When the Scientology Volunteer Ministers South Pacific Goodwill tour moved their operation to the island of Vava’u last month, residents of the village of Pangaimotu heard about their work through radio and TV broadcasts and invited the volunteers to come to their island to deliver a workshop.

Pangaimotu is the name of a village and an island a half hour by boat from the capital of the Vava’u district of Tonga.  The Town Officer welcomed the Scientologists to the village and found them a hall in a local church where they could deliver their workshop. Then he brought them to visit each of the 185 houses in the village to invite every family to attend.

While walking through the village, one of the couples they met thanked the Scientologists for helping them through a very rough period in their lives. The volunteers were surprised and the couple explained that a short while earlier, they had picked up some of the Volunteer Minister booklets when the Goodwill Tour was in Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tonga. Then, when trouble struck, the couple had the solutions they needed, to pull them through the crises they experienced.

Just as the Scientologists were about to begin presenting the workshop, a baby in the audience began to cry.  The Scientology Volunteer Ministers showed those attending a simple technique anyone can use to help someone calm down.  L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Scientology religion, developed a body of technology called Scientology “Assists.” An assist is a Scientology process that alleviates present time discomforts or difficulties. The particular assist the Scientology Volunteer Ministers demonstrated is called a “Locational Assist.”  Easy to learn and do, a locational is done by directing a person’s attention off the painful area of his body or his difficulties and out onto the environment. When the parents used it, the child immediately stopped crying and became cheerful again.

Carrying on with the agenda they had planned, the Scientologists then covered techniques to improve the ability to learn, communicate and resolve conflicts.

Having attended the workshop, the people of the village of Pangaimotu understand why the motto of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers is “Something CAN be done about it”, and they now have tools they can use to improve their lives.