FAITH LIKE THE ANCIentsTHE LDS CHUrch IN PULEHU MAUI
delivered at kahului Kahului maui hawaii on 29 july 1989 by frank alan bruno Former Stake President of the Kuhului Stake and Representative to the church in Maui hawaii
several years ago mark E petersen of the council of the twelve apostles visited the kahului maui stake during his visit he was taken to pulehup by stake president evan larsen during the hectic conference schedule no one told elder petersen the reason why he had been taken to the small village however sensing something out of the ordinary he turned to his companions as they were driving up to it and said there is something special about this place why dont you tell me about it As I1 have researched the history of the church of jesus christ of latterday latter day saints in pulehup and the island of maui I1 too have discovered as brother petersen that there is indeed something special about this place 1 in 1843 four missionaries addison pratt noah rogers benjamin F grouard and knowlton F hanks sailed to the south pacific to open the first mission there for the church of jesus christ of latterday latter day saints elder hanks died at sea and the rest made their way to tubuaiul and tahiti finding new converts easily the group remained in this part of the pacific for the remainder of their time instead of going on to the sandwich islands hawaii as originally planned the first latterday latter day saints to actually stop were samuel brannan with a company of 235 mormon settlers from new york bound for california in june 1846 brother brannan gave the first mormon lecture in honolulu entitled salvation to eternal life 3 addison pratt returning from the society islands to san francisco stopped over briefly at honolulu in 1847 3 the story of the first formal latterday latter day saint missionaries in the sandwich islands began in september 1850 when apostle charles C rich rode into the slap jack bar mining camp in northern california he called together eight young men george Q cannon james keeler william farrer henry bigler james hawkins thomas morris thomas whittle and john dixon and gave them special blessings to fill missions and preach the restored gospel in hawaii
henry william bigler was at sutters suiters mill when gold was discovered there in january 1848 for elder bigler who later served in maui this mission call was a dream fulfilled the previous year he had dreamed that instead of being on his way to california to dig gold he was headed to the islands on a mission to preach the gospel two other men hiram clark dar mark and hiram blackwell were called from other mining camps at this time the ten elders sailed from san francisco 15 november 1850 and arrived at their destination after a rough voyage on 12 december of that year 5 it was so rough on one occasion that captain ritches pitches didnt 37 think they were going to make it and he told his wife to prepare for eternity after breakfast on the morning of friday 13 december 1850 the little band of elders started for the mountains in back of honolulu to engage in prayer on their way up the nuuanu valley they turned off to the kings falls on the right to wash in pure water in the stream hiram clark dar mark fiftyfive fifty five years olafd oldi veteran of two missions to great Brita brinif and president of the new mission led his companions up the mountain now called pacific heights where they found a steep knob that rose suddenly and formed a table of thirty or thirtyfive thirty five feet in width george Q cannon describes the scene on the way up we picked up a rock apiece with which we formed a rude altar we then sang a hymn and each one in his turn expressed his desires the oldest who was also the president elder clark dar was selected to be mouth in prayer he embodied our desires in his prayer having thus dedicated the land and ourselves to the lord one of the elders elder dixon spoke in tongues and uttered many comforting promises and another interpreted the spirit of the lord rested powerfully upon us and we were filled with exceeding great joy 7 the sun was sinking low in the sky when the elders finished with their exercises on the mountain a8 during their missionary labors on maui throughout the nineteenth century the elders often retired to the mountains to pray in a similar manner on one occasion elders cannon keeler farrer and bigler went up into a mountain behind lahaina and fasted and prayed all day for the lord to be with them in learning the language and in preaching the gospel to the natives 9 another incident occurred when the elders went up a canyon to hold secret prayer according to the revealed order of prayer after dressing in the robes of the priesthood and forming a circle henry bigler reported that they heard what seemed to be a great voice in the mountain above them startled they looked up and beheld a large boulder rolling down the mountainside toward them before it reached the bottom where the brethren stood it broke to pieces harming no one 10 the day after descending the mountain in the nuuanu valley the elders cast lots for their assignments the mission president hiram clark dar mark and his companion thomas whittle elected to stay and work on oahub the remaining eight elders marked four slips of papers with the number one two three and four and also put the name of each island on four other slips number one was drawn by george Q cannon he chose james keeler as his companion and drew