I am so delighted to be with you today. On behalf of the Church Board of Education, that includes the First Presidency, I welcome the entire Brigham Young University–Hawaii workforce—faculty, staff, administration, and senior missionaries—to a new academic year. Thank you for your faith and faithfulness, for your dedication and diligence, and for your caring concern for Heavenly Father’s children. We are grateful for what you do and for the effect that you have on BYU–Hawaii students and the entire Church.
My wife and I meet former BYU–Hawaii students all over the world. They create admirable families, contribute meaningfully to their communities, and serve ably in the Church.
As a full-fledged haole, when I was assigned to speak at this Ohana meeting, I first needed to be taught what ohana means. I learned that it is more than a word for immediate family. If I understand it correctly, it embraces extended relatives, close friends, and the broader community. To me, this seems to suggest that at its heart is loyalty and a determination that no one will be left behind, overlooked, or forgotten.
Leo Tolstoy begins Anna Karenina with this memorable observation: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” [1] One way to understand that line is that happiness in a family or a community depends on the presence of many essentials. When even one is missing, the harmony of the whole is weakened.
The Lord has revealed many of those essentials. In “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” we read, “Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.” [2] These principles bless families, and they also bless the larger ohana of a university that belongs to the Lord.
Four months ago, the Church Board of Education was presented with the BYU–Hawaii 2026 Strategic Plan. This plan was enthusiastically endorsed and applauded by the Board. Part of the plan was to deliver a capstone experience for students that would rest on five pillars. I would like to suggest that these five pillars are essential factors that will enable the ohana of BYU–Hawaii to be successful and happy. I’m going to repeat them now. The five pillars are:
- Faith: Strengthen faith in Jesus Christ, testimony of prophets, and commitment to temple covenants.
- Leadership: Develop capable leaders who are disciples of Jesus Christ.
- Intellect: Empower graduates to seek and learn truth by study and by faith.
- Self-Reliance: Prepare graduates to provide for their families and live and lead across Oceania and the Asian Rim.
- Resilience: Develop graduates’ physical and emotional health so they may live abundant lives, filled with Christlike service and joy.
I would like to focus on number 3, empowering our students to seek and learn truth by study and by faith. As part of the workforce, whatever your job may be at BYU–Hawaii, you are creating an environment that fosters this type of education. The education available at BYU–Hawaii prepares students to go forth to serve as disciples of Jesus Christ. But this special kind of education depends on all who serve here to consistently strive to adopt and convey Christlike attributes. Yes, you have more than a job. You are fulfilling one of the important purposes for the gathering of Israel. [3] Let me explain.
The gathering involves inviting all Heavenly Father’s children to come to “know that the Lord is their Savior and their Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel,” [4] to anchor themselves to the Savior, and to be propelled along the covenant path that is explicit in Heavenly Father’s plan. But scattered Israel must be gathered to a place, to a physical location. Why? As the early leaders of the Church were encouraging members to gather to a central location, Heber C. Kimball explained that “as the branch of the vine cannot gather sap and nourishment from the body when separated from it, so the members of the church abroad, when commanded to gather to the body, cannot receive life and intelligence away from it, nor grow in the things of the kingdom of God.” [5] Acquiring both intelligence and knowledge of the Kingdom of God are two reasons God commanded a gathering.
In fact, Joseph Smith said, “Intelligence is the great object of our holy religion” and that intelligence “is the result of education, and education can only be obtained by living in compact society; One of the [principal] objects, then, of our coming together, is to obtain the advantages of education; and in order to do this, compact society is absolutely necessary.” [6] The compact society that we call BYU–Hawaii fulfills a key role in furthering the great objective of our religion, acquiring intelligence.
