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During the keynote address at the 2023 Church History in the Pacific and Asia Conference, Dr. Lynette Suliana Sikahema Finau described her quest to identify the voices of Latter-day Saint women in the Pacific and Asia. Her personal interviews with a plethora of individuals led her to the reality that the voices and stories of so many faithful and influential Pacific and Asia women are being threatened with extinction, not out of maliciousness but as a natural consequence of the way their voices and stories are preserved and reserved among Pacific and Asia families.[1] Though their families revere these influential women—most family members do not have the means or the opportunity to circulate their stories—resulting in the potential loss of these female voices.[2]

Stories of faithful women were front and center at the Church History in the Pacific and Asia Conference, 2023. Courtesy of 'Alisi K. Langi.

Dr. Finau is not alone in this realization. Often the voices of faithful women are obscured by omissions in the extant records of the Church and much of the scriptural texts. “Unfortunately, women’s lives and experiences are extremely fragmented in ancient scriptural and historical records. Most often women, if mentioned at all, are peripheral characters in the accounts chosen for inclusion in these ancient histories. The named women in the scriptures are the exception, rather than the rule: we read of many named fathers and husbands and sons, with a few mothers, daughters, and female servants thrown in.”[3]

While there are likely many reasons for these omissions (not the least of which is the inherent difficulty and selectivity of recordkeeping), perhaps we would do well to adopt the attitude promoted by Guinevere Thomas Woolstenhulme. She reasons, “Placing blame for past omissions is not as important as the recovery of these women’s voices. As a scholar, I am more concerned with triage—getting the factual pieces of women’s histories put back together—than I am with pointing fingers over whom is to blame for past losses.”[4]

As part of this triage, Dr. Finau used portions of her keynote address to reveal and record the legacy of two latter-day Pacific women—her own mother, Ruby Potenitila Wolfgramm Sikahema, and her maternal grandmother, Uinise Salote Taimi Tongi Wolfgramm. Like Timothy of old, the roots of Dr. Finau’s faith were nourished and sustained by her mother and grandmother. She sees her life as an extension of their legacy, and their voices, dreams, and faith are magnified as she uses her own voice.

But what about the other voices? What about generations of faithful Latter-day Saint women in the Pacific and Asia whose stories we risk losing forever because they have not been preserved? While the field of modern women studies uses a variety of methods in seeking to remediate this issue, perhaps the primary solution involves applying a divinely instituted method found in both our scriptural and historical past.

Books of Remembrance: An Ancient Commandment and Practice

When covenant Israel lodged a familiar complaint against God, the solution was both simple and profound—a book of remembrance was kept to record the names and deeds of those who loved and followed God (Malachi 3:13–16). Those included in the book would one day be recognized as Christ’s own jewels and be spared the punishments assigned to the wicked (Malachi 3:17–18). Creating, using, and preserving books of remembrance has been a common practice among God’s covenant people since earth’s first family set a pattern for their usage (Moses 6:5–6)[5] that continues today (Doctrine and Covenants 21:1; 47:1; 69:3; 128:1–9).

For Abraham, patriarch of the covenant, “the records of the fathers” were a divinely preserved repository of history and knowledge (Abraham 1:31). These records may have contained the solution to Abraham’s own quest to be a greater follower of righteousness as well as a possessor of great knowledge (Abraham 1:2–3). Their continued importance in his life is marked by Abraham’s efforts to preserve and contribute to the records for the benefit of his posterity (Abraham 1:31). These same records have allowed disciples of Christ—generations later—to hear the preserved voice of Abraham and better understand his relationship and covenant with Christ.

