The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) was established in the
Hawaiian Islands in 1850 following the
Edict of Toleration promulgated by
Kamehameha III, giving the underground
Hawaii Catholic Church the right to worship, and at the same time allowing other faith traditions to begin establishing themselves.
The first
LDS Church missionaries to have success among the Hawaiians was
George Q. Cannon. Among his earliest converts were men well-versed in the
Hawaiian language, such as
Jonatana Napela and Uaua. After the construction of the
Hawaiian Temple, the Latter-day Saints founded Church College of Hawaii, now
Brigham Young University Hawaii, which now includes the associated
Polynesian Cultural Center, the state's largest living museum, and an entertainment center; it draws a million visitors annually. The Mormon population in Hawaii continued to increase, and the
Kona Hawaii Temple, a second LDS Church
temple for the islands, was completed in
Kailua Kona on the island of
Hawaii in 2000.
At the end of 2006, there were in Hawaii 66,066 Latter-day Saints organized into 15
stakes, 119
wards, and 12
branches, and there was one
mission. In addition there were 25
Family History Centers, used for genealogical research and study. Hawaii has the highest concentration of Latter-day Saints of U.S. states that do not border......
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