runs from home, for which she prepares functions about once a month.  She truly loves to give service and would love 'to be used more' if possible. Vivian tries to keep social, and to keep 'doing', but she sometimes misses the friends and the responsibilities she enjoyed so much in their Spanish-speaking ward in Sydney, and she would love to do more with the sisters here. The Villalobos family live in Loganholme ward.


By Sandy Munro

Sister Hazel Kaese

Hazel (in pink shirt) with her husband Mitchell and their three children.

Hazel's family converted to the Church when she was 9 years old:

"My mother was very, very ill.  We thought she could die.  I told my best friend at school in Grade 3, and she told her Mum - who was Carol Bentley, who was the ward Relief Society president.  Carol believed that everyone within the ward boundaries should be taken care of, whether or not they were members of the Church.  She organised support, (food and other help), so all these meals were turning up.  Carol told her husband, Tom, and he came too, saying, 'we just want to help.'  The missionaries did yard work, and kept coming around and offering to help.  Carol was packing lunches and looking after Mum at home, for several months, without any expectation.  It wasn't like - you can only have this if you come and listen to our beliefs. It was just done with kindness and love.  Dad recognized that these were good people.  He finally said to the missionaries, 'You keep coming around; you might as well tell me what you believe.'  Dad had a question that he asked everyone religious who came to the door: 'What's heaven like?  Do you work there?  How do you get your food?'  He liked the missionaries' answer that heaven is a beautiful place, but that we continue to work, learn and serve others there.

"My mother also had a question.  Her father was disappointed with religion because my mother had a sister who had died when she was 6 months old.  The minister wouldn't give her a Christian burial because she hadn't been Christened, and he said that she was 'full of sin'.  My grandfather studied the scriptures and he spoke to (my mum) when she was leaving home, saying:  'At some point you will want to discover religion. You need to look for one that has a living prophet, because that is what the scriptures taught.  Also, knowledge should have witnesses to it, so when you are taught, it should be two people teaching.  You should believe that children are born without sin.'  The missionaries still came around teaching for 6 months before they were baptised, because my parents really wanted to know."

Do you have any advice for the sisters?

"Go with your passion in life.  When I entered Uni, it was so I could work with 'normal' children, but I discovered that my passion in life is working with children with disabilities."

Original art by Hazel

What would you like the sisters to know about you?

"I am a mother and a wife.  And a teacher for anyone who wants to know about looking after children who have disabilities.  The thing that got me through university and some other trials in life, is knowing that I am a daughter of God."

   

Original art by Hazel

Hazel was born in Tingalpa, Brisbane.  When she was very young her family lived in Canada for 2 years, then spent 6 months in England, before coming back to Australia.  She and Mitchell married in the Sydney temple 25 years ago, and have three children.  In 2010 Hazel commenced a 'Bachelor of Child and Family Studies' degree at Griffith University.  While currently studying for her 'Masters in Autism', she also loves her work as an Inclusion Support Facilitator at Noah's Ark, providing special needs support.  Hazel's past callings at church include a 15 year stint serving in Primary as the Primary Music Leader.  She and Mitchell now serve as Nursery Leaders in the EMP ward.  Hazel loves reading her text books, singing, and bush-walking with her family, but her special interest is in Aboriginal painting and art - something she has loved since she was a little girl, even before she learned that her grandmother was Aboriginal.  Previous to university, Hazel taught Aboriginal art and behavioural management, as a teacher aide and Cultural and Indigenous Arts teacher aide.

Hazel describes herself as:

"Generally happy, love helping people, love working with children, love sharing the knowledge I have learned with other people."

By Sandy Munro

Sister Pat Ware

About her recent Service Mission:
"A really wonderful experience!  My family say they have seen big changes in me..  probably much greater zest and enthusiasm in my life."

How did you come to serve a Service Mission?
"I applied to serve a full-time Senior Mission, but each time I bailed out because of things like health issues. Then our last Bishop at Waterford said, 'Go ahead'.  I had faith in him but didn't know how it would work..   Driving home in the car, all of a sudden, clear as a bell: 'You can teach English.'  That one sentence - just like a light had come on!  I saw President Smibert, and he said, 'You cannot imagine what it's like to sit opposite someone to give them a calling, and have them tell you what the calling is!'  It was beautiful!  I was thinking, 'I am 70 years old - there is not much that I can do anymore.'  Then here I was being used to help in the missionary program.  What could be better than that!?"

On being a mother:
"All of my children assumed that they would go to university.  I never really pushed it; they just all assumed it. The thing that I remember most as the years go by is the incredible amount of inspiration that the Lord gave me as a mother.  When the children asked me questions, or when individual decisions needed to be made by the children, I've seen the Lord answer the prayers of my children many times."

"We had lots of support and had good role models in Young Women (like Jill Truss), and Scout leaders, and lots of support from good bishops and home teachers."

Advice on parenting?
"Keep focussed on missions.  You use different techniques with different children.  But we always discussed things.  There weren't a lot of rules - we just did everything that we were supposed to do. We always had scripture study and Family Home Evening, and we went wherever we were supposed to be, like Seminary and Institute.  We made all of our decisions prayerfully.  We just talked.  We talked one on one about whatever was happening in our lives.  They were three very different personalities. We prayed!  We talked about answers to prayers and prayed about challenges..  We identified answers to prayers."

