Why Do This?

 

August 31, 2025, Sunday

                                                            Lā‛ie Hawai‛i Temple, painted August 2025

Five months left. Time is going so fast now. Friends are starting to leave as they complete their missions, and we’re getting to be among the old timers whose time is short.

 Not a lot has changed in our daily work. Dennis is working hard to finish the projects he’s been immersed in before we leave. Debbi keeps plugging away, writing. So I guess the only thing that would be of interest to talk about here would be a spiritual experience of some kind.

Our new mission presidency seems to be pretty great. On July 15 they did a “meet us” devotional. President Mo‛o (a counselor) works at BYUH as Senior Manager of Strategic Enrollment. He travels all over the Pacific Rim in that work and showed us what our work here really means.

The reason the Polynesian Cultural Center exists is to help students—mostly from island nations and the Pacific Rim—get college educations. This would not be remotely possible for most of them without this program. Many of them grow up in humble circumstances. They couldn’t even afford a trip to Hawai‛i, let alone a 4-year stay while they earn degrees. Many also need help learning to navigate the world—they’ve never been off their island homes, or at least not out of their nations unless they have served missions elsewhere.

When they come here, they learn to go to school in a structured environment. They also have to work, though those who are in the I-work program (most of the students) cannot work more than 19 hours per week (so that they have time and strength for school). Some of the jobs are really fun, and some are pretty mundane. But as I interview the students for our employee newsletter, I often hear how grateful they are for the opportunity to earn; for the chance to be in an environment where their cultures are valued; for the ability to do things they would normally do anyway (dance, demonstrate skills, help people, etc.) as a means of earning their degrees. The goal is for them to leave school debt-free, and I believe that is a regular achievement.

What missionaries do here is support the students by doing some of the jobs so the PCC can keep running. As a nonprofit organization, the Center would not be able to function if it had to pay all the people who volunteer here. We also interact with the students, often temporarily feeling like parents or grandparents to them. This helps them keep going—because this is pretty tough for them. Being away from family when you’re making some of the most crucial decisions of your life is stressful.

Also in the plan for most of them is to go back to their homes after graduation to help build the infrastructure of those places. They take with them skills to build new and better services, feed industry, grow tourism, open restaurants, and act as counsellors, accountants, and teachers. They also become leaders in the Church at home.

President Mo‛o showed us pictures from his travels—photo after photo of branch, ward, district, and stake officers who are BYUH grads. They are strengthening the Kingdom where they stand; and because they love and understand their native lands, they can do it better than anyone else. He said, “This is the plan, and it is working.” When you look at serving here in that way, our work here is an amazing thing.