The Church in French Polynesia
Latter-day Saint congregations in French Polynesia first worshipped together on Tubuai, Tahiti, and on the Tuamotu Islands in the 1840s. Religious and political strife limited Church growth and full-time missionary work on the islands until the 1890s. Since then, Church members across French Polynesia have established deep spiritual roots. In 1984 the Church dedicated a temple in Papeete, Tahiti.
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History of the Church in French Polynesia
In 1843, the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles called four missionaries to take the gospel “unto the islands of the sea” in the Pacific (Doctrine and Covenants 133:8). On Tubuai, Addison Pratt became the first Latter-day Saint missionary to preach in a language other than English. Benjamin Grouard established the Church in the Tuamotus; early native converts Haametua and Hamoe laid the foundation for Church growth in Tahiti. Telii, one of the earliest members baptized by Pratt, taught Tahitian converts to sing Latter-day Saint hymns, which they adapted to Polynesian singing styles.
In 1852, amidst religious conflicts between the French and the English, Latter-day Saint missionaries were expelled from the islands. For the next 40 years, Saints in French Polynesia maintained the faith in the face of persecution. Saints in Anaa, for example, were attacked, and five were executed after an altercation with a police officer. Despite limited contact with Church headquarters, local leaders endured imprisonment, spread the gospel, and organized a Relief Society.
After missionaries returned in 1892, Church programs were more fully established, and publishing efforts began. Saints built meetinghouses, gathered for conferences, and organized singing groups. In 1963, a group of Saints made the trip to New Zealand for the first Tahitian-language temple sessions. In 1983, President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Papeete Tahiti Temple. Today, French Polynesian Saints honor their deep roots in the Church while reaching out in service to their community.
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Notes
- Britsch, R. Lanier. Unto the Islands of the Sea: A History of the Latter-day Saints in the Pacific. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1986.
- Ellsworth, S. George. “Called to Tubuai.” Ensign, Oct. 1989, 35–39.
- Ellsworth, S. George. History of Louisa Barnes Pratt. Life Writings of Frontier Women series. Logan: Utah State University Press, 1998.
- Ellsworth, S. George, and Kathleen C. Perrin. Seasons of Faith and Courage: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in French Polynesia: A Sesquicentennial History, 1843–1993. Sandy, Utah: Yves Perrin, 1994.
- Parshall, Ardis E. “The Winds and the Waves, 1903.” Blog post, Sept. 18, 2008, keepapitchinin.org.
- Perrin, Kathleen C. “Seasons of Faith: An Overview of the History of the Church in French Polynesia.” In Grant Underwood, ed., Pioneers in the Pacific: Memory, History, and Cultural Identity among the Latter-day Saints. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2005, 201–18.
- Pratt, Addison. The Journals of Addison Pratt: Being a Narrative of Yankee Whaling in the Eighteen Twenties, a Mormon Mission to the Society Islands, and of Early California and Utah in the Eighteen Forties and Fifties. Edited by S. George Ellsworth. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1990.