Brothers and Sisters: Kia Orana and Aloha.
I pray that what I say to you this morning will instruct, inspire and motivate, as I share some of my personal stories and experiences and how they have helped strengthen my testimony and knowledge of the gospel. My devotional talk is entitled Engage and Endure Well.
In Doctrine and Covenants [section] 58, verse 27 we read: "Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness," (D&C 58:27).
We also read in 2 Nephi 31:15, "Yea, the words of my Beloved are true and faithful. He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved" (2 Nephi 31:15).
Webster's Dictionary defines endurance as (1) the power to bear pain, hardship or adversity; (2) the ability to continue; and (3) it is a lasting quality.
Endurance is not only acceptance of the things allotted to us, but to act for ourselves by magnifying what is allotted to us. To magnify, we must fulfill and enlarge...both elements of engaging.
Ponder over Alma 29: 3, 6:
"Behold, I am a man and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things that the Lord hath allotted me" (verse 3).
"Now seeing that I know these things, why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called?" (verse 6).
When I think about endurance, I am reminded of Te'eu Makimare, a relative and a Cook Islands friend from the island of Manihiki. He was a simple, honest, humble, hard working and religious man who lived on a small atoll which rises no higher than 20 feet above sea level.
On August 12, 1963, conditions were not well on Manihiki. Food supplies had run critically low. No schooners had called for several months. On that day, Makimare and a few of his friends were to travel in an open boat from Manihiki to the neighbor island of Rakahanga 24 miles away. Their mission was to bring back sorely needed vegetables and fruit.
There would be four open boats assigned to this mission. Te'eu Makimare was assigned on one of them the Tearo'a, a cutter approximately 16 feet by 5 feet in the beam and carried a main sail and a stay sail.
The tiny boats departed and reached their destination of Rakahanga, but upon their return to Manihiki, one boat failed to return with the others. The Tearo'a, with its crew of seven including Makimare, was declared missing. Apparently, the Tearo'a had sailed slightly off course, struck a violent storm which damaged the boat and delivered them into the wide-open Pacific Ocean. Before the captain and crew lost all hope, Te'eu Makimare, with his persevering spirit, took over leadership. They struck another sudden storm and their boat capsized. In the storm, Makimare single-handedly saved four of his six weakened and dispirited colleagues. Two unfortunately drowned before he could get to them.
For 64 days, they drifted across the Pacific for 2,000 miles from Manihiki in the Cook Islands to Eromanga in Vanuatu. To survive Makimare caught rainwater and fish with his bare hands. He led them in prayers regularly, kept his faith, and never gave up hope. It was an agonizingly slow drift at one and -a-half miles an hour. It has been described as one of the grimmest and most miraculous voyage ever recorded.
For his bravery and outstanding leadership, Te'eu Makimare was awarded by the Queen of England, the British Royal Humane Society's highest award, the Stanhope Medal.
The faith of Makimare in God and His Son Jesus Christ, his acceptance of the reality of his situation, and his leadership, saved his life and most of his colleagues. It is truly a remarkable story of faith, courage and endurance captured in a book entitled, The Man Who Refused to Die, by Barry Wynne. By accepting his situation and magnifying his talents to improve the situation for himself and others, Makimare anxiously engaged and endured well.
For many of us who may be in a similar situation, floating in the open sea, we too could learn from Makimare's example. Pray often to our Heavenly Father: follow through with appropriate action and always being steadfast.
I grew up with a Rarotonga Maori proverb that declares, Kia pukuru o nga vaevae, Kia mokora o kaki. Be steadfast like a breadfruit tree but flexible like the neck of a duck. In other words hold on to your principles with the same determination as a breadfruit tree's roots in the soil, but be willing to learn and grow in any situation like a duck's neck, which can turn to view 360 degrees.
In Doctrine & Covenants 63:47, we read: "He that is faithful and endureth shall overcome the world."
Applying oneself to engage and endure well is not always easy. Indeed, it is not intended to be easy. From my own experiences I have learned the importance of:
1) Exercising faith in Christ, with a balanced sense of humor and a sense of commitment when facing any difficult period;
2) Being confident, whatever happens;
3) Being of service with a willingness to engage at all times, working with the Spirit; and
4) Growing from each and every experience.
Elder Hugh B. Brown declared that "History rests on the shoulders of those who accepted the challenge of difficulties and drove through to victory in spite of everything" (Brown, CR 10/63:87).
