Show rag HS polynesian MISSION afi af address read by elder andrew jenade sit the polynesian reunion at aalders Gal ders park july 7 1898 when the book of mormon first made its appearance and ana the fact ib chat the north american indians were remnant of the house of israel the aa elders of the church became in that people and dewied tb 16 approach them at once with he sacred vol volume uTne which gave not only the history of their forefathers but cordal contained ned also the fullness ful lhea of the gos of the lord jesus christ chaft conse duei que itly a a f few ew months af after ter the or geniza t I 1 of the church in 1830 we joao end 16 bozif ut of the first ordained elders jea ving the state of new york and traveling westward about thirteen jui dred miles to commence that mis the Lama nitea work among kimary ata nary willell which has been contina continued ed to a greated or as less extent by our missionaries from bat day to this As the work rolled on the ins inspiration pd ration which rested on the prophet joseph enabled him to look beyond the boundaries of the great american continent and behold some of the islands out in the pacific ocean inhabited to the same belonged who aw 8 peo people ale from jerusa who came caime rjake tae ag those the birth hundred years before asa ats the strange sayings of the historians became clear and e bested ted the thought that the ships and others on the haroth i milt t by of the american con s shores bores Bt em were not necessarily lost though iad out of no more by the Nep hites the sted the cur a fy acts of the deep may have westward navigators early ye and perhaps per hapa months passed W ako but sea fegy during which nothing anxious gaze of the greeted d sky their imagine 1 we can av lib agers Vroy voyagers and anguish ili and finally theft daty lety S joy when the mountain tops traditional I 1 Hawa lawa ilka so well the and bradl polynesian song W bbown avi appeared to eared on the western horizon I 1 est is easily imagined the beau fertile islands 0 erf f the pacific iland the new home of the lost navi sate and their descendants genera ays generation and in due followed i branch of time that particular idree family known today ab atoe abe uman human island spread from race polynesian esian Wyn to group from group and Tid Aaa ton wefond find that hawaii samoa E ivious I 1 we sas the Tu otus the Marque larthe e the austral group islands SSi ety and numerous other is islands not to names rS renown by separate constituting SS of tf the larger islands the firm zealand are a cording to t veis at af the later da day y saints indah remnant t of the house 0 of a pure these people the prophet jos was in view when in 1843 at nau had bad nois he directed Brig Br ighani harp president of the twelve me 9 then faithful elders to select some foties ates s send them as th the e first missionaries the restored gospel to the pa ilg islands lands addison pratt boap benjamin F grouard and iden alden s F hanks were the elders after bein being g ordained blessed set bet apart by the apostles at the alla the church these four names ames will never be forgotten forgot tei ra 6 bid their f families and friends te rael r 1 farewell and started oh x by thee the mission appointed to a people who knew not the afo language their dl departure was ded by the saints at nauvoo 1 after a a tedious journey raae hedtke coast of new eng wa there chere assisted by kind friends are ae enabled to secure passage on prom from new Bedfor fl october 9 1843 they ca com an Ba baba on con c oa A of many months ana to one of their it proved the I 1 last voyage indeed elder Knowl knowlton toil F hanks who was sick with consumption before he left his native land succumbed to that dreadful disease and on november 3 1843 he breathed his last in the arms of his brethren and thus he became the first of our missionaries elders who died and was buried at sea the three surviving missionaries con tinned the voyage after doubling the cape of good hope and passing the c continent onti nent of new holland or australia and also new zealand they found themselves one beautiful morning in april 1844 approaching the little island of one of the austral group situated about miles south of tahiti here they landed not with the intention of remaining but for the purpose of replenishing their stock of provisions the lord however put it into the hearts heartis of the natives of that little isla island nd to plead and that too in great earnest that one or more of the white missionaries who had ha d dreeli come om e from far off america should remah 1 with them and teach them the gospel of the savior of the world of whom they previously had heard a little through protestant missionaries who had visited them their request was er eT anted elder pratt remained on Tu bua while his two missionary companions continued the voyage to tahiti and thus became the cradle of mormonism to the polynesian family for here it was that baptism and confirmation bv divine q ut hority was first performed in this on the pacific islands this took pia place ce sunday june 1844 when elder pratt baptized and con firmed a man who together with white companions were engraved engaged in building a ship nn about a month later on july 21 1844 elder pratt baptized eight others among whom