General advice?
"Forgive quickly and stay positive.  Don't hold grudges.  Build other people up.  No matter what you give the Lord, He always gives you back more than you give to Him."

Pat was born in Victoria and joined the Church when she was 20 years of age.  Her callings at Church include Relief Society teacher, Seminary teacher, and a temple worker for the last 8 to 9 years.  She served a mission in the Philippines, completed a 4 1/2 year degree in Elementary Education at BYU Hawaii, and worked as a secretary and supply teacher - but her great focus in life has been on her role as a mother of three, and now grandmother of 81/2.  All three of her children graduated from university - Jamie as a doctor, Peter as a civil engineer, and Lisa as a primary school teacher.  This is a wonderful credit to Pat, as the main responsibility for raising the children has fallen on her shoulders since they were quite young.  Pat also likes reading, Family History, and anything that pertains to her grand-children.  She currently resides in Waterford Ward.



By Sandy Munro

Sister Penina Faagase

Do you have any advice for the sisters?
"Always go to church!  If I want my kids to go to church, I have to go first.  If I want my kids to be tithe payers, I have to be an example to them.  If you follow and listen and obey our leaders, the Lord promises us He will bless us.  If we stay close to our Heavenly Father, He will stay close to us.  In our times of need He will help us.  I know our Heavenly Father never lies to us.  We must be faithful and be full tithe payers.

"I like us to get to know each other - all the sisters in Relief Society - especially the Palagi (white) sisters!  I always say, 'good morning!' every time.  I really want to get to know them and to understand them and to love them.  I know we all have our weaknesses, but we just keep the good part!  I love my Relief Society sisters.  I say, 'to remember my name, if it is too hard, think of 'Pearl of Great Price''!  I miss the Relief Society every Sunday, if I don't go there.  Our Bishop's wife, she's really good to everyone!  She always says hello to everyone.

"Sister Nadine Alfred, I love her very much now!  She is really a good lady! As soon as we got to know her - she is a really good lady!

"I want people to keep smiling, and to welcome everyone!

"Sister Eileen Phillips and Sister Barbara Britton are my Visiting Teachers.  They never miss, every month!  They are very good!

When the language wards disbanded in 2007, Penina's husband was asked to share his testimony on the first Sunday.  
"Bishop Munro did not know what my husband would say when he went up to the front in his wheelchair. These are the words I remember that he said: 'My dear Brothers and Sisters, I advise you to sustain our leaders! Whatever our leaders want us to do - just do it!  Wherever they want us to go - just go!"

On the disbanding of the language wards:
"It is very good for me and my family!  I am happiest for me and my kids to be in English-speaking wards.  The kids are happy because they hardly understand Samoan language.  It is hard for them to talk in Samoan.  It is especially good for me and my husband.  We learn lots of new things.  We learn a lot! That's why we are glad!  Very glad!

"I am very happy in Kuraby Ward.  I love coming to the ward. My best friend is Sister Jones; I know her from New Zealand.  All of the sisters in the ward, I like them!  Especially our dear daughter-in-law, our Relief Society President, Sister Agnes.  (Agnes Faagase)  She tries her best and she is working very hard for the Relief Society sisters.  Most of her time she spends on the road.  I hear the phone ringing for her.. I know she is working very hard!

"I know there are a lot of blessings.  In our (extended) Family Home Evening that we have every month, we always sing, ' Count Your Blessings' - one verse in Samoan and one verse in English.  It's our favourite.  And 'Love At Home'.

"The foundation of our family is to work together, and - if the Priesthood is strong in the family, the family is strong!  The thing in my family is we never let our leaders down.  We always sustain them!"

Penina Faagase was born in 1942, in Samoa.  Her father was born into the church, and her mother was a convert.  Penina was one of nine children - 8 girls and just one boy.  After serving an 18 month Church mission in American Samoa, Penina married Misikei Faagase, in 1965.  They had 7 children and have 30 grand-children.  All of her family live nearby.  Brother Faagase died in 2010, after experiencing severe ill health for many years.  He was such a hard worker for all of his family when he was younger, that he never had time to go to school.  Penina was 'so surprised' to discover after their marriage that he did not know how to read and write, although she saw that he loved to learn about the gospel by listening in classes, and he memorised many scriptures just by hearing them.  Using the scriptures, Penina taught him to read and write.  They worked at it every day and night.  "He was very happy!  He loved to learn the gospel!"  He was a very faithful and good man.

Penina has always loved music.  She sang soprano in many choirs and as a soloist.  Her usual callings at church have been as a Music Chairperson, and as a Home-making Leader in Relief Society.  She also loves craft and cooking, although ill health keeps her from doing much now.  In Family Home Evening she teaches her young grand-children how to conduct the music, to pass on her talents.

The Faagase family moved from Samoa to New Zealand in 1975, then to Australia in 1993 - which she now considers to be her homeland.

Penina doesn't like to go to the doctors - although she appreciated it when her doctor told her that she is still a very pretty woman!

Sister Faagase cannot always attend church, due to ill health.  When you do see her, she would love for you to say hello :)  (She can't always get to people easily herself, in her wheelchair.)



By Sandy Munro