Roger Brown: Our Divine Potential
Brothers and Sisters, aloha. A little over a year ago, my great grandfather died at the age of 89. Until about six months before he died, he was still working in his garden fixing things around the house. One day my great grandmother needed to speak with him, so she went out on the porch to call him. She called his name many times, but received no reply; she went out into the yard and found him not too far off. She told him that she had been trying to get his attention, and he said to her, "Sorry dear, I didn't hear you the first three times." Not only did my great grandfather have some hearing loss, he also suffered from selective hearing.
The Lord said, "blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my council" (2 Nephi 28:30); in another verse he said, "for mine elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts" (Doctrine & Covenants 29:7). Listening is an important aspect of our progression here on this earth, and pivotal in achieving our eternal potential.
A general authority once addressed the missionaries of my mission, and, as he was speaking he told them to open their scriptures to follow along with a verse he was about to read. There they were, these eager missionaries with their fingers poised over the pages, ready to race to the verse as soon as he told them the reference. But he paused just as he was about to tell them where to go; he changed his mind. He told them to close their books and to listen. It was a common verse, one they had most likely heard. But in the moment we say to ourselves, "I've heard this before", or, "I've memorized this," we slam the door on the Spirit, and close to ourselves the opportunity to learn something new. The principles of the gospel are not new; they are the same as they have ever been, and we will often hear the same scriptures or talks, but, we can always be learning if we are willing to listen.
King Benjamin in the book of Mosiah tells us of our current state as mortals here on earth: "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever" (Mosiah 3:19). We are children of God, yet, through our choices we separate ourselves from our father, and our divine potential. But hope is not lost. We can regain our birthright by following the next few words of the verse: "unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man" (Mosiah 3:19). When we can yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit, then we can listen to his counsels and be led in the path that leads us back to the presence of our Heavenly Father. Speaking of our redemption through Christ, Nephi said that He cometh into the world that He may save all men if they will hearken unto His voice (2 Nephi 9:21).
Listening, or as it says in the scriptures, hearkening, is fundamental to our salvation. But what does it mean to hearken? In the dictionary it says to listen attentively or give heed. When we hearken to what the Lord says, we are listening with the intent to obey, we desire to know his will, and we are eager to do it.
Our Father in Heaven desires to speak to us, to teach us, just like any earthly parent, to help us achieve our divine potential. He tries to speak to us in so many ways, but we have to be listening to be able to hear and understand it.
The scriptures are full of accounts of those who chose not to listen or hearken to the voice of the Lord, and, as a result, great calamity befell them. In the book of Ether, Moroni sums the wickedness of the people in one verse:
"And they hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord, because of their wicked combinations; wherefore, there began to be wars and contentions in all the land, and also many famines and pestilences, insomuch that there was a great destruction, such as one as never had been known upon the face of the earth" (Ether 11:7).
This may seem extreme, what with the wars and destructions, but it is not too farfetched from us. When we choose not to listen to the Lord, we become contentious, and there is a famine of the spirit and perhaps great destruction of our testimony or our relationships with others.
It is interesting to note that nearly every time the Father introduces his beloved Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, He immediately commands, "hear him." How our lives would improve, if we would strive to "hear him" at all times.
We can speak to our Father in Heaven through prayer, and we know that often times his response comes to us through the scriptures for they are his word. Also, his chosen servants on the earth serve as his mouthpieces for us to hearken to, as it says in the scriptures, "whether by [his] voice, or the voice of [his] servants it is the same" (Doctrine & Covenants 1:38). When the prophet speaks, we must treat it as though the Lord were speaking to us. When our bishop gives us an assignment, it is as if it were the Lord giving us the assignment, for he is the representative of the Lord charged with our care. Listening to our leaders helps us to draw closer to our potential, for the person who wants to achieve his eternal potential must put off the natural man, and as it says in the verse, "becom[e] as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father" (Mosiah 3:19).
Another way he speaks to us is through the Holy Ghost. But, we must be quiet enough to listen, and to ignore any disturbances or distractions. To effectively hear and hearken to the spirit in our daily life, we must create an environment in which He can dwell. A few years ago, I helped my grandfather to add a large new room to his house. Before we could do so, we had to first demolish the existing room, and clear out the plants and trees surrounding it. Once it was finished, the new room was larger, more functional, and better for the family. But, we had to clear the ground for it first. Sometimes to effectively create an environment for the spirit, we must first clear out our clutter, so to speak.
