“None, M’am. We’re too young. Our church does teach the true form of marriage or ‘eternal marriage’ as we know it which is plural-marriage. Marriage is very sacred and takes place in our temples if we are worthy,” Elder Young said.
Elder Phillip continued with an answer that Alexandra had not even asked because he knew that the polygamy was open to misinterpretation by the gentiles.
“Mrs. Bradshaw, we should clear up something once and for all about our peculiar institution. Gentiles—non-Mormons—charge us with motives of lust when we Mormon missionaries travel abroad or to the eastern United States. Our enemies accuse us of recruiting young women for our Utah harems. That wicked concept is commonplace even in Australia, I’m afraid. Let me assure that such an idea could not be further from truth.”
“Hmmh, interesting,” was all Alexandra said. “Another question comes to mind. Do you both have the same first name?”
“No, ‘elder’ is the priesthood office we hold. Male missionaries all have to be ordained elders to be able to preach the gospel in the name of the church.”
“I’m getting forgetful. What did you say the name of your church is?”
“We’re commonly known as ‘Mormons’ but that is not the real name of our church. It is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are often referred to as the LDS church for short.”
“Well, the whole thing is a mouthful. I’ll stick with ‘LDS’. I told you my name is Alexandra, and I want to know your first names. You do have first names, don’t you, or is everything strange about you and your church?”
“While we’re on our missions for two and a half years, we are known as elders rather than by boy’s names which would detract from our sacred effort.”
“So, it would be a bit too informal for you to call me ‘Alexandra’? What do you think you have to call me…just Mrs. Bradshaw?”
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
STRANGE NEW INTERESTS
“The work of our missionaries is a magnificent expression of the Lord’s redeeming love.”
—Elder (Apostle) D. Todd Christofferson
“More of you young men and women will catch this wave as you strive to be worthy of mission calls. You see this as a wave of truth and righteousness. You see your opportunity to be on the crest of that wave.”
—President Russell M. Nelson, Catch the Wave
Basement Bar of the Duke of Wellington Hotel on the corner of Flinders and Russell Streets, Melbourne, Victoria State, Commonwealth of Australia, March 30, 1912
The Mormon boys would rather have talked about their religion, but it was difficult to curb the flow of the strong minded lady; so, they answered what she asked, “No, M’am. Because we feel a bond with our brothers and sisters all over the world, and we are all children of God, we would like to call you Sister Bradshaw.”
Alexandra thought about it for a moment. It sounded formal, a bit archaic, and quite unusual by Australian standards. The more she thought about it, the more she came to like it; the prefix was rather warm, she thought.
“All right, Sister Bradshaw it is.”
“Would you like to more about our religion…Sister Bradshaw?”
“I would. Tell me honestly how many LDS people are there here?”
“Can’t say for sure. Maybe ten, maybe less. There are more during months when American tourists come to Australia.”
“Then, how many in Australia?”
“Not to be vague intentionally, Sister; but I would say something like five hundred to five-fifty. See, what happens is that many converts to the church leave for our place in America in keeping with the Prophet’s revelation about the migration to Zion.”
“This gets stranger the longer we talk. It’s fascinating, I must say. Now, tell me about this Zion place; and why new converts have to go there; and do they all have to practice polygamy? Oh, and one more question. I remember someone from England once telling me that Mormons have horns. Is that right?”
Both elders broke into uncontrollable laughter.
“Nope. Have a Captain Cook, Sister Bradshaw. Look at our foreheads. That’s a bit of nonsense put out by our enemies,” said Elder Phillip.
She had thought the young man overly stiff, but he did laugh at the preposterous idea that Mormons had horns. The laughter did assuage a minute feeling she had had about the sect.
Alexandra downed the last of her cold Melbourne bitter, and said, “Boys, let’s be serious. I don’t have all day. Why don’t you tell me all about your church?”
Elder Young took the lead at this point.
“We couldn’t tell you all about our church in a month or even two. We have thirty-six introductory lessons about the church, and we would like to teach you at the rate of one-a-week–or maybe even two–if you are really interested. First, let me answer a couple of the questions you posed: Elder Phillip and I were called to the Australasian Mission which covers a pretty huge territory, and we will be hard pressed ever to get to a fraction of it. We’ll do our level best. You had some questions about why we ask members to move to our homeland in the western United States.
The doctrine of the gathering comes from our prophet in order to build up our strength and to develop an educated and strong people. The gathering principle has made the church unique in colonial Australia as the missionaries have been recruiting converts to help build Zion in North America and has led to something of an emigration out of the Australian colonies. Mind that, this has been occurring during a period when the general tide of immigration has been flowing into the country. That is an important reason why the number of Australian convert members is now so extremely small. Britain has seen a lesser effect; so, the membership is growing rapidly there.
“I am the grandson of one of our prophets. Maybe you have heard of him? Brigham Young?”
“I have. He is the one who led you Mormons to the west when they were being murdered by bigots in the east, and he is the famous polygamist, right?”
