day saints were missionaries pleaded with elder pratt to remain among them already nominal christians

Transcription

1 the establshment of the church n french polynesa n the sprng of 1843 R by laner brtsch sant receved a msson call from joseph smth a former salor who was now a latterday hs destnaton was to be vermont an area where a number of hs famly members lved t s not clear why or how the old salts msson call was changed to the pacfc slands serve there but on may hay addson pratt was told he should three other menbenjamn een denjamn F grouard who had also saled the pacfc and had lved n hawa noah rogers and knowlton F hanks ranks were also assgned to take the restored gospel to the peoples of oceana pratt grouard and rogers were marred men hanks was a bachelor the lttle company of mssonares left nauvoo llnos on may hay nay 23 wth no dea of course that one of ther number elder hanks would soon de of consumpton at sea or that another of ther group elder grouard would not leave hs msson feld n the south pacfc untl hay may 1852 nne years later elder rogers alone would brefly see nauvoo agan only to leave wth the sants and de at ht mt psgah n new bedford massachusetts they found a whalng shp the tmoleon that was bound for the sandwch slandshawather cher destnaton ther voyage whch began on october tookthem them thew around the cape of good hope through the ndan ocean and fnally nto the south pacfc tubua tubul after sx months of salng they sghted the ovalshaped sland of 35p mles south of taht that day aprl marked the begnnng of LDS IDS mssonary work n the pacfc slands there both pratt and grouard had lved n lawall hawa and planned to return but the stuaton n tubua tubul and the other slands n the vcnty of taht caused them then zhen to reconsder on learnng that the three latter 27 day sants were mssonares pleaded wth elder pratt to reman among them already nomnal chrstans the bronzedsknned polynesans of tubua tubul the slanders were but they wanted a permanent mnster fndng t mpossble to turn down ther request addson removed hs belongngs from the tmoleon and bade hs two companons goodbye saled north to taht whch now became ther destnaton pratt whom whoa the polynesans called parata paralta palata Pa went to work wth a wll snce he could speak but a few words of hawaan he was lmted they n hs he teachng to a small group of caucasan salors who had settled on the sland taken wves and become shpbulders t was one of ther number ambrose alexander who was the frst person n the pacfc area to receve baptsm baptse from an LDS elder fve weeks after alexanders baptsm baptse on june nne more converts joned the church among the number were four polynesans Polyne sans sabota and hs wfe tel cel pauma pauaa bauma ramoe the frst of ther race to afflate wth the church n late july members wembers perata peralta organzed the tubua tubul branch of the church wth eleven although elder pratt enjoyed hs assocatons wth the whte members of the branch he beleved he had an oblgaton to teach the local people n order to learn the language he moved from manaura hataura mataura to mahu where hene he could speak no englsh grammar and many hours of practce september durng pratta bralts pratts bratts frst year on tubuahe and vth wth hth eth the help of an englshtahtan pratt was preachng n tahtan by tubul he converted and baptzed sxty people a thrd of the slands populaton ncludng all but one of the caucasans on the sland as a deal deel demandng desundog was wag andng responsblty carng for the members of hs lttle flock soc not yot only dd he fnd hmself deeply sol lot lol

