THE DESTINY OF LAIE AND ITS ENTITIES

Transcription

1 THE DESTINY OF LAIE AND ITS ENTITIES THE INSPIRED SELECTION OF LAIE This (too) is the Place From the Journal of William Cluff as cited in The Cluff Missionaries in the Sandwich Islands (by Fred G. Beede), pages 61-62: We [accompanied by Joseph F. Smith] stopped for a few days at a small branch in Laie, enjoying the luxurious home and hospitality of Mr. Dougherty, who owned the entire Ahu Pua a of Laie, 6000 acres. He was using it as a stock ranch. One day, feeling somewhat lonely and depressed in spirits: I retired to a dense thicket of a large shrub of peculiar growth between the house and the beach and knelt down in secret prayer. Then I strolled along a path winding through grass plots and haw thickets, more or less in a listless mood or reverie, when suddenly to my astonishment, Brigham Young came walking up the path and met me face to face. After ordinary greetings were exchanged, we sat down on the grass beside the path, and a brief conversation about the work the islands passed between us. He then referred to the beautiful landscape before us, commenting on the beautiful plain, the rich alluvial soil, the verdure covered and timbered mountain in the distance and the beach washed by the gentle waves of the Pacific Ocean. This, he said, is a most delightful place! He then rose to his feet and silently casting his eyes over the surrounding country, turned to me, and in his pleasant and familiar manner, said: Brother William, this is the place we want to secure as headquarters for this mission. This interview then terminated and I was alone. The meeting and the interview had all seemed so real and matter of fact that when I found myself alone, I was filled with wonder and amazement. Had I suddenly awoke from a dream in which I had such a conversation, it could not have seemed more real. Had I really been dreaming? No matter what the bodily condition might have been at the time, the apparent meeting was in the open air and in the broad light of day. It was as real to me as any fact of life. Ever afterwards that appeared to me the best place on the islands for the gathering of the Saints. On their way to Hawaii, after receiving a commission to select and purchase a gathering place for the Hawaiian Saints, in October Conference 1864, Elders George Nebeker and Francis Hammond, traveled by the overland stage to San Francisco. On Sunday November 20 th, 1864, they met Elders Joseph F. Smith, William W. Cluff and F. W. Young, in San Francisco as these men were returning from their special mission in the islands as part of the Committee assigned to handle Walter M. Gibson s membership. The meeting was more the accidental, it had to be by divine providence. When the returning missionaries found out what Hammond and Nebeker s mission was, William [Cluff] told him of his Vision in Laie. We told the brethren that they might go and examine all the places that might be offered for sale on any of the islands, but if the Laie Estate could be purchased, we were confident they would buy that property. [The vision of Elder Cluff was recounted by Elder Jonathan Napela at a meeting in Laie in 1869 as well as he had been told about it while he was in Salt Lake by Cluff, a report of it also appeared in a Hawaiian language paper, the Nupela Kuokoa on November 13, Both Heber J. Grant in his dedication of the temple in 1919 and Pres. Kimball in his rededicatory prayer in 1978 refer to the vision of Elder Cluff.] The experience of Francis Hammond: Feeling Laie to be the place [for a place of gathering to replace Lanai], Francis A. Hammond had a vision in which Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, both then living, appeared to him taking him on a survey of the property and calling attention to many desirable features it presented for the native saints and also saying in a positive manner this was the chosen spot. (Cited from David W. Cummings, Centennial History of Laie, [Laie, HI: Published by the Centennial Committee, 1965]. The founding of Laie (excerpts from R. Lanier Britsch s Moramona, pp ): The suggestion to find a new gathering place [after the failure of Lanai] came from Joseph F. Smith, the follow-through for the project came from Brigham Young. In October 1864 he called Francis A.

