The Gift of Interpretation of Tongues

Recently, I was asked by the Church Translation Department to share with them an experience I had while translating. I figured some of you might enjoy this story that I wrote for them:

I have been a member of the Marshallese translation team since 2005. For many years, our responsibility for interpreting General Conference broadcasts also included preparing the translations we were assigned to present. I found this to be a wonderful experience being able to really study, digest and memorize the various speeches that would be shared.

One problem we had with this system was if one of our team members was unable to present at the meeting, then we would have to scramble to translate their talk at the last minute to cover for them. And so it was with the 2007 Saturday Morning Session of General Conference. One of our other team members slid off the road while traveling to the Conference Center because of some ice. He was scheduled to present for President Monson, who was the concluding speaker that morning. He had finished translating the talk, but was unable to transmit it to us because he was in the middle of the mountains without Internet service.

My team leader asked myself and a couple I baptized on my mission to cover for him. The three of us quickly got to work translating the 20 minute long talk. It was very difficult, with poetry and other literary constructions that were difficult to properly convey in our target language. We worked and worked during the entire session and only got about half of the talk finished before my friend was to begin presenting it. We printed off what we had and sent him into the translation booth while his wife and I feebly tried to complete the final half.

I remember praying like mad for the Lord to enlighten our minds and give us the Gift of Interpretation of Tongues so we could complete the talk. I knew that we were working on an important message that the Lord wanted President Monson to share with the church. We had toiled and used our combined efforts to try to do the task ourselves, but we were completely inadequate for the task without the Lord's assistance.

 Rick Nang and Brian work on a translation at the last minute.

My fingers were a blaze on my laptop computer, jamming out phrases as quickly as they came into my mind. Within only a few minutes, the two of us were able to finish the rest of the talk, rush off to the printer to get a hard copy, and then bring it into the translation booth. We arrived just in time as our friend reached the end of our previously prepared materials seconds after I handed him the finished talk. He was able to seamlessly continue, and no one would ever know that he was doing a cold reading. He gave a wonderful presentation of the talk, and President Monson's message was conveyed in its entirety.

Fatigue after the translation is done. 

I marveled while listening to the words as they were spoken at the miracle I was witnessing. In only a few minutes, this sister and I had been able to duplicate the amount of work all three of us had previously accomplished in the space of an hour and a half. We truly had been blessed with the Gift of Interpretation of Tongues to not only translate the talk, but to do it in an incredibly rapid space of time. It reminded me of how quickly Joseph Smith had been able to translate the Book of Mormon. The Spirit witnessed to me there that President Monson truly is an apostle and prophet of the Lord and that he was actually sharing the words of God in his talk.

I don't know who it was that we were translating that message for, but I know it was God's will that it be shared. Perhaps the three of us were the ones who needed to hear the message and to go through that experience, to strengthen our own personal testimonies. I may never know for sure. But there is one thing that I am certain of: If we put our faith in Christ, we can receive power to do all things that are expedient in him. Moroni 7:33.

- Brian K. Tanner, April 2011.

Marshallese in Recent Church Publications

A number of Marshallese friends of mine were featured in recent church publications.

Maggie Nang and Marie Aini from West Valley were the cover story from March 2011's New Era. I baptized Maggie and her family in Hawaii (she's in a picture on page 10). She's the one who taught me to play the ukulele for the first time. Marie is her cousin, and they all now live in West Valley. Jen became good friends with Marie's Grandma Aini when we were living in Spokane.

Marie's dad, Jally Aini, and brother were one of the random pictures in last November's Conference Report in the Ensign. They were on page 55.

Lastly, this month's Ensign featured various vignettes from the Marshall Islands. One of the stories was about the Kaminaga family. I loved meeting them in Hawai'i while they were attending BYU-H. I'm vocally very jealous of the awesome job she now has working for the Marshallese mission to the UN. Lydia is always posting comments on Facebook about all of the exciting places around the world she goes to in order to reduce nuclear arms numbers. Talk about dream job.

The article also featured Ernest Mea and Gary Zakious on page 35, both of whom I met here in Utah. Gary was present for some of my more wild translation experiences at General Conference. I helped to translate for Ernest Mea when he first came to the MTC to prepare for his mission to Hawai'i. He now attends LDSBC in Salt Lake City and wants to become a Marshallese lawyer and politician. I've loved mentoring him and encouraging him to keep working hard in school.

It's neat for me to see some of these wonderful people's stories being shared with a wider audience. There are a lot of universal truths we can learn from diversity.

John Tanner Movie - Treasure in Heaven

After General Conference today, I saw a posting about my great-great-great-grandfather, John Tanner. I guess the BYU-TV channel yesterday broadcasted a film made about two years ago by my cousin, T.C. Christensen (well, technically he's my dad's first-cousin and my first-cousin, one generation removed or something like that, but it's just easier to say cousin like a Polynesian would). T.C. is a well known director and filmographer for the church, who did the principle photography for many major church film productions, including Mouth of Babes, Legacy, The Testaments, and the Joseph Smith Movie. Jen and I went to the premiere a few months after we got married.

