Aloha. Talofa. Malo e lelei. I love the Polynesian people. I wish I could greet you all in your native tongue.
I am thrilled to address you on such a special day. It is a day to be remembered and celebrated. If you are not already aware, let me explain why.
In 1854 a lonely, frightened, 15-year-old orphan stepped onto the shores of Oahu. Joseph F. Smith had traveled 3,000 miles from Salt Lake City, Utah, in four months, working for a time in California to earn his passage.
As a missionary, he served on Maui for eighteen months and then on Hawaii for a year. There he witnessed the 1856 volcanic eruption that threatened to destroy Hilo. He also served on Molokai where he became so ill he was forced to return to mission headquarters in Lanai. There a compassionate woman nursed him back to health as if he were her own son.
In the spring of 1864 Joseph F. returned to Hawaii with Ezra T. Benson and Lorenzo Snow of the Council of Twelve. When these apostles left, Joseph F. remained behind to preside over the mission for a time. Before returning to Utah in December, Joseph F. involved himself in a chain events that eventually led to a land purchase.
On January 26, 1865, 145 years ago this very day, Francis Hammond finalized and recorded in his journal the Church's acquisition of 6,000 acres, including this site where the Polynesian Cultural Center, BYU-Hawaii and the Temple now stand. Indeed, this is a special day.
Twenty years after that land purchase, when the saints were discouraged about the slow progress of the plantation here, Joseph F. counseled, "[D]o not leave this land for this place has been chosen by the Lord as a gathering place for the Saints ... Do not complain because of the many trials which come to you, because of the barrenness of the land, the lack of water, the scarcity of foods ... and the poverty as well."
We may find that circumstance hard to imagine now, but Joseph F. prophesied, "Be patient, for the day is coming when this land will become a most beautiful land. Water shall spring forth in abundance ... and there will be plenty to eat and drink. Many trees will be planted and this place will become verdant, the fragrance of flowers will fill the air ... And upon this place the glory of the Lord will rest, to bless the Saints who believe in Him." We now bask in the fulfillment of that prophecy.
In 1915, Joseph F. returned to Laie. In the warm evening air, he asked Reed Smoot and Charles Nibley to take a walk with him. At the appropriate spot, he turned and said, "Brethren,... I feel impressed to dedicate this ground for the erection of a Temple to God, for a place where the peoples of the Pacific Isles can come and do their temple work." Though he had not discussed it with his counselors or the Twelve, President Smith said, "I think now is the time to dedicate the ground."
Elder Smoot, who had heard President Smith pray many times, said he had never heard such a prayer, that the "very ground seemed to be sacred, and [President Smith] seemed as if he were talking face to face with the Father."
During one of Joseph F.'s visits to Hawaii, his friend Charles Nibley saw an elderly woman emerge from the crowd calling, "Iosepa, Iosepa." Joseph F. immediately embraced her and, with tears streaming down his face, he explained, "Charley, she nursed me when I was a boy, sick and without anyone to care for me. She took me in and was a mother to me!"
That saintly woman, Ma Manuhii, outlived President Smith and attended the dedication of the Laie Temple in 1919. Blind and crippled, she had to be carried into the temple but, while there, she was moved to tears when she heard Iosepa's familiar voice say, "Aloha."
As an admirer of Hyrum Smith, having studied his life for years, I cannot resist mentioning his son, Joseph F. Smith, in connection with this sacred place. Remember this day and connect yourselves with history and with the sacrifices of those who have gone before you. One of heaven's most oft-repeated directives to us is "remember." There is power in remembering those who have gone before us. And while I could talk at length about Joseph F.'s experiences here, my topic today deals more particularly with his father, Hyrum.
I have been asked many times to talk about my experiences in researching Hyrum's life. Until today, I have always talked about Hyrum instead. This time, however, I feel a strong impression to do both. I want to share three very personal experiences and three things I learned from Hyrum Smith.
Lesson One: Be Willing
Several years ago a dear friend, who is a descendant of Hyrum Smith, asked if I would help him research the teachings of Hyrum. Though not a descendant myself, I readily agreed to help.
In February 2000, because of my research, I received an invitation to the family celebration of Hyrum's 200th birthday. Many hundreds of Hyrum's descendants gathered in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square. Elder M. Russell Ballard, Hyrum's great-great-grandson attended and President Gordon B. Hinckley made a surprise appearance as well.
As I looked around at all those descendants of Hyrum Smith, I wondered about the research I had been asked to do. Why me? With all those descendants, why should I be asked to do the work? In the midst of my contemplation, an unmistakable voice whispered to my soul, "Because you are willing."