“Right,” said Elder Phillip. “And I am some sort of great, great, great grandson of Admiral Arthur Phillip. You know your history. He was a Royal Navy officer and became the first Governor of New South Wales. He founded the British penal colony that later became Sydney.”
“How interesting. I never met a descendent of one of the very early pioneers.”
“To continue,” said Elder Young, “Until about the last eight or ten years, the question of whether the gathering weakened the branches of the Australasian or any other mission around the world was not meaningful to the leaders—the Brethren—or the general membership of the church. The Brethren never had any intention of establishing permanent units of the church outside Zion, especially not overseas, before the beginning of this century, except perhaps in Polynesia to serve the Lamanites.”
“Lamanites?” Alexandra interrupted.
“Book of Mormon people,” Elder Phillip answered.
“Book of Mormon people?” Alexandra asked, getting perplexed.
“Does anyone else hear an echo?” Elder Phillip asked.
Everyone laughed.
“So, Rome was not built in a day; and we have thirty-six lessons to share with you. All will become clear,” said the American elder.
“When can we come by and give you the first lesson, Sister Bradshaw?”
“Tomorrow morning. My husband will be gone, and we will have privacy and quiet.”
“Do you think he would like to hear our Gospel message, Sister?”
“I doubt it. He always says he avoids going into a church house for fear of causing lightening strikes.”
“Before we leave, would it be all right for us to have a word of prayer, Sister Bradshaw?” offered Elder Young.
“I suppose so.”
“Who would you like to offer the prayer, Sister?”
“Certainly not me,” said Alexandra who had never given any kind of prayer out loud except in response to the priest’s petition in the litany during her Russian Orthodox Christmas or East
er services. “Why don’t you do it, Elder Phillip?”
“My pleasure.”
Alexandra heard the first prayer in her life that was simple and directed to “Father in Heaven” and without any kind of memorized or scripted prose or poetry or intercessor. It was rather refreshing and heightened her interest. She asked herself honestly, was she interested in the new religion? or was she just attracted to the handsome, clean-cut, well-dressed young preachers?
“Time will tell,” she thought to herself.
The first lesson was about a young American boy—age fourteen—who was being hounded by multiple churches—none of which Alexandra had ever heard of except the Methodists whom she met in China—and decided to pray to God for guidance after reading the Bible. The outcome was like nothing Alexandra had ever heard about except in the miracles of the Bible. The boy had a vision or some sort of incredible experience: he saw and talked to God, the Father, and Jesus Christ, His Son. Alexandra was intrigued but extremely dubious since that went against everything she had ever understood from the scriptures. She was—like all the people around her and from her past—certain that the age of miracles or of God’s appearance to a man was passed. The only one she could recall offhand from her Bible reading was when Moses saw God’s finger.
She asked the elders what heaven was like for the Mormons. That was cause for further consternation.
“In heaven, we will become resurrected in time and live with our Father and Mother in Heaven and with our families from earth. We call it ‘the plan of salvation’. It will be busy and happy.”
There was an unmistakable question mark on Alexandra’s face.
“What concerns you, Sister?” asked Elder Young.
“I have not digested the idea that your boy prophet, Mr. Smith, saw God and Jesus. Now, you tell me something I never heard preached from any pulpit. We have flesh and bone bodies after we are dead? We live with our families like regular people?”
“Simply put, yes,” said Elder Phillip.
“What does your church teach, Sister?”
“All my life I learned that we are spirits or maybe angels; but real bodies? married life? children? real work? Sounds like nothing I ever heard.”
“Sister Yusupov, what do you…you personally believe?”
“I haven’t ever really given it much thought; but now that I do, I can’t imagine heaven without my husband, my parents, my children, my brothers. I think everybody believes that deep down.”
“Would you believe me if I told you that none of the Christian churches teach that, nor do the Jews, or the Muslims, or the Buddhists. Only the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And that is because the Prophet Joseph received a revelation from God about it. It was part of the truth that he brought forth in the 1830s. The church started with only six members in 1830 but has grown to 393,000 by 1910.”
“1830…Such a short time ago and such a lot of growth. I have always been sure that there were no more miracles or visitations. This is discombobulating, boys, really too strange for me to take in all at once.”
“That’s why we have thirty-six lessons. You will have plenty of time to absorb it and to become converted. When you do, you will want to be baptized.”
“I was baptized when I was a baby; so, I won’t be needing that again.”
“We’ll have a lesson that, too. Be patient.”
“We will be by your house on the Sabbath tomorrow at nine in the morning to take you to church with us. Is that okay with you?” asked Elder Young.
“What does ‘okay’ mean? Apparently, it’s good. Is that some kind of strange American word?
“You’re right about the meaning, and we say it all the time. It just covers the idea of all is right or correct and is such a good word that we are beginning to hear it in all our travels. Funny how something catches on. The word became popular in America about 1840, when supporters of the Democratic political party used it as the nickname for their candidate for the presidency who came from an area called Kinderhook in New York. He was “Old Kinderhook”. It got shortened to “OK” which caught on for Martin Van Buren who got reelected and then became a kind of household word for everything or any particular thing that was good or at least, all right.”