Books of Remembrance: Preserving Culture and Faith

The Book of Mormon contains additional evidence of the importance of records like these books of remembrance. Its earliest pages are filled with commands to obtain (1 Nephi 3:1–5), use (1 Nephi 1:11–12; 1 Nephi 5:10–20), and preserve records (1 Nephi 5:21–22; 1 Nephi 6:3–6; 1 Nephi 9:3–6). Perhaps no story speaks more to the importance of keeping books of remembrance than that of the people of Zarahemla discovered by King Mosiah the First (Omni 1:12–14). Fleeing Jerusalem at the time King Zedekiah was taken captive into Babylon (Omni 1:15), the ancestors of the people of Zarahemla had once known the God of Israel—even being preserved by him in their journey to the promised land (Omni 1:16). However, unlike the family of Lehi, their Mulekite ancestors had neither carried nor preserved any books of remembrance. Without such records the voice, the language of the people of Zarahemla, became corrupted, such that King Mosiah and his people could not understand them despite their nearly identical origins. Even more consequential was the people’s loss of understanding of the Israelite God whom they had forgotten (Omni 1:17; 1 Nephi 1:4).

The record that had preserved the voice of God for the Nephites became a crucial resource as the people of Zarahemla were taught in Mosiah’s language. They were brought to a remembrance of their God as they were reintroduced to his voice. For both Mosiah’s and Zarahemla’s peoples, the books of remembrance were key to preserving and restoring a correct understanding of God and his work among his covenant children (Omni 1:18).

Elder Marlin K. Jensen reminds us, “The scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, make clear that ‘remembering’ is a fundamental and saving principle of the gospel. We keep records to help us remember. Remembering the past gives us needed perspective as God’s children to have faith in our future destiny and thus to live more faithfully in the present.”[6] In addition to preserving history, these records have preserved for the modern reader the powerful and persuasive voices of their writers—and the God who inspired them.

Books of Remembrance: A Latter-day Commandment and Practice

In the latter-day Restoration, the command to preserve the history and records of all things that transpire in the Church was renewed with Joseph Smith on April 6, 1830, the day the Church was formally organized (Doctrine and Covenants 21:1). Recordkeeping responsibilities were first divided among two offices—Church historian and Church recorder—and two men bore the responsibility of each respective office.[7] As the Church grew, the burden of creating and preserving Church records grew as well (Doctrine and Covenants 128:2–3). It became necessary for recordkeeping responsibilities to be disseminated among multiple record keepers churchwide (Doctrine and Covenants 128:3–4). “Hence, since the 1840s, official records of the Church have been created all over the world and the single office of Church Historian and Recorder has borne the general responsibility to care for the Church’s records and histories.”[8]

In addition to official Church records (e.g., minutes, certificates of ordinances, and other organizational or administrative documents), official and unofficial histories have been compiled, preserved, and disseminated. Histories developed by well-known early Saints such as W. W. Phelps, John Whitmer, Edward Partridge, Parley P. Pratt, and even Sidney Rigdon all contribute to our understanding of the early Church.[9]

Early female Saints also made many valuable contributions to the production, preservation, and dissemination of Church history. Their voices, preserved in these records, allow latter-day audiences to reflect on their own spiritual development as disciples of Jesus Christ. The autobiography of Lucy Mack Smith,[10] the extant writings of Eliza R. Snow, and the carefully kept minutes of the Nauvoo Relief Society are just a few of the female voices that provide fascinating snapshots into the early Church. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, many of these female contributions preserve profound[11] and empowering[12] doctrine pertaining to women.

Books of Remembrance: Subject to Correction

Recordkeeping, although key to preserving the voices and histories of Christ’s people, is not an infallible process. As Church historian Keith Erekson explains, “From our perspective in the present, the past is mostly gone. The people have passed away; their experiences have ended. However, pieces of the past remain—letters, diaries, records of organizations, material objects. Today, we can learn about the past only indirectly through the pieces that remain. Information is always lost between the past and the present. We must study the records that do survive while remembering that they do not represent the entirety of the past.”[13]

Record keepers are also mortal and subject to human weakness and error just as Moroni lamented (Ether 12:23–25). Limitations of language, personal biases, physical capabilities, knowledge, and more may create known and unknown gaps in the records. In some instances, Christ himself has intervened to correct or enhance a record (3 Nephi 23:7–13).[14] In other cases these corrections were made because of individuals whose intimate awareness of the gaps empowered them to use their voice to seek reparations.

