Throughout 2015, the community of Laie, led by the Laie Community Association, along with BYU–Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center, are marking the Sesquicentennial of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Laie as well as the 60th Anniversary since the groundbreaking of BYU–Hawaii, then called the Church College of Hawaii.
These events are open to all, from children to Kupuna, students and alumni, community ohana, and more.
Important occasions to mark the anniversaries began as early in the year as February, during BYU–Hawaii’s annual Spirit Week. Ceremonial events such as flag-raising took place, which reconnected students, faculty, alumni and community with the Prophetic vision of the university made 60 years ago. (See "Celebrating Sixty Years!")
A special fireside, held on Sunday, July 7, also marked the importance of the anniversaries as Kupuna and community leaders sang and discussed the rich history of the Church in Laie. Speakers shared inspiring stories of faithful ancestors who built up the Church, then the university and the PCC. Pane Meatoga Jr., president of the Laie Community Association and a multi-generational resident of Laie, brought the past to the present as he invited all to “exercise that faith [of the ancestors] in the coming days and in the coming years” regarding how we might too sustain and build the community as those who built the Temple, the University and the Polynesian Cultural Center did – “working as one.” He added that we also know the principle of “working with an eye single to the glory of God.”
“As we celebrate the anniversary of the Church in Laie we will be visited by prophets, seers and revelators, before the year’s end,” continued Meatoga. “Listen to the words they speak to us…because these will be signs to us of what we can do.”
To take part in upcoming events and special activities to celebrate and learn from the history of the LDS Church and BYU–Hawaii in Laie, view the schedule below.