“I never heard that before, Elder,” said Elder Phillip. “I never thought of ‘OK’ having an origin; it has just always been there.”
“My pleasure, Companion. That’s why you came on a mission; to learn more about the world from a learned American.”
He said it with a wry smile, and the two young men had a good laugh. Alexandra liked the relaxed and confident manner they demonstrated but was not at all sure about their doctrine—pretty strange stuff, she thought.
Basement Bar of the Duke of Wellington Hotel
The two Mormon elders picked up Alexandra at nine in their borrowed surrey and drove her to the old hotel where their Sunday meeting was to be held. The upper floors were typical Victorian—dark woods, winding stair case, Persian carpets on hardwood floors, stone fireplace mantles, and uniformed hotel personnel. Descending into the basement area was a different story. The lights grew dimmer; the carpets more threadbare; and the smell of old beer, whiskey, cigar smoke, and urine becoming stronger with every step further down. She had to take out her perfumed handkerchief to withstand the stench of the basement barroom itself.
“Sorry, Sister Bradshaw. We’ll have this place in decent shape by ten.”
Four older couples arrived shortly thereafter and pitched in to assist the elders in the clean-up. First, they swept up the debris, and one older lady carried a burlap trash bag up the stairs to get rid of it. Then, they sloshed the floor with foaming Pretty Kitty— “the New Australian Solution of the Domestic Problem—cleans everything but clothes”–soapy water from a wringer bucket and used four large rag mops to scour the ground-in filth. The soap had a pine smell and improved the ambience of the room immensely as soon as the mopping started. They sloshed clear water on the floor four times to clear it of soap scum, wiped down the bar, set the bar chairs into a classroom arrangement, and pronounced the room ready for the Lord to enter.
“Better,” Alexandra commented which brought smiles to the members and the missionaries’ faces.
Elder Phillip conducted the meeting. He started by acknowledging the presence of the new investigator, Alexandra Bradshaw, and then announced several items of what he called “branch” business, including a pot luck supper on Wednesday, and a house repair effort for the following Saturday on the widow Benson’s home. He recited the agenda for the meeting: invocation by Sister Owens, opening hymn—Israel, Israel, God is Calling, then a “sacrament” hymn—“I Stand All Amazed”. Next, performance of the passing of the sacrament [eucharist] by the priesthood members–one elderly man and the two young missionaries–to be followed by a musical number–fiddle solo by one of the older men—an investigator like Alexandra. Next, was another hymn–We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet–and then the bearing of testimonies–a term which Alexandra did not quite understand. None of the hymns were the least familiar to the Alexandra, the investigator; and finally Elder Phillip announced the benediction by Elder Young. Although it was a formal prayer to close the religious meeting, it was given with the same simple friend-to-friend sort of communication except for the use of prayer language with thee, thy, and thine used whenever referring to the deity.
The body of the meeting was unlike anything Alexandra had ever heard of—a sort of ad hoc, from-the-heart, set of mini-sermons or sharing of experiences of the hard things of life experienced by the simple people of the congregation. There was no priest or preacher, just common people. Every person in the very small gathering “bore” his or her testimony. The common threads were that they “knew that the Church was true”; they knew that “Joseph Smith—a man they had never seen—was a prophet just like Peter, James, and John, were prophets”; they knew that a man named “Joseph Fielding Smith, Sr.—a man who was the nephew of the other Joseph Smith,
the founder, lived in Salt Lake City, Utah in America, the current president of the church—was also a prophet of God”; and several recited recent miracles in their lives—including miraculous healings, findings of things lost, promptings that removed them from danger, and insights into what they or their children must decide when they were presented with conundrums.
It was so different that it was bewildering, disturbing, fascinating, and inspiring. She had to look up polygamy in the 1911 Encyclopaedia Brittanica to be sure what the Mormon institution was about. She learned that what everyone—including the Mormons–called polygamy was technically inexact. The encyclopaedia described polygamy as the practice of having more than one spouse. What the Mormons practiced was polygyny—men having more than one wife. Alexandra had never even heard of polyandry—the practice of women having more than one husband. It was only practiced in such strange places as India, Tibet, parts of China, and Africa. She decided that she had to learn more about those Mormons and their “polygyny” before she got any further into the process of possibly joining the church.
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
—Mahatma Gandhi
Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.
—Muhammad Ali
National Archives of Australia, Victorian Archives Centre, 99 Shiel Street, North Melbourne, Victoria State, Australia, November 30, 2015
The senior missionaries hit a dry time in their search for information on their pet project, the life and adventures of Alexandra Abramovna Tarasova-Yusupov Bradshaw in contradistinction to their rapid and efficient gains in converting the hand written mundane life documents of the citizenry of Victoria Colony/State to easily found digitalized information. They often spoke of what life must have been like for their interesting project person, whether she ever learned of their LDS church, what her relationship with her new husband and her children was like, and what the woman thought, dreamed, worried, or hoped about.
The Mysterious Alexandra Tarasova-Yusupov Page 42