When I was in the Provo Missionary Training Center our branch president came into our residence hall to check up on us. Many of the missionaries heard he was coming and were scrambling to make their beds and tidy up just before he got there. He took me aside when he saw this and said, "They will make their beds for a member of the branch presidency, but they will not clean up for a member of the Godhead." I don't think he meant that we must have everything spotlessly clean at all times, for if that were the case, I would be very far from the Spirit. But, we must establish a "house of order" wherever we are, and make a place for him in our lives.
When I was in the 8th ward here on campus, Bishop Crowell once gave me a piece of sound advice. We were talking about appointments, and how most people are on time or early to their appointment with the bishop. Whether out of respect or fear, he told me to try something, and to see if it improved my relationship with the Lord. He told me to make an appointment with the Lord in prayer, and to set a date, time, and place that I would communicate with him. I tried it; in my night-time prayer, I designated a time and place where I would go the next day. I went there a few minutes early. I prayed, and I read my scriptures, and took some time to ponder. The Lord communicated with me because I went there specifically seeking guidance, and I had the desire to listen, or to hearken to his counsel.
Our Father in Heaven loves us, and wants to speak to us. We must make time for Him, and leave a space for Him in our lives. As we draw closer to Him, He will draw closer to us.
Brothers and Sisters I invite you all to make an appointment with the Lord this week, and find ways that you can better listen to the Lord, hearken unto his word, and strive to live by those things that he teaches you.
Emily Judson: You Are That Miracle
Brothers and Sisters, aloha! I am humbled and honored to be able to share my thoughts, experiences, and testimony with you today. Like many of the others who have been in this spot before, I never thought I would be standing here giving a devotional talk. However, I'm so grateful for people and especially the Lord who saw potential in me and brought me to this point in my life. A few weeks ago, Brother Quinn McKay gave a beautiful devotional address in which he made this profound statement: "In your life, in the lives of people around you, one of the greatest gifts you can give them is to give them a vision of their possibilities." He went on to say, "The opening of those veiled eyes to see what you as a child of God have as a potential is the greatest gift you could give to one of your fellow brothers or sisters." I can testify that this is a true statement. Some of the most miraculous blessings in my life have come as a result of others who have seen potential in me and opened up that vision of possibilities. It is my hope and prayer to be able to do the same for you today and call your attention to what I believe to be the Lord's greatest miracle.
The Lord tells us in Doctrine & Covenants 6:14, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, blessed art thou for what thou hast done; for thou hast inquired of me, and behold, as often as thou has inquired thou hast received instruction of my Spirit. If it had not been so, thou wouldst not have come to the place where thou art at this time." (emphasis added)
I congratulate you for coming to this point in your life because it means that you have inquired of the Lord and allowed him to guide you to the place where you are at this time. For many, if not most of us, we had to overcome a series of impossibilities before coming to this point in our lives. Think back on the past few years. Can you see his hand in bringing you to this place? I came to BYU-Hawaii as a freshly-graduated-from-high-school seventeen-year-old. I knew immediately that I loved the people here, the palm trees, the ocean, my classes, and my roommate, but it wasn't until I spent a semester living at home, going to a different school, that I realized just how dear BYU-Hawaii is to my heart.
I had always planned on coming back to BYU-Hawaii after that semester away, but because of my financial situation, coming back became impossible. I could barely afford to stay in school at home, much less in Hawaii. I struggled constantly with the fear that I might never get back, and though I'm ashamed to admit it, I let fear overcome me and sometimes forgot how to use my faith. But through the patience and faith of my beautiful mother and family, fasting, heartfelt prayers, father's blessings, and by turning to stories of great people in the scriptures, especially Abraham, I regained my faith in the Lord's plan and his ability to fulfill the righteous desires of my heart in his own way and time. Only when I regained this faith and trust in the Lord was he able to "stretch forth [his] hand" (Doctrine & Covenants 121:4) and perform miracles in my behalf. I stand here today as proof that the God we worship is a God of miracles. I still don't understand how he made it all work out, but he brought me back here with a job, scholarships, and tremendous support from my extended family.