2 nvolved n all relgous and sprtual matters vergent but he was also sought out for advce on malters matters natters mallers of law and government goverment meanwhle elders rogers and grouard were engaged n mssonary work on taht and other slands to the northwest they arrved at papeete papette Papeete taht on may and soon dscovered that socal and poltcal condtons were tense and unsettled under local polynesan control taht was techncally but the french government was daly tghtenng ts authorty over the area because of these problems the elders found the local people unwllng to lsten to ther message course the elders also had a serous language defcency t was not untl august 11 of that rogers and grouard had ther frst baptsms on that day mr and mrs seth george lncoln frends from the tmoleon joned the church they proved to be loyal members who provded room and board for the elders as well as facltes for church meetngs when two amercan salors joned the church on august 18 some members of the foregn communty became upset representatves of the london mssonary socety LMS LKS crculated dersve stores about joseph smth and harassed church members n other ways but a few other salors stll cll chose to jon wth the sants late n 1844 rogers and grouard spend tme on huahne huakne and tubua tubul respectvely by february they were both back n papette papeete Papeete after workng there for a few weeks they were convnced that other areas would be more productve ther two paths rogers to the leeward slands the socety slands group and grouards east to the tuamotu slands brought contrastng results by the mddle of june weles wrtes welle welze alsworth ulsworth 111sworth rogers toger of welles S george was back n taht alone wthout success wthout fa ally word from the church or hs fartly faa farly fatly dsheartened amercan newspapers carred by passng shps confrmed vague news of trouble n llnos and the death of joseph smth nauvoo he feared for hs famly of nne chldren at he hmself had suffered volence at the hands of o- f mssourans n 1840 he knew what could happen the opportunty presentng pesentngentng tself he took Tthe three brothers to the states he arrved at nauvoo december and was unted wth hs famly only to de n the sprng exodus from nauvoo benjamn F 92 grouards experence on the lowlyng lyng atolls of the tuamotus Tuamotus was almost the exact opposte of rogers when he arrved on anaa anas gnas on may grouard ntated the most productve era of the msson exstence provded fsh anaa anas wth ts populaton of 2000 or 3000 offered a bleak the sland provded lttle more than coconuts and the sea the peoples ways were stll essentally prmtve although there were one hundred or so nomnal chrstans on the sland grouard could not easly dstngush between them and ther fellow slanders them perhaps because of ther crcumstances rather than n spte of the people and chefs of anaa were eager to have elder grouard lve among them no other whte mssonary had lved on anaa anat when grouard arrved he was already fluent n tahtan and only had to modfy hs language a bt to speak hs hearers lstened well to hs sermons only sx weeks after he commenced hs work elder grouard took hs frst twentyfour converts nto the ocean to baptze them by the end of august chete were 355 baptzed members of the church on september grouard organzed branches n all al al 620 polynesans n four months 11II fve vllages be he had baptzed

3 by october decded to get pratts assstance hs admnstratve burdens became too heavy and he he saled for taht on a pah paumotu Paumotu a large double canoe although the boat wrecked grouard made hs way to taht and sent word to elder pratt to come there february the two men aen were on anaa june slands baptsms by they worked together untl when grouard began a preachng tour that took hm h hs to nne other when he returned n september Septerber enber grouard reported 116 more when elders pratt and grouard held the frst conference of the church n the pacfc on anaa on september Septeaber ember they gathered sants from frow ten branches there were 866 members n the pacfc church over three years had bad passed snce the elders had left nauvoo had been only two or three letters from frow home were on the way and there evdently no replacements tvas atvas was therefore decded that paralta should return to the body of the sants wherever that was and brng other mssonares to help wth the work grouard whom pratt had marred to tearo a polynesan grl n aprl 1846 would reman n the slands nter sland shp cam case caw to anaa n november Noveaber when an ntersland took passage on t grouard n wrote addson msson asson for three and a half years poverty ember paralta 1 I shall never forget the partng wth brother the opposton of men wen and devls he and I1 have been yoked together n ths we have wthstood the frowns of the frowns of hunger travelng over the sharp coral rocks and slppery mountans wth our toes out of our shoes and our knees and elbows out of our clothes f lvng a part of our twe tme on cocomats mets and raw fsh and sleepng on the cocots cobots ground for the sake of obeyng the savors commands and preachng the gospel to the natves of these soash solm sowa sea slands sola 4 once n taht elder pratt started lookng for a shp that would take hm to calforna between november 1846 and march when he fnally saled pratt developed a branch of twentyseven wembers members huau near papeete papette Pa peete when pratt arrved n san francsco on june 11 he mmedately started lookng for anyone who could tell hm the locaton of the sants and where hs wfe and four daughters eght mght be at he found some bome church members who had come to calforna wth samuel brannan and they told hm that the sants had been drven from nauvoo they were watng for brannan to return wth better nformaton on the whereabouts of the maln man ran body of the church t was not untl the next sprng that addson was able to travel wth a remnant of the mormon battalon toward great salt lake valley when he arrved there on september 28 he was overjoyed to be reunted wth hs wfe lousa and ther daughters had reached that cty only eght days before from the east only a week or two later who elder pratt reported on hs msson n general conference the conference voted to send addson and a& contngent of new mssonares back to polynesa as soon as possble that would not be too soon lousa hoped durng the wnter of addson taught the tahtan language to prospectve mssonares and other nterested people n late summer pratt and a young veteran of the mormon battalon james S brown left for calforna and the pacfc famly members left later among thea them then twentyone other mssonares and lhea lousa and her daughters carolne barnes crosby lousas sster and her husband and famly addson and james S arrved n papeete papette on may the second contngent arrved on tubua tubul on october and 29

