Introduction
My dear friends, aloha. Thank you, Elder Gilbert. It has been my great privilege to work closely with Elder Gilbert for the last five years. He is an inspiring mentor and great friend. He is deeply committed, as you just felt, to assisting the First Presidency and the Board of Trustees as they lead BYU–Hawaii, and all of the Church Educational System. His leadership has been a blessing to me, and to you in ways you may not even realize. Elder Gilbert, we love you and we are grateful for your example and guidance, and for coming to be with us today.
And I’m anxious for as many of you as possible to get to know Connie. She didn’t hesitate when we were asked to move here. If [we] were asked to cross the plains in handcarts, she would have prayed, packed, begun, and been halfway across the plains before I found my shoes. That is one of her great gifts that you will come to love.
As we have been out on campus meeting you students this week, I have heard Connie quietly say to many of you sisters that she's met, “Please come up to me when we see each other on campus, remind me of your name, and tell me how you’re doing in school.” She is genuinely excited to get to know you. For me her invitation for you to come and visit with her is an example of the Savior’s invitation to each of you. Someone once observed, The Lord never says, 'Go to your room.' He always says ‘Come unto me.’ [1] He knows your name. He is the "...first and the last:" [2] to invite you to come to Him, to share your burdens with Him. He pleads with you to allow Him into your life so He can lift and comfort and strengthen you.
President and Sister Kauwe
As both Elder Gilbert and Connie mentioned, we are incredibly blessed to be led by President Kauwe. I think him and his wife are watching this devotional from home today. President Kauwe and Monica, let me speak for everyone in this auditorium today, we love you. He loves this university and everything about it. He loves each of you students. He loves the leaders and faculty. For him, and I've heard him tell me many times, this is a very real ohana. As you know, President Kauwe has been provided a temporary leave of absence as Elder Gilbert has explained today and everyone I have spoken with is praying that this brief time to rest will allow him to heal and return quickly.
To my young friends who I already love, as you pray for our dear President Kauwe, will you please also remember his remarkable wife, Monica. Like her husband, she is full of faith and resilience and is willing to do whatever the Lord asks them to do. In your fasting and praying, will you please include both President and Sister Kauwe and their family.
President Kauwe and I visit often and as we were visiting this past week he shared with me how strongly he felt about the message he delivered to you at the opening devotional of this past fall semester and so I thought I’d remind each of us what he said,
“Let’s remember three important priorities: purpose, consecration, and excellence. The purpose of BYU–Hawaii is to prepare disciples of Jesus Christ who will live and lead in Oceania and the Asian Rim. By choosing to be here, you’ve committed to aligning your actions with that purpose. Consecration means honoring our covenants with God and our commitments that qualify us to be members of this university community. Excellence means making thoughtful and purposeful efforts to develop our talents and use them to bless the lives of our families and our communities.” [3]
Nudgings and Miracles
Now, Connie and I are completely thrilled to be here with you! When we landed at the airport last Monday, we somehow made our way to the curb with enough luggage to open a luggage store, and dialed the phone number of the young couple who was going to give us a ride here to campus and told them that we had arrived.
A few minutes later, Alge and Mika pulled up. They got out of the van with big smiles and bright eyes! They were incredibly happy and genuinely welcoming. Only Connie and I soon discovered that their joy had little to do with us, and much more to do with the fact that they had just been married three weeks ago! Alge and Mika, we love you.
We became fast friends as all of you who know them are and learned that Alge is from Curicau and Mika is from Japan. Mika graduated last year in social work and Alge is nearly finished with a degree in Business Management. We laughed together as we shared stories of how we met, and how Alge proposed. And Connie and I now know that Alge is a romantic!
Somehow our conversation turned to the Lord’s miracles in our lives and we heard them teach us that one of the ways we receive miracles from the Lord is by always being willing to act when the Lord nudges us. We agreed that we should always be ready to change course whenever the Lord taps us on the shoulder or prompts us to act.
Alge is a baseball player who had high hopes to play college baseball before feeling the Lord’s nudging to shift those plans and attend BYU–Hawaii. When the Lord tapped him on the shoulder Alge listened. He found himself in a class with a young smart student from Japan as his mentor. He soon learned that her name was Mika and that was the beginning of the miracle. Imagine if Alge had decided that baseball was more important than the Lord’s nudging and hadn't followed when the Lord tapped him on the shoulder. During our simple car ride, down a two-lane highway from the airport to Laie, as we laughed and shared stories, we all agreed that if we will move when the Lord nudges us, miracles will follow.
