My dear brothers and sisters, aloha! My wife Valerie and I are delighted to be here with you today. Being in the Cannon Activities Center brings back good memories for us. It was on this very floor nearly 30 years ago at a New Year’s Eve dance, that I first met my wife. It didn’t take me long to realize that with the 3 inch heels she was wearing, I was one of only two guys that were taller than her. Fortunately for me, the other guy turned out to be a childhood friend of hers and so he really didn’t count. Needless to say, things turned out well and we have been dancing through life together ever since.
This institution of higher learning called Brigham Young University–Hawaii has been very good for me and has blessed me in so many ways. Like most of you, I was a student here. I even played for the school rugby team. I lived in Hale 4, Hale 6 and TVA after marriage. For work I painted dormitories and harvested prawns and papayas on the school farm. Then I crossed the fence and worked as a dancer, guide, spotlight operator, technician and sales agent at the Polynesian Cultural Center. My first calling in the Church here was Family Home Evening Dad, as a relatively new convert to the Church, this was a pretty big deal for me.
I can still recall quite clearly the Sunday my campus Bishop, Dennis Largey, called me into his office and said, “listen Al, I know you and Valerie are planning to get married soon and I hate to mess with your plans, but as your Bishop it is my duty to call you to serve a full-time mission.” I immediately blurted out an emphatic “NO.” I quickly explained that not only had we set the wedding date, but we had already printed our wedding invites and our families had made plans to attend. He shrugged and remarked once again that he was just doing his job.
I quickly told Val of my conversation with the Bishop and she agreed that I had done the right thing. However, after a very long, sleepless, soul-searching night, I got up early the next morning and went to visit Val. She didn’t look any better than I did. Before I could open my mouth to tell her that I had changed my mind she said, “I think you need to go and serve the Lord.” What a relief! Not only was she on my side but because she said it first, I knew her father wasn’t going to yell at me, hit me, or anything like that.
I must tell you, the decision to serve a full-time mission has made all the difference in my life and by extension, that of my family. I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am for missionary experiences that led me to know that the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and Jesus is the Christ, our Savior and our Redeemer.
Upon returning from my mission, Val and I married and school life resumed. The discipline, work ethic and maturity gained in the mission field, coupled with the unfailing support of my wife, did wonders for my GPA, which prior to my mission could best be described as “average.” In fact, you may recall Nephi’s comment when building a ship to carry his family across the great waters that they “did work timbers of curious workmanship” (1 Nephi 18:1). Judging by some of my scores, I think more than one professor considered my papers to be “of curious workmanship.” Graduation soon followed and a few years thereafter the call to serve as a bishop of a married student ward.
As a student here, I can recall many great professors who taught me great things. If I had to hand out an MVP award for the person who helped me the most as a student it would go to my academic advisor. Not only did she plan my entire class schedule, but she also made sure my workload was spread evenly amongst the semesters. Thanks to her, I knew where I was going and what I needed to do to get there. She had prepared me for what lay ahead. I cannot recall her name, but I do remember she drove a 1984 Chevy Camaro with a red racing stripe down the middle, and that made her very cool.
Now your academic advisor may not drive such a cool car, but then again, thinking about the current academic advisors, she just might, regardless, they can definitely help you understand your academic choices, set goals and create a plan to achieve them. Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of this great nation said, “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time. For that’s the stuff life is made of.”
Given what needs to be accomplished, time is something you really don’t have a lot of here at BYU–Hawaii. So plan carefully and make the most of it.
Now my brothers and sisters, I have shared part of my life’s journey with you so that you might understand, and appreciate that many of the experiences you are having right now are not unfamiliar to me. Although I have great memories of this institution, my time here was certainly not devoid of trials and tribulations. There is no getting away from the fact that attending class, studying for hours on end, taking tests, working, serving in Church callings, participating in extra-curricular activities and engaging in personal relationships, be it dating or marriage, or even raising a family, can be incredibly challenging and overwhelming at times.
Many of us are walking a fine line between making it and not making it. Any emergency or calamity can quickly push us over the edge. I can tell you from personal experience these issues do not go away.
Let me share with you some suggestions in coping with this very important part of your journey home. Please remember this one piece of cold hard reality, if you want to do well here, the carefree days of adolescence are now behind you. As the Apostle Paul eloquently put it,“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (1 Corinthians 13:11).
