The following is from pages 380-385 of “The Journey of a People, volume 2: The Era of Reorganization, 1844 to 1946”
The year is 1907. Joseph Smith III is nearly 75 and the Reorganization has been in full swing for over 40 years.
The Honolulu branch is about to dedicate their new church house and invites JSIII. He accepted and traveled to Hawaii with Apostle Francis M. Sheehy
When he got there there were reporters who were curious about the difference a between the LDS and RLDS churches. JSIII was happy to talk to them. One reporter noted that “in some respects he resembles his cousin, Joseph F. Smith the prophet, seer and revelator of the Utah Mormons, but his features are less stern than his cousin’s”. JSIII heard the comparison and told the reporter “and why shouldn’t [I] be less stern? [The Mormon prophet] has six wives to look after and I only have one and I find that looking after one is quite the task.”
The branch president of Honolulu was named Gilbert J. Waller. He arranged for JSIII and Sheehy to stay at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. After about a week Smith felt uncomfortable with how lavish it was and asked to stay somewhere less expensive. He ended up staying at a church member’s house the remainder of the trip.
The dedication ceremony for the church building was on Sunday, October 13th. During this service Waller, the branch president, symbolically presented the keys to the church to Joseph Smith III. In turn, Smith said “I returne this key to you, Elder Waller, to be used for the benefit of the local congregation and I also trust from this pulpit and from out [of] these walls nothing but good shall come – good thoughts and good words – and that there shall be exemplified here what our church stands for, and open Bible and a free pulpit.” He then went on and said that the church should be a source of truth and should follow Christ’s example.
JSIII enjoyed the culture while he was there. He attended luaus, saw tanneries, and being a mid-westerner he found surfing particularly noteworthy. All the while he was careful to respect the indigenous cultural traditions.
When it was time for him to go back home he was weighted down with a traditional farewell of leis of flowers and shells. When he reminisced of the trip he said his favorite part was absolutely being with the people.