During our trip, Myles commented to me several times, “You’ve changed. Something is different.”
What he was seeing was a growing desire in me to come live in Tonga both to complete the Church of St. George and to walk with this small group of Orthodox Tongan people as they grow in their faith. I am frequently reminded that the Church is not a building, but the assembly of faithful who make up the Body of Christ.
In Tonga, the missionaries have been moved by the Holy Spirit to build this beautiful temple for God’s Glory, but the ultimate vision is to support the Tongan people in building a healthy, vibrant and self-sustaining Orthodox community. With every day that passed among the kind and loving people of Tonga I wanted more and more to return with my family to share our life in Christ and thereby participate in building the true church – the Body of Christ – as well as the new temple.
I proposed the idea to Archimandrite Meletios, dean of missions for the Metropolis. He suggested I return with Meghan and our children for a couple weeks, visit Tonga and the Orthodox communities in Fiji, and get a sense of how our family could fit in with the existing ministry. As we all know, the COVID-19 phenomenon soon upended the intentions and hopes of many around the world, and our family was unable to take this scouting trip.
In particular, Tonga has instituted some of the strictest COVID restrictions in the world, so the church project in Tonga is on hold indefinitely. As soon as the global situation allows, the Metropolis of New Zealand will resume the Tonga project and prepare the Church of St. George for its first Divine Liturgy.
REGARDING OUR FAMILY
During the past year, the desire to return to the South Pacific and assist in the ongoing apostolic ministry has continued to grow – not only in me, but in Meghan and our children as well.
Through prayer and much consultation, Meghan and I have decided to redirect our desire to move to Tonga in favor of Fiji, whose COVID policy allows for foreigners to come with government approval. Under the supervision of the Metropolis of New Zealand, we will support the two growing communities of Orthodox Fijians, each with 150-200 faithful, plus a small women’s monastery and the St. Tabitha Children’s Home. We also hope to continue the work in Tonga as COVID restrictions ease.
We have been training with the Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC), the official missions agency of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States. Meghan and I have begun studying Fijian language and culture, and making preparations to move our family to Fiji for our two-year assignment.
Before we embark, we need 65 sustaining partners giving monthly so that we can focus all our efforts on serving the people of Fiji and Tonga. Please pray that we meet this goal, so that we can continue our ongoing journey of “Crazy Faith.”
Many thanks, again, to all of you for your prayerful and loving support of our 2020 mission trip to Tonga!
In Christ,
Michael Jones
This video is of the children at the St. Tabitha Children’s Home in Fiji singing a farewell song to our group just before we returned to the USA.