We are honored that you would take time out from your full schedules to hear us.
Aloha mai kākou - I would like to invite (Elder) Murray, one of our hanai sons, to come up. (Elder Murray served with us in the Utah St. George Mission - Spanish Speaking.) Please introduce yourself… Since you’re a Hawaiian Studies major, tell everyone what “aloha” means... Mahalo for your kokua.
One of the meanings of “aloha” is LOVE. It’s February; You’re young; You’re in college…LOVE is in the air. My topic today is about LOVE - a very special love.
Almost every day, my mother and I listen to our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson’s, general conference talks. He generally begins his talk by expressing love for you. In October he said, “I assure you that our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, love you. They are intimately aware of your circumstances, your goodness, your needs, and your prayers for help. Again and again, I pray for you to feel Their love for you. Experiencing Their love is vital…” [1]
This past holiday was pretty special for our family because it had been about 5 years since we were all together for Christmas. The one thing I wanted most was to take a family picture. Because of scheduling (people working or people returning to the mainland), we only had one morning to be able to do this. Imagine getting the grandchildren up early (one was 6 months and another was a 2 year old), everyone getting “nicely” dressed, and then everyone driving to Ho’omaluhia. Everything seemed to be under control…except, (Houston, we have a problem) it was raining! There was no blue on the ocean, mist/fog was all over the place, and the Ko’olau mountaintops were covered with dark gray clouds … We all started calling/texting each other from the different cars…“Okay. What are we doing? What are we going to do with this rain that does not look like it’s going to go away soon?” I get a phone call and one of our sons, Keola asked, “Do we have a backup plan or are we going on faith?” In the background, I could hear our 6 year old granddaughter (Riley) say, “Faith. Choose Faith.” Looking out the car window, I thought, “How do I pray to Heavenly Father and ask Him to stop the rain?” “How do I explain to Riley this is an almost impossible request?” However, we continued to the end of Ho’omaluhia having faith that Heavenly Father is in charge. This picture is even more precious now because it’s a clear manifestation of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ’s love for the Kaluhiokalani ‘ohana. The rain stopped, we took our pictures, and it started pouring again as we drove out of Ho’omaluhia. There is no doubt in our sons, their wives, and our grandchildren that we experienced a miracle that morning. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ were aware of our circumstance that morning.
“I Feel My Savior’s Love in all the World Around Me”
“God Loves Us so He sent His Son”
So where am I going with this?
You know how people love to talk about their children? Well, let me tell you about our grandchildren. People are always commenting about how happy they are. I love watching their interactions with their parents. It occurred to me that our grandchildren are happy because their parents love them. They adore them. Our grandchildren are confident and secure in the love of their parents. It’s like the Nintendo game:
When small Mario obtains a Super Mushroom…he turns into Super Mario.
If we obtain this sure knowledge of Heavenly Father’s and Jesus Christ’s love for us - if we feel Their love for us, we will be happy. We will grow in confidence, and we will be our best selves.
When President Nelson spoke to the Young Single Adults around the world last May, I thought about the scripture in the Doctrine & Covenants which says, “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, … whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.” [2] I heard Heavenly Father say that day through His prophet, President Nelson when he said, “I have also stopped spending time on things that don’t matter. But you do matter to me! And your future matters much to me!” [3]
I pray that you will know (without a doubt) and feel Heavenly Father’s and our Savior Jesus Christ’s great love and fidelity for you. It’s no ordinary love. It’s an infinite love. Whatever magnitude you think Their love is, it is much more than that.
Let me close by admonishing you using the words of Elder D. Todd Christofferson in April’s general conference, “… get close to God. Call upon the Father in the name of the Son. Walk with Them in the Spirit, day by day. Allow Them over time to manifest Their fidelity to you. Come truly to know Them and truly to know yourself…” [4]
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Russell M. Nelson, “Overcome the World and Find Rest,” General Conference, October 2022
[2] D&C 1:38
[3] Russell M. Nelson, “Choices for Eternity,” Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults with President Nelson, May 15, 2022
[4] D. Todd Christofferson, “Our Relationship with God,” General Conference, April 2022