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Show losepa celebrated Out in the middle of seemingly nowhere, stands a monument dedicated to a once occupied settlement named losepa (pronounced (pro-nounced Ee-o-see-puh), named after Joseph F. Smith, beloved prophet pro-phet and former missionary to the Hawaiians. Today a fire hydrant and a small fenced cemetery are the only remnants rem-nants of the settlement which brought approximately 128 Polynesians Polyne-sians to the harsh desert climate of Skull Valley, Utah. Thanks to the efforts of three generations of scouts from one Bountiful family, the area has now been refurbished. Originally for the purpose of the "gathering of the saints," these Polynesians accepted the call to come to Utah to congregate and join with their fellow Latter-day Saints. They suffered greatly from both the vast change in climate and leprosy. They beautified their new home bringing their culture to a fascinated gathering of Latter-day Saints. Following Brigham Young's prophecy pro-phecy that the desert would bloom as a rose, losepa was at one time honored for being the most beautiful beau-tiful city in Utah. These Polynesian saints labored fervently to adapt and become one of their Latter-day brothers and sisters. But because of their many hardships hard-ships and the eventual building of the Hawaiian Temple, they were, after 35 years, finally permitted to return to their homeland. Left behind, though, were loved ones who did not endure these hardships. The losepa cemetery is evidence of this. The Brock family of Bountiful was drawn to the rich heritage of losepa. Danny Brock enlisted his father and son (both named Charles) to take part in earning the Utah Heritage Award, which is designed to have Boy Scouts, and their leaders, learn about Utah Heritage, ethnic groups, or other interesting in-teresting facts about the state of Utah. After finding out all they could about the settlement, the three Brock scouts cleaned up the cemetery and decorated the 78 graves with several hundred carnations carna-tions and roses donated by Arvins Flowers of Bountiful. Conversations of wonderment and a reverence for these Polynesian Polyne-sian people accompanied the beau-tification beau-tification of their final resting places, again making the desert "bloom as a rose." |