The experience of the daughters of Zelophehad is one early example of this latter form of correction. In preparation for the division of the promised land, Moses and Eleazar conducted a census of the camp of Israel (Numbers 26). All males, twenty years of age and older (excluding the tribe of Levi [Deuteronomy 10:8–9] and the children of those involved in Korah’s rebellion; Numbers 16:1–43; Numbers 26:9–11), were numbered as a representation of the families in Israel that qualified for an inheritance (Numbers 26:51–56). However, and perhaps unbeknownst to Moses, this process caused families without a living male inheritor to be overlooked.

In a dramatic scene, Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah (the five daughters of the deceased Zelophehad and descendants of Manasseh; Numbers 27:1) presented themselves before Moses, Eleazar, the princes, and all the congregation to receive an inheritance (Numbers 27:2). With clarity they testified that their father, though dead, had not rebelled with the company of Korah and that his family should not be deprived of an inheritance merely because he died without a male heir (Numbers 27:3). “Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no son? Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father,” they requested (Numbers 27:4). To Moses’s credit, he took their plea before the Lord. “The daughters of Zelophehad speak right,” came the Lord’s response. “Thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren” (Numbers 27:7).

The daughters of Zelophehad request an inheritance in the promised land after being overlooked during the Israelite census (see Numbers 27:1–11 and Joshua 17:1–6). Illustration from The Bible and Its Story Taught by One Thousand Picture Lessons. Ed. Charles F. Horne and Julius A. Bewer (1908). Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The Lord did not stop there. With a sweeping directive, he initiated a correction to the census recording process that would provide inheritance rights to other Israelite households in similar circumstances (Numbers 27:8–11). Years later, these same daughters would once again present themselves before the male leadership of Israel to ensure their inheritance was apportioned as promised (Joshua 17:1–6). Their efforts are a clear representation that the female voice can be a powerful tool for change.

Books of Remembrance: Minding the Gaps

Like the daughters of Zelophehad, Latter-day Saint women have often been overlooked or underrepresented.[15] As managing historian of the Church History Department Lisa Olsen-Tait reminds us, “Women have sacrificed and served and dedicated themselves to the work of God through the church. That’s sacred, and it has not received the amount or the kind of attention and interest that it deserves.”[16] However, in recent years an increasing number of scholars have made a concerted effort to alleviate this perceived gap by uncovering, preserving, compiling, and publishing the voices of women saints.[17] These publications have been a boon to women who are able to see themselves increasingly represented in the annals of Church history.[18] But women’s voices benefit more than just women.[19] The late historian Kate Holbrook taught that “our understanding of church history really changes when we look more carefully at what women leaders and everyday women were doing.” These stories, and their added understanding, contribute to the increased “wholeness” to which we aim as a Church when compiling histories and records in the latter days.[20]

Lesser-known global voices of women in the Church have also been omitted. “While most Latter-day Saints understand that the Church is a global faith, the history of the Church in many parts of the world is not well known.”[21] In the Pacific[22] and Asia,[23] dedicated scholars and amateur family historians alike have worked to collect and preserve the faith-filled stories and work of the church among these Saints. In both areas, much of the existing figurative “books of remembrance” are preserved as literal voice in the oral traditions passed down from generation to generation or recorded and told by those with an interest in preserving the histories of those lands.[24]

Preserving and amplifying the voices of Latter-day Saint women in the Pacific and Asia—by creating these records of remembrance—is indeed part of the triage. As fading memories and the continued passage of time threaten to permanently silence these voices, we are cautioned,

The stories of women in later eras are often similarly fragmented; official histories may refer only to a few extraordinary women, may include only small pieces of women’s experiences as deemed relevant by traditional historians, or may omit women’s experiences entirely. Fortunately, however, it is still much easier to recover the voices of these more recent generations than those of the ancient past.