I realize that my story may be similar to many of yours, that the Lord had a hand in bringing each of us here and that he had to move some pretty huge mountains to make it happen. However, may I submit that the Lord's greatest accomplishment is not moving the mountains of expensive plane tickets or tuition or housing. In my situation, his greatest miracle was me. My changed heart became a tool for him to work with and my faith gave me power to trust in his plan. He says that his work and his glory is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). Do you understand what he is saying? His greatest miracle is you.
In Isaiah 55:8-9, the Lord tells us, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." We know that His knowledge is perfect, that he sees everything with a perfect perspective, including how far we have come and how much further we can go. May I suggest two tools the Lord works with to help us achieve our greatest potential. Or, in other words, two key factors in becoming the Lord's greatest miracle. The first is a heart full of desire and the second is a pair of hands ready to serve.
A Heart Full of Desire
Many times, we overlook the power of a righteous desire. Elder Sterling W. Sill states, "A consuming desire is the greatest qualification for any success...If our desire is strong enough, accomplishment is assured. Desire is the quality that makes us want to 'do many things of [our] own free will' (D&C 58:27). The desire clause is the power clause. God grants to us 'according to [our] desires' (Alma 29:5)." (Sterling W. Sill, "The Success Formula of Section 4," New Era, Sep 1985, 4)
Oftentimes, we think that we are only allowed to ask for those things that we absolutely need, that praying for what we want is somehow outside the limits of our Father in Heaven's capability or that he has already given us so much that it would be selfish to ask for more. I can testify that, not only is the Lord completely capable, but he aches to satisfy the righteous desires of our hearts. Look at examples in the scriptures. One of them is found in 3 Nephi 28, where Christ is having a final conversation with his apostles in the Americas before returning to His Father.
All twelve of the apostles desire something of the Savior. Nine of them request the following: "We desire that after we have lived unto the age of man that our ministry, wherein thou hast called us, may have an end, that we may speedily come unto thee in thy kingdom." He responds, "Blessed are ye because ye desired this thing of me; therefore, after that ye are seventy and two years old ye shall come unto me in my kingdom; and with me ye shall find rest." He then turns to the three remaining apostles, who stand, like many of us, afraid to voice their desires. But listen to what happens next. "And he said unto them: Behold, I know your thoughts, and ye have desired the thing which John, my beloved, who was with me in my ministry, before that I was lifted up by the Jews, desired of me. Therefore, more blessed are ye, for ye shall never taste of death" (3 Nephi 28:6-7).
All twelve of the apostles had their righteous desires granted; three of them were even granted immortality - talk about miracles! Elder Holland teaches, "God is eagerly waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams. But He can't if you don't pray, and He can't if you don't dream. In short, He can't if you don't believe" (Jeffrey R. Holland, "This, the Greatest of All Dispensations," Ensign, Jul 2007, 52-58). The three Nephites were willing to dream and willing to believe and it resulted in a miracle.
Many of us may fear the risk of having our hearts broken by an unmet desire; however, I tend to agree with the alchemist in Paulo Coehlo's book who responds to his young friend's fears with these words: "Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity" (The Alchemist). I testify that God is ever-present in our righteous desires and that he performs miracles in order to fulfill them. Those "encounter[s] with God and with eternity" strengthen our faith in him, reassure our hearts of his love and watchfulness, and shape us into our Heavenly Father's greatest miracle.
A Pair of Hands Ready to Serve
My favorite quote comes from President Gordon B. Hinckley, who said, "Give expression to the noble desires that lie within your heart to reach out, to comfort, sustain, and build others." The righteous desires of our hearts almost always involve serving others to some degree.
I have been extremely blessed in the past year to be in a position where I have witnessed hundreds of you give freely of your time and talents without expecting anything in return. This includes everything from sitting with you at the Stop & Serve table, assembling coloring books or making yarn leis to getting dirty weeding yards together to cleaning up from Winter Ball until 4 a.m. to cooking hot dogs for the opening social. This includes diligent home and visiting teachers who are available at a moment's notice. This includes professors who build confidence and instill a passion for the subject in their students' minds and hearts. This includes serving with a presidency and team who have always gone far above and beyond the call of duty to serve the students of this campus and, ultimately, our Heavenly Father.