Treasure in Heaven is the story of our ancestor's miraculous conversion to the church and some of the major events in church history that he participated in. There are some cool experiences captured in this film, many of which I grew up hearing from my own dad. I am excited to share this family legacy with Isaiah one day.

So without further adieu, here is the film from BYU-TV's website:




Enjoy!

Where We’ve Been

Sorry I haven’t written for a few months. Things have been pretty crazy around here for us. Here’s what we’ve been up to:

• Over the summer, I started interning at the Disability Law Center in downtown Salt Lake City. This job has been a blast where I’ve been working on the abuse and neglect team to help protect persons with disabilities.
• Also over the summer, I took a class on Equality, Liberty, and Civil Rights which required me to write a huge research paper. I wrote on a plan that a few GOP lawmakers have to introduce bills that would keep children born to undocumented aliens from receiving birth certificates. After wading through thousands of pages of legal work, I ultimately concluded that neither the US Congress or individual state could do such a thing without violating the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. When I wasn’t working that summer, I was writing that beast.
• Jen and I were called as missionaries to help teach English at our local Spanish Branch. Ever since we got engaged two years ago, Jen and I have been missionary companions now in three different areas (Spokane, Provo and now SLC). At one point I was pretty good at Spanish thanks to Riverview Jr. High and Murray High School, but now my Spanish comes out jumbled with Tongan. Even though I don’t have time to study Spanish full time, I’m slowly getting better.
• Jen is pregnant with a baby boy. That is awesome! 

  

  When we discovered we had a "little spot" inside of Jen.
  
  

  We are soo excited for this little guy to come fill our home with love and wildness. Louie and Rudy are pretty excited too. “Little Boy” is due sometime around April 6th.

  

  Little Boy

• Jen and I had a fun trip to California in June. We crashed my cousin Katie’s wedding reception, then went to Angelica and John’s in Madera. Jen gave me the tour of Stockton and Fresno where she grew up, and we had fun celebrating our first anniversary at Lake Tahoe.

  

  We saw some cheesy touristy brochure that advertised holding a pine cone on Lake Tahoe. We couldn't stop laughing at it, and though we would recreate it ourselves.

• Jen walked in the BYU graduation in August. She looked really hott, and I am so proud of my wife for graduating.
• Rudy got fat. He gained 20 lbs. this year, and has been put on a diet. My dad also has started coming by to run with the dogs every Saturday. He’s since lost 10 lbs. in two months, which is like losing 30 lbs. for a human.

  

  Rudy before his diet.
  
  

  

  Rudy after his diet started, and minus 10 lbs.

• Fall semester was pretty crazy for us. I was taking 17 credits of classes (Business Organizations, Bankruptcy, Trusts and Estates, Evidence, and Judicial Process) and working, in addition to church and other responsibilities. Basically, I spent every waking minute studying. Jen was also student teaching at Riverview Jr. High while pregnant. Everyday our calendars would be completely scheduled and accounted for.
• The week before Thanksgiving, we all went to Las Vegas and California on vacation. This was a much needed break to allow us to rest for a few days. We went to a friend’s wedding in the Las Vegas Temple, before heading to California. 

  

  Louie and Rudy cuddling while on a roadtrip to Vegas.

  We then spent the rest of the week preparing a 90th Birthday present for Jen’s grandpa. His favorite magazine is Time, so we made a huge book for him with all of the cover stories from each birthday that he’s had. Grandpa Perlmutter later pulled me aside and secretly told me, “Don’t tell anyone, but this is the best present I’ve ever gotten.”

  

  Izzy Perlmutter: Man of the Year

  Louie also enjoyed the sunshine while in California, and got into a lot of mischief when he somehow snuck outside and jumped into the swimming pool. His tail, which normally whirls around like a helicopter, actually went limp for a day from the shock of the cold water. Thankfully, we got our happy lab tail back the next day once he was able to spend enough time basking in sunlight.



Louie loves sunshine almost as much as mischief.

• Once I survived my four tests and two papers, I’m not enjoying my winter break. We spent Christmas in SLC with my parents and at the Marshallese peet party. A few days later, we went back to California for another week to celebrate our anniversary and spend time with Jen’s family. We went to the San Diego Temple and Olive Garden on New Year's Eve before celebrating the new year and our engagement anniversary on Sunset Beach with fireworks.

Grandma Gorman

Recently during the Thanksgiving break, Jen, Rudy and I went down to southern California to visit Jen’s family. The day after Thanksgiving, Jen’s brother needed a ride to the LAX airport for an early morning flight. Since we were downtown, Jen and I planned to have some fun in the area after leaving the airport.
This being the first time that I had been to California as a married man, I felt a desire to visit places that were important to my family during this time when I have started my own family. Jen and I visited Inglewood, the area of L.A. just east of LAX where my mother grew up. My grandmother, Merle Gorman, was buried there in the Inglewood cemetery. She died in 1975 when my mom was only fifteen.
I’m not going to lie, my grandmother had a difficult life as a result of her disobeying the commandments of God. For example, she was addicted to cigarettes, which caused my mother to be born prematurely and ultimately resulted in her early death from lung cancer at age 53. Her life was very influential to me growing up because she made the word of wisdom and other commandments personal for me.

