The Missionary Factor

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Which town did President David O. McKay bless with a “missionary factor,” that many people would visit and learn of the Church?

a.                  Kirtland, Ohio

b.                  Laie, Hawaii

c.                   Nauvoo, Illinois

d.                  San Bernardino, California

Yesterday’s answer:

C   Japan

On November 27, 1936, the First Presidency announced the appointment of Hilton A. Robertson as president of the Japanese Mission, with headquarters in Hawai’i .This mission functioned from February 24, 1937, to March 15, 1950. Church leaders changed the mission’s name to the Central Pacific Mission in 1944, because of undesirable connotations of the word Japanese during World War II. Five mission presidents served in the mission, which grew in membership from 17 members in 1937, to 437 in 1944, and to approximately 800 when it closed in 1950. During 1942 alone, membership increased 185 percent, fast offering contributions increased 240 percent, and tithing increased 300 percent, in spite of the fact that during the year the missionary force was reduced from 55 to 18. One study, citing 1945 statistics that document over 97 percent tithing faithfulness, argues that these members were the most faithful tithe players in the Church at that time. By the mid-1970s, it would be noted that “the greatest contribution of the work in Hawai’i is just being seen today in Japan. Almost every major mission leader in Japan from the mid-1960s until now was converted or served as a missionary in Hawai’i under the Japanese Mission.”

Voyages of Faith-Explorations in Mormon Pacific History, Grant Underwood, (Brigham Young University Press, Provo, Utah: 2000), 98.