Gordon B. Hinckley, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who was in Laie last week to attend the Polynesian Cultural Center's 40th anniversary celebration, also blessed the $5 million-plus project that will completely revamp Hale La'a Blvd. from the ocean to the Laie Hawaii Temple and include a new front entrance at BYU-Hawaii.
President Hinckley told the hundreds of community residents, PCC alumni and visitors gathered on Oct. 25 under and around a large tent erected in the traffic circle on Hale La'a Blvd. that, "President Joseph F. Smith looks down upon this group today with gratitude and appreciation for your tremendous interest in being here, for your concern with the causes and people which meant so very, very much to him."
"We have here something that we have nowhere else in all the Church: We have the beautiful temple and all of its environs. We have the Brigham Young University Hawaii and the Church College of Hawaii, and we have the Cultural Center; and they work together," he said.
"This becomes one great and beautiful and magnificent campus, setting forth the beliefs and practices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is nothing quite like it in so small an area, really, than we have anywhere else in the world. This is a favored and beautiful and wonderful area."
The 93-year-old President Hinckley drew laughter from the crowd when he explained he would love to come back when the project is over. "Hopefully, I can be able to make it," he joked, "but to the contractor I want to say, hurry."
"I'd love to come back here. I love this sacred ground. I consider it sacred, dedicated to the great work of the House of the Lord, and this great school as the temple of learning, and the PCC as a temple of entertainment."
"I'm grateful for your presence," the prophet said. "I pray that with all we do in Laie, we will never, never lose sight of the fact that there is something special, something spiritual, something wonderful that is associated in the kinship with the Almighty in this area which was purchased and set apart as a place of refuge for our people -- refuge from the world, refuge from the conditions of the world, set apart in the fulfillment of the work of the Almighty."
As part of the same program, BYU-Hawaii President Eric B. Shumway explained that the Hale La'a Blvd. project and the new front entrance for the campus "will accentuate the spiritual and eternal purposes of the temple of God and of the University of the Lord in Laie. Indeed, they will please the eye, they will gladden the heart, and they will also lift the soul."
He added that the twin projects which are "tied together by purpose and design... have to do with much more than just aesthetics or beautification."
"The BYU-Hawaii front entrance project, brothers and sisters, is funded totally by donations of friends of the University, many of whom are here today -- and you can tell who they are by their big smiles," President Shumway said. "They have given from their hearts and their treasure to create an entrance to the campus commensurate with its special mission and its jubilee celebration two years from this month."
"One of the donors indicated in a letter which accompanied his check that by policy he does not give to capital projects -- bricks and mortar. He gives to scholarships and internships. But when he saw the plans for the project and how it would link with the temple and the community, he was excited to help. It was obvious to him that this new front entrance would inspire visitors and students alike."
R. Eric Beaver, President and CEO of Hawaii Reserves, Inc., which will oversee the improvement project, thanked all who helped plan and move the project forward to this point. "It's an exciting time for all of us. We're so pleased we can move forward with these enhancements that underscore the importance the LDS church places on Laie," he said.
Beaver indicated the project, which will start this week, includes an enclosed meditation garden on the beachfront end of Hale La'a Blvd., popularly called "temple beach"; buried utility poles and lines at both ends of the street, blue rock walls surrounding the meditation garden and lining both sides of the boulevard, a new traffic roundabout in front of the temple, a 24-stall parking lot opposite Laie Elementary School, a drop-off lane on both the Hale La'a and Iosepa Street sides of the elementary school; sidewalks, curbs, a bike lane, and new street sidewalk lighting on Hale La'a; and extensive new re-landscaping throughout the project, including almost 80 Cuban palm trees lining both sides of the boulevard.
HRI chairman John A. "Jack" Hoag also thanked the state and Honolulu city officials who "have been supportive in this and many other projects in the past."
In his blessing on the project, President Hinckley prayed that "those who drive along the Kamehameha Highway may be constrained in their hearts and minds and slow down and look to the House of the Lord, and be constrained in their hearts to come and go about the grounds and visit these beautiful places. We pray that this project may result in greater respect for (Thy) church and its people and its purposes and its desires."
After President Hinckley and others broke ground for the project, they participated in a community parade honoring the Polynesian Cultural Center's 40th anniversary. On Sunday he spoke at a combined Laie North stake conference in the BYU-Hawaii Cannon Activities Center.