Introduction
My young friends, faculty, and everyone here, aloha!
Students, welcome to every one of you. We know that you each have a story about why and how you came to BYU–Hawaii. And none of you are here by accident. You are in for great things this semester! And speaking of students, just a quick shout out to the Hoʻolōkahi Chamber Choir Sunday night, in the Worldwide Devotional. Someone looked up during your closing song, who was watching the devotional with us and said, “Hey, is that OUR choir?” Yes, yes it is! We are so proud of all of you. Thank you for lifting the whole world and for representing our university so well.
And to you faculty that are here today, and everyone working and serving here at the university, including you wonderful missionaries— Thank you for your preparation and consecration. As prophets have said, “You will [do] some special things here that are left undone by other institutions.” Thank you for being “[excellent] in the language of scholarship, and…literate in the language of spiritual things.” [1]
President and Sister Kauwe, who we think are watching today, send their love to each of you. In their health update yesterday, as Connie shared, they shared about coming through their challenging cancer treatments. President Kauwe also emphasized the power of prayer and his personal witness of the Savior’s goodness and healing, as he is a recipient of those miracles. President and Sister Kauwe, we are all grateful to hear of the miracles in your life and are praying for your return as quickly as possible to this university you love and that loves you!
Mission
Our mission at BYU–Hawaii is “To prepare disciples of Jesus Christ who will live and lead in Oceania and the Asian Rim.” [2]
A prophet saw you and foretold that you would become faithful disciples and powerful leaders. “Not …only in this island, but everywhere.” [3] When you entered this university, you entered to learn. When you leave, you will leave as faithful disciples prepared to lead.
Study Hard, Represent This University, and Become Leaders
Additionally, Heavenly Father wants you to grow intellectually, and exemplify the Savior and His Church.
Growing intellectually will require you to study hard. Whether you’re a night owl and study late, or rise to race the roosters to the sunrise, do your very best in your work outside of class and fully engage when it’s time to be in class. Your professors are prepared and are deeply committed to your success.
At this university, we also host leaders from all over the world. We recently hosted the ambassador from Thailand, Senator Mitt Romney, Elder and Sister Johnson, and even President and Sister Uchtdorf. When they come, we always have them spend time with you. That is by design! Every leader who interacts with you notices the strength of your intelligence, and the depth of your faith and gratitude. The light they see in you comes because you are sons and daughters of God and disciples of Jesus Christ, and you show that in your appearance and in the way you live and speak. And the same is true for you all of you faculty and everyone employed here.
A principle of BYU–Hawaii is that each of us will dress, groom, and live in ways that represent the Savior Jesus Christ and His Church, and that we will maintain an elevated standard, different and distinct from other universities. Connie has mentioned to me quietly when we are alone how impressive you are in the way you dress, groom, talk to one another, and conduct yourselves. Thank you for keeping your commitments to these important ideas.
And if any of us here are living below where we should be, if your dress or grooming has become a little too casual, or if your choices need just a little bit of adjustment, maybe even a little repentance, I invite you to take care of those things immediately.
A Touch of Jesus
And that introduces my one thought I would like to share with you today. Everything I just mentioned will be strengthened with more of Jesus Christ in our lives, like Elder and Sister Stevenson mentioned on Sunday night, by a deepening our discipleship. Let me illustrate for you using one of the most moving experiences in the life of the Savior. As we visit, will you please think about your life and how drawing even a little closer to Him will make everything better.
The synoptic gospels record an experience with a “certain woman,” we don’t even know her name. She could be any of us. She’s been sick for twelve years—for many of you, that’s about half of your life. [4] If I were to relate her situation to you, imagine—because of her sickness she couldn’t go to college or be on IWORK. She couldn’t date, go to dances, or hang out with friends. In fact, it is likely her friends all would have abandoned her. She couldn’t even go to the temple.
She would have googled her condition and had Amazon Prime delivered to her hale door every soap, medication, and remedy imaginable. She had appointments with every physician and sought out every specialist she could find. She had spent every cent she had trying to be healed. And after all this, she was not getting one bit better, and in fact, she was actually growing worse.
