George Q. Cannon was called on a mission to Hawaii in 1850.  There was some confusion as to who the Mormon missionaries were supposed to preach to.  Only a few white people lived on the islands that the missionaries visited and “preaching to them with the hope of convincing them of the truth seemed a hopeless labor.”  George reported that “the question arose directly, ‘Shall we confine our labors to the white people?’”  The missionaries hadn’t been told, specifically, to preach to natives, but George saw no reason why they should not.  The missionaries had the authority to preach “the message of salvation” and if they did not do it, other Mormon missionaries would need to.  The gospel was to be spread among all men – the Lord was very clear on that.

This was George Q. Cannon’s feeling and he was determined to learn the language of the natives and teach them, even if he “had to do it alone.”  He said, “I felt that I could not do otherwise and be free from condemnation; the spirit of it was upon me. Elders Bigler and Keeler felt the same.”

Not every Mormon missionary in the group felt the same.  Some felt that the “mission was to the whites” and they could go home after warning them and only them.  George Q. Cannon asks his audience, “How do you think such differences of views and opinions can be settled?”  The president of the mission “left each one to act for himself.”  The Hawaiian Islands were too far away from the “Apostles and First Presidency” and the missionaries “could not appeal to them.”  George Q. Cannon states, thus, that their “only resource was to obtain revelation from the Lord for ourselves. This is the privilege of every man and woman in the Church.”  This is personal revelation, knowledge God will reveal to individuals who seek.  Through this, the missionaries “were able . . . to know what course to take.”  They stayed.

Some of the white men who went to Hawaii took their new setting and situation as an excuse to act “disgracefully.”  George Q. Cannon reports the natives as “very close observers.”  They seemed drawn to these missionaries of the Mormon Church because they did not act badly.  Their attitude was one of sharing – “they readily helped us to pronounce and read their language.”

George Q. Cannon wanted to learn the language very much and he “never permitted an opportunity of talking with the natives to pass without improving it.”  He “also tried to exercise faith before the Lord to obtain the gift of talking and understanding the language.”  At one point, while speaking with some native neighbors, George Q. Cannon “felt an uncommonly great desire to understand what they said.”  He reports feeling “a peculiar sensation in my ears,” at which he became so excited he jumped up “and exclaimed to Elders Bigler and Keeler who sat at the table, that I believed I had received the gift of interpretation!”

After this experience, George Q. Cannon could understand the Hawaiian natives without difficulty.  This understanding was a great gift of the Lord to him.  Mormons believe that such understandings and gifts can come through asking in faith.

— This story is taken and paraphrased from Preston Nibley’s Missionary Experiences, published in 1942 by Deseret Book.  George Q. Cannon is the author of this story.  You may want to check out the book and read the complete story in George’s own words.