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The Church of Jesus Christ and Native Americans
Twentieth Century
Chief Yellowface and the Cree Tribe
Elder Glen G. Fisher wrote in the Improvement Era, "Nestled in the foothills of the Rockies in southwestern Alberta is a large ranch owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This ranch is from three to seven miles wide, and some thirty miles in length, including in all 66,000 acres.
"In late September 1908, a band of Cree Indians pitched their tepees on the banks of the Belly River a few miles below the ranch buildings. They were tired and anxious, for they had journeyed far and had met with much abuse from the white settlers who had driven them from camping grounds with curses and with insults to their wives and daughters. Three hundred miles they had traveled from the north in search of a people whom the Great Spirit had shown in a vision to one of their young men, of a people who had a book that would tell them of their forefathers and of the Great White Spirit.
"There was only a part of the tribe camped on the river, with about thirty tepees and possibly two hundred souls. The rest of the tribe were back in their camping grounds in the north, a little over one hundred miles east of Edmonton.
"The Crees are a tribe of Indians of higher intelligence and moral character than the average in northern Alberta. During the signing of treaties by the various tribes with the government of Canada, they maintained their independence and refused to accept the dole and be confined to a reserve. Their chief and wise counselor 'Yellowface,' a man of rare ability and spiritual in- clinations, having complete control over his people, replied to the many offers made by the government, 'We are a free people; our liberty is not for sale.' When offered treaty money by the government, he said: 'Any time you get something for nothing you surrender your freedom or a part of your liberty.' They maintained their independence until only a few years ago when the government finally forced them to accept a tract of country or lose their hunting grounds.
"The year 1908 was a difficult year for this little band. Because of their refusal to sign a treaty they were forced back into the foothills. Hunting was scarce and, as winter approached, Yellowface and his band spent much of their time in search of wild game to be cured for the long months of winter. It was during one of these hunts that a miraculous experience occurred. Yellowface had taken a number of his braves, leaving his young son in charge of the camp. A few days after Yellowface had left, this young man took suddenly ill and seemed to grow steadily worse. He told the people who waited upon him that he knew he was going to die and begged them not to bury him until his father returned, or until every spot on his body was cold.
"He apparently died, and they kept him in his tent for three days. There was still a spot of warmth over his heart and under his left arm. At the close of the third day Chief Yellow- face returned. He viewed his son’s body and felt of the warmth over his heart. He then took a vessel of oil and moistened the boy’s lips, letting a few drops pass between the lips. He offered a prayer and, as he stood and watched his son, the nerves in the boy’s face began to twitch, and he gradually regained consciousness. The old chief raised him up, putting blankets under his head; they fed the boy some broth, and finally he was able to speak to his father.
"He told his father that he had been to the Happy Hunting Ground and, as he was walking along, a man came toward him carrying a book in his hand. He held the book up and said, 'This book is a record of your forefathers. Tell your father to take some of his people and travel south until they find the people who have this book.' The boy asked how they would know when they had found the right people and the messenger replied: 'They will allow you to camp, fish, and hunt on their land; they will not seek to destroy the virtue of your wives and daughters; they will invite you into their homes and make you welcome, and treat you as sisters and brothers; they will give you food and clothing.' The messenger then gave a description of the man to whom they must go, and to none other, and cautioned the young boy to tell all of these things to his father. Soon after the boy delivered this message he died and was buried.
"Chief Yellowface wasted no time. He called his people together and plans were made to go in search of the people who had a history of their forefathers.
"And so it was not by mere chance that this little band finally reached the Church ranch, and camped on the Belly River within a short distance of the ranch house. They were guided by the Lord, and their great faith was soon to be rewarded, for on the following morning four cowboys riding from the ranch spied the camp and, out of curiosity, rode down among them. The Indians at first were afraid that they had come to order them to move on, but to their surprise these men were unusually friendly. They bought some moccasins, gloves, etc., from the Indians and paid no undue attention to the women, and on leaving, invited them to come up to the house.
"Here, with joy, Yellowface witnessed a partial fulfilment of the signs. Had not these young men manifested a spirit of kindness and honor? Their faith was renewed, a council was held, and two of the women were sent over to the ranch house, apparently on a friendly visit, but possibly to make sure that the sign was certain.
"The ranch foreman at this time was Bishop James S. Parker of Mountain View who, because of his ward duties and other interests, was absent from the ranch a great deal of the time. A man and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Olaf A. Olson, were living on the ranch in charge while Bishop Parker was absent.
"When the two squaws arrived at the house Mrs. Olson made them welcome. In her own words she tells of the incident. 'I was very pleased to see them, and I had been taught as a child to be good to them, and we had many good Indian friends among the Indians on the Blood Reservation. And so I prepared a lunch for them as I knew this would please them very much. Before they left, without really knowing why, I fixed some parcels of food for them, bread, beans, sugar, and dried fruit. Perhaps it was because my heart went out to them, they seemed so tired and lost and poor.
'The next morning the same two women came to the ranch house, this time they had a very old lady with them. This old lady had a very young baby in her arms. I think it would be about three weeks old; she was its grandmother. The child’s mother had died, and they wanted milk for the baby.
'Just a few months before this time we had lost our beautiful, nine-months-old-baby boy of pneumonia. This was a great trial and heartbreak for us to go through, and so when I saw this little baby, and these people so poorly dressed and with winter so close, I could not help wondering why my little one had to be taken and this child left without a mother? This was a lovely baby and the old lady let me take it in my arms. I held it to my heart, walking the floor, and turned and asked the old lady, in the language of the Blood Indians, how much she wanted for this papoose. The old lady waited for a second, and then she pointed to Oliver, my son, who was then about five years old, and asked, how much for your papoose. I felt my face grow red to the roots of my hair. I thought of my baby’s clothes that I had put away. I went and got some of them. I will never forget how my heart yearned and ached for that baby while I put on a warm little shirt, pinned up the stockings and put on the warm little booties. Nor will I ever forget the look of thankfulness and happiness in their faces when I put on a little sweater and bonnet and wrapped the baby in a warm shawl and gave it back to them.'
"Another sign was fulfilled.
"Within a few days Yellowface and some of his braves came over to the ranch and asked for permission to hunt and trap. Olaf Olson gave them permission, subject to the approval of the foreman, who as yet was not aware of the arrival of the Indians. Still another sign was fulfilled, and Yellowface and his band were satisfied that they had found the people they were looking for.
"It was now necessary for them to find the man to whom they were to go, and so a young brave by the name of Johnny Bushy, who was the official interpreter, was sent to the ranch house to tell Mrs. Olson of their mission. He related in detail all that had happened. When he finally gave a description of the man whom they were seeking, Mrs. Olson knew at once that their search was ended. There could be no mistake: Bishop Parker fitted the description perfectly. Before leaving, Johnny Bushy swore her to secrecy.
"When this news was taken back to camp, the Indians rejoiced, for surely it would not be long until the 'Big Boss,' as he was now called, would return to the ranch. But disappointment was once more to try their faith and patience, for Bishop Parker's visits were always hurried ones. The ward and home were seven miles from the ranch, and the fastest means of going and coming was horseback, so, although he had been told the Indians were very anxious to see him, he had supposed they were only wanting permission to hunt and trap, or some other of the many favors that the other Indians were always asking, and he had made no special effort to see them. They had moved their camp up the river a mile away from the ranch house, and when they came to the house he was not there, for, while at the ranch, he did not stay at the house but was out on the range with the cattle. At last they made known to Mrs. Olson that they had a very important message for him. Several weeks passed.
"One day in November there was a blizzard so severe that to ride the range was useless. The snow fell so thick and fast that only a few feet around could any object be discerned. Bishop Parker was at the ranch, and after lunch he proposed to Mr. Olson that they go down and see what it was that the Indians wanted. Mr. Olson was only too glad to go, for he and Mrs. Olson had witnessed the anxiety of the Crees and had been curious to know what it could mean.
"The two men arrived at the camp. Smoke was rising from the tepees. These people, too, were not venturing; far from shelter. Outside one of the tepees two fur buyers were bartering with Yellowface and the men for some furs and hides, and no one noticed the approach of the visitors until Mr. Olson spoke, telling Yellowface that he had brought the 'Big Boss.' Yellowface turned; an expression of joy covered his face as he shook hands with the men. He then gave two shrill yells which startled his visitors. He dismissed the fur buyers without ceremony and led the men to his own big tent in the center of the enclosure. They noticed, as they went towards the tent, that everybody was hurrying in the same direction. At the tent door they noticed quite a commotion going on inside. Several dogs, which had been enjoying the shelter and warmth of the tent, were being driven out by the chief’s squaw with a big stick and with so much force behind it that they were losing no time in making their getaway. The chief’s two daughters were cleaning up the tent, and they arranged the seat by spreading a robe on the floor and placing a box upon it, then spreading over this a beautiful robe of mountain lion skin. When all was ready, Yellowface took Bishop Parker by the arm and invited him to be seated, placing his interpreter at one side of the tent, standing, and he himself standing opposite where he could sec the faces of both. Mr. Olson squatted down by the side of Brother Parker, and, at a signal, all of the others crowded into the tent and sat upon the floor. The two daughters of Yellowface sat directly in front of Bishop Parker with their beadwork. All was done with wonderful order, and then all was still. Yellowface spoke, nodding to Brother Parker: 'You talk,' he said, Brother Parker had not dreamed of the nature of their mission, and he had felt a peculiar feeling all during the time they had been gathering themselves about him. What did it mean? Why all this honor? Then he answered, 'No, I came to hear you, to see what you want. They said you had a message for me.' 'No,' said Yellowface, 'you have a message for us. Tell us about our forefathers.'
"Bishop Parker was so surprised and so thrilled at the experience that he hardly knew what to say or where to begin. His life and work had been in the frontier. He had never been a student of scripture nor given to study to a great extent of any books. He had read the Book of Mormon, knew its truthfulness and worth, and he had studied it in some classes in Sunday School; but, to tell it as he was now expected to do, he felt wholly unable. Offering a silent prayer to his Heavenly Father for help, he began the story of Lehi and his family leaving Jerusalem. He spoke a few sentences then waited while the interpreter repeated the story to the Crees in their own language. It was a never-to-be-forgotten sight - those dusky faces upturned to him, watching every movement of his lips, drinking in with, oh, such interest, every word he spoke! No one moved. They seemed like statues. For five hours they listened to the story of their forefathers. Yellowface stood raised to his full height. He was tall and straight as an arrow, his arms folded across his breast. He did not move. He asked a question now and then or offered an explanation as to why they had come and of their trials and the signs which they had received. His daughter, with needle in hand and bead in the other, sat for the whole five hours without so much as moving a muscle of her face, it seemed.
"The story progressed with wonderful success, for the Lord did indeed help with his spirit and power to bring to the memory of the relator things long forgotten, to give him power when he had waited for the interpreter to repeat his words to the Indians in their own tongue, and his interest had been diverted in watching their expressions and interest, to take up the story again without hesitation and to make the story impressive to the ones to whom it meant so much - who they were, where they came from, why they were dark-skinned and what the future held for them.
"When Brother Parker had told his story, Yellowface turned to his people and, in their own tongue, talked for an hour in very serious tones, and, although Brother Parker could not understand the words, he felt the spirit and knew he was teaching them and exhorting them to live good lives. Then, speaking again through the interpreter, he held his right hand up and said he knew what had been spoken was true. 'For the Great Spirit has told me here,' he said, laying his hand upon his breast. Then he told many things of the legends of his forefathers of the Great White Spirit ministering to his people. He also told of experiences his own father had had with visitations from the spirit world, things which he considered so sacred that he begged him not to repeat them for fear they might not be told as they really were. Brother Parker has never revealed these things to anyone. Night comes early in that country in November, and it was with regret that they had to stop and return to the routine of life. But they were happy, all of them, in the blessings of the day.
"The Book of Mormon was placed in the hands of the Crees and there were some among them who could read. Many of them, however, could not and so Mr. Olson invited them to the ranch and, during the long winter evenings, Mrs. Olson read to them.
"Concerning this experience Mrs. Olson said: 'My husband invited them to the ranch, and many evenings I read to them the Book of Mormon. The living room was not too large, the furniture was meager; there were not enough chairs, but they would crowd into the living room as many as could and seemed happy to sit on the floor or wherever they could. I would sit at the end of the table with the Book of Mormon. Johnny Bushy would stand beside me. I would read a few sentences and then he would explain it in the Cree language. There was one old man I remember in particular, he was gray and bent and walked with a cane, he wanted to know how it was that his people had always been driven from their hunting grounds by the white people. When explaining over again how ruthless his forefathers had been and how God had cursed them with a dark skin, he made a strange moaning sound and the tears ran down his face.'
"Yellowface and his band camped for the winter months on the Church property and in the spring returned to their camping grounds near Rocky Mountain House. The following fall they again made a trek to the south and were welcomed back on the Church ranch.
"[Yellowface's successor] Chief Yelloweyes told me that during this second winter a number of the tribe visited, on occasions, ward services in Mountain View. He said they were made welcome both in the homes of the Saints and in ward functions, religious and social.
"Regardless of obstacles, problems and conditions, it seems to me that our duty today is clear. The Lord led these Indians to our doors forty years ago and it is my faith that he will do it again if we do our part."
