We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet

This past Sunday, I attended a meeting for all the priestholders of our stake. I have attended meetings like these in the past and have found them to be sparsely attended, generally speaking. This Sunday, in contrast, there was a sizable turnout.

As I entered the Stake Center to find a seat, a saw familiar faces from my ward. I ended up sitting down next to the President of my Elder’s Quorum, Tommy Friel. As I seated myself, he leaned over and asked if I had heard the news.

“What news?” I asked.

“The Prophet passed away today.”

“Oh, no,” I said. I had not heard that news

Later in the meeting, one of the speakers related a similar response when he received the news from his wife. Her response was, “What do you mean, ‘Oh no!’ He has to be the happiest man on earth.”

I suppose he is.

But I will miss him. This man who I have never met, but I have come to know as a true prophet of the Lord. Gordon B. Hinckley.

I had hoped that at the priesthood meeting we would have sung “We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet.” We didn’t, but I sang the words of the song in my mind, in tribute to a man we have grown to respect, admire, and love.

Yes, we thank thee oh God for a Prophet.

Photo credit: laiglesiamormona.org

The Laimana Method: flip open and read

Wanting to feel more like a full-fledged member of the church, within my first year I made a decision to read the entire Book of Mormon all the way through. Ditto for the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price.

I can report I was able to read through all three.

I then reembarked on another go-thru of the Book of Mormon, but my daily reading fell off and I only got up to Alma 45-ish.

A few weeks ago, a longtime member of our ward, John Laimana (pictured with wife Jane at left), was called to be the new teacher for the Gospel Essentials class at church. John has been inspired to encourage us in the class to read the scriptures all the time. Not a new revelation by any means, but what he suggested has helped me be more consistent with my scripture reading.

What Brother Laimana suggested was to just open up the scriptures to any page and read what was there. I took up his suggestion and amazingly, I have come up with some pretty amazing insights. Brother Laimana calls these "Aha!" moments.

Just today, for example, I picked up a pocket version of the Doctrine and Covenents/Pearl of Great Price that my wife leaves in our car. While passing some time, I popped it open and read a passage that reminded me how important is to write my thoughts and feelings prompted by the spirit.

Eventually, I will set out to read the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelations. Until then, I'll keep up with the flip open and read method.

Photo credit: honoluluadvertiser.com

A man amongst boys...

As a convert, one of the mysteries of the Mormon church that I had to understand is the priesthood. Males in the church, starting at the age of 12, can be ordained to the priesthood. The lower or lesser priesthood is called Aaronic. Generally and usually, Aaronic priesthood holders in the LDS church are boys from 12 to 18 years old. Not long after I was baptized and confirmed a member of the church, I was ordained to the Aaronic priesthood. Bear in mind, I was 47 years old, which made me three to four times older not to mention a foot or more taller and a bunch of pounds heavier than all the other Aaronic priesthood holders in my ward.

One of the responsibilities of the Aaronic priesthood is to administer the bread and water for sacrament meetings on Sunday. Partaking of the bread and water (sacrament) is the main event of an LDS Sunday service, and the young men of our ward, as in most wards in the church, were given this responsibility or calling. Being in the Aaronic priesthood, I, far from young and of hulking presence, had to take my place among the young men as part of my priesthood duty.

One of the things I had to do was say the sacrament prayer. To do so, I had to kneel and pray aloud into a microphone built in to the stand where the bread and water were administered. For this particular ordinance, the priestholder saying the prayer has to recite the words exactly right. If a word is missed or repeated, the whole prayer has to be redone. The bishop of the ward, or whoever else is presiding, has the responsibility of listening carefully to the wording to make sure the prayer sayer gets the words right. And if the prayer is mispoken, the bishop will indicate with a hand gesture to the praysayer to redo it. Fortunately, the words of the prayer were made available in large-sized, easy-to-read words on a sheet of plastic-covered paper.

I can't tell you how relieved I was that first time I prayed the prayer to see the bishop give me a nod of approval that I had gotten the words right.

A couple Sundays later, I repeated an "it" in the prayer without even realizing that I did so. So when I looked at the bishop for the sign of approval that I had gotten the prayer right, instead of seeing his nodding head, I saw him shaking his head and twirling the index finger of his right hand in a circular manner, meaning, "Do the prayer all over again."

Of course, I was embarrassed at my miscue. After all, I am an English teacher, and I should have been able to read and recite the words of the prayer without error. But I suppose Heavenly Father was testing my pride.

