Nuuausala Touli awoke before dawn on the morning of 29 September 2009. She wanted to get an early start on the day. After hiking to the little plantation in the hills above her village, she began tending her garden.
She had worked just a short while when suddenly the ground began to shake. The island had experienced many small earthquakes over the years but this time it was different. The shaking was much stronger and went on for what seemed a very long time.
Fearing for the safety of her daughter and grandchildren who were still asleep in their fale (home) down below, Nuuausala began running back toward the village. As she reached the bottom of the hill she heard a loud roar and the terrible sounds of destruction as a tsunami swept through the village.
She heard the terrified screams of the people and then saw the giant brown wave as it passed through the village, headed straight for her. She called for her family and turned to run but tripped, landing face first on the ground, breaking her front teeth. Scrambling to get back on her feet and up the hill, she found herself tangled in some old barbed wire that gripped her clothing and cut into her.
After finally freeing herself and crawling up the hill, she rested for a short while to regain her strength and then returned to her village. She found it utterly destroyed. Her daughter Suvania and her two young grandchildren were gone. So was her home.
The members of the village quickly joined in the search and finally located Suvania. She had been carried by the wave over 400 yards from the destroyed home and was left tangled amongst the thick mangrove trees. She was seriously injured but had survived and was rushed to the local hospital.
They continued looking for the grandchildren and eventually, tragically, found their little bodies, buried under piles of sand and other debris.
Once the word got out that Sister Touli had lost her two grandchildren and her home, and that her daughter was injured and in the hospital, her Mormon ward (congregation) came to help.
Within three days, the men had constructed a new fale, from the ground up. They were followed by the women of her Relief Society (Mormon women’s organization) who cleaned and decorated the new fale and installed a beautiful cloth trim around the ceiling.
Next it was the young single adults from her ward who came with shovels and rakes to clean and landscape the exterior of her new fale.
All this service, provided by her fellow Latter-day Saints, was completed in just one week. In the following week, donations from wards in the neighbouring island of Suvaii provided additional clothing, furniture and other goods necessary for the operation of a home.
Although Nuuausala and her daughter Suvania have suffered a serious loss, she says that she has no regrets about her life and has never doubted the Lord. She feels that the earthquake and tsunami are just part of nature and these things are going to happen from time to time.
She says that she fully believes the Gospel of Jesus Christ and knows that the Lord watches over His children. She has been a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and lived in the same village her entire life.
Days after the tsunami hit her village, Area President of the Church, Elder Tad R. Callister and his wife, Sister Kathryn Callister, visited with her in her new home.
Nuuausala has volunteered as a teacher of young Latter-day Saints (in the Church’s seminary program) for 25 years, and continues to serve in that capacity to this day.