"In late September 1908, a band of Cree Indians pitched their tepees on the banks of the Belly River a few miles below the ranch buildings. They were tired and anxious, for they had journeyed far and had met with much abuse from the white settlers who had driven them from camping grounds with curses and with insults to their wives and daughters. Three hundred miles they had traveled from the north in search of a people whom the Great Spirit had shown in a vision to one of their young men, of a people who had a book that would tell them of their forefathers and of the Great White Spirit.
"There was only a part of the tribe camped on the river, with about thirty tepees and possibly two hundred souls. The rest of the tribe were back in their camping grounds in the north, a little over one hundred miles east of Edmonton.
"The Crees are a tribe of Indians of higher intelligence and moral character than the average in northern Alberta. During the signing of treaties by the various tribes with the government of Canada, they maintained their independence and refused to accept the dole and be confined to a reserve. Their chief and wise counselor 'Yellowface,' a man of rare ability and spiritual in- clinations, having complete control over his people, replied to the many offers made by the government, 'We are a free people; our liberty is not for sale.' When offered treaty money by the government, he said: 'Any time you get something for nothing you surrender your freedom or a part of your liberty.' They maintained their independence until only a few years ago when the government finally forced them to accept a tract of country or lose their hunting grounds.
"The year 1908 was a difficult year for this little band. Because of their refusal to sign a treaty they were forced back into the foothills. Hunting was scarce and, as winter approached, Yellowface and his band spent much of their time in search of wild game to be cured for the long months of winter. It was during one of these hunts that a miraculous experience occurred. Yellowface had taken a number of his braves, leaving his young son in charge of the camp. A few days after Yellowface had left, this young man took suddenly ill and seemed to grow steadily worse. He told the people who waited upon him that he knew he was going to die and begged them not to bury him until his father returned, or until every spot on his body was cold.
"He apparently died, and they kept him in his tent for three days. There was still a spot of warmth over his heart and under his left arm. At the close of the third day Chief Yellow- face returned. He viewed his son’s body and felt of the warmth over his heart. He then took a vessel of oil and moistened the boy’s lips, letting a few drops pass between the lips. He offered a prayer and, as he stood and watched his son, the nerves in the boy’s face began to twitch, and he gradually regained consciousness. The old chief raised him up, putting blankets under his head; they fed the boy some broth, and finally he was able to speak to his father.
"He told his father that he had been to the Happy Hunting Ground and, as he was walking along, a man came toward him carrying a book in his hand. He held the book up and said, 'This book is a record of your forefathers. Tell your father to take some of his people and travel south until they find the people who have this book.' The boy asked how they would know when they had found the right people and the messenger replied: 'They will allow you to camp, fish, and hunt on their land; they will not seek to destroy the virtue of your wives and daughters; they will invite you into their homes and make you welcome, and treat you as sisters and brothers; they will give you food and clothing.' The messenger then gave a description of the man to whom they must go, and to none other, and cautioned the young boy to tell all of these things to his father. Soon after the boy delivered this message he died and was buried.
"Chief Yellowface wasted no time. He called his people together and plans were made to go in search of the people who had a history of their forefathers.
"And so it was not by mere chance that this little band finally reached the Church ranch, and camped on the Belly River within a short distance of the ranch house. They were guided by the Lord, and their great faith was soon to be rewarded, for on the following morning four cowboys riding from the ranch spied the camp and, out of curiosity, rode down among them. The Indians at first were afraid that they had come to order them to move on, but to their surprise these men were unusually friendly. They bought some moccasins, gloves, etc., from the Indians and paid no undue attention to the women, and on leaving, invited them to come up to the house.
"Here, with joy, Yellowface witnessed a partial fulfilment of the signs. Had not these young men manifested a spirit of kindness and honor? Their faith was renewed, a council was held, and two of the women were sent over to the ranch house, apparently on a friendly visit, but possibly to make sure that the sign was certain.
"The ranch foreman at this time was Bishop James S. Parker of Mountain View who, because of his ward duties and other interests, was absent from the ranch a great deal of the time. A man and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Olaf A. Olson, were living on the ranch in charge while Bishop Parker was absent.
"When the two squaws arrived at the house Mrs. Olson made them welcome. In her own words she tells of the incident. 'I was very pleased to see them, and I had been taught as a child to be good to them, and we had many good Indian friends among the Indians on the Blood Reservation. And so I prepared a lunch for them as I knew this would please them very much. Before they left, without really knowing why, I fixed some parcels of food for them, bread, beans, sugar, and dried fruit. Perhaps it was because my heart went out to them, they seemed so tired and lost and poor.
'The next morning the same two women came to the ranch house, this time they had a very old lady with them. This old lady had a very young baby in her arms. I think it would be about three weeks old; she was its grandmother. The child’s mother had died, and they wanted milk for the baby.
'Just a few months before this time we had lost our beautiful, nine-months-old-baby boy of pneumonia. This was a great trial and heartbreak for us to go through, and so when I saw this little baby, and these people so poorly dressed and with winter so close, I could not help wondering why my little one had to be taken and this child left without a mother? This was a lovely baby and the old lady let me take it in my arms. I held it to my heart, walking the floor, and turned and asked the old lady, in the language of the Blood Indians, how much she wanted for this papoose. The old lady waited for a second, and then she pointed to Oliver, my son, who was then about five years old, and asked, how much for your papoose. I felt my face grow red to the roots of my hair. I thought of my baby’s clothes that I had put away. I went and got some of them. I will never forget how my heart yearned and ached for that baby while I put on a warm little shirt, pinned up the stockings and put on the warm little booties. Nor will I ever forget the look of thankfulness and happiness in their faces when I put on a little sweater and bonnet and wrapped the baby in a warm shawl and gave it back to them.'
"Another sign was fulfilled.
"Within a few days Yellowface and some of his braves came over to the ranch and asked for permission to hunt and trap. Olaf Olson gave them permission, subject to the approval of the foreman, who as yet was not aware of the arrival of the Indians. Still another sign was fulfilled, and Yellowface and his band were satisfied that they had found the people they were looking for.
"It was now necessary for them to find the man to whom they were to go, and so a young brave by the name of Johnny Bushy, who was the official interpreter, was sent to the ranch house to tell Mrs. Olson of their mission. He related in detail all that had happened. When he finally gave a description of the man whom they were seeking, Mrs. Olson knew at once that their search was ended. There could be no mistake: Bishop Parker fitted the description perfectly. Before leaving, Johnny Bushy swore her to secrecy.
"When this news was taken back to camp, the Indians rejoiced, for surely it would not be long until the 'Big Boss,' as he was now called, would return to the ranch. But disappointment was once more to try their faith and patience, for Bishop Parker's visits were always hurried ones. The ward and home were seven miles from the ranch, and the fastest means of going and coming was horseback, so, although he had been told the Indians were very anxious to see him, he had supposed they were only wanting permission to hunt and trap, or some other of the many favors that the other Indians were always asking, and he had made no special effort to see them. They had moved their camp up the river a mile away from the ranch house, and when they came to the house he was not there, for, while at the ranch, he did not stay at the house but was out on the range with the cattle. At last they made known to Mrs. Olson that they had a very important message for him. Several weeks passed.
"One day in November there was a blizzard so severe that to ride the range was useless. The snow fell so thick and fast that only a few feet around could any object be discerned. Bishop Parker was at the ranch, and after lunch he proposed to Mr. Olson that they go down and see what it was that the Indians wanted. Mr. Olson was only too glad to go, for he and Mrs. Olson had witnessed the anxiety of the Crees and had been curious to know what it could mean.
"The two men arrived at the camp. Smoke was rising from the tepees. These people, too, were not venturing; far from shelter. Outside one of the tepees two fur buyers were bartering with Yellowface and the men for some furs and hides, and no one noticed the approach of the visitors until Mr. Olson spoke, telling Yellowface that he had brought the 'Big Boss.' Yellowface turned; an expression of joy covered his face as he shook hands with the men. He then gave two shrill yells which startled his visitors. He dismissed the fur buyers without ceremony and led the men to his own big tent in the center of the enclosure. They noticed, as they went towards the tent, that everybody was hurrying in the same direction. At the tent door they noticed quite a commotion going on inside. Several dogs, which had been enjoying the shelter and warmth of the tent, were being driven out by the chief’s squaw with a big stick and with so much force behind it that they were losing no time in making their getaway. The chief’s two daughters were cleaning up the tent, and they arranged the seat by spreading a robe on the floor and placing a box upon it, then spreading over this a beautiful robe of mountain lion skin. When all was ready, Yellowface took Bishop Parker by the arm and invited him to be seated, placing his interpreter at one side of the tent, standing, and he himself standing opposite where he could sec the faces of both. Mr. Olson squatted down by the side of Brother Parker, and, at a signal, all of the others crowded into the tent and sat upon the floor. The two daughters of Yellowface sat directly in front of Bishop Parker with their beadwork. All was done with wonderful order, and then all was still. Yellowface spoke, nodding to Brother Parker: 'You talk,' he said, Brother Parker had not dreamed of the nature of their mission, and he had felt a peculiar feeling all during the time they had been gathering themselves about him. What did it mean? Why all this honor? Then he answered, 'No, I came to hear you, to see what you want. They said you had a message for me.' 'No,' said Yellowface, 'you have a message for us. Tell us about our forefathers.'
"Bishop Parker was so surprised and so thrilled at the experience that he hardly knew what to say or where to begin. His life and work had been in the frontier. He had never been a student of scripture nor given to study to a great extent of any books. He had read the Book of Mormon, knew its truthfulness and worth, and he had studied it in some classes in Sunday School; but, to tell it as he was now expected to do, he felt wholly unable. Offering a silent prayer to his Heavenly Father for help, he began the story of Lehi and his family leaving Jerusalem. He spoke a few sentences then waited while the interpreter repeated the story to the Crees in their own language. It was a never-to-be-forgotten sight - those dusky faces upturned to him, watching every movement of his lips, drinking in with, oh, such interest, every word he spoke! No one moved. They seemed like statues. For five hours they listened to the story of their forefathers. Yellowface stood raised to his full height. He was tall and straight as an arrow, his arms folded across his breast. He did not move. He asked a question now and then or offered an explanation as to why they had come and of their trials and the signs which they had received. His daughter, with needle in hand and bead in the other, sat for the whole five hours without so much as moving a muscle of her face, it seemed.
"The story progressed with wonderful success, for the Lord did indeed help with his spirit and power to bring to the memory of the relator things long forgotten, to give him power when he had waited for the interpreter to repeat his words to the Indians in their own tongue, and his interest had been diverted in watching their expressions and interest, to take up the story again without hesitation and to make the story impressive to the ones to whom it meant so much - who they were, where they came from, why they were dark-skinned and what the future held for them.
"When Brother Parker had told his story, Yellowface turned to his people and, in their own tongue, talked for an hour in very serious tones, and, although Brother Parker could not understand the words, he felt the spirit and knew he was teaching them and exhorting them to live good lives. Then, speaking again through the interpreter, he held his right hand up and said he knew what had been spoken was true. 'For the Great Spirit has told me here,' he said, laying his hand upon his breast. Then he told many things of the legends of his forefathers of the Great White Spirit ministering to his people. He also told of experiences his own father had had with visitations from the spirit world, things which he considered so sacred that he begged him not to repeat them for fear they might not be told as they really were. Brother Parker has never revealed these things to anyone. Night comes early in that country in November, and it was with regret that they had to stop and return to the routine of life. But they were happy, all of them, in the blessings of the day.
"The Book of Mormon was placed in the hands of the Crees and there were some among them who could read. Many of them, however, could not and so Mr. Olson invited them to the ranch and, during the long winter evenings, Mrs. Olson read to them.
"Concerning this experience Mrs. Olson said: 'My husband invited them to the ranch, and many evenings I read to them the Book of Mormon. The living room was not too large, the furniture was meager; there were not enough chairs, but they would crowd into the living room as many as could and seemed happy to sit on the floor or wherever they could. I would sit at the end of the table with the Book of Mormon. Johnny Bushy would stand beside me. I would read a few sentences and then he would explain it in the Cree language. There was one old man I remember in particular, he was gray and bent and walked with a cane, he wanted to know how it was that his people had always been driven from their hunting grounds by the white people. When explaining over again how ruthless his forefathers had been and how God had cursed them with a dark skin, he made a strange moaning sound and the tears ran down his face.'
"Yellowface and his band camped for the winter months on the Church property and in the spring returned to their camping grounds near Rocky Mountain House. The following fall they again made a trek to the south and were welcomed back on the Church ranch.
"[Yellowface's successor] Chief Yelloweyes told me that during this second winter a number of the tribe visited, on occasions, ward services in Mountain View. He said they were made welcome both in the homes of the Saints and in ward functions, religious and social.
"Regardless of obstacles, problems and conditions, it seems to me that our duty today is clear. The Lord led these Indians to our doors forty years ago and it is my faith that he will do it again if we do our part."
Yeager Timbimboo
During the April 1926 General Conference, President Heber J. Grant announced, "A Lamanite brother from Washakie will now speak to us. His remarks will be interpreted by his bishop, Elder George M. Ward. We have 150 members of the Church in Washakie. I understand that this Lamanite brother said he would like the opportunity of saying a few words here, and we are glad to have him do so. Brother Frank Warner, a brother of our Lamanite who is coming to the stand, filled a number of very fine missions among the Lamanites in different sections of the United States."