Someone once said, "Footprints in the sands of time are not made by sitting down" (Anon. Carl W. Buehner, CR 4/55:62).
As secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Cook Islands' government, I once received two conflicting instructions from the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Prime Minister instructed me not to allow a requested New Zealand combined military exercise to take place in the Cook Islands. The Minister of Foreign Affairs instructed me to make sure that it happens. I prayed about that. It then became clear to me. My boss was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and his boss was the Prime Minister. So I followed the guidance of the Spirit and engaged in new initiatives that ensured the project's implementation. As it turned out, it was a very successful combined military exercise program. I was able to clear the matter later with the Prime Minister.
We all have so many opportunities before us. I have certainly been personally privileged but more importantly I am thankful to my Heavenly father that I have been able to recognize those opportunities and to anxiously engage them, and then to endure and grow from such experiences.
We need to be prepared to engage at all levels: family, community, national and international. For me, engaging in bilateral diplomatic events, high-level meetings, difficult negotiations, or solving issues at multilateral conferences has been especially rewarding and inspirational.
When I served as ambassador for the Cook Islands to New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji, I had the opportunity to meet a great many wonderful people. Engaging with General Prem Tinsulanonda, Prime Minister of Thailand, while he was in the middle of a military coup; accepting the challenge to engage Balinese dancers in Indonesia; engaging with Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Hon. Sir William Skate at a time that he was confronted with major nation-wide strikes in his country; or improving bilateral issues with Australian Prime Minister Rt. Hon. John Howard. All of these activities demanded choices that required some element of engagement, endurance, and the constant guidance of the spirit. On numerous occasions as ambassador I was even asked by Cook Islanders from various other religious denominations to give sermons in their church. I could have elected not to be involved, but I recognized the missionary opportunity that I could be engaged in, without compromising my role as the ambassador of the country.
I recall one incident where I was asked to give a religious sermon. I informed him that I could only give a Mormon discourse. He replied, and I quote, "Well we've never had one of those, so let's give it a try." After completing my sermon, he gave me a thick envelope which was obviously the collection of money from the congregation during the service. After several minutes trying to refuse the offering, I finally heard and listened to the guidance of the Spirit and accepted the gift. But without letting go of his handshake, I returned him the unopened envelope as a donation for the maintenance of their building grounds. He was obviously touched, expressing great interest in more LDS teachings.
Another profound experience for me took place when my wife and I visited the beautiful country of Papua New Guinea. While in the highlands, the Kwinyanga Tribe not only adopted me, treated me like a big man, showing much kindness, but requested that I solve their infrastructure road tar-sealing, piped water and electricity supply problems.
They also expressed disappointment to my spouse that I only had one wife. After assigning me a piece of land, they encouraged me to return, hinting that there were several nearby tribes with potential wives. That was the last time my wife allowed me to go to Papua New Guinea.
Engaging in a variety of positive causes often brings some of the most powerful and spiritual experiences in your life. Five years ago, I became actively involved as a consultant with the Norwegian Public Broadcasting Television. They were producing a historical documentary about my grandfather Capt. Reinert Godfred Jonassen whose ship Gyda was destroyed around 1897 by a major cyclone that struck in the area of Tahiti. There is more to the story, but basically Capt. Jonassen never returned to Norway. Instead, he ended up on Aitutaki Island where he remarried and had three children from his wife Ti'avaru, including my father and his two sisters.
The children were all under the age of 10, when they lost their father Reinert in a tragic accident. Ever since, they cherished a desire to visit their Scandinavian homeland and meet the extended family. My involvement with the Norwegian documentary became a wonderful opportunity to heal relationships and fulfill the dream of my aging father, Michael, and his sister Josephine, who, at ages 90 and 88, respectively, still had never seen Norway, the land of their father. Unfortunately by then, their older sister Anne had passed away.
The opportunity finally arrived. Michael and his sister Josephine were invited to Norway for the public showing of the documentary on their father. I was also invited to accompany them as their bag-carrier. Aunty Josephine looked quite ill before our journey to Norway even began. Suspecting her condition, I suggested we postpone the visit to Norway. She raised her voice at me for the first time in my life saying, "Son, I have waited 88 years for this, so I am going no matter what. The Lord knows my heart."
