Why a Temple in Hawaii?

WHY A TEMPLE IN HAWAII? By J. A. Hendrickson There were sixty men and women in the company. Four of these were from Utah, two from Salt Lake City, and two from Logan. Ten Cadillac and Packard cars stood ready to convey the crowd. All were jolly and out to see the sights of a "foreign part of the United States." It was February 8, 1925, but very much like a day in July or August in Utah. The thermometer registered 75 F. Mountains, hills and dales were green and flowers were everywhere in evidence. Only the memory of six days previous enabled us to realize that this was the winter season. This company of people left the California coast only a week previous. They were new on the island of Oahu, of the Hawaiian group, preparing to leave the city of Honolulu for a trip around the island. They skirted the Pacific most of the distance, by way of Laie, the "Mormon" village where the Temple is located. The company was largely residents of Long Beach, California. In the first car with the writer and his wife, was the President of- the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce and his wife, the former Mayor of Honolulu, the Secretary of the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce, who met the excursionists at Long Beach and accompanied them across to the islands. Honolulu is a city of 100,000. The buildings, the business methods, the money, and the official language is all strictly American.

Why a temple in hawaiI? i$$ From this city to the temple village is twenty miles as the crow would fly. By auto road it is thirty-five miles. We left Honolulu at 9:30 a. m., driving northward up the mountain side through the beautiful Nuuanu valley, dotted here and there with pretty little thatched roof houses nestled in evergreens, cocoanut palms, and bread food trees. In thirty minutes we were at the summit known as the Pali. Here there is a great precipice, and a wind, bordering on a hurricane, never ceases to blow at this point. On this summit is found a stone tablet on which the following is carved: "Erected by the Daughters of Hawaii, in 1909, to commemorate the Battle of Nuuanu. fought in this Valley in 179 5, when the invading Kamehameha I, drove the forces of Kalanikupule, King of Oahu, to the Pali and hurled them over the precipice, thus establishing the Kamehameha dynasty." At this point, 1200 feet above the sea, there burst upon our view the most picturesque and dazzling scene of land and sea. Descending on the further side of this mountain on paved roads to the windward coast of Oahu, we turned westerly, with the ocean at our right, and the mountain slopes at our left, covered with bananas, rice, sugar cane, and walnut fields as far as the eye could reach. The rolling hillsides, skirting lovely beaches, bays and evergreen mountains at our left and the ocean at our right were our companions as we moved along toward the village of Laie. Occasionally we passed small thatched-roofed cottages, nestled among the tall ferns and evergreens, and an occasional Water Buffalo plowing in the rice fields followed by a Hawaiian or Japanese. On these islands the ferns we raise in Utah, in pots and jars, grow as high as twenty feet and oftimes are used as shade trees to the road- ways. When within a mile of the Temple city the Secretary of the Honolulu Chamber, not knowing at this time there were "Mormons" on board, remarked: "The next surprise I have for you is the 'Mormon' Temple, situated at the little town of Laie about a mile distant. I am told this temple cost $250,000 and is located in a town of but six hundred inhabitants. The grounds surrounding the temple are magnificent, and the 'Mormon' Church owns a plantation of ten thousand acres of well cultivated sugar cane. The 'Mormons' have surely done wonders among the Hawaiians. It is said one- , third of all the natives on the Islands belong to the 'Mormon' Church. I ' don't know how true it is, but the 'Mormons' state that the recent Queen Lilioukalani was a member. The native people have been taught industry, morality, and love for God, about which they knew but little when the 'Mormon' missionaries first came here seventy-five years ago. The 'Mormons' have indeed helped the people and not helped themselves as the other mission- aries have done, who came here prior to the 'Mormons.' The descendants of the early missionaries are now the bosses of the Island. When you reach the Temple you will be surprised at its magnificence and the surroundings."

