BEIJING, China — BYU-Hawaii President Eric B. Shumway and First Quorum of Seventy member and BYU Provo President Cecil O. Samuelson — who are both in the capital of China with their respective touring performance groups — spoke to over 200 expatriate members at the Beijing Branch of the Church today. Asia Area President Elder Daryl H. Garn, who is a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy, and Elder Chia Ju Yen, Beijing-based Area Authority Seventy, also attended the branch meeting.
President Shumway explained the BYU-Hawaii Concert Choir is in China as "part of the overall tapestry" of President David O. McKay's prophetic vision of the university in 1955, that the school would produce men and women whose influence will be felt for good towards the establishment of peace internationally, especially in Asia and the Pacific. The BYUH group also came at the invitation of the China Friendship Association.
"It's a glorious thing to witness how this diverse student body at BYU-Hawaii can come to China and make such an impact. I know that Provo's group is doing the same thing," he said. For example, he told of a special blessing given to the choir members "that through their countenances the Spirit of God would move upon these people, and we have sensed that and loved it."
Citing the message of Elder Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve in the last General Conference, President Shumway said he wants the choir members to memorize his words: I learned what power there can be in music. When music is reverently presented it can be akin to revelation. At times it cannot be separated from the voice of God."
"We have seen the literal fulfillment of this statement by our beloved prophet," President Shumway continued. "We have had people come up after our concerts and exchanges and ask what it is they are feeling when they hear and see our young people perform. We ask, what do you think you feel? And they describe precisely what you and I know to be the Holy Ghost moving upon them."
"A man in Xi'an came up to me and said, I felt when your students were singing that the heavens were opened, and angels reached down and enfolded me in their arms of love. And several others suggested there was a connection between heaven and earth in the music of these young people."
President Shumway said, before the choir left Laie, "I begged them to be worthy to share the light, love and peace of the gospel through music, and it will be 'akin to revelation' that 'cannot be separated from the voice of God.'"
"The reason I'm sharing this with you is that we can do so much [in China] without being explicit in terms of names, titles and doctrines; but the Spirit will communicate. The Spirit of God will penetrate, and I told our students that they will encounter perhaps hundreds, maybe thousands, where their interface with them will be the only opportunity in mortality for the people to encounter someone who has the light of the gospel within him. But that impact, through the Spirit, will be so great that it will resonate throughout their lives and lift them out of melancholy and despair. It will be a point of hope...and they will remember."
"What I have described to our students can be precisely relevant to you and I in our daily lives, in our every encounter," said President Shumway, who was recently released as an Area Authority Seventy with responsibilities in Hawaii and California. He will retire after 41 years at BYU-Hawaii at the end of the current school year, and this fall he and his wife, Carolyn Merrill Shumway, will serve as president and matron of the Nuku'alofa Tonga Temple.
President Samuelson said the Provo-based Young Ambassadors have had similar experiences in China. He also encouraged the branch members not to "underestimate your impact on the [Lord's] Kingdom. You're 'preaching' something every day by your examples."
He also thanked the Church members, who are instructed by Church leaders not to actively or passively preach the gospel, for "being wise and comfortable" in their roles in China. Then citing Doctrine and Covenants 64:32 — all things will come to pass in their time — he said, "It is remarkable to see what is happening and the hand of the Lord in this great country."
Meanwhile, members of the BYU-Hawaii Concert Choir held church services in their hotel because the rented space where the Beijing Branch meets could not accommodate its regular members and the more than 70 people in the touring group as well as the BYU Provo Young Ambassadors, who are also in Beijing today.
"It was interesting to have our small group meet in the hotel dining hall," said John Dodson, a member of the choir and a recent BYUH information systems graduate from Honolulu who will undertake an internship in investment banking in Tokyo, Japan, when the choir tour is over. "There was a sweet spirit there." He added the tour has enabled him to "see a part of China I could never imagine and also see what the people here are really like. The members of the choir are having some amazing spiritual experiences."
Dodson's wife, Emiko Dodson, a recent BYUH interdisciplinary students graduate in music technology who is originally from Japan, said the spirit she has felt on the tour has helped her better understand the historical relationship between her country and China. "I didn't know much about this country before. Yes, we're Asians, but we're different. Meeting the people here made me realize how similar we are, and I have a great love for the people here. I really want my country and China to be good friends, and I want to do something about it."
"I never had that desire before," she said, "but now I do."
— Photo (upper left) by Monique Saenz: BYUH Choir member group holds Church services in their hotel; Photo by Mike Foley (lower): Church leaders and special visitors in the Forbidden City, Beijing.