2 Hammond and George Nebeker as co-presidents of the mission. President Young asked them to find a suitable place or places for the gathering of the Hawaiian Saints. Brigham Young had told Hammond and Nebeker that they were to teach the Saints how to labor and how to live the principles of the gospel. Over the next several years this point was reiterated by Young many times. The disappointments suffered by the Hawaiian Saints during the Gibson experience led President Young to establish the new gathering place on a different basis than the Lanai experiment. It would not be purchased with their own contributions but would be obtained and owned by he Church s leaders in the islands and held for the benefit of the native Saints. [As it was impossible at the time for the Church to purchase property in its name] when Hammond and Nebeker were sent to Hawaii to buy land, they were told by Young that the Church would support them and loan them the money to buy it, but the land would have to be in their names. The financial arrangements for the purchase were supposed to be reasonable enough that the new gathering place could pay for itself and return the original loan payments to the Church. On 20 January [1865] Hammond talked to Thomas T. Dougherty, who owned six thousand acres of land on the north side of Oahu. His plantation was called Laie. In earlier times it had been a city of refuge. During five days he traveled to Laie, rode over the crop land, investigated the mountain part of the property, looked over the buildings and then rode back to Honolulu. [After finally relenting to pay Dougherty s price of $14,000] Hammond believed he had made a good bargain--and he had [as the property included livestock and houses.] Laie had two other advantages. It was close to the capital city--only 37miles from Honolulu--but not too close. Also it was already the location of an active branch of 70 Latter-day Saints. These members were to form the nucleus of the new gathering. Much had been written concerning Laie and its role as a gathering place for the Hawaiian people and the Polynesian Saints. A common impression if that the enterprise followed almost that same pattern as the Lanai settlement. Indeed, some aspects of the Lanai venture were duplicated, but in many ways the Laie effort was quite different. The Laie settlement was created under vastly different circumstances. By 1865 President Young did not expect to save many Hawaiians. He hoped at best for the salvation of a few, for he was aware of the downgraded conditions under which most Hawaiians suffered. The Hawaiian population was decreasing yearly because of various diseases, particularly venereal diseases. Many Hawaiians were having a difficult time adjusting to the ever encroaching Western style of life. Some had given up in despair. Although he had almost lost hope, with encouragement from the missionaries, Joseph F. Smith in particular, Brigham Young went ahead because he believed that the Hawaiian people were literally of the house of Israel. He felt that he the missionaries were obligated to save the remnant of those people. Brigham Young s master plan for the new gathering place seems never to have been clearly transmitted by the missionaries involved. Although it was hoped that some of these settlers [missionaries with skills as farmers and mechanics selected from Utah] would be men of means who could buy large plots of land in Hawaii as gathering places, this did not develop. The families sent were part of President Young s plan to show that Hawaiians how proper Saints lived and conducted their lives. He expected the Utah Saints to take sufficient funds with them to be able to live at a standard well above that of the Hawaiians, for he didn t want his missionaries living like Hawaiian or depending on them for sustenance. Laie was not to be a gathering place for the normal Mormon sense of the term. It is clear that it was to be A PLACE OF REFUGE FROM THE WORLD. BUT IT WAS ALSO TO BE A SCHOOL IN PROPER BEHAVIOR, IN HARD WORK, IN VIRTUE, AND IN MORALITY. IT WAS TO BE

3 NOT ONLY A PLACE WHERE THE SAINTS COULD GATHER TO STRENGTHEN EACH OTHER IN THEIR DETERMINATION TO LIVE CHRISTIAN LIVES, BUT ALSO A CENTER FOR LEARNING. The Haoles were to be the teachers, the Hawaiians the students. It was paternalism, although altruistic in intention. Brigham Young had basically one purpose--to elevate the Hawaiian Saints. Also part of Young s plan was the hope that both cotton and sugar could be produced in Hawaii and shipped to Utah to take care of the Saints needs. Cotton and sugar were grown with only marginal success in the St. George area of southern Utah; the Hawaiian plantation seemed to provide a logical solution to these basic needs. LETTER FROM QUEEN KAPIOLANI TO MISSION PRES. HARVEY CLUFF: May 5, 1881 (as cited in Joseph H. Spurrier s Sandwich Island Saints, p. 107 Dear Sir: I regret that I cannot go with some of my relatives to Laie, the place which is said to be the land of gathering there in Christ: Therefore I now ask the Lord and You, His servant, to cleanse me and my King, this kingdom, and all the people for whom I am now lamenting day and night [because of smallpox epidemic that had hit Honolulu particularly hard at the time]. When I look around, my mind is mournfully heavy. Through you goodness I ask you to beseech God for all my family, for the kingdom and also the people. For them I am pleading, I am with love to you all. Kapi olani President Cluff responded to the queen s letter by calling upon the mission, island-wide, to observe a day of fasting and prayer for the kingdom. At Laie, Elder Kaleohano, favorite to the queen, offered the official prayer. (According to Spurrier, p. 110) the Queen had said, The Mormons seem to have found the way to revitalize the race. [And from the journal of Elder Richards, the following:] she enjoyed a visit with our people at Laie more than any other place in the kingdom. She had also said in one of her last talks: At Laie, my people exhibit their former dignity and self respect. THE SO-CALLED LAIE PROPHECY The earliest known version of the Laie Prophecy, submitted as part of a report to the Church on Laie--Home Place of the Church in Hawaii in October 1940 by Joseph B. Musser of the Laie Plantation. Musser considered it a translation from an earlier Hawaiian version. Harold S. Davis, in a recent BYU Studies (33-1, 1993) proposed that the prophecy was really for Iosepa and not Laie. Despite his speculation, the prophecy is more recognizable to Laie and can be backed by photographic evidence. Rather than use the more common embellished Cummings version (1965), the older version from Musser is used