Show ELDERS correspondence extracts of a ledier letter irom from eld elder e r geo Q cannon MAUI MACI S I 1 march 1 1852 DEAR AUNT auitt last fall after the arrival arriva lof of the brethren and sisters from the coast I 1 wrote you a ong letter which I 1 ho hope you have received as it gave you all ail the news in regard to our operations up to that time I 1 have looked long and anxiously tor for or papers as cannot one moment think that I 1 am f forgotten ot gotten by you all I 1 have come to the conclusion that something must have happened to the mails or that they have bren been intercepted by those ever ready to interest themselves in mormon business but still I 1 flatter myself with the thought that there is a large package somewhere Bonie where for me my anxiety to hear from home is sometimes nearly intolerable and can only be imagined by those who have been in similar circuns stances my health has been good and I 1 have had no cause to complain but on the contrary every cause to be thankful I 1 have been blessed in all my attempts to disseminate truth and have had joy in the fruit of my labors the lords promise that according to io thy day thy strength shall be 2 has been fully folly verified to me our numbers at present speaking moderately are between four and five hundred upon this island 1 I cannot at present give the exact amount an and there is considerable enquiry both among whites and ni natives tives daifuku wailuku Wail Wa uku where I 1 at present reside is the first place I 1 stayed at after going among the natives and met with such opposition from the miss missionary i conary who told everything likely to be irti urious to the truth at that time I 1 was ignorant of the language to a great extent and went up to the potato potatoe e region for the purpose having a good opportunity of perfecting myself in the language but with tile expectation pec tation of returning when the way opened we now number upwards of here in W and upon the increase there are several quite influential men joine dand are strong arong in the faith I 1 have quite strong hopes of many of this people as they to take ke hold of truth with avidity 1 and seem to profit thereby but u with ith the majority it requires aalthe all the faith and patience that the S spirit P irit qt god affords us to do our duty and to have hare the f forbearance bearance or necessary as they are slow deiy very slow to understand and to live up to the prin gospel I 1 have heard beard the remark made by eld 1 ers ehg hat aey affey were not fit to go among an iad ened le pj people but the islands of the Pac pacific ifie or among ole he indians was the sphere proper to them this 1 at present think is a very wrong idea for 1 think it require am smart art men among this ibis people and particularly all aymen ien of great wisdom and patience i to the esit extent erit not needed among an enlightened people in regard to these qualifications i have felt my own destitution and have realized that nothing nothing but the power of the almighty can sustain a and le bear ar me up i we have baptized sed several eral whites and have a small organized branch at a place called makawao makaweo Ma kawao i upon we jus island they are all ap apparently patently strong L in the faith and I 1 think that one or two of them I 1 will be able to afford us some gome assistance after a while in preaching native there is but a sparse population of whites upon the islands and scattered at intervals of several miles there are some desirous of investigating while others do not manifest the least interest in the matter except for the purpose of slandering us the missionaries both catholic and protestant are zealously engaged in endeavoring to retard I 1 the progress of truth by all the means in their power but despite their opposition it does and will continue to roll I 1 have had interviews with both catholic and protestant with the catholics Calli olics frenchmen the native is our only mode of communication muni cation and have found truth has lost none of its original potency when broa brought ight in contact with error the brethren are sedulously engaged in endeavoring to perfect themselves in the language the I 1 brethren who are upon this island art are all ail able to speak and teach in the language not it is true with the fluency that they are likely to acquire by a longer res residence idenie but still with a good degree of plainness tie the simple principles necessary for them to observe there aye are at present four of us upon this island bros hammond Ha Haw fl awkins hins keeler a and nd myself bro fl hawkins flarkins arrived liere here from the island of hawaii a short time ago und is at present living at my old place of residence at kuln kula he feels well bro and sister flam hammend mund are I 1 living at a place about two miles from here called waiehu are situated well ill tup country and circumstances their society has been a solace to me as also to tile the rest of the brethren and sister 8 H will not I 1 think thin k be soon forgotten by us for she has fins been truly sisterly as bro H has been brotherly bro A had acquired some knowledge of the language during a former resi dence here but this has not been of as much benefit to him as lie he anticipated it would be being wholly obtained by