At her request, I gave her a priesthood blessing two times a day for the whole period we were on the road, almost two weeks. Her testimony of the gospel was absolutely amazing. Keep in mind that the journey from Aitutaki took us through the Pacific, across the United States, over the Atlantic and then across the Scandinavian countries to Norway. Her doctor in Auckland, New Zealand, was surprised that she was still walking when she returned. She had, in fact, a very advanced life threatening pneumonia during the entire journey. It was her strong faith that sustained her and enabled her to engage and endure.
I thought discovering the family home in Norway and watching my father and his sister's emotional visit would be the major highlight in my life. But there are always more challenges and mighty spiritual experiences ahead for all of us. This year, some of my dearest friends were unexpectedly called away to the other side, including Sister Raewyn Shelford, a mother and friend to many in Laie, and Dr. Thomas Davis KBE, a remarkable prime minister that I served with for many years. But my involvement with my parents was, in particular, emotionally heartbreaking yet also spiritually uplifting.
Sadly, on May 2nd of this year, 2007, my mother passed away. She was 87, a survivor of cancer, triple bi-pass heart surgery, and a host of other potentially terminal ailments. She was apparently the sick one in a large family of 13 but, to the surprise of many, outlived all her siblings by several years. Her love for her husband and her family, her strong faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and an enthusiasm for life kept her going. She actively engaged in many types of sporting, cultural, business, political, community and faith-based activities and had a tremendous endurance capacity. In accordance to her dying wishes, we took her body from New Zealand to Rarotonga, where she wanted to be buried next to her mother.
At the graveside, my father sang a farewell song, gave a powerful testimony about temple marriage and praised his beloved companion of 70 years. Although he was 95 years old, many of his students, 30 years his junior, marveled at his mental and physical state. Everyone thought he would be with us much longer. Sadly, a month after my mother departed, on June 1st 2007, my father also peacefully passed away.
The passing away of my mother and father and the manner in which they always expressed affection for each other, and to our Heavenly father right to the end, gave me an even stronger testimony and sincere appreciation of the power of the priesthood and our individual responsibility to anxiously engage and endure well.
It entrenched in me the beauty of love in an enduring relationship between two couples who never stopped loving each other. For all seventy years of their marriage, they actively engaged in maintaining a strong and loving relationship.
In his book Stand A Little Taller, President Hinckley reflects on such endurance: "Walk with integrity; in storm and sunshine, be faithful; in richness or in poverty, be faithful; in youth or old age, be faithful. Hold out until the end and God will bless you and crown your days with sweetness, and peace, and love." (Gordon B. Hinckley, Stand A Little Taller, p. 264.)
Endurance builds character. I revisited a journal entry I made when I was a married BYU-Hawaii student, living in TVA many years ago. I adapted four United States Schools of Deaf symbols to represent some cherished values of life, values I still hold dear.
Cherished Values
1) R for respect of myself and others.
2) D for doing the best I can for others and for myself. Engaging and enduring well.
3) S for continual self-analysis and re-evaluating my priorities and responsibility.
4) LOVE: My highest value. Love for God, love of man, and love of my eternal companion, my family and my friends.
As I conclude my devotional address, I would invite you to ponder over all of the different challenges that you face in your life today. Supposing on top of that you suddenly had to face a flood, worse than the one that unexpectedly hit Laie last year.
How would you envision yourself engaging and enduring into your future?
The choice of engaging and making positive things happen for your future is very much in your hands.
So consider the next image:
Will you be the one under the umbrella? Or be among those in the drain?
The test of endurance anchors itself in one's responsibility to make the right things happen. As we previously read in Doctrine and Covenants 58:27, men should be anxiously concerned with a good cause. So we need to incorporate our righteousness as part of our own initiative.
Verse one of the beautiful hymn we sang earlier declares:
"Now to heav'n our prayer ascending, God speed the right; In a noble cause contending, God speed the right. Be our zeal in heav'n recorded, With success on earth rewarded. God speed the right. God speed the right" (Hymn 106, God Speed the Right).
Whatever is allotted to you, the challenge is to magnify it. Jesus Christ paved the way for all of us. Elder Hugh B. Brown observed many years ago that, "The Master who loved most of all, endureth the most and proved his love, by his endurance" (Brown, CR 10/54/17). Elder Brown also shared a golden gem for us when he said that "No matter what your past has been, you have a spotless future" (Brown, CR 10/69:103).
In whatever challenge faces us, we have hope. If we have not already done so, we can begin now. We can engage. We can endure. We can grow from experience. We can emulate the example of Jesus the Christ, our Savior. I humbly share these thoughts with you and leave you my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.