here as a more reliable source [though even that version is impossible to trace]: [This revelation was supposedly made in 1885 or 1886 by Joseph F. Smith, who was a Counselor in the First Presidency at the time and in Hawaii to flee the prosecution against polygamy; this was supposed to be in response to those who were ready to give up and leave Laie at the time] Dear brothers and sisters do not leave this land, for it is the land chosen by God as a gathering place for the saints in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Hawaiian Islands as well as in the islands of the sea. Do not complain because of the trials which have come upon you, because of the desolation and lack of water, which makes it impossible to secure the food to which you are accustomed, and the great poverty in which you are obliged to live. Be patient for the day will come when this desolate land will become a land of beauty. Springs of water will gush up and spread upon the land, and upon this dry waste you now see the saints will build beautiful homes, they will plant taro and they will eat and drink in abundance. They will also plant trees which will grow to furnish pleasant shade, and the fragrance of the flowers will fill the air, and those trees, which we

4 now see growing so luxuriant in the mountains, will be transplanted hither by the saints to grow here, and because of the verdure and beautiful appearance of the land, the birds from the mountains will come hither to sing their songs. And here will the spirit of the Lord brood over his saints who love and keep His laws and commandments, and there are those in this house today who shall not depart this life before seeing the fulfillment of those things which I have today uttered under the inspiration of the Lord. Therefore do not go backward. Work with patience, persevere, stand firm and keep the commandments, including the commandment of gathering, which have been given you, and you shall receive blessings of the spirit, and of the body which will compensate you for the present trials and those that have passed. God be with you all. A TEMPLE IN HAWAII The promise of a temple (first made in February 15, 1885 by Joseph F. Smith at the Laie meetinghouse): Promised the Saints that if they would keep the commandments of the Son, they would probably have the privilege of building a temple in this land and performing the ordinances for their dear friends. Regarding the Plantation and Temple in Laie: [From the Conception of the Hawaii Temple by R. Lanier Britsch, MPHS Proceedings, 1988, 20-27; selected quotes]: Why, in 1915, would the Church choose to construct a temple in a tiny village on a small island in the Pacific? (20) [Laie] had gone through many year of near failure financially before it became profitable. In fact, the Laie plantation did not provide enough jobs until the 1890s to support the size community that would be necessary to sustain a temple. (21) Most of us probably would not think of the success of the plantation as part of the temple story. I m confident that if the plantation had not succeeded, the building of the temple would have been delayed for years, maybe even to our day. (22) On Sunday, December 23 [1900], George Q. Cannon spoke to the Saints at Laie Branch concerning the blessings the Lord still held in store for them. Having heard President Cannon speak, President Wooley wrote [in his journal]: He said if they would be faithful enough that the time would come when some would be given the power to seal husband and wife for time and eternity so that their children would be born under the New and Everlasting Covenant. (23) at Lahaina, Maui on the morning of December 27, President Cannon, in company with President Wooley, Elder Cluff and others, started out to find the place where Nalimanui had lived when she offered a young Elder Cannon food and shelter. President Cannon wrote: I wanted to find the site of this house and garden when I sought the Lord in secret prayer and where He condescended to commune with me, for I hear His voice more then once as one man speaks with another, encouraging me and showing me the work which should be done among this people if I 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. (23-24) On December 28, 1900, President Cannon spoke to the Saints at Wakapu, Maui. President Woolley wrote that Cannon Told them they were of the seed of Abraham he knew it because the Lord told him at Lahaina. (24) [letter from First Presidency, February 6, 1911, for a Maori conference honoring a chief, Britsch notes that the imprint of President Joseph F. Smith is evident in this letter]

5 But here, beloved brothers and sisters, let us pause a moment and raise the question in your own minds, why you, in common with others in your race inhabiting the isles of the sea, were to be more blessed and favored of the Lord than the rest of the remnant of the House of Israel inhabiting this, our land of America? Was it because of any desire on the part of our Heavenly Father to bestow blessings upon you, upon your brethren and sisters of Samoa, Hawaii, Tahiti and other places, over and above those of your brothers and sisters, also of the House of Israel, living on the American Continent? No, it was simply because of your forefathers, who were first moved upon to occupy the isles of the seas, and who did so under the immediate overruling hand of the God of our fathers, were better than the rest of their brethren who occupied this continent, because they were more obedient more faithful, the Lord in His superior wisdom, directed their course away from this continent to their island homes, that they might be separated from their more wicked disobedient brethren, that they might not be left to be preyed upon and destroyed by the more wicked part of the House of Israel. This, dear brothers and sisters, is the key to your preservation as a nation, also to the preservation of your brothers and sisters of the other isles of the sea above mentioned, and this is the secret of the overruling hand of providence which had been over you all from that time until you received the gospel through the preaching of the elder, and until the present time. This is the reason why you of the isles of the sea are more highly favored and blessed of the Lord than you brethren, also of the remnant of the House of Israel, who remained on the continent. And we repeat, the reason the few of the islands of the sea have been more highly favored and blessed than those of your brethren of this continent is because of the worthiness of your forefathers who were led away and separated from their brethren of this continent, and because of the blessing of the