Looking back, I now see that message as typical of Hyrum's life. In fact, I came to feel that it was Hyrum's voice.
Just days after returning from his first mission in 1831, Hyrum offered one of his many demonstrations of willingness. At a conference near Kirtland Joseph encouraged those assembled to "cleanse [them]selves and covenant before God, to serve him." Hyrum arose immediately and said "that all he had was the Lord's and he was ready to do [the Lord's] will continually" (59).
You get a sense of Hyrum's willingness early on, in 1827. Joseph sent eleven-year-old Don Carlos across the family farm to ask Hyrum for a box in which to store the Book of Mormon plates. Though he had company in his home, Hyrum "sprang from the table," grabbed a small wooden chest, dumped its contents on the floor and dashed out the door to deliver it immediately to Joseph (23).
When Don Carlos, died in Nauvoo fourteen years later, Hyrum wrote, "We must be submissive to the will of God and try to stand in our lot both now and at the end" (67, 243). Hyrum was willing to submit to anything the Lord called him to pass through, including Liberty Jail and Carthage. I love him for that example.
We are told, "the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days" (D&C 64:34, emphasis added). Furthermore, those who "are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice ... are accepted of [the Lord]" (D&C 97:8, emphasis added).
Consider Hyrum's willingness in the construction of the Kirtland Temple. In early June 1833 Joseph took a group of saints to a field in Kirtland, where they removed the fence and began leveling grain. On the way to that field, Hyrum ran to his parents' house, grabbed a scythe, and was about to leave when his mother asked him where he was going. "We are preparing to build a house for the Lord," he answered, "and I am determined to be the first at the work." When the grain was cleared, Hyrum began digging a trench for the walls, again declaring "that he would strike the first blow upon the house" (86).
Hyrum helped choose the stone and the quarry and to haul the first load of rock. He wrote a letter to Artemus Millett, asking him to come from Canada to lend his skills to the work (86-87). As a member of the temple committee, Hyrum labored to raise needed funds and he remained fully involved until the edifice was complete. Then he stood at the pulpit on the day of dedication and bore his testimony that "it was the Lord's house built by his commandment and [that] he would bless [the saints]" (117).
Hyrum recognized the willingness of others, even when they did not recognize it themselves. In 1835, as special priesthood blessing were pronounced upon those who had worked on the temple, Benjamin F. Johnson stood near the doorway and yearned for the blessing he felt he did not deserve.
As the Prophet finished what might have been the last blessing, he turned to Hyrum and said, "Go and see if there is not one more yet to be blessed." Hyrum came to the doorway, placed his hand on Benjamin's shoulder, and asked if he had not worked on the temple. As his hopes for a blessing faded, Benjamin reported that he had not been strong enough to work on the temple. But Hyrum persisted until Benjamin recalled that he had donated a new gun and that he had helped to make brick. "I did give often," Benjamin finally remembered.
"I thought ... there was a blessing for you," Hyrum exclaimed as he nearly carried Benjamin to the stand. Benjamin's name is the last on the list in the Kirtland Council Minute Book of those who received blessing that day. He later wrote of the experience, "my joy was full" (118-19).
Hyrum's willingness to persist blessed Benjamin's life. Hyrum was a willing man.
Lesson Two: Go Forward
As my research on Hyrum continued, my friend suggested I compile the work into a book. I had never anticipated writing a book. Had he not asked me to do so, I would never have done it. But, in March 2001, I began.
Within a few weeks, knowledgeable people told me that there was a potential conflict between what I was doing and what some professionals in the field were working on. They told me to wait until these problems could be resolved. I had no experience with which to counter their cautions, but I had a strong feeling in my heart. In fact, it was more than a feeling.
President Marion G. Romney once said, "I know what Enos meant when he said, the voice of the Lord came into my mind ...' (Enos 10.) By this means," President Romney continued, "I have received in sentences answers to my prayers."
That is often the case for me. I get feelings and impression, but sometimes I get sentences. Amid those mortal voices telling me to wait, an immutable voice spoke to my heart and said, "Go forward."
That was all it said. No fanfare. No details. No explanation. None was needed. The direction was simple. Just go forward.
Like the message I had received a year earlier about willingness, this one proclaimed a theme in Hyrum's life. Hyrum was always going forward and he was always on the right course. Those in Hyrum's branch of Zion's Camp knew this. Lyman Littlefield later wrote, "Our company ... learned to love and honor Hyrum Smith, because of his dignified and upright course and correct teachings" (98).