maui as his assigned island elder keeler later confided to elder cannon that he had prayed that he might remain with him and felt that his prayers had been answered 11 elder cannon was pleased with his assignment and wrote in casting lots for islands maui fell 38 to us when we were sailing past it my feelings were drawn towards that island and I1 felt that I1 would like that to be my field of labor I1 knew not why this should have been so except that the lord gave me the feeling for I1 knew nothing concerning it that would make it a desirable place in my eyes 12 elders cannon and keeler along with elder bigler sailed to lahaina maui where they rented for four dollars a week a native house made of grass elder cannon described it as having the appearance of a haystack the elders began to preach to the white haole people and within two days they concluded that if their missions were to be successful they must turn to the native hawaiians and learn the language and customs elder cannon made up his mind to learn the language and had the following experience my desire to learn to speak was very strong it was present with me night and day and I1 never permitted an opportunity of talking with the natives to pass without improving it I1 also tried to exercise faith before the lord to obtain the gift of talking and understanding the language one evening while sitting on the mats conversing with some neighbors who had dropped in I1 felt an uncommonly great desire to understand what they said all at once I1 felt a peculiar sensation in my ears I1 jumped to my feet with my hands at the sides of my head and exclaimed to elders bigler and keeler who sat at the table that I1 believed I1 had received the gift of interpretation and it was so from that time forward I1 had but little if any difficulty in understanding what the people said elder cannon became renowned as an orator in the hawaiian language the natives never forgot his speaking ability 14 at the end of three weeks in lahaina the trio ran out of money things appeared so bad they decided to split up and go to different parts of maui and seek the help of the native people elder bigler had already left elder james keeler felt prompted to ask a local woman who had done their laundry for help nalimanui a kindhearted native woman turned her room over to them and went to live in her daughters adjoining room george Q cannon was so moved by her kindness that he wept 1 I praised the lord therefore he said it was he who touched the heart of herself and family 15 while living in nalimanuis nalimanuils home elder cannon went into a garden behind the house praying and seeking spiritual inspiration he received a revelatory manifestation reflecting on this experience he said when I1 prayed I1 could go to god in faith he listened to my prayers he gave me great comfort and joy he revealed himself to me as 39 he had never done before told me that if I1 would perserve perserver perserve I1 should be blessed and be the means of bringing many to a knowledge of the truth and be spared to return home after having done a good work many things were revealed to me during those days when he was the only friend we had to lean upon A friendship was thus established between our father and myself which I1 trust will never be broken or diminished and which I1 hope has continued to grow stronger from those days to these 16 this was such a sacred experience that he seldom made any public reference to it becoming discouraged with their success among the whites hiram clark dar had only baptized one young polynesian man by february 1851 five of the original ten missionaries left their fields of labor on the other islands and returned to the mainland hiram clark dar the president of the mission however went to the marquesas marquesan Marquesas and society islands before returning home 17 george Q cannon and the four remaining elders felt that it would not be right for us to leave the sandwich islands then we had done little at warning the people or accomplishing our mission and why leave them then any more than on the first day we landed we had not been appointed by the authority which called president hiram clark dar mark and us to go to the marquesas marquesan Marque sas islands 111818 by march of 1851 elder cannon on maui decided that something must be done if the work was to go forward he told elders keeler bigler and farrer 1 I must push out among the natives and commence preaching to them as well as I1 can I1 had made very good progress in the language and felt elt feit eit able to explain in part the first principles of the gospel the lord had revealed to me that I1 would find a people prepared to receive the truth and I1 started as a man would who was going to meet his friends though I1 had never seen them in the flesh I1 knew when I1 met them they would not be strangers unto me 119 he left lahaina and started up the laoi valley to wailuku Wailuku after three days the young missionary approached the protestant mission in wailuku Wail uku a group of hawaiians who lived nearby called out to him the family of jonathan napela invited him to stay in their home and preach to them napela was an influential man in the community being well educated a judge a chief of minor rank and a prominent member of the local protestant church and though he had a few human weaknesses was a man ro noanmaan seeking the truth jonathan was much impressed by what he heard comparing his own religion with mormonism he and his companions uaua baua and kaleohano became close friends to elder cannon eventually all three were baptized and ordained to be elders they were graduates of lahainaluna Lahainaluna high school in the country fine speakers and reasoners seasoners reasoners and were men of standing and influence in the community 20 40 their minister the reverend mr condie began to publublicly 1 i cly threaten nepela and falsely preach against mormonism despite any possible repercussions nepela decided to assist the missionary however to relieve his friend of further persecution elder cannon decided to move from wailuku Wailuku napela wanting to help the elder wrote a letter to akuna pake the man who managed his property in kula and asked him to provide a place for elder cannon to go kula which means the country at the base of the mountain consisted of a few small villages 21 in 184950 1849 50 the kula area produced a poorvariety poor variety of irish potato that was in demand in the california gold fields for a short time 12 george Q cannon arrived in the kula region in the middle of may 1851 shortly after arriving he received strong opposition from the presbyterian missionary jonathan green green who had arrived to make his quarterly visit preached at a large public gathering from galatians 18 he denounced mormonism Monnon ism and the young elder as preaching a nonchristian non christian gospel the mormon missionary boldly leaped to his feet and challenged the minister and people to examine the new religion instead of turning the natives against the mormons cormons Mormons they were curious to find out more about elder cannon and his religion the following sunday george Q cannon gave his first public hawaiian sermon on 25 may 1851 responding to greens charges during the next few weeks at the small village of kealahou Keal ahou that today is a part of pulehup 241 nepelas pelas pepelas Ne men built a thatched hut hale that served as the first primitive meeting house 25 here it was that elder cannon addressed several of his neighbors and taught them the first principles of the gospel and their restoration to man with the authority to teach them 2 the following St inday sunday 22 june 1851 saw the first fruits of the work on maui when five were baptized and confirmed 27 elder cannon recalled many were stirrredred up to repentance their hearts were touched and the tears coursed down their cheeks brother james keeler who had been stopping in lahaina was now with me ro moe no that day he having reached there the previous day our joy was very great and I1 thought it one of the best days of my life 28 during june elder keeler continued travelling velling tra around the island and elder cannon continued his work in the kula area by july there were nineteen members of the church soon after elder james keeler who could barely speak hawaiian returned to kula from touring the island he had found a group of golden investigators but needed elder cannon to preach the gospel to them george Q wrote our arrival at keanaen created great excitement the people had been watching for us and seeing us approach from a long distance had gathered to meet us we obtained the calvinistic meeting house the afternoon of our arrival and there was a large attendance to hear the preaching 41 this was on wednesday and from that time until monday we were constantly speaking baptizing confirming and counseling the people during that time there were upwards of one hundred and thirty baptized the spirit of the lord was powerfully poured out and all rejoiced I1 never enjoyed myself so well before in my life 29 about the last day of july elder cannon returned to the kula district he organized at kealahou Keal ahou the first branch of the church in the sandwich islands the kula branch on tuesday 6 august 1851 elder cannon said in organizing the branch at kula I1 ordained two teachers whose names were kaleohano and maiola and three deacons pake kahikiaahik and mahoe we only ordained teachers and deacons as officers thinking it better to let them gain experience in the duties of these callings before ordaining them to the aaronic or melchizedek priesthood within two weeks he returned to keanaen and soon four more branches kernae keanaelanae Ke ranae lanae an wailuanui waianu m and honomanu Honomanu were formed in that area 30 three influential native members on maui who contributed significantly to the growth of the church were jonathan napela K H kaleohano and william H uaua baua As more missionaries began to arrive in the islands they noticed the native elders strength in the gospel in the fall of 1851 george Q cannon and francis hammond who arrived in august with his wife mary jane john woodbury and the new mission president philip B lewis and his wife decided to go to wailuku to try and seek some type of relief from the persecution from local protestant ministers 31 joseph spurrier recounted in sandwich laland is saints As they approached the valley of waikapu kaikapu Waikapu they became anxious about where they might spend the night it was december and the weather was uncertain elder cannon was unwilling to return to napelas home lest more pressure be brought on his friend and his family deciding to seek divine counsel cannon stepped into wayside bushes to pray while hammond romond hammmond Ha kept watch on the road when they were ready to continue on their way both were of a mind to go to napelas and