the ear and not having buying paid but little litile attention to the grammatical construction of if the language he has had to unlearn and learn again a great deal I 1 have lived principally with them since sister H came dow dou n here about four weeks ago bro keeler is well and has been residing principally upon the other side of the island tile the w work ork here would have spread with greater rapidity had bad all been able to take an active part in the field a yet this lits has not been the case none of the brethren having had the language with the exception of myself to break up so that consequently my time has necessarily been spent in traveling and visiting the branches and opening fl reh freh places as opportunity afforded henceforth I 1 am in hopes that I 1 will be able to devote a little more time lime to the translation of the book of mormon which I 1 have commenced when I 1 reflect upon our fedeli feelings t and prospects when we ire landed upon the islands island s and afterwards heart swells with adoration Q and to the giver of all gond god for his beneficence manifested towards us A little rising of fourteen months ago we landed upon these shores complete strangers totally ignorant of the language customs and pre of the people among whom whom wp we landed with a strong influence to contend against and that wielded by those well acquainted with what we were ignorant of ours seemed a hard lot unless we could be aided by some power superior to that possessed by mortal that we have been aided in this manner I 1 for one cannot doubt and I 1 think it must be apparent to every unprejudiced man I 1 have been almost constantly nay I 1 think I 1 may say consta constantly antly b boyed up with the thought that I 1 am not forgotten in prayer by you vou all this people are deor decreasing easing and I 1 would like to see a remnant of them saved for the fathers sake and hence iveel very much interested in their welfare the missionaries have been here 31 beart but notwithstanding all their coorts efforts they have not been able to extirpate idolatry how flow can it be expected though as the system they teach is but idolatry it is still prevalent tho done saily as it is breaking the law and we have baptized several seven I 1 who have told us they aliey have done it the most common is the worship of the spirits of departed f friends but they also alao worship hogs dogs and cocks and they sa say y that their old priesthood had 41 power 0 i r I 1 but this odthe of the missionaries is powerless a and n therefore i e their adherence to their old system 1 apropos I 1 had almost to say anything in regard to the elders upon the other islands bro S B lewis and lady together villi vilh brothers big bigler I 1 er and forrer farrer are upon the island of if oahu bahu bro F has begun to preach and has baptized upwards ot bros L and B are backward in fact the progress of ofero bro L I 1 do not nol know with willi adv any certainty cef taint but comparing him with he ohp rest and aid from the reports I 1 hive live heard I 1 judge so bro woodbury Wood kury and lady are upon hawaii of his pr progress I 1 am at present uninformed d lie he was tao ly progressing the last report bro perkins is upon molokai having come down from the cot coast last dec sister P livina living at lahaina upon this idland staying with a white te brother named kipp I 1 have written thus far without scarcely an allusion to home or to all the folks there but do not imagine that I 1 am weaned I 1 am not the least and the lord f orbid forbid that I 1 should for I 1 think that were I 1 deprived of my love lovd for home and its attractions I 1 would be dep deprived rived of the mainspring of my existence and this world would be but a dreary waste a blank I 1 said in my last I 1 intend to t return as soon as practicable but how soon that will lip be I 1 cannot say in fact I 1 think it will depend in a great measure upon the recruits from froin home but be that as it may I 1 shall hail with feelings approaching t to rapture tile the privilege to return remi anber me to iros bros brigham and heber and willard as also thos the brethren of the twelve who may be there I 1 extracts of a letter from elder eider F A 11 hammond ammond WAIEHU maui S 1 Z march 1852 1832 5 DEAR we are living for the present 1 with bro rice one of our brethren on the island he is a good man mail and has been very kind to us we are having a small house built by the natives about the size of the one I 1 left on the cottonwood the natives are now engaged in getting gra grass gras s to thatch it bro rice has about 15 milk mill cows which keeps mrs hammond rather busy about the butter ac ac we are all well at present and in good spirits chave ve not had a sick day since we left home p ting while cross crossing ing the ocean mrs hammond was sick then for 4 days after that she enjoyed the passage very well little banky is well can talk some come native and english has been weaned about 3 months month I 1 have leen been able to be with wilh my family most of tile time when first we landed not noi having much money money left butof out of dollars I 1 went to shoemaking for a little time about a month then we found found 1 a home with an old acquaintance of mine who was hones enough to receive the truth and obey 1 tile the