When some in Zion's Camp debated the wisdom of following Joseph's counsel to camp on the prairie, Hyrum stepped forward. Joseph later recalled that "some were murmuring in the camp." But Hyrum quite literally "took the flag or standard" that was used to lead the camp and, as Joseph recalled, "[Hyrum] gave the word to move forward, and the teams immediately began to follow" (100).
Hyrum had a gift for looking forward. When he reorganized a stake presidency in 1840, he called Daniel Stanton as stake president, with an elderly Moses Jones as first counselor and twenty-nine-year-old Ezra T. Benson as second counselor. "You may think a little strange of my appointment," he explained, "but Bro. Jones is an old man and experienced in the Church, and Bro. Benson, is young and wants to learn" (230).
Brother Benson did learn. Six years later he was ordained to the apostleship and, in 1864, he and Lorenzo Snow were accompanied by Hyrum's son, Joseph F. Smith, when they came to Hawaii. In 1985, Ezra T.'s great-grandson, Ezra Taft Benson was sustained as President of the Church.
Hyrum also looked forward in March 1843, when he bestowed a patriarchal blessing on Addison Pratt, saying, "You shall ... go forth upon the face of the earth ... and your name shall be perpetuated and had in honor until the latest generation." On April 30, 1844, two months before Hyrum's death, Addison Pratt set foot on Tubuai, the first missionary of the Restored Gospel in Polynesia. Today, on Tubuai, in fulfillment of Hyrum's prophesy, there stands a monument to Addison Pratt.
Hyrum went continually forward because he knew whom to follow. In his last general conference, Hyrum told listeners, "If you are in the right track, having God to guide you, he will save you.... Humble yourselves before God, and ask him for his spirit" (322).
In the weeks that followed my personal "go forward" experience, I wrote the entire first draft of Hyrum Smith's biography. Reading through my journal, I am amazed at the experiences I had during that time. I felt that the Lord was helping me”and, perhaps, Hyrum too. As it turned out, the conflict either evaporated or it was resolved by means never explained to me. No one ever contacted me to tell me it was alright to proceed. Had I waited, I might still be waiting, and I would have only wasted time. Instead, I just followed the impression I had received and went forward.
That was the way Hyrum did things. When Martin Harris' wife brought legal action against the Prophet, alleging that he was trying to swindle Martin out of money, Hyrum's mother worried about the situation, but Hyrum said, "mother, we can do nothing, except to look to the Lord: in him is all help and strength; he can deliver from every trouble." Lucy Mack Smith later recalled, "Seeing such confidence in my son, strengthened me in this hour of trial" (24-25).
At times, Hyrum's confidence even strengthened Joseph. In 1842 the Prophet temporarily went into hiding to avoid being captured by his enemies. In the middle of the night, on an island in the Mississippi River, Hyrum came to comfort his younger brother. "Hyrum," Joseph's journal records, "thy name shall be written in the book of the law of the Lord, for those who come after thee to look upon, that they may pattern after thy works" (271).
A few weeks later, Joseph wrote encouragingly to the saints, "Go forward and not backward. Courage ... and on, on to the victory" (D&C 128:22, emphasis added).
Lesson Three: Never Give Up
My research and writing went well for a time, but when I presented a manuscript to the publisher, it hit a snag. Though they liked the content, they wanted a different format. I had prepared a documentary history and they wanted a narrative. They wanted a rewrite. It needed to read better and easier, in a more engaging style.
I wept that night, in late April 2002, having some sense of the enormity of what I was being asked to do and fully cognizant of my inexperience and lack of training. I did not even know what a narrative was. People I respected, who had more experience than I did, suggested I engage a professional writer to rework the manuscript. I felt pressured to agree, but I also felt a responsibility to complete what I had begun.
I stewed over the matter for weeks. Discouraged and uncertain, I boarded a plane with my wife and went to the Nauvoo Temple dedication. Our assigned seats for the opening session were in the assembly room, just a few rows in front of the pulpit where President Hinckley would soon appear. There we sat, quietly, waiting.
In the stillness of the temple, that familiar voice ”that reassuring voice that had spoken to me about willingness and encouraged me to go forward”spoke to me again. It was one of those times when my soul received counsel in sentences. I knew from the things that he said that the voice was Hyrum's. He made it clear that my presence there, on the anniversary of the Martyrdom, was no accident. Then, regarding the work before me, he said, "See that you do not give up on this thing nor give it to another!" I pulled a 3x5 card from my pocket and jotted down the injunction.
