Item Detail
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24290
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3
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0
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English
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Mormon Missionaries in the Kingdom of Tonga, 1891-1897
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Salt Lake City, UT
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University of Utah
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29
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Master's thesis
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Arriving in Tonga on July 15, 1891, Alva Butler of Salt Lake City, Utah and Brigham Smoot of Provo, Utah were the first missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to preach Mormonism among the Tongan people. They were later followed by 17 others who were sent to help establish the LDS mission. The missionaries traveled to every island, preached in every village, and quickly obtained permission to set up schools and hold church services. People were generally friendly to the missionaries and oftentimes invited them into their homes to eat or rest. Many people faithfully attended church services on Sundays as well. However, despite their friendliness and hospitality, the vast majority of Tongans were unwilling to join the new religion. Within 6 years, there were less then 20 people who accepted baptism into the LDS faith. With such minimal success, LDS Church officials in 1897 decided to close down the Tongan mission and send the missionaries elsewhere. This failure to find greater success in Tonga is more astonishing when compared to the church's missionary efforts in other parts of the Pacific where native baptisms numbered in the thousands This paper focuses on the LDS church's first attempt to spread Mormonism in Tonga and it grapples with the reasons why missionaries experienced limited success among the Tongan people. I tell this story from the vantage point of the LDS missionaries. My research findings reveal that a greater and more complex political and religious situation in Tonga ultimately dictated the negative outcome for LDS missionaries. The Tongan people were heavily influenced by a native king whose main objective was to establish a powerful island kingdom in a region that was quickly being colonized by foreign powers. The king used religion, particularly the Wesleyan church, to consolidate power and to create unity among the Tongan people. Seeking only to establish religious capital and not gaining sufficient political capital, LDS missionaries were unable to establish the foundation they needed for a successful mission. Master of Arts