You can imagine her deep loneliness, longing, and despair. And yet,
"When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
For she said, if I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.” [5]
She thought, If I can just touch, even brush up against the stitching or hem of his robe, I will be healed. So, pressing through the throng of people she had avoided for years, she reached up and touched His robe.
“And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.” [6]
A student, like all of you, while studying this passage in a religion class, and while thinking of her own life once said, “It’s amazing what just one touch of Jesus will do.”
And Jesus’ promise of healing, and even hope and help, is not limited to this woman. There is another, very unfamous scripture account.
Immediately after the experience with Peter walking on the water, the apostles and Jesus landed on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. When people in that area learned that He was come, they “brought unto him all that were diseased.” [7] Jesus healed the blind, maimed, and sick of every kind; he even healed everyone “whose sicknesses were emotional, mental, or spiritual. He healed them all.” [8] This part of the story is well known, the unfamous part of the story is this, when everyone came to see Jesus, the people “besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment; and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.” [9]
We do indeed stand all amazed at what just one touch of Jesus will do.
President Camille N. Johnson recently taught,
“I know that life is hard. You can do hard with Jesus, or you can do hard alone. That is your choice. But when you do hard with Jesus Christ, the hard becomes holy…We need more Jesus Christ… ” [10] The hard in your lives and my life is different for each of us, but the specific hard doesn't matter.
The First and Last Thing
My invitation is to reach out and find a way to draw just a little closer to Him.
In our family, we say that life goes better if the last thing that touches the floor at night, and the first thing that touches the floor in the morning, is our knees. I’ve decided that one thing I can do better is to let the name of Jesus Christ be the last thought on my mind at night and the first thought in the morning.
Knowing this would be our topic today, I’ve started trying recently. To be honest, there are mornings when my first thought is on a meeting or some homework I have, yes I have homework, too. Sometimes I wake up wondering if my favorite team won last night. Often, I wake up thinking and praying about you. And I remember Him, but not until later.
Of course there is still the sacramental promise that remembering Him, anytime, invites the Holy Ghost, and that is true. Yet you and I want Him to know right now, today, that we are saying by our actions and thoughts that He is first, that He is the first and last in our lives, just as He said that He is the first and the last "Alpha and Omega" for each of us. [11] The scriptures are clear that when Jesus Christ comes again, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is the Lord. So if that’s going to be the case, that every one of us will be kneeling without choice in front of Him when He comes, why not do so now? As has been taught by Elder Neil A. Maxwell and by C.S. Lewis, in the coming of that collective kneeling, it will mean much less to kneel down then when it is no longer possible to stand up! [12] So, I don’t want to only kneel, when I can’t stand. I want to kneel and have Him as the first and last thing on my mind, just because I choose to.
So, I invite you to find your way to draw just a little closer to Him. Maybe it’s just a little bit more prayer, maybe it’s just a verse of scripture in the day, maybe it’s a talk on your phone while you leave your dorm or hale and walk to class or work. Maybe it’s as simple as changing a ringtone or wallpaper on your phone or just letting His name linger in your mind as you climb into bed at night.
None of this is hard. None of that takes a lot of time. If I could borrow a phrase from the Book of Mormon’s description of how the people were commanded to look at the brass serpent, and apply it to our conversation— in order to draw closer to Him, the labor which the woman with the issue of blood had to perform was just to touch His hem. [13] The labor he requires of us, is to remember His name. We just have to press through the crowd and the pressures, and reach out, and touch Him by remembering His name.
Remembering Invites the Holy Ghost
Doing these small things may not immediately resolve every worry. They probably won’t get you an A in every class (sorry about that), or a date every weekend (I wish it would), but as we walk with Him [14] I promise we will have renewed strength, refreshed hope, and reinvigorated confidence. The more we think of His name, the more we will hear Him saying to us,
“Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” [15]
“Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” [16]
“My peace I give unto you.” [17]
More Jesus
My brother-in-law, David Kuresa, was born right here on Oahu. Like many of you, he was a monster athlete, has an even bigger heart, and he was smart enough to marry my sister. Susanne will tell you the truth, and you will be crying from laughter because of her bright sense of humor. David and Susanne are constantly drawing others to touch the hem of the Savior’s garment because they know the healing that lies within that touch.
