BYU-Hawaii head basketball coach Ken Wagner, emphasized the need to rely on the Lord by sharing various life experiences in his June 12 devotional address to students and faculty.
"No matter what trials or help I have needed, I have always felt I could turn to the Lord," Wagner said. "We need prayer to help us get through lives experiences."
Wagner explained that he had really started to examine his life and how he had learned about prayer after one of his daughters had experienced her own struggles with praying and receiving answers. He started to reflect on some on the events that helped strengthen his confidence in the Lord.
"My whole life had been filled with beautiful examples of prayer-personally, in my family, and in our community," he said.
Wagner emphasized that BYU-Hawaii students are in a perfect environment where opportunities to cultivate their testimonies in prayer and the Gospel are plentiful. Similarly, he felt the urge to create the same kind of environment for his daughter and let her experience the ability to rely on the Lord.
He recounted an experience with his father who was asked to start a church school in Mexico City. To start the school, the church needed a Mexican citizen with a degree from Mexico and his father was the only one qualified at that time.
Wagner continued that his father started to work on his doctorate but to receive the degree, he would need to be competent in two foreign languages. After much praying and fasting on his family's part, his father was able to pass the Italian and French exams.
"(My father) said he still does not know any French, but during the test he felt all the answers come to him and he was able to pass," Wagner said. "What a great experience for us to have as a family to learn to rely on the Lord."
Wagner shared another experience that came after the establishment of the church school. The school had the task of trying to obtain a permit to provide water for the school. The water that was trucked in on a daily basis could only be used for the ranch the church had purchased to build the school.
He said that all of the students and workers decided to have a special fast and have everyone pray for the permit to be granted. "The government had never granted this type of permit, and yet after the fast they gave the church permission to use the water for both ranching and for the school."
"This school has provided the church leadership for hundreds of stakes and missions," Wagner added. "Students here at BYU-Hawaii need to provide this same type of leadership for the church growth in Asia and the South Pacific."
Another experience was when he was trying to decide whether or not to serve a full-time mission. After encouragement from the stake Patriarch and gaining strength through his own prayers, Wagner said that he went on to fill an honorable mission for the church despite many obstacles facing him that otherwise would have deterred him from going.
"We are in a position here at BYU-Hawaii to be able to practice prayer and also, learn from the examples around us in order to go out and fulfill President McKay's prophecies for the students of this school," he said.
"All of us need to feel the Spirit constantly or we will lose it and not be able to carry out the mission of this school -- to educate men and women who will go out and establish peace internationally," Wagner added. "We all need to rely on the Lord and need to take advantage of this great environment to strengthen ourselves and those around us."