King Benjamin tells us that even "if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants" (Mosiah 2:21). While this may seem a bit discouraging at first, I can testify that even though we cannot ever repay the Lord for all of his mercies toward us, if we have a pair of hands ready to serve him, he will use them and make more of us than we ever could have made of ourselves. We will become his greatest miracle and be able to say with Ammon, "How great reason we have to rejoice. What great blessings has [the Lord] bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?...We have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work" (Alma 26:1,2,3). There is no greater joy than being able to "give expression to the noble desires that lie within [our] hearts" to care for our brothers and sisters. I know because I have experienced this joy in the past year and I have seen it on the faces of many of you as you serve with all your "heart, might, mind, and strength" (D&C 4:2). I can promise that when we offer the Lord a pair of hands willing to serve, he uses them to do his work and in return, forms us into his greatest miracle.
I testify that the Lord cares for us, that he loves us, that we are his greatest work. He is using us as instruments to bring about his greatest work. I promise you that. I testify of that in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, amen.
Alma Fonua: Reaching Our Greatest Potential
Brothers and sisters, good morning and aloha. In high school, I had a seminary teacher that wrote a list of items on the board and we had to decide as a class what we thought was the least important item and erase it off the board one by one. We erased items off the board like a TV, or video games, until it started getting closer to stuff like food and clothes or our home. We finally started debating whether our arm was more important than our legs or whether we would rather have our sight or our hearing. Finally, the very last item on the board that we came to the conclusion as a class of what we thought was the most important item on the board was the word "Testimony." As we all know in essay writing, after your intro and thesis, you want to start out with your most important points, so I would actually like to start out with my testimony of the sacred obligation we have here as student leaders of this great university prophesied to go forth into the world in establishing peace internationally. I testify that this prophesy will not only come to pass, but is coming to pass as we speak. I testify together with Elder Cordova who spoke at our stake conference last month that we are not the future of the Church, but we are the present of the Church.
I'm so honored to have served you throughout this past year and in the process of doing so, having been blessed with an amazing team and co-Presidents who I can't give enough credit to. Being the student body president, you're asked a lot of questions from the student body every single day in which the new student body president will soon realize. Some of the most frequently asked questions would be:
So, like, what do you even do?
Do you have your team ready yet?
Do you meet President Wheelwright everyday and have lunch with him whenever you want?
How many hours do you guys put in? Is it a full scholarship position? I voted for you so could you hook me up with a?
How can I get involved with BYUHSA?
Could you do something about this Mr. President?
Do you have another job?
What's the next activity or big event?
Is it what you expected?
How do you find time for everything?
Are you going to keep all the promises you've made?
For the interest of time, I will focus on just these last two questions and as for the rest of the questions; you can ask the new president elect here sitting on the stand with us today.
How Do You Find Time for Everything?
First off we need to understand these three principles when you get overwhelmed:
1) When you put forth your effort, God will provide.
2) As easy as some people may make it look; it is hard but still must get done.
3) The more you help others, the more successful you will be.
Unfortunately, I had to figure this out the hard way. At first, I seemed to be content with what I had, but still wondered why things were not working out. I wasn't as happy as I thought I'd be and there were less and less hours in a day. I wanted to "Find joy in the journey" like so many presidents before have spoken of and counseled me on doing, but it just wasn't happening. What do you do when you let people down that trusted in you because you didn't have time for them? Although the work I was doing was good, it wasn't good enough and I knew I could do better and work harder. I remember one of my past home teachers saying, "I never asked the Lord to do something that I could do myself." So I wasn't going to just sit around and pray for it, but in order for us to reach our greatest potential brothers and sisters, we have to look to our greatest example: Jesus Christ.
I learned to balance out my work life by following what He did when He was our age. In Luke 2:52, it reads, "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." but I needed to prioritize the order around so it fit me personally and I encourage you to prioritize your life through His same example, but so it fits you personally. For me, I had to start first with.
Favor with God
Men and women who give their life to the Lord know that the Lord can make more of their life than they can make of it (see Sheri Dew, "President Ezra Taft Benson: Confidence in the Lord," New Era, Aug 1989, 36).
