Professor Ellen Bunker told the BYU-Hawaii devotional audience that her life demonstrates the truth of President Ezra Taft Benson’s admonition that “God can make a lot more out of our lives than we can.”
Professor Bunker was raised in Chino, Arizona, a community of only 1,600 residents. She is a visiting faculty member in the English Language Training Department and is a Distance-learning specialist. She has worked with the BYU Technology Assisted Language Learning (TALL) system to teach English to judges in China.
Professor Bunker served a mission in the Philippines and at a refugee camp in Thailand. She recounted her memories of performing a Christmas pageant with other missionaries at the camp. “There were about a thousand people watching,” she said. “A young mother brought up her baby boy and offered him to the missionary playing the role of Mary… and that boy never took his eyes off the missionary. It was a deeply moving experience.” She based her remarks on an address by President James E. Faust, a counselor in the First Presidency of the LDS Church, on becoming disciples of Christ:
“First, do good and serve others. Second, seek to find and help the lost sheep. Third, be compassionate and considerate of others. Fourth, be witnesses of God through our actions. Fifth, Invite children to come unto Christ.”
In Graduate school, Professor Bunker said one of her teachers said that we have lost the fabric of society which binds us together. “She was amazed when I told her that within weeks of my arrival in Pennsylvania, I had helped dress an elderly lady who had passed away, in preparation for her funeral and the next day I had held a newborn baby of another lady in our Ward.” Professor Bunker explained, “I was called to be the Relief Society President in that Ward shortly after my arrival.”
Professor Bunker talked about her experiences in 1985 when she went to Nigeria to administer and serve with the Thresher Foundation which is managed by the LDS Welfare Department. She said, “I lived next door to the Branch President in a community with only 40 members of the Church, and the Brnnch President’s wife helped me adapt to Nigerian culture. “There is an LDS Stake in that community now, and Cecilia, the Branch President’s wife, is the Stake Relief Society President, “
Professor Bunker concluded by quoting Elder Neal A. Maxwell who said, “Everything easy has been achieved, from here on out, it is all high adventure.” She urged the audience to look forward to the high adventure with enthusiasm.