Lanai Mormons - Palawai Experiment - Lanai Culture & Heritage ...

establishment of the Päläwai gathering place. Native pioneers from Hawai‘i, Maui, Moloka‘i, O‘ahu
and Kaua‘i, were called to the “Päläwai Experiment.” Along the way, some Läna‘i natives were also
converted to the religion and integrated into the experiment.
The collection of documents that follows, provides readers with eyewitness accounts of participants in
the Päläwai experiment, and offers readers a glimpse into life on Läna‘i in the period between 1854 to
1864—covering establishment of the “City of Joseph” in the “Valley of Ephraim” (at Päläwai), to the
advent of, and subsequent excommunication of Walter Murray Gibson.
The selected narratives come from several sources, including letters and journals from the
missionaries, newspaper articles and Kingdom records. The primary sources of documentation on
this cited in this paper were found in the collections of the Brigham Young Universities (digital media),
The American Board of Christian Foreign Missions (A.B.C.F.M.) (Harvard – Houghten Library
Collection), the Hawai‘i State Archives and Bureau of Conveyances, the Hawaiian Mission Children’s
Society Library, and the Hawaiian Digital Library – Hawaiian Language Newspaper Collections
(Ulukau.org).
Some of the accounts have not previously been widely available, and others, in the Hawaiian
language, not previously translated to English. The Läna‘i accounts of two primary journalists,
Ephraim Green and John Stillman Woodbury are cited in their entirety, as they provide us with details
of Läna‘i’s history, not previously available. The entries are generally cited in chronological order,
though the journal entries of Green and Woodbury, are grouped together and cover the Läna‘i
narratives from the earliest journal reference to the last.
Arrival of the Mormon Missionaries in the Sandwich Islands–
Selection and Settlement on Läna‘i
Joint letter of the Sandwich Island Mission (Calvinists) for the Year 1851
Arrival of the Mormon Missionaries
It is thought by some of the Mission that this paragraph should not be published.
A new sect has lately been introduced among us to distract, & if possible draw away the
minds of the people from the truth as it is in Christ. These are the Mormons. Altho they
profess to be able to speak with other tongues we have heard as yet of none who have
endeavored without an interpreter to preach to a native congregation. Thence they have
not as yet made many converts. They however are sanguine of success, and boast that
when they get a knowledge of the language so as to be able to preach, the multitude will
follow them. This may be so. We have our views as well as they upon the subject, & we
know who has said when the enemy comes in like a flood. He will raise up a standard. In
this great Being is our trust, & not in an armor of flesh, nor in fleshly wisdom. The gates
of hell shall not prevail against his church tho deceivers creep into house, & lead captive
sully women laden with sins, lead away by diverse lusts... [Hawaiian Mission Joint letter
of 1851; A.B.C.F.M. Reel 803:237]
Läna‘i (1853-1864) – A History of the Mormon Mission at Päläwai
Working Manuscript of the Läna‘i Culture & Heritage Center (November 2009) 2