The scriptures are filled with stories of journeys undertaken at the direction and under the guidance of a loving Heavenly Father. Some are relatively minor, while others are of epic proportions. Each of these journeys was undertaken for a purpose with an end in mind. In some the Lord’s influence was known only to one, such as the Brother of Jared who in Ether 3:6, asked the Lord for assistance in lighting their vessel, “And it came to pass that when the brother of Jared had said these words, behold, the Lord stretched forth his hand and touched the stones one by one with his finger. And the veil was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the Lord…”
In 1 Nephi 16:10, as Lehi and his family journeyed through the wilderness, the Lord’s influence was evident to more than one, “And it came to pass that as my father arose in the morning, and went forth to the tent door, to his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground a round ball of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass. And within the ball were two spindles; and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness.”
And of course in a journey of truly epic proportions, the Lord’s hand in the House of Israel’s escape from Egypt, as noted in Exodus 13:21, was evident to all, “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and by night.”
Now, we may not have a Liahona or a pillar of fire to guide us, but if we live worthy of his companionship, the Holy Ghost will do exactly that, as explained beautifully in this hymn:
Let the holy Spirit guide,
Let him teach us what is true
He will testify of Christ,
Light our minds with heaven’s view.
Let the Holy Spirit guard,
Let his whisper govern choice,
He will lead us safely home
If we listen to his voice.
Let the Spirit heal our hearts
Thru his quiet, gentle pow’r.
May we purify our lives
To receive him hour by hour
(Text: Penelope Moody Allen/Music: Martin Shaw)
It is also evident that those who chose to disobey the Lord’s commandments were delayed in their journey until they repented of their sins. In 1 Nephi 18:9-22, we see this very clearly as Lehi and his family journeyed across the great waters, in the interest of time I will paraphrase somewhat:
“And after we had been driven forth before the wind for the space of many days, behold, my brethren and the sons of Ishmael and also their wives began to make themselves merry, insomuch that they began to dance, and to sing, and to speak with much rudeness, yea, even that they did forget by what power they had been brought thither; yea, they were lifted up unto exceeding rudeness.
And I, Nephi, began to fear exceedingly lest the Lord should be angry with us, and smite us because of our iniquity, that we should be swallowed up in the depths of the sea; wherefore, I, Nephi, began to speak to them with much soberness; but behold they were angry with me…
And it came to pass that Laman and Lemuel did take me and bind me with cords, and they did treat me with much harshness…
And it came to pass that after they had bound me insomuch that I could not move, the compass, which had been prepared of the Lord, did cease to work.
Wherefore, they knew not whither they should steer the ship, insomuch that there arose a great storm, yea, a great and terrible tempest, and we were driven back upon the waters for the space of three days; and they began to be frightened exceedingly lest they should be drowned in the sea; nevertheless they did not loose me.
…And after we had been driven back upon the waters for the space of four days, my brethren began to see that the judgments of God were upon them, and that they must perish save that they should repent of their iniquities; wherefore, they came unto me, and loosed the bands which were upon my wrists…
And there was nothing save it were the power of God, which threatened them with destruction, could soften their hearts; wherefore, when they saw that they were about to be swallowed up in the depths of the sea they repented of the thing which they had done, insomuch that they loosed me.
…And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord; and after I had prayed the winds did cease, and the storm did cease, and there was a great calm.
And it came to pass…that we sailed again towards the promised land.
Let’s briefly recap some of the key points from this passage of scripture:
- First, things were going really well for Lehi’s family until many started to make merry, got out of control and were “lifted up unto exceeding rudeness”
- Second, they had forgotten by what power they had been brought to this point of their journey
- Third, when chastised, they became angry and rebellious
- Fourth, they no longer received direction from the Lord and therefore didn’t know which way to go
- Fifth, even though they could see the peril they were in, they would not change
- Sixth, nothing save the power of God and the threat of utter destruction could soften their hearts, lead them to repent and put them back on the right course to journey’s end
I am convinced these problems existed in Lehi’s family, continue to exist today, and will do so in the future, because we as individuals and families fail to put the time and effort into building a strong spiritual foundation. Simply put, we fail to put God first.
In D&C 88:119, the Lord counseled, “Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;”
Can anyone doubt that such a house will not see us through life’s adversities and challenges? Would we not feel safe and sound in such a place where the temptations of this world are diminished? Yet instead of building such a house, we content ourselves with a mediocre room or apartment that we put no effort into upgrading because we will never own it. We may well tell ourselves, “I am only staying here for a short while, and then I will build my real house that has every needful thing,” but far too often, we procrastinate that day.
I am sure we are all familiar with the Parable of the Ten Virgins who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage; and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.” (Matthew 25:6-12).