Intelligence once attained in this life “will rise with us in the resurrection” and provides advantages to the individual in the hereafter. [7] It is more important than the alphabet and astrophysics; it is more important than multiplication tables and the periodic table; it is more important than Aeschylus and Euripides and brushing up on our Shakespeare. [8] This kind of teaching and learning is not limited to classrooms; it is taught by administrators and cooks, librarians and facility engineers. It can occur in a classroom even when you teach partial differential equations or poetry. The unique teaching available at BYU–Hawaii stems from the character and attributes of individuals who work here. It derives more from who you are than from what you do, or can explain, or what you know. For this reason, your role at BYU–Hawaii is more than a job.
Each member of the workforce at BYU–Hawaii contributes to the Christlike culture of this campus. Lest you think I exaggerate, consider what your impression is of the finest physician in the world if he or she is surrounded by people who are grumpy, sarcastic, and uncaring. Your impression of your medical care and the doctor’s advice will be difficult to separate from the environment in which that medical care is provided. What would your impression be of a university campus where no one empties garbage cans?
The same is true for students at BYU–Hawaii. The entire university environment contributes to the learning that occurs here. Everyone matters in this educational enterprise. While “no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing,” [9] the “hallowed” hands of the workforce can impede it.
I would like to paraphrase Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, who spoke about parents and children. I’ll speak about the BYU–Hawaii workforce and its students. To any “who may be given to cynicism or skepticism, who in matters of whole-souled devotion always seem to hang back a little,” please be aware that the full price to be paid for such a stance does not always come due during the time of your employment. No student at BYU–Hawaii “should be left with uncertainty about” your “devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Restoration of His Church, and the reality of living prophets and apostles.”
If you are a little off center, you may inadvertently lead a student “away from faithfulness, away from loyalty and bedrock belief.” Elder Holland went on, “in matters of religion a skeptical mind is not a higher manifestation of virtue than is a believing heart.… And such a deviation from the true course can be deceptively slow and subtle in its impact.” [10]
Let me illustrate. I’ll use an optical example. Consider a beam of light that originates at the left of the diagram. In the center of the diagram is a concave lens. At the right of the diagram is a target. If the beam of light strikes the lens off center, the beam diverges and will not hit the bullseye. The more off center the beam hits the lens, the farther away from the bullseye the beam ends up. Only when the beam of light hits the lens right in the center will it pass through the lens and hit the target at the bullseye. Like the light and lens, your attitude, your speech, and your empathy create a beam that can center on the Savior or miss the Master altogether. I realize it is not always easy to be cheerful and encouraging. We all have “off” days or “off” weeks as we deal with our own trials and difficulties. But no matter what, no matter when, no matter where, the Lord expects us to live the gospel to the best of our ability and unwaveringly keep the covenants we have made.
Members of the workforce at BYU–Hawaii “are to help other people become ‘true followers of … Jesus Christ.’ [11] “To do this, [faculty, staff, administration, and senior missionaries] first strive to be the Savior’s faithful disciples. Then they can help others draw nearer to Him. In the process of helping others, they become better disciples themselves.” [12] Francis of Assisi once directed those who joined his order of monasteries that, regardless of whatever else they were doing, he said, “All the Friars, however, should preach by their deeds.” [13] This is what is required of you; you preach by your deeds. The life-long quest to develop Christlike attributes is challenging, and we are most challenged in manifesting those attributes when we experience stress in our lives. While serving as an Area Seventy, I accompanied a General Authority to organize the first stake in Saratoga Springs, Utah, in 2001. One of the high councilors we interviewed was a rancher. When I asked him for a recommendation for stake president, he suggested, among others, Brother Roger E. Rees, a large animal veterinarian. When I asked, “Why?” the rancher responded in a drawling Utah accent, “Well, Doc Rees came over to help me with one of my sick horses. And while he was doing that, the horse up and kicked him right in the thigh. And Doc Rees didn’t even cuss. It takes an awfully good man to not cuss when a horse kicks him in the thigh.” He was right. It takes an awfully good man or woman to exhibit Christlike attributes when in pain or turmoil. Incidentally, Brother Rees was called to the stake presidency.