were four T q tives fives namely babota and his wife telli bauma pauma and damoe who alho thus became the fhe first converts to the fullness n ess of the gospel among the poly n ne e s other natives followed and anc on july 28 1044 elder eader pratt overjoyed tt it his success and full of thanksgivings to his divine waster master had the cleasure ole asure of organizing the first branch of the church of jesus christ of lat ter day saints in the islands of the pa cefic the time allotted me on this oc occasion caslon will not permit me to narrate any details of this most important mission the history of which when prepared by the church historians will make mahe very interesting reading to the latter da day y saints and others suffice it to say that elder pratt afterwards assisted elder grouard in opening up a very verv successful mission on the islands where nearly two thousand natives were baptized during the few following years elder rogers after visiting a number of islands in the society and the hervey or cooks groups returned to nauvoo in 1845 by way of cape horn and thus he became the first of our elders who circum navigated the globe as a missionary elders pratt and grouard continued their labors successfully until 1847 when elder pratt also returned to america and an d on sept 28 1848 after more than five years separation joined his family in great salt lake for during his long absence the church had been driven out of nauvoo and his family among the rest of the saints forced into the wilderness elder pratts return to the islands on a second mission accompanied and followed folloW pd by other elders their banishment by the french government in 1852 1952 the severe persecutions to which the native saints under catholic intolerance were subjected their isolation from the headquarters of the church for forty years the reopening opening re of the mission in 1892 ly by our esteemed veteran elder james jamea S brown who performed V r an important mission to toche the society islands from 1850 to by young missionaries and their late experience with Ith the present french af ficiala fici als who in 1896 made another abbt her attempt at closing the by hop bap ashing our Elders cannot be told in a few minutes twit but in due course af time it will be read and our chil dren as interesting history nearly seven years after the firstel first call Wl for missionaries to the pacific islands was made another group of the i flarida included in modern modem polynesia became the scene of missionary efcy latter day saint elders Eidem the esth of december 1850 witnessed the arrival at honolulu the capital of the hawaiian kingdom of the little whaling vessel vassel of muscat which had bad on board ten mormon missionaries their names were hiram dark thomas whittle henry W bigler thomas morris john dixon wm farrer jabes i hawkins hiram blackwell blaskwell Blae kwell fames barges keeler and ceorge rge Q cannon after dedicating themselves and the hawaiian group to the service ser vice of the thea i lord or d these elders separated and in commenced mission missionary ar Y work on tal the e four principal islands of fe bee ejected by the few white inhabitants who resided in hawaii hama hiram ork and four of the other elders b e aa came discouraged and left the the five remaining 77 I 1 geo Q cannon catnes jiu s keeler william 11 ilam I 1 farrer arrer james hawkins aid d henry W bigler turned their attention taft to the natives by studying ud nd learning their language lazi guage and preaching the to cess which attended the labors of elder george Q cannon on the Is lis landof maul where lie he commenced to braize june 1851 and where he hea pr the first branch of the th e chu chucci h in hawaii august ath th 1851 is something that every later flay y saint takes delight in speaking about and something too that has bar thousands of other young elbers who like elder cannon have gone octh on their first missions elder cannons C labore encouraged the other elders Eloe irs stad and hence the success of the hawaiian mission As other missionaries arrived the gospel as revealed through the prophet joseph smith was preached in nearly every village throughout he hawaiian kingdom and nui numerous branches raised up by the elders from zion assisted by many excellent and faithful falth ful native missionaries were grouped into conferences the natives eiffe were instructed in the af ith the church and the I roly holy priesthood ah ering places were vey thing possible done for the advancement of the natives in the scale of bf intelligence and good morals since 1850 nearly four hundred annerl american missionaries among whom about fifty missionary sisters sli haven have labored in the interest of their masters cause in hawaii most of them very successfully and many and interesting are the he experiences which alch these our missionary brethren and sisters sister scon con relate mate in regard ie to their work and associations with the natives of bf tose those lalands among he bhe elders whose hose a t missionary exper experience lenee was gid gained nedAn in hawaii are many who ho subsequently g became prominent in the church thus two members of the first presidency george cgeorge Q cannon and joseph 7 smith four presidents of stakes wm n W duff u ff arancis A hammond edward