  Merle Gorman’s grave

I have only been to her grave one other time when I was fifteen. I was interested in returning so I could show my new wife to my grandma. It was a spiritual experience for me and I felt that Jen was approved of.
In addition to visiting my grandmother’s grave, we also visited the grave of her parents and my great-grandparents, Siney and Helena Lewis. Their parents were Mormon pioneers who had travelled from Kentucky to Nauvoo and later to Vernal, UT to be with the saints. Their parents had helped to build the Vernal Tabernacle, which is now the Vernal Temple. Siney and Helena eventually came to California, where my grandma was born. They passed away in the 1950’s before my mother was even born.

Siney and Helena Lewis’ graves

While standing before their graves, Jen made a very interesting comment that has resonated with me ever since. She said that it was interesting to see that while they had a daughter that apostatized and went against the commandments of God, my great-grandparents were still blessed with a righteous posterity that included Jen and me. Their ancestors had sacrificed everything they had for God, and yet they had died never seeing their daughter repent. Yet their sacrifices were not forgotten and within one generation their family has returned to the church and done much good in the world.
It reminded me of when Lehi passed away in the Book of Mormon, and his sons’ families were living wickedly. How tragic that must have felt, and yet there was likely some solace and peace from the knowledge that one day his sons’ families would repent and receive the blessings of God. 2 Nephi 1:17; 4:9.
All of this shows God’s great love for us and that he will honor his promises to us. He will give us opportunities to repent, and he will bless us greatly if we do.

Alaka'i and Bert Kanahele

A few days ago I got a message on Facebook from Alaka'i Kanahele that blew me away. I met Alaka'i (who went by the English name Donna) the first day of my mission in Kekaha, Kaua'i in Hawai'i. She and her boyfriend, Bert, were both from Ni'ihau, a small island some 17 miles away across the ocean where everyone speaks only Hawaiian. It is one of the last few places on the planet where Hawaiian is spoken on a daily basis.

Wiwi Kalawi, Bert Kanahele, and Alaka'i Kahale sitting under the mango tree.

I became good friends with Alaka'i and Bert. They had given birth to a baby named Maylynn who had just turned one right before I came on island. This was also about the same time when they began meeting with the missionaries. My companions and I could always find them lounging around underneath a big mango tree in their backyard because it was the coolest spot in their yard. They would sit there for hours, eating and making precious Ni'ihau shell leis while we taught them the gospel. Alaka'i and Bert accepted everything they were taught, but they had a hard time actually living it.

In order for them to repent, they needed to get married and Bert needed to stop drinking. Because they were living together and not married, they were breaking the law of chastity. The law of chastity strengthens families and gives greater joy and happiness to married couples when obeyed. But those who break this commandment are denied all of the blessings that God can give families. Similarly, drinking alcohol violates the word of wisdom, which keeps individuals from receiving all of the physical benefits and strength that God can give individuals.

I think I taught Alaka'i and Bert the lesson about temples, families, law of chastity and word of wisdom about six times during my stay in Kekaha. Some of those lessons were soooo spiritual, we would all be reduced to tears. The biggest obstacle was simply getting them married. I did a lot of planning for their wedding, including figuring out a way to make invitations, using the chapel for the wedding and reception, and even figuring out a way to get their family over from Ni’ihau for the wedding for little or no cost. But Bert was stubborn and was hesitant to go through with it, so these preparations were for naught.

But because of their great faith, their reluctance to get married did not deny them from other blessing. Since Alaka'i and Bert were merely second-cousins, it was no surprise when they discovered little Maylynn had a genetic disorder. She had some sort of bubble in her spine that doctors feared might eventually paralyze her. They would take frequent visits to Honolulu to see specialist doctors to see what treatment options were available to them. The doctors ultimately decided in order to save the girl, they needed to operate and remove that bubble.

Alaka'i was really worried for her daughter. At the time, my companion and I felt impressed to teach her about fasting. Looking back, I find this unusual that instead of being directed to give her a blessing, we instead taught her about fasting and faith. After our lesson, Alaka'i fasted for her daughter by going without food or drink for two meals. This in and of itself was an amazing feat considering eating food is what Ni’ihauans do best!

When the family visited the doctor in Honolulu again, they could no longer find the bubble in Maylynn’s spine. It had simply vanished, and it never came back afterwards. To this day, I marvel at the amazing blessing this young Ni’ihauan mother received for fasting and putting her faith in the Lord.

My companions and I read a lot from The Book of Mormon with them and they taught us a lot of Ni’ihauan words. They would often feed us poi, smoked meat and other Hawaiian foods, which I would ‘grind’ very quickly. Because they saw how much we loved them, their food and culture, my companion and I were practically adopted into Alaka'i and Bert’s Ohana. They gave both of me a Ni’ihauan name "Wiwi Kalawi", which translates roughly to mean ‘Skinny Cow.’

