THE PRESIDENCY OF GORDON C. YOUNG President Gordon C. Young was called to serve as mission president at a difficult time. After the war and the return of missionaries to New Zealand, Young's predecessor, A. Reed Halversen, had spent most of his energy reestablishing the mission. President Young, who had served as a missionary in New Zealand in the 1920s, spent much of his time as president reorganizing the Church in New Zealand. Many local Church leaders had held callings for more than 20 years. Additionally, changes in population merited reconsideration of boundaries. In addition to these needs, President Young emphasized the importance of personal worthiness, excommunicating those who would not repent. Many of these actions made President Young unpopular, but his efforts laid the foundation for what the Lord had in store for New Zealand. CHURCH COLLEGE OF NEW ZEALAND Since the Maori Agricultural College (MAC) closed there had been talk of building a new school. President Cowley, who had been a member of the MAC board, supported the idea, and when called as an apostle, he encouraged approval of the idea. Directed by President George Albert Smith to do so, President Young began looking for land for a new college in 1949. Through negotiations with the government and private business owners, President Young bought 215 acres of choice land for 4,800 pounds, and construction began in 1951. Work began in earnest when the volunteer labor program was adopted in April 1952. Under the direction of the new mission president, Sydney J. Ottley; the construction supervisor, George Biesinger; and soon-to-be Church building committee chairman, Wendell B. Mendenhall; the buildings became a reality. Volunteers learned to be carpenters, brick masons, cabinetmakers, electricians, concrete workers, and so forth. By April 1954, the new school, which was to be called the Church College of New Zealand (CCNZ), was complete enough that the annual conference of the Church in New Zealand was held on the under-construction campus. SELECTION OF THE NEW ZEALAND TEMPLE SITE In January 1955, President McKay visited all the island missions. He journeyed through the missions to encourage the saints, strengthen the missionary work, and select a site for the temple. He was impressed with the workers of the CCNZ and decided to enlarge the school. Brother Mendenhall showed President McKay the land near the school and drove him to the site where the temple now stands. Brother Mendenhall wrote, "We directed our course around the back of [the hill] to the farmlands. After we stepped from the car, and we were looking around, President Mckay called me over to one side. By the way he was looking at the hill, I could tell immediately what was on his mind. . . . He asked: 'What do you think?' I knew what the question implied and simply asked in return: 'What do you think, President McKay?' And then in an almost prophetic tone he pronounced: 'This is the place to build the temple.'" The temple plot connected the CCNZ land and another 729-acre plot. In order to make the college and the temple a harmonious whole, Church architect Edward O. Anderson suggested that the same materials be used on the temple as had been used for the college. On February 17, 1955, only a few days after he returned from touring the Pacific, President McKay announced the plan to build the New Zealand Temple. DEDICATION OF TEMPLE AND COLLEGE The temple near Hamilton, New Zealand, was dedicated April 20, 1958. The adjacent Church College of New Zealand was dedicated April 26, 1958. Thousands of saints from throughout the South Pacific assembled for three days of services. For the dedication, President and Sister McKay were accompanied to New Zealand by Elders Delbert L. Stapely and Marion G. Romney of the Council of the Twelve; Gordon B. Hinkley, assistant to the Twelve; their wives; and others. President and Sister Mckay were greeted with the ceremonial challenge by a Maori warrior. Maori, Samoans, and Tongans provided songs, dances, and ceremonies in the natural amphitheatre at the college. At the actual dedication ceremonies, choirs from various island groups and other choirs from New Zealand performed. In his dedicatory prayer, President McKay thanked the Lord for the services rendered by the builders and prayed for his acceptance and protection of the building and its occupants. Part of his prayer reads as follows: "Oh God, the Eternal Father, on this significant and hallowed occasion, we unite our voices in gratitude, praise and honor to Thy Holy Name. We express gratitude that to these fertile Islands Thou didst guide descendents of Father Lehi, and hast enabled them to prosper to develop and to become associated in history with leading and influential nations among mankind. . . . "Preserve these buildings we beseech Thee, from destruction by flood or fire; from the rage of the elements, and shafts of the vivid lightning, the overwhelming blasts of the hurricane, and the upheavals of the earthquake, O Lord protect them. We invoke Thy blessing particularly upon the men and women who have so willingly and generously contributed their means, time and effort to the completion of this imposing and impressive structure. Especially we mention all those who have accepted calls as labor missionaries and literally consecrated their all upon the altar of service. May each contributor be comforted in spirit and prospered manyfold. May they be assured that they have the gratitude of thousands, perhaps millions, on the Other Side for whom the prison doors may now be opened and deliverance proclaimed to those who will accept the truth and be set free. . . . May all who seek this Holy Temple come with clean hands and pure hearts that Thy Holy Spirit may ever be present to comfort, to inspire, and to bless. . . . "Now, dear Lord, Our Eternal Father, through love for Thee and their fellow men, faithful members of Thy Church, and others who believe in Thee, by tithes and other generous contributions, have made possible the erection and completion of this, Thy Holy House, in which will be performed the saving ordinances and ceremonies essential to the happiness, salvation, and exaltation of Thy children living in mortality and in the spirit world. Accept of our offering, hallow it by Thy presence, protect it by Thy power. With this prayer, we dedicate our lives to the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth for the peace of the world and to Thy glory forever." NEXT WEEK: Part 7: 1958-1976: Auckland Stake Created, Mission Divided, Area Conference Held ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CultureGrams, a division of MSTAR.NET, sponsors GEMS Worldwide Saints messages. Material related to this and upcoming Worldwide Saints series can be sent to worldwidesaints@culturegrams.com CultureGrams publishes concise, reliable cultural reports on more than 175 countries. For more information on CultureGrams, visit http://www.culturegrams.com GEMS is grateful to R. Lanier Britsch for his support of this series. Brother Britsch's book "Unto the Islands of the Sea, A History of the Latter-day Saints in the Pacific" (Deseret Book, 1986) is available on "GospeLink 2001." You can buy "GospeLink 2001" online at: http://deseretbook.com/ldsworld.tcl?sku=4028853 ------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2001, Millennial Star Network. Distributed on the Internet via the LDSWorld-Gems mailing list. Messages may be forwarded to individuals if this trailer is included but may *not* be reposted publicly or reprinted in any other form without explicit permission. LDSWorld-Gems Web page: http://www.ldsworld.com/gems/ To subscribe to Gems, send a message to "listserv@lists.ldsworld.com" with "subscribe ldsworld-gems" (without quotes) in the message body; or to leave the list, write "unsubscribe ldsworld-gems"
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