There are already several Fijian, Tongan and Samoan women who are Uniting Church ministers in Australia and most have come from Methodist backgrounds in the islands. Yesterday Mrs Temukisa Vaeluga, a Samoan who has spent part of her life in Fiji, New Zealand and now Australia, was ordained in Geelong. St Andrews was the venue of this significant event of the Uniting Church, the ordination of a Samoan woman, Mrs Temukisa Vaeluaga, the wife of St Andrew's and St Albans minister Rev Sani. It was a beautiful ceremony, with two hours of ritual, music, prayers and a fine sermon from Rev Professor Sean Winter. Afterwards we had a Pacific style feast for a couple of hundred people. There were Islander style aspects too - the blowing of three conch shells, the ceremonial items of a kava bowl, a walking stick, mats and tapa cloth. Congratulations to Temukisa for all the study over many years and the discernment to become a minister. Her first appointment will be in Gippsland at the town of Traralgon. Rev Sani will also move from Geelong to become a Presbytery Minister in Gippsland. It was been a pleasure to have this Samoan family in our midst for a few years and they will be missed especially by the people of St Andrews and St Albans and the Presbytery of Port Phillip West where Sani has been the chairperson.
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