In 1982, Mauveri Rome (pronounced Ro-May) and his wife Vaiba made a decision that changed not just the path of their young family, but the development of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Papua New Guinea. They accepted the invitation of a senior missionary couple to be baptized.
At the time, the Church was still new to Papua New Guinea. The Rome’s baptism took place a year before Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (1922-2015) would officially dedicate the young Pacific nation for the preaching of the gospel.
Elder Perry’s dedicatory prayer, offered on 14 April, 1983, was attended by curious onlookers and the Church’s few members on the top of a hill overlooking the nation’s capital city of Port Moresby. The Rome’s were there. At the time they could only guess at what the Church might one day become in their native land, and at the large role they would play in its growth.
Though their means were modest, the Lord knew the Rome’s powerful spirits. In 1983 the young couple traveled to the Hamilton New Zealand temple to receive their endowments and be sealed as husband and wife for eternity. It was their first trip on an airplane.
A few months later, Bro. Rome was called to be the first branch president in Papua New Guinea. The small branch met each week in a rented Red Cross storehouse in Port Moresby. In time other branches were created, and in 1989 Bro. Rome was called as Papua New Guinea's first district president.
But as the gospel began to grow in Papua New Guinea, so too did opposition to the work. Longstanding and established faiths saw their members joining the growing Church in increasing numbers. At the time, Papua New Guinea’s two national newspapers wrote articles critical of the faith. Nevertheless in 1995, as evidence of the Church's continuing growth, Bro. Rome was called to serve as Papua New Guinea's first stake president.
Sister Rome was also busy during the Church’s early years of growth, serving multiple times as a ward or branch Primary president, Young Women President, and stake Relief Society President, while raising their eight children.
Then, in 2010, a photograph was taken of a riverside baptismal service along the Vamu River in the remote Sogere District of western Papua New Guinea. A copy of the picture now hangs on the walls of the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, USA. It shows the riverside service with newly baptized members being confirmed on the shoreline, with other local members armed with spears standing guard in the river to keep nearby crocodiles from attacking those in the water. Mauveri Rome attended that unusual baptismal service, assisting with the onshore confirmations of the newly-baptized members.
Nine years later, on 5 August 2019, President Russel M. Nelson announced that a House of the Lord would be built in Port Moresby. When the groundbreaking service was held on 22 April 2023, the Romes were invited to attend, and Brother Rome participated in the groundbreaking.
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Today, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is both accepted and appreciated for its contributions to Papua New Guinea. Construction on the Port Moresby Temple is continuing, with members looking forward to the possibility of a 2026 dedication.
Compared to the rest of the world, the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Papua New Guinea is relatively short. In only two generations, the Church has grown from a new and little-known faith to a growing and well-respected part of the nation’s religious fabric. Through it all, Brother and Sister Rome served as some of the nation’s first true spiritual shepherds.
“We see the upcoming temple dedication as an end,” Brother Rome says, “but also as a beginning. The Lord is in charge. It is His church. We have been so fortunate to be part of it.”