Yet, many of these women’s experiences must be preserved now, or they will be lost forever. This recovery effort often requires a different kind of research than traditional archival research, because many women are either underrepresented or unrepresented in the records and histories. Women’s letters and diaries provide a wonderful resource, but external sources also illuminate women’s experiences. Relief Society and other organizations’ cookbooks provide insights into the economic, social, and spiritual life of women and families. Material studies examine artifacts of daily life—textile patterns, cookware, or a Christmas ornament—to illustrate the experiences of the artifact owner. Studies in folklore trace the oral histories passed from mother to child when the mother did not keep a written record. Studies in art reveal that for millennia, women have left their stories in paintings, rose gardens, quilts, and lullabies. These diverse methodologies allow women’s stories to be told, even in the absence of a written personal history.

. . . Women’s studies gives us the experiences of LDS pioneer women—not just the wives of the prophets and their close associates, but also the lay members of the Church who sacrificed everything to build Zion. These studies strengthen, and then preserve, the faith and courage of modern women and their families throughout the world.[25]

Books of Remembrance: Preserving the Voices of LDS Women in the Pacific and Asia

The chapters in this book, and the conference from which these writings were generated, have attempted to participate in this effort by recording for future generations the faith, stories, and especially voices of Pacific and Asia Latter-day Saint women in an increasingly global church. These female disciples span the economic, social, cultural, and educational spectrum, yet they are connected through their affiliation with the latter-day Church of Jesus Christ.

In Sister Chieko N. Okazaki we find a disciple of Christ whose roots span both the Pacific and Asia. Through her powerful and honest voice, Okazaki could address a global audience while simultaneously touching the hearts of individual listeners.[26] The journals of sisters Louisa Barnes Pratt and Caroline Crosby afford us a glimpse into the lives of early Latter-day Saint women serving among a foreign people in remote French Polynesia. In their voices we face the gritty realities of navigating racial and cultural divides while striving to accomplish the work of God.[27]

The story of Lilia Wahapaa reflects so many Pacific and Asia women pioneers who are called to lay the foundations of Zion in their respective areas. Her voice is magnified by the forty-four years she consecrated in her branch Relief Society presidency on the island of Kaua‘i.[28] That depth of service is mirrored by the multigenerational contributions of the Waddoup family women who lived and participated in some of the most significant places or events in the history of the Hawai‘i Saints. Their voices stretch across the Pacific between Iosepa in Utah, Kalaupapa on Moloka‘i, and Lā‘ie on O‘ahu, and continues to add richness to their legacy as preserved by their progeny.[29]

The troubling struggles of Tongan member Mele Ongo’alupe Taumoepeau remind us that followers of Jesus Christ are not exempt from heartache, loneliness, and disappointment. Her steady voice, rising above the figurative breaking waves, resounds in the lives of those who have learned to trust God through mortality’s many challenges.[30] Illness and suffering were also early acquaintances of Emma Broederlow Lobehndahn. Though the promises made to her took several decades to materialize, her voice continues making an impact as it is borne to future generations through her faithful posterity.[31]

Latter-day Saint women of Papua New Guinea[32] and Micronesia have contributed their voices to the building of Zion in their Pacific Island homes and beyond. Across multiple languages and peoples, they work to understand each other as they represent Jesus Christ. In many of their stories we also find the challenges and opportunities affecting female Saints living a diasporic existence.[33]

Several of these chapters have also acted as a book of remembrance for Latter-day Saint women in Asia. These recorded voices are microcosmic representations of countless women whose stories have yet to be preserved and disseminated.

In Tsune Nachie, Saints and missionaries of both Japan and Hawai‘i found a mother, a missionary, and a dedicated disciple. Her voice could not be muted as she diligently labored to bring her beloved Japanese brothers and sisters to a knowledge of Jesus Christ and his church.[34] First Korean Relief Society president Kim Do Pil’s legacy of love and devotion among the Pusan Saints is a powerful representation of one who walked in the path of their duty.[35] Her delicious meals were as manna from heaven to those blessed to receive from her hand.

Latter-day books of remembrance are preserved in a variety of formats. The records in this image represent approximately forty years of personal memories preserved by Alison Faleolo—a Latter-day Saint of both Pacific and Asia heritage (2024). Courtesy of 'Alisi K. Langi.

