WHERE WE WORSHIP
Hawai'i's main temples in La'ie, Kona

By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Religion and Ethics Writer

• Name of church: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The La'ie Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, dedicated in 1919 as a spiritual sanctuary for the Polynesian Saints, can accommodate 500 worshippers. The BYU-Hawaii campus in La'ie is near the temple. Advertiser library photo • July 12, 2001

• Where we are: Hawai'i's two main temples are in La'ie, where as many as 500 people can be accommodated, and a smaller building in Kona on the Big Island.

The tabernacle on Beretania Street has a capacity of about 1,000. There are about 100 chapels around the Islands serving individual wards, or congregations, which are components of larger units known as stakes.

• Our numbers: President Colin D. White, who heads one of the 14 stakes here, estimated there are 55,000 members of the church in Hawai'i.

• Our leader: Gordon B. Hinckley, who is more than 90 years old, is the head of the church worldwide, but there is no real "head" of the church in Hawai'i.

The highest authority here would be a stake president, such as White, who oversees nine wards or about 4,000 people. All stake presidents are equal, White said. White reports to area president Dieter Uchtdorf, who oversees 172 stakes.

• What we believe: See summary article.

• Our history: According to "Teachings of Presidents of the Church," missionary Joseph F. Smith, the grandson of Hiram Smith, brother of the first prophet Joseph Smith, was 15 when he arrived in Kula, Maui, in 1854. Smith learned the Hawaiian language, taught the Gospel and took his message to the other Hawaiian islands.

At 19, he returned home to Salt Lake City to great honors, and went on to become a prophet of the church.

More missionaries returned in the ensuing years, and the La'ie Temple was built on a former 6,000-acre plantation and dedicated in 1919 as a spiritual sanctuary for the Polynesian Saints.

In 1955, ground was broken near the temple for the Church College of Hawaii, later renamed BYU-Hawaii. Begun with 153 students in temporary barracks, the school now has an enrollment of more than 2,000 students from 60 nations.

In 1963, the church opened the Polynesian Cultural Center, employing hundreds of BYU-Hawaii students in demonstrating native Polynesian cultures for visitors.

The Kona Hawai'i Temple, the church's 70th in operation, was dedicated in 2000. More than 3,100 members attended dedication sessions.

• What we're excited about: Salt Lake City is serving as host of this year's Winter Olympics, with closing ceremonies tomorrow.

Upcoming special events for Hawai'i include the IMAX show, "Testament," which opens Easter week at the Polynesian Cultural Center, and a free presentation of "How We Strengthen Our Families" with Stephen Covey, author of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," on March 31.

• What's special about us: "We tend to have old-fashioned values that people believed in hundreds of years ago, that people (today) think are old-fashioned but we think are timeless," said White.

For example, LDS members in good standing don't smoke or drink and they eat meat sparingly.

They believe in having a year's supply of food and basic necessities — toilet paper, fuel, propane — on hand. And they believe strongly in missionary work, requiring that each member take part in a mission during early adulthood.

"A lot of other churches don't like our attitude," White said. "The Lord came to Joseph Smith himself and told him that for nearly two thousand years his church had been lost and he was going to restore it. ... We truly believe we were set up by the hand of God himself."

• Contact: The mission home, 942-0050.

If you would like to recommend a faith organization for a Where We Worship profile, e-mail faith@honoluluadvertiser.com, call 525-8035 or write: Where We Worship, Faith Page, The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802.