President Spencer W. Kimball said, “Attendance at sacrament meetings adds oil to our lamps, drop by drop over the years. Fasting, family prayer, home teaching and visiting teaching, control of bodily appetites, preaching the gospel, studying the scriptures–each act of dedication and obedience is a drop added to our store. Deeds of kindness, payment of offerings and tithes, chaste thoughts and actions, marriage in the covenant for eternity–these, too, contribute…” (Faith Precedes the Miracle, 256).
Obviously all of these things take time to accomplish. They certainly cannot be done overnight, nor can they be obtained through “death bed repentance” as the five foolish virgins hoped to achieve by asking for oil.
On occasion I have heard troubling stories of students participating fully in wholesome activities while here on campus, but on occasion taking a trip to town to indulge themselves in all kinds of worldly pursuits. Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “…such people know they should have their primary residence in Zion, but they still hope to keep a summer cottage in Babylon” (Neal A. Maxwell, A Wonderful Flood of Light, 47).
Elder D. Todd Christofferson recently encouraged us to “once and for all establish our residence in Zion and give up the summer cottage in Babylon” (D. Todd Christofferson, Come to Zion, 2008 October General Conference).
Yet others have the impression that their actions, while not being in full compliance with the commandments, the covenants they have made, or the school code of conduct, are close enough that they shouldn’t have any effect on arriving safely at their desired destination. Not so. A few years ago, President Uchtdorf told a story of a large passenger jet with 257 people on board that left my homeland of New Zealand for a sightseeing flight over the Antarctica. Unknown to the pilots, someone had modified the flight coordinates by a mere two degrees. This error placed the aircraft 28 miles to the east of where the pilots assumed they were.
As they approached Antarctica, the pilots descended to a lower altitude to give the passengers a better look at the landscape. Although both were experienced pilots, neither had made this particular flight before, and they had no way of knowing that the incorrect coordinates had placed them directly in the path of Mount Erebus, an active volcano that rises from the frozen landscape to a height of more than 12,000 feet.
As the pilots flew onward, the white snow and ice covering the volcano blended with the white clouds above, making it appear as though they were flying over flat ground. By the time the instruments sounded the warning that the ground was rising fast toward them, it was too late. The airplane crashed into the side of the volcano, killing everyone on board. It was a terrible tragedy brought on by a minor error-a matter of only a few degrees.
President Uchtdorf went onto explain how he taught this principle to young pilots by posing this question, “if you were to take off from an airport on the equator, intending to circumnavigate the globe, but your course was off by just one degree. By the time you returned to the same longitude, how far off course would you be? A few miles? A hundred miles? The answer is an error of only one degree would put you almost 500 miles off course.
President Uchtdorf concludes this analogy by stating, “Small errors and minor drifts away from the doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ can bring sorrowful consequences into our lives. It is therefore of critical importance that we become self-disciplined enough to make early and decisive corrections to get back on the right track and not wait or hope that errors will somehow correct themselves.”
Now here’s the key point President Uchtdorf makes that I would like you to try and remember, “The longer we delay corrective action, the larger the needed changes become, and the longer it takes to get back on the correct course-even to the point where disaster might be looming,”(Dieter F. Uchtdorf, A Matter Of A Few Degrees, April 2008 General Conference).
Even when we are moving in the right direction and doing the right things, the adversary is very adept at distracting us, especially if we are overly reliant on others for our spiritual strength. As mentioned earlier, the Lord had performed great miracles, signs and wonders in freeing the House of Israel from bondage. He turned Aaron’s rod into a serpent and the river into blood. He sent plagues of frogs, lice, flies and locusts. He even allowed Moses to part the Red Sea and sends manna from heaven to feed the House of Israel. Well you get the point, He did a lot to help the House of Israel and in turn, the House of Israel strived to follow His commandments.
However, when Moses left them and went up into Mount Sinai it was not long thereafter that they sought out Aaron and said: “Up, make us gods, which shall go before us” Aaron took their gold jewelry and from it made a golden calf. “And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32: 1 and 7-8).
Let’s stop for a moment and think about the “golden calves” we might have in our lives. Some may be serious offenses to the Lord and our salvation, quickly rising like an unseen 12,000 foot volcano to destroy us if we do not take immediate corrective action. Others may seem harmless yet nonetheless, they distract us from more worthwhile pursuits. For example, I don’t know how accurate this is, but according to one website, Facebook has over 500 million active users, who spend 700 billion minutes a month on Facebook. Now if my math is correct, that means the average user spends 1400 minutes or 23.3 hours a month on Facebook. This website also indicated 48% of 18-34 year olds check Facebook when they wake up, with 28% of them doing so before even getting out of bed. I have heard it is not unusual for college students to spend 2 hours or more a day on Facebook, twitter, etc. That’s over 60 hours per month, compared to the average 3-credit course, which requires only 36 and 40 hours per month for class time and study. I understand the benefit of keeping in touch, especially when you are so far away from home, but how many assignments might have been turned in on time, or better grades achieved had some of those 60 hours been invested in your school work instead?
