Life Service for God: Adult Mission Story for January 31, 2026

As told to Maika Tuima by Moape Vuloaloa

Moape rises with the sun. Even at 77, his morning routine is the same: feet on the floor before dawn, a whispered prayer, then straight to his desk.

“I like to be first at work,” he says with a grin. “God deserves my best hours.”

Moape grew up on the rugged coast of Ra, Fiji. His father, a church pastor, taught him to mend fishing nets, sweep the chapel floor, and greet every neighbor by name. “I watched Dad serve people,” Moape recalls. “I thought, that’s how I want to spend my life.”

School days took him to Fulton Adventist University College, a hillside campus where frangipani trees shaded the paths. He studied, prayed, and pushed heavy rollers in the student print shop. Ink stained his fingers, but hope filled his heart.

One Friday, he knelt beside the wooden pulpit of the Suva church and asked God for a partner in service. “Send me a woman who loves You,” he whispered.

God answered. He married, Mere, a kind proofreader with whom he raised three daughters. The couple promised to follow God wherever He led.

Their first assignment was at the Trans-Pacific Publishing House in Suva. Moape loaded paper at dawn, adjusted the press, and watched gospel booklets roll out in neat stacks.

When the manager heard that Moape dreamed of becoming a pastor, he shook his head.

“Stay with the press,” he urged. “Every page you print can travel farther than any sermon.”

The words touched Moape deeply. “I realized a quiet man like me could still share hope,” he says.

Moape worked at the print shop for nine years. Hard work led to promotions as a machinist, foreman, and finance officer. Each step felt like God’s gentle push forward.

In 1978, the presses fell silent. The union closed the plant and asked Moape to handle accounts at Fulton College. The family packed their few boxes and drove up the mountain, expecting another neat campus house. Instead, they found a weather-worn cottage with a leaking roof and peeling walls.

Mere burst into tears. “Let’s go back to Suva,” she pleaded.

Moape wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “We’re not here for comfort,” he said softly. “We’re here for the Lord.”

The couple scrubbed, painted, and patched the cottage until sunlight danced on clean walls. In time, it became a guesthouse for visiting leaders. “God turned our worst house into the best,” Mere likes to say, laughter in her voice.

The years sped by. Students came for advice. Children played under mango trees. And the ledger books balanced to the last cent.

One afternoon, a former student from Tahiti arrived wearing a stylish suit.

“I’m starting a business,” he announced. “Run it for me. I’ll triple your salary and give you a car and a new home.”

The offer glittered, but Moape didn’t hesitate. He lifted his eyes and spoke firmly.

“I have already chosen to serve God until I retire. Money cannot change that.”

The visitor sighed, folded his plan, and left Fiji the next day.

Moments like that strengthened Moape’s faith. “Every test made me lean harder on God,” he says. Daily prayer anchored him—early morning beside a breadfruit tree, midday in an empty classroom, and evening with his family around a small kerosene lamp.

At last, after 52 years of service, Moape closed the college safe for the final time and walked home through falling dusk. He was no longer the swift-footed youth who loaded paper in Suva, but his smile was wider. Mere met him at the door, daughters and grandchildren crowding behind her. They cooked cassava, sang hymns, and told stories long into the night.

What lesson does he pass to younger hearts? He answers without pause, quoting a verse he learned as a boy: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5–6).

Then he adds his own simple challenge: “Put God first—every morning, every choice. You may start in an old cottage or a noisy printshop, but He will carry you exactly where you need to be.”

The sun sets over Ra, painting the sky orange and gold. Tomorrow, before the first rooster crows, Moape will rise again—ready, as always, to be first at work for the One who led him all the way.

Part of a Thirteenth Sabbath Offering from the first quarter of 2000 helped to enlarge the Fulton Adventist College University library. Thank you for your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering this quarter which will support children’s health projects in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.