260 IMPROVEMENT ERA At this point the ex-mayor of Honolulu spoke up and said: "My father and mother owned this little home at our left just beyond those trees (pointing his finger toward the left.) That is where I was born, and my folks have always known the 'Mormons' and considered them the best people on the Islands. They have certainly improved the condition of the Hawaiian race. When you reach Laie you will see not only the temple, but other Church buildings and six schoolhouses filled with children of different grades, taught by boys and girls from Utah. These children are of many nationalities, but no nationality is turned from the school whether they be 'Mormons' or not. All are welcome. The school is free and the Church puts up the necessary money, and the teachers come here from Utah and work without pay. The 'Mormons' have churches on all the Islands, and missionaries from Utah, I understand, receive no remuneration for their time, and pay their own expenses. If other churches did as the 'Mormons' do, we would be inclined to have faith in their religion." We are now on the temple grounds. Here indeed is a view long to be remembered. Surrounding the temple are about five acres of EXTENSIVE PINEAPPLE FIELDS IN HAWAII ground covered with well-kept lawn, with many evergreen trees and flowering bushes. At the entrance to the grounds we see the tract and book supply house where the guide is always on hand to supply, visitors with "Mormon" literature. Then one sees the crowd walking around, looking at the temple and the beautiful surroundings, and having their pictures taken with the temple at the background, it gives the assurance that the scene is leaving an impression upon their minds. Before reaching the temple, our guides learned of the "Mormons"

WHY A TEMPLE IN HAWAII? 261 in the car, and conversation became more direct and to the point. Questions such as these were asked time and time again: "Why did the 'Mormons' build a temple, way out here?" "Why was not the temple placed in Honolulu?" "A large temple like this in a city where there are only six hundred people?" "Have the 'Mormons' similar temples all over the earth?" The temple guide did his best in answering the questions. The official photographer, brought along from Honolulu, took many photographs of different groups, adjusting themselves about on the grounds with the temple at the background. After an hour's stay on the grounds, the company continued along the Ocean to the little town of Haleiwa, where they had luncheon and then continued overland, passing the United States Schoffield- Barretts, from which point tens of thousands of acres of pineapples could be seen in every direction in the various stages of growth, from the small plant to the ripened fruit. Half an hour later we were passing Pearl Harbor, and from thence we continued back to Honolulu, our starting point. No doubt the question that entered my mind has also crept into the minds of other members of the Church, when it was suggested to build a temple at Hawaii; here is a land 2,000 miles from America, inhabited by a native people comparatively unlearned! Why a temple here? We, of course, knew but little about them or their faithfulness. After a few visits to the little town of Laie, and conversing with the people in their homes and elsewhere, and meeting with between three and four hundred in the Church at Honolulu, I looked at the question from a different point of view: Here are a people faithful and earnest in their affiliation with the Church, and apparently just as anxious as the Saints at home to know and do the will of the Lord, and to save their departed kindred. Therefore, a temple. But aside from this, there is another advantage. Hardly a day passes that there is not a boat landing at Honolulu, carrying passengers from the East or West, and later continuing to the American coast, or to points in the Orient. Steamers from Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, or the Panama Canal, sailing westward, usually stop at Honolulu for one or more days. Then again, ships from New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, Japan, or China, seldom pass without a rest for one or more days at Honolulu, where auto- mobiles are always on hand to convey passengers to see the sights of the Island. Comparatively few miss the opportunity of such a trip. This can not be made without passing the "Mormon" temple. Thou- sands of visitors visit this place every week and get more or less information concerning the Latter-day Saints and their views, and never leave without literature, which they take with them and read as they continue on their journey. In this way the temple is an advertising medium to thousands

262 IMPROVEMENT ERA of people who have heard but little about the "Mormons" or their views. What I saw and heard, convinced me more than ever of the inspiration of the leaders of our Church, when they decided to build a temple on one of the Hawaiian Islands. We can only know the truth by first hearing it; and religion, like every other good thing, must be presented to the individual either by the written or the spoken word before he can accept the same, so this temple is becoming a most excellent medium of disseminating the truth of the gospel to thousands upon thousands who might not hear it. were it not for this advantage. Outside of the Bureau of Information, at Salt Lake City, I doubt not that this is one of the best mediums the Church has of spreading truth to people who have heard but little concerning our faith. On the boat that took us from the Pacific coast to Hawaii, there were on board 3 66 passengers. There were persons from 29 states of the Union, from Canada, and Hawaii. Logan. Utah. Gems of Thought Tears of compassion are the dew-drops of heaven. The laughter of a child is the melody of angels. When the sunshine of love pervades the home, unhappiness vanishes as the shadow does before the sun. Jealousy and hatred are twin companions. Jealousy and love are not agreeable companions, they will not "mix" any better than oil and water will : where love abides in the home jealousy cannot find a resting place. One agreeable companion is of more real assistance than a host of "I told you so's." The effort to sav a kind word is virtually nothing, but its far reaching effect cannot be measured. Rexburg, Idaho. PHINEUS TEMPEST.