One of our goals this past year was to not only to create leaders in class and in the workplace, but to increase the individual spirituality level within each of us to help create spiritual leaders. In order to do something like that, it not only had to start from within us, but it had to start with me. If anyone should be leading this school in fulfilling his calling, or home teaching, or even in missionary work, then it should be me. I tried to integrate this missionary effort within our team retreats, or student leadership conferences, or even after lobbying with the Senator of Hawaii, giving him a Book of Mormon with my testimony inside. My whole thinking was, "If I don't step up to the plate and do this, then who will?"
Whether senator, our next door neighbor, president of the United States, or prime minister, we have to realize that we are all sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father and keep this eternal perspective in mind. "Keeping an eternal perspective doesn't mean thinking eternally and then everything will be better, but it's being active about it and anxiously engaged in the work" (Janelle Cabacungan). It's having the ability to see Christ in every person you encounter and then treating them as such. I'll speak a little bit more on being in favor with God later on, but one of the main points to understand is realizing our potential of becoming like Him.
Increase in Wisdom
"Be Sowers of knowers, and not fishers of wishers," (Dave Hull).
Elder Bednar once said, "When you take notes, don't you to write down what you read or hear, but write down what the spirit tells you to write down." This should apply not only in our classes, but everywhere we learn. One of the main ways the Spirit communicates with us is speaking from Spirit to Spirit and that's why it's important to recognize and act upon all the thoughts that come into our head. So that we can get the most out of what is being taught to us.
Don't negotiate with mediocre goals if you see that excellence is in reach. One way we can do this is by keeping in mind how we live affecting us being taught by the Spirit. One example of this was on my mission in Tonga.
I received a letter from my sister serving at the same time in Albania. She wrote of a talk her mission president gave about the living standards. When you wake up to do your morning scripture study, you're inviting a member of the Godhead to come teach you. Is where you stay, a place where the Holy Ghost can come into your room and teach you through the scriptures?
With that said, let me just point out that there is a difference between not understanding the gospel, but still trying to accept it and not understanding the gospel and trying to contradict its teachings. The difference is when you try to live it, and then you'll be able to understand it because the Lord will bless you for your faith as shown to us in John 7:17, but if you try to use your own knowledge instead of trusting in the Lord, the Lord won't bless you. You must ask sincerely to understand sincerely.
Increase in Favor with Man
In this section, you could include dating and having a social life, but it also includes keeping a positive attitude in your everyday contact with all those around you, even if you have to put on the PCC smile everywhere you go.
When I was in the MTC, my companion taught me an important lesson of being in favor with man, or in this case, other missionaries. Throughout our time there, I thought the world of this elder and admired his obedience and hard work. However, it was difficult for him at times to get along with the rest of our district as they continually would bump heads. He felt at times they might not be as obedient as they should or follow the MTC rules to exactness like he did.
At the end of our two month training before we left to The Kingdom of Tonga, he wrote in my journal and a small excerpt from it reads, "All I was trying to do was be the kind of missionary the Lord wanted me to be, but it was hard with all this negative pressure around me to conform to the 'group standard'. After a lot of prayer and searching the scriptures, I found my answer. It's found in 2 Timothy 2:24-26. In summary it says two things: Love with the pure love of Christ all those around you, but never compromise your own standard." He continued writing, "No matter how much good you do, no matter how obedient you are, no one will follow your example if they don't love you."
What a valuable lesson for me to learn at the start of my mission of how important it is to genuinely love others in a way that they would want to follow the example that I could set for them. To me this means being a concerned friend before a home teacher/visiting teacher. The final section for me was.
Increase in Stature
I would include in this section not only the Word of Wisdom and recognizing that your body is a temple, but everything we should be doing to keeping our bodies healthy and strong to be a better instrument in the Lord's hand. Although this is something I struggle with at times, making excuses of not having enough time to exercise, I know it is important especially in the early morning when I see others like some of our faculty, administration, or stake leaders, that are way busier than I am, swimming laps in the pool, walking around La'ie with close friends, or riding their bike around campus to stay fit. I've also noticed that your physical health and extracurricular activities are sometimes what some employers may look for in interviews and on resumes to see how well-rounded a person could be.
