Comments on: Venus in Tahiti: 25 March – 15 April 1915

By: David R

David R — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 21:44:41 +0000

Re: Mar 30 entry. 65 years later, when I finished my mission there, the marriage issue had not changed much. And the feelings for the French, in general, had not been that much diluted either. However, the French Saints that I interacted were pretty wonderful.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:38:54 +0000

It’s easy, Jim. There was the original Babe, and her sidekick, the Co-Babe. You’re descended from her.

By: Amy T

Amy T — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 01:04:03 +0000

Guava jelly? I have some guava jelly in the fridge. Not made by Venus, though.

Other than that, I don’t have anything substantive to say, except that I’m glad to see Jim commenting here; he was a regular and insightful commenter at T&S when I started reading that blog five (?) years ago.

By: Jim Cobabe

Jim Cobabe — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:41:30 +0000

We went home teaching together this afternoon to a big family with lots of youngsters. Bro. Mataoa told them his name in Tahitian means “happy face”.

I was impressed. I have no idea what my name means.

By: Jim Cobabe

Jim Cobabe — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 00:38:24 +0000

Ardis,

Okay, I didn’t want to speak for Bro. Mataoa, but I sent him your email address. He said he would try to connect with you.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 22:01:49 +0000

Thanks, Jim! You know, she uses Tahitian phrases throughout. I wonder if your HT companion would be willing to translate them? There aren’t that many, maybe a page or so if they were all pulled together in one spot.

By: Jim Cobabe

Jim Cobabe — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 21:34:41 +0000

My home teaching companion is from Tahiti. Bro. Mataoa used to work in the translation department. I’ll show him this post, I’m sure he’ll be interested.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 20:15:26 +0000

As for Mrs. Henry, my guess is that Venus was surprised to have a non-Mormon treat Mormon claims of revelation as sincerely as she did. Usually, requests for revelation are mockery, no?

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 20:11:57 +0000

Having just studied them all, Alison, I’ll summarize them by saying that Saints were admonished to be loyal to their countries (whichever they were), to avoid imbibing the spirit of hatred and bloodlust, to live as Saints regardless of the circumstances they found themselves in, to watch out and care for each other — making the point forcefully and repeatedly that there were no nationalities in the household of faith — and to maintain the structure of the Church wherever possible. Because the U.S. did not enter the war until 1917, it was a little easier for Church leaders to speak as Church leaders rather than Americans — in 1917, the rhetoric changed to some degree, sounding as rah-rah-American as any later conflict. The numerous statements directed to Latter-day Saints in Utah who were persecuting other Saints because of their German origin shows that large numbers of Latter-day Saints were having trouble separating their personal politics from their religion, just as many do today.

Many of the leaders, apparently following the rhetoric of B.H.Roberts who spoke on this topic numerous times during the war and after, taught that the World Was was the fulfillment of Joseph Smith’s 1832 prophecy about war being poured out on all nations. Early in the war, the rhetoric was that God was blessing the U.S. for its general righteousness in allowing it to stay out of the war; when U.S. participation became imminent, that part of the teaching became that America, with its great prophetic destiny, was blessed to carry liberty to the downtrodden nations, by the sword if necessary.

Church leaders also had to speak up a couple of times about rumors within the Church that the prophets had foretold the war’s end by a certain date, or that it would continue for a specified number of years (10 or 12, IIRC). The details may change, but we Latter-day Saints carry on in much the same way as our ancestors did!

By: Alison

Alison — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 19:29:57 +0000

What a fascinating life this sister led! She seems permanently amused (or perhaps bemused) by the requests of the minister’s widow for revelation about the war. I wonder whether Sister Rossiter thought it unlikely that missionaries would have such revelation, or that the whole idea of having revelation about a current conflict was unreasonable? What statements or messages from the First Presidency or General Conference would have been given on the subject?