Thankfully, I said the prayer the second time flawlessly. And no one started a petition to kick me out of the church.

How I Became a Mormon--Part 14

Called to Serve

Soon after we were baptized and confirmed, my wife and I received our first callings in the church. For those who are unfamiliar with the church, a calling is an assignment, a job, if you will. In our case, my wife and I were called to be teachers—my wife as a teacher in the Relief Society and me in the Elder’s Quorum.

The “call” was issued by the Bishop of our ward, Matthew Corry. Born and raised in Utah, Bishop Corry worked as an editor and technical writer for the Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate. He, his wife, and three daughters live in the same Keapuka (Kaneohe, Hawaii) subdivision where my wife, our children, and I live.

From what I have come to understand, the bishop prayerfully sought an inspiration from the Lord to determine where we and every other member of the ward was to serve—what our jobs would be, in other words. And after prayerfully seeking inspiration about my wife and I, me received a confirmation that we should be teachers.

Understand that as brand spanking new members of the church, we were intimidated by the notion of having to teach in a class filled with longtime, and in some cases lifelong members of the church. I liken it to a kindergartner being assigned to teach a graduate school class. Imagine that.

But Bishop Corry assured us of the inspiration he received, and that with the help of the Holy Ghost which we had received the gift of from confirmation, we would do fine. I did feel better after he said this, but when I walked into class on my first assigned Sunday to teach, I became in my mind that kindergartener facing a class of PHD hopefuls. And to think that I teach for living (English at Leeward Community College).

I will admit that my wife had an even bigger challenge, for she had to teach in the Relief Society, renowned throughout the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for elaborate and spirit-filled lessons by well-prepared and enthusiastic sisters of the church. But as Bishop Corry assured us, we did fine. And no one kicked us out for not being Scriptorial gurus. In fact, we received lots of encouragement and well wishes from the brothers and sisters of our ward. This, we found out, is the Mormon way that have come to know and embrace.

How I Became a Mormon--Part 13

You’re in the Army Now

A week after being baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, my wife and I were confirmed as members in a sacred ceremony that took place at the Waikalua chapel in Kaneohe, Hawaii where our ward met.

Confirmation, just like baptism, must be done by a worthy adult male who holds the higher priesthood, known as the Melchizedek priesthood (the lesser priesthood is called the Aaronic priesthood). Confirmation involves the laying on of hands. To illustrate, what happened in my case was that a selection of priesthood holders, about a half dozen or so, formed a circle around me as I was seated in a chair and laid their hands on the top of my head in a sacred priesthood ordinance. Each one contributed to a united gathering of inspiration and spirit. One of the “brethren” was to be the speaker. For my confirmation, it would be my high school buddy Ted, who I had invited to do the honors. Ted, along with his wife and children, had flown in from the Big Island and were in our ward that day in support of my wife and me.

My wife was also confirmed in a similar manner. During the confirmation, we received the gift of the Holy Ghost, who, we were told, would always attend to us and guide us and lead us as long as we kept the commandments of God. In addition to the gift of the Holy Ghost, we also received other blessings as confirmed by the spirit given to the priestholder giving the blessing.

I will admit that all this laying on of hands was strange and different to me, but I will also admit that I felt a comforting warmth and calmness inside. This, I have learned, is the spirit.

After the confirmation, I was asked to stand before the gathered congregation of the Kaneohe 1st Ward. At that point, the Bishop of the ward, Matthew Corry, addressed the congregation and asked them to sustain me as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by raising their right hands. As far as I could tell, all people in attendance, both young and old, raised their hands. Then he gave them the opportunity to raise their hands if they were opposed to me being a member of the church. To my relief, none did, so the “vote” was unanimous for the affirmative. My wife also received a unanimous confirmation.

Since that day, I have been in attendance for confirmations of other new members of the church. In some cases, these confirmations are held right after the baptism. In the case of my wife and me, we were confirmed a week later during a sacrament meeting.

How I Became a Mormon--Part 12

Into the Water

In my mind, I pictured the baptism day for my wife and me as a quiet, little ceremony. Unbeknownst to me, a baptism in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is quite an event, at least it was for ours in our ward, the Kaneohe First Ward of the Kaneohe, Hawaii Stake.

