Brothers and sisters, family, friends, students, and faculty, Aloha!
I am humbled and honored to be here today. I remember sitting in this Center not too long ago, being inspired and edified as a student of BYU–Hawaii at Devotionals such as these. I never dreamed that one day I would speak at such a Devotional. I am grateful to my eternal companion, Sister Erbe, for being brave and participating with me here today and for her fabulous introduction.
On January 5, 2012, in the middle of a birthday party for my daughter, I was called to serve as the Stake President of the Hilo Hawaii Stake. Hilo is about as close in environment to our native Kaneohe as we could find in the islands. We moved there by inspiration a little over five years ago. Hilo Stake consists of eight wards and two branches, including a young single adult branch. Our stake stretches from Oceanview, at the southernmost tip of the United States, to Honomu on the north coast of the Big Island.
This morning, I would like to share several important lessons I learned from many experiences while working on a fishing boat here in the Hawaiian Islands to earn money to go on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was about the age of eleven when I realized that I had a firm testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and I knew that everything I had been taught as a child was true. I knew from very young that I was going to be a missionary someday, and every experience in my life thereafter, in one way or another, prepared me for my mission. It wasn’t until after I graduated from high school and took a year of college here at BYU–Hawaii that I was able to seriously save money for my mission.
In April of 2000, I was hired to work on a fishing boat called the Libra at the Honolulu Harbor. I was part of a five-man crew, and we traveled throughout the Hawaiian Islands catching schools of akule fishes. Having lived at the feet of the Koolau Mountains in Kaneohe on a banana farm all my life, this farmer boy had no idea what I was getting into, except for the promise that the pay was excellent! Little did I know that the next several months would teach me lessons that I would value for the rest of my life.
The life of a fisherman is not an easy one. We worked long hours from early in the morning to late at night. There is a lot of preparation involved in having a successful fishing trip. We normally traveled all night to get to our fishing spot on another island in order to arrive there first thing in the morning. One of the rules of the boat when crossing the channel from one island to another at night is that you have to tie yourself down when leaving the cabin and going outside. This was a nonnegotiable rule. There are no lights in the middle of the ocean channel between islands, and if a crew member were to fall off the boat, the cold reality is that we probably wouldn't find him alive again. The wind howls in the channel, and the waves can often reach up to 20 feet high. The scriptures also teach us that we are to tie ourselves down to the firm foundations of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Lehi's vision, we learn about a terrible darkness that hid the path ahead. There was an iron rod that you could hold onto that would lead you to eternal life. Those that held on found their way. Those that let go were lost in the darkness. The iron rod is the word of God and will safely guide us through. In Helaman 5:121, Nephi and Lehi recalled the counsel of their father Helaman and devoted themselves to preaching to the wicked Nephites. “And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.” This scripture teaches us that only by basing our lives on Jesus Christ can we withstand Satan’s temptations. We are to build our foundations upon this rock. The promise is that if we do so, men cannot fall. This promise has impacted every decision in my life.
Another lesson learned is that after every fishing trip, whether big or small, whether we caught a lot of fish or a little bit, we always cleaned and mended our nets. This was an arduous process. Nets are very heavy, especially when they are wet. Nets are also very smelly after a successful fishing trip. It is a stinky and messy job. We would go over every inch of our nets to ensure that there were no holes. It took practice to mend the nets. Many times, fish will entwine and tangle themselves in the net. Overnight, sharks will come and bite the fish that are stuck. Often times, we'd come across holes that were big enough for me to easily swim through. I could only imagine the size of the shark that made that hole. I was glad that I didn't run into that one in the water. Life is similar to our fishing nets. From this experience, I learned that I need to mend the nets of my life all the time. There are daily mending routines and weekly mending routines. Prophets and apostles have taught us to have daily personal and family scripture study as well as daily personal and family prayers. Family Home Evening is a spiritual protection that we do every week. Each week, we have the opportunity to mend our personal nets by renewing our covenants by partaking of the sacrament. The acts of daily and weekly mending of our spiritual nets builds spiritual power in our lives and leads to true conversion. Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has linked this to true conversion to when “you make the gospel of Jesus Christ not just an influence in your life but the controlling influence and, indeed, the very core of what you are.”2 Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has taught, “Your happiness now and forever is conditioned on your degree of conversion and the transformation that it brings to your life.”3 As I ponder and consider my discipleship and true conversion, I try to focus on the following questions:
1. Where am I today?
2. Where do I want to be tomorrow?
3. Are my actions today consistently helping me to reach my spiritual goals?
Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has explained, “Our spiritual journey is the process of a lifetime. We do not know everything in the beginning or even along the way. Our conversion comes step-by-step, line upon line. … But we are not alone.”4 This statement reminds me of a seemingly small experience on the boat that has impacted my life. One day, our engine broke down, and we were left unable to steer as we left the island of Oahu and made our way towards the island of Kauai. We were about an hour into the ocean channel between the two islands, and the waves were rough. Let me tell you something about traveling through the island channels. It is very scary when the weather is bad. The majority of my experiences traveling through the channels were relatively okay. I learned that you can travel through the rough waters of the channel without really getting shaken up as long the boat is moving forward. However, when our engines failed, we were temporarily unable to move forward. We were at the mercy of the waves. One moment, I was lying on my bunk. The next moment, I found myself lying on the floor. It was as James states in chapter 1:6, "For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” In my life and throughout the Hilo Hawaii Stake, I see that same lesson being taught in many different ways. In 2 Nephi 26:8, Nephi explains, “But behold, the righteous that hearken unto the words of the prophets, and destroy them not, but look forward unto Christ with steadfastness for the signs which are given, notwithstanding all persecution—behold, they are they which shall not perish.” No matter what hardship comes our way, we should courageously move forward.
On August 7, 2014, Hurricane Iselle approached and directly hit the Big Island. The Waikahe and Pahoa Wards of our Hilo Hawaii Stake were particularly hard hit. Miraculously, there were no reports of deaths or damages to homes. All missionaries were safe and accounted for. Church buildings in Hilo and Pahoa were used as shelters. Many homes and communities were cut off from access to power and communications due fallen trees blocking the roads. On Friday evening at 9:30 PM, we established communications and made a plan to serve. At 12:30 PM on Saturday, August 9, 2014, Member and non-member volunteers from around the island, including members from the Kona stake, separated into groups of eight to ten people at the Orchidland Chapel. There were two chainsaws per group. Volunteers then went throughout the streets in the community where trees had not yet been cleared and moved debris. At 4 PM, the service project came to an end. I witnessed firsthand what Relief Society General President Linda K. Burton phrased, “First observe, then serve.”5
I experienced two tender moments while serving the Puna Community and Saints that I would like to share. The first house we helped looked like a war zone. You could not see the front entrance into the house. It took us a couple of hours to remove debris and repair the walkway to the house of this widow. I was hot and sweaty and probably didn’t look like the stake president. At the conclusion of our service and as we said our good byes, this poor sister finally recognized that the stake president was there, all hot and sweaty from working in her yard. She was so touched and moved that her stake president would come to her house to help her. The depth of her emotion touched me deeply. The last house we visited was to an active sister and less-active brother, both in their later years. Their backyard was a tangle of broken albezia branches. The tree branches that fell had crushed their chain link fence as if it had been warm butter. With much effort, we cleaned every branch that had fallen into their yard. Upon our saying good bye, this less-active brother gave me the warmest hug. In his hug, I felt the sweet love of our Savior. It was a purifying experience that changed me for the better. I know that we have a loving Father in Heaven who wants us to move forward in our lives despite temporary and long-term hardship.
Now, whether I saw them or not, there were always sharks in the water. The first time that I realized that a shark was in the water with me was in Hanalei Bay on the island of Kauai. We had been working for two days, and on the third day, I saw it swimming nearby. It was only three to four feet long, but for a first timer seeing a shark, it could have been fourteen feet long. I immediately swam to the captain. I didn't even realize that I had instinctively climbed into the boat. The captain nearly exploded seeing me there. He yelled so loud for me to jump back in the water that I wasn't sure what was scarier, the shark or the captain. The next day was Sunday, and our captain kept the Sabbath day holy. I stayed in my cabin and had my personal sacrament service. I was the main speaker, and there was even a special soloist. The rest of the crew, who were not members of the Church, swam out to Hanalei town for the day. I had considered all day after seeing the shark about giving up this whole capital adventure. Was earning money for my mission worth the risk? I decided to talk to the captain. As I sat with the captain, ready to tell him that I was going to swim to the airport, I confided in him that I was terrified of sharks, and then I felt inspired to ask him to give me a priesthood blessing. In the blessing, he told me that I had a mission to perform and that I would need all my limbs to perform my mission. He then promised me that not a hair of my head would be damaged from working on the boat and that I would serve with all my fingers and toes intact. During the ensuing months, there wasn't a time when there wasn't a shark in the water with me. I had some pretty close calls. By close, I mean that while I was working, a shark swam just inches away from my nose. I am happy to report that I stand before you today with all my fingers and toes. I pray that you and I will always courageously rely on priesthood power.