4 dell del delghted when sster pratt and her companons reached tubua tubul they were hted eted to see benjamn F grouard agan but they were shocked to learn that pratt and brown were stll n papeete papette Papeete they had been detaned there by the french governor who demanded wrtten statements about what the mormons taught they were fnally gven permts to travel n the slands but the government made mssonary work dffcult pratt dd not arrve n tubua tubul untl january the second perod of the mssson son was nether easy nor successful by 1850 the roman catholc french government was frmly n control and the edcts of relgous toleraton of four years before were no longer respected the government was uneasy about foregners and gave preferental status to catholcs mpossble stuaton for the mormons cormons Mormons these realtes combned to create a near three mssonary famles faa faal lles les saled home for amerca n the sprng of 1851 among those who remaned pratt grouard crosby sdney alvarus alvadus hanks smeon A dunn and julan moses traveled wdely crosby opened a school for ther own partcularly n the tuamotus Tuamotus taught homemakng hooemakng sklls to the polynesan women stace fate state hate ssters pratt and and the sland chldren and also n march 1852 the government placed all matters ofrelgon under cale control and created a new offce of dstrct mnster to drect and correlate relgous affars throughout the protectorate all mssonares were ordered to keep to one dstrct and to preach only when they had wrtten nvtatons from ther congregatons but nether mormons nor protestants followed these laws when they could avod them nately bately however the latterday unfortu latter day sants dd not have enough mssonares or suffcent fnancal backng to counteract the french government before long elder grouard was summoned to papeete papette on trumpedup up charges 30 and acqutted james S brown was deported and some local sants lost ther lves on anaa because they nssted on worshppng cormons wors hppng as mormons Mormons pratt grouard and company left for amerca n may leavng behnd james S brown who was on dstant ravavae Ravavae control and sdney alvarus alvadus hanks brown saled from taht n november 1852 slands untl 1857 membershp eabershp at nearly 2000 after brown left n late 1852 outsde french who was far east a n the tuamotus Tu hanks dd not leave the when pratt left the slands be he estmated church the church members were left alone untl 1892 when mssonares were sent from samoa the story of the LDS IDS n french polynesa for the next forty years s sketchy at best government and roman catholc harassment was severe untl 1867 relgous toleraton was extended to all people n the protectorate when the meantme the church had splt nto varous groups wth strange new names between 1852 and 1864 a convert named john hawkns who traveled the slands as a trader provded what leaderskp leadershp the church receved the polynesan sants created two gatherng places or zons the older was at mahu and onehalf tubua tubul one half mles west of papeete papette Pa peete the second zon or tona was at faaa faaea three there the sland sants bult homes hones a school and a meetnghouse t was nto ths lttle communty that two mssonares of the reorganzed church came n december 1873 they were headed for australa but durng ther short vst n papeete papette they convnced at least part of the communty that they represented the true nhertors of joseph smths authorty and church left they baptzed fftyone people nto the rldschruch RLDS mssonares renng sant selnt remanng salat sants followed durng the next few years 4 n french polynesa to ther church before they 5 other RLDS n and won over half of the