Actually, being a Business Major, we prepare a lot for interviews, and we know that as much as the interviewer is interested about knowing you and your background, he or she is more interested in what you have done and what you can offer to help out the company. I imagine this might be similar questions that our Father has in mind. What have you done and what can you offer in building up the Kingdom of God? This leads to the second question I'm asked of.
Are You Going to Keep All The Promises You've Made?
One thing I learned about being the Student Body President is that although you can't please everyone on campus, you can please God. Until I realized that it's Him who is most important, I could never please everyone. I needed to keep all the promises I've made with God first, and then He would help me keep promises I've made with everyone else. In the words of Joseph Smith Jr., "I am just an instrument." How are you keeping the promises you've made with our Heavenly Father? This not only includes the covenants we've made at baptism, but also within the temple, or fulfilling our callings, and even keeping the Honor Code. It's sad to see and hear students complain about something they themselves agreed to keeping before coming to this University.
This past week I was able to go to a conference in Washington DC about American/Israel relations and listened to various prominent speakers. One particular Lieutenant that spoke at one of the sessions was speaking on their code of ethics otherwise known as the spirit of the IDF. Although this was an attempt to minimize deaths, the question came up that "The world doesn't care whether or not you're keeping your ethics code, and they're going to attack anyway so why should you even keep your standards?" He stated, "First off, we should never give up no matter the situation. Sometimes we might lose the battle, but we can still win the war. We're not just fighting for real-estate, but for values and morals."
This reminded me so much of the commitment we've made with the Honor Code. We're on a different battlefield, and although we know that the world doesn't care whether or not we keep the Honor Code, we also know that it's God whom we are trying to please. So I ask again, are you going to keep all the promises you've made, including the Honor Code.
The Honor Code covers Ecclesiastical Endorsements and Residential Living, but two of the more we'll known sections of the Honor Code would be academic honesty and dress and grooming.
I will never forget a talk given to us when I was a youth. One of the brethren was speaking directly to the young men of the importance it was to stay away from pornography. He then stated to the young women of the church, and I'm paraphrasing this "If you dress in a way that leads a man to think unrighteous or unclean thoughts of you, he may see you as pornography."
We are so blessed to be going to a school, with the best looking students in the world that understand that modest really is hottest and we don't need to succumb to what the world views as what is in fashion or not. Modesty is always in fashion.
With finals week this next week, everyone becomes a lot busier, scrambling to get work done before the end of the semester. Temptations may arise to take the easy way out and cheat on some assignments, but let me reiterate the words of Brigham Young: "honest hearts produce honest actions." Engrave in your heart now the choices you will make.
It takes faith and courage to stand up for what's right. One of the area authorities on my mission, President Dennis E. Simmons, came and spoke to us in Tonga. Shadowing a talk he gave at General Conference, he recalled the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were commanded to bow down and worship a golden image set up by the King Nebuchadnezzar. When they refused to bow down and worship the golden image, the angry King Nebuchadnezzar told them that they would be immediately cast into a burning fiery furnace and asked, "And who is that God that will deliver you out of my hands?" They quickly and confidently responded, "If it be so [if you cast us into the furnace], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand." They continued to demonstrate their faith and courage by saying, "But if not, be it known unto thee, O King, we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."
We should have the same mindset, thinking, "I will be honest when I take this statistics test or writing this research paper and the Lord will deliver me from a bad grade, but if not I will still be honest in not plagiarizing nor cheating on any exam."
This is all about being self-disciplined in standing for what you know to be right. It takes self-discipline to follow Christ examples and be one of His disciples. "To be a true disciple, you need to let go of the telestial and seek that which is celestial" (Bishop David H. Burton).
For some of us, keeping covenants could mean returning home and building up the Kingdom of God there. The fear and of returning, becoming a branch president or another church leader, and failing, might cross and burden your mind. Matthew 7:18. Becoming a good leader at BYU-Hawaii and then going home, you can only have good fruit. You came here to be a leader. You were made to lead and the world needs leadership as big as the challenges we face. Stop wondering if your work is going to be good or not, and just do it. Returnability may mean returning home to build up the Kingdom, but in a similar sense, it should also mean helping others to return home to our Father in Heaven, even while we are here going to school.
I remember a year ago at "The Conference of Champions," President Wheelwright stated, "You can never mention too often, that which is most important," and, so, I'd like to finish again, with my testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel.