Alma O. Taylor's spiritual impressions and dreams in Japan
Published October 17, 2026 at 4:07 AM
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Young Woman's Journal Research
Missionary Alma O. Taylor reported feeling blessed by the Spirit while teaching Japanese soldiers and described a night spent in a Japanese home filled with gratitude and vivid dreams of his future missionary life.
In his journal, Taylor records that on the night of January 2, 1902, while visiting the home of an acquaintance in the farming village of Kameari, he was touched by a Japanese host's display of hospitality. The host sat up all night to keep the 'hibachi' (small stoves) fueled to ensure the comfort of his missionary guests, a gesture that Taylor noted found a 'soft place' in his heart and taught him a valuable lesson about the nature of friendship and consideration.
In Their Own Words
“At midnight or soon thereafter I woke up and saw our friend sitting by one of the ‘hibachi,’ but did not realize why he was doing so. It leaked out in the morning, however, that he feared we would be cold in the night and he has sat up all the time to keep the fires going for the comfort of [us], his guests. Such a display of kindness and consideration found a soft place in my heart for him. — Alma O. Taylor, Journal, January 3, 1902, in Reid L. Neilson, 'A Priceless Pearl: Alma O. Taylor’s Mission to Japan,' Ensign, June 2002”
Sources & References
The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 13 no. 2 (February 1902). L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University digital collections. https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/YWJ/id/13283 (account extracted verbatim from the collection's page-level OCR; research confidence: high) Full first-person account: The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 13 no. 2 (February 1902), p. 89 https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/YWJ/id/13283 Additional sources (periodical research): Reid L. Neilson, 'A Priceless Pearl: Alma O. Taylor’s Mission to Japan,' Ensign, June 2002. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2002/06/a-priceless-pearl-alma-o-taylors-mission-to-japan?lang=eng
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