Lord which has attended you, their children, from that time to the present. (25-26) The Latter-day Saint population in Hawaii and the Pacific was not large in 1915, but the Lord had his eye upon this special part of the vineyard. Conditions were right. A gathering place had been established, the Church was on firm financial ground, many of the Hawaiian Saints had already shown their faith by traveling to Utah to receive their endowments (the colony of Iosepa was the result of such activity), local members were deeply involved in the leadership of the Church and the Church had advanced as far as it could go until a stake was formed. Add to this the special love President Joseph F. Smith held in his heart for the Hawaiians and their cousins of Polynesia and it is easy to understand why the Lord saw fit to bestow such a remarkable blessing in this little place. (27) PRESIDENT SMITH IS INSPIRED: From a paper entitled Temples in the Pacific by Richard O. Cowan (1990 MPHS): Following a meeting in his honor in Laie, June 1, 1915, President Smith invited Elder Reed Smoot and President Bishop Charles W. Nibley to join him for an evening walk into the nearby tropical grounds. I never saw a more beautiful night in all my life, Elder Smoot later recalled. While they were strolling, President Smith unexpectedly confided, I feel impressed to dedicate this ground for the erection of a Temple of God, for a place where the peoples of the Pacific Isles can come and do their temple work I think now is the time to dedicate the ground. Elder Smoot continued, I have heard President Smith pray hundreds of times but never in all my life did I hear such a prayer. The very ground seemed to be sacred, and he seemed as if he were talking face to face with the Father. I cannot and never will forget it if I live a thousand years. An Account of President Smith s Words (by Reed Smoot in Joseph Fielding Smith, The Life of Joseph F. Smith, 241): I feel impressed to dedicate this ground for the erection of a Temple to God, for a place where the peoples of the Pacific Isles can come and do their temple work. I have not presented this to the Council of Twelve or to my counselors; but if you think there would be no objection to it, I think now is the time to dedicate the ground.. (followed by I have heard President Smith pray hundreds of times. [as cited above]).(27) PRESIDENT GRANT S PRAYER AT THE TEMPLE DEDICATION: Thanksgiving day November 27, 1919

6 [Selected excerpts from text] O God, accept of the gratitude and thanksgiving of our hearts, for the very wonderful and splendid labors performed in the land of Hawaii by The servants President George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith. We thank Thee for their devotion to the Gospel and to the people of this land. We thank Thee for raising up Thy servant Elder J. H. Napela, that devoted Hawaiian, who assisted Thy servant President Cannon in the translation of the Book of Mormon, which is the sacred history of the Nephites, the Lamanites and the Jaredites. We thank Thee that the plates containing the Book of Mormon were preserved so that they could be translated, and that Thy words to the Prophet Joseph Smith might be fulfilled; namely, That the Lamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers, and that they might know the promises of the Lord, and that they may believe the Gospel and rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, and be glorified through faith in His name, and that through their repentance they might be saved. We thank Thee, that thousands and tens of thousands of the descendants of Lehi, in this favored land, have come to a knowledge of the Gospel, any of whom have endured faithfully to the end of their lives. We thank Thee, our Father and our God, that those who are living and who have embraced the Gospel are now to have the privilege of entering into this holy house, and laboring for the salvation of the souls of their ancestors. We thank Thee, O Father, this day, that the promise made in a dream to Thy servant William W. Cluff, by Thy Prophet Brigham Young, that the day would come when a temple should be erected in this land, is fulfilled before our eyes. We thank Thee, O God, that Thy faithful and diligent servant, President Joseph F. Smith, was moved upon, while in this land, in the birthday of Thy servant President Brigham Young, in the year 1915, to dedicate this spot of ground for the erection of a temple to the Most High God. We thank Thee for the long and faithful and diligent labors of Thy servant President Samuel E. Wooley, who has so faithfully presided over this mission for these many years. We thank Thee for his labors in the erection of this temple and beseech Thee, O Father, that Thou wilt bless him and all of his associate workers. We now thank Thee, O God, our Eternal Father, for this beautiful temple and the grounds upon which it stands, and we dedicate the grounds and the building, with all its furnishings and fittings, and everything pertaining thereunto, from the foundation to the roof thereof, to Thee, our Father and our God. And we humbly pray Thee, O God, the Eternal Father, to accept of it and to sanctify it, and to consecrate it through Thy Spirit for the holy purpose for which it has been erected. May all who come upon the grounds which surround this temple, in the years to come, whether members of the Church of Christ or not, feel the sweet and peaceful influences of this blessed and hallowed spot. And now that this temple in completed and ordinance work will soon be commenced, we beseech Thee, O Father, that Thou wilt open the way before the members of the Church in these lands, as well as the natives of New Zealand, and of all the Pacific Islands, to secure the genealogies of their forefathers, so that they may come into this holy house and become saviors unto their ancestors. We beseech Thee, O Lord, the Thou wilt stay the hand of the destroyer among the natives of this land, and give unto them increasing virility and more abundant health, that they may not perish as a people, but that from this time forth they may increase in numbers and in strength and influence, that all the great and glorious promises made concerning the descendants of Lehi, may be fulfilled in them; that they may grow in vigor of body and of mind, and above all in a love for Thee and Thy Son, and increase in diligence and in faithfulness in the keeping of the commandments which have come to them through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray Thee, O Father, to bless this land that it may be fruitful, that it may yield abundantly, and that all who dwell thereon may be prospered in righteousness.

