He also asked if they wondered what it would have been like to "live in the days of the Savior" and be on the shores of Galilee," when Jesus "looked into the eyes of four fishermen and spoke the words that would change their lives forever: 'Follow me.' If you had been there, would you have heeded the Savior's call? Perhaps, a more productive question might be: If the Savior were to call to you today would you be just as willing to follow Him?"
Elder Wirthlin explained we follow the Savior "by exercising faith, by believing in Him, by believing that a loving God still speaks to man on earth today. We follow Him by repenting of our sins, and entering the waters of baptism and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost. We follow Him by loving Him. We learn of Him, and strive to follow His example of compassion and righteousness."
"When we heed this call, and become disciples of Jesus Christ, we become refined, pure, and holy. When we love the Lord, the benefits of the atonement can wash away our earthly stain and, though our sins be as scarlet, we can become new creatures, filled with hope, happiness, and the desire to do good continually."
"I urge you to become true disciples of Jesus Christ," Elder Wirthlin said, [and] "know that the Lord is mindful of you."
Earlier in the commencement program, President Eric B. Shumway presented Honolulu businesswoman and community volunteer Mildred Wong with the BYU-Hawaii Distinguished Service Award "for her example as a disciple of Jesus Christ, her love and dedication to her family, her leadership and organizational skills, her entrepreneurial spirit, unmeasured hours of charitable service to family, friends and community, and her significant donations to the university."
"If I have been any influence for good in my life, I really owe it to the gospel of Jesus Christ and to my exemplary parents," responded Wong, the 15th of their 16 children who recalled they used to invite all 150-plus labor missionaries to their home in Honolulu for dinner in the 1950s.
"Though I was in high school at that time, what stood out to me the most was the aloha and the kinship that my family felt for this university. We were so excited that there was going to be a Church school here in Hawaii," said Wong, who has led her extended Fong family in their contributions for the past 10 years as a member of the BYU-Hawaii/Polynesian Cultural Center Presidents' Leadership Council.