to go there quickly arriving there an hour later they were ushered in and found napela in earnest conversation with a number of men who were trying to persuade him of the error of his ways in his sympathy for mormons and mormonism napela invited the elders to sit with them the gathering included reverend condie of the wailuku protestant church and samuel manaiakalani Manaiakalani kamakau who was a prominent observer of hawaiian affairs and who would later be a newspaper columnist A number of other prominent 42 hawaiians of the calvinist congregation were also present cannons arrival was providential As elder hammonds journal records he was the only man alive sufficiently capable in the language and firmly enough founded in doctrines of salvation to defend the teachings of the church in that company according to hammond the conversation moved from contention to disputation from disputation to questioning and from questioning guestion questioning to acquiescence by the coming of dawn this event proved to be the turning point in the fortunes of the sandwich islands mission as both napela and uaua baua were baptized shortly thereafter 31 francis hammond an early missionary in hawaii also observed a spiritual incident involving brother napela this day fasting myself and all the family and the churches at wailuku Wailuku kula koolau honoaula Honoaula in the afternoon went over to wailuku to attend the council meeting but found the brethren all engaged in prayer meetings they had been up in the mountains to the place where we held our confferencea in may they found the river very high running down in torrents and raining upon the mountains they wished to go over the river under a grove of kukui trees to hold their meeting but the river being so high made it dangerous crossing so brother napela proposed to the saints that they should kneel down and pray for the rain to cease and for the river to go down so as to let them go over in safety to their meeting place they accordingly all prayed and the rain ceased the river went down quickly and they went over and had a good time in fasting and prayer before the lord this is only one instance of many where the saints have had their prayers answered they have great faith I1 believe they have stronger faith than we have 33 brother napela also had the gift of healing and he healed the lame and blind alike 34 when george Q cannon began to translate the book of mormon in the hawaiian language in the 1850s he found that few were as qualified as brother nepela to help him in this monumental task he was a descendant of the old chief of the island of maui in whose families the language was preserved and spoken in the greatest purity and he had advantages which no other equally well educated man at that time possessed he had studied the principles of the gospel very thoroughly he had a comprehensive mind to grasp the truth and he had been greatly favored by the 43 spirit As I1 progressed with the translation his comprehension of the work increased he got the spirit of the book and was able to seize the points presented to him very quickly 1135 brother cannon would translate a few pages then discuss the ideas in great depth with brother napela and other intelligent natives he then read the translation to them going over each word and sentence carefully to discover if the correct impression was given 363 the final revisions of the book of mormon occurred between december 1853 and the last day of january 1854 in kauai with the help of william farrer and J W H kauwahi Kauwahi 37 the next year elder cannon was permitted to complete the setting of the type for 5000 books in san francisco and the books were shipped to hawaii where unfortunately they were not widely used s JH keleohanokaleohano Keleohano another early convert of elder cannon was known as a great missionary of the church among his own people after he was baptized into the church in pulehup in 1851 he was called soon after to accompany elder cannon on a missionary journey to the koolau windward district of maui this was the first of his many missions and he was of incalculable aid throughout his life to the utah elders his chiefly status earned him a hearing wherever he went and his education gave him ease in dealing with the precepts of the gospel his training in the language and poetry of the ancient chant gave him fluency and grace of expression in his own language his talent and training were further manifest two years later when the first meetinghouse on the island was dedicated at kula for that occasion kaleohano organized and led a choir in which his wife and father sang by aprilrilofof 1854 he had completed seven missionary assignments at that time he was assigned as leader of the honuaula branch of the church 39 the third convert william uaua baua was also a man of considerable faith george Q cannon related his wife had been stricken down in his absence and had been to all appearance dead for some three hours before he arrived at his house in that country when a person dies the friends and relatives of the family assemble together and manifest their grief by wailing they were indulging in these lamentations and outcries when he returned every one supposing that she was dead he was of course very much shocked but the first thing he did was to anoint her and lay hands upon her and to the astonishment of all who had assembled she instantly recovered 1940140 there followed a period of rapid