Sabbath Keeper Profile: Tui’oima’alii Numera
Wife Falesoa, daughter So’otaga Misa and Tua’oima’alii Numera
When the Sabbath issue came up in December, 2011, Tui’oima’alii Numera said to himself, “How can I go against God’s commandment to keep the seventh day holy?”
He thought that, while he could not run evangelistic meetings to bring souls to the Lord, keeping the Sabbath was a way for him to witness for His Lord. He also felt that if he should keep another day, instead of keeping God’s seventh-day Sabbath, he would be closing the door to heaven and his salvation. He resolved, “I believe in the Lord and His Sabbath, and I want to be in heaven with my family. I know the Saviour died for us; our part is to keep all of God’s commandments.” And he continued to worship and obey God by keeping holy His seventh-day Sabbath, known as Saturday.
Tui’oima’alii Numera had grown up as a member of the Congregational Christian Church in Samoa, at Saleapaga. When he left his village and moved with his wife and family to Samatau, he was invited to attend the evangelistic meetings conducted by Pr. Sioeli Puni. He remembers, “The Sabbath was the most difficult point for me to accept. However, after the pastor explained the Sabbath over and over again, I finally understood, and right there and then I made the decision to accept and keep the Lord’s Sabbath. Worshiping together as a family, with my wife and children at home, and in church each Sabbath, was a delight and a joy to me. And I truly believe the saying that the ‘family which prays together, stays together.'”
He continues, “It has been eight years since I was baptized, and I praise God that He saw and directed my feet to the place where my soul can be saved. When we moved to Samatau, the Lord was moving in His mysterious way to bring my family and me to the shelter and safety of His fold.”
Despite the scoffing and the mockery which beset them since the first Sabbath of 2012, the family stayed by their choice to follow the Lord all the way. Tui’oima’alii vows, “We will not change our decision. We will remain true and steadfast to the Lord by keeping His commandments and keeping the Sabbath day holy– no matter what.”
Tui’oima’alii is grateful that Pr. Sioeli Puni, who baptized them eight years ago, again came with his wife, Arasi, from the United States, to be with them in February, 2012, to encourage and support them as they faced the STM leaders and Executive Committee members, to explain to them why they had chosen to worship on the seventh-day Sabbath.
He concludes, “It is my earnest prayer that the Lord will give us the strength to hold on to Him and that many more believers will make their stand to keep the seventh-day Sabbath of the Lord.”