This past year, she wrote a poem for the sisters she’s been called to serve, and has given me permission to share it now with you.
More Jesus!
The world is shouting—more, more, more,
A restless wave crashing on every shore.
It tells us we need beauty, status, pride,
And leaves us feeling hollow, weary inside.
But listen—there’s a whisper, soft and clear:
“Seek More Jesus—He is near.”
Let go of the empty. Let go of the rush.
Find Him in the quiet... in the morning’s hush.
Seek More Jesus—Man of Sorrows,
Who knows your grief, your today, your tomorrows.
Seek More Jesus—Advocate and Friend,
Who stands with you and His spirit sends.
Seek More Jesus—your Savior who’s near,
He’ll lift your burdens and quiet your fears.
Seek More Jesus— He’s Almighty, Faithful, and True,
His mercy and power will carry you through.
Seek More Jesus in everything you do—
For the more you seek Him, the more you’ll find,
More Jesus in your heart, your life, your mind. [18]
Conclusion
One of my favorite biblical scholars, speaking of the woman with the issue of blood said “It is usual with people not to apply themselves to Christ, till they have tried in vain all other helpers, and find them, as certainly they will, physicians of no value. And he will be found a sure refuge, even to those who make him their last refuge...” [19]
President Oaks said it this way, “Following Christ is not a casual or occasional practice. It is a continuous commitment and way of life that should guide us at all times and in all places.” [20]
My dear friends, like Connie has said, and like all of you, I know that Jesus Christ lives. I testify that He is a living, resurrected source of forgiveness, light, confidence, happiness and power. When we feel like the woman in the scriptures—lonely, anxious, or lost, like Connie said, when on our roads, we feel lost, confused, or even frightened. Maybe we just want a renewed hope and joy—I pray that each of us will remember that He is within reach. Like the woman who reached through the crowd, you and I too can reach through the noise and confusion around us. You and I don't need be perfect to touch His garment; in fact, He calls us to reach out to Him in our imperfections.
Welcome to this new semester on this incredible campus, unlike anything else anywhere in the world. May it be the best semester ever for every one of us, students, faculty, and employees, because we invited just a little more Jesus into our lives.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes:
[1] Spencer W. Kimball, “The Second Century of Brigham Young University” [Brigham Young University devotional, October 10, 1975], speeches.byu.edu
[2] BYU–Hawaii Mission Statement
[3] David O. McKay, “Groundbreaking & Dedication of CCH/BYU–Hawaii” [groundbreaking at Brigham Young University–Hawaii, February 12, 1955], speeches.byuh.edu
[4] Leviticus 15
[5] Mark 5:27–28, emphasis added
[6] Mark 5:29
[7] Matthew 14:35
[8] Dallin H. Oaks, “He Heals the Heavy Laden,” Ensign or Liahona, November 2006, 6
[9] Matthew 14:36, emphasis added
[10] Camille N. Johnson, “Holy Women Fix Their Focus on Jesus Christ” [2026 Relief Society Devotional: A Worldwide Gathering of Women, March 8, 2026], Gospel Library
[11] See Doctrine and Covenants 110:4; 19:1; Isaiah 41:4; 44:6; 48:12; Revelation 1:11,17; 2:8; 22:13
[12] Neal A. Maxwell, “Why Not Now?,” Ensign or Liahona, November 1974, 13; see also, C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Chapter 5, The Practical Conclusion, “There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realised it before or not."
[13] 1 Nephi 17:41
[14] Moses 6:34
[15] John 5:8–9
[16] John 16:33
[17] John 14:27
[18] Susanne Kuresa, More Jesus!, unpublished original poem, used by permission
[19] Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Volume 5: Matthew to John [1991], commentary on Mark 5:25–34; Luke 8:43–48
[20] Dallin H. Oaks, “Following Christ,” Ensign, November 2024, 23