TABLE OF CONTENTS presidents message i i i purposes of MPHS iv executive council iv kenneth W baldridge report on the kahana chapel restoration 1 eric shunnShurnshumwayway tongan saints legacy of faith 2 1 ruth austin I1I would that ye should remember me mosiah 16 14 lance chase samuel edwin woolley A valets hero 20 kathy creager from kapu to christianity 35 bob stauffer miriam kekuku an early LDSLIDS resident of kahana and laie 49 dale beecher zion in the pacific polynesian gathering places 585 8 leda kalilimoku early church history of waimanaloWai manalo 67 eunice mcelroy church history in waimanaloWai manalo 1946471946 47 to present 75 midge oler LDS composers fumukumu hula and musicians 77 delivered at the MHAMPHS conference june 11 1990 delivered at the waimanaloWai manalo mini conference october 25 1991 JOSEPH F SMITH LIBRARY BRIGHAM YOUNG universityhawaiiuniversity HAWAIIHAWAR presidents MESSAGE certainly no one who was at the twelfth annual mormon pacific historical society conference at the new hauulagauula chapel on may 25 1991 will ever forget the experience not only were the presentations interesting and inspiring but the continuing renewed and new friendships always a part of MPHS meetings were important at this conference as well for sheer drama we hope we do not ever have a conference at which one of our membersonemembers one who helped throughout his life to create mormon history in the pacific thomas au very literally breathes his last earthly breath fortunately uncle five cents was doing one of the things he loved most to do performing on his beloved steel when he passed away we are gratified to have been told by his family that having just borne his testimony to us and then playing for us the music he loved so much created a situation that made this an optimum time for his passing those present will remember that brother au received a priesthood blessing there while on the stand we commemorate him his life of service and at the same time compliment you the sharers makers and consumers of mormon history in the pacific for your continuing interest and support of MPHS and its proceedings lance D chase president 1991921991 92 PURPOSES OF MPHS 1 to encourage research and publication on topics relative to the history of the church of jesus christ of latterlatterdayday saints in the pacific basin area 2 to maintain bibliographic and reference information relative to the history of the church of jesus christ of latterdaylatter day saints in the pacific basin area 3 to gather in conferences and workshops to teach and to learn from each other about latterlatterdayday saint history in the pacific 4 to teach those skills helpful in the gathering and recording of historical information EXECUTIVE COUNCIL 199119921991 1992 lance chase president 1994 adren bird vicevicepresidentpresident 1993 midge oler treasurer 1993 kenneth W baldridge executive secretary 1994 leda kalilimoku 1992 ed kamauoha 1992 cy bridges 1992 glenn lung 1993 ruth austin 1994 indicates expiration of threeyearthree year term the restoration of the kahana chapel synopsis of a report given by kenneth W baldridge for many years the department of land and natural resources state of hawaii has been in the process of developing kahana valley as a living state park among the various projects in different stages of progress are reconstruction of the huiluahuilda fishpond establishmentreestablishmentre of traditional hawaiian agricultureespeciallyagriculture especially taro if practicaldevelopmentpractical development of hiking trails and location of camping areas one project that has been given very high priority by both the state parks personnel and valley residents has been the restoration of the mormon chapel with which I1 have been very closely involved over the past few years I1 have met with valley residents and on several occasions have taken BYU hawaii students and ward youth groups to the chapel for the purpose of cleaning up around the building in preparation for restoration work I1 have met with suzette soucie and A J garza of the prizewinningprize winning architectural firm designaredesignoreDesign are and they have now submitted a proposal to the state which hopefully will lead to the project of restoration getting underway the exact age of the building has yet to be determined an LDS chapel was dedicated in kahana in 1888 and we feel quite sure that this building goes back to the early 1900s at least but we cannot definitely say that this building is the one that was dedicated over a century ago research continues since there seems little doubt that this is the oldest LDS structure still standing in hawaii we as the mormon pacific historical society are keenly interested in its preservation As a church supposedly interested in history our track record here in hawaii has been less than outstanding as we have seen our historic buildings disappear one after another lets hope this time that we with the cooperation of the state of hawaii and the residents of kahana valley can save a most interesting structure the making of TONGAN SAINTS LEGACY OF FAITH by eric B shumwayshunnShurnway tongan saints legacy of faith is a work that was commissioned by the tongan centennial committee in november of 1988 when I1 was still mission president of the tonga nukualofa mission it was to be a labor of love that would include extensive gathering of oral history especially from the tongans themselves the project would eventually involve dozens of helpers missionaries former missionaries and local tongansTon gans the plan almost from the beginning thanks to some sound advice from interested friends and scholars members and non members was to feature the tongans themselves to illustrate a hundred years of their faith and faithfulness most of the history of the church in the south pacific has been written by caucasians pipilangispalangispapalangaslangis about caucasians with information derived from records and journals kept by caucasians or from interviews with caucasian leaders former caucasian leaders or caucasian missionaries to those areas tongan saints legacy of faith offers center stage to the tongan people it is not a history parpqrelsjese it does not follow a chronology of dates and events rather it is a compilation of personal experiences and testimonies of ordinary men and women who have been a living part of the churchs history in the friendly islands in their own voices they tell of courage and conversion endurance priesthood power visions sacrifice obedience testimony revelation and the love of god and man these are personal statements that give substance and meaning to the dates and events marking the growth of the church in each generation together they capture the essence of faith among some of the churchs most faithful and lovable people in the world As editor and chief translator for the project my task has been to review these histories and translate into english those portions which seemed appropriate for the inclusion in this commemorative volume I1 have endeavored to be faithful to the original accounts if not in precise word for word renditions then always in the spirit of the intended meaning when I1 was first asked in november of 1988 by the tongan centennial committee to write a commemorative history for the churchs 2 looth anniversary the members of the committee had no idea what they were asking they were simply dividing up the responsibilities around the room well ask shumwayshunnShurnway to do the history said tevita kaili chairman of the committee I1 was the only one in the circle who knew something of what was ahead of me but when the decision was made to gather oral histories and compile spiritual highlights of the tongans themselves I1 felt a great burst of enthusiasm for the project my first task was to explain to the tongan saints the nature of the project persuade the tongan church leadership to support it not just with words of encouragement but with their own accounts I1 personally contacted each stake president and went over with him the entire project from initial gathering of information to the final published book once the stake presidents were persuaded and accepted the responsibility of telling wonderful stories of their own it was a simple matter of setting up stake fi resides inviting allail of the saints in each stake to attend for the purpose of learning how to write personal history or in their case to dictate it onto an audiotape I1 conducted each fireside making the opening presentation in which I1 described the project and explained some of the nitty gritty about dictating histories which would alert them to the value of such a task despite all of the attendant problems they would encounter of course for a tongan who is already programmed by his culture to be immensely verbal and a master at story telling there is a clear need to conscientiously discriminate between mobni truth and maliemaile splendid exciting interesting A good story excellently told is one of the treasures of the tongan society and the ability to embellish a story is one of the cultivated arts of a highly articulate oral culture ones position in society and reputation among friends and family are linked to ones powers of language there is a saying common among tongan raconteurs neongo ene loi kae kehe ke maliem5lie never mind if its a lie just so its splendidly told frankly I1 had a lot of fun describing and demonstrating the difference between truth and splendid story telling but at the same time showing how both could enhance each other I1