Though the crowds were much smaller than the thousands who were there almost three years ago when Iosepa was launched at Hukilau Beach, it was still quite thrilling to hear the seashell trumpets blowing and join the kupuna [Hawaiian elders] in welcoming the arrival of the BYU-Hawaii voyaging canoe back to Laie after spending over two months in training on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Leaving Kawaihae, the homeport of the Makali'i voyaging canoe and its sponsoring organization which has been training the Iosepa crew, the BYU-Hawaii canoe stopped over on Molokai before coming back to Laie on July 23.
Under a beautiful sky that morning, as gentle waves washed Hukilau Beach, the crew swam ashore together and embraced the kupuna, family, friends, University officials and students. It was truly a moment of pride, filled with the aloha spirit; but the level of spirit rose even higher the following Sunday evening when some crewmembers shared their testimonies during a special fireside meeting in the campus ballroom.
"Sir" William K. Wallace IV, a BYU-Hawaii graduate and son of "Uncle Bill" Wallace, director of the Hawaiian Studies program, spoke of the connection he felt with his ancestors who moved in the 1880s to Iosepa, Utah, from which the canoe's name derives.
He also said, "On the canoe we had 14 or 15 who brought the Iosepa back from Molokai, but it felt as if there were hundreds who were there besides us, carrying us along, bringing us along."
Ka'umealani Walk, a Hawaiian Studies instructor whose husband and two sons are also Iosepa crewmembers, said the experience caused her to think of her ancestors, including "Nephi and Lehi, when they crossed the ocean to the Promised Land."
"Many of us remember Nephi was given the commandment to build a ship," she said, "but what we sometimes forget to realize is that Nephi needed that knowledge of what ropes to pull and when to put the sail up and when to close it in order to sail the canoe."
"We truly felt your aloha while we were out there," Walk continued, referring to the community members. "We never felt that we were in danger."
Kawika Eskaran, a watch captain during the training voyage and the co-master carver along with Tuione Pulotu who helped create Iosepa, expressed his gratitude for Uncle Bill Wallace, captain in training. "None of us are sailors, not a one. Uncle Bill took on responsibilities that I myself didn't want to accept in the early stages of the project. Uncle Bill stepped up and he performed beautifully."
Eskaran also praised the unity of the crew. "I can truly say that I would sail with them any place. We trust ourselves to the point now where we're willing to put our lives in one another's hands."
BYU-Hawaii President Eric B. Shumway -- who had the opportunity on June 24 to crew on Iosepa along with other members of the President's Council and Ira A. Fulton, sole funding sponsor for Iosepa's maiden voyage -- acknowledged that "a great deal of confidence was put on this group. There has been tremendous discussion all the way up to the highest levels of the Church about this voyage."
"The Iosepa is more than simply a voyaging canoe. From the very beginning," he continued, "this whole process has been a sacred and spiritual journey. Iosepa represents the very, very best of what Laie means, and what BYU-Hawaii, the Polynesian Cultural Center and the Temple mean."
"It means inclusion," he said. "Even though it's part of the Hawaiian Studies program, it was never exclusively Hawaiian. It was inclusively all of Polynesia, the Church, Laie, and the aloha spirit so well represented by our Hawaiian people here in Laie that was embraced by and infused into every person who touched this project in any way."
"Iosepa represents oneness. What a tremendous symbol that is for this community. We must allow our imagination and our hearts to see this larger picture that Iosepa represents."
After reading the names of the crew and "voyaging 'ohana" [family], Uncle Bill Wallace paid tribute to all of them. "You're all some of the most wonderful people I've ever met and had the chance to work with in my life."
At one point, Wallace held up a picture montage of his ancestors at Iosepa in Utah and explained how it "allowed me to hear the voice of my grandfather when we were building the canoe...where he said the name of that canoe is to be Iosepa."
"Our ancestors are always with us. They're there to help us," Wallace said. "These are the people from whom we receive all of the great benefits. We're the beneficiaries of their faith."
"I hope that my life can be lived as worthily as my grandfather's and my grandmother's was. They were truly the voyagers of faith. They were the ones who laid the foundation for all of us."