growth on maui in april 1853 at the first annual conference of the church in the sandwich islands there were 585 members on maui 431 in september 1854 a company of nine young missionaries silas S smith silas smith eli bell ward E pack george spiers simpson M molen john R young william W cluff and joseph F 44 smith several who were in their middle teens arrived to strengthen the mission joseph F smith who was only fifteen years old was assigned to the kula district on maui he had received a special blessing when set apart by parley P pratt that he would receive a knowledge of the language by the girtfif of god as well as by study this promise amazed the youth who had learned only the basics of reading and writing having faith the young elder was able to quickly master the hawaiian language in only one hundred days and became proficient enough to pray testify and preach in fact he declared he could speak the language and administer the ordinances with greater ease than he could in english this being the case he was assigned as president of the conference his first assignment was to travel around a circuit on maui visiting all the branches with his companion elder pake the same man who had provided george Q cannon a place to stay with one horse between them they covered the 120 miles over dangerous precipices to every branch on the island setting them in order as they went 42 there were upwards of two thousand members in the maui conference of maui molokai and lanai many hawaiian men had been ordained to the melchizedek priesthood and either given local leadership responsibilities or called on short term missions to their own people in the middle of 1854 the island of lanai had been chosen as a gathering site for the saints in the hawaiian islands periodically during the next few years the young missionaries on maui would gather with their fellow missionaries from the other islands on lanai for conference these young elders would indulge in athletic competition such as jumping wrestling and pulling sticks while these amusements were innocent william clufflur said we entered into them with boyish glee when however the day of separation came all of their boyish hilarity was turned into sadness think of it ye stout hearted men A band of boys far away on the islands away from their homes the first time in their life tender and as loving as a family of so many boys these young men experienced the deepest sorrow in separating to go to their different fields of labor on the distant isles of the sea 43 it was amazing to think that this young group of boys could accomplish what they did in the sandwich islands mission while laboring on the island of maui in december 1857 prior to returning home from their missions joseph F smith and his companion william cluff were so reduced in wearing apparel that they alternated wearing a single suit of clothes in order to attend meetings on the sabbath day one would go and preach in the morning with the suit on while the other remained indoors in the afternoon the other would put on the suit and go and preach his sermon elder cluff said this economic arrangement lasted for several weeks 144 john R young recalls having similar difficulties with the lack of necessities near the close of his mission he had gone barefoot for several weeks and had preached to large congregations A brother poaonoc gave him a pair of russian slippers which were two inches too long for his feet he remembered having an unusual 45 dream to solve the problem A man came to him and taught him several trades at last he said there was one more that the elder needed to know shoemaking he was shown how to shorten or splice them short the young elder remembered when I1 awoke it was just breaking day I1 reached at once for the shoes and taking my pocket knife cut them in two then during the day I1 made a last and a pegging awl our of a horseshoe nail using a piece of lava rock for a file I1 next made some pegs and spliced them up shortortr and that pair of shoes and the pair I1 traded for lasted me until I1 reached my fathers home in salt lake city another incident he had was when he was traveling with an elder william naylor elder young had a little mule going from place to place and the two elders would alternate turns one day it was raining hard and upon approaching a large stream they found the crossing dangerous his companion could not swim asking at a catholic village to be allowed to wait out the storm everyone turned them down finally in desperation they decided they better ford the stream they tied their coats shoes and hats to the saddle elder young tie a rope around the donkeys head and swam across the stream holding the other end in the meantime about one hundred of the neighboring townspeople lined the bank to watch the mormon elder pull the donkey with elder naylor hanging on to his tail across the swollen stream thinking back on the experience john R young recalled brother naylor had on a pair of white linen pants which had too long done good service As we walked on in our wet clothes I1 noticed that his trousers were bursting in strips they soon landed like a bifurcated dishrag and taking them off he threw them away for the next week we had but one pair of pants between us he was five inches taller than I1 and when he put on my nether garments to take the air as he did every day he would look comical pulehup was a favorite stopping place for the missionaries because they