Helen Foster Snow’s records reveal an inventive woman who understood how to apply the lessons of her Utah upbringing in advancing the causes of the Chinese people she came to love. Her unique voice—shared in a variety of culture exchanges—has earned Helen the recognition of officials in both China and the United States.[36]

The tenure of Chinese women as temple matrons in both Taiwan and Hong Kong is especially poignant. In their recorded voices we taste the crowning joy that comes to those who serve God in his holy house.[37] Mother Sri, a Thai princess who walked away from privileged circumstances to live as a commoner among the Saints in Thailand, is a powerful example of true conversion and consecration. Her efforts to translate the Book of Mormon into the Thai language are just one element of her legacy and service.[38]

With the official Church presence in Mongolia being just over three decades old, it is encouraging to find so many faithful women among the Mongolian Saints. Their voices, used both in and outside the Church—demonstrate dedication and excitement for Jesus Christ and his gospel.[39] And finally, in the Philippines, the life of Josefina Sacro Villanueva is a case study for understanding the meteoric growth of the latter-day church in that area of the world. Josefina’s voice is recorded, remembered, and shared by those most impacted by her consecrated efforts—her family.[40]

Books of Remembrance: A Covenant Kept

While the lands, cultures, and peoples in these pages may have been foreign to the reader, the voices of faith recorded in this compilation likely feel very familiar. Elder Quentin L. Cook promises, “In learning credible history of the Church, we will bind our hearts together with the Saints of yesterday and today. We will find examples of imperfect people like you and me who went forward with faith and allowed God to work through them to accomplish His work. I promise that studying the history of the Church can deepen your faith and desire to live the gospel more fully.”[41]

Just as the female Saints in the Pacific and Asia, faithful followers of Jesus Christ around the globe continue to realize the Latter-day Saint experience through their daily walk on the covenant path.[42] As more voices are preserved and recorded, we participate in the triage exhorted by Woolstenhulme and others. In addition, these personal “books of remembrance” become tangible evidence of the ways in which Christ continues to honor the ancient promises bestowed on his covenant people—by shaping and refining his Latter-day Saints into segullah,[43] his highly valued possessions and treasures.[44]

Notes

[1] Lynnette S. Sikahema Finau, “Who Are the Voices of Latter-day Saint Women in the Pacific and Asia?” (keynote address at Church History in the Pacific and Asia Conference, BYU–Hawaii, March 3, 2023).

[2] Rachel Cope et al., “‘No More Strangers’: LDS Scholars in Women’s Studies,” Religious Educator 12, no. 3 (2011): 155.

[3] Cope et al., “‘No More Strangers,’” 154–55.

[4] Guinevere Thomas Woolstenhulme, in Cope et al., “‘No More Strangers,’” 156; emphasis in original.

[5] This first book of remembrance, written in the language of Adam, was used to preserve writings given by the Spirit of inspiration and to teach the posterity of Adam and Eve to read, write, and know the work of God among the children of men.

[6] Marlin K. Jensen, “There Shall Be a Record Kept among You,” Ensign, December 2007, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[7] Steven E. Snow, “The Sacred Duty of Record Keeping,” Ensign, April 2019, Gospel Library.

[8] Snow, “The Sacred Duty of Record Keeping.”

[9] “Histories Initiated by Assignment of Joseph Smith, 1831–1847,” The Joseph Smith Papers.

[10] Lucy Mack Smith, “Lucy Mack Smith History, 1844–1845,” The Joseph Smith Papers.

[11] Eliza R. Snow, “My Father in Heaven,” October 1845, Times and Seasons, November 15, 1845, 1039. Snow’s extant work of poetry is one early record that preserved the Prophet Joseph’s teaching that God our Heavenly Father was married and that a female God figure—a heavenly mother—does exist in the eternal realms.

[12] “Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book, April 28, 1842,” 36–41, The Joseph Smith Papers. On this day, the Prophet Joseph exhorted the sisters to faithfulness and taught that they could have the privilege of administering in the authority conferred upon them, heal the sick through their faith, have angels as their associates, and act upon their natural feelings of charity. The Prophet Joseph further explained, “This Society is to get instruction thro’ the order which God has established—thro’ the medium of those appointed to lead—and I now turn the key to you in the name of God and this Society shall rejoice and knowledge and intelligence shall flow down from this time—this is the beginning of better days, to this Society.”