I had a fun experience not so long ago with our youngest daughter. We were picking up leaves in our backyard and I noticed she was only using one hand to do so. Needless to say, I was picking up most of the leaves. Upon closer inspection, I could see her phone was clasped tightly in her hand. I suggested the job would go far more quickly if she put away her phone and picked the leaves up with both hands. But even more quickly, she explained that that wasn’t possible because she was in the middle of a text conversation with her friend.
With my patience now a tad thinner, I responded her friend could wait a few minutes and to put the phone away. She refused. Our conversation then went something like this “Phoebe, put the phone away.” “No Dad.” “Phoebe, put the phone away, right now.” “Aww Dad.” “Phoebe, I am going to count to three, if you don’t put the phone away by the time I’m done, you are going to lose it for the next month.” She barely put it away in time.
This experience reminds me of movies when the police officer tells the bad guy to “put the gun down” or “move away from the gun.” Needless to say, with my daughter using both hands and her full attention, the job was soon finished and there was still time to text her friend.
You may recall Elder Dallin H. Oaks sharing a childhood experience to introduce the idea that some choices are good but others are better. Elder Oaks lived on a farm for two years. They rarely went to town. Their Christmas shopping was done in the Sears, Roebuck catalog.
He explained, “I spent hours poring over its pages. For the rural families of that day, catalog pages were like the shopping mall or the internet of our time. Something about displays of merchandise in the catalog fixed itself in my mind. There were three degrees of quality: good, better and best. For example, some men’s shoes were labeled
good ($1.84), some
better ($2.98), and some
best ($3.45).”
Elder Oaks went on to explain, “As we consider various choices we should remember that it is not enough that something is good. Other choices are better, and still others are best. Even though a particular choice is more costly, its far greater value may make it the best choice of all,” (Elder Dallin H. Oaks, “Good, Better, Best”, October 2007 General Conference).
I have a simple example to illustrate this point. It is good to see you on campus and around the community, it is better to see you in Sacrament, Sunday School, Priesthood and Relief Society meetings on Sunday, but it is best to see you in the House of the Lord. For some the cost of living worthy to enter the Temple may seem high, yet the value makes it the best choice of all.
Some of you may be thinking, “Okay, I am doing all of these things you have mentioned. Spiritually I am fine, but temporally, I am just not making it.”
In the “Welfare Principles and Leadership section of Handbook 2: Administering the Church”, which is readily available for your viewing online at lds.org, we are given the following counsel, “Self-reliance is the ability, commitment, and effort to provide the spiritual and temporal necessities of life for self and family. As members become self-reliant, they are also better able to serve and care for others.”
“Church members are responsible for their own spiritual and temporal well-being. Blessed with the gift of agency, they have the privilege and duty to set their own course, solve their own problems, and strive to become self-reliant. Members do this under the inspiration of the Lord and with the labor of their own hands.”
Now I would like you to pay close attention to the following, “When Church members are doing all they can to provide for themselves but cannot meet their basic needs, generally they should first turn to their families for help. When this is not sufficient or feasible, the Church stands ready to help” (Handbook 2: Administering the Church, Welfare Principles and Leadership).
The Lord has extended this invitation to each of us, “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” (Matthew 11:28).
As leaders, administration and faculty of an institution that belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we all have a solemn obligation to help you when your load is too heavy to bear. Do not let pride stand in your way of seeking help. The Lord has told us, “Be not ashamed, neither confounded; but be admonished in all your high-mindedness and pride, for it bringeth a snare upon your souls,” (D&C 90:17).
After you have done all that you can, please, seek out those who can help you.
What an amazing time we live in, yes there will always be temptations, trials and tribulations, but you are a “royal army,” a “chosen generation.” You have been given much, and so much is expected of you. President Gordon B. Hinckley has admonished each of us to “Stand For Something” and the call has been renewed to, “…Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations,” (D&C 115:5).
Be bold my young brothers and sisters, and in those moments of quietness when you feel all alone, perhaps overwhelmed, may you find solace in the whisperings of the Holy Spirit and in the Savior himself who said “…lo, I am with you always, even unto the end…” (Matthew 28:20).
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.