President and Sister Tanner, Administration, Faculty, Staff, and Students of Brigham Young University-Hawaii; Aloha! It is great to be back in Hawaii. Last August we moved to California after, for myself with my younger mission, spending nearly forty years living in the Pacific Islands. We have lived as a family in Fiji, Kiribati, Guam, here on Oahu, in Hilo on the Big Island, and for a few months in New Zealand. As a younger missionary, I also lived in the Cook Islands. We lived on Oahu for four years and in Hilo for twenty-five years excluding three years as the Fiji Suva Mission President and our nearly two year couple mission to Turkey.
We miss Hawaii and the wonderful people here. We are so blessed to have family here with our daughter Laura, our son-in-law Liam, and four fantastic grandchildren. Families are so important! It reminds me of the story of little Nathan who was an only child who wanted desperately to have a brother to play with. So in his prayers he always asked for a little brother. After many months with nothing happening, Nathan finally gave up. Soon after that, his mother became pregnant, and eventually went to the hospital where she had twin boys. “My heavens!” Nathan exclaimed when he heard the news. “It’s a good thing I stopped praying when I did.”
A father was trying to read the newspaper. His young son wanted to play with his father. To keep the boy busy, Dad pulled a full-page map of the world out of the current events section of the newspaper, cut it up into fairly small jigsaw pieces, scattered them on the floor, and said to his little son, “See if you can put these back together as a map of the world. Just follow the colors and shapes.” The father had barely begun to read his newspaper when he felt his son tugging at his sleeve. In about three minutes this young boy had reassembled the map correctly. How did you do that? asked his father. I got a clue, his little son said. On the other side of the page was a big picture of a family. All I had to do was to put the family together and the world fell into place.”
It is true that the traditional family today has come under attack from many sides. We need to continue to stand steadfast in support of the family as the Lord has ordained. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we find great counsel regarding the family: In Ephesians 5:25, we read “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” In Ephesians 6:1 we read, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Verse 2:“Honor thy father and mother . . . “Verse 4: “. . . fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
In the Family: A Proclamation To The World, we read in the 6th paragraph, “Husbands and wives have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. Children are an heritage of the Lord (Psalm 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live.”
In Paragraph 7 we read, “Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Shortly after moving to California, I was invited by dear friends, Inoke and Ateca Suguturaga, to be part of the circle for the naming and blessing of their new grandson born to their son Sivo and his wife Luana. We were honored to be so invited and traveled to the Patterson Ward for the sacred event this past September. After Church, we were invited to Sivo and Luana’s home for the haircutting ceremony of another grandson. After the ceremony, we partook along with the others invited to a fantastic Fijian feast. So many fond memories flooded our minds and our hearts.
Around thirty-five years ago while serving as a branch president in Fiji. I often went home teaching with my favorite companion, Sister Bauer, in searching out particularly the less active members of the branch--male and female. We came across Inoke and Ateca’s home in our looking for the home of Inoke’s less-active cousin. Inoke was not home at the time so we visited with Ateca. A very strong impression came to me to ask Ateca to receive the missionaries and to be taught the gospel. At first, I put the impression aside with the reasoning that we had just met this young lady, Ateca. However, the impression came back even stronger and I could literally feel my heart beat within my chest. I invited Ateca to receive the missionaries and she accepted the invitation. Both Ateca and Inoke were taught by the missionaries. The rest is, as they say, history. Three generations of the family are now in the gospel. The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ can indeed bring great happiness and success.
Elder Quentin L. Cook, an Apostle of the Lord, related about a longitudinal study conducted over approximately seventy years with the goal to find out as much as possible about success and happiness. He related this in his talk entitled, “The Rewards of Righteousness” delivered at the BYU Women’s Conference on May 2nd, 2014 and included in the July 2015 Ensign. Here are some results of the study:
-College entrance scores and grade averages did not predict either success or happiness in later life.
-Childhood family happiness had a high correlation with happy, successful adults.
-In particular, the mothers of these children verbally expressed love and affection and did not use severe discipline.
-Both parents were demonstratively affectionate with each other and available and accessible to their children, with whom they had warm and emotionally expressive relationships.
-The parents created a stable family environment and were believed to have respected the autonomy of their children.
A concluding book on the study published in 2012 reported: “. . . A warm childhood correlates with achievement more than intelligence, social class, or athleticism.”
My doctoral dissertation of over twenty years ago is entitled “Factors Affecting the Academic Success of Pacific Island International Students.” Brigham Young University Hawaii Pacific Island International students were my focus group. There were a number of factors that I looked at including English language proficiency, socioeconomic status, college credits completed, area of origin, gender, marital status, and type of secondary education (American, British, or French). The study concluded that none of these factors were significant in determining the academic success of the Pacific Island International students.