Shoshone Latter-day Saint and Bear River Massacre survivor Yeager Timbimboo, with George Ward translating, then spoke: "My brethren and sisters: I am glad to meet here with you in conference. This is the first time in my life I have stood here and spoken to an audience. In my childhood I understood nothing of the services of this people. I had seen them going to Church. Not until I yielded obedience unto the word of God and accepted the ordinances of the gospel did I know what they were doing. Since I have accepted this gospel I have felt to be a friend to this people, and I have no desire to kill, or to do anything wrong that would displease the Spirit of the Lord.
"I believe the Lord is in existence. In my younger days I was sent with others to this country towards the west in search of a Great Spirit. But I have found that the Spirit of the Lord is among this people. While in search of that Great Spirit, the company of Indians traveled by foot day and night, and endured hardships, hunger and thirst. When we did reach our destination in the west, we found it was the elders of this Church, and we were baptized by those elders. Since I have been baptized and accepted this gospel I feel to live it to the best of my ability. And it encourages us one and all to live sacred lives before the Lord and keep his commandments, as we have been instructed during this conference.
"I look upon these men sitting here the same as I look upon our heavenly Father. I want to be obedient unto them and their teachings. Upon one occasion in my life I was very sick and my spirit left my body and went to my Creator, and the Creator would not accept my spirit, but it was sent back to my body. And now I testify that I am a living witness to this thing. I rejoice in the work that I have accomplished in this Church, the acceptance of the ordinances of the gospel, the performance of the same in my own behalf and the work that I have accomplished in behalf of my dead kindred.
"I feel that the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof is his, and we are his children and are placed here to obey him. Everything that we receive from this earth in the shape of grain, I feel is a blessing from the Lord unto us, and that we should consider it such, and thank the Lord for these blessings. I want to encourage you to be faithful and serve the Lord and keep his commandments. You people have the advantage of me. You can read the word of God from the scriptures and can store it up in your minds and prepare yourselves to live it. I, being unable to read, have to get my instructions from my bishop and remember them, and whenever he calls upon me I depend upon the Lord to bless me with his Spirit to bring to my mind the things I should say. I am in this position this morning, called unexpectedly to stand here before you, and I have expressed the few things that I have spoken under the direction of the Spirit of the Lord."
President Grant then added, "I wish to say that the Latter-day Saints have undoubtedly spent more money and more time in endeavoring to educate and benefit the Lamanite people, whom we believe to be the descendants of the father Lehi, than any other people. The Church today, I believe, numbers among its converts in Hawaii over one-half the native population of that land. We are given the credit by leading officials in that land of having done more for the uplift, morally, intellectually and physically, and for the temporal benefit of the people of Hawaii than all other missionaries who have been in that land. And we have invested there at the present time in plantations considerably more than a million and a half dollars in money.
"We have assisted the Indians in Arizona and in different parts of Utah and Montana, and have done everything within our power for the benefit of this people, and we look forward to the day when hundreds and thousands of them will be abundantly blessed of the Lord, and when they shall eventually become a white and a delightsome people."
Shoshone Latter-day Saint and Bear River Massacre survivor Yeager Timbimboo, with George Ward translating, then spoke: "My brethren and sisters: I am glad to meet here with you in conference. This is the first time in my life I have stood here and spoken to an audience. In my childhood I understood nothing of the services of this people. I had seen them going to Church. Not until I yielded obedience unto the word of God and accepted the ordinances of the gospel did I know what they were doing. Since I have accepted this gospel I have felt to be a friend to this people, and I have no desire to kill, or to do anything wrong that would displease the Spirit of the Lord.
"I believe the Lord is in existence. In my younger days I was sent with others to this country towards the west in search of a Great Spirit. But I have found that the Spirit of the Lord is among this people. While in search of that Great Spirit, the company of Indians traveled by foot day and night, and endured hardships, hunger and thirst. When we did reach our destination in the west, we found it was the elders of this Church, and we were baptized by those elders. Since I have been baptized and accepted this gospel I feel to live it to the best of my ability. And it encourages us one and all to live sacred lives before the Lord and keep his commandments, as we have been instructed during this conference.
"I look upon these men sitting here the same as I look upon our heavenly Father. I want to be obedient unto them and their teachings. Upon one occasion in my life I was very sick and my spirit left my body and went to my Creator, and the Creator would not accept my spirit, but it was sent back to my body. And now I testify that I am a living witness to this thing. I rejoice in the work that I have accomplished in this Church, the acceptance of the ordinances of the gospel, the performance of the same in my own behalf and the work that I have accomplished in behalf of my dead kindred.
"I feel that the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof is his, and we are his children and are placed here to obey him. Everything that we receive from this earth in the shape of grain, I feel is a blessing from the Lord unto us, and that we should consider it such, and thank the Lord for these blessings. I want to encourage you to be faithful and serve the Lord and keep his commandments. You people have the advantage of me. You can read the word of God from the scriptures and can store it up in your minds and prepare yourselves to live it. I, being unable to read, have to get my instructions from my bishop and remember them, and whenever he calls upon me I depend upon the Lord to bless me with his Spirit to bring to my mind the things I should say. I am in this position this morning, called unexpectedly to stand here before you, and I have expressed the few things that I have spoken under the direction of the Spirit of the Lord."
President Grant then added, "I wish to say that the Latter-day Saints have undoubtedly spent more money and more time in endeavoring to educate and benefit the Lamanite people, whom we believe to be the descendants of the father Lehi, than any other people. The Church today, I believe, numbers among its converts in Hawaii over one-half the native population of that land. We are given the credit by leading officials in that land of having done more for the uplift, morally, intellectually and physically, and for the temporal benefit of the people of Hawaii than all other missionaries who have been in that land. And we have invested there at the present time in plantations considerably more than a million and a half dollars in money.
"We have assisted the Indians in Arizona and in different parts of Utah and Montana, and have done everything within our power for the benefit of this people, and we look forward to the day when hundreds and thousands of them will be abundantly blessed of the Lord, and when they shall eventually become a white and a delightsome people."
Spencer W. Kimball's Dream
In 1946 Elder Spencer W. Kimball was called to oversee the Church's Lamanite program. The next year, he saw a dream or vision while touring the Mexican Mission. As he reported thirty years later in a speech to Native Americans: "Maybe the Lord was showing to me what great things this people would accomplish... I could see you children of Lehi with your herds and flocks on thousands of hills... In my dream I no longer saw you [as] the servant of other people, but I saw you as the employer, the owner of banks and businesses. I saw the people of Lehi as engineers and builders building lofty bridges and great edifices. I saw you in great political positions and functioning as administrators of the land. I saw many of you as heads of government and of the counties, states and cities. I saw you in legislative positions where as good legislators and good Latter-day Saints you were able to make the best laws for your brothers and sisters. I saw many of your sons become attorneys.
"I saw doctors, as well as lawyers, looking after the health of the people... I saw you as owners of newspapers with great influence in public affairs. I saw great artists among you. Many of you I saw writing books and magazines and articles and having a powerful influence on the thoughts of the people of the country... I saw the Church growing in rapid strides and I saw wards and stakes organized. I saw stakes by the hundreds. I saw a temple."
In the October 1947 General Conference he said, "Since the last conference it has been my privilege to visit many of the tribes of Indians and spend some time down in Mexico among others of the Lamanites. In Mexico I found many pureblood Indians who are living the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are in organized branches. There was the Aztec group down south of Popocatepetl Volcano. I found them dancing the Gold and Green Ball, though generally they go barefooted. I found them in Mutual activities of all kinds, singing temple anthems, dancing, dramatizing, and doing many of the things which we do here at home. And it became my hope that such might be the privilege of all of the Indians or Lamanites, everywhere in the world, and that the Church blessings might be brought to them...
"And in the last three months two new fields have been opened. Mexican missionaries from the Mexican Mission have been sent into Guatemala and Costa Rica, and the work is going forward with the approval and hearty response, it seems, of the leading authorities of those nations. We have the Mexican Mission, the Spanish-American Mission and the Navajo-Zuni Mission here in the United States and Mexico, in addition to all the program in the isles of the sea. The work in the stakes is going forward. There are Indians in many of the stakes here in the West, and the stake presidents are looking after the proselyting of these Indians within their boundaries, especially in the Blackfoot, Roosevelt, Sevier, Parowan, and other stakes.
"We are glad of the work that has been renewed in the missions of the Church, especially here in North America. In Canada some very splendid work is being done in the Six-Nations Reservation over near Brantford, Ontario, and in central Canada there are two large reservations, the "Carry the Kettle" Reservation and the Piapot, where President Ivins recently visited, and between 175 and 200 Indians came and attended his meetings. Those were the largest meetings, I understand, in his entire mission visit in western Canada. We have the Ponca and the Sioux Indians who are showing interest in Nebraska, and the Shoshones and the Arapahoes in Wyoming. We are doing work in the Rogue River, the Tule Rivers, and the Rancho Rio reservations in northern California, and the Menominee Reservation in the Northern States Mission. We have the Iroquois and the Catteraugas in New York, and it will be remembered that in 1830 when Oliver Cowdery began his missionary service among the Lamanites, that those were the first Indians to be visited in this dispensation. Today young elders are on motor bikes going out into the scattered areas and visiting the Indians, and are receiving a very warm welcome. The Cherokees in the East Central States Mission are interested. Their chief, Armichain, has indicated a great deal of helpfulness...
"I would like to quote just a paragraph from a letter from one who has indicated intense interest and been most helpful. 'I drove... with one of my Indian friends, Charles Crow, to Asheville, and met the lady missionaries and the elders there... he was much impressed by them... We administered to one of the elders who was ill, Charles Crow witnessing the ordinance... He later told me that [that] was taught in the Bible, and we were the first people he ever knew of that used it. When I had my prayers that evening I knelt beside him... Before I had finished he put his arm on my shoulder and said, Elder Stokes, pray that I some day may also have such a testimony and a prayer in my heart. It was my privilege at Malad Stake recently to see a large number of our Indian members of the Church. One of the sisters bore a wonderful testimony in the conference, and one of the old men dismissed the conference. He was one of those original three hundred baptized way back in 1875 by Brother Hill. He was deaf, but he offered a very fine prayer.
"I believe that the interest generally is spreading and increasing and that we are on the dawn of a great day for the Lamanite people. Visiting the Mexican Mission in May I found of the seventy-one missionaries, fifteen of them were Lamanites, and I also found the young American missionaries were vying with each other to see who could be the companions of these Mexican and Indian missionaries because they were so efficient.
There have been baptisms by the hundreds. Some of the most recent ones were twenty baptisms in the Roosevelt Stake within the past few weeks. There were four at Sand Hills, Arizona. There were forty-one baptized in Mexico City in one day while I was there, and I witnessed their baptism. And then there were hundreds, many hundreds who have come back into fellowship in the Church in Mexico [after a large schism in the Church there] through the good graces of President George Albert Smith, President Arwell L. Pierce, and others who made contributions toward that great accomplishment. We have had schools in Mexico, in Hawaii, Tonga, and New Zealand. And so we are looking forward to a new day in schooling where our Lamanites may receive many of the advantages that our own children have.
"A year ago we established down in Blanding, Utah, a small school, somewhat as an experiment. It has been very successful. With an outlay of only $1,500 total, we have built and equipped a two-room schoolhouse there under the direction of Brother Albert R. Lyman, who has done a glorious work. There have been many donations of all kinds, in materials, in food, in clothing. For the first year they fed these little Indian children, twenty-seven of them, a warm midday meal, clothed them, and taught them not only the three R's but the gospel. It has been very successful, and we are delighted with the prospects that are ahead of us for the second year now which is beginning. I visited this school last year when it was in session. I noticed that three of the Indian women came, one of whom had five children, four in the school and one in the cradle upon her back. She sat at the sewing machine all day long in one corner of the larger schoolroom, and frequently we would see her going over to one of the little desks, kneeling down beside it to help her children to learn, and to impress upon them the importance of taking advantage of this unusual opportunity which many thousands of little boys and girls should, but do not have.
"The 1946 report of the missions discloses the fact, that among the Lamanites there are six times as many converts for each missionary, as in all the other missions of the world, and there are twenty times as many converts for each missionary in the Lamanite missions as in some of the missions in Canada and the United States...
"Brothers and sisters, in conclusion may I say that we owe a great debt to these people, which we can only pay by giving to them the gospel and the many advantages and opportunities which we enjoy. They are a warmhearted and devoted people. They believe without skepticism. They have a simple, childlike faith which admits of no cheap rationalization. The Lamanites must rise in majesty and power. We must look forward to the day when they will be "white and delightsome" (2 Ne. 5:21; 2 Ne. 30:6), sharing the freedoms and blessings which we enjoy; when they shall have economic security, culture, refinement, and education; when they shall be operating farms and businesses and industries and shall be occupied in the professions and in teaching; when they shall be organized into wards and stakes of Zion, furnishing much of their own leadership; when they shall build and occupy and fill the temples, and serve in them as the natives are now serving in the Hawaiian Temple where I found last year the entire service conducted by them and done perfectly.
