Happy Birthday, Sister Noel June 26

go.byuh.edu

When we arrive as missionaries at BYUH, we are assigned an email address associated with the university that looks like this: name@go.byuh.edu

This is the address that is used for your BYUH assignment as well as the address through which other missionaries have access to you. 

Since many of the missionaries don’t really need an email address specifically for their university assignment, those missionaries have a tendency to forget to check this address and may miss informative or important messages.

There is a way to forward your BYU account to your personal email account. The advantage is that you don’t have to check both because everything from your BYU email will come directly to your personal account. So students and co-workers have direct access to you without direct access to your personal email account. The disadvantage is that, if you get a lot of mail in your BYU account, you may not want to see it all in your personal email.

Here are the instructions if you would like to forward your email. It is easy to set up and easy to stop.

Step 1: Log in to byuh.edu and click on myMail. Log into your go.byuh.edu account

Step 2: Click on Settings and write Forwarding in the box that says “search all settings,” then click on Forwarding

Step 3: Set up your forwarding email address:

a.       Start forwarding – choose this to start forwarding your byuh email

b.      Forward my email to: enter your email address

c.       Keep a copy of forwarded messages. This will leave a copy in your byuh mail as well as forwarding a copy

d.      Stop forwarding – choose this when you want forwarding to stop.

e.      Click Save at the top and you are set

Aloha and Mahalo

Two couples returned home early in June concluding their missionary service at BYU-H. We have enjoyed working with them and are grateful for the love and dedication they shared with all who associated with them while they were here.

Elder and Sister Denison

Elder Denison served as a math instructor and math lab coordinator. Sister Denison served in online instruction and facilitation.

Elder and Sister Earnshaw

Elder Earnshaw served as an instructor of entrepreneurship and Sister Earnshaw served at the Polynesian Cultural Center in the Hapa Home Store.

MAHALO NUI LOA IĀ ʻOE

Kalaupapa Service Project

Seacoast where patients were put onshore

Father Damien's original grave site

On June 10^th and 11^th 2016, a group consisting of two senior couples and the director at the Jonathan Napela Center for Hawaiian Studies and his wife were sponsored as helpers to Ken Arima to travel to Molokai to clean and maintain the LDS buildings in Kalaupapa.

Elder and Sister Jeppson organized this trip with Ken. Elder and Sister Keyes and Hiagi and Susan Wesley were invited to join in on the service project and discovery opportunity. We jumped on an eight seater plane on Friday morning and spent the day exploring the history of Kalawao and Kalaupapa. The exploring happened first in case the rains came and muddied the roads so that travel would be impossible.

We were met at the Kalaupapa airport by Meli, a long-time resident and patient there. She was warm, welcoming and helpful. She rode ahead of us in her truck to our lodgings, then later led us along Damien Road where she stopped a few times to come to our van and tell us stories of things we were seeing.

We saw old water systems, moss-coated stone fences, hand-piled lava rocks for catching and storing rain water, and the churches built in the mid 1800’s. One of them was the church where Father Damien was the priest. We talked of those who came to the island with leprosy (Hansen’s disease).

These people--adults and little children--came without hope of a cure. They came in shame, hurt and despair. They were stripped of all their relationships, their homes, neighbors, communities and nearly all of their possessions. Their families back home moved away and changed their last names in order to hide the shame they felt for having a family member who was a leper.

In the afternoon Ken took us to LDS grave sites and the home site of Jonathan Napela. We went to the top of the “crater,” looked across the valley and learned that the sides of this old volcano were filled with graves. Some of these were caves that the sick would crawl into to die.

We also saw the natural beauty of vines, bushes, and trees that covered this scarred place with a blanket of life and a canopy of protection. The silence offered a feeling of reverence and the understanding of peace. From the heights of the crater lip we looked down on Kalaupapa and saw it as it would be seen from heaven. It had grown from a countryside of suffering to a refuge from the world.

On Saturday we went to work and helped Meli, her husband Randall, and the priest clean St. Francis Church sweeping, dusting, and cleaning and changing light globes on the hanging light fixtures. We then moved on to the LDS chapel and recreation hall next door and did the same.

After lunch we went to a beach and cleaned up plastic and other trash from Japan that had washed up amongst the rocks--likely Tsunami debris. This helped us feel like we were leaving the island better than when we came.

We returned home better than when we left, filled with a larger understanding of what we as humans have the capacity to endure, to give, to support, and to love unconditionally and look forward to the peace that our Heavenly Father offers to all his children. This peace comes both through His love and through great people who love others and gave up their health and their lives so that those who suffered would not be alone. May it always be so.      Elder Randy Keyes            

What is Aloha?

There is a special spirit (here). We call it the spirit of aloha. We who understand know that the spirit of aloha is the Holy Spirit. It is most comfortable in places where it is invited by the righteousness of the people who are there. True aloha...is a warm welcome greeting. It is the hope to make someone else happy. It is the commitment of everlasting love. It is a wish for someone's welfare and safety. It is compassion for those less fortunate. It is charity for those in need. It is a sincere desire to help, [and doing so] with no expectation of repayment. It is including those who might be left out. It is loving our neighbor more than ourselves. It is the spirit of good that comes from heaven and permeates all human hearts. It is farewell with a prayer for a sweet reunion. It is the light within that says, "You are my brother. You are my sister. I honor and respect you for who you are, a child of God. Welcome to my life, my world. Aloha"


R Lanier Britsch, Devotional Talk BYUH, 08/25/2003
https://devotional.byuh.edu/node/266
(click on the link to read his talk in its entirety)

Ralph Lanier Britsch was a history professor at Brigham Young University who specialized in the history of LDS missionary work particularly in the Pacific Islands and Asia.

He served as a missionary in Hawaii two times, first as a youth, and later as a senior missionary assigned to help document the history of the Polynesian Cultural Center (wikipedia).

Aloha and Welcome - Rileys

Elder and Sister Riley

Elder Cliff and Sister Jackie Riley are from Orem, Utah. They met at Utah State University and were married in the Logan temple the day before Elder Riley graduated with a mechanical engineering degree. He has a professional engineering license.

They have five children, twenty-one grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Just a few days after their arrival here in Laie, the Rileys celebrated their 50th anniversary by attending the temple--the place where their family began.

They enjoy their home, family and helping others to learn about their family history. Prior to their call to BYUH, the Rileys served a mission in the Milwaukee Wisconsin mission and loved the time they spent there.

Sister Riley is working in the Admissions Office and Elder Riley is assigned to Planning and Construction.

Aloha and Welcome - Wollenziens

Elder and Sister Wollenzien

We are Ivan and Lory Wollenzien from Beaver, Utah at present.  We were both born in Las Vegas, Nevada, delivered in the same hospital 3 months apart. We grew up on the same street and were in the same church and school classes.  We fell in love after Ivan served a mission to Korea and were married in December of 1975 in the St. George Temple. We have six great kids--the baby is engaged to be married next month.  We delight in our 13 1/2 grand children!

We both graduated from BYU--Ivan in Engineering and Lory in Home Ec. Ed.  Lory taught school in Sandy, UT at Eastmont Jr. High until baby #1 came along. Ivan taught grades 7-12 woodshop, drafting, and technology for 17 years in Overton, Nevada.  He then built a service station in Logandale, NV and operated it for 17 years.  During this time he developed a subdivision which he named Greenfield Estates.  He quit his teaching job during this project.  He purchased a 30 acre farm in Beaver, Utah and it became a hobby spot.  

Between living in Logandale and Beaver we bought another home in South Jordan and lived there for 7 years.  We both worked in the Jordan River Temple until we were called to serve an 18 month mission at West Ridge Academy, a school for youth in crisis.  It was quite an experience and we grew to love the kids we worked with.  

We eventually purchased the home in Beaver where Lory gardens while Ivan plays at his farm a few miles away.  It is a great gathering place for family and friends.  We have lived in retirement there nearly six years. Ivan just completed a one acre reservoir to grow alfalfa. 

Ivan wanted to serve another mission and hoped for a remote island.  This spot opened and we got a call asking if we would serve here instead.  We were all smiles!!!  

The Wollenziens are working in the Center for Academic Success.

Aloha and Farewell - McCollums

Elder and Sister McCollum

In the office where we served on the campus of BYUH, there was a large map posted on the wall.  A few months after we began serving in The Center for Academic Success, we decided to made a sign to go overtop the map.  The sign read: “The World Visits the Center for Academic Success”.  As we met students, the countries were plotted on the map, also an alphabetical list of countries was created and a numbered a list with the names of the first student that we met from various nations. During our service mission at BYUH, we were blessed to meet students from forty-six countries from around the globe.

One day when Saku, a young married woman from Mongolia, was in the Center, together we were looking at the world map.  She showed me how her country was located between Russia and China. She then pointed and said “It is all dark in Russia, all dark in Mongolia and all dark in mainland China. There is not the light of the Lord’s temple for his people in these lands.” We were blessed to meet Saku, who like other ambassadors of Christ, has a testimony of how the temple lifts us, exalts us, stands as a beacon for all to see, and points us toward celestial glory.

As we left our mission, it was hard to say goodbye knowing we may never again during this mortal life see our students friends from Armenia, Bangladesh, Austria, Tahiti, Hungary, Samoa, Brazil, Kiribati, Malaysia, Nauru, Mongolia, mainland China, Guatemala, Tonga, Vanuatu etc. and even countries we had never heard of before.  We were truly blessed to know these students who will go forth as servants of our Lord, Jesus Christ as they return to their countries.

Elder and Sister McCollum

Released May 29, 2016

Elder and Sister McCollum with Saku and her husband

English is a Tough Language to Learn!

All BYU-Hawaii online courses are in English and all students must be proficient in English to be successful. To help students who are not proficient in English, BYU-Hawaii has a large English as an International Language (EIL) program. This program accepts students at varying English levels and gives them the language skills they need to excel in university courses (byuh.edu/tech-requirements).

Learning to speak, read and write in a second (or more) language is a challenge for many of the students who come from all over the world to be educated here at BYUH. Several of our sister missionaries have the opportunity to work with these students through the EIL program as tutors in grammar and speech. Sister Brenda Jeppson has spent the last fourteen months of her mission in the Center for Academic Success as a wonderful resource for students as she has lovingly and patiently helped them is they struggle to communicate effectively in the complex and sometimes confusing English language.

Sister Jeppson:

Now that the semester is over, and I won’t be proofreading anymore papers, it’s time to put together all the little—and very funny—mistakes the students made in their writing.  I’m sure if the EIL and the English teachers kept the misused words and phrases, a sizeable book could be made!  But these are just a few of what our incredible students have said as they press forward in their education.

ü  Asked about the internet: “We’ve been asked to give our feelings and opinions on internment.”

ü  While proofreading: ”I’m trying really hard to avoid run-over sentences.”

ü  “. . .but this assumption can be like a red light.”

ü  “The worst thing is the intoxicated waste that is dumped in the sea.”

ü  “This may probably be the wrong choice.”

ü  “I needed help, so I asked an elderly man in his late 40s.”

ü  Students were writing about drought and how to save water. One suggestion came from a girl who was talking about emptying an ice tray, and she said, “When you drop one or two, you should pick up the ice tubes and put them to a planet.”

ü  “. . . she was stabled.”  He meant stabbed.

ü  “. . .the government and other organisms.”

ü  “The whole family were sick, so the home teachers came and gave them a small massage and a priesthood blessing.”

ü  “This solution has many benefits and backdraws.”

ü  “. . .until they can researchedly prove that they. . . “

ü  In the accounting world, the people who work for the company are called accounters.”

ü  “After he had calmed her fears, he reinsured her.”  (for how much this time?)

ü  In a very sophisticated research paper (on the wars in Iraq) this Pilipino student described the people after a small victory, “They were way happy.”

ü  On an application, “I’m a soft more.”

ü  The student knows the noun minimum, but he needs the verb. Because he’s a good student and applies what he has learned about prefixes and suffixes, he produces minify instead of minimize.

You know, we find these little errors amusing, but looking at what is behind them, we see students who work hard to achieve excellence. They are thinking, applying and synthesizing what they learn, and they work hard to put some extraordinary thoughts into English.

Island Fauna - Cattle Egrets

CATTLE EGRETS

Standing as sentinels protecting the campus, the cattle egrets are an imposing sight. Quiet and stately, they feast on the insects living in the grass and are especially active on mowing days. That is because "Cattle Egret are opportunistic feeders and follow large animals or farm machines around to catch insects. It is estimated that they gather 50% more food using only two-thirds as much energy when feeding with livestock" or when chasing the BYUH lawnmowers.

(http://animaldiversity.org/site/accounts/information/Bubulcus_ibis.html).

A few years prior to Hawaii gaining statehood, the government released cattle egrets and barn owls as biocontrol agents to manage agricultural pests, such as rodents and flies. Now, over 50 years later, the unintended consequences of these introductions have come back to roost, with the growing populations of barn owls and cattle egrets allegedly becoming a threat to endangered native birds.

Trying to turn back the clock, the federal government is proposing rule changes to make it permanent open season on cattle egrets and barn owls in Hawaii. While the birds were brought here on work visas, they are now being “terminated.”

You may rarely see barn owls since they are nocturnal, but the sight of flocks of snow white egrets,... is now part of the wildlife experience here in Hawaii. For those who love seeing animals and nature, they are beautiful to behold.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sydney-ross-singer/save-hawaiis-egrets-and-o_b_4391521.html

One 'Ohana, Sharing Aloha

As a reference:  On June 8, a special breakfast was held at the Polynesian Cultural Center for all employees, missionaries and volunteers at both BYUH and PCC. At the meeting, the following benefits were announced:

BYUH benefits for PCC Employees
(same as for BYUH employees)

• Parking: $5 Staff Permit
• Pool: Free wth ID Card (NEW)
• Fitness Center: Free with ID Card (NEW)
• Open to 2 pm (M-F)
• All day Saturday
• Bookstore: 10% discount with ID Card (NEW)
• Performances and Fine Arts Center: Reduced rate (NEW)
• HUB Game Center: employee pricing with ID card (NEW)
• Library: All privileges with ID Card (NEW)

PCC benefits for BYUH Employees

• Annual Punchcard: 30% discount on packages - 15/year
• Access to PCC Villages: BYUH cardholders may enter the PCC villages at no cost during normal hours of business, currently 12:00 to 10 PM.
• BYUH Cardholders will only be admitted when presenting a current BYUH ID Card. BYUH Cardholders can enter before 5 pm. After 5 pm, BYUH Cardholders, friends and family may access the PCC through Gate 10.
• As with PCC employees, BYUH Cardholders will vacate their seat at island presentations so paying customers may be seated.
• BYUH Cardholders may purchase up to three (3) show-only tickets at the employee rate (currently $10) after 6 PM on the day of the show and on a space available basis.
• BYUH Cardholders may purchase up to two (2) admission tickets at the employee rate (currently $10) on the day of admission and on a space available basis.

Benefit details subject to change

We are very blessed to be part of the PCC, BYUH Ohana. Mahalo!