The three significant factors were autonomy, self-confidence, and attitude combined with effort. It seems to me these three significant factors are very much instilled in a happy home with a happy childhood when gospel principles are taught and practiced.
From August 2012 to July 2014, Sister Bauer and I had the blessing of serving a mission in Turkey. We came to love the wonderful people of Turkey. Turkey is 99.8% Muslim but the Istanbul Turkey Branch President, Murat Cakir, has stated that 75-80% of the Muslims in Turkey are in name only-or we might say “Jack Muslims.”
Wherever we have served on the Mainland U.S., in the Pacific Islands, or in Turkey-the children are for the most part the same and are for the most part happy, fun-loving, and appreciative of their loving parents and their brothers and sisters. I would venture to say this is true for all children in all the nations of the world. Alma 26:37 states, “. . . we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth . . . “ It is indeed very sad when much too often children are taught to hate and have prejudice against other religions and cultures.
I remember an old song that used to go:
“Jesus loves the little children; all the children of the world; red and yellow, black and white; makes no difference in his sight; Jesus loves the little children of the world.”
I have always been fascinated at Disneyland with the exhibition, “It’s A Small World”, with all the little child mannequins dressed in their cultural attire. Over this past Thanksgiving, we had the opportunity to visit Disneyland and I particularly wanted to go see this exhibit in preparation for this address. We were again impressed with the theme that it is indeed a small world after all as represented by the children of the world.
During the last year of our couple mission in Turkey, we lived in a traditional Turkish neighborhood and it was wonderful. We lived on the fifth and top floor of an apartment building with no elevator. Ladies in the neighborhood would lower their baskets by rope when a produce cart would pass by putting their money for the purchase in the bucket and the produce vendor after taking the money would then put the produce in the bucket for the lady to haul up to her apartment. Children played soccer in the narrow streets of our traditional Turkish neighborhood and sheep were herded at times through the narrow streets. For the most part, the Turkish people were very honest, friendly, and helpful.
İstanbul, the largest city in Turkey is a big city. Formally it has 13.9 million-but at any one time there are 20 million including Syrian and other refugees, migrant workers (many from the Philippines and Africa), and tourists mainly from Europe and Asia.
As an example of how honesty is a guiding principle in Turkish society, the İstanbul Branch President’s son’s friend accidentally left his backpack with his computer in it on a subway seat and the next morning, he was able to go back and find it untouched where he had left it. Often the buses are very crowded so the people get on the back of the bus and pass their travel card or money up to the bus driver through all the people to the front and the card or change is then passed back. When someone falls walking on the streets, many gather around to give a helping hand with bottled water, assisting them in getting up, and making sure they are okay.
We had many Muslim friends in Turkey-most of whom did not speak English. One was the brother of the real estate agent who helped us find apartments for a set of our Elders and Couples. Zekeriya, the brother of our real estate agent, ran a small, humble hardware store. We would have long conversations with him about Gospel values. We would speak in our broken Turkish and he would help us with our language. One day he asked my wife to sing to him-she got me to join her. We sang to him, “I Am a Child of God” in English. He liked the tune, although he did not understand the words; however, we could see he was touched by the Spirit of this beloved song. The next time we visited him we took the Turkish lyrics. After reading over the lyrics, he looked up and with a smile on his face said, “Problem!” The word “problem,” by the way, is the same in Turkish and English.
In Islam, they believe we are not children of God because to them God, Allah, is an ethereal being-in other words, an essence. Of course, we know that God is our loving Heavenly Father and we are His literal Spirit children. With that said, many Muslims are very Christ-like in their actions. One other note: Muslims accept Jesus Christ as a prophet but not as the Son of God for the reason as stated they do not believe God has a physical body. They do, believe, however, that there will be a Second Coming of Jesus Christ. They truly have elements of the truth.
The Church in Turkey is blessing many of God’s children there. We were officially recognized as an Association on 19 October 2011, not really that long ago. We were not recognized as a Church, however, as they only recognize churches established before Turkey became a Republic in 1923. Before that Turkey was part of the Ottoman Empire. Churches recognized besides Muslim are Jewish, Roman Catholic, and Greek Orthodox.
With our recognition as an Association in October 2011, we were then able to bring in four young Elders in February 2012. However, due to visa challenges these four young Elders had to leave in July 2012. From the early 1990s, we have had humanitarian couples in Turkey but not proselyting missionaries. We arrived in August 2012 and the next four Elders came in October 2012. We now have sixteen young Elders in Turkey. I was assigned during our mission as a counselor in the Bulgaria Sofia Mission Presidency (Turkey was then part of the Bulgaria Sofia Mission) with responsibility for Turkey. I was assigned by the Area Presidency as the Association President. We traveled around Turkey to train in the four branches of the Church in Turkey under the direction of the Bulgaria Sofia Mission President-Michael Wilstead. Besides the İstanbul Branch there are four other branches including the Ankara Branch, the Izmir Branch, the Gaziantep Branch, and the Adana Branch. The Adana Branch is on the Incırlık Air Force Base and is a military branch. It is located near the Syrian border.
