Today we had our first Stake Conference for the Laie First Stake. They held it in the George Q Cannon activity center. (This is probably where they used to hold the volleyball and basketball games when there were actual sport teams at BYUH.). Things here are a little different….they held a session at 9 am AND at 1 pm!
This young man was from a small country in Southern Africa.He gave a great talk on 3 Nephi 17- where the Savior is speaking to the people and then tells them to go home and think about what he said. But the people loved him so much they didn’t want to leave. So, he asked for them to bring all their blind, deaf, halt, maimed etc, people to him and he healed all of them. He likened it to us…aren’t we all blind sometimes to the things we should do? Aren’t we all deaf sometimes to the words of our prophets when he tells us to do something? Etc. but if we come to Christ, repenting and changing daily, he will heal us.
Then 3 of the young students sang “Don’t Let Go “ by Gentri. If you haven’t heard it…go to YouTube and search it…it is a beautiful song. These young men had gorgeous voices! It was powerful!
Pres. Ahu (pronounced Awww-you ) spoke in both sessions and was wonderful! He told about how whenever he sees a 7-11 - he thinks of Alma 7:11 - and that makes him remember the Atonement that Christ performed for each of us! He also said that when he sees CTR he thinks of Current Temple Recommend !
After going to both sessions we took a picture of the statue outside. It has a wonderful history.
This statue is dedicated to George Q. Cannon who was on a mission here and also the prophet who dedicated the temple here in Laie. The other man is Jonatana Napela. They both translated the Book of Mormon into the Hawaiian language… Ka Buke a Moramona.
Bro.Napela had an amazing story.
He was one of the earliest converts to the church in Hawaii. He was trained as a lawyer and was serving as a judge in Waikiki when he met George Q. Cannon who was a missionary and he converted to the church. after he converted the government forced him to resign from his position because they regarded the church with suspicion. When he was translating the Book of Mormon with Elder Cannon, Elder Cannon would translate and then ask Napela to explain the meaning of the translation to us ensure he got the meaning correct. Later his wife was diagnosed with leprosy. The laws at that time required that these people had to be quarantined and they were relocated to a settlement on the island of Molokai. There was no treatment or cure then. Later antibiotics would be used until 1960 when a cure was developed. So, Napela went with his wife. The government told him he would have to leave his wifebecause they had strict laws against segregating lepers and non-lepers. But he was not willing to leave his wife. He stayed with her on the island of Molokai until he contracted leprosy as well and died. She died two years later. What a love story!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment