TIANJIN, China — Several members of the BYU-Hawaii/Polynesian Cultural Center Presidents' Leadership Council (PLC) have been participating in the university's Concert Choir tour, which so far has included performances in Urumqi, Xi'an and Beijing. The choir is currently appearing in this city about three hour's drive from Beijing on its last stop in China before moving on to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
The BYUH/PCC Presidents' Leadership Council is comprised of donors who support the two Latter-day Saint intuitions in Laie, Hawaii. PLC members who joined the tour in China include Al Gardner, chairman, and his wife Kathleen, from Phoenix, Arizona and Maui; PLC steering committee members Ryan and Shauna Ockey from Calgary, Canada; and Fred and Cherece Lyons, also from Calgary. The choir group also met up with PLC member Tad Butt in Xianghe, as described in a previous story about the tour, and Barbara Barrington-Jones at the Forbidden City concert in Beijing.
The three couples who traveled with the choir for varying periods had previously been to China. Fred Lyons, for example, served as a Latter-day Saint missionary in Taiwan and still speaks fluent Mandarin; but all indicated it was a special opportunity to be here with the Concert Choir.
"When we arrived in Urumqi I was very surprised at how warm and friendly the people are. They were just wonderful," said Ryan Ockey, president & CEO of Cardel Homes. He explained he and his wife were invited to go on the tour by BYU-Hawaii President Eric B. Shumway, and even though this is a very busy time in his business and his wife planned to go to Germany with their son's soccer team as soon as she returned, the couple decided to stay from the beginning through Beijing.
"We knew it would be a wonderful opportunity to listen to and feel the spirit of the choir, and have a better idea of the influence of BYU-Hawaii in China," she said.
Ockey said he was also impressed with the impact the choir is making. "The first thought that came to my mind is similar to Alma speaking about a seed being planted: The seeds in China have been planted in friendships for the last 25 years by what BYU-Hawaii has done. These seeds are growing. We can see it in the way people talk to us."
For example, Ockey told of having "a very touching" dinner with alumni in Xi'an who had participated in the joint BYUH/PCC Asian Executive Management (AEM) internship program. "Each of them spoke about the aloha spirit and how it changed them, how they were happier, friendlier, more cooperative with their co-workers and had a better appreciation of different things. They didn't come out and say anything about religion, but you could feel the undercurrent that they had felt the Spirit and had been changed by it."
"It was very inspiring to hear all 15 of them talk about the same thing — the great experience they had shared and the memories they had of other students and faculty at BYU-Hawaii. Many of them also said it had helped them in their careers, and that their English and people skills were better. Some had received promotions and had more advances in their career because of their experiences at BYU-Hawaii."
At the same dinner Shauna Ockey said she talked with an AEM alumnus who left for Laie the day before his first-and-only son was born. "He wasn't going to go, but his wife said, 'I want you to go. It's going to help us have a better life. It will help our child have a better life.' He didn't see his baby until he was 10 months old. Now, he would like his son to graduate from BYU-Hawaii so he can learn the principles he was taught there, such as honesty, being cooperative and loving other people. This same fellow said he misses the devotionals and tries to download them. I'm putting my own spin on it, but I think what he was trying to tell us is that he misses the Spirit."
She added that "the Spirit was definitely in the room, and you could tell the AEM people were familiar with it. They called it the aloha spirit, and there were lots of hugs and warm expressions, which I understand is very un-Chinese."
She also encourages other PLC members who could ever have a similar opportunity to take it, "because it's fascinating. To the rest, please continue to donate, because this is how we're going to build up Zion. Funding these kinds of projects, and these students — you don't realize the impact or importance they have when they go back into the world."
"The most satisfying aspect of the PLC for us is working with the students, especially the business plan competition, because we really get to interact with them," said Ryan Ockey, who advised "other PLC and potential members to just get involved. Start doing things, and you'll catch the spirit of BYU-Hawaii. When Shauna and I first joined the PLC, we came to meetings and enjoyed them, but it wasn't until we really began actively doing things that it really started meaning a lot to us."
"Get involved. Serve on a committee," said Ockey. "Get to know the students. As you do that, you'll become immersed in the spirit of aloha, and it will change you like it has changed us and our family. We have a wonderful relationship that we really enjoy."
He explained they first got interested in the PLC after she attended "A New You" workshop on campus, and now retired LDS Philanthropies donor liaison Barbara Velasco invited them to get involved. "My wife had a strong feeling we should do this," he said.
After visiting the Laie campus, though neither had gone to a Church university, "and after feeling the aloha spirit, we were committed. Then we thought, we've got to get all of our friends involved. We were fortunate to have President Shumway and the PCC Promo Team come to Calgary, so now we have a dozen of our friends who are also members. Most of them didn't attend BYU or BYU-Hawaii either, but they get it. It's changed their lives, too. We're giving to the university, but we get so much more back."
"It's been a wonderful blessing to our family," he continued, "and we feel more blessed every day that we have this opportunity. It's not a sacrifice for us to be involved."
Asked her impressions of the Concert Choir members, Shauna Ockey said, "I love the BYU-Hawaii students. They have integrated so well with the Chinese students we've met. You can see the light of Christ in their faces. When they perform and meet other people they truly exhibit the spirit of aloha. I'm thrilled with how well our choir can permeate and express the Spirit and Light of Christ to these people."
"This has been the most remarkable trip, and our expectations have been exceeded," she added. "I had no idea that the people of China would be able to feel the Spirit so strongly. I've seen it in their faces. We often talk about a fellow we met in Urumqi who said he's run out of adjectives to describe how he feels; and the Asian Executive Management alumni we've met, who have taken their families to the concerts, expressed how they have once again felt the aloha spirit in their hearts."
— Photo by Monique Saenz: the Ockeys at the exchange with Urumqi High School students