Now Istanbul, Turkey is the headquarters for the Central Eurasian Mission as of last July. The Central Eurasian Mission consists of besides Turkey; Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The Central Eurasian Mission President is James Toronto, himself being a scholar of Islam.
The young Elders meet people on the public transportation systems-the subways, the trains, the ferries, the buses, and in parks. The Elders do not go out in public with their name tags nor do they track or street contact. They are, however, constantly teaching investigators who learn about the Church through the internet or talking with the Elders on the public transportation systems.
Let me tell you about three Turkish converts:
The first one is Murat Çakır who is serving currently as the İstanbul Branch President. Murat grew up as a Muslim but his parents were not active in the Mulsim religion. He started going to the mosque as a young man but knew something was missing. One day, he prayed to God that if He would help him find that which was missing, he would dedicate his life to Him. Murat’s grandmother was a very devout Muslim. She would often say, “God always protects and blesses those who have faith in Him.”
At age sixteen, in Istanbul, Murat started studying international relations. Murat received a scholarship to study in Norway. In Norway at the age of seventeen, Murat had the opportunity to learn about Christianity.
One evening when Murat was in his room in the dorms at the university, he had a strong impression to get out of his room. As he did, he saw two men in suits and overcoats passing his door. He felt a strong prompting to talk with them. These two men dressed in suits and overcoats were missionaries from the Church. Murat took the missionary lessons. As Murat prayed, he knew that their message was true. He felt a special peace in receiving the lessons and in going to Church. Murat was converted at the age of twenty. He enjoyed sharing the Gospel with others. He was called to be a stake missionary.
Murat decided to become a full-time missionary but realized this would mean leaving Norway resulting in his losing his deferment status to study in Norway again. When Murat joined the Church, there was only one Turkish member residing in Turkey. Going on a mission also meant that Murat would most likely be obligated by the Turkish Government to serve in the military for eighteen months which could easily result in his fighting terrorists in the mountain regions of Turkey.
In 1989, Murat left his education and sold everything he had to serve a mission. He was called to serve in Arizona. Murat’s parents were totally against him going on a mission. However, he knew that this is what the Lord wanted him to do. At the age of twenty-two, Murat began his mission. He devoted himself completely in the service of the Lord for the next two years. Being close to the Spirit, Murat had a dream on his mission that his grandmother would pass on in a week. This was followed by another dream two weeks later that she had died. This was confirmed in a letter Murat received from his mother shortly thereafter.
During Murat’s mission, his passport was about to expire and his embassy refused to renew it as he was not a worker or student. Murat’s mission president had him apply to BYU-Provo whereupon Murat received a four-year scholarship. Murat was able to finish his two-year mission plus one month.
At BYU, Murat was able to help out with the translation of the Book of Mormon into Turkish which took six years. During this time of translation, many miracles occurred in the translation process. In 2001, the Book of Mormon was published in Turkish.
At BYU, Murat met his to-be eternal companion, Susan. They now have five children and all are dual-citizens. After attending graduate school and taking a job in the Middle East for a time, the family moved to Turkey in August of 2008 from Provo without any job prospects. Upon their second day in Turkey, Susan was offered a position at a private Turkish school with full scholarships for their five children. Murat started working for the Translation Department of the Church. He is currently working on translating the Doctrine and Covenants into Turkish. Murat has served as the Istanbul Branch President for over the past six years.
The second convert I’d like to mention - Adem Kocaman. Adem saw the tag on a wheelchair that read “LDS Charities.” He researched out LDS and contacted the then Humanitarian Missionary Couple, was taught and baptized. Adem is a young single adult working on his doctorate in Human Genetics. He serves as the First Counselor in the İstanbul Branch Presidency. He travels every other week to İstanbul to attend Church all the way from Samsun on the Black Sea where he attends university, a ten hour bus ride each way.
The third convert, Mine Aşkan, is the İstanbul Branch Relief Society President. She was converted in the country of Malta along with her husband and three sons. Her husband served as a branch president for a time in Malta but sadly went less-active along with her sons. In fact, her husband did not want Mine to go to Church but she, on the other hand, wanted desperately to go to Church. Her husband would at times even physically restrain her from going to Church. She then would wait until her husband was asleep on Saturday evening and then sneak out of the house around midnight or in the very early hours Sunday morning and go sit in a hotel lobby near the branch meetinghouse until the branch building opened on Sunday morning. She is a great member-missionary in Istanbul at her work explaining to others why she has a special glow about her. Mine has given Books of Mormon out to many neighbors in her apartment building. By the way, in her patriarchal blessing it states she is of the lineage of the tribe of Napthali, one of the ten lost tribes.