were welltreated well treated by the members who would often feed them at great sacrifice the missionaries used pulehup as a stopping place for missionaries to learn the language do their laundry recover from illnesses and to feast on prickly pears or strawberries when they were in season they felt comfortable and that they were always welcomed in pulehup in july of 1855 the work on maui was progressing steadily with twentyseven twenty seven branches but by november of that year many of the stronger members had gathered to lanai those who were left were considered weakminded weak minded and discouraged 46 by november of 1857 the work on maui and the rest of the islands hit a snag when brigham young ordered the fulltime full time missionaries home he felt that due to reports of the lack of progress in the islands and anticipation of possible problems in utah with johnstons army that they should be recalled fifteen hawaiian elders were appointed to positions of leadership such as conference presidencies presidencies elder kauahumahu with counselors george raymond and kaniho presided over the maui conference at the last mission conference with the utah elders present on 20 april 1858 there were still 3067 members on 46 record by the next conference in october only 632 were reported between 1861 and 1864 the church in the hawaiian islands fell into the hands of walter murray gibson who claimed he was authorized by brigham young to preside over the church on one occasion he traveled to maui to try to persuade the members to follow him to lanai he instructed them to sell all of their possessions and meetinghouses and send him the proceeds one good meetinghouse 2540 feet was even sold for the paltry sum of two dollars 47 early in 1864 some hawaiian saints who had become disaffected from gibson wrote to brigham young asking for him to investigate what was happening there he sent two apostles ezra T benson and lorenzo snow along with joseph F smith alma L smith and william W clufflua to set the church in order it was at lahaina maui where lorenzo snow was miraculously revived after drowning in the harbor by rolling him over barrels giving him mouthtomouth mouth to mouth rescuiatation and anointing him for the sick in april 1864 alma L smith who had returned in the party which excommunicated gibson toured the island of maui and was able to help the members reobtain a few of the lost chapels he organized seven branches of the church at that time 46 joseph F smith sensed the need for a new gathering placed and strongly suggested it to brigham young subsequently francis A hammond and george nebeker were later dispatched in 1865 by 1865 a settlement had been purchased at laie oahu and was firmly established by 1868 for the next several years conference presidents who were missionaries were regularly sent to maui to check the progress of the branches there in addition from time to time missionaries labored there with just a few on each island this sporadic missionary effort required constant setting in order of the branches and resulted in the continual rebaptism of most members throughout the nineteenth century into the early twentieth century 49 in december 1900 president george Q cannon and some of his family returned to the hawaiian islands to celebrate the diamond jubilee marking the 50th anniversary when the first ten missionaries arrived during his visit he prophesied that a temple would one day be built in the hawaiian islands J reuben clark dar mark jr who later visited hawaii was told by native members about this visit president cannon had not spoken the language for years apparently he thought or felt that he had lost his command of it accordingly on rising to speak to the hawaiians he request president samuel wooley to translate for him brother cannon speaking in english after this had proceeded for a few sentences the gift of tongues again came to president cannon and he made a long address in the hawaiian language which president wolley affirmedwas affirmed was as pure hawaiian as he ever heard spoken 50 47 returning to lahaina maui on 27 december 1900 president cannon started out to find the place where nalimanui had lived president cannon recpunted rec9unted recounted recpunted 1 I wanted to find ind the site of this house and the garden where I1 sought the lord in secret prayer and where he condescended to commune with me ro moe for I1 heard his voice more than once as one man speaks with another encouraging me and showing me the work which should be done among this people if I1 would follow the dictates of his spirit glory to god in the highest that he has permitted me to live to behold the fulfillment of his words 915 1 this visit meant much to george Q cannon four months later on 12 april 1901 his dying testimony to his son who sat by his bedside in his last hours was that he knew that god lived for he had heard his voice in 1915 president joseph F smith returned to maui for the fourth time to visit pulehup and later while at laie oahu he felt impressed to dedicate the site for the hawaiian temple by 1917- 1918 meetings in hawaiian were discontinued pulehup became a place of interest as more and more latterday latter day saint general authorities began to come to hawaii to visit the hawaii temple on oahub in 1918 heber J grant and his party in hawaii for the temple dedication made a stop over on maui and even preached at wailuku before returning home although more emphasis