When President Hinckley came to the pulpit, he emotionally expressed his witness that Joseph and Hyrum were in attendance. I gratefully received his confirmatory witness. With the counsel and encouragement I received in the Nauvoo Temple, I came home and spent the better part of a year rewriting the manuscript.
I share this special experience with some apprehension. Much of it I cannot share at all. I do not wish to suggest that there was anything special about me. Rather, I share it to point out that Hyrum taught me something of his life and character; something that has helped me in my life and that I can share with you today.
Hyrum never shirked his responsibilities. He never tried to pass them off to someone else and he never gave up. His determination inspired those around him and the generations that followed. I believe this is one reason the Lord said that Hyrum's name "may be had in honorable remembrance from generation to generation, forever and ever" (D&C 124:96).
Hyrum could not give up, even when he knew what lay ahead. Shortly after his return from Zion's Camp in 1834, Hyrum was called as a counselor in the First Presidency (107). He received a special blessing in which he was told, "if it please thee, and thou desirest thou shalt have the power voluntarily to lay down thy life to glorify God" (112). That sobering knowledge rested upon him throughout the rest of his life.
Heaven looked upon Hyrum and recognized his determination. In 1840, Joseph Smith, Sr. bestowed his dying blessing upon Hyrum and promised, "You shall be as firm as the pillars of heaven unto the end of your days" (229). Just a week before the Martyrdom, Joseph encouraged Hyrum to take his family to safety in Cincinnati, but Hyrum responded predictably; "Joseph, I can't leave you" (338).
Hyrum was not naive. He knew what his enemies desired. On June 22, in Joseph's presence, Hyrum prophesied; "just as sure as we fall into their hands we are dead men" (339). The following day, as they contemplated a flight to safety in the west, Hyrum told Joseph, "If we live or have to die, we will be reconciled to our fate ... We had better go back, and if we die, we'll die like men" (342).
Hyrum's son, Joseph F., displayed similar courage and conviction. On the way home from his first Hawaiian mission, while still a teenager, Joseph F. encountered a group of drunken ruffians who swore their intent to kill any Mormons they found. The leader of the group pointed his gun at Joseph F. and asked, "Are you a Mormon?" Without hesitation, Joseph F. answered back, "Yes siree; dyed in the wool, true blue, through and through." The gunman grasped Joseph F.'s hand and said, "Well, you are the [blankety blank] pleasantest man I ever met! ... I am glad to see a man that stands up for his convictions." With that, the gunman rode off and the rest of the men followed.
Few of us will ever face such a situation, but we can all choose to never give up on gospel standards; to hold on faithful to the end, even when the path seems impassable.
Let me conclude with one final account from Hyrum's ministry. It illustrates not only Hyrum's willingness and determination to endure, but his ability to inspire such attributes in others.
In April 1841, as Joseph supervised placement of the Nauvoo Temple cornerstones, Hyrum presided over a conference in Philadelphia. A new, faith-filled convert named Edward Hunter attended the conference. He donated $200 to the construction of the temple and provided Hyrum lodging before and after the conference.
Despite all of his other responsibilities, Hyrum took time to minister personally to Brother Hunter. Edward confided to Hyrum about the deep sorrow he had experienced with the recent death of his three-year-old son, George Washington Hunter. Hyrum brimmed with empathy. His own three-year-old daughter had died in his arms in 1832. He counseled with Brother Hunter as they walked the banks of the Brandywine River.
"It is pretty strong doctrine," Hyrum explained, "but I believe I will tell it." As they walked, Hyrum continued, "[George] will act as an angel to you ... to assist you in extreme trials" (240-241).
About a year later, Brother Hunter told Hyrum that George had indeed come to strengthen him and to assure him that he had "many friends in heaven" (255). Edward remained faithful to the end. He died at age 90, after serving more than 32 years as presiding bishop of the Church.
Only heaven can measure the impact of Hyrum's counsel and example? Joseph held Hyrum up as an example and encouraged us all to follow. In 1835 Joseph's journal records, "I could pray in my heart that all my brethren were like unto my beloved brother Hyrum, who possesses the mildness of a lamb, and the integrity of a Job, and in short, the meekness and humility of Christ" (142).
I love Hyrum Smith. I am grateful for his examples of willingness, of going forward and of enduring to the end. Brothers and Sisters, in all worthy and righteous endeavors; be willing, go forward and never give up. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.