same since then mrs hammond Ha ramond end banky have found a good home with the white brethen breth en I 1 have had my way opened before me continually I 1 have not been left to want for anything but been greatly blest in my mission thus far when I 1 landed upon this island last augu August st there wei e 2 elders here bro george cannon and bro james keeler they had been here about 7 months bro cannon had been preaching since june lavi having rig go pot the language in about 3 months the shortest tt time ime of any foreigner ever getting it on the islands bro keeler has not got along so fast but has a good knowledge af pf of the I 1 language now but is not able to 0 o preach much yet but I 1 think he be wilt will soon bro cannon had done the most of the preaching as yeti yet they had bad baptized about when we came but soon after thit the church on this island had quite a drawback they had not come in with the expectation of any persecution 6 but they found this was not the i case for when the missionaries mission aries began to pl pi blish their lies the natives not being very independent they began to drop off and return to their old habits babi ts again but after the first blast of tile the missionary ii indignation I 1 d nation was over the cause began to flourish and has been prospering ever since the missionaries succeeded at first in in putting a stop to our labors until we sent to the heads of government to know whether we should have the same privileges as other sects upon the wands islands the government gave their full fall consent to our laboring here the V U S consul took an active part irk insetting getting granted to us the same rights as the other 1 1 hor denominations since that time the work has been increasing creating in I 1 rapidly we ie now number about members bers n nall ball the islands about four hundred and fifty arlt of that number is upon this island we baptie ed about 50 since christma s and aad the work still going ahead the missionaries are rather still about it at V have done all that they could to op 1 pose the work but ut the lord is is stronger than them arid and he has said that no weapon formed against the should stand hut but fall upon their own heads which has been verified upon these islands in the case of bro cannon about last march while n his way to kula he stopped over night with a native who proved to be a member of the rev mr mi grews greeks church while there it came on oil to lo rain when mr gi een came along arid and seeing bio bi 0 C then lie he rode up and i ordered the native to turn him out of doors door bro C I 1 i a asked him if that was christian line likie conduct when lie he green got mad inid and they fad ad quite i talk green I 1 aked docked bi bio 0 C what lie he came bei heie e to fo bro C replied be had come to preach the gospel when green gi een asked lim hm if he did not think the gospel had been preached pie pi cached ached here bro C told him no tins tais made him very angry and as he rode away lie he prayed the lo 10 loid to curse bro cannon but bro bio C told hift he had not not the ti power to curse him green has hag been in difficulty moi e or less ever binte both temporally and spiritually all y and his influence has haa been deci eing easing from t that day ay to this but the cause of truth has been gaining ground iu alt tile the time I 1 we have ii a branch of whites organ ar d at M makaweo iley hey ire are all well wei and dong do ng well at pres present eitt we num i b bei some n 15 white in inberg upon this the other M have never baptized but two white men since since chev came upon the island 30 v vears cars they say that thai the devil has showed himself lam him elf telf ilice twice one e in in I 1 the lie bhame tf f a circus and now mw bosmon i sin z n there is is some ta talk lk of annexation fion of the islands to the slates they die aie in i a deiy low ute state i at present very mue much ll 11 it in diba no business goinz going on oil to 1121 help p them jet get oat of then their troubles except tile the sugar plantation arid and the vi whale hale ships the te getie general getheral ral appear appeal i ance on the islands is is very ven much altered since since I 1 left heia in in 47 I 1 have just heard that the cormons mormons at salt rait lalta had all i le aellen belled against the gohei government ament of the united 1 states and that an at aimy my of s aty thousand was on then way 0 to o tile the lake 1 to quill the ifie insurrection of tile the rebels it is is ci eating quite an excitement here we also heald that governor Go vernoi young had app opria ted 80 thousand thou said dollars of tile the U states money to his own owl use and that hat there he e was a U S officer there who was like to be killed kilka by the lie people and that gov young had hard work to keep the people doing it please write wi ite and let me know about that HORRIBLE abair we have not received any letters yet since we left home we are aie ery much put ut to it here for foi new not ila having 1 ing any correspondence except from the east and t that hat not very cry often about a week ago we received a I 1 letter etter fr turn in brothers lyman and rich I 1 have seen the hand of the loi loid d ill in many ways since since WP we left home and felt more of his spirit than avei |