"And in the day when their prophet shall come, one shall rise ...mighty among them... being an instrument in the hands of God, with exceeding faith, to work mighty wonders (2 Ne. 3:24).Brothers and sisters, the florescence of the Lamanites is in our hands. May we not fail them, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."
"I saw doctors, as well as lawyers, looking after the health of the people... I saw you as owners of newspapers with great influence in public affairs. I saw great artists among you. Many of you I saw writing books and magazines and articles and having a powerful influence on the thoughts of the people of the country... I saw the Church growing in rapid strides and I saw wards and stakes organized. I saw stakes by the hundreds. I saw a temple."
In the October 1947 General Conference he said, "Since the last conference it has been my privilege to visit many of the tribes of Indians and spend some time down in Mexico among others of the Lamanites. In Mexico I found many pureblood Indians who are living the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are in organized branches. There was the Aztec group down south of Popocatepetl Volcano. I found them dancing the Gold and Green Ball, though generally they go barefooted. I found them in Mutual activities of all kinds, singing temple anthems, dancing, dramatizing, and doing many of the things which we do here at home. And it became my hope that such might be the privilege of all of the Indians or Lamanites, everywhere in the world, and that the Church blessings might be brought to them...
"And in the last three months two new fields have been opened. Mexican missionaries from the Mexican Mission have been sent into Guatemala and Costa Rica, and the work is going forward with the approval and hearty response, it seems, of the leading authorities of those nations. We have the Mexican Mission, the Spanish-American Mission and the Navajo-Zuni Mission here in the United States and Mexico, in addition to all the program in the isles of the sea. The work in the stakes is going forward. There are Indians in many of the stakes here in the West, and the stake presidents are looking after the proselyting of these Indians within their boundaries, especially in the Blackfoot, Roosevelt, Sevier, Parowan, and other stakes.
"We are glad of the work that has been renewed in the missions of the Church, especially here in North America. In Canada some very splendid work is being done in the Six-Nations Reservation over near Brantford, Ontario, and in central Canada there are two large reservations, the "Carry the Kettle" Reservation and the Piapot, where President Ivins recently visited, and between 175 and 200 Indians came and attended his meetings. Those were the largest meetings, I understand, in his entire mission visit in western Canada. We have the Ponca and the Sioux Indians who are showing interest in Nebraska, and the Shoshones and the Arapahoes in Wyoming. We are doing work in the Rogue River, the Tule Rivers, and the Rancho Rio reservations in northern California, and the Menominee Reservation in the Northern States Mission. We have the Iroquois and the Catteraugas in New York, and it will be remembered that in 1830 when Oliver Cowdery began his missionary service among the Lamanites, that those were the first Indians to be visited in this dispensation. Today young elders are on motor bikes going out into the scattered areas and visiting the Indians, and are receiving a very warm welcome. The Cherokees in the East Central States Mission are interested. Their chief, Armichain, has indicated a great deal of helpfulness...
"I would like to quote just a paragraph from a letter from one who has indicated intense interest and been most helpful. 'I drove... with one of my Indian friends, Charles Crow, to Asheville, and met the lady missionaries and the elders there... he was much impressed by them... We administered to one of the elders who was ill, Charles Crow witnessing the ordinance... He later told me that [that] was taught in the Bible, and we were the first people he ever knew of that used it. When I had my prayers that evening I knelt beside him... Before I had finished he put his arm on my shoulder and said, Elder Stokes, pray that I some day may also have such a testimony and a prayer in my heart. It was my privilege at Malad Stake recently to see a large number of our Indian members of the Church. One of the sisters bore a wonderful testimony in the conference, and one of the old men dismissed the conference. He was one of those original three hundred baptized way back in 1875 by Brother Hill. He was deaf, but he offered a very fine prayer.
"I believe that the interest generally is spreading and increasing and that we are on the dawn of a great day for the Lamanite people. Visiting the Mexican Mission in May I found of the seventy-one missionaries, fifteen of them were Lamanites, and I also found the young American missionaries were vying with each other to see who could be the companions of these Mexican and Indian missionaries because they were so efficient.
There have been baptisms by the hundreds. Some of the most recent ones were twenty baptisms in the Roosevelt Stake within the past few weeks. There were four at Sand Hills, Arizona. There were forty-one baptized in Mexico City in one day while I was there, and I witnessed their baptism. And then there were hundreds, many hundreds who have come back into fellowship in the Church in Mexico [after a large schism in the Church there] through the good graces of President George Albert Smith, President Arwell L. Pierce, and others who made contributions toward that great accomplishment. We have had schools in Mexico, in Hawaii, Tonga, and New Zealand. And so we are looking forward to a new day in schooling where our Lamanites may receive many of the advantages that our own children have.
"A year ago we established down in Blanding, Utah, a small school, somewhat as an experiment. It has been very successful. With an outlay of only $1,500 total, we have built and equipped a two-room schoolhouse there under the direction of Brother Albert R. Lyman, who has done a glorious work. There have been many donations of all kinds, in materials, in food, in clothing. For the first year they fed these little Indian children, twenty-seven of them, a warm midday meal, clothed them, and taught them not only the three R's but the gospel. It has been very successful, and we are delighted with the prospects that are ahead of us for the second year now which is beginning. I visited this school last year when it was in session. I noticed that three of the Indian women came, one of whom had five children, four in the school and one in the cradle upon her back. She sat at the sewing machine all day long in one corner of the larger schoolroom, and frequently we would see her going over to one of the little desks, kneeling down beside it to help her children to learn, and to impress upon them the importance of taking advantage of this unusual opportunity which many thousands of little boys and girls should, but do not have.
"The 1946 report of the missions discloses the fact, that among the Lamanites there are six times as many converts for each missionary, as in all the other missions of the world, and there are twenty times as many converts for each missionary in the Lamanite missions as in some of the missions in Canada and the United States...
"Brothers and sisters, in conclusion may I say that we owe a great debt to these people, which we can only pay by giving to them the gospel and the many advantages and opportunities which we enjoy. They are a warmhearted and devoted people. They believe without skepticism. They have a simple, childlike faith which admits of no cheap rationalization. The Lamanites must rise in majesty and power. We must look forward to the day when they will be "white and delightsome" (2 Ne. 5:21; 2 Ne. 30:6), sharing the freedoms and blessings which we enjoy; when they shall have economic security, culture, refinement, and education; when they shall be operating farms and businesses and industries and shall be occupied in the professions and in teaching; when they shall be organized into wards and stakes of Zion, furnishing much of their own leadership; when they shall build and occupy and fill the temples, and serve in them as the natives are now serving in the Hawaiian Temple where I found last year the entire service conducted by them and done perfectly.
"And in the day when their prophet shall come, one shall rise ...mighty among them... being an instrument in the hands of God, with exceeding faith, to work mighty wonders (2 Ne. 3:24).Brothers and sisters, the florescence of the Lamanites is in our hands. May we not fail them, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."
Indian Placement Program
In the 1940s Navajo teenagers and even children were coming to Utah to find work, and it was felt that they should get an education and adjust to mainstream American culture. In 1947 the Indian Placement Program was launched, which allowed Native American Latter-day Saints to live in Latter-day Saint foster homes during the school year, which their temporary families supporting their upkeep and allowing them to attend public schools. It operated under the auspices of the Relief Society but later became part of Latter-day Saint Social Services. Complaints about the program having a negative impact on Native American children were investigated and rejected by the U.S. government in 1977.
Some negative publicity continued. For example, in a December 1979 Los Angeles Magazine article called "The Kids Go Out Navaho [sic], Come Back Donny and Marie", Robert Gottlieb and Peter Wiley wrote, "When non-Mormon Indians are asked about the [Indian Placement] program, their response is invariably bitter and hostile as they explain that many Indians view the program as a form of kidnapping that takes away the Indian community's most prized people, its youth." The last participant in the program graduated in 2000, though it was never formally discontinued. Many Native American members of the Church were disappointed by its end.
Some negative publicity continued. For example, in a December 1979 Los Angeles Magazine article called "The Kids Go Out Navaho [sic], Come Back Donny and Marie", Robert Gottlieb and Peter Wiley wrote, "When non-Mormon Indians are asked about the [Indian Placement] program, their response is invariably bitter and hostile as they explain that many Indians view the program as a form of kidnapping that takes away the Indian community's most prized people, its youth." The last participant in the program graduated in 2000, though it was never formally discontinued. Many Native American members of the Church were disappointed by its end.
Elder Chief Samuel Blue and the Catawba Tribe
In the April 1950 General Conference President David O. McKay announced, "President George Albert Smith commented yesterday upon the presence of so many of our Indian brethren and sisters at these sessions of Conference, and it was he who felt impressed to call one of their number to represent them. We, therefore, call for Elder Chief Blue who is a Catawba Indian from Rock Hill, South Carolina. Brother Blue has been in the Church sixty years. We shall now be favored with some remarks from this good brother."
Elder Chief Blue said, "Brethren and sisters, we are told that the Lord moves in mysteri- ous ways, and I bear testimony this is true. It is wonderful to me that I have this privilege to enter this building and attend this conference. I have been a member of the Church, as you have been told, for sixty-odd years. I am one of the poor Indians down there on the reservation, and as we were told a while ago, 'Seek ye first the king- dom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.' I surely bear testimony to this.
"I was raised up as a poor boy, as I said before, and worked at 25 cents a day I fed my mother, brothers and sisters, and when I was fifteen years old, the missionaries came to my home and I have fed the Elders off my wages. I slept out in the woods to give my bed to the Elders. I have wondered to myself, how would I get through this world, but nevertheless, I seek to do the will of God. I fasted and prayed unto him for a blessing, and we have been told if we seek God, other things will be added unto us, and this is one of the 'adds' that have been given to me. I am thankful for those blessings.
"I have lived at home with two missionaries in my house. They were boarding in Rock Hill. Their room was costing them fifteen dollars a week. I said: 'Elders, come to my home. I have a cabin with a room in it you can use, with two beds in it'; so they have taken the room, they eat at my table, sleep under my roof. They want to pay me wages for staying there. I say: 'No. The Lord has provided for me and he is providing for you. I want no pay.'
"So when I left home the other day, Elder Price, he had a hundred dollars in his pocketbook. He offered me part of it. I said: 'No, I don't want it.'
"'Well,' he said, 'you made it for me.'
"I said: "How did I make it?'
"'You did not charge me for my bedroom or for food, and by so doing I have been able to accumulate this much which my parents have sent to me.'
"I said: 'If I have done you that much good by the will of God, keep it and use it in your mission.'
"I know that this gospel is true. I have tasted the blessing and joy of God. I have seen the dead raised; I have seen the sick whom the doctors have given up, through the administration of the Elders they have been restored to life.
"My brothers and sisters, beyond a shadow of a doubt I know that this gospel is true. My wife is with me and she is not very well, and I have not been feeling well either. She told me last night, we had better go home.
"I said: 'Why? I have come here for a good purpose, and if I die here I would just as leave die here as in the world till I have filled the obligation that I am sent here to do.'
"Now may God bless you, Amen."
President George Albert Smith then spoke about his experience as a twenty-one year old missionary in South Carolina. He said, "I speak of that because that was the first time I had ever heard of the Catawba Indians, and there were only a few of them. I understand now from Chief Blue that ninety-seven percent of them are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints....
"So you may be interested, brethren and sisters, in knowing that I am delighted in seeing Chief Blue here today, representing that tribe of fine Indians. I have seen some of them since. I have met one very fine young woman who is a schoolteacher, and others I have met of that race; in fact, I have some trinkets in my office that were sent to me by members of that tribe.
"I am happy to have this good man here who represents one of the tribes that descended from Father Lehi as well as some of the others that are in our audience today. One good man that I am looking at here came to the temple during the week and was sealed to his wife. They are coming into the Church all around, and I am so grateful this morning to be here and hear this man who for sixty years has been a faithful leader among his people and now comes to this general conference and bears testimony to us.
"It is a great work that we are identified with. Not the least of our responsibilities is to see that this message is carried to the descendants of Lehi, wherever they are, and give them an opportunity to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ."
Elder Chief Blue said, "Brethren and sisters, we are told that the Lord moves in mysteri- ous ways, and I bear testimony this is true. It is wonderful to me that I have this privilege to enter this building and attend this conference. I have been a member of the Church, as you have been told, for sixty-odd years. I am one of the poor Indians down there on the reservation, and as we were told a while ago, 'Seek ye first the king- dom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.' I surely bear testimony to this.
"I was raised up as a poor boy, as I said before, and worked at 25 cents a day I fed my mother, brothers and sisters, and when I was fifteen years old, the missionaries came to my home and I have fed the Elders off my wages. I slept out in the woods to give my bed to the Elders. I have wondered to myself, how would I get through this world, but nevertheless, I seek to do the will of God. I fasted and prayed unto him for a blessing, and we have been told if we seek God, other things will be added unto us, and this is one of the 'adds' that have been given to me. I am thankful for those blessings.
"I have lived at home with two missionaries in my house. They were boarding in Rock Hill. Their room was costing them fifteen dollars a week. I said: 'Elders, come to my home. I have a cabin with a room in it you can use, with two beds in it'; so they have taken the room, they eat at my table, sleep under my roof. They want to pay me wages for staying there. I say: 'No. The Lord has provided for me and he is providing for you. I want no pay.'
