Missionary
In 1914, Cowley was called to serve as a missionary in New Zealand. There he developed an unusual talent with the Māori language and people. He was called upon to revise the translation of the Book of Mormon in that language; this revised edition appeared in 1917. He was also called to translate the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price into Māori, with the assistance of Wiremu Duncan and Stuart Meha. The translated version of these sacred texts appeared in 1919. His mission was extended two years beyond the typical three to complete these tasks.
After returning from his mission, Cowley attended the University of Utah. After graduating he went to George Washington University Law School in Washington D.C.. While there he worked for as an assistant to Senator Reed Smoot. Afterwards, Cowley started his own law practice in Salt Lake City. He married Elva Eleanor Taylor in the Salt Lake Temple on July 13, 1922. They had one daughter.
In 1938, he was called to serve as the president over the LDS Church's New Zealand Mission. As World War II began, the church called the missionaries serving overseas back home to the United States. Cowley remained in New Zealand throughout the war. During his service, he adopted a Māori boy. He called the boy Duncan Nopera Meha Cowley (Duncan currently resides in Narrogin, Western Australia). Matthew Cowley was known by both members and non-members alike for his dedication to the Māori people.
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Famous quotes containing the word missionary:
“Why have such scores of lovely, gifted girls
Married impossible men?
Simple self-sacrifice may be ruled out,
And missionary endeavour, nine times out of ten.”
—Robert Graves (1895–1985)
“The missionary is no longer a man, a conscience. He is a corpse, in the hands of a confraternity, without family, without love, without any of the sentiments that are dear to us.... Emasculated, in a sense, by his vow of chastity, he offers us the distressing spectacle of a man deformed and impotent or engaged in a stupid and useless struggle with the sacred needs of the flesh, a struggle which, seven times out of ten, leads him to sodomy, the gallows, or prison.”
—Paul Gauguin (1848–1903)
“Are there no Moravians in the Moon, that not a missionary has yet visited this poor pagan planet of ours, to civilize civilization and christianize Christendom?”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)