President Russell M. Nelson used our mothers, and for you young men, your wives one day, to teach this principle by saying, “She should not need to issue orders. Her wish, her hope, her hint should provide direction that you would honor.” [4]
When you sense even a hint from the Savior, please don’t resist. Let Him move you. If you detect the tiniest feeling that you should pray a little more as Connie suggested, or even a desire to desire [5] to study the scriptures better, then begin acting today. If you feel nudged to work a little harder in school, or listen more carefully, or ask a professor to mentor or a friend for help, then don’t hesitate. Follow those promptings right now. If in a moment of quiet, personal reflection, you sense that you have drifted a bit in your covenants and morality, either in person or online, then refuse to drift further and run to safety. I testify that Heavenly Father has not "...withheld the power of the Holy Ghost..." from us [6] and that if we will quickly respond to His feelings, that the day of miracles has not ceased on this campus or in our lives. [7]
Conclusion and Testimony
May I conclude with a few words from President Dallin H. Oaks when he spoke here on campus. He spoke with understanding and compassion about the opportunities and challenges you face as students:
“In these days—as in many stressful times of the past—young people should go forward with optimism and prepare for a long and productive life.
Marry. Have children. Get an education. Have faith. [8] We cannot change the evil influences that inevitably press upon us and our families, but we can increase our power to deal with them.
We must try to carve out our own islands of confidence and serenity. We must strengthen our barriers against the forces that besiege.” [9]
Connie and I express our deep love for you, which has been instant. And together we add our testimony to yours of Heavenly Father’s "...great plan of mercy..." [10], redemption [11] and happiness. [12] We testify that His Only Begotten Son is still a God of miracles and answers. While the world wonders if His answers are certain and if His prophets are just outdated, let’s you and I be absolutely clear. The Savior is not “...as some seem to believe…on some sort of postdoctoral fellowship” [13] and those we sustain as prophets speak for Him. Everything we learn, which is true, teaches us something about His nature and character. He is “...perfect in knowledge”! [14] And because He is omniscient [15], and because “Perfect worship is emulation...” [16] our education might safely be considered an expression of our worship. [17]
I testify the Savior has borne our sins and carried our sorrows and loneliness. [18] He completed the agony in Gethsemane and on Golgotha and now offers us beauty if we will simply turn over to Him the ashes of our mistakes. He longs to take away our mourning and replace it with the oil of joy. And with His love, he promises to rid us of the spirit of heaviness and fill our closets [19] with the garment of praise. [20]
Connie and I are praying for all of you. May each of us quickly respond to His nudging so that he can perform the miracles he wants to perform in our lives this year!
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes:
[1] 3 Nephi 9:14
[2] Revelation 1:17-18
[3] John S.K. Kauwe III, “Choose Excellence” [Brigham Young University–Hawaii devotional, September 11, 2025], speeches.byuh.edu
[4] Russell M. Nelson, “Our Sacred Duty to Honor Women,” Ensign or Liahona, April 1999, 38
[5] Alma 32:27
[6] Moroni 7:36
[7] Moroni 7:35
[8] Dallin H. Oaks, “Anxiety in Stressful Times” [Brigham Young University–Hawaii devotional, June 11, 2019], speeches.byuh.edu
[9] Dallin H. Oaks, “Anxiety in Stressful Times” [Brigham Young University-Hawaii devotional, June 11, 2019], speeches.byuh.edu
[10] Alma 42:15
[11] Alma 12:25, 32
[12] Alma 42:8, 16
[13] Neal A. Maxwell, “Patience” [Brigham Young University devotional, November 27, 1979], speeches.byu.edu
[14] Job 37:16
[15] Topical Guide, “God, Omniscience of”
[16] Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah: The First Coming of Christ [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1978], 568-569
[17] Doctrine & Covenants 88:119-120; Matthew 11:29; Doctrine & Covenants 19:23; Doctrine & Covenants 93:36; Doctrine & Covenants 88:77-80
[18] Isaiah 53:4-5; Mosiah 14:4-5
[19] Neal A. Maxwell, “Jesus, the Perfect Mentor” [address given at a Church Educational System fireside at Brigham Young University, February 6, 2000], Ensign, February 2001
[20] Isaiah 61:3