"So when I left home the other day, Elder Price, he had a hundred dollars in his pocketbook. He offered me part of it. I said: 'No, I don't want it.'
"'Well,' he said, 'you made it for me.'
"I said: "How did I make it?'
"'You did not charge me for my bedroom or for food, and by so doing I have been able to accumulate this much which my parents have sent to me.'
"I said: 'If I have done you that much good by the will of God, keep it and use it in your mission.'
"I know that this gospel is true. I have tasted the blessing and joy of God. I have seen the dead raised; I have seen the sick whom the doctors have given up, through the administration of the Elders they have been restored to life.
"My brothers and sisters, beyond a shadow of a doubt I know that this gospel is true. My wife is with me and she is not very well, and I have not been feeling well either. She told me last night, we had better go home.
"I said: 'Why? I have come here for a good purpose, and if I die here I would just as leave die here as in the world till I have filled the obligation that I am sent here to do.'
"Now may God bless you, Amen."
President George Albert Smith then spoke about his experience as a twenty-one year old missionary in South Carolina. He said, "I speak of that because that was the first time I had ever heard of the Catawba Indians, and there were only a few of them. I understand now from Chief Blue that ninety-seven percent of them are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints....
"So you may be interested, brethren and sisters, in knowing that I am delighted in seeing Chief Blue here today, representing that tribe of fine Indians. I have seen some of them since. I have met one very fine young woman who is a schoolteacher, and others I have met of that race; in fact, I have some trinkets in my office that were sent to me by members of that tribe.
"I am happy to have this good man here who represents one of the tribes that descended from Father Lehi as well as some of the others that are in our audience today. One good man that I am looking at here came to the temple during the week and was sealed to his wife. They are coming into the Church all around, and I am so grateful this morning to be here and hear this man who for sixty years has been a faithful leader among his people and now comes to this general conference and bears testimony to us.
"It is a great work that we are identified with. Not the least of our responsibilities is to see that this message is carried to the descendants of Lehi, wherever they are, and give them an opportunity to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ."
Chief Yellowface and the Cree Tribe
Elder Glen G. Fisher wrote in the Improvement Era, "In the late winter of 1950 a band of Cree Indians living near Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, Canada, sent word to Latter-day Saint mission headquarters that they desired to see a representative of the Church. I had heard of this band years ago, and of their noted Chief Yellowface (now deceased), and I was anxious to comply with their request. Spring came late that year, but in May my first counselor, President G. Gordon Whyte, and I met in Edmonton, Alberta, to prepare for a visit to their community.
"Our trip took us south a hundred miles and then westward. As we journeyed along in the direction of the setting sun, a feeling of humility came over us, and we stopped to offer a prayer for safety and for wisdom to do the task at hand. We had been advised to talk to an old-timer by the name of Henry Stelfox at Rocky Mountain House, a man who is a true friend to the Indians, and who, it is said, probably knows more about the Indians than any man in Canada. During our visit he told us many of his experiences with the Crees and his old friend, Chief Yellowface, and we were surprised to find that three hours had passed in what seemed to us only a few minutes.
"As we started to leave, Mr. Stelfox said: 'Gentlemen, I can see that you are sincerely interested in my friends, and I will be pleased to go with you to the reservation and show you the way.'
"We had hardly hoped for such good fortune, and as we proceeded that last forty miles, I felt that the Lord had surely answered our prayers.
"Mr. Stelfox recalled his last visit with the dying Chief Yellowface, and how the old Indian had counseled: 'In all which you do, think of God who gives you life.'
"It was six o'clock that evening when we reached the river that serves as a boundary for the reservation. To our dismay we found the stream too high to be crossed with the car. After some discussion we decided to send one of the Indians, who were on the other side of the river, on his horse to summon Yelloweyes, chief of the tribe.
"The Indian soon returned with the message that the sixty-year-old chief was ill in his cabin but would be pleased to meet the white men there. This was rather discouraging news, as neither President Whyte nor Mr. Stelfox rode horseback. Finally I borrowed a horse, and leaving my two companions with the car, I set off to meet the chief. A number of Indian men were already assembled in his cabin when I arrived. (Their womenfolk remained outside.) My invitation consisted of one word, 'Come,' and I stood in their midst.
"Yelloweyes made a lengthy oration in his native tongue. Finally, the chief’s son-in-law, acting as interpreter, said: 'Word has reached us that you are an oil man from the great city of the north - Edmonton. What is your business with the Cree Indian?'
"I hastened to explain that I was not an oil man but a Mormon missionary. I was not prepared for what followed, but it shall always remain with me as one of the great spiritual experiences of my life. As the Chief heard the word Mormon, he arose from his bed and walked to where I was sitting and held out his hand. Most of the Indians who had sat so silently before now stood and crowded around me, and my heart was filled with thanksgiving as I shook hands with each of them. The hour that followed was truly a wonderful experience.
"Chief Yelloweyes immediately said: 'For many years we wait for Mormons to come and help our people. Chief Yellowface told us to wait, for said he, "The Mormons have true religion, and they can be trusted."
"It seemed that Chief Yellowface must have been highly revered by these Indians. His sayings and counsel had become their law. His influence was a real factor in their lives and as we talked I thought, surely, this fine old chief was a modern Moses.
"I realized the true reason behind the welcome I had received dated back forty years to the trek made by a part of this band to southern Alberta, and so I was not surprised when Chief Yelloweyes referred to this experience.
"He seemed very proud of the fact that he, as a young man, was among this group, and, although only eighteen years of age, the impressions that he received at that time have remained with him and, as he told me the story, I was thrilled beyond words of expression with the accuracy of his account as compared with my own knowledge of this oft-repeated experience. I questioned him carefully on numerous details and his sincerity and directness left no doubt in my mind whatever as to the actuality of the story that follows.
"I would like to acknowledge, with gratitude, the source [sic] of my information: Mrs. Olaf Olson, now living in Picture Butte, Alberta; the late Bishop James S. Parker of Salt Lake City; and Chief Yelloweyes, chief of the Cree Indians who live near Rocky Mountain House, Alberta. Much of the story will be told in their own words."
"Our trip took us south a hundred miles and then westward. As we journeyed along in the direction of the setting sun, a feeling of humility came over us, and we stopped to offer a prayer for safety and for wisdom to do the task at hand. We had been advised to talk to an old-timer by the name of Henry Stelfox at Rocky Mountain House, a man who is a true friend to the Indians, and who, it is said, probably knows more about the Indians than any man in Canada. During our visit he told us many of his experiences with the Crees and his old friend, Chief Yellowface, and we were surprised to find that three hours had passed in what seemed to us only a few minutes.
"As we started to leave, Mr. Stelfox said: 'Gentlemen, I can see that you are sincerely interested in my friends, and I will be pleased to go with you to the reservation and show you the way.'
"We had hardly hoped for such good fortune, and as we proceeded that last forty miles, I felt that the Lord had surely answered our prayers.
"Mr. Stelfox recalled his last visit with the dying Chief Yellowface, and how the old Indian had counseled: 'In all which you do, think of God who gives you life.'
"It was six o'clock that evening when we reached the river that serves as a boundary for the reservation. To our dismay we found the stream too high to be crossed with the car. After some discussion we decided to send one of the Indians, who were on the other side of the river, on his horse to summon Yelloweyes, chief of the tribe.
"The Indian soon returned with the message that the sixty-year-old chief was ill in his cabin but would be pleased to meet the white men there. This was rather discouraging news, as neither President Whyte nor Mr. Stelfox rode horseback. Finally I borrowed a horse, and leaving my two companions with the car, I set off to meet the chief. A number of Indian men were already assembled in his cabin when I arrived. (Their womenfolk remained outside.) My invitation consisted of one word, 'Come,' and I stood in their midst.
"Yelloweyes made a lengthy oration in his native tongue. Finally, the chief’s son-in-law, acting as interpreter, said: 'Word has reached us that you are an oil man from the great city of the north - Edmonton. What is your business with the Cree Indian?'
"I hastened to explain that I was not an oil man but a Mormon missionary. I was not prepared for what followed, but it shall always remain with me as one of the great spiritual experiences of my life. As the Chief heard the word Mormon, he arose from his bed and walked to where I was sitting and held out his hand. Most of the Indians who had sat so silently before now stood and crowded around me, and my heart was filled with thanksgiving as I shook hands with each of them. The hour that followed was truly a wonderful experience.
"Chief Yelloweyes immediately said: 'For many years we wait for Mormons to come and help our people. Chief Yellowface told us to wait, for said he, "The Mormons have true religion, and they can be trusted."
"It seemed that Chief Yellowface must have been highly revered by these Indians. His sayings and counsel had become their law. His influence was a real factor in their lives and as we talked I thought, surely, this fine old chief was a modern Moses.
"I realized the true reason behind the welcome I had received dated back forty years to the trek made by a part of this band to southern Alberta, and so I was not surprised when Chief Yelloweyes referred to this experience.
"He seemed very proud of the fact that he, as a young man, was among this group, and, although only eighteen years of age, the impressions that he received at that time have remained with him and, as he told me the story, I was thrilled beyond words of expression with the accuracy of his account as compared with my own knowledge of this oft-repeated experience. I questioned him carefully on numerous details and his sincerity and directness left no doubt in my mind whatever as to the actuality of the story that follows.
"I would like to acknowledge, with gratitude, the source [sic] of my information: Mrs. Olaf Olson, now living in Picture Butte, Alberta; the late Bishop James S. Parker of Salt Lake City; and Chief Yelloweyes, chief of the Cree Indians who live near Rocky Mountain House, Alberta. Much of the story will be told in their own words."
The Evil of Intolerance
In the April 1954 General Conference Elder Spencer W. Kimball said, "Recently there came to my desk a letter, anonymously written. Generally the wastebasket receives all such messages, written by people who have not the courage to sign their statements. But this time I saved it. It reads in part as follows: 'I never dreamed I would live to see the day when the Church would invite an Indian buck to talk in the Salt Lake Tabernacle - an Indian buck appointed a bishop - an Indian squaw to talk in the Ogden Tabernacle - Indians to go through the Salt Lake Temple - The sacred places desecrated by the invasion of everything that is forced on the white race...' This letter now goes into the fire also, but it gives me the theme for the words I wish to say today.
"If Mrs. Anonymous were the only one who felt that way! However, from many places and different directions I hear intolerant expressions. While there is an ever-increasing number of people who are kind and willing to accept the minority groups as they come into the Church, there are still many who speak in disparaging terms, who priest-like and Levite-like pass by on the other side of the street (Luke 10:31-32). It would be a delightful step forward if our newspapers and periodicals and our writers and speakers would discontinue the term buck and squaw and substitute 'Indian men and women' or 'Lamanite brethren and sisters.' Their ancestors and ancient prophets foresaw this day and this people would be reviled and disparaged...
"Here [God] has the Indian or Lamanite, with a background of twenty-five centuries of superstition, degradation, idolatry, and indolence. He has loathed their wickedness, chastised them, brought the Gentiles to them for nursing fathers and mothers (Isa. 49:23), and (it would seem) has finally forgiven them. Their sufferings have been sore, their humiliation complete, their punishment severe and long, their heartaches many, and their opportunities reduced. Has he not now forgiven them and accepted them? Can we not now forgive and accept them? Ancient Israel was given forty years. Can we not allow at least forty years of patient and intensive proselyting and organizing among modern Israel before we judge too harshly?...
"Mr. and Mrs. Anonymous: I present to you a people who, according to prophecies, have been scattered and driven, defrauded and deprived, who are a 'branch of the tree of Israel - lost from its body - wanderers in a strange land' - their own land (Alma 26:36). I give you nations who have gone through the deep waters of the rivers of sorrow and anguish and pain; a people who have had visited upon their heads the sins of their fathers not unto the third and fourth generation but through a hundred generations. I bring to you a multitude who have asked for bread and have received a stone and who have asked for fish and have been given a serpent (see 3 Ne. 14:9-10).
"This people ask not for your distant, faraway sympathy, your haughty disdain, your despicable contempt, your supercilious scorn, your turned-up nose, your scathing snobbery, your arrogant scoffing, nor your cold, calculating tolerance. It is a people who, unable to raise themselves by their own bootstraps, call for assistance from those who can push and lift and open doors. It is a people who pray for mercy, ask forgiveness, beg for membership in the kingdom with its opportunities to learn and do. It is a good folk who ask for fraternity, a handclasp of friendship, a word of encouragement; it is a group of nations who cry for warm acceptance and sincere brotherhood. I give you a chosen race, an affectionate and warm-hearted people, a responsive but timid and frightened folk, a simple group with childlike faith. I point you to a people in whose veins flows the blood of prophets and martyrs; a people who have intelligence and capacity to climb to former heights but who need the vision and the opportunity and the assistance of the nursing parents.
"These people can rise to the loftiness of their fathers when opportunity has knocked at their door a few generations. If we fully help them, they can eventually soar to greatness. The ungerminated seeds are waiting for the rains of kindness and opportunity; the sunshine of gospel truth; the cultivation through the Church program of training and activity, and the seeds will come to life, and the harvest will be fabulous, for the Lord has promised it repeatedly."