partridge and silas S smith two fo of tahl s delegates delegate s to con congress tre ss aeo t 46 0 Q cannon and john T caine and many other men of note in the church filled missions to hawaii in ili amir younger days the kindness hospitality confidence mid and phebea wallan balian saints U adwell well as aa their kinsfolk 3 on the other groug of islands have ever exhibited towards the missionaries and the cause of truth to is of such a nature that it is always held in fond remembrance by those who have enjoyed its pleasing features in new zealand our elders have preached the gospel since the fall of 1854 but for many years their attention was not drawn to the laoris maoris or the natives of that country the first maori who ever became a member of the church was baptized by elder richard G lambert at an early day the maori being on a visit to the hawaiian Ha wallan islands when elder lambert and others were laboring there this first maori member was met in new zealand several years afterwards by elder john ku it was not until october 18 1881 1881 however that the first baptism of a native took place in new zealand this was done at auckland elder wm john Me Donald offic officiating lating toward the close of the year 1882 and the beginning of 1883 1888 a number of natives were baptized in the waikato district about a hundred miles south of auckland under the direction of president william M bromley and on peb feb 25 1883 1888 these newly baptized natives were organized into the first maori branch of tle the church in new Zeala zealand md but a more successful opening was made in the beautiful valley on the south end of the north island here elders alma greenwood and ira N hinckley jr gained the hearts of many intelligent natives who embraced the gospel and the first of many branches of the church in that part of the country was organized at august 26 1 1883 prom from the valley the gospel spread to the hawkes bay the mahla poverty bay and the kalapu districts and finally to all parts of the country where the natives reside during the following six years yeats sixty four maori branches were raised up and at present fully one tenth of the natives of new zealand belong to the church with fair prospects for much further An increase crease our success among the natives of new zealand has been so apparent to all that even many of the white inhabitants who are not members of the church acknowledge openly that the latter day saints home have done more towards the improvement and practical moral train training lug of the laoris maoris than ELI all other christian missionaries in that country put together the samoan mission was opened by elder joseph H dean in 1888 he went there from hawaii where he formerly had performed successful missionary labors together with his family he landed on the island of tutuila one of the three main islands of samoa june 18 1888 thence lie he proceeded to the little island of aunuu ainuu where he met samuela manoa one of the two elders sent by the famous walter M gibson in 1862 to preach mormonism on samoa the other elder sent by mr gibson KIMO belio had bad recently died elder dean was well received by the natives of aunuu ainuu where he commenced to baptize june 25 1888 and in a few months a good sized branch of the church was raised up on that island prom aunuu ainuu the cause spread to the islands of tutuila upolu and savail savaii and when I 1 visited samoa in 1895 there were eleven organized branches of the church in the mission and about four hundred members now there are nearly a thousand members of the church in samoa in 1889 the headquarters of the church were located at Fagal Fa galil ll near apia abia the capital of the islands where a missionary house was built and other improvements were made meeting houses introducing an entirely new order 0 of architecture were also alao built in the different branches As an outgrowth of tibe the samoan mission the tongan mission should be mentioned in 1891 to 1896 an attempt was made to introduce the gospel in tonga or on the friendly islands lying between three and five hundred miles south of samoa elders brigham smoot and alva J butler were sent from samoa as the first missionaries to that group of islands they arrived at on the island ot Tonga tabu july but they found that nearly all the natives were members of the so called free church of tonga patterned after the wesleyan church which exercised an almost unlimited influence over the natives native and as that influence was exercised against the elders from the beginning it was hard to make an opening however the elders studied and acquired the language and soon commenced to converse with the natives and hold meetings in december 1891 a missionary house was built at mua a large native village situated about six nilles miles from which now became the home of the elders elden of whom others subsequently arrived after fourteen months of biard labor the elders had the great Altis satisfaction faction of baptizing the first native convert a man by the name of alipate this was on sept 11 1892 A few others were on bu but bait not enough to forma form a branch A f few ew were also baptized on the haa pat pai group and later laiter a few on the islands which two groups together with Tonga tabu constitute the tongan |