[13] Keith A. Erekson, “Understanding Church History by Study and Faith,” Ensign, February 2017, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[14] Jesus Christ calls for the record and directs that the missing prophecy of Samuel the Lamanite—regarding the appearance of deceased saints at the death of Jesus Christ (Helaman 14:1, 21–26)—should be inserted into the record.

[15] Cope et al., “‘No More Strangers,’” 154–55.

[16] Lisa Olsen-Tait, in Schmidt, “Latter-day Saint Female Historians.”

[17] For example, see Daughters in My Kingdom: The History and Work of Relief Society (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2011); Jill Mulvay Derr et al., eds., The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016); Jennifer Reeder and Kate Holbrook, eds., At the Pulpit: 185 Years of Discourses by Latter-day Saint Women (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2017); Jennifer Reeder, First: The Life and Faith of Emma Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2021).

[18] Kate Holbrook observed, “I’ve been a little surprised at how meaningful it’s been to women of my mother’s generation. You know, they’d never pick up a volume of the Joseph Smith papers or some other great church history book, but this, they’ll stay up past midnight reading, so hungry for it. So hungry to hear about the experiences that feel more familiar and more relatable to them.” Terryl Givens, “Kate Holbrook—An Interview about Extraordinary Women in Mormon History,” Conversations with Terryl Givens, December 30, 2017, podcast, 01:02:21, https://faithmatters.org/extraordinary-women-in-mormon-history-an-interview-with-kate-holbrook/.

[19] Cope et al., “‘No More Strangers,’” 154.

[20] Givens, “Kate Holbrook—An Interview about Extraordinary Women in Mormon History.”

[21] Ryan W. Saltzgiver et al., eds., introduction to Global Histories, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/global-histories/introduction.

[22] For example, see R. Lanier Britsch, Unto the Islands of the Sea: A History of the Latter-day Saints in the Pacific (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1986); Grant Underwood, Pioneers in the Pacific: Memory, History, and Cultural Identity among the Latter-day Saints (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2005).

[23] For example, see R. Lanier Britsch, From the East: The History of the Latter-day Saints in Asia (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1998); Po Nien (Felipe) Chou and Petra Chou, Voice of the Saints in Mongolia (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2022).

[24] For example, see Eric B. Shumway, Tongan Saints: Legacy of Faith (Lā‘ie, HI: BYU–Hawaii Institute for Polynesian Studies, 1991); John H. Groberg, The Other Side of Heaven (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1993); Saltzgiver et al., introduction to Global Histories.

[25] Cope et al., “‘No More Strangers,’” 155–56.

[26] See chapter 2 in this volume.

[27] See chapter 3.

[28] See chapter 4.

[29] See chapter 5.

[30] See chapter 6.

[31] See chapter 7.

[32] See chapter 8.

[33] See chapter 9.

[34] See chapter 10.

[35] See chapter 11.

[36] See chapter 12.

[37]See chapters 13–14.

[38]See chapter 15.

[39] See chapter 16.

[40] See chapter 17.

[41] Quentin L. Cook, “Church History: A Source of Strength and Inspiration,” Ensign, July 2020, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[42] “[We] enter the covenant path by being baptized and making our first covenant with God. Each time we partake of the sacrament, we promise again to take the name of the Savior upon us, to remember Him, and to keep His commandments. In return, God assures us that we may always have the Spirit of the Lord to be with us. Later we make additional covenants in the temple, where we receive even greater promises. Ordinances and covenants give us access to godly power. The covenant path is the only path that leads to exaltation and eternal life.” Russell M. Nelson, “The Power of Spiritual Momentum,” Liahona, May 2022, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[43] Russell M. Nelson, “The Everlasting Covenant,” Liahona, October 2022, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[44] “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not” (Malachi 3:16–18).