7 We especially pray Thee, O Father in Heaven, to bless the youth of Thy people in Zion and in all the world. Shield and preserve and protect them, from the adversary and from wicked and designing men. Keep the youth of Thy people, O Father, in the straight and narrow path that leads to Thee; preserve them from all the pitfalls and snares that are laid for their feet. O Father, may our children grow up in the nurture and admonition of the Gospel of Thy Son Jesus Christ. Give unto them a testimony of the divinity of this work as Thou hast given it unto us, and preserved them in purity and in the truth. O God, our Heavenly and Eternal Father, sanctify the words which we have spoken, and accept of the dedication of this house, we beseech Thee, in the name of Thine Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. We have dedicated this house into Thee by virtue of the Priesthood of the Living God which we hold, and we most earnestly pray that this sacred building may be a place in which Thou shalt delight to pour out Thy Holy Spirit in great abundance, and in which Thy Son may see fit to manifest Himself and to instruct Thy servants. In the name of Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Amen and Amen. THE CHOICE OF LAIE FOR A COLLEGE: The seaside location would lend itself to the study of marine life and also provide access to fishing opportunities which would enable the college to meet some of its food needs. (from Pres. Law, ) Choice of Laie (cont.) In an oral interview in 1980, Pres. Law quoted Pres. McKay saying, We re going to overrule you on one thing [seeing a report recommending Kaneohe]. The college is really to be at Laie and I know that s where the Lord wants it and that s where its going to be. Cited by Baldridge from a 1980 interview with Reuben D. Law. BLESSINGS ON LAIE, CCH AND PROPHECY ON FUTURE INFLUENCE Dedicatory Prayer of President McKay at Groundbreaking for CCH (February 12, 1955) [selected excerpts with highlighted text] We have confidence and we have assurance that thou hast given thy approval to this, the breaking of ground for The Church College of Hawaii. Now, might we invoke thy blessings and thy divine guidance upon the Board of Education, upon the President and the faculty of this institution, upon the people throughout these islands and especially this land of Laie. May it from this moment forward be what thou would have it become. May their vision then, and the vision of these choice men who stood so valiantly by that prophecy, be realized, and to that end we again consecrate this land. We dedicate our actions in this service unto thee and unto thy glory and to the salvation of the children of men, that this college, and the temple, and the town of Laie may become a missionary factor, influencing not thousands, not tens of thousands, but millions who will come seeking to know what this town and its significance are. TO THE PEOPLE OF LAIE: President McKay to the Citizens of Laie at the Groundbreaking for CCH (February 12, 1955): Now just a word to you citizens of Laie. You have made our hearts happy to see how you ve cleaned up this town. Why it s a different village from what it was 34 years ago. It s beautiful, and yet you have further to go. Keep your yards beautiful. Keep your streets clean and make it an attractive village, the best in the Hawaiian Islands. Why shouldn t it be, in the shadow of that House of God, standing out in beautiful white in the daytime and as an illuminated building at night. But above all, may the beauty of your town merely be a symbol of the beauty of your characters. This must be a moral town with no hatred, no backbiting, no fault finding, that [you shall] love and live in peace so

8 the people who enter this village will feel that there is something different here from any other town they have ever visited, and that isn t imagination. I have heard leading men make that statement of our own city and they ll make the same statement about Laie. I commend you for the progress you have made, the transformation that has taken place and I express the hope that you ll make it even more beautiful. Houses will be built up towards this very point and the school will be surrounded by houses inhabited by members of the church who have come here to partake of the educational and spiritual inspiration of Laie. may His inspiration abide in your hearts and the hearts of all who come to Laie to live LAIE AS A CENTER OF LEARNING: From the address at the groundbreaking of the CCH campus on February 12, 1955 by President David O. McKay: [excerpts from the address] My esteemed fellow workers, brothers and sisters. This is the beginning of the realization of a vision I saw 34 years ago when one morning President Hugh J. Cannon, President E. Wesley Smith, others and I witnessed a flag raising ceremony by students of the Church school here in Hawaii in Laie. In that little group of students were Hawaiians, what do you call them--haoles, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, and Filipinos. We listened to each one, a representative from each of these groups, pay tribute to the stars and stripes as the flag was pulled up there on the flagpole and all vowed allegiance. That ceremony brought tears to my eyes. Truly the melting pot, but more impressive than that was our assembly in the old chapel that stood by. There we met as members of The Church of Jesus Christ--Hawaiians, Japanese, Chinese, Filipinos, all the races represented in this island. There we met as one, members of the Church, the Restored Church of Christ. What an example in this little place of the purposes of our Father in Heaven to unite all peoples by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That was a Church school and we visualized the possibilities of making this the center, in accordance with the dedication of the land years ago, the center of the education of the people of these islands Now today, after many years, 34 years, we are assembled to break ground for the Church College, furnishing an opportunity for the younger boys and girls who have had an opportunity to get the rudiments of the grade schools and also with it Church teachings, to come here and continue their high school and college courses. What a glorious opportunity. As I visualize those opportunities and think of the past, my heart is filled with gratitude, first for the inspiration of the Lord to the early leaders of the Church to dedicate this land as a gathering place for the Hawaiians and other races of these cherished islands. May I say these blessed islands. Further, I am deeply grateful as you are for the ideals of the Church of Christ in education. Do you realize that two years, if I remember rightly, two years after the Church was organized the Lord gave a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith urging the members, urging him and his associates--through them all the members of the Church, to study and treasure the things of education in all fields. It came to me this morning, and I wrote out the words for you right now, and I cannot do better than to read them on this occasion as the evidence of the need of education. (Hope I didn t bring the wrong book.) 1832, I m right, 2 years after the Church was organized, note this, I give unto you a commandment that you teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom. Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel and in all things that pertain into the kingdom of God. That s first, that are expedient for you to understand. He didn t know that the man who was considered the wisest American from an educational standpoint would someday say that character is higher than intellect - a great soul should be fit to live as well as to think. But in that revelation he places the injunction upon those people to teach ye diligently regarding the principles and doctrines and the law of the gospel. But he goes further than that: You should teach things both in heaven and in the earth, geology, mineralogy. He doesn t say that; when I pause, that s in parenthesis. Things which have been, the whole progress of the human race things which are, current