Prior to being baptized, my wife and I were interviewed by the Honolulu, Hawaii Mission President, Ronald Hawkins. A couple weeks prior, my wife and I had attended a “cottage meeting” at the home of President Hawkins with other people who were checking out the church (“investigators,” is what we are called). And it was at this meeting that we decided that we were ready to be baptized.

Actually, it was President Hawkins who decided, based on the interview we had with him. We met him at the Kaneohe Stake Center one evening about a week before our baptism date. We were asked if we believed the church was true, if I were living by the ten commandments, and if we were living by what the church called “the word of wisdom” which meant we were not drinking alcohol, smoking, and taking illegal drugs. We were also asked if there were things in our past that we wanted to confess.

I did have some things to confess. For one, I had not always behaved in a gentlemanly manner with my wife, and when I told President Hawkins about these times he asked if I had changed my ways and if I had made improvements in my behavior. I told him I had.

President Hawkins, a kind and soft-spoken man, told me that members of the church are not perfect, but they should always be striving to improve themselves. I told him I was willing to do that.

Our baptism was held in the afternoon on January 29, 2006 at the Kaneohe, Hawaii Stake Center. To my surprise, fifty or sixty people attended, many more than I could have imagined. Although there was just one member from our family there (Dustin, our son), we came to find out that we had gained many new family members, namely the good people of our ward and of our church. My high school buddies, Clint and Ted, along with their wives and children, also were there for the big day for my wife and me.

Baptism has to be done by a worthy priestholder of the church, and my wife and I chose Elder Michael Webber, 20, to baptize us. He, along with Elder Samuel Manasco, had been the ones who visited us often to teach us about the gospel of Jesus Christ, so it seem fitting that one of them be the one.

While the baptism was the “main event” of the ceremony, there were other things on the program, including an opening and closing prayer and talks about baptism (given by my friend Ted) and the gift of the Holy Ghost (given by Brother Moses Bergao, a beloved member of the Kaneohe 1st ward. We also sang hymns, and I chose “Love at Home,” one of my favorites till this day.

I will confess that I cried on this day as did my wife. We felt the gift of the spirit that baptism brought us. We also felt the happiness we sought. Yes, we were on our way.

How I Became a Mormon--Part 11

On the Verge

While it was true that the first time in an LDS church made an impression on me, I was not absolutely sure I was ready to take the plunge, as it were.

What followed thereafter was an invitation by the missionaries to take a trip to visitor’s center at the Church’s Laie Temple. That visit was very touching, and in a similar way to what happened at the first sacrament I had attended the week before, I found myself moved to point of tears at several junctures while at the visitor’s center. During that visit, we watched the movie “Testaments,” which was about the visit of the resurrected Christ’s to the Americas. Christ in the Americas? While this was news to me, I did not dismiss the possibility.

Soon after the trip to the Laie visitor’s center, my wife and I were invited to what is called a “cottage meeting.” The meeting, held for investigators of the church, would be at the mission president’s home in the ritzy neighborhood of Kahala. I imagined that the mission president was some rich local white guy, or a haole, as white people are referred to in Hawaii, probably an attorney or a doctor or a rich businessman.

As it turned out, the mission president, in this case, was Ronald K. Hawkins from Orem, Utah, who was “called” to his position as mission president for a three-year period. When called like this, the individual leaves his job and home and family behind. He does bring his spouse, in the case of President Hawkins, his wife Anne, a wonderful woman who my wife took an instant liking to.

At the cottage meeting were probably a dozen and half investigators along with the missionaries who were teaching them. Accompanying my and me were our two missionaries, Elder Samuel Manasco from Delaware and Elder Michael Webber from Wisconsin, two young men we would come to know well abd have a lot of affection for.

The meeting included an opening hymn, which we all sang. A lover of music, especially spiritual songs sung by groups or choirs, I was feeling the spirit as we sang. President Hawkins, a kind, friendly, gentle man, gave a welcoming talk, and then we spent the rest of the evening just mingling and enjoying some ice cream and snacks.

During the meeting, President Hawkins came up to me wife and me and matter-of-factly asked, “So when are you going to be baptized?”

Looking at each other with happy grins on our faces, my wife and I answered, “No one has asked us yet.”

Hearing that, President Hawkins summoned Manasco and Webber and said to them, “The Turners need a baptism date. Can you accommodate them?”

And a date was set two week hence. Yes, the Turners were on their way to becoming members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

How I Became a Mormon--Part 10

Three Hours of Church?