"If Mrs. Anonymous were the only one who felt that way! However, from many places and different directions I hear intolerant expressions. While there is an ever-increasing number of people who are kind and willing to accept the minority groups as they come into the Church, there are still many who speak in disparaging terms, who priest-like and Levite-like pass by on the other side of the street (Luke 10:31-32). It would be a delightful step forward if our newspapers and periodicals and our writers and speakers would discontinue the term buck and squaw and substitute 'Indian men and women' or 'Lamanite brethren and sisters.' Their ancestors and ancient prophets foresaw this day and this people would be reviled and disparaged...
"Here [God] has the Indian or Lamanite, with a background of twenty-five centuries of superstition, degradation, idolatry, and indolence. He has loathed their wickedness, chastised them, brought the Gentiles to them for nursing fathers and mothers (Isa. 49:23), and (it would seem) has finally forgiven them. Their sufferings have been sore, their humiliation complete, their punishment severe and long, their heartaches many, and their opportunities reduced. Has he not now forgiven them and accepted them? Can we not now forgive and accept them? Ancient Israel was given forty years. Can we not allow at least forty years of patient and intensive proselyting and organizing among modern Israel before we judge too harshly?...
"Mr. and Mrs. Anonymous: I present to you a people who, according to prophecies, have been scattered and driven, defrauded and deprived, who are a 'branch of the tree of Israel - lost from its body - wanderers in a strange land' - their own land (Alma 26:36). I give you nations who have gone through the deep waters of the rivers of sorrow and anguish and pain; a people who have had visited upon their heads the sins of their fathers not unto the third and fourth generation but through a hundred generations. I bring to you a multitude who have asked for bread and have received a stone and who have asked for fish and have been given a serpent (see 3 Ne. 14:9-10).
"This people ask not for your distant, faraway sympathy, your haughty disdain, your despicable contempt, your supercilious scorn, your turned-up nose, your scathing snobbery, your arrogant scoffing, nor your cold, calculating tolerance. It is a people who, unable to raise themselves by their own bootstraps, call for assistance from those who can push and lift and open doors. It is a people who pray for mercy, ask forgiveness, beg for membership in the kingdom with its opportunities to learn and do. It is a good folk who ask for fraternity, a handclasp of friendship, a word of encouragement; it is a group of nations who cry for warm acceptance and sincere brotherhood. I give you a chosen race, an affectionate and warm-hearted people, a responsive but timid and frightened folk, a simple group with childlike faith. I point you to a people in whose veins flows the blood of prophets and martyrs; a people who have intelligence and capacity to climb to former heights but who need the vision and the opportunity and the assistance of the nursing parents.
"These people can rise to the loftiness of their fathers when opportunity has knocked at their door a few generations. If we fully help them, they can eventually soar to greatness. The ungerminated seeds are waiting for the rains of kindness and opportunity; the sunshine of gospel truth; the cultivation through the Church program of training and activity, and the seeds will come to life, and the harvest will be fabulous, for the Lord has promised it repeatedly."
Mormons and Civil Rights
On April 15, 1959, the Deseret News published an editorial called "Mormons and Civil Rights", which read, "By magnifying, out of context, the errors of a recent report, Time Magazine has badly misinformed its readers about minority problems in the State of Utah and in respect to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"In an article in its religion section, titled 'Mormons and Civil Rights,' Time makes the astonishing charge that Indians and Mexicans are 'lost, friendless and generally out of a job' in Utah's cities, and that this condition stems from a Mormon belief that they are inferior people.
"The quotations are taken from a small section, labeled 'Miscellaneous Observations' in a report of a Utah State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The magazine called it a 'scathing report' on the treatment of minorities in Utah.
"Time should be apprised of a few facts, namely,
"1. Members of the committee who submitted it did not consider it a 'scathing report.' Its conclusion was that 'Generally, Utahns can and do pride themselves on being free from racial prejudice.' The report speaks of a 'certain amount' of inequality, but describes relations in most respects as 'excellent' or as that 'A great deal of improvement has been made in very recent years and the problems are of decreasing importance.'
"2. A different committee appointed by Governor Clyde two years ago, has recently submitted a report that differs sharply with even such criticism as the Advisory Committee made. It concludes that while there are problems - as where aren't there? - great progress has been made and that generally the relationships are good. This is a continuing committee established to hear and mediate conflicts in this area; it has not had to pass any unresolved conflicts on to the governor.
"3. The Negro race is certainly treated no worse in Utah than elsewhere, and most whites and Negroes would mutually agree that treatment here is generally much better. There is no racial segregation in schools, employment or elsewhere in our communities.
"4. Probably no other people anywhere hold the Indian, Mexican and other such peoples in such high regard as do the LDS people, nor work so closely and affectionately with them. This statement requires some amplification, which follows:
"These examples could be multiplied, but perhaps these will suffice for the fair-minded person to judge whether these minority groups are 'lost and friendless' among our people.
"We invite Time magazine or any other organization to point out a people that has shown more respect and affection for these minorities, or - most important - that has spent more time, money and effort to put that affection into action."
"In an article in its religion section, titled 'Mormons and Civil Rights,' Time makes the astonishing charge that Indians and Mexicans are 'lost, friendless and generally out of a job' in Utah's cities, and that this condition stems from a Mormon belief that they are inferior people.
"The quotations are taken from a small section, labeled 'Miscellaneous Observations' in a report of a Utah State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The magazine called it a 'scathing report' on the treatment of minorities in Utah.
"Time should be apprised of a few facts, namely,
"1. Members of the committee who submitted it did not consider it a 'scathing report.' Its conclusion was that 'Generally, Utahns can and do pride themselves on being free from racial prejudice.' The report speaks of a 'certain amount' of inequality, but describes relations in most respects as 'excellent' or as that 'A great deal of improvement has been made in very recent years and the problems are of decreasing importance.'
"2. A different committee appointed by Governor Clyde two years ago, has recently submitted a report that differs sharply with even such criticism as the Advisory Committee made. It concludes that while there are problems - as where aren't there? - great progress has been made and that generally the relationships are good. This is a continuing committee established to hear and mediate conflicts in this area; it has not had to pass any unresolved conflicts on to the governor.
"3. The Negro race is certainly treated no worse in Utah than elsewhere, and most whites and Negroes would mutually agree that treatment here is generally much better. There is no racial segregation in schools, employment or elsewhere in our communities.
"4. Probably no other people anywhere hold the Indian, Mexican and other such peoples in such high regard as do the LDS people, nor work so closely and affectionately with them. This statement requires some amplification, which follows:
- The efforts of the LDS Church and Utah's representatives in Congress were successful in establishing at Brigham City, Utah, the world's largest school for Indians.
- Desiring to bring Indians even more closely into our society, the Church has undertaken a program unique in all the world. Under this program, hundreds of LDS families take an Indian child or two into their homes, giving them all the advantages and attention they give their own children. They feed them, clothe them, send them to school, pay for their music lessons, pay their college tuition and expenses. This is not an adoption; the family has no legal claim on the child when he or she is ready to go into society alone. There is no compensation to the family. The program is based solely on love and affection and the desire to improve the lot of the Indian as well as the understanding between races.
- The Church is strongly organized among the non-white countries of the Americas and the Pacific. Some 8,740 Samoans, 4,917 Tongans, 2,456 Tahitians, 4,466 Orientals in Japan, Korea, Okinawa, Hong Kong and Formosa are members of the LDS Church. So are more than 12,900 Mexicans, 4,831 Mexican-Americans, and 6,703 American Indians. Missionary work among these peoples is not done with the paternalistic 'charity' attitude of some churches, but with full acceptance of them as equal, valued, beloved brothers and sisters in the gospel.
- Only last year, the Church dedicated a million-dollar temple and a $7 million college in New Zealand (where we have 16,813 members) and a $3 million college in Hawaii. An extensive Church school system already exists in Mexico and this is being expanded.
- Some 105 LDS chapels have been built, largely at the expense of American members of the Church, among the Maori, Polynesian and other races of the Pacific islands, and 40 more are now in the blueprint stage.
"These examples could be multiplied, but perhaps these will suffice for the fair-minded person to judge whether these minority groups are 'lost and friendless' among our people.
"We invite Time magazine or any other organization to point out a people that has shown more respect and affection for these minorities, or - most important - that has spent more time, money and effort to put that affection into action."
The Day of the Lamanites
In the October 1960 General Conference Elder Spencer W. Kimball said, "Some years ago I attended a conference of missionaries in a little Arizona town which the nearby Indians gave an Indian name signifying 'the place where the people prayed.' That was Joseph City. A month ago I had the privilege of going into the mission field in the Southwest Indian Mission, and in an- other city which could well have been named by the Indians 'the city of hospitality,' we held a conference of the missionaries, and this city was Snowflake.
"The missionaries of the Southwest Indian Mission told of their labors among the Indians, and perhaps this is one of the most foreign of all foreign missions, and is in a land of strange tongues and colorful people, a place of high mountain coolness and near sea level desert heat - a land where a new amalgamation of peoples and kindreds is taking place, and where the gospel of Jesus Christ is neutralizing the centuries of dwindling unbelief.
"I found evidence of waning super- stition and of growing faith in the gospel. I saw people who have for centuries been as chaff before the wind settling down to industry and security and permanence - a people who for more than a millennium have been 'as a vessel... tossed about upon the waves, without sail or anchor, or without any- thing wherewith to steer her....' (Mormon 5:18.) I saw them beginning to accept the gospel of Christ.
"I saw them reclaiming their forfeited blessings which the Lord reserved '...for the gentiles who shall possess the land.' (Ibid., 5:19.) I saw accelera- tion in their progress and the time is at hand when the Lord will '...remember the covenant which he made with Abraham and unto all the house of Israel.' (Ibid., 5:20.) '...and as the Lord liveth he will remember the covenant which he hath made with them. And he knoweth their prayers....' (Ibid., 8:23-24.)
"The work is unfolding, and blinded eyes begin to see, and scattered people begin to gather. I saw a striking con- trast in the progress of the Indian people today as against that of only fifteen years ago. Truly the scales of darkness are falling from their eyes, and they are fast becoming a white and delightsome people.
"In this mission alone there are 8400- plus members of the Church. As I visited this area fifteen years ago, there were ninety-four. 'Are they faithful?" I am asked. And the answer is, 'Not all of them. They are just about like their white cousins in the stakes of Zion.' 'Are they making headway?' And the answer is, 'Yes. Perhaps relatively greater headway than we ourselves.'
"Indians are people, and the longer I serve with them the more I realize that they respond to the same teaching and kindness and love as others do. They have the same emotions. Some can be godless, but most of them are religious. I found that faith is a basic element in their lives. I learned of a Navajo couple who rushed their baby to the mission home for a blessing - it was livid white, seemed to be dead. It was soon well and playing around - and the Indian woman who lost her hearing, who received it back through the administra- tion of the young missionaries; or the elder whose Navajo mother asked him if he had faith in Heavenly Father when the little brother was lying desperately ill, and whose little brother was wholly well the next morning after he himself had hid in a closet and prayed for his brother.
"Yes, the Indians have faith - a rather simple, pure, and unadulterated faith, as evidenced by the Indian mother who asked the elders to come to the hospital to bless her sick child. The next day the elders called at her home and asked, 'How is the little boy?' And she rejoined, 'Oh, he's all right,' in a tone such as to say, 'Well, you blessed him, didn't you? Of course he's well.'
"And another Indian whose hands were badly burned was in excruciating pain. The administration brought al- most immediate relief, and she was using her hands in a day or two. There was the Indian family who pleaded with the elders to pray for rain for their crops and for the grass and for the cattle and the sheep. 'But please be careful,' they warned. 'The last time the elders prayed for rain, it came too hard, and the sheep corrals were washed out and some of the sheep were drowned.'
"There was the Hopi elder in a Phoenix hospital with his arm and leg paralyzed, and with no use or movement. He asked the nurse to find a Mormon elder. A bishop was called in who purchased oil, consecrated it, and administered to the Indian patient. 'He sure had faith in the Lord,' said the bishop. 'We talked a little while, and I asked him if he could wiggle his toes, and you should have seen the expression on his face when he tried. Sure enough they moved, and before we left him he could raise the leg, and when I visited him last Sunday he could move both the leg and the arm.'
"The day of the Lamanites is here! Young white missionaries throughout the Church are happy in the service, glad that they were called to this special mission, some planning to change their college majors when they return from their missions so they can work among the Indians.
"I see a dependent people becoming independent; for example, I see them coming in their pickups to meetings, whereas a decade ago they needed to be picked up by the missionaries, fed, and coddled. Some still must learn, but they are making progress; for instance, a party was arranged by two missionaries - the Indian people to bring the food, the elders to furnish the punch. When they assembled, they had only punch to drink. Later another party was arranged - the Indians to bring the food and the elders to bring the punch. They had both food and drink. They are learning.
"We called for a picture of the Indian elders. Twenty of them came - five full-blood Navajo boys, and fifteen who were part Navajo and Apache and Ute and Sioux. One of the Navajo elders whose mother and family lived less than a hundred miles away in the same mission had not asked for leave to go and visit them, and he had served eight months in the mission. One Indian elder said: 'The first missionaries planted a tree on the reservation years ago. Now the tree is bearing fruit - Navajo elders! The young tree yielded little fruit, but the aging tree more fruit - more elders.'