My wife and I have debated whether or not cussing when kicked in the thigh by a horse is a divine attribute. [14] We ended up with a split vote. But we agree that the ability to refrain from coarse or inappropriate speech does take self-discipline. Mastering the quality of self-discipline is manifested most clearly in times of stress or difficulty.
I would like to confess to a time when I flunked. I had just finished my internship in Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. I was a new resident and was working with a challenged intern. It was 2:00 a.m., and the intern was incapable of obtaining intravenous access for a critically ill patient. The intern had surprisingly gone to bed and did not stay up to help. I meticulously placed a central line into the subclavian vein under the left collarbone.
After placing such a line, it is standard practice to obtain a chest X-ray to make sure that the procedure had not caused a complication. As the X-ray technician walked away down the hall after getting the X-ray, I checked on the patient before going downstairs to review the X-ray. To my horror, I saw that the central line that I had just carefully placed had been ripped out of the patient as the technician had manipulated the hospital bed to get the X-ray.
On that hospital floor, at that time of night, there were just patients, several night nurses, and me. I let slip an expletive. One of the night nurses, Mrs. Paulee, who I did not know well, was shocked and said, in her quaint Baltimore accent, “Doctor Renlund! I never heard you cuss even when you were an intern.” Well, that stung. After redoing the central line and reviewing a correctly obtained X-ray, I sought out Mrs. Paulee. I apologized and promised she would never again hear me cuss. Without cutting me much slack, she simply said, “Well, I should hope not.” I am grateful for Mrs. Paulee for reminding me to strengthen my resolve in my behavior.
Parenthetically here, I just want to say that April 30th of this year, in Davao, Philippines, I accidentally smashed this finger in a car door. It broke the finger bone, and it bled profusely. When my wife saw that I was in some distress, she came over to ask what happened. I told her I knew what had happened and I knew what we were dealing with. But she said, “Dale, you didn’t even say anything.” I said, “I know.” She said, “You are now qualified to be a stake president.”
Jesus Christ’s invitation to “follow me,” [15] is an invitation to join Him in His work and to follow His example to become like Him. Always acting in a Christlike manner requires help from the Holy Ghost, a lot of patience with yourself, and a lot of work. Overcoming spiritual inertia requires effort. [16] Otherwise, nothing changes. Christlike attributes dissociated from the Savior are not Christlike attributes; they are just good habits.
We cannot acquire Christlike attributes by ourselves. We develop His attributes only with His help and through the power of His Atonement. Ultimately, Christlike attributes are gifts we receive. We need to yearn for them, but in the end, we do not earn them.
Developing Christlike attributes does not happen in a vacuum or by isolating ourselves. It does not happen by metaphorically cloistering ourselves in monasteries and chanting mantras. That is not the purpose of compact societies. Christlike attributes are developed when we serve God and our fellowman.
Helping Jesus Christ in His purposes requires that you lead students to the center of the target, never sowing seeds of doubt or behaving in ways that are contrary to Church standards. Your collective consistency in creating and conveying Christlike attributes is essential to positively influence BYU–Hawaii students and propagate that influence into the future.
The BYU–Hawaii workforce has frequent opportunities to convey its Christlike culture in brief but significant moments. Students will greatly benefit from these short encounters. Additionally, students will watch you for years, even decades. They will hear about you from future students. They will hear about you from other academics. They will hear about you from your children and grandchildren. But be assured, they will watch. And you will have the opportunity to teach them by the example of your life.
Several years ago, in Peru, I invited Monseñor Javier Del Rio, the Catholic Archbishop of Arequipa, to that year’s BYU Law and Religion Symposium. He had been a great friend of the Church. When our Church was trying to purchase property for a temple in Arequipa, several Catholic priests opposed the purchase. Monseñor Del Rio called each of them. The conversations went something like this. “Father, do you like working in Arequipa?” “Oh, yes, Monseñor,” they replied. Monseñor Del Rio then asked, “Do you want to continue working in Arequipa?” They responded, “Of course, Monseñor.” Monseñor Del Rio then instructed them, “Then stop opposing the Mormon Church from purchasing property for their temple.” The opposition stopped and property was purchased.