Not long after our being adopted into their ohana, we couldn’t ride our bikes anywhere without people throwing shakkas and yelling, “Hey! Wiwi Kalawi!” I had no idea who half of those people were, but they certainly knew who we were. It was like being a celebrity! To this day, the Ni’ihauans still remember a missionary named Wiwi Kalawi who learned Hawaiian.

When I left Kaua'i to go to another area, I had a lot of hope that Alaka'i and Bert would soon get married and baptized. Every month I would check the roster of people who had been baptized in the previous month searching for them, but their names were never there. A year went by, and I began to lose hope when I was about to go home. I stayed in contact with them after I went home, and was able to visit them on a few occassions. They started calling Maylynn "Wiwi Kalawi" because they didn't want her to forget the missionary who came to teach them the gospel. Alaka'i would often write me about miraculous dreams or visions she had, but never word about wedding preparations.

Which is what made Alaka'is message this week so surprising. She had recently gotten married and wanted to share some pictures with me of the exciting day. I stared dumbfounded at the computer screen, not believing what I was seeing. Alaka'i and Bert, after seven years of working with me, had finally gotten married! I couldn't believe it! The family is happier than ever now, and their faith in God had increased because of their obedience to the law of chastity.

Alaka'i and Bert Kanahele on their wedding day with their daughter, Maylynn.

Tears came to my eyes to think of the many years I had spent pleading and teaching them to obey the law of chastity. I find it strangely ironic that their marriage would come not long after mine. Jen and I ourselves have seen the positive influence of marriage on our dog, Rudy. Since getting married, Rudy is far more calm and obedient than he ever was before. This reminded me of other couples I worked with on my mission whose children were more obedient once their parents got married to each other. True, Jen and I were not breaking the law of chastity before marriage, but we have still received many wonderful blessings from obeying the law of chastity.

Alaka'i and Bert Kanahele's wedding day. Note Alaka'i's gorgeous and expensive homemade Ni'ihau shell leis.

The law of chastity is one of the greatest blessings God can give a couple who love each other. It brings me so much joy to see Alaka'i and Bert finally able to get married and repent. It is a miracle!

General Conference Oct. 2009

Once again, I participated in translating for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint's General Conference. In years past, this was always a really exciting experience wherein I would often be called on to save conference at the last minute. Having not translated for Conference since last year, I was feeling a little rusty and I don't think I did the best job.

What made things nice/frustrating this time was the talks were translated in the Marshall Islands and then sent to us. Normally the process would work wherein they would just send us the English text of the talk and then I would translate it myself. This would often be really stressful in finding time to translate. With law school this year, it was nice not having to worry about translating the talks myself, but it was frustrating waiting for the talks to come. One didn't come at all, so I ended up translating it myself late Friday night. It would have been nice to have gotten a heads up that it wasn't coming.

The other bad thing about not translating the talks myself was I didn't prepare as carefully as normal. Usually I would practice the talks over and over again until I could perform them really clearly and with enthusiasm. This time I found myself struggling to keep up with the speakers because I didn't have the text memorized like before. Especially difficult was translating for Elder Tad Callister during the Saturday Afternoon session who spoke at a rate of 179 words per minute. He basically gave a 14 minute talk in 9 minutes. I could barely breathe when he finished. I was talking so fast that I was gasping for air.

I also interpreted for Elder Whitney Clayton and the closing prayer during the Saturday morning session. You can listen to the Marshallese audio archives can be found here.

What did make this session different was I spent some time with Batrick Boaz, the older brother of Bryan Boaz, the missionary who taught me Marshallese. He recently formally organized a Marshallese group called Utah Marshallese Association, or UMA for short (Uma means kiss in Marshallese). Batrick was elected president of the new non-profit organization, and I offered to help him draft the organization's charter and by laws. UMA's goals are to help improve Marshallese access to economic, educational, health and other resources in the State of Utah. Their approach is based on the welfare program of the LDS church, but is involved in helping Marshallese of several different churches. This group will be a big blessing to Marshallese in Utah, and I was grateful in helping to give Batrick suggestions on the organization and structure from using my legal and church experience.

Over all, it was great seeing my Utah Marshallese friends again. Being around Rick and Margaret Nang and Steve Lutz again is always a blast and makes me happy.

Weirdest Church Calling

I arguably have one of the weirdest church callings ever. For the past five months or so, I've been serving for my church as the "Marshallese Program Director" for Spokane and Eastern Washington. My responsibilities are working with the local Stake Presidency, bishoprics, missionaries, etc. to create a sustainable church program to fellowship the Marshallese people in eastern Washington. I'm sort of like a pseudo-Bishop/High Councilman/Ward Mission Leader/Sunday School President.

There are several thousand Marshallese people here in Spokane and they are the second largest minority group in town. Being a very faithful and humble people, many of them are joining the church. The Spokane Stake Presidency views the large number of baptisms from one ethnic group as grounds for starting a new branch or separate church congregation. Having spoken Marshallese for several years, and having a lot of insights from working with them as a missionary, my job to set up a program to eventually establish a branch.

