This book highlights the faith of the Tongan Saints from contact with our first missionaries in 1891 until the centennial commemoration held in Tonga in 1991, with an epilogue that will highlight events until the present. At that centennial commemoration, rain fell upon the Tonga Saints, and so did revelation from the mouth of Apostle Russell M. Nelson. After thanking the congregation for their "great example as Latter-day Saints," he pronounced a blessing upon the local Church members, "that from this island kingdom, faith may radiate through the entire world and affect the lives of people all over the world."

In 1820, a young farm boy in search of truth has a vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ. Three years later, an angel guides him to an ancient record buried in a hill near his home. With God’s help, he translates the record and organizes the Savior’s church in the latter days. Soon others join him, accepting the invitation to become Saints through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. But opposition and violence follow those who defy old traditions to embrace restored truths. The women and men who join the church must choose whether or not they will stay true to their covenants, establish Zion, and proclaim the gospel to a troubled world. The Standard of Truth is the first book in Saints, a new, four-volume narrative history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Fast-paced, meticulously researched, Saints recounts true stories of Latter-day Saints across the globe and answers the Lord’s call to write history “for the good of the church, and for the rising generations” (Doctrine and Covenants 69:8).

In this first detailed account of growing up in Tonga, Helen Morton focuses on the influence of anga fakatonga ("the Tongan way") in all facets of Tongan childhood, from the antenatal period to late adolescence. Childhood is a crucial period when cultural identity and notions of tradition are constructed, as well as beliefs about self, personhood, and emotion. Based on her anthropological fieldwork and her experiences in Tonga over several years, Morton traces the Tongan socialization process—from being vale (ignorant, socially incompetent) to becoming poto (clever, socially competent)—in fascinating detail. The socialization of emotion is also given detailed attention, especially the management of anger and emphasis on emotional restraint.

Describes the exposure of island churches to brutal interlopers in World War II which foreshadowed the twilight of the missionary and colonial eras.

The term Polynesia refers to a cultural and geographical area in the Pacific Ocean, bound by what is commonly referred to as the Polynesian Triangle, which consists of Hawai'i in the north, New Zealand in the southwest, and Easter Island in the southeast. Thousands of islands are scattered throughout this area, most of which are currently included in one of the modern island states of American Samoa, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Hawai'i, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Tokelau, Tuvalu, and Wallis and Futuna. The third edition of the Historical Dictionary of Polynesia greatly expands on the previous editions through a chronology, an introductory essay, an expansive bibliography, and over 400 cross-referenced dictionary entries on significant persons, events, places, organizations, and other aspects of Polynesian history from the earliest times to the present. Appendixes of the major islands and atolls within Polynesia, the rulers and administrators of the 13 major island states, and basic demographic information of those states are also included.