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Hema Tatafu & Janelle Cabacungan Devotional: Unity, Reach and Encourage

BYU-Hawaii Student Association President Hema Tatafu and Executive Vice President Janelle Cabucungan took turns sharing the podium to deliver a two-part devotional address on Tuesday, February 24, 2009. Their speeches centered on hope, unity, and the power of change; each gave inspiring counsel to the students, faculty, staff, and families of BYU-Hawaii.

Cabucungan spoke first, focusing her talk on the power of the individual. While drawing on examples from her own life, she testified of the great power God’s children have to change their lives and, in turn, the lives of others. She spoke of the difficulty of trials that each human being faces, quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson to reiterate: "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." She continued: "... we must act without fear. The Lord expects so much of us because he knows we can do more."

Using missionary work as an example of doing more, Cabacungan stated: "I have a deep love and appreciation for missionaries. Missionaries are expected to live to such a high standard. …These missionaries give their all, and when losing themselves in the Lord’s work, they find themselves through it." Cabacungan posed a rhetorical question to those in the post-mission phase of life that have since relaxed their standards, asking, "Is it because your potential is less than what it was on the mission?" She continued, encouraging, "You have a greater capacity than you expect."

She spoke of our inherent potential: "We are in a dispensation where we must be different. We must have the light of Christ. We must use that light to lead. If we choose not to, then we fail. If we are not willing to do our part, we fail." Cabacungan continued with another rhetorical question: "What is your potential?” She summed: "I may not know what each individual in this room will become, but I know you will be the one to make [a] change if you reach. You will be great if you choose to be. Even if no one seems to expect much from us, we must expect great things from ourselves first. God will do His part if we do ours. Trust in yourself. Believe you can do it."

"The second part of my talk is a lot easier," Cabucungan said. "As we reach and better ourselves, we must encourage others to do likewise," she continued. She spoke of service, noting "… when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God" (Mosiah 2:17). She expounded on the virtue of patience, charity, and diligence, encouraging everyone to "[l]ead in righteousness [and] [e]mulate Christ’s works."

In emulating Christ and endeavoring to improve, she outlined how our potential for growth can be for either good or bad: "As you strive to reach your potential, you gain power. You have the power to encourage. You have the power to influence, whether for good or bad. You can lift, build, love, cherish, hope, and motivate. You can also break, hurt, take for granted, step on, or push down." To this list and an earlier rhetorical question, she answered with a glowing statement: "Your potential is endless."

Cabucungan then shared her personal struggles in campaigning with Tatafu for the BYUHSA Presidency. Being new on campus, she felt inadequate to serve and thought that her life plan did not include such service, but, then decided, after much thought and advice-seeking, to campaign. "So many people doubted us," she said, "but we were soon elected and are now where we stand today. … I am doing my best and I have seen the Lord pour out his blessings upon me because he knows I am trying."

Cabacungan spoke of an experience involving a troubled friend of hers that helped further her testimony of the principle of service and inspiration for others. She worried about this troubled friend that was in need and asked another friend for advice about what she should do. His reply "shocked and inspired [her]." By asking her to share her testimony with her troubled friend, her friendly advisor "knew I had the potential to influence someone... I needed that person to encourage me and in turn I needed to encourage someone else. This is something we must all learn."

Cabucungan closed her speech with a heartfelt plea: "Reach and he will lift you. Encourage and he will be there walking beside you. … These things I leave with you humbly in the name of Jesus Christ, amen." Cabucungan then sat down, giving over the stand to her colleague, Hema Tatafu.

Tatafu's talk, titled "Unity," added to and supported Cabucungan’s talk. He expressed his thanks and began: "I … wish to continue on in the same spirit that Janelle started off in. … After much prayerful consideration, I felt the need to speak today about being in unity with the Spirit."

"First, I will talk about the role of the Spirit as a teacher of all truths and why this is important to us," said Tatafu. He said that there were various reasons to be in tune with the Spirit, but his focus would move from, first, the role of the Spirit as a teacher to, second, how, as a guide, the Spirit, "can make a difference in our lives."

He quoted two scriptures, John 14:26, "The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (emphasis added), and, Moroni 10:5, which states, "And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things" (emphasis added), citing that his emphasis on the word all was in retrospect. As a missionary, these scriptures were "his closest allies." But it was not until his studies at BYU-Hawaii that he "realized that these scriptures were not only teaching us that the Holy Ghost will teach us truth essential for salvation, but it will also teach us truth about science, mathematics, engineering, biology, chemistry, philosophy and more."

"Last semester, [he] took two philosophy courses," and toyed with the existential question of being. He thought the questions raised in class were legitimate: "How do you know that I am real or that I exist? It is possible that you are being deceived by your imagination that there is an existence but in reality there is not[?]" His answers came while preparing for another assignment.

While studying Alma 32:35, these words stood out: "'O then, is not this real?' (Referring to the feelings that the listener to the words of truth is feeling.) 'I say unto you, Yea, because it is light; …'" (emphasis added). He concluded that anything "made up of light is real." Furthermore, while studying Doctrine & Covenants 88:11,13, he found the connection that he needed: "The light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings…the light which is in all things… ."

His epiphany came quickly: "Light exists in all things. Word or teaching of truth 'is light' and this light enlightens the mind that hearkens to it." He was excited with what he had found. He testified: "Through the Spirit, Heavenly Father taught me truth that I would have never found elsewhere." He then extended a promise "[t]hat we will be given great and hidden treasures of truth, but only after we put ourselves in unity with the Holy Spirit, the teacher of all truth."

After Tatafu noted the Holy Spirit’s role as a teacher of truth, he moved on to the second purpose of his talk; the Holy Spirit’s secondary purpose is "[to] guide us to where we need to be." He quoted one of his favorite LDS hymns, I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go, (270), stating that "[t]hese words deliver the message that the Lord will call us but we need to listen."

He shared a personal experience that taught him the importance of listening to the Lord’s promptings:

"I remember my first few days here at BYU-Hawaii. To some degree, I was disappointed. BYU-Hawaii was not what I had imagined it to be. … [T]his was not like other American colleges I ha[d] seen on TV. After sometime, I realized that this school was indeed not like the other American colleges on TV. There was something special about this place." Tatafu expressed a change of heart that overcame him, and he began to see things with clarity: "In the classrooms, math was not just math. Chemistry was not just chemistry; rather, they were principles that contained truth which in turn strengthened my belief that there was a God. My spirituality grew as I attended my classes." In an overwhelming display of gratitude, Tatafu "decided that [he] wanted to commit [his] life to the Savior." In a voice filled with emotion, he said, "I remember kneeling in the tiny space of my hale dorm room, promising my Heavenly Father that I will give up my life to do His will."

"Since this experience," Tatafu said, "I have allowed the Lord to take me wherever He wants me to go. It has been quite an interesting journey." Though his experiences have been life changing, Tatafu has embraced it.

In closing, he left a final thought with his testimony: "Our promises are great. We are entitled to a source who can teach us truths that the world has never known. We are entitled to a source who can guide us to places where we will have the most impact. All we have to do is unite ourselves with it. That source is the Holy Spirit."

--Photo by Monique Saenz

 

Click here to see transcript of Janelle Cabacungan's talk

Click here to see a transcript of Hema Tatafu's talk