was placed on laie during the next few decades the members on maui continued to be faithful in 1921 david 0 mckeya a young apostle visited these islands as part of his world tour in his company were hugh J cannon and E wesley smith whose fathers george Q cannon and joseph F smith had been instrumental in the early missionary work on maui hugh cannon expressed a desire to go to pulehup where his father had organized an early branch of the church in the hawaiian islands david 0 mckay replied so should I1 after lunching with the ako family a small group went to the site of the old chapel near a large pepper tree 33 elder mckay felt impressed with a desire to offer a prayer to the lord in thanksgiving for being at that spot and for the many who had embraced the gospel while elder mckay was praying david kailimai opened his eyes and saw in vision two hands clasped in the form of a greeting 84 annie ako who claims to have been present recalled 1 I try to feel if I1 can feel a person by me because I1 only see the hand I1 dont see no body so I1 try to move a little bit to feel it but nothing I1 can feel nothing president mckay told brother kailimai 1 I do not understand the significance of your vision but I1 do know that the veil between us and those former missionaries was very thin hugh cannon who was by his side with tears rolling down his cheeks said brother mckay there was no veil 915 156 president mckay later expounded that the two men seen in the vision by the small group were the fathers george Q cannon and joseph F smith clasping hands in the presence of the sons hugh J cannon and E wesley smith david 0 mckay was so impressed by his reverent feelings that he subsequently returned to pulehup every chance he could and made visits in 1936 and 1955 48 in 1924 two members of the council of twelve president anthony W ivins and elder richard R lyman and their families made a visit to check on the churchs churches plantation and hawaii temple at laie oahu as well as to visit pulehup maui on maui they were greeted by pia cockett and john ferreira and taken from lahaina to wailuku Wail uku there they had a luau and addressed the mutual improvement and other officers then they were driven to the spot most sacred the place of greatest interest to us is where the late george Q cannon in 1fji 1 performed the first baptisms standing by the large pepper tree they spoke to a group of boya scouts 57 the site of the little chapel in pulehup is still considered sacred ground late in the 1920s a monument was planned and then erected to mark the spot where those early events had taken place on 26 october 1930 the granite kula monument was dedicated by william M waddoups president of the hawaii temple under the direction of mission president castle H murphy 58 in the 1930s the church in maui suffered the effects of the great depression as many moved off the island trying to find jobs the branch at pulehup was very small sunday school was held at the meetinghouse in pulehup and sacrament meeting took place at either peahi or paia hired carriagecars carriage cars drawn by horses drove up and down the valleys picking members up for conference at pulehup when mission president castle H murphy came to hawaii in 1930 he prayed for guidance on how he could involve the saints of hawaii more effectively in the affairs of the kingdom of god one night he awakened from sleep at two oclock in the morning he was impressed as if someone had actually spoken to him to organize district council organizations consisting of local members on each of the five main islands he felt that this would free the missionaries from supervision of church organizations and make it possible for them to attend to their duties as proselyting missionaries the members of the church would grow in faith and experience the district council on maufwas mauil was formed on 30 november 1932 060o although there were still missionaries over some of the branches until the 1960s9601s the members increasingly led their own branches finally within five short years the church grew sufficiently strong to establish the creation of the oahu stake in 1935 this fostered regular and more frequent visits by general authorities after june 1935 quarterly stake conferences brought four leaders a year to the islands president heber J grant and J rueben clark dar jr toured the kula district previous to attending the organization of the oahu stake 61 A year later on 15 august 1936 albert E bowen general superintendent of the young mutual improvement association and soon to be an apostle made the first official visit of any church auxiliary leader outside the continental united states the year 1950 marked the centennial of the hawaiian mission president george albert smith his two daughters henry D moyle and wife D arthur haycock and wife sailed to maui for the celebration to be held at pulehup honoring one hundred years of missionary work in hawaii president smith who had not felt well 49 for some time was asked one evening by his daughters if he wanted to eat the ships meal capon cooked in burgundy he quickly said yes father said emily mindful of his rigorous abstention from alcohol all his life reminded him it was cooked in burgundy his response was 1 I dont care if its cooked in australia I1 want some henry D moyle hoyl moyie bought the president a french beret to wear on the long trip it scratched his sparsely covered scalp so his daughters put a silk lining