Alipate Ravatunawa Vosaki is a young member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who lives in the Fijian village of Kuku.
He noticed two things about his village. One, there wasn't a lot of mixing of people across faith lines; and, two, the local Methodist church needed a paint job.
He found a way to solve both problems. He suggested that villagers work together to paint the church, which they readily agreed to do.
LDS Charities supported the project with paint and other supplies.
Kuku is a very large village with lots of settlements around it. The village chief and the villagers rallied together with local Latter-day Saints and began the work.
People were assigned to different crews at different times and everyone had the opportunity to serve. Within a week they had successfully scraped off the old paint and applied a beautiful new finish to the building.
Lote Qoroya, president of the Nausori Fiji Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said the effort was a unifying one.
He said, "What a wonderful thing it was to witness the friendships that have developed."