Also on that first day at church, after attending the first hour-long part, which I came to learn was called “Sacrament Meeting,” my wife, my children and I were then shepherded by friendly ward members to Parts 2 and 3 of a usual Sunday at church for a Mormon family. Part 2, also an hour long, was called Sunday School. My step-daughter Jamie, 17 at the time, was taken to a class for young women. Meanwhile, my wife, my stepson Dustin, and I were taken to a class called “Gospel Principles.” Taught by Roy Hirokawa, a longtime member of the ward, the class, which is for investigators and newer members of the church, was about the plan of salvation on that day. Among the things mentioned in class that morning was that in addition to a Heavenly Father (aka God), there also was a Heavenly Mother. Wow, that was news to me.

Also in attendance at the class was Bishop Matthew Corry. As the bishop of the Kaneohe 1st Ward, he functions in a way like pastors and priests of other faiths lead their congregations. I later came to find out that Bishop Corry does not usually attend Gospel Principles class. Though I’m not certain, I think he was there that day to help us feel more at home.

After Sunday school, my wife, again accompanied by friendly ward members, was taken to what is called “Relief Society” which is yet another class, in this case for all the women of the ward 18 years and older. I don’t know what kind of “secret” stuff they talked about in Relief Society that day, but I’ve come to find out that Relief Society has been a blessing for my wife, my family, and for many members of the church.

In the meantime, Dustin and I were escorted to a meeting called “Elders Quorum.” Presided over by Tommy Friel, who I mentioned in Part 9, Elders Quorum was a meeting for all the men of the ward over 18. In Elders Quorum, there was yet another lesson. In it, I heard terminology like “priesthood” and “brethren” and “setting apart” and “ordained.” To say that I was confused and bewildered was understating how I felt. At the same time, though, I was intrigued. Would I become a part of all this? At that point, I still wasn’t sure, but what I could not deny was the good feelings I had at Sacrament Meeting that day. No, I could not deny the spirit I felt.

How I Became a Mormon--Part 9

Being an Investigator

A person who shows an interest in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is called “an investigator.” I came to realize how much import is placed on LDS investigators when, soon after I began checking out the church with some seriousness, I got phone calls and emails of support from Clint and Ted, my two high school-buddies-turned-LDS. Additionally, for one of the lessons taught at my home by the missionaries, they were accompanied by Tommy Friel, a Kamehameha alum and a member of the local LDS ward. What’s more, another church member, Moses Bergao, who lived just a street away from us in Kaneohe, also dropped by our house to express welcome to us. Wow, so much attention. I didn’t quite know what to think other than that these Mormons were friendly folks and also quite serious about getting us to join them.

The missionaries provided us with copies of the Book of Mormon (BOM) and suggested passages in it for us to read. I will admit that I wasn’t gung-ho nor diligent about getting the reading done, but the missionaries were consistent and persistent about showing up at agreed upon days and times and asking us if we had done the reading they had suggested.

After I had dropped the ball on reading the BOM, I finally decided that I had best read it if only to not having to keep saying over and again that I had not opened the book. I’ll confess that I didn’t have any epiphanies or spiritual experiences upon reading the book. But at the same time, I didn’t have any bad or doubtful feelings or thoughts either.

One of the keys to my conversion was when my wife and I and our two children attended a Sunday “meeting” at the local LDS ward. Being very naïve about the church and not being a very diligent investigator, I had expected an LDS Sunday service to include a pastor (or the LDS equivalent thereof) preaching a sermon about the evils of smoking and drinking and gulping down caffeine-laden beverages like coffee and Coke. I also expected LDS members to be automatons, reciting in unison chants like, “We shalt not smoke. We shalt not drink alcohol! We shalt not drink Coke!” yada, yada yada.

To my surprise, none of that happened. What did happen during that “meeting” is some excellent singing of hymns by the congregation (Mormons sing hymns? I never imagined that). A talk by a young man, Jordan Laimana, who was heading off to serve a church mission in Africa. A musical medley done by Tommy Friel, his wife, and their three children (one of the songs was “Love at Home,” which when sung was so touching to my wife and I that we were in tears). And a final farewell to Jordan by the all the members of the ward in attendance (probably over 100) where everyone stood up and sang him a traditional song—Aloha Oe. More tears flowed from my wife and I.

When I reflect on that day in church, I felt as if the whole thing were planned for my wife and me. Things seemed “right.” True, wearing a colorful polo shirt amongst all the white-shirt-and-tie wearing brethren of the ward, I did feel like the odd man out in that chapel that day. But that feeling of being an outsider diminished by the warm welcome extended to me and my family by members of the ward.