9 events. Things which must shortly come to pass, signs of the times because of the turmoil that we have; things which are at home, domestic relations; the wars and perplexities of nations and the judgments which are on the land, the inevitable results of contention and hatred; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms, international relations. Now, why? That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you and the mission with which I have commissioned you. The young man wrote under inspiration two years after the church was organized, April 6, You tell me that he got that out of his own knowledge and wisdom, unschooled as he was, and I tell you it is impossible to do it. Whence hath this man learning? From the inspiration of God. Now that tells us what this school is being built for, the purpose for which it is being built, First, the things pertaining to God and His Kingdom, a testimony of the existence of Deity. Know that He lives and that He is our Father, the Father of all mankind and ruler of brothers. What that means toward peace, establishing peace in the world. Secondly, that those noble men and women, the world needs them. One man said the world needs men who cannot be bought or sold, men who will scorn to violate truth, genuine gold. That is what this school is going to produce. More than that, they ll be leaders. Not leaders only in this island, but everywhere. All the world is hungering for them and best of all the world is recognizing them. How many of them are in the leading offices of our nations today? Count the number who are in the colleges throughout the land. I ve been astonished as I ve gone from state to state to meet the members of our church who are leaders in those colleges and universities of the land. A little church of a million, yes, that s all we are, a million three hundred fifty thousand, but how those members, representatives who are true to the ideals, will leaven the whole lot. God bless you. Higher than intellect and that s the highest, higher than education is reason. Higher than that is the inspiration that comes from Heaven, and whoever teaches here in this school, I ll put it this way, no man or woman should teach in this college who doesn t have in his or her heart an assurance, not a mere belief, an assurance, that God has had his hand over this entire valley, that dedication offered years ago was inspired, that this land is a choice land. It s part of America, part of Zion. Furthermore, that the gospel plan as revealed by our Father in Heaven through His Son to the Prophet Joseph, is the only plan by which the world, by obedience, may obtain peace. I feel that as you do with all my heart. No matter what their theories are, no matter what their desires and schemes may be, eventually they will have to come back to the principles of the gospel and the kingdom as will be taught in this school. You mark that word, and from this school, I ll tell you, will go men and woman whose influence will be felt for good towards the establishment of peace internationally. Four hundred and fifty million people waiting to hear messages over in China, a noble race. I ve met them. I don t know how many million over in Japan. You prepare to go and carry that message. Three hundred and fifty million down in India. We have scarcely touched these great nations PROPHECY ATTRIBUTED TO MATTHEW COWLEY ABOUT CULTURAL VILLAGES IN LAIE (from file of George Q. Cannon, stated about 1951): One day we ll have a Maori village where Maori people come and stay. You already have a Samoan village and you ll have a Tongan village. PERSONAL REVELATION/THE VISION OF EDWARD CLISSOLD (from a paper entitled History of the Polynesian Cultural Center (1986) by Rubina Forester at the annual MPHS Conference: [selected excerpts]

10 The strength of Clissold s commitment lay in what I believe was a personal revelation at a Boy Scout Jamboree in Denver that he attended. There, as he viewed cultural displays of the American Indians, his mind was strongly impressed with the high possibilities of establishing a similar display featuring South Pacific activities and traditions in Hawaii. We must remember Clissold at this time was serving as the Oahu Stake President and with his background of having served as the Hawaii Temple President and was concurrently Zion s Securities manager, and manager of the local bank, he was intimately aware of several things: of revenues that could be stimulated by properly inspired saints; for example, the building of chapels and stake houses, of the strong need to develop a secure economic base for Laie, of how Polynesian entertainment s are effective in deferring cost, of how non-polynesians can be won over by the Polynesians personality, and by the contribution a cultural center would make to defray that boarding costs of temple patrons traveling from great distances in the Pacific. (62) THE PURPOSE AND MISSION OF BYU-HAWAII: From Devotional on August 27, 1992 with Elder Groberg: The most important thing students will learn at BYU-Hawaii is increased faith in God and in His Son, Jesus Christ. He manifests Himself unto those who believe in Him. Thorpe B. Isaacson of the Presiding Bishopric: A school in Laie where people would come for their spiritual and academic education. Remarks by President Romney at the dedication of the Aloha Center on January 26, 1973: [selected comments as follows] I was here when they were building these first buildings on this campus. They had the forms all built and lying in the ground. I came here with President McKay, in 1958 I believe it was, when the school was dedicated, and I am happy that President Lee asked me to come back on this occasion. This school is distinguished for many reasons. It is situated and qualified to render much service. Its greatest potential, however, lies in the fact that it is a part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints which is God s agency for bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. (Moses 2:39) He told us when He restored the Gospel what he told Moses long ago, that His work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. And while we do not anticipate that The Church College of Hawaii will ever become an institution with a large enrollment, we do desire and we expect its spiritual, academic and social life to be as rich as possible. This is one of the few campuses in the world not concerned with large numbers of students, but rather with a carrying out of the special educational mission assigned to such institutions. The mission of this College is to serve members of the Church in Polynesia and, just as important, members from along the east rim of Asia. While we must seek efficiency in the use of tithing dollars and increasing effectiveness in the educational purpose on this campus, we hope that you are not disturbed if the enrollment of the College plateaus and then grows slowly. We hope, too, that those who instruct here are ever willing to see what might be done to improve their personal effectiveness in teaching but also to be concerned about the content of what is taught here in terms of its specific and practical value to the students and to the cultures of the Pacific Basin whom we hope the graduates and alumni of this institution will seek to serve. This college cannot fulfill its purpose if it is simply a way station used by the students on their way to the mainland, nor can it fulfill its purpose if, in addition to doing the traditional and necessary tasks, it doesn t take into account in its curriculum that added and special needs of the cultures whom its faculty and student body represent. Neither can it fulfill its purpose if it does not give attention to the spiritual growth of its family--the faculty, the staff, and the students. The mere accumulation of facts without the guiding and controlling values, to pursue

11 which The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints maintains its educational programs, including this school, is an empty exercise. The extent to which education in America has lost its way is due to the separation of learning from fundamental values and truths. The separation must never occur here. The life of the mind does not require separation from spiritual things. The spirit will quicken our desire for knowledge and also our desire to use knowledge to serve our fellowmen. Because the student body here is such a marvelous and representative group, this College is a living laboratory in which individuals who share the teachings of the Master Teacher have an opportunity to develop appreciation, tolerance, and esteem for one another. For what can be done here inter-culturally in a small way is what mankind must do on a large scale, if we are to ever have a real brotherhood on this earth. Some 14 years ago, December 17, 1958, President David O. McKay dedicated the then new buildings on this campus. At his invitation I was presented. I quote from President McKay s remarks preceding the dedicatory prayer on that occasion. Fellow citizens and brothers and sisters, let us face clearly and forcefully the fact that the paramount ideal permeating all education-in the grades, the high school, throughout college and the university-should be more spiritual than economic for the good of our country. He concluded with this statement, The church and school systems are separated in our land. There are those, great teachers too, some of them, who think they may teach no religion and not violate part of our Constitution. Our church schools are free to teach all good things, to teach and train boys and girls to be more useful citizens in various walks and trades in life, but they are also free to teach that which is higher - that is a belief in God, in His goodness, in His existence and to teach without hesitancy, condemnation of any group or nation which cries disbelief in a Creator, disbelief in the home, disbelief in free agency of man. I refer to Communists who have come out, not as a nation, but as a group in condemning the very things which our country needs; faith in the Eternal Creator, belief in the universal brotherhood of man, and that man is God s greatest blessing and has the responsibility of glorifying Him, for He has said, This is my work and my glory to bring to pass the eternal knowledge and everlasting existence of man. This is His glory. All of these things I have named this school stands for. I congratulate all who have participated in its erection. I commend you for your efforts, for your self-denial. I pray to God to guide you members of the faculty now, today, and in the future that you may be leaders, inspirers of the youth who come to trust you and to learn of you in this, The Church College of Hawaii. (The Founding and Early Development of The Church College of Hawaii, pp.253, 255, 256.) On another occasion President McKay said, This school is being built for, first, the things pertaining to God and His Kingdom what that means toward establishing peace in the world. Secondly, that those who are obeying those principles will develop manhood, character, and (become) noble man and women That is what this school is going to produce. More than that, they ll be leaders. Not leaders only in this land, but everywhere. President Harold B. Lee made this significant expression, that the College will become a beacon light of truth to Asia. You can see why, with this kind of destiny and unique mission, we must always do things here in a special way and for special reasons, while, at the same time, we must not leave other educational things undone-the traditional and important educational tasks concerning which we are just as interested as are others in the world. I hope and pray that every student who comes to this college and this center will be concerned that he leaves those whose lives he touches here better than when he found them; that every student s storehouse of memories of his time here will be filled with good things rather than any cause for regret, and that the students who come here will do so in order to prepare themselves to serve their fellowmen and

12 particularly those of their own country or culture. I am equally hopeful and prayerful that the faculty and staff here will esteem their students as their eternal brothers and sisters who will need and deserve to draw, not only upon the educational expertise of the professor, but also upon him or her for spiritual strength and example. Be assured that those of us who are miles away care about you; we have concern for your welfare and have confidence and trust in you. Support your administration. Seek to be excellent in your field, both as students or as faculty. Seek to improve continually the quality of life on this campus, in and out of the classroom, so that when we build structures such as this we build not in vain, and so that those things that matter most are not at the mercy of those things matter less. Wherever those of us who have special responsibilities are sent to assist the saints, we give substantially the same counsel. We as members of this church are to keep the commandments of God, to witness by our works as well as by our words, that God lives and that His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, is the Redeemer of all men everywhere, to live and behave in such a way that others seeing us, know that we know that The Church of Jesus Christ is the only true and living Church. Love one another. Avoid gossip, rumors and the bearing of false witness, for if we can do these things in a small way in a community like Laie, then we can help our fellowmen to achieve those objectives in the larger world which so desperately needs models of righteous living. I bear you my testimony, brothers and sisters, that this Church school of Hawaii is an institution, established by and under the inspiration of the Almighty, and that in His economy, it has a great future for the lifting of His children toward that eternal life, which He says - It is His purpose and work and glory to bring about. Now if you will join me in the dedicatory prayer, we shall dedicate this building. DEDICATORY PRAYER We are grateful for light and the inspiration and the revelation which leads those in charge of the educational systems. We are grateful that Thou didst inspire Thy servants to begin this great school years ago in this land, and schools in other lands, but because we are here today, we are particularly grateful and express that gratitude for The Church College of Hawaii. We are grateful for the labors of the honest men and women and boys and girls which have gone into the establishment of this institution, not only for its magnificent buildings, including this building, but for the spirit that s here and for the power of God that emanates for this building. PRESIDENT KIMBALL S ADDRESS AT GROUNDBREAKING FOR THE LIBRARY/LRC (February 13, 1976): [excerpts from the address] And now it is our privilege to join with you in the breaking ground for this library which will be an important element in the development of this great school. In the library are frozen great treasures of wisdom and understanding, and we hope that the youth of this great school will enjoy and profit by those frozen treasures of knowledge and truth. We realize that when Hagoth came here, he must have had some inspiration. He came from the Mainland, out here to the islands, and peopled the South Seas. There are thousands of islands, many of which are populated by the people here. Now the Church has considered for a long time that it was important that we select one of the islands, and there build a great institution where all of the boys and girls from all of the islands could come at a lesser cost, and in their same general environment where they might receive the word of the Lord. And so this institution was organized so that it could teach all of the boys and girls who come to it the truths of the Gospel as well as the truths of the world in which we live.