Another time when my guardian angels were frantically working hard to keep me safe from harm was on a trip to Maui. I would like to share with you this experience in the hopes that it will hopefully save someone from future pain and sorrow. The moral of the lesson is to stay away from dangerous things, even if you feel the danger is unwarranted. On this particular trip, we had completely surrounded a nice school of akule fish with our nets. Unbeknownst to us, we had surrounded the wrong school of fish, and we had to retract our nets as quickly as possible. In haste, we quickly pulled our nets back into the boat, and in doing so, a small shark about two feet long was pulled up with the net right into the waiting arms of myself and another curious coworker of mine. Thinking it was dead, we grabbed it by the tail and pulled the limp form out of the water to inspect it. The skin was scratchy and gray. The underside was white. It had yellow eyes. It was one of the most curious things I had ever seen. I really wanted to see the teeth up close. However, the captain saw us goofing around and sent a barking command to throw it back in the water just as I went to open its mouth with my bare hands. When the captain speaks, you quickly obey. My friend did a double swing and threw that shark about 30 feet into the water away from us. As we stood there watching it sink into the ocean, our “dead” shark amazingly wiggled for a second and swam away! I always think about what might have happened that day if I had stuck my fingers into its mouth. The moral of the lesson is to stay away from dangerous things, even if you feel the danger is unwarranted. In a 1976 address, President Boyd K. Packer talked about spiritual crocodiles6 that can kill or mutilate souls and destroy peace of mind. Beware of dangerous things even if they may not appear dangerous. You will be warned by the Holy Ghost beforehand. Said President Packer, "If you will listen to the counsel of your parents and your teachers and your leaders when you are young, you can learn how to follow the best guide of all—the whisperings of the Holy Spirit. That is individual revelation. There is a process through which we can be alerted to spiritual dangers. Just as surely as that guide warned me, you can receive signals alerting you to the spiritual crocodiles that lurk ahead."
Brothers and sisters, one of the things I learned from being in the ocean is that there are sharks all around us even when we may not know it or see them. On one fishing trip in particularly murky water, I could feel the sharks swimming around me, but I couldn't see them. It wasn't until the end of the day when we were scooping fish into the boat that we came across the sharks. We pulled out one shark, and then two more, and then two more. I couldn't believe my eyes! Likewise, in our lives there are sharks everywhere. Spiritual sharks that would kill or mutilate our souls. We should never knowingly play with sharks. We must recognize spiritual sharks in our lives for what they are and get out of the water as fast as possible. Stay away from pornography and its companion, masturbation. Never be alone with a member of the opposite sex; in fact, never be alone, period. Stay far away from dangerous substances that would enslave you. Fortunately, the Atonement of the Great Redeemer, who is Christ, can heal those that have been already been bitten or maimed. I testify of the power of the Atonement. I know that His power can heal anything that which is broken. I know that He loves us and wants us to be happy. I pray that we will make "Jesus Christ not just an influence in your life but the controlling influence and, indeed, the very core of who we are.”
The most important lesson that I learned while working as a fisherman is to always listen to the captain. There is an old saying: “When the captain says to jump, you ask how high.” As a member of our crew, when the captain said jump, you didn't even ask why. The meaning of this phrase is that the captain knows that it's going to be hard and that we'll be in dangerous situations and that his crew must follow every order or instruction to perfection. We had to trust that the captain had a plan and knew exactly what needed to be done. Our safety and our very lives were in his hands. The captain normally sits on the boat and has a vantage point out of the water where he can see things we cannot. When he gives a command and we obey, the job goes smoother and at the end of the day, we are one step to closer to being done with our fishing trip. We were one step closer to getting back home. Likewise, we each have a captain in our lives who has a plan for us. He knows and loves us perfectly and has a plan for our happiness. He is the great and almighty king of heaven and earth. He knows the beginning from the end and our eternal welfare is His work and His glory. "Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth.”7 When we follow His plan, we find ourselves in a safe harbor. We can be assured that we are safe and that at the end of the day, we are one step closer to Him and our eternal home.
In conclusion, I learned the following lessons that still apply in my life today. They are
1. Tie yourself down and hold firmly to the Iron Rod
2. Mend your nets constantly
3. Always keep moving forward
4. Rely courageously on priesthood power
5. Don't play with dangerous things
6. Trust the captain and follow His plan
I know that God lives and that He loves us. I know we are His children. That makes each of us special to Him. I know that He wants us to be happy in our lives. I know that He has a plan. When we follow that plan, we will prosper. I know that the darkness of this world is very real. I know that each of us can grasp the Iron Rod. May we have the courage and determination to never let go. I know that continuing your education is an honorable endeavor. Don't give up.
Indelibly burned into my mind is the hallway of the McKay Building leading from the Library to the Cafeteria. Sometimes, I still walk its hallway in my dreams at night and wake up thinking I am late for a test. It was in this hallway that I felt the confirming answer of the Lord that my choice to attend BYU–Hawaii was sanctioned by Him. I had a testimony that I was doing what the Lord wanted me to do by attending school to further my education. I realized that I wasn't just attending school for me. I was really on the Lord's errand. I testify that when you are on the Lord's errand, you are entitled to the Lord's blessings. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
1. Helaman 5:12.
2. “When Thou Art Converted,” General Conference, April 2004.
3. “Full Conversion Brings Happiness,” General Conference, April 2002.
4. “You Know Enough,” General Conference, October 2008.
5. “First Observe, Then Serve,” General Conference, October 2012.
6. “Spiritual Crocodiles,” General Conference, April 1976.
7. Mosiah 4:9.