Answers to Prayer, and the Bestowal of the Gifts upon the Elders and
People--Elders Sent to Teach Not to Be Taught--Blessings Will Rest Upon
Those Who Labor Among the Red Men for Their Salvation
One incident, I will relate, which occurred a few months after we went
to Wailuku, to show how the Lord hears and answers prayer.
We were very much in need of some means to buy stuff for garments, etc.
The natives were very poor, and we felt delicate about asking them for
anything; but we knew that the Lord would hear and answer our prayers;
so we prayed to Him. Brother Hammond had brought his wife and child
over from Lahaina, and they were living, as I have told you, in the
village close to Wailuku. He and I had to make a visit to a town about
twelve or fifteen miles distant, and before starting, we had prayed to
the Lord to open the way so that we might obtain what we wanted.
We had traveled from the house about three miles, when in passing some
houses which were on the beach, we met a man by the name of Freeman, an
American, who accosted us and inquired if we had authority to marry.
Upon our informing him that we had, he asked us if we could spare the
time to stop at his house and marry him. We told him as it was on
our way we would stop. I performed the ceremony, and at his request
addressed the people who had assembled at the house. He gave us a five
dollar gold piece.
We had married many before that, but this was the first money which had
ever been given to us. His five-dollars supplied our necessities, for
in those days we were content with very little.
I have always looked upon this as a direct answer to our prayers, for
when we met the man he was evidently on his way to Wailuku, with his
intended wife, to be married by the missionary there. The missionary
missed the fee, but as he knew nothing respecting it, he was no poorer.
I do not suppose he needed it as badly as we did.
It is always more pleasant for an Elder, when he is in need of
anything, on a mission, to apply to the Lord for it than to ask the
people; at least, I have always found it so.
The Lord blessed the natives who joined the Church in many ways,
and they rejoiced exceedingly in the gifts of the Spirit. One day a
young man made application to be baptized who had been so sick that
he was not expected to live. His elder brother was in the Church, and
the evening previous to his baptism the Elders had been called to
administer to him. He was so much restored by morning that he was able
to arise and afterwards attend the meeting, and was baptized.
The same day Brother Napela and some of the other native Saints had
visited a woman who believed in the gospel, who wished to be baptized;
she had been unable to walk upright for five years, but she was anxious
for them to administer to her, that she might be restored. They laid
their hands upon her and commanded her in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, to arise and walk. She immediately stood up and walked, and
went and was baptized.
This created quite an excitement in the neighborhood, for she was well
known, and the people were much astonished at her restoration. The
attention of numbers were turned to the gospel by this occurrence.
Another instance which happened about the same time was that of a woman
who was a member of the Presbyterian church. She was afflicted with
dropsy, or something very like that disease. She had tried various
remedies, but obtained no relief. She had heard about the gifts in the
Church, and she called upon Brothers Napela and Uaua to administer to
her, saying she was willing to covenant and forsake her sins. They
administered to her and she was healed; all the swelling left her and
she was baptized. On Sunday she attended meeting, and afterwards made
some remarks derogatory to the work, indulging in a spirit of apostasy;
her disease returned immediately, and she was as bad as ever.
Another instance was that of a woman, one of whose limbs was withered,
and who was afflicted with palsy. She was baptized, and was speedily
restored to health.
A niece of hers was afterwards afflicted similarly; she requested us to
administer to her, and when we did so, she was restored to health.
The same day that this latter person had hands laid upon her, we had
a meeting at a place called Waiehu. After the meeting was over, three
persons requested to be administered to, one of whom was a blind man.
He had been blind for upwards of thirty years, but his sight was
restored to him. He began to amend from the time hands were laid upon
him, and the next morning, he was able to see. He was afterwards able
to go about without any guide; and I have frequently seen him come into
meeting, winding his way among the people, without any aid, to a seat
which he was accustomed to occupy near the speaker. His restoration
caused a great stir in the neighborhood, for his blindness was well
known. He had a son, a mature man, who could barely recollect when his
father was able to see and go about without aid.