Were we baptized soon thereafter? No, not so soon, but the tide had risen dramatically, and with a few more forthcoming spiritual experiences, baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints would be in the works.

How I Became a Mormon--Part 8

Dating, Marriage, and Problems

A hike was one of the first dates I had with my future-wife Jacqueline. Actually, it was her idea to go on a hike, and we found a local hiking club and we joined them one Saturday in 1994 for a five-mile hike. I eventually got the hiking bug and became an avid hiker. I mention that here because I hiked so much that the mountains of Hawaii became my church and chapel in my search for God.

I dated my wife for eleven years before she finally consented to marry me. We had many good times during our decade-plus courtship. In the months preceding our wedding, my wife and I were living together in her apartment in Wahiawa, located in the central part of the island of Oahu. To my surprise, Mormon missionaries visited my wife and her two children at the apartment and taught them lessons. The missionaries were cordial to me but I felt ill at ease with them there, probably due to guilt and shame issues for living such a sinful life without church.

Because I had communication, anger, and other issues and I was unable to deal with these issues well, there were some dark times for us at Wahiawa. I always thought of myself as a quiet, gentle man, and when all this anger and rage came out, I blamed it on Jacqueline. The truth was that Jacqueline wasn’t my problem--I was and I needed help.

To help us through the darkness, at my future wife’s suggestion, we began attending a community church in Mililani. The church was okay and the people there were nice but there seemed to be something missing. I also got to know the pastor there, and he and I began meeting once a week at his office to fellowship and to talk about the bible.

Also during this time, I got word that my high school party buddy, Clint (recall him from Part 2), had been baptized into the Mormon church, along with his wife and two children. I was puzzled by this. After all, Clint and his wife were highly successful professionals in their fields. What did the Mormon church have for them and their children?

On June 5, 2004 at 3:21 in the afternoon (654321), Jacqueline and I were married in a Christian ceremony at the chapel of the Kamehameha Schools. We had our wedding reception in Mililani. Many of our family and friends were there, including Ted and family and Clint and family—the Mormons. To my relief, they didn’t push their religion on me. Not once. Without realizing it, I was impressed by that.

In the months that followed we moved to my home in Kaneohe. Our budding marriage didn’t go smoothly and we sought out counseling for help. Also during that time, Mormon missionaries showed up at our home. Wanting to keep the door open to the help I needed to be a better husband, I agreed to talk to them and go through lessons they had.

When I mentioned to my pastor friend that the LDS missionaries were visiting me, he warned me that they might be the proverbial wolves in sheeps’ clothing. Ironically, his comment to me, instead of making me want to avoid the Mormons, actually made me want to know more about them. So I, along with my wife, continued to meet with the missionaries in the coming months.

How I Became a Mormon--Part 7

Seeds are planted

I spent a year in Flagstaff, Arizona at the Northern Arizona University. If I met a Mormon there, I didn’t know it. I did do a bunch of drinking there. It helped me deal with the loneliness of being so far away from home. I would have been better off going to church, but my church-going days were still a decade-plus away. I got calls from my friend Ted in Yuma now and then, and when I finally fessed up that I would not be joining him to coach and teach at his high school, he was saddened by that news.

In addition to alcohol consumption, I also studied in earnest, so much so that I graduated with a 4.0 GPA with an MA in English from NAU. Post graduation, I applied to a host of teaching jobs, mostly in Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii. As it turned out, being fresh out of grad school with no teaching experience, I received lots of rejection notices. To my relief, I did receive one job offer—from Leeward Community College back on my home island of Oahu in Hawaii, so I packed my stuff and headed home to Hawaii.

I began working at LCC as an adjunct writing teacher. After I taught a year there, a full-time tenure-track job opening was advertised. I applied and got the position. Over time, I completed my probationary period and earned tenure, which basically meant I had a job for life if I wanted it.

In 1993, I also met the woman who was eventually to become my wife. Her name was Jacqueline and she had four children from two previous marriages.. No, she wasn’t a Mormon, but unbeknownst to be, she and her children were investigating the LDS church, even attending a local LDS ward now and then.

During this time, Mormon missionaries began showing up at the front door of my home in Kaneohe. If I was outside washing my car or doing yardwork and I saw them in time, I would beat a quick retreat into my house to avoid them. And for the times when they caught me by surprise, I would typically give them the “Thanks, I’m not interested line."