"There was the Navajo elder who testified of his happiness and said that when in battle - I think it was in Korea - he had dreamed one night that he was with his parents back on the reservation, but he awakened to find himself in mud and water and fire. Now he is in the midst of another dream, a dream so glorious, he said, that he hopes he will never awaken from it.
"These Indian elders are well-groomed, neat, smiling, and equal to their white companions - handsome and sincere - some struggling in the acquisition of the difficult English language, and others coming through the Utah Placement Program speaking perfect English and displaying the best of our own culture. White elders feel fortunate when they are lucky enough to have a Navajo companion.
"I see these Indian youth praying and preaching and administering to the sick, and I remember the statement of the Prophet Joseph: 'Take Jacob Zundell and Frederick H. Moeser... and send them to Germany and when you meet an Arab send him to Arabia; when you find an Italian send him to Italy: and a Frenchman, to France; or an Indian, that is suitable, send him among the Indians. Send them to the different places where they belong.' (DHC 5:368.)
"At last the Indians are suitable. I heard them bear their witness, saw them shed tears of joy, heard them express their affection for loved ones. I saw Indian boys actually coming in to the president to offer their services as mis- sionaries. That couldn't have happened a decade ago. As we look into the future, surely we shall see thousands of Indian missionaries, for through our various agencies we are now training probably three thousand little Indian boys in our various departments who are growing toward missionary work. Very soon there will be an Indian boy paired off in missionary work with each white boy, and this will happen in the other Lamanite missions, I am sure.
"The day of the Lamanites is nigh. For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised. In this picture of the twenty Lamanite missionaries, fifteen of the twenty were as light as Anglos; five were darker but equally delightsome. The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation.
"At one meeting a father and mother and their sixteen-year-old daughter were present, the little member girl - sixteen - sitting between the dark father and mother, and it was evident she was several shades lighter than her parents - on the same reservation, in the same hogan, subject to the same sun and wind and weather. There was the doctor in a Utah city who for two years had had an Indian boy in his home who stated that he was some shades lighter than the younger brother just coming into the program from the reservation. These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delight- someness. One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated.
"The missionaries are having great experiences in proselyting, in teaching, in organizing, in carrying on Primaries, Relief Societies. They direct women in making quilts and towels and pot holders, which they say they can sell faster than they can make them; but always a Relief Society bazaar is in their future plans. They pound up broken pottery and clay to make new pottery. They do beadwork, learn cooking; they are taught first aid, bleeding-stoppage, use of splints, resuscitation, moving the injured; they are taught to speak and to sing. Three lovely Lamanite sisters sang a trio in one of our meetings. Two elders in one area were actually teaching the women how to make diapers.
"We find the Indians are learning to be adaptable and resourceful, and from tradition they are coming to truth, from legend to fact, from sand paintings and sings to administration and ordinances. The Indians are beginning to pay their tithes. They are living the Word of Wisdom. They are attending their meetings. They are having family prayers, and for a period of this year the tithes in that mission are said to have been more than the budget for the mission.
"They are grateful for that which is being done for them. A typical little nine-year-old Indian prayed: 'Father in heaven, please bless the missionaries so their success will be good.' A typical Indian woman pleaded: 'When can I be baptized?' And the answer was, 'When you have learned a little more of the gospel.' An Apache saddle maker, when given the Book of Mormon lessons, said: 'I know that story. I know that it is true. My old people told me about it.'
"The Indians have legends which might be reminiscent of the three Nephites, of the creation, of the flood, of the coming of the Christ to them. They are beginning to recognize the similarity between their distorted tradition stories and the truth which has been recorded.
"A Jicarilla-Apache Indian elder, first counselor in the branch presidency, drives sixty-four miles to his meetings with his family and sixty-four miles home each time, and he seldom misses a meeting, except in blizzard weather. He is sharp and clean and handsome and conducts the meetings with dignity. He speaks excellent English, and this is again in fulfilment of my own patriar- chal blessing, in which I was promised: 'You will see them organized and be prepared to stand as the bulwark round this people.'
"In the [Mesa] temple, in the June excursion, were a Navajo groom and a Pima bride, a Cherokee groom and a Navajo bride; and these, typical of the many Indians, are taking seriously to the gospel program. When they were in this con- vention, the good Mesa people graciously took care of their needs, and this again was in fulfilment of the prophecy of Joseph Smith. He said:
'There will be tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints who will be gathered in the Rocky Mountains, and there they will open the door for the establishing of the gospel among the Lamanites who will receive the gospel and their endowments and the blessings of God.' (Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, pp. 30-39.)
"One's heart is touched when he sees thirty or forty little Hopi boys and girls gathered together in Primary, being taught by nineteen-year-old missionaries, and it is stirring even more to see twenty little wild Apache Indians galloping over the hills on their burros to attend Primary at Fort Apache.
"The young missionaries are learning the difficult Navajo language, and the older couples are using largely the language of love. The Navajo tongue is so difficult that it is said to have been used to send code messages in World War II because the Japanese could not decode it. It is heartwarming to hear the young Navajo elder struggling with his English pronunciation and vocabulary, but never hesitating to express his thoughts convincingly and bearing his testimony im- pressively. He had been told by his dying mother when he was a little boy: 'Go to Mormon Church. It is true church.' He choked and struggled with his tears.
"One devoted missionary couple was stuck in the snow last winter, and the husband pushed the car while the wife steered it. In doing so he fell and broke his knee and then pleaded with the president: 'Please do not send us home. Put us in the hospital for a little time.' He was given a metal knee and then crutches, and Indians who saw him hobbling around said: 'Anyone as sincere as that ought to be listened to.' And this mother who now has her children reared told of her patriarchal blessing given long years ago, indicating she would go on a mission with her husband, but since she was tied with her large family of little children, her husband filled his mission alone and was killed in an auto accident returning home. How could her blessing ever be fulfilled, she wondered, with children to educate and sons to send on missions, and she in her widowhood? But when the family was educated and the sons had filled their missions, she married another man, a convert, and together they are now fulfilling the patriarchal blessing and filling glorious missions.
"The day of the Lamanites has come. The Indians of this country, particularly of the southwest, have many blessings which are theirs today but which were not theirs yesterday. Government agencies, other groups as well as ourselves, have been conscious of their former serious plight. But today the dark clouds are dissipating. Whereas only a decade ago tens of thousands of children were without schooling, today practically every child has some educational opportunity. May I quote a paragraph from my address to this conference in 1947 regarding these Indians....
"But today there are hospitals, doctors, nurses, and dentists. Many families live in comfortable homes, fairly well furnished. Disease is disappearing, tuberculosis much under control, and sanitation greatly improving. In our recent examination of over four hundred children in our health clinic as we brought them into Utah for this fall, we found that there were no positive results from our X-ray examinations.
"In the 40's these people had an average income of about $81 a year. They lived upon land which to most of us seemed worthless, barren, and forbidding; but the desolate land is producing oil and gas and uranium and coal and lumber, and many millions of dollars are flowing into the tribal treasury. In early days it was each family for itself; today the Tribal Council is using wisely these vast sums to build highways and hospitals and schools and to give scholarships. What a strange paradox, that the land given to the Indians, desolate and unwanted, turns out to be the source of many blessings! Was not Providence smiling on these folks and looking toward this day?
"Today we teach the gospel to the Indian youth, and tomorrow there will First Day be thousands of them on missions. Nearly all their marriages will be performed in the temples. They will give leadership in wards and stakes which will be organized in their areas, and with their white brothers they will become leaders in the kingdom. Groups of stakes are organized into regional minority missions. About 320 of the 2300 Indians in Brigham City are members of the Church, and we have a delightful chapel which President McKay dedicated there.
"At Albuquerque, Riverside, at Chilloco and at Lawrence in Kansas, at Carson City in Nevada, at Chemawa in Oregon, at Anadarko in Oklahoma, and else- where, our youth - hundreds and hun- dreds of them - are receiving comparable seminary training. At Aztec, Gallup, Richfield, Flagstaff, Holbrook, Snowflake, and Winslow we are training them in connection with the government peripheral schools.
"About 420 Indian children are receiving the superior training in Utah homes under the educational placement program. These children are being fed, housed, clothed, and loved by the selfless people of Utah who take them into their finest homes - philanthropic people who come to love the Indian children as their own, and who give them every advantage - cultural, spiritual, and educational, and who train them in scouting organizational work, in family prayers, in seminary, and in home activities. I quote from a recent letter from an authority on Indian life and education:
'I think you have a very commendable program and one which is probably the only positive approach to the Indian problem in the United States. I have spent a great part of my life living with or working with Indian people and have yet to see any program which has taken the Indian out of himself and started him down the road to progress.'
"As these children complete their grade and high school work, Brigham Young University is ready to receive them, and special guidance courses and training advisers give them leadership, and each year now our Indian students parade in cap and gown with the other hundreds of graduates of this great institution.
"We have follow-up programs to help the Indian youth gain employment as they complete their schoolwork.
"A new class instruction program is organized on the reservation, whereby the little Indians are given religious training. At present some 2500 little fellows present themselves weekly or oftener to the young missionaries for religious instruction, assigned by the parents to the church of their choice. These little ones are being taught in about sixty classes, and young mission- aries are proving their mettle in training them.
"Two young elders teach 102 children in their classes, and another couple, a Navajo and a white elder, are teaching 135 little boys and girls together with some of their parents who asked for the privilege of coming.
"Not only the southwest Indians, but Lamanites in general, are facing an open door to education, culture, refine- ment, progress, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Church has spent its millions in Hawaii and New Zealand and other islands to provide schools for the young Lehites. Surely, no descendants need go now without an education, and schools in Mexico will be followed by schools in other nations. Surely the number of deprived ones is being reduced, and opportunity is knocking at their door. Hundreds of Lamanites are serving in mission fields in both Americas and in the islands of the sea. Lamanites are exercising their priesthood and rearing their families in righteousness. A new world is open to them, and they are grasping the opportunities. God bless the Lamanites and hasten the day of their total emancipation from the thraldom of their yesterday.
"I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."
"The missionaries of the Southwest Indian Mission told of their labors among the Indians, and perhaps this is one of the most foreign of all foreign missions, and is in a land of strange tongues and colorful people, a place of high mountain coolness and near sea level desert heat - a land where a new amalgamation of peoples and kindreds is taking place, and where the gospel of Jesus Christ is neutralizing the centuries of dwindling unbelief.
"I found evidence of waning super- stition and of growing faith in the gospel. I saw people who have for centuries been as chaff before the wind settling down to industry and security and permanence - a people who for more than a millennium have been 'as a vessel... tossed about upon the waves, without sail or anchor, or without any- thing wherewith to steer her....' (Mormon 5:18.) I saw them beginning to accept the gospel of Christ.
"I saw them reclaiming their forfeited blessings which the Lord reserved '...for the gentiles who shall possess the land.' (Ibid., 5:19.) I saw accelera- tion in their progress and the time is at hand when the Lord will '...remember the covenant which he made with Abraham and unto all the house of Israel.' (Ibid., 5:20.) '...and as the Lord liveth he will remember the covenant which he hath made with them. And he knoweth their prayers....' (Ibid., 8:23-24.)
"The work is unfolding, and blinded eyes begin to see, and scattered people begin to gather. I saw a striking con- trast in the progress of the Indian people today as against that of only fifteen years ago. Truly the scales of darkness are falling from their eyes, and they are fast becoming a white and delightsome people.
"In this mission alone there are 8400- plus members of the Church. As I visited this area fifteen years ago, there were ninety-four. 'Are they faithful?" I am asked. And the answer is, 'Not all of them. They are just about like their white cousins in the stakes of Zion.' 'Are they making headway?' And the answer is, 'Yes. Perhaps relatively greater headway than we ourselves.'
"Indians are people, and the longer I serve with them the more I realize that they respond to the same teaching and kindness and love as others do. They have the same emotions. Some can be godless, but most of them are religious. I found that faith is a basic element in their lives. I learned of a Navajo couple who rushed their baby to the mission home for a blessing - it was livid white, seemed to be dead. It was soon well and playing around - and the Indian woman who lost her hearing, who received it back through the administra- tion of the young missionaries; or the elder whose Navajo mother asked him if he had faith in Heavenly Father when the little brother was lying desperately ill, and whose little brother was wholly well the next morning after he himself had hid in a closet and prayed for his brother.
"Yes, the Indians have faith - a rather simple, pure, and unadulterated faith, as evidenced by the Indian mother who asked the elders to come to the hospital to bless her sick child. The next day the elders called at her home and asked, 'How is the little boy?' And she rejoined, 'Oh, he's all right,' in a tone such as to say, 'Well, you blessed him, didn't you? Of course he's well.'
"And another Indian whose hands were badly burned was in excruciating pain. The administration brought al- most immediate relief, and she was using her hands in a day or two. There was the Indian family who pleaded with the elders to pray for rain for their crops and for the grass and for the cattle and the sheep. 'But please be careful,' they warned. 'The last time the elders prayed for rain, it came too hard, and the sheep corrals were washed out and some of the sheep were drowned.'