Basically, this has set up my life to be a lot of crazy fun working with the Marshallese people while balancing law school. It has been wonderful being in their homes and enjoying life with them. But most of all, it has been wonderful to help so many of them come unto Christ through the principals and ordinances of the gospel.

Another perk is working with two Elders who are specifically called to work with the Marshallese. I've been working to help teach them Marshallese and give cultural insights to help them with a foreign mission in America. At times it really does feel like I'm a missionary again, and it's hard to not want to give up my study time to go out visiting investigators with them.

The true highlight though has been being able to work so closely with Jen on this program. She was living here in Spokane for a few months and was also called to work with the Marshallese in the region, which made it feel like we were missionary companions together. It was great. Not everyone gets to go on a couple's mission before they actually get married. She has had so many good ideas and plans that, if this program does prove to be sustainable, will be in a large part because of her.

One quick story happened back in February when Necinta, a recent convert, gave birth to a baby. The daughter, Lindsay Skyla Anton, was named after the ward mission leader's wife and the missionary who baptized her mother. Jen and I visited her in the hospital a few hours after the baby was born with flowers and diapers. I helped fill out the birth certificate form while Jen took pictures of the mother and newborn. 

Seeing Jen hold a newborn was a wonderful sight. I love her. That was a sacred moment for me that I would not trade for all the world.

What is the weirdest thing you have ever been asked to do for a church calling?

October Conference

The October General Conference was quite successful and I was even able to avoid going crazy during the weekend helping translate into Marshallese. This was mostly because I tried to avoid being the "fireman" this time and putting out all of the fires that sprang up. Instead, I was able to spend more time watching conference with Jennifer instead, which was wonderful! It was really neat to realize that our first experience going to church together as a couple was to the Saturday Morning session of Conference in the Conference Center!


Anyway, you can access the Marshallese audio archive for this session here. I did Elder Causse's talk from Saturday afternoon, which begins about 50 minutes into the program. Enjoy!

Coming Unto Christ and Being Healed

I want to apologize for not updating this as regularly as I had originally planned. Just lazy I guess. I do plan to do some quick summary notes about the other Summer Jambo's and whatnot, but that will probably be when I'm bored on my Jambo to Texas this weekend. Anyway, to get things rolling again, here's the text from my talk in church this past week. I'd written this specifically with some people in mind, but I think it's universal enough that just about any young adult can find some solace from it:

I want to testify to all of you today that our Savior, Jesus Christ, lives! I know that He and our Heavenly Father know each of us and all of the problems and struggles we face. Because they have all wisdom, they know what our needs are and will give us the help we need to overcome any trial we may face.

I saw this first-hand one morning a little over a year ago when I was late leaving for class. Just as I was about to run out the door, my telephone rang. Upon answering it, I heard the girl on the line begin shrieking and crying very loudly, “Ahh!”

Perplexed, I asked “Umm...how are you?” The girl began shrieking, “Ahh! My eye! Oww! My eye! Ahh!” and so on. Discerning that something was probably wrong with her eye, I asked, “Is something wrong with your eye?” “Ahh! I don’t know! Oww!” “Where are you?!” She replied, “I don’t know! In a parking lot somewhere!” followed by more screaming. I told her, “Ok hold on! I’ll come find you!”

Because I was late for class, I was in the unique position to readily get in my car and begin driving around, not knowing where I was supposed to look. While driving, I prayed for Heavenly Father to lead me to my friend so I could get her the medical help she needed. My prayer was answered, and without knowing how, I was able to find her in the very first place I looked.

Once she was in my car, I was able to then take her to the hospital so she could be examined. Her eye had been badly scratched, but it was able to be healed from some medicine and some surgery. A doctor later remarked that if she hadn’t come when she had, she might have permanently lost her eyesight. Her needs and prayers were answered by my being in an unusual position to help, and by the Spirit guiding me to find her.

The Lord knows where you are and how you can be found. He also knows how you can be healed from our physical and spiritual infirmities.

The New Testament tells the story of a woman with an “issue of blood” or “bleeding condition” who was healed when she touched Christ’s clothing. Many of us are familiar with this story, but I want to point out a particular principle about this story which has profound implications for all of us.

Under the Law of Moses, which the people in the time of Christ were still required to live by, women with “issues of blood” were considered unclean, and any who came in contact with them were also made unclean by extension. She had been living as an “unclean woman” for twelve years, which is a terrible amount of time to carry such a burden. By touching the hem of Christ’s garment, it would have made Christ unclean as well. But this did not happen, instead Christ healed her from her infirmity according to her faith.

The lesson this principle teaches is that no matter how unclean you may be, whether it be from grievous sin or otherwise, the Lord can heal you if you will come unto him. The Lord taught, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

Elder Holland taught, “In this promise, that introductory phrase, “come unto me,” is crucial. It is the key to the peace and rest we seek. Indeed, when the resurrected Savior gave His sermon at the temple to the Nephites in the New World, He began, “Blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”...

