Von D. Orgill, President and CEO of the Polynesian Cultural Center, spoke last Thursday at BYU-Hawaii's Devotional to start off the university's year-long 50th anniversary Jubilee.
With the beginning of the New Year, President Orgill reminded faculty, staff and students that now is the time for re-examination, "time for considering who we are, where we are, where we are really going, and how well we are doing along the way. It is a time for committing and recommitting ourselves to being better, to doing better."
Commenting on the devastating earthquake and tsunamis that have ravaged Southeast Asia, Orgill expressed his hope that these events would help make us all "a little more contemplative, more reflective and more sensitive to what is truly important in life; a little more willing to reach beyond ourselves to help others in all of the ways we can."
Speaking of the deep human desire to be with our loved ones through the eternities, he asked the audience to ask themselves, "What must be done to qualify for such a high honor, for such a bounteous blessing, for such a paramount privilege?"
Orgill went on to read from Doctrine and Covenants Section 76 about the requirements necessary to enter the Celestial Kingdom of God, among these that we must be "just and true." He then contrasted these characteristics with the description of those who enter the Terrestrial Kingdom; those who are merely good and honorable men, but are not "valiant in the testimony of Jesus Christ."
For the remainder of his stirring talk, Orgill proceeded to lay down more than a dozen points of practical gospel living and the difference between being simply "good and honorable" instead of choosing to rise to the level of "valiant and true."
"It's good to say, 'I'll try!' It's valiant to say, 'I will' and then to do it!" he said. "It's good to seek understanding; it's valiant to truly empathize with others. It's honorable to be good; it's valiant to be our best and to seek excellence in all things."
Orgill, who was recently called to preside over the newly formed Brigham Young University Hawaii Third Stake in addition to his many other duties, also spoke of the importance of missionary work in our lives.
"It's honorable to set a good example for those who do not belong to our Church," he siad. "It's valiant to open our mouths, share our testimony, invite them into our homes for the missionary discussions, and take them to Church and the Temple Visitor Center."
Alluding again to the nearby Laie, Hawaii temple, one of the main pillars of the community, Orgill asked, "Isn't it good and honorable to attend the Temple at least monthly? Would it be better, more just and true, more valiant, if we went as often as we possibly could with the deep desire to reap the spiritual insights and blessings waiting for us there?"
Carefully weaving throughout his talk, Orgill shared very personal and faith-promoting stories from his own life to illustrate the fact that many of the ordinary people, who come into our lives, are actually extraordinary examples of "valiant" potential.
One of the most special that he recounted was of an incident of priesthood healing that he witnessed as a young man during his missionary service in Tonga. He told of a faithful branch president who, upon discovering his young son trembling with poison, had the incredible faith and trust to use the opportunity to bear his testimony of the restoration. Then, calling upon the village onlookers to pray and exercise faith, he anointed and blessed his son, who was immediately healed and soon after ran off with his friends.
"That day, on that tiny island, in that humble village, I learned something about what it means to be 'valiant in the testimony of Jesus,' to be 'just and true,' to ‘overcome all things by faith,'" he said. "I learned that there was a higher level of living and acting than just being good and just being honorable, even with all the positive meaning embodied by those words."
"May we put our trust in the promises of our Heavenly Father and our Savior," he concluded. "Let us be valiant in every way that we may enjoy the company of our families now and forever."
President Orgill has been at the helm of the Polynesian Cultural Center for nearly five years and was instrumental and visionary in leading the Center through its 40th anniversary last year. He has repeatedly pledged the Center's support of its sister institution, BYU-Hawaii, and wishes it increased success in its Jubilee year.