"There was the Hopi elder in a Phoenix hospital with his arm and leg paralyzed, and with no use or movement. He asked the nurse to find a Mormon elder. A bishop was called in who purchased oil, consecrated it, and administered to the Indian patient. 'He sure had faith in the Lord,' said the bishop. 'We talked a little while, and I asked him if he could wiggle his toes, and you should have seen the expression on his face when he tried. Sure enough they moved, and before we left him he could raise the leg, and when I visited him last Sunday he could move both the leg and the arm.'
"The day of the Lamanites is here! Young white missionaries throughout the Church are happy in the service, glad that they were called to this special mission, some planning to change their college majors when they return from their missions so they can work among the Indians.
"I see a dependent people becoming independent; for example, I see them coming in their pickups to meetings, whereas a decade ago they needed to be picked up by the missionaries, fed, and coddled. Some still must learn, but they are making progress; for instance, a party was arranged by two missionaries - the Indian people to bring the food, the elders to furnish the punch. When they assembled, they had only punch to drink. Later another party was arranged - the Indians to bring the food and the elders to bring the punch. They had both food and drink. They are learning.
"We called for a picture of the Indian elders. Twenty of them came - five full-blood Navajo boys, and fifteen who were part Navajo and Apache and Ute and Sioux. One of the Navajo elders whose mother and family lived less than a hundred miles away in the same mission had not asked for leave to go and visit them, and he had served eight months in the mission. One Indian elder said: 'The first missionaries planted a tree on the reservation years ago. Now the tree is bearing fruit - Navajo elders! The young tree yielded little fruit, but the aging tree more fruit - more elders.'
"There was the Navajo elder who testified of his happiness and said that when in battle - I think it was in Korea - he had dreamed one night that he was with his parents back on the reservation, but he awakened to find himself in mud and water and fire. Now he is in the midst of another dream, a dream so glorious, he said, that he hopes he will never awaken from it.
"These Indian elders are well-groomed, neat, smiling, and equal to their white companions - handsome and sincere - some struggling in the acquisition of the difficult English language, and others coming through the Utah Placement Program speaking perfect English and displaying the best of our own culture. White elders feel fortunate when they are lucky enough to have a Navajo companion.
"I see these Indian youth praying and preaching and administering to the sick, and I remember the statement of the Prophet Joseph: 'Take Jacob Zundell and Frederick H. Moeser... and send them to Germany and when you meet an Arab send him to Arabia; when you find an Italian send him to Italy: and a Frenchman, to France; or an Indian, that is suitable, send him among the Indians. Send them to the different places where they belong.' (DHC 5:368.)
"At last the Indians are suitable. I heard them bear their witness, saw them shed tears of joy, heard them express their affection for loved ones. I saw Indian boys actually coming in to the president to offer their services as mis- sionaries. That couldn't have happened a decade ago. As we look into the future, surely we shall see thousands of Indian missionaries, for through our various agencies we are now training probably three thousand little Indian boys in our various departments who are growing toward missionary work. Very soon there will be an Indian boy paired off in missionary work with each white boy, and this will happen in the other Lamanite missions, I am sure.
"The day of the Lamanites is nigh. For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised. In this picture of the twenty Lamanite missionaries, fifteen of the twenty were as light as Anglos; five were darker but equally delightsome. The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation.
"At one meeting a father and mother and their sixteen-year-old daughter were present, the little member girl - sixteen - sitting between the dark father and mother, and it was evident she was several shades lighter than her parents - on the same reservation, in the same hogan, subject to the same sun and wind and weather. There was the doctor in a Utah city who for two years had had an Indian boy in his home who stated that he was some shades lighter than the younger brother just coming into the program from the reservation. These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delight- someness. One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated.
"The missionaries are having great experiences in proselyting, in teaching, in organizing, in carrying on Primaries, Relief Societies. They direct women in making quilts and towels and pot holders, which they say they can sell faster than they can make them; but always a Relief Society bazaar is in their future plans. They pound up broken pottery and clay to make new pottery. They do beadwork, learn cooking; they are taught first aid, bleeding-stoppage, use of splints, resuscitation, moving the injured; they are taught to speak and to sing. Three lovely Lamanite sisters sang a trio in one of our meetings. Two elders in one area were actually teaching the women how to make diapers.
"We find the Indians are learning to be adaptable and resourceful, and from tradition they are coming to truth, from legend to fact, from sand paintings and sings to administration and ordinances. The Indians are beginning to pay their tithes. They are living the Word of Wisdom. They are attending their meetings. They are having family prayers, and for a period of this year the tithes in that mission are said to have been more than the budget for the mission.
"They are grateful for that which is being done for them. A typical little nine-year-old Indian prayed: 'Father in heaven, please bless the missionaries so their success will be good.' A typical Indian woman pleaded: 'When can I be baptized?' And the answer was, 'When you have learned a little more of the gospel.' An Apache saddle maker, when given the Book of Mormon lessons, said: 'I know that story. I know that it is true. My old people told me about it.'
"The Indians have legends which might be reminiscent of the three Nephites, of the creation, of the flood, of the coming of the Christ to them. They are beginning to recognize the similarity between their distorted tradition stories and the truth which has been recorded.
"A Jicarilla-Apache Indian elder, first counselor in the branch presidency, drives sixty-four miles to his meetings with his family and sixty-four miles home each time, and he seldom misses a meeting, except in blizzard weather. He is sharp and clean and handsome and conducts the meetings with dignity. He speaks excellent English, and this is again in fulfilment of my own patriar- chal blessing, in which I was promised: 'You will see them organized and be prepared to stand as the bulwark round this people.'
"In the [Mesa] temple, in the June excursion, were a Navajo groom and a Pima bride, a Cherokee groom and a Navajo bride; and these, typical of the many Indians, are taking seriously to the gospel program. When they were in this con- vention, the good Mesa people graciously took care of their needs, and this again was in fulfilment of the prophecy of Joseph Smith. He said:
'There will be tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints who will be gathered in the Rocky Mountains, and there they will open the door for the establishing of the gospel among the Lamanites who will receive the gospel and their endowments and the blessings of God.' (Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, pp. 30-39.)
"One's heart is touched when he sees thirty or forty little Hopi boys and girls gathered together in Primary, being taught by nineteen-year-old missionaries, and it is stirring even more to see twenty little wild Apache Indians galloping over the hills on their burros to attend Primary at Fort Apache.
"The young missionaries are learning the difficult Navajo language, and the older couples are using largely the language of love. The Navajo tongue is so difficult that it is said to have been used to send code messages in World War II because the Japanese could not decode it. It is heartwarming to hear the young Navajo elder struggling with his English pronunciation and vocabulary, but never hesitating to express his thoughts convincingly and bearing his testimony im- pressively. He had been told by his dying mother when he was a little boy: 'Go to Mormon Church. It is true church.' He choked and struggled with his tears.
"One devoted missionary couple was stuck in the snow last winter, and the husband pushed the car while the wife steered it. In doing so he fell and broke his knee and then pleaded with the president: 'Please do not send us home. Put us in the hospital for a little time.' He was given a metal knee and then crutches, and Indians who saw him hobbling around said: 'Anyone as sincere as that ought to be listened to.' And this mother who now has her children reared told of her patriarchal blessing given long years ago, indicating she would go on a mission with her husband, but since she was tied with her large family of little children, her husband filled his mission alone and was killed in an auto accident returning home. How could her blessing ever be fulfilled, she wondered, with children to educate and sons to send on missions, and she in her widowhood? But when the family was educated and the sons had filled their missions, she married another man, a convert, and together they are now fulfilling the patriarchal blessing and filling glorious missions.
"The day of the Lamanites has come. The Indians of this country, particularly of the southwest, have many blessings which are theirs today but which were not theirs yesterday. Government agencies, other groups as well as ourselves, have been conscious of their former serious plight. But today the dark clouds are dissipating. Whereas only a decade ago tens of thousands of children were without schooling, today practically every child has some educational opportunity. May I quote a paragraph from my address to this conference in 1947 regarding these Indians....
"But today there are hospitals, doctors, nurses, and dentists. Many families live in comfortable homes, fairly well furnished. Disease is disappearing, tuberculosis much under control, and sanitation greatly improving. In our recent examination of over four hundred children in our health clinic as we brought them into Utah for this fall, we found that there were no positive results from our X-ray examinations.
"In the 40's these people had an average income of about $81 a year. They lived upon land which to most of us seemed worthless, barren, and forbidding; but the desolate land is producing oil and gas and uranium and coal and lumber, and many millions of dollars are flowing into the tribal treasury. In early days it was each family for itself; today the Tribal Council is using wisely these vast sums to build highways and hospitals and schools and to give scholarships. What a strange paradox, that the land given to the Indians, desolate and unwanted, turns out to be the source of many blessings! Was not Providence smiling on these folks and looking toward this day?
"Today we teach the gospel to the Indian youth, and tomorrow there will First Day be thousands of them on missions. Nearly all their marriages will be performed in the temples. They will give leadership in wards and stakes which will be organized in their areas, and with their white brothers they will become leaders in the kingdom. Groups of stakes are organized into regional minority missions. About 320 of the 2300 Indians in Brigham City are members of the Church, and we have a delightful chapel which President McKay dedicated there.
"At Albuquerque, Riverside, at Chilloco and at Lawrence in Kansas, at Carson City in Nevada, at Chemawa in Oregon, at Anadarko in Oklahoma, and else- where, our youth - hundreds and hun- dreds of them - are receiving comparable seminary training. At Aztec, Gallup, Richfield, Flagstaff, Holbrook, Snowflake, and Winslow we are training them in connection with the government peripheral schools.
"About 420 Indian children are receiving the superior training in Utah homes under the educational placement program. These children are being fed, housed, clothed, and loved by the selfless people of Utah who take them into their finest homes - philanthropic people who come to love the Indian children as their own, and who give them every advantage - cultural, spiritual, and educational, and who train them in scouting organizational work, in family prayers, in seminary, and in home activities. I quote from a recent letter from an authority on Indian life and education:
'I think you have a very commendable program and one which is probably the only positive approach to the Indian problem in the United States. I have spent a great part of my life living with or working with Indian people and have yet to see any program which has taken the Indian out of himself and started him down the road to progress.'
"As these children complete their grade and high school work, Brigham Young University is ready to receive them, and special guidance courses and training advisers give them leadership, and each year now our Indian students parade in cap and gown with the other hundreds of graduates of this great institution.
"We have follow-up programs to help the Indian youth gain employment as they complete their schoolwork.
"A new class instruction program is organized on the reservation, whereby the little Indians are given religious training. At present some 2500 little fellows present themselves weekly or oftener to the young missionaries for religious instruction, assigned by the parents to the church of their choice. These little ones are being taught in about sixty classes, and young mission- aries are proving their mettle in training them.
"Two young elders teach 102 children in their classes, and another couple, a Navajo and a white elder, are teaching 135 little boys and girls together with some of their parents who asked for the privilege of coming.
"Not only the southwest Indians, but Lamanites in general, are facing an open door to education, culture, refine- ment, progress, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Church has spent its millions in Hawaii and New Zealand and other islands to provide schools for the young Lehites. Surely, no descendants need go now without an education, and schools in Mexico will be followed by schools in other nations. Surely the number of deprived ones is being reduced, and opportunity is knocking at their door. Hundreds of Lamanites are serving in mission fields in both Americas and in the islands of the sea. Lamanites are exercising their priesthood and rearing their families in righteousness. A new world is open to them, and they are grasping the opportunities. God bless the Lamanites and hasten the day of their total emancipation from the thraldom of their yesterday.
"I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."
The First Native American General Authority
George P. Lee, a Navajo, was one of the first participants in the Indian Placement Program, and became the first Native American General Authority when he was called to the First Quorum of the Seventy by President Spencer W. Kimball in 1975. He was excommunicated fourteen years later for "apostasy and other conduct unbecoming a member of the Church". He had been upset about the Indian Placement Program being phased out, and wrote to the First Presidency accusing them of "spiritually slaughtering" Native American Saints and encouraging "white supremacy..., pride, arrogance, love of power, and no sense of obligation to the poor, needy and afflicted...". Further, he felt that the Lamanites were God's covenant people and that Native Americans should lead the Church. "Do the Gentiles or 'adopted Israel' have the mission to bless the whole world with the gospel? I think not, at least not totally. They will assist true Israel in accomplishing this mission but I do not believe they will have 'front seat' leadership role in it."
The "other conduct" for which Lee was excommunicated was apparently his attempted molestation of a minor girl, though he denied the charges and evaded conviction until October 1994. In 2007 he was arrested a second time for failing to register as a sex offender, but the case was dropped due to his health issues. After his death in 2010 at the age of sixty-seven, Latter-day Saint sociologist Armand Mauss described him as "one of the truly tragic figures in modern Mormon history".
The "other conduct" for which Lee was excommunicated was apparently his attempted molestation of a minor girl, though he denied the charges and evaded conviction until October 1994. In 2007 he was arrested a second time for failing to register as a sex offender, but the case was dropped due to his health issues. After his death in 2010 at the age of sixty-seven, Latter-day Saint sociologist Armand Mauss described him as "one of the truly tragic figures in modern Mormon history".
Next: The Church of Jesus Christ and Native Americans Twenty-first Century
Main Page: Latter-day Saint Racial History
Main Page: Latter-day Saint Racial History