“Whatever other steps you may need to take to resolve these concerns, come first to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Trust in heaven’s promises. In that regard Alma’s testimony is my testimony: “I do know,” he says, “that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions.”

Last year I watched the change that occurred in a friend of mine who came unto Christ. When I first met her, she was in a state of despair. She had recently broken up with a boyfriend whom she loved very much and had put a lot of hopes into their relationship. By his breaking up with her, she saw it as a sign that no one would ever love her. Because her boyfriend no longer loved her, she didn’t think that God or Christ also loved her either.

Do you ever feel like this? Do you put conditions upon whether or not your Heavenly Father cares about you or not? If so, I want to point out that the real problem my friend was facing her wasn’t one of self esteem, but that she was rejecting the peace that comes from the Atonement to heal her and give her the courage to press forward. If you will truly believe in Christ’s power to help you, you can receive the peace that is missing from your life, just as my friend did.

Little by little, as she began to put her faith in the Lord, began reading her scriptures again, actively fulfilling her church calling and counseling with her Bishop, she was able to have the Atonement begin to work in her life. By giving her burdens to the Lord, happiness entered her life, her testimony became powerful, she had goals for the future again, and ultimately doors were opened for even greater happiness to enter her life. My friend today is now able to stand as a witness that not only does God love her, but that Christ’s Atonement can overcome all obstacles in her life.

Elder Holland said, “Considering the incomprehensible cost of the Crucifixion and Atonement, I promise you He is not going to turn His back on us now. When He says to the poor in spirit, “Come unto me,” He means He knows the way out and He knows the way up. He knows it because He has walked it. He knows the way because He is the way. Brothers and sisters, whatever your distress, please don’t give up and please don’t yield to fear.”

If you feel fear or despair, please recognize that these feelings do not come from our Heavenly Father, but instead from the Devil. Paul wrote, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

My testimony is similar to that of Elder Holland’s, that “If you are lonely, please know you can find comfort. If you are discouraged, please know you can find hope. If you are poor in spirit, please know you can be strengthened. If you feel you are broken, please know you can be mended."

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

'Apinetai ko e Palofita

Call me crazy, but I really love reading the Book of Mormon in other languages. I've read it so many times in English, that I found myself not paying as much attention as I should. Starting on my mission with the Hawaiian language, I've found that I get more out of my reading when it is in another language. I am forced to read it more slowly, and thus pay more attention. But even more importantly, the different languages render familiar sayings in unique ways, leading to greater insight or new interpretations that weren't seen before.

Currently, I'm in Mosaia of my new Tongan translation of "Ko e Tohi 'a Molomona" which came out last year. This time while reading, I think I finally understand the story of Abinadi in king Noah's court. King Noah's people are having a crazy, wild fun time breaking the laws of God, so God sends the Prophet Abinadi to tell the people they needed to repent or they were going to be destroyed. The King and his priests get mad at him for trying to ruin their fun, so they arrest him and have a mock trial before they kill him. Before being killed, Abinadi prophecies about the death of the king and other events which all eventually come true. The story is also symbolic of Jesus Christ preaching repentance to the Jews of his day, being rejected and killed by them.

Now, the part I've always wondered about was at the beginning of Abinadi's trial, one of the priests quotes seemingly random verses from Isaiah:

And it came to pass that one of them said unto him: What meaneth the words which are written, and which have been taught by our fathers, saying:

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings; that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good; that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth; Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion; Break forth into joy; sing together ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem; The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God?

-Mosiah 12:20-24

Now, if I was a wicked priest who doesn't like upstart prophets coming along and telling my followers to stop listening to me, my first thought wouldn't be to read random verses from the Old Testament to him and think that by itself would kill him off. I've always tried to understand what on earth they were trying to get at with these verses, because it obviously backfires and Abinadi then goes off for several chapters about the mission of Christ and condemning the priests for not teaching the people about this.

Here's what I think the priests were trying to get at: I think the priests were trying to use these verses to prove Abinadi was not a real prophet from God. I think they were presenting that if Abinadi was a real prophet, he would have brought a message of peace to the people, instead of:

Thus saith the Lord, it shall come to pass that this generation, because of their iniquities, shall be brought into bondage, and shall be smitten on the cheek; yea, and shall be driven by men, and shall be slain; and the vultures of the air, and the dogs, yea, and the wild beasts, shall devour their flesh.

And it shall come to pass that I will smite this my people with sore afflictions, yea, with famine and with pestilence; and I will cause that they shall howl all the day long.

And it shall come to pass that except they repent I will utterly destroy them from off the face of the earth.

-Mosiah 12:2,4,8 (italics added)

I think the priests were using those verses from Isaiah to show that Abinadi's message of destruction couldn't be from God because God obviously loves his people and wouldn't punish them like that. Abinadi instead runs with those verses and even quotes some of Isaiah himself to show that not all prophets preach nothing but peace, including Isaiah himself. He quotes Isaiah to talk about the suffering Christ would go through to atone for our sins. Abinadi was teaching that the role of prophets is to not just encourage the people in their good activities, but to also tell them to repent.