in it that solve the problem upon reaching oahu on 9 august 1950 before continuing to maui president smith was presented with over ten thousand orchids from the hilo saints the lei was too heavy to wear so president smith had it placed on the stand during the centennial pageant and addresses the next morning elder and sister moyle edward clissold the mission president and his wife and many missionaries went to wailuku Wail uku maui where the first general session of the conference convened that night in the baldwin high school auditorium they witnessed a performance of the pageant one hundred years of mormonism in hawaii 116 president grant did not make the trip until the following day because of fatigue due to his age and the announcement of the death of george F richards 63113 on friday 11 august 1950 at pulehup they held an outdoor meeting because the little chapel which only held fifty could not accommodate the large crowd of several hundred president smith reminded the people who were present that the meeting was being held on sacred ground and paid tribute to george 0 cannon A very emotional presentation occurred when sister rosannah cannon irvine daughter of elder cannon placed a special lei around a picture of president cannon which hung from the pulpit and today that picture is still on the wall of the chapel 64 the next day a meeting with 3265 people was held in wailuku on sunday president smith wore a lei made from one hundred large orchids and during the celebration was presented with george Q cannons personal first edition of the hawaiian book of mormon by elder cannons grandson george Q cannon III 111 ili president smith praising the saints of maui and pulehup recorded in his journal seldom have I1 ever seen a more attentive congregation As I1 arose to speak all the congregation stood up on their feet almost as one man in what appeared to be a spontaneous expression of good will and fellowship the saints listened to every word leaning forward so as not to miss a word and with tears streaming down their faces very often as it was recalled to their minds the blessings they have enjoyed during the past one hundred years that the gospel has been in their beautiful land 65 in the early 1950s there were 19 small branches scattered throughout maui wal waihee 
waiehuo waikapu kaikapu Waikapu wailuku Wail uku kahului Kahului puunene Puunene hana kihei lahaina honokawai Honokawai honoahua nahikuak kainalu Kainalu haiku paeahin paia and pulehup Pulehu A consolidation of several of these branches took place to concentrate the membership 50 in one place for example Wai walaihee herl wailiehu wao ehu waikapu kaikapu Wai kapu and wailuku the four waters Nawai nawleha e were combined on 7 september 1955 the first leader to function without supervision from the mission president was established when roger E akui was made the first district president in wailuku Wail uku maui 66 at the time of consolidation of the branches of haiku peahi paia and pulehup into the haleakala branch some sister missionaries were working with some families in Pukalani they strongly suggested that this was the place to establish the branch elder gordon B hinckley who was on his way home from the orient was asked to stop by and look over some property for a new chapel elder hinckley wasnt pleased with the site selected by the real estate agent george ezaki he looked up on the hill near the site that was selected and said lets go up there and see that area but george ezaki said 110h oh no we cant look at that area we cant consider that area in this proposed site because thats another development which would not take place for another two years elder hinckley was insistent after viewing the site amid protests from the developers he turned to president poulson and said president poulson you may send them a check of a thousand dollars as a deposit and that was it67ll67 in 1964 meetings were discontinued in the pulehup branch completely and since that time the chapel is used for special firesides and meetings in 1975 the kahului maui stake was established with evan larsen as stake president the pulehup saints now meet in the pukalani kalani pakalani Pu ward in 1975 when the stake was established the church was not very strong on maui only one out of four priesthood holders were active there was 165 melchizedek priesthood holders and 450 active members under the direction of evan larsen in 1978 a second missionary marker was placed at the kula monument in honor of jonathan napela honoring the native mauianb for his devotion to the gospel in 1985 when evan larsen was released to become the regional representative for maui the stake had grown to be the second most significant in hawaii in 1987 the kahului stake started presenting a special pageant in pulehup that is anticipated to be shown every other year the pageant depicts the ancient book of mormon people making their way to the pacific islands and the establishment of the church by the early latterday latter day saint missionaries the church in pulehup and maui is experiencing a revival similar to the days when the george Q cannon jonathan napela and the faithful saints preached there our hope for pulehup and maui is that they will continue to grow as they are and soon realize the dreams of the thousands of faithful latterday latter day saints living and dead who throughout persecution and prosperity demonstrated faith like the ancients
Comments
Post a Comment