The Establishment of the Church in French Polynesia, 1844-1895

the establishment of the church in french polynesia 184418951844 1895 day saints were missionaries the bronzedskinnedbronzed skinned polynesians of tubulitubuai by R lanier britsch pleaded with elder pratt to remain among them the islanders were in the spring of 1843 a former sailor who was now a latterlatterdayday already nominal christians but they wanted a permanent minister saint received a mission call from joseph smith his destination was to finding it impossible to turn down their request addison removed his be vermont an area where a number of his family members lived it is belongings from the timoleon and bade his two companions goodbyegood bye they not clear why or how the old salts mission call was changed to the ailedsailed north to tahiti which now became their destination pacific islands but on haymay 11 1843 addison pratt was told he should pratt whoawhom the polynesians called palaitaparaitaparaltaParaita went to work with a serve there three other menbenjamineenmen benjamindenjaminF grouard who had also sailed will since he could speak but a few words of hawaiian he was limited the pacific and had lived in hawaii noah rogers and knowlton F rankshanks in hishie teaching to a small group of caucasian sailors who had settled on were also assigned to take the restored gospel to the peoples of oceania the island taken wives and become shipbuildersshipbuilders it was one of their pratt grouard and rogers were married men hanks was a bachelor number ambrose alexander who was the first person in the pacific area the little company of missionaries left nauvoo illinois on haynaymay 23 to receive baptisebaptism from an LDS elder five weeks after alexanders with no idea of course that one of their number elder hanks would baptisebaptism on june 15 18441944 nine more converts joined the church among soon die of consumption at sea or that another of their group elder the number were four polynesiansPolyne sians sabota and his wife teliicelii baumapauaapauma and grouard would not leave his mission field in the south pacific until ramoe the first of their race to affiliate with the church in late haymay 1852 nine years later elder rogers alone would briefly see nauvoo july peraitaperaltaorganized thetubuli tubuai branch of the church with eleven again only to leave with the saints and die at htmt pisgah in new emberswembersmembers bedford massachusetts they found a whaling ship the timoleon that although elder pratt enjoyed his associations with the white members was bound for the sandwich islandshawaiitheirislands hawaii theircheir destination their of the branch he believed he had an obligation to teach the local voyage which began on october 10 1843 tookthemtook thewthem around the cape of people in order to learn the language he moved from hatauramatauramanaura to mahu oodgood hope through the indian ocean and finally into the south pacific herehenewhere he could speak no english eithhithvithwith the help of an englishtahitianenglish tahitian after six months of sailing they sighted the ovalshapedoval shaped island of grammar and many hours of practice pratt was preaching in tahitian by tubulitubuai 35p35 miles south of tahiti that day april 30 1844 marked the september 18441944 beginning of IDSLDS missionary work in the pacific islands during brattsbraltsprattspratta first year on tubuaihetubulitubuai he converted and baptized sixty i both pratt and grouard had lived in lawallhawaii and planned to return people a third of the islands population including all but one of the there but the situation in tubulitubuai and the other islands in the vicinity caucasians on the island caring for the members of his little flock of tahiti caused thethenzhenthem to reconsider on learning that the three latter waswagas a desundiogandingdealdemiandingdemi responsibility lotlolsolnotsocyot only did he find himself deeply 27 involved in all religious and spiritual matters but he was also sought word from the church or his faifarfaitilyfairilyfartilyfaatilyally disheartened american newspapers out for advice on nattersmallersmaltersmatters of law and gogovermentgovernmentvermentvergent carried by passing ships confirmed vague news of trouble in illinois and meanwhile elders rogers and grouard were engaged in missionary the death of joseph smith he feared for his family of nine children at work on tahiti and other islands to the northwest they arrived at nauvoo he himself had suffered violence at the hands ofo-f missourians in papettepapeetePapeete tahiti on may 14 1844 and soon discovered that social and 1840 he knew what could happen the opportunity piesprespiesentingpresentingenting itself he political conditions were tense and unsettled tahiti was technically took Tthehe three brothers to the states he arrived at nauvoo december under local polynesian control but the french government was daily 29 1845 and was united with his family only to die in the spring 29 tightening its authority over the area because of these problems the exodus from nauvoo elders found the local people unwilling to listen to their message of benjamin F grouards experience on the lowlyinglow lying atolls of the course the elders also had a serious language deficiency tuamotusTuamotus was almost the exact opposite of rogers when he arrived on it was not until august 11 that rogers and grouard had their first anasanaagnas on may 1 1845 grouard initiated the most productive era of the baptisms on that day mr and mrs seth george lincoln friends from mission anasanaa with its population of 2000 or 3000 offered a bleak the timoleon joined the church they proved to be loyal members who existence the island provided little more than coconuts and the sea provided room and board for the elders as well as facilities for church provided fish the peoples ways were still essentially primitive meetings although there were one hundred or so nominal christians on the island when two american sailors joined the church on august 18 some grouard could not easily distinguish between them and their fellow members of the foreign community became upset representatives of the islanders london missionary society LKSLMS circulated derisive stories about joseph perhaps because of their circumstances rather than in spite of smith and harassed church membermembers in other ways but a few other sailors them the people and chiefs of anaa were eager to have elder grouard tillclilstill chose to join with the saints live among them no other white missionary had lived on anatanaa when late in 1844 rogers and grouard spend time on huahinehuakineand tubulitubuai grouard arrived he was already fluent in tahitian and only had to modify respectively by february 18451945 they were both back in papettepapeetePapeete after his language a bit to speak his hearers listened well to his sermons working there for a few weeks they were convinced that other areas would only six weeks after he commenced his work elder grouard took his first be more productive their two paths rogers to the leeward islandislands of twentyfourtwenty four converts into the ocean to baptize them by the end of the society islands group and grouards east to the tuamotu islands august chete were 355 baptized members of the church on september 21 brought contrasting results by the middle of june writewellewelzewritesweileswelles S george 1945 grouard organized branches in allailali11II five villages behe had baptized alsworthulsworth111sworth itogerrogers wasas back in tahiti alone without success without 620 polynesianpolynesians in four onthsmonths by october his administrative burdens became too heavy and he once in tahiti elder pratt started looking for a ship that would decided to get pratts assistance he sailed for tahiti on a pahi take him to california between november 1846 and march 23 1847 when Paupaumotumotu a large double canoe although the boat wrecked grouard ademade he finally sailed pratt developed a branch of twentyseventwenty seven emberswembersmembers at his way to tahiti and sent word to elder pratt to come there by huau near papettepapeetePa peete when pratt arrived in san francisco on june 11 he february 3 1846 the two aenmen were on anaa they worked together until immediatelydiately started looking for anyone who could tell him the location june when grouard began a preaching tour that took hiihishim to nine other of the saints and where his wife and four daughters eightmight be he found islands when he returned in Septseptembererberenber grouard reported 116 oremore bomesome church members who had come to california with samuel brannan and baptisms they told him that the saints had been driven from nauvoo they were when elders pratt and grouard held the first conference of the waiting for brannan to return with better information on the whereabouts church in the pacific on anaa on Septseptembereaberember 24 1946 they gathered of the alnainrainmalnmain body of the church it was not until the next spring that saints frowfrom ten branches there were 866 members in the pacific church addison was able to travel with a remnant of the mormon battalion toward over three years hadbadpassed since the elders had left nauvoo and there great salt lake valley when he arrived there on september 28 he was had been only two or three letters frowfrom home evidently no replacements overjoyed to be reunited with his wife louisa and their daughters who were on the way ititvasatvaswas therefore decided that paralta should return to had reached that city only eight days before from the east the body of the saints wherever that was

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