The story of King Noah and Abinadi illustrates the principle taught later in the Book of Mormon by Samuel the Lamanite:

Yea, wo unto this people, because of this time which has arrived, that ye do cast out the prophets, and do mock them, and cast stones at them, and do slay them, and do all manner of iniquity unto them, even as they did of old time. And now when ye talk, ye say: If our days had been in the days of our fathers of old, we would not have slain the prophets; we would not have stoned them, and cast them out.

Behold ye are worse than they; for as the Lord liveth, if a prophet come among you and declareth unto you the word of the Lord, which testifieth of your sins and iniquities, ye are angry with him, and cast him out and seek all manner of ways to destroy him; yea, you will say that he is a false prophet, and that he is a sinner, and of the devil, because he testifieth that your deeds are evil.

But behold, if a man shall come among you and shall say: Do this, and there is no iniquity; do that and ye shall not suffer; yea, he will say: Walk after the pride of your own hearts; yea, walk after the pride of your eyes, and do whatsoever your heart desireth—and if a man shall come among you and say this, ye will receive him, and say that he is a prophet. Yea, ye will lift him up, and ye will give unto him of your substance; ye will give unto him of your gold, and of your silver, and ye will clothe him with costly apparel; and because he speaketh flattering words unto you, and he saith that all is well, then ye will not find fault with him.

-Helaman 13:24-28

So I guess the real application is how do we respond to the prophets' council in our day? Do we just listen to the parts when they commend us for our good deads? Or do we hearken to the warnings they give us? We are warned against anger, pornography, going into debt, food storage, etc.

On another related note, you might be interested to know my opinion about the FLDS situation in Texas. I was speaking with my mother about this a few days after the raid happened, and she was quite surprised when I referred her to some comments of President Woodruff after the Official Declaration #1:

I have had some revelations of late, and very important ones to me, and I will tell you what the Lord has said to me. Let me bring your minds to what is termed the manifesto. . . .

The Lord has told me to ask the Latter-day Saints a question, and He also told me that if they would listen to what I said to them and answer the question put to them, by the Spirit and power of God, they would all answer alike, and they would all believe alike with regard to this matter.

The question is this: Which is the wisest course for the Latter-day Saints to pursue—to continue to attempt to practice plural marriage, with the laws of the nation against it and the opposition of sixty millions of people, and at the cost of the confiscation and loss of all the Temples, and the stopping of all the ordinances therein, both for the living and the dead, and the imprisonment of the First Presidency and Twelve and the heads of families in the Church, and the confiscation of personal property of the people (all of which of themselves would stop the practice); or, after doing and suffering what we have through our adherence to this principle to cease the practice and submit to the law, and through doing so leave the Prophets, Apostles and fathers at home, so that they can instruct the people and attend to the duties of the Church, and also leave the Temples in the hands of the Saints, so that they can attend to the ordinances of the Gospel, both for the living and the dead?

The Lord showed me by vision and revelation exactly what would take place if we did not stop this practice. If we had not stopped it, you would have had no use for . . . any of the men in this temple at Logan; for all ordinances would be stopped throughout the land of Zion. Confusion would reign throughout Israel, and many men would be made prisoners. This trouble would have come upon the whole Church, and we should have been compelled to stop the practice. Now, the question is, whether it should be stopped in this manner, or in the way the Lord has manifested to us, and leave our Prophets and Apostles and fathers free men, and the temples in the hands of the people, so that the dead may be redeemed. A large number has already been delivered from the prison house in the spirit world by this people, and shall the work go on or stop? This is the question I lay before the Latter-day Saints. You have to judge for yourselves. I want you to answer it for yourselves. I shall not answer it; but I say to you that that is exactly the condition we as a people would have been in had we not taken the course we have.

. . . I saw exactly what would come to pass if there was not something done. I have had this spirit upon me for a long time. But I want to say this: I should have let all the temples go out of our hands; I should have gone to prison myself, and let every other man go there, had not the God of heaven commanded me to do what I did do; and when the hour came that I was commanded to do that, it was all clear to me. I went before the Lord, and I wrote what the Lord told me to write. . . .

I leave this with you, for you to contemplate and consider. The Lord is at work with us. (Cache Stake Conference, Logan, Utah, Sunday, November 1, 1891. Reported in Deseret Weekly, November 14, 1891., italic added)

I just find it interesting that everything President Woodruff said he saw happening is occurring with these people. Just something to think, because I do believe, like Pres. Woodruff said, the Lord is at work with us, because there still is a prophet on the earth today, and time left for us to repent.

Missionary Moments - Power of Love

The Following is an article from the LDS Church News, 4-26-2008:

Lisa Chavez was raised a member of another church. However, as she grew older, she came to consider herself non-denominational. Her good friend Melinda Silverman was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who often tried to interest her in religion.

The one thing Lisa knew from her religious rearing was "Mormons were bad."