The Turkish culture is rich with music, dance, dress, food, and traditions. We need to appreciate all cultures. You may be sitting with your friends, but if there is someone sitting behind you or in front of you that you do not know, take this time now to introduce yourself, ask them their name, where they are from, and have them tell you one of their cultural traits they appreciate. You now have a minute to do that. While you are doing that, here is a picture of the children of Turkey.
The late Elder Richard G. Scott, an Apostle of the Lord, in his April 1998 General Conference address “Removing Barriers To Happiness” said, “Appreciation of ethnic, cultural, or national heritage can be very wholesome and beneficial, but it can also perpetuate patterns of life that should be set aside by a devoted Latter-day Saint.” Elder Scott later in his talk said, “Your Heavenly Father assigned you to be born into a specific lineage from which you have received your inheritance of race, culture, and traditions. That lineage can provide a rich heritage and great reasons to rejoice. Yet you have the responsibility to determine if there is any part of that heritage that must be discarded because it works against the Lord’s plan of happiness.”
Some traditions counter to the Gospel that Elder Scott pointed out are:
1-Where the husband exerts a domineering, authoritarian role. Both husband and wife, on the other hand, need to act as equal partners, making decisions in unity for themselves and their family. Love is the foundation of a happy family.
2-Violations of the Word of Wisdom.
3-Forcing others to comply by the power of status often determined by heredity.
4-The establishment of caste systems
5-Anything that breeds conflicts with other cultures.
Elder Scott concluded by saying, “Where family or national traditions or customs conflict with the teachings of God, set them aside. Where traditions and customs are in harmony with His teachings, they should be cherished and followed to preserve your culture and heritage.”
What can we do to appreciate cultures different from our own:
1-Be Positive. Celebrate the good in each culture.
2-Be Non-Judgmental
3-Learn at least basic elements of the language of that culture
The most important culture above all cultures is, of course, “The Gospel Culture.”
In the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament it states in Chapter 7, verse 14:“And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” In Acts written by Luke in Chapter 10, Verses 34 and 35 we read: “Then Peter opened his mouth and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness is accepted with him.” Alma declares in Alma 13:22, “Yea, and the voice of the Lord, by the mouth of angels, doth declare it unto all nations; yea, doth declare it, that they may have glad tidings of great joy; yea, and he doth sound glad tidings among all his people, yea, even to them that are scattered abroad upon the face of the earth; wherefore they have come unto us.” Doctrine and Covenants 115:5 states, “Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations.”
As a mission president in the Fiji Suva Mission and in our mission in Turkey, the most happy and successful missionaries totally immersed themselves in the culture they were serving in by:
-Diligently learning the language of the people,
-Enjoying the local food,
-Developing manners appropriate to the culture. For example, taking off your shoes before entering a home which is common both in the cultures in the Pacific Islands and in Turkey as well as in many other cultures of the world. At a funeral of a Hawaiian friend we attended last year, the brother of my friend stated that when they were children their father treated them to a movie for the first time. At the movie theatre in their seats, the father looked down and asked them, “Where are your flip flops?” The children responded, “Oh, we left them at the door coming in.” In Turkey, it is not appropriate to lay your scriptures on the floor. Also, it is ill manners to show the soles of your feet to someone. Women must have their heads covered when entering a mosque.
We need to respect the cultures and religions of others. While on our mission in Turkey, the mission president invited Sister Bauer and myself to join Elder Steven E. Snow, Church Historian; Sister Snow, and two brethren from the Church History Department to cultural sites around Turkey. Among the sites we visited was the Sultanahmet or Blue Mosque in Istanbul. Upon entering this historic magnificent mosque, we felt a special peace. Elder Snow commented about the very peaceful feeling in this sacred structure. We also had the opportunity to visit Ephesus where the Apostle Paul taught. Ephesus dates back to three thousand B.C.
As 2 Nephi Chapter 26 in the last half of verse 33 states, “. . . he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he rememberth the heathen; and all are alike unto God. . . “Isaiah 52:10 relates the words of Isaiah, “All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”
We Are All Children of God. He loves all His children. If you say to yourself, “Well, I did not grow up in a loving home”, or, “it is hard for me to leave some of those traditions of my culture behind which are counter to the Gospel”--then know that one of the primary doctrines of the Gospel is “Agency” and you can choose the right and you can, when the time comes for you who are yet single, raise children in a loving, happy home with a foundation of gospel principles.
You are a child of God. Your righteous desires can indeed be realized. Heavenly Father loves you. We love you. You are indeed the great hope of the future for yourselves, your families, your culture, and the growth of the Church.
I testify that this is indeed the Lord’s Church with Him, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, at its head. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. President Thomas S. Monson is our Living Prophet. We are, indeed, all children of God and He loves all of us and loves everyone throughout the world irrespective of what culture or religion they are a part.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.