Hawaiian Mormon pioneers faced discrimination in Utah
In the late 1800s, Native Hawaiian Saints gathered to Zion, only to face rejection and discrimination, even from some within their own faith. Rather than walk away, they built the desert town of Iosepa, holding fast to Christ and their covenants.
In the late 1800s, native Hawaiian converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints left everything behind to gather to Zion. They crossed an ocean. They learned a new language. They came believing that they would belong. But when they arrived in Utah, many were met with something they didn't expect. Discrimination, mockery, closed doors. Some businesses refused to serve them.
Some neighbors didn't want them nearby. And painfully, some of that rejection came from people who shared their faith. So, church leaders helped establish a place where these Hawaiian saints could live together. They called it Eioeppa, which is Hawaiian for Joseph, named after their beloved Joseph F. Smith, who served as a missionary in the Hawaiian Islands. It was in the middle of Utah's desert.
Hot summers, bitter winters, little water, no shade. a world away from the beautiful lush islands they loved. And still they stayed. They built homes with their own hands. They planted gardens in dry ground. They raised children, sang hymns in Hawaiian, and worshiped every week. They buried loved ones there. They could have walked away. They could have said, "If this is Zion, we're done." But they didn't because their faith wasn't anchored in people.
It was anchored in Jesus Christ and his gospel. For nearly 30 years, Yosepa flourished quietly and faithfully. Then in 1915, word came a temple would be built in La Hawaii. And something remarkable happened. The people of Ila didn't cling to the town they had sacrificed so much to build. They didn't demand recognition for what they'd endured. They rejoiced. One by one, families packed up their lives again.
They left Yoseepa behind, not in anger, but in faith. They returned to Hawaii to help build the temple there. Today, Yoseepa is a ghost town with just a few foundations left behind and the cemetery where so many of these faithful Hawaiian saints are buried. Sometimes the deepest faith is shown not by being welcomed, but by staying faithful when you're not.