Two years later, the groundbreaking for the Arequipa Peru Temple was planned. A minority of the city council would not approve of the groundbreaking ceremony. Monseñor Del Rio was informed. Two hours later, after he made some phone calls, the groundbreaking was approved. Monseñor Del Rio came to the BYU International Law and Religion Symposium, attended a Sunday morning session of general conference, and conducted a mass at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City. After the symposium, we invited him to our home for dinner. My wife, Ruth, asked him a question I would never have dared pose. She asked, “Monseñor, why have you been so kind to us as a Church?” He said, “Years ago, when I was a teenager growing up in Lima, my father pointed to two of your missionaries. He said, ‘those are Mormon missionaries. You watch them. They are always doing the right things.’ I have watched your missionaries over the decades, and my dad was right. They are always doing the right things.”
I have told missionaries all over the world that Monseñor Javier Del Rio is always watching them and that they have no right to give him reason to change his opinion. I could say the same thing to you. The students are always watching you. You have more than a job. You are participating in one of the purposes of the gathering of Israel. You do so as you teach facts and help others gain intelligence. Most importantly, you help students come to a knowledge of their Redeemer. Your example and choices influence them. God has blessed us with a compact society called BYU–Hawaii. Thousands upon thousands have contributed over the years to the creation of a Christlike culture. Your God-given task is to convey that culture and live that culture. Yours is more than a job.
My dear brothers and sisters, my dear friends, you are helping to gather Israel by creating a compact society where students can gain intelligence, strengthen faith, and come to know their Redeemer. In brief but significant moments, in words spoken and unspoken, in kindness shown under pressure, and in covenants kept with quiet consistency, you teach who Jesus Christ is. I testify that He lives. I absolutely know that He lives. He is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. He knows and loves every student who comes to BYU–Hawaii, and He knows and loves each of you. As you cheerfully go forward with Christlike attributes, the ohana will continue to point souls to Him. Of this I bear witness, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes:
[1] Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, [1878]
[2] “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Gospel Library
[3] Russell M. Nelson, “Hope of Israel,” [worldwide devotional for youth, June 3, 2018], Gospel Library
said the gathering is “the greatest challenge, the greatest cause, and the greatest work on earth.… There is nothing happening … now that is more important … that … is of greater consequence. Absolutely nothing.”
[4] 1 Nephi 22:12
[5] Heber C. Kimball, “The Body of Christ—Parables of the Savior—The Last Dispensation—The Gathering—Tithing, etc.” in Journal of Discourses, April 6, 1856, 4:248
[6] Terryl L. Givens, Feeding the Flock: The Foundations of Mormon Thought: Church and Praxis, [2017], 38. Emphasis added. A subsequent reason to physically gather members of the Church was to have enough collective resources to construct temples. As stated by Terryl L. Givens, “Though it was not entirely clear in the first years, the temple and the full range of sacraments that would eventually be administered therein would become by the 1840s the very raison d’etre of the Restoration.”
[7] Doctrine and Covenants 130:18-19
[8] Cole Porter, “Brush Up Your Shakespeare,” Kiss Me, Kate, [1948]
[9] Joseph Smith, Jr., “The Wentworth Letter,” Ensign, July 2002
[10] Jeffrey R. Holland, “A Prayer for the Children,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2003
[11] Moroni 7:48
[12] General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 4.1, Gospel Library; See also Mosiah 18:26; Doctrine and Covenants 31:5.
[13] Francis of Assisi, Earlier Rule, [1221] The expression, “Preach Jesus, and if necessary, use words,” is widely attributed to Francis, but no published source has been located prior to the early 1990s. Variants of this theme also exist.
[14] 2 Peter 1:4
[15] Luke 9:23
[16] Mosiah 3:19