For Sione Feinga, a native of Ha’alaufuli, Tonga, the half-decade he served as a labor missionary hardly seemed to be a sacrifice, even though he served a three-year mission in Tonga and was then called to serve another two-year mission to Hawaii. He remembers, “When the missionaries got called to Hawaii, we just jumped with joy…. We thought we were going to Heaven, coming to Hawaii.” (At top: Sione and Alice Feinga in McKay foyer) In 1960, 24-year-old Feinga and 30 of his peers were called to leave their native island of Tonga and come to Hawaii to build the present-day BYU–Hawaii. Before leaving Tonga, Feinga saw building plans and was prepared to work on the construction of Hales 3, 4, 5, and 6. What he couldn’t have anticipated, however, was the legacy that he would build in the years that followed.
After finishing her term of teaching in church schools in Tonga, Alice French joined her future husband in Hawaii where the couple was married in the Laie Hawaii Temple. Three of their four children attended the school that their father helped to build, and all of them have married graduates of the University. The Feingas also currently have a granddaughter, Katherine Beaver, who will graduate from BYU-Hawaii in December. According to Feinga, “We both love this place; it’s sort of like we grew up here, [Alice] and I. This is where we were married and started our family… it's where we decided to stay and live and this is where we are going to die.”
At first, life in Hawaii was not an easy adjustment for Feinga. He laughs now about the culture shock he and his peers experienced. “They made us bologna sandwiches for lunch and we had never seen that before. We tasted it and we didn’t like it, so we fed the Mynah birds.” In addition to the food, the language was also a challenge at the beginning. “In Hawaii, kau kau is eating,” says Feinga with a smile. “In Tonga, kau kau [means] taking a shower. For the first few mornings, the cook would come and yell at the front of our home, ‘Kau kau!’ The Hawaiians headed to the cafeteria, and the Tongans and the Samoans headed to the shower.”
Though living in Hawaii was not always easy for Feinga, his faith in the mission of BYU–Hawaii sustained him through not only his two-year mission but also through the 25 years he later spent overseeing other construction projects on campus. “I have lived here for the last 50 years,” Feinga says humbly. “And I have seen the students go out from here. They are the leaders of those little countries in the Pacific. That is exactly a fulfillment of [President McKay’s] prophesy. They are leaders of their countries; they are leaders in the church; they are leaders of everything when they leave [BYU–Hawaii].”
(At Left: The Feinga Family Reunion; as a part of their activities, the whole family took a tour of the BYU–Hawaii campus)
Feinga’s belief in the mission of the university has been strengthened by his interaction over the years with visiting general authorities such as Presidents Kimball, Benson, Hunter, and others. Feinga’s lifetime of service to BYU–Hawaii and, ultimately, the Lord, has created a legacy that his family will enjoy for generations to come. Looking back, Feinga feels blessed to be able to see so much progress and growth. “It’s good for the soul,” he says contentedly.
Photos by Nathan Lehano