At the time, I wanted no part of what they wanted to teach me, but the thing that made an impression in my mind was that they were always cordial and they always came back. Mormons are very persistent, I came to understand. What I also came to understand is that their efforts, along with all the efforts of all the church members I had encountered in my life, had planted seeds in my soul.

Steve Young Video about the church

Definitely worth a look.

How I Became a Mormon--Part 6

Off to Arizona

As things turned out, 1989 was an eventful year for me. It was then that I made a decision to leave Hawaii and make a life for myself away from the islands. A catalyst in this decision was my high school friend Ted. Recall that he was my drinking and party buddy back at Kamehameha and post-Kamehameha days until he found the LDS church (or the LDS church found him) and he converted.

Anyway, Ted, having had graduated from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, was living happily as a member of church in Yuma, Arizona with his wife and three children. Ted was also the head football coach at a brand new high school in Yuma. After conferring with the principal of his school, Tim asked me if I wanted to come join him as a member of his coaching staff and also teach English there. The coaching and teaching jobs were guaranteed as long as I obtained Arizona teaching certification.

I thought things over and decided to make the move, a very big one for someone who was born and raised in the beautiful yet insulated world that Hawaii is. I applied to Northern Arizona University with the goal of obtaining Arizona certification and was accepted. So in May 1989, I shipped my truck over to the mainland, packed up my stuff, boarded a plane, and headed to the continent.

I picked up my truck in Long Beach and made the drive south to San Diego then east to the California/Arizona border where Yuma is situated. I stayed with Ted and his family for a week after which I had to leave to go to Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff to begin classes there. During the time I spent in Yuma with Ted and his Ohana (family), I had the impression that Yuma was not the place I wanted to settle down. I think what sealed my decision was when Ted and his wife said that they “would find a nice Mormon girl” for me to marry. Sure, I wanted to get married and settle down some day, but as a Mormon? No, thank you.

Not wanting to hurt my hosts’ feelings, I kept my thoughts to myself, but my mind was already made up, and when I headed to Flagstaff, I had already nixed the idea of getting Arizona high school teaching certification, coaching and teaching with Tim in Yuma, and finding a nice Mormon girl to marry. I decided to pursue an MA in English instead. What I’d do after that I wasn’t sure. I had dreams of finding a teaching job somewhere in the western part of the U.S. and making a life for myself there. As it turns out, God had other plans for me.

How I Became a Mormon--Part 5

Word of Wisdom?

The 1980s was a time of wandering and searching for me. I can’t say I was searching for God or the gospel or anything religious. I can’t recall for sure if I ever set foot in a church in that decade, and certainly not a Mormon church. I’d like to believe that there were people who were praying that I find the light of the gospel and find my way to church, and their prayers were answered, but not until many years had passed.

Meanwhile, I continued my sojourn in apostasy. From 1980 to 1989, I coached football at Kamehameha and did well enough that I was eventually asked to move up to coach the offensive line on the varsity team. During that decade, I also coached basketball, both junior varsity and varsity, also at Kamehameha. A big part of the coaching culture back then, particularly for football, was drinking. And we drank a lot. I can even recall attending a postseason recognition banquet for the Kamehameha football team where my job that night was to introduce the dozen players I had coached and give a brief spiel about each one. I gave what I thought was an outstanding speech and I was drunk while I gave it. Perhaps some of those Mormon young men that I coached said a prayer for me that night. I’d like to think that they did.

In addition to drinking, I was also a big consumer of tobacco. No, I didn’t smoke cigarettes. Never have. But I was big time into chewing tobacco—dipping, as it is called. It was a habit I picked up during my year in Boise while playing college football there. And dipping was a nasty habit that I was unable to break until much later.

In addition to coaching, I also was involved with Hawaiian outrigger canoe paddling. I was drawn to this sport not just for the physical workout that it provided, but for the drinking. And we drank a lot back then, seemingly every day. Like I’ve heard Marines say, “We train hard and we drink hard.” Like good Marines, my canoe paddling teammates and I adhered to the same philosophy. And we felt justified in what we did because we experienced some success, winning races now and then.

In the 1980s, I also continued to go to school at the University of Hawaii. In 1988, twelve years after I graduated from high school at Kamehameha, I finally had pieced enough college credits together to earn a BA degree from UH. The degree was in English. What I was going to do with that degree I wasn’t sure, but at least I had it.

