メリディアン
日本語
帰還宣教師から
From Returned Missionaries
Alma O. Taylor's Journal Excerpts-Intro
With this issue we introduce Alma O. Taylor's Missionary Journal. We will not post all of them, perhaps only 50 pages or so. They are available for reading at the BYU library website at the following address for the first journal.
http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/MMD&CISOPTR=73380&REC=9
Professor Reid L. Neilson has published a book containing much of the information in the journals. These are still available for purchase at BYU Bookstore.
The Japanese Missionary Journals
of Elder Alma O. Taylor, 1901–10
Reid L. Neilson
Alma O. Taylor was called to the Japan Mission at age eighteen, and his
parents would have been shocked had they known his mission would last
nearly nine years. Alma, the eighteen-year-old lad, would return a
twenty-seven-year-old man, having served one of the longest continuous
missions in Church history.
For eight and a half years (August 1901–January 1910), Alma worked with intense fervor, keeping a detailed journal of his experiences and impressions. Alma's journal recaptures early Mormonism in Japan through the eyes of a young missionary. The body of this book is devoted to making his writings available for the first time to all those interested in the foundational events of the Church in Japan.
Alma's many accomplishments included learning both the spoken and written Japanese word; assisting in the translation of missionary tracts, Church hymns, and the Book of Mormon; serving as president of the Japan Mission from his early to late twenties; opening new proselyting areas throughout Japan; and finding, teaching, converting, and strengthening many of the early Japanese Saints.
Shortly before Alma left his mission, he recorded his feelings about his final year in Japan: "During the year I have had many experiences some the most pleasant in life and some the most bitter that humans are called upon to experience. . . . Great is the debt of gratitude I owe to the Lord for His many blessings."
One page date February 15, 1908 in Tokyo
This is a picture of the first journal from which we will take excerpts.