Joseph F. Smith's Miraculous Learning of the Hawaiian Language
Published October 13, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
While serving a mission in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), Joseph F. Smith was promised he would acquire the Hawaiian language by the gift of God. He arrived in Honolulu on September 27, 1854, at not quite 16 years of age, and was assigned to serve on Maui. He lived alone in Kula, immersed in the local culture and tasked with learning the language. After falling severely ill with a fever, he was bedridden for three months on Molokai, where a local woman named Ma Mahuhii cared for him. Smith later recalled that he sought earnestly the gift of tongues to aid his ministry; through spiritual help and diligent study, he mastered Hawaiian within four months. The accounts also report that during his missionary service he experienced the gift of healing and casting out evil spirits through his administration.
In Their Own Words
“I went on a mission when I was a boy of fifteen years. I landed on the islands of the Pacific, and I was assigned to the island of Maui. I was sent to a place called Kula, and there I was left alone. I was a boy, and I did not know the language. I had to learn it. I went to the people, and I lived with them. I ate their food, and I slept on their mats. I sought earnestly the gift of tongues, and by this gift and by study, in a hundred days after landing upon those islands I could talk to the people in their language as I now talk to you in my native tongue. I could preach, I could baptize, I could administer the sacrament, and I could bless the children, and I could talk to the people in their own tongue as naturally as I could speak in English. I do not say this to boast, but I say it to the praise of God, for it was by His gift that I was enabled to do this.”
— Joseph F. Smith, in 'Discourse by President Joseph F. Smith,' Millennial Star, Vol. 68, No. 46 (November 15, 1906), p. 722
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 75, No. 49 (1913). https://archive.org/details/millennialstar7549eng The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 68, No. 46 (1906). https://archive.org/details/millennialstar6846eng Additional sources (periodical research): Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
Related Miracles
Similar miracle types and stories from the 1850s.
Miracle of the Week
One remarkable, documented account in your inbox every Monday, drawn from the full archive.