Then in 1989, something happened that started me on my turnaround in life.

How I Became a Mormon--Part 4

People Along the Pathway

Little did I realize that people I would meet along the way would play roles in helping me find the one true church. And at the time I met these people, I had no idea they were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Although I had given up my football scholarship at Boise State, I still loved the game, so I returned to my high school to coach the offensive line for Kamehameha’s junior varsity team. I coached a slew of outstanding players at Kamehameha and what I didn’t realize at the time was that many of these standouts were members of the church. Just like my classmate Stanton Akana, who I mentioned in part 2, these players were hardworking obedient, non-complaining, and did not cuss or swear. And, not surprisingly, these young men were outstanding football players, a coach’s dream, as the saying goes.

Also implanted in my mind are recollections of the parents of these young men. More often than not, these parents were very helpful, supportive, and positive. One couple, Mary and Isaac Miyashiro, parents of Masa Miyashiro, stood out. The Miyashiros seemed to always be around at practices and games, not to badger or pressure us coaches as some parents did. Instead, they would volunteer to help out the team and the coaches in any way. The Miyashiros, as I recall, helped to organize the other parents and took on the task of putting together the team’s end-of-the-season banquet.

Years later, when I walked into a chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for the very first time, who did I see there but the Miyashiros. Another LDS member I met that day at church was Bob Uyehara, the father of another Kamehameha player I had coached. I came to find out the other LDS members who I had coached when they were young men: in addition to Masa Miyashiro, the lineup included Spencer Parker, Kapua Maruyama, and Michael Matsuzaki. It’s very possible that there were others as well, and I will likely learn who they are in the years ahead.

I also have come to find out that there were others I had met in my life who were members of the church, some of whom I had gone to school with at Kamehameha including Jeff Noa and Jay Serrao. As I reflect on how these guys carried themselves and lived their lives, I find it no surprise that they were LDS. Things started to click in my head.

Admittedly, this clicking in my brain took a while to occur, but I’ve come to believe that these people were put in my path for a reason, and that all that I went through was necessary for me to learn and experience what I needed to learn and experience.

And there was much more to learn and experience—much more.

How I Became a Mormon--Part 3

From Kamehameha to Boise to the Waiting Room of a Mormon Temple

With not even an inkling of a thought that I would become a member of the Church of Jeus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or any church for that matter, I graduated from Kamehameha in 1976. Because of athletic talents I had along with good physical size (6’4, 230 lbs), I received many inquiries from colleges looking to add me to their football teams. One of those was Brigham Young University, the school affiliated to and supported by the Mormon church. Those college inquiries led to several scholarship offers but not from BYU, not that I would have attended there anyway. I eventually decided on Boise State University, where I attended and played football for a year. The drinking and partying that had begun at Kamehameha continued in a bigger way at Boise. After all, I was far away from the watchful eyes of my parents, and I had no gospel or church to guide me.

Homesick for Hawaii after a year, I forfeited my scholarship, left Boise, and returned to Oahu, where I continued partying and drinking, a good deal of which was with my Kamehameha buddies Ted and Clint. About a year or so after I had returned from Boise, I got a call from Ted with some stunning news: he had joined the Mormon church and had been baptized. One of the things I knew about Mormons was that they didn’t drink, so for Ted to join the church and give up drinking, I figured he [A] had gone pupule (a Hawaiian term for crazy), [B} had had a spiritual experience, or [C] had found a good Mormon girl. While I do not know if A and B applied to Ted, I do know that C did.

And Ted also announced to me that he was going to marry that good Mormon girl and that I was to be the best man at his wedding.

The wedding ceremony took place at the Mormon temple in Laie on Oahu’s north shore. I can’t recall the exact year, but it was in the early 1980s. Ted informed me that although I was his best man, I could not attend the ceremony in the temple because I was not a member of the church. The same applied to all of Ted’s family. So Ted’s family and I spent time together in the waiting area outside the temple while Ted and his bride were being married inside. What kind of strange and secret things were going on in that temple that we could not witness?

Unbeknownst to me, 20+ years later I would be entering that same temple with my own bride as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. But there still was a long road to travel before then.

Photo credit: ldschurchtemples.com

How I Became a Mormon--Part 2

After a few years, I learned that if I dragged my feet enough on Sunday mornings, my mom would stop insisting and reminding me to go to that Nazarene church. And because she stopped insisting and reminding, I stopped going to church. Thus ended any association with any religious body for many, many years.