Several years ago, Lisa had a 3-year-old son who lay desperately ill in a hospital. In desperation, she asked Melinda for help. Her friend sent missionaries to the hospital; they gave the boy a blessing. Within 30 minutes, the little boy had regained strength and was running around. The family was astonished.

Out of gratitude, Lisa agreed to invite the missionaries to her home for a meal. Afterward, the missionaries made an appointment and began teaching her the gospel, but it was evident that lifelong traditions and prejudices were hard to shake. Over the course of several discussions, the conversations became a difference of ideologies and often ended in an impasse.

During a moment of quiet in one discussion, Elder Roman Matthew from the Marshall Islands spoke. He hadn't said much on previous occasions because of his limited language skills. Mustering courage and speaking in halting English, he bore his testimony. Lisa rejected his testimony and said he was misguided.

A tear began to roll down Elder Matthew's cheek, then another down the other cheek.

Lisa softened and apologized. "You haven't hurt my feelings," he said in response to her apology. "I love you."

Elder Matthew spreading the good word in Colorado.

Several nights later, she decided she would listen again, this time, with the desire to learn. A testimony blossomed and she was baptized about four weeks later. Her husband soon followed in baptism, as well as her mother, who hadn't attended a church in years.

Lisa now resides in the Pueblo West 2nd Ward, Pueblo Colorado Stake, and eagerly seeks opportunities to share her testimony. — Shaun D. Stahle

---

Photo of Roman Matthew's Baptism: Elder Bryan Boaz, Zach Mizutani, Roman Matthew, Matson Matthew, and Elder Brian Tanner.

Roman Matthew was one of the first Marshallese people I met in Hawai'i. Considering that my companion and I were nearly killed when we got lost going to his home and accidentally entered the restricted section of Pearl Harbor, it was a memorable experience for me being able to meet him for the first time. He helped me learn Marshallese and was later baptized by his older brother Matson. Since then, I have been adopted by the Matthew family.

Two of the neatest experiences of my life were being able to take care of both Matson and Roman when they came to Utah before entering the MTC. One of the most memorable experiences was when I left him unattended for a few minutes in the Cougar Eat on BYU campus and found him a few minutes later eating vanilla ice cream in 20 degree weather! Here's a kid who's never experienced cold like this before, and I found him chowing down on vanilla ice cream! His mother would have killed me had she known I let him do that.

Not long after he entered the MTC, "Elder Matthew the Second" experienced several severe headaches and even blacked out once. He ended up staying in Utah for a little while longer to make sure he was healthy enough to continue on his mission to Colorado. His sister, Mala, and I couldn't help but think these headaches were really ice cream headaches caused from too much ice cream consumption...

The church news article took place in Pueblo, CO, which was his first area. Contrary to what this article says, he speaks English perfectly after having lived in Hawai'i for many years and graduating from high school there. Similar to other Marshallese people, he's shy at times, and no greenies really talk very much in their first area anyway...well...the normal greenies that is.

Elder Roman Matthew and a piggy friend.

After much success, "Elder Matthew the Second" finished a highly successful mission at the end of February of this year. He had an hour layover in the Salt Lake City airport which his mother asked me and several other Marshallese people in the area to try and see him. Several Marshallese guys all work at the airport, including Bryan Boaz, my companion who helped teach him, so we had a pretty good chance of being able to see him. I had planned to go, but had talked myself out of trying to see him because I didn't think there would be any chance for Bryan to find him, get him out of the secure area of the airport to met to chat, and then get him back through security and onto the plane in the space of an hour.

Just as I was pulling up to work the next morning, I got a phone call from Bryan Boaz who asked me, "Guess who I have with me?" I nearly choked...ROMAN? What on earth was he still doing in Utah the next day?! Apparently Roman had been having so much fun "bwebwenato/talkin' story" with the guys in the airport that he'd missed his plane home. Who misses their plane coming home from their mission? My mother would have killed me...his mother had practice already when Matson was delayed getting home due to a huge typhoon, but still...

Bryan had found Roman still at the airport the next morning when he went to work. Not knowing any of our phone numbers, he had spent the night in the airport. Wanting to correct that mistake, Bryan had wisked him home, fed him breakfast and shower.

Cassidy Matthew, Brian Tanner, Elder Roman Matthew, Abija Bano and Bryan Boaz in the SLC airport, Feb. 2008.

It was a miracle that one of the missionaries that had baptized him found him while going to work in the airport that morning. The coincidence is too baffling for me to explain otherwise. Bryan had answered Mama Matthew's prayers and had performed the work of an angel in saving him. Elder Roman Matthew was able to have a farewell party after all, seeing four missionaries that he'd known in Hawai'i.

My mother found the church news article that began this post last Saturday and went ballistic. My father and her were telling everyone in my home ward about this, and everyone was so excited to see an article about someone that had been baptized by someone they know in the church news. I just think that it was interesting that this article was titled the Power of Love, because really, that's what makes the Marshallese people so amazing to me. When we are filled with "iakwe/aloha/love," we cannot be surprised when Missionary Moments happen everywhere we go.