I will relate another instance of which I was not an eye witness;
but which I have every reason to believe occurred as I will relate
it. I have mentioned an Elder whose name was Uaua. He was a man of
considerable faith. His wife had been stricken down in his absence and
had been, to all appearance, dead for some three hours before he had
arrived at his house.
In that country when a person dies, the friends and relatives of the
family assemble together and manifest their grief by wailing. They were
indulging in these lamentations and outcries when he returned, every
one supposing that she was dead. He was, of course, very much shocked;
but the first thing he did was to anoint her and lay hands upon her;
and, to the astonishment of all who had assembled, she instantly
recovered.
I might multiply instances of this kind without number; but I write
these, to show you that the same works and power of God, which were
manifested anciently through the faith of the servants and Saints of
God have been shown forth in our day and under the administration of
the people of God, who now live.
The natives of the Sandwich Islands had great faith to lay hands on
the sick, and also to have hands laid upon them when they were sick.
It was not contrary to their traditions for them to believe in this
ordinance, for their old native priests, before the missionaries came,
had considerable power which they exercised, and in which the people
had confidence.
Many Elders desire, when they are called as missionaries, to go to
enlightened and cultivated nations. They think their experience among
such people would be profitable to them, and that they would became
polished and learn many things which they could not obtain among a
people, for instance, like the Sandwich Islanders or the Lamanites.
Such Elders forget that the Lord sends His Elders out to teach and not
to be taught. Missionaries should not have the idea of self-comfort and
self-indulgence in their minds; but the salvation of souls.
The man who goes out expecting the people to whom he is sent, to
teach, enlighten and benefit him commits a great blunder. He does not
understand the nature of his Priesthood and calling.
I shall probably never forget the feelings expressed to me by John
Hyde, Jr., on this point. He had been called, at a Conference (April,
1856) at Salt Lake City, to go on a mission to the Sandwich Islands. He
came to San Francisco on his way. I was then publishing the _Western
Standard_ and presiding over the California mission. It was with a
feeling akin to disgust that he spoke to me about his mission. If he
had only been called to go to France, to England, or to any of the
so-called enlightened nations, he said he would have gone willingly;
but to go to a degraded, heathenish people was entirely beneath him. A
man with his talent and acquirements would be thrown away upon them.
He apostatized while on the voyage to Honolulu; or, to state it
more properly, he made up his mind while on the sea to dissolve his
connection with the Church. He was an apostate in his heart and
feelings before he left San Francisco. But can any one, who understands
this work, wonder that a man who felt thus should lose the Spirit and
apostatize? It would be a wonder if he did not.
The experience of the Elders who have been on missions to the Sandwich
Islands is encouraging to all who are called to go on missions to
the Lamanites. They may have privations to endure, but they will be
swallowed up in the joy of the Lord. I am sure the Lord makes up for
any lack of temporal comforts by an additional outpouring of His Spirit.
The soul of a Sandwich Islander or a Lamanite is as precious in the
sight of the Lord as the soul of a white man, whether born in America
or Europe. Jesus died for one as much as the other, and to the men of
red skins the Lord's promises are very great and precious. Those who
administer ordinances of salvation to them will have fully as great
joy over them in the day of the Lord Jesus as if they had been more
enlightened.
Blessed shall be the faithful men who have labored, who now labor, and
who many hereafter labor among the Lamanites for their salvation. In
such labor the Elders will enjoy the power of the Priesthood, the gifts
of the Spirit, and pure, heavenly happiness to their hearts' content,
and that is all they could enjoy among the races which they may think
more favored.
I say this because my own experience has proved it to be true, and
because of the great blessings and promises which are made to those who
shall labor for the salvation of the seed of Israel and the covenant
people of the Lord.
In what position could the sons of King Mosiah have learned as much
concerning the power of God as they did during their missions among the
Lamanites? Among what people could they have saved more souls? And will
they not have joy with them in the kingdom of the Father.
Thousands of Elders will yet have to labor among the red men for their
salvation. They should not look upon this as a hardship, but as a great
and inestimable privilege--a work in which angels delight to engage.