13 So we are happy today to say that the Lord is showing His great interest in the people of the Islands by establishing here this institution, by enlarging it, by building this building that will become very important part of it. This is your school. We hope that you will enjoy it and use it to the fullest possible advantage. Schools in the United States are very common. But when you get a school like this, in an island far away, that is really something to be proud of and to be happy for. So we re hoping that you young men and women will look forward; and all of your brothers and sisters and cousins in the islands will look forward to the day when they can qualify to come here to this institution to finish, to complete their training and education. God bless you, that you will use this institution to its greatest capacity, and obtain from it all the good that is there for you. May peace be with you. May the Lord bless you as you continue your education at the magnificent institution. I pray all this with my love and affection for you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. DEVOTIONAL COMMENTS OF PRES. HAYCOCK ON LAIE/THE UNIVERSITY: Devotional (April 25, 1972) (Speaking as Secretary to Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith): Talking about Joseph F. Smith: A man who had a great deal to do with the selection of Laie here when it was just a barren sandy windy area where nothing would grow, and then you ll recall as the saints settled here on these 7,000 acres which they purchased for $14,000. In those days even those hardy people could not make a living on this land here of Laie and were about to leave, and Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith s father then the Pres. Of the Church, Joseph F. Smith, came and he promised the people if they would remain here that the day would come when water would gush from the land, and that the trees would be brought from the nearby mountains, and the birds would come here to make their nests and this would be a verdant area and a tropical paradise that it now is. There isn t a lovelier spot I think anywhere in the islands then here at Laie. And so we ve seen a miracle just in that transformation of this barren sandy area just as the Salt Lake Valley has blossomed like the rose and in fulfillment of the prophecies which have been spoken in behalf. And likewise the great predictions which have been made about you the student body who will go out from this wonderful institution and go back and bless your own people; and that has been the dream, that has been the policy, that has been the yearning, and the burden of the prayers of all who have had to do with this great institution during its seventeen years of existence now, that you would come here from all the lands of the Pacific and that border the Pacific, and that you would obtain here an education, that you would learn those things which have been helpful not only to you, but that you d return and be a blessing to your own people that you d help to lift, to raise their standard of living, that you d help to educate them, that you d make yourself available through your education for positions of responsibility in business, in government, and in the educational fields, and in the various vocations that are so badly needed in the lands from which you come. I don t think it s ever been the hope that you d come here and gain this education, remain in Honolulu or go to San Francisco of Los Angles, but that you would indeed return and be a blessing. You ve been singled out and blessed. You ve had to make sacrifices and others are making them for you to be here and gain this education and now if in turn you return to your own native lands and there share with others by the hundreds perhaps that which you ve gained here, you will have fulfilled the stewardship and the purpose of your coming here to obtain this education. It ll bless not only you but all those who come under your influence because of the spirit which you obtained here in this institution and you will be able to carry that and when the time is needed for friends of the church to be raised up in various lands, you ll be there in positions of responsibility and thus be a blessing to you people. In many of these areas you re the only ones who can hold and own the lands, who can engage in various business enterprises and so it s necessary for you to take advantage of these opportunities and make the name of the church known for good throughout all the land. It seems like the devil is ever on the alert to broadcast every mistake that members of the church make, from hijackers to anybody else, and so we need wonderful, good, trained and educated people in the various lands from which you come, 33 I am told, of the nations that are represented in this great cosmopolitan student body of the Church College of Hawaii, and I am sure of Pres. McKay and others were here and could see you now, it would be a great joy to them as they see the fulfillment of the dreams depicted out in the front of this building as the flag raising is fourteen years before I first came here. But Pres. McKay carried that dream in his heart, and this is the result of it. You ve heard that story, that isn t new to you, but these things that are worthwhile aren t going