Starting in the fourth grade, I attended Kamehameha, a private school for students of Hawaiian ancestry. Part of Kamehameha’s mission was still to instill students with a Christian foundation, and as such, at Kamehameha there were Christian-based classes interspersed with the standard 3R type. We at Kamehameha also learned Christian songs, the most memorable to me being the Doxology (“Praise God from whom all blessings flow…). We also prayed before our lunchtime meal. I though all this Christian indoctrination was okay and I didn’t balk at it.

I can’t remember when I first heard of the Mormon church. However, I can remember the first of my Kamehameha classmates who was a Mormon. His name was Stanton Akana, and he entered Kamehameha in the ninth grade. What was different about Stanton was that he didn’t cuss and swear like all the other male students. Let me qualify that not all male students cussed and swore, but almost all of the students I hung out with, mostly jocks, did.

Stanton was a jock, too. But he was different. In addition to being a non-cusser, he was hardworking, humble, and obedient, classic LDS virtues as well as classic virtues of jocks known as a coach’s dream. And Stanton was that. A strong, tough, hardhitting linebacker on the football team, Stanton had the respect of us all.

I also was on the Kamehameha football team, and after observing and interacting with Stanton and his cleancut Mormon ways, did I have aspirations of becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints? Not at all. Instead, I had designs on partaking of the fun that was part of high school life at Kamehameha at that time, namely drinking and partying.

And during my Kamehameha days, I did a lot of drinking and partying. A couple of my closest friends and drinking buddies at Kamehameha were Tom and Clint (not their real names). I mention them here because eventually they would join the LDS church but not after living in apostasy for a number of years. I will mention these two more later.

How I Became a Mormon--Part 1

I was not born into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In fact, I did not become a member of the LDS church until I was in my late 40s. On that same day, January 29, 2006, my wife Jacqueline was also baptized into the church. I'll be writing primarily about my journey to Mormonhood as well as touching on my wife's. It has been an interesting and eventful journey. And we have only just begun.

I was born and raised in Hawaii on the windward side of the island of Oahu. And I still live there today. Except for the first five years of my life and a couple years spent away on the mainland to attend college, I have lived all my life in a town called Kaneohe.

All through those years, I lived my life without knowing that my maternal grandmother was a member of the Mormon church. I also went through 40+ years of my life without knowing that my father, too, was a member, having been baptized as boy. My grandmother, Elizabeth Turner, passed away when I was five or six, so I didn’t know her well. I cannot recall any memories of her attending church or talking of church or any such thing. I’m not even sure if she was still attending church during the time of my early childhood. I’ve come to find out that she had attended church faithfully for a time but like some members do, she fell away.

My dad, I came to find out, never had much to do with the church after his baptism. In a conversation I had with him after I was baptized, he told me that he had received a priesthood blessing from brethren of the LDS church as a boy after he had become very ill. My dad told me he believed that the blessing had something to do with his recovery from the illness. Nonetheless, my dad said that he had other things on his mind during his youth other than church. This was Hawaii after all, and the allure of the beach as well as sports and friends was more appealing to him.

And I could relate. As a youth, I also felt the tug of sports, the beach, and friends. As I was growing up, my dad never said anything to me or my four siblings about any church, let alone the LDS church. It was my mom, who was born a Catholic, who pushed us toward church. And it wasn’t the Catholic church. Instead, my brothers and sisters and I attended a nearby Nazarene church in Kaneohe for a few years. I was never enthusiastic about attending church, but I learned not to squawk about having to do so because I learned that it was best not to rock the boat in my household.

Seek ye first...

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Natthew 6:33)

A few Sundays ago, a brother in my ward, in a lesson on developing our talents, spoke about how he based his life on the teaching of this scripture. And that as he went about developing and sharing the talents he had (one of which was being a fire knife dancer), as long as he remembered to seek the kingdom of God first, blessings came forth for him.

This is a good lesson for me.

Alpha

It is the first day of the year 2008. I awoke this morning and asked the Lord for a prompting on what I should do. You see, I have been working on a couple of blogs (1 & 2) and I wasn't sure if I should continue on these or do something else.

I felt prompted to open the Book of Mormon to a random page. And what I came to was Alma 43. Reading it, I knew what I was prompted to do, so here I am. I look forward to a good experience here sharing my experiences as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.