5 latterday sant mssonary work n french polynesa was resumed on january when elders wllam A seegmller and joseph W damron jr arrved n papette papeete from agla aga samoa they had bad been sent by presdent wllam 0 lee of the samoan msson after establshng themselves n an nexpensve cottage any remanng mormons mormoas from the early msson the elders began askng for nformaton concernng they were told to go to faaa faaea tona when they arrved there on february 9 they learned that everyone n the vllage was RLDS mormons tahtan n the tuamotu slands and on tubua tubul but they were told that there were not knowng french or seegmller and damron were severely hampered n ther work realzng that they needed a connecton wth the past the elders wrote to the frst presdency n salt lake cty to ask whether any mssonares from the frst msson could be sent responded reponded by callngjames ames james S brown now sxtyfve the frst presdency sxty fve years old and havng lost one leg to return to french polynesa as msson presdent he along wth hs son elando and elder thomas S jones arrved n papeete papette on june brown was persona non grata when he left the slands n 1852 and for a tme t appeared that he would brng the new msson more trouble than help but wth the assstance of the amercan consul n papeete papette Papeete cause no problems tubua tubul elder brown convnced the french government that he would n august brown receved a letter askng hm to vst the sants n t proved to be the openng the elders had been hopng for tehahe who wrote the letter of nvtaton sad hs people had been left n the dark many years wthout one ray of lght at the same tme the elders learned of other groups of mormons who were stll actve n thetuanotus Tua rua tuaaotus wotus aotus wth elder seegmller brown traveled to tubua tubul where they soon baptzed sxtyfve people nto the church 3 1 elder brown returned to papeete papette on december 1 and almost mmedately learned that the remnant of the sants n the tuamotus Tuamotus were gong to hold a conference on faaete faate on january elders damron daaron and jones had establshed contact wth these people and strongly encouraged brown and hs son to come to that area as soon as possble takaroa tamaroa on december 26 they arrved on and fve days later they were on faate faaete assembled sants were delghted to have mssonares from salt lake cty among them they consdered utah the center of ther church not long after james S brown stepped ashore he was confronted by an elderly blnd man aan sants grouard hahea nan named mahen mahea the mahea mafea was the leader of the polynesan he clamed to have receved hs authorty form elders pratt and mahea hahea mahen asked brown some questons satsfed wth the answers he sad sald we receve you as our father and leader but hadyou had you not come back personally we would have refused to receve any foregn mssonares as so many false teachers have been n our mdst and decoyed many from the gospel of jesus chrst mahea hahea mahen then told brown and hs young companons how he and hs people had prayed constantly for more sore eore mssonares and now after forty years ther prayers had been answered As the conference proceeded the elders learned that there were ten organzed LDS IDS branches wth 425 members seventeen members were yet alve slve slve who had been baptzed before 1852 n july 1893 james S and elando brown saled for home three months before utah the pork fork work mork had 1040 a new contngent of eght mssonares had arrved from elder damron was apponted presdent of the nowstable msson mock surged forward members wembers and chldren to move nto ts second phase of ofdevelopment and by 1895 the tahtan hsson msson of the church the church n french polynesa was ready

6 notes 1 all of the materals n ths paper are documented n my book A hstory of the latterday sants jn the pacfc deseret book company Coc doc paay forthcomng S george ellsworth zon n paradse early mormons n the south seas the faculty assocaton utah state unversty 1959 p 13 3 grouard who pratt sad was wedded to hs msson feld wrote numerous nerous letters to hs wfe n nauvoo but releved receved no answers they had been emotonally dsaffected from each other before hs msson call he concluded that she had left hm and the church unfortunately tearo ded not long after gvng brth to a baby grl grouard then marred nahna who eventually bore three sons 4 andrew jenson manuscrpt hstory of the french polynesa msson november archves the church of jesus chrst of latterday sants salt lake cty utah 5 see R laner brtsch refoundng resoundng polynesa pacfc studes 3 fall Re of the LDS msson n french 32