Elder Pita Vamanrav, a 1971 BYU-Hawaii alumnus and current Area Authority Seventy of Tonga for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, promised students at the Oct. 16 devotional that they will find a deeper meaning of charity through service.
BYU-Hawaii President Eric B. Shumway said Elder Vamanrav had distinguished himself as a student, athlete, Polynesian Cultural Center manager, Church leader and a "man of Christ [who] fits perfectly in the vision of David O. McKay, (former president of the Church) who declared that this school would produce 'leaders the world is hungering for...genuine gold.'"
"I am so grateful that I am back today...in my home away from home," Elder Vamanrav said. He explained he grew up in Nukualofa, Tonga, where his father was a tailor originally from Bombay, India, and his mother was the daughter of a Wesleyan minister. He joined the Church while attending Liahona High School and came to Laie in 1963.
Elder Vamanrav recalled in those days students with work-study loans would only get $5 a week plus tithing money from their PCC checks, with the balance going to pay down the loan.
He cited the familiar scripture in Malachi, chapter 3, on the connection between paying an honest tithe and blessings pouring from Heaven:
"The Lord was trying me, but I wanted to prove it for myself," he said. "I paid my tithing, and I stand here as a witness that I have never fallen short. I have never been hungry. All the things I have wanted in this life, I have received, plus many other blessings that I can't even count...because I tried to be faithful."
Relating the story of how young Heber J. Grant gave away a new coat that his mother had made for him to another boy that needed it more, Elder Vamanrav continued, "Sometimes, we give our shirt, but we give the one that has been worn. Sometimes we give food, but we dish out from the leftovers. Sometimes we give things that are of lesser values. Sometimes we accept our calls, but we do not fulfill them because we do not have time."
He recalled that about 16 years ago he was "feeling down and nothing was working right." So he asked his 6-year-old daughter to pray for him. She asked, "Do you want blessings?" He said, "Of course." She pointed outside and said, "Go fix the missionaries' house."
"I was stunned," Elder Vamanrav said. He felt he had built a nice house for the missionaries; but then he thought, "Sure you built that house, but you built it out of scraps and leftovers."
Before leaving for the devotional, Elder Vamanrav felt the need to pray for comfort. "I heard a knock on the door, and there was my daughter. Sixteen years later, she's serving a mission here," he said.
Elder Vamanrav explained how the king and queen of Tonga are "always escorted" by police and military wherever they go, and compared that to the Lord's promise in Doctrine and Covenants 84, that He "will be on your right hand...and my angels round about. When the [missionary] sisters walked into my room, I felt that," he said.
Elder Vamanrav told of interrupting his studies to serve his own mission for the Church in Tonga, where he was assigned to the small, northern island of Otea. One of his companions was Elder Von Orgill, now president of the Polynesian Cultural Center.
"I knew the sacrifice he went through to come into the islands to serve in Otea," he said. "We had no electricity, no running water, no roads. We had trails. No automobiles. Not even a bicycle. We lived on octopus, papaya and dumpling pudding. I felt for him."
He also felt for the school children who had to paddle canoes across the ocean from even smaller islands to get to school. He worried about them. Watching them paddle one day, he started crying and made a covenant that he would return to Tonga and help these youngsters.
Elder Vamanrav fulfilled that promise in 1977, when he and his wife, Seini Pasi, returned to Tonga, where his life has been filled with service ever since.
"My brothers and sisters, when you serve the Lord, he will serve you," he said. "I have seen the hands of the Lord many times in my life. The desire to serve others is at the center of the Lord's work. As you develop love for others, you will look for opportunities to serve in whatever place you can."
Citing Moroni 7:48 in the Book of Mormon, Elder Vamanrav encouraged the students and faculty to "pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love. Charity is a gift from God, and it must be received from God. Like all other gifts, it comes by obedience."
"The entire world belongs to God," he added. "The earth is His. We cannot take any of the material worth with us...only the knowledge we attain and the sacrifices and service we give. Take advantage of the opportunities BYU-Hawaii provides, and return and serve your people."
"I stand representing all the alumni who have been in your shoes. We have total confidence that you will be successful, with God's help," Vamanrav said.