“Whatever Heavenly Father tells you to do, do it. He will help you. Do it from the standpoint of fidelity to your God, spouse, children, etc. and you will change the world.” This powerful counsel to BYU-Hawaii students came from Mitch Davis, director and screenwriter for the movie “The Other Side of Heaven” during his speech on Nov 6 as part of the Leadership Summit Conference. Davis’ speech was based on his conviction that his audience, BYU-Hawaii students, will be future world leaders and that they have the capacity to change the world as President David O. McKay prophesied.

“The last thing the world needs is leaders who have sold their souls to have a voice,” Davis cautioned. He outlined that students need to remember, in order to avoid such fate, to know “who we are, why are we here”, and the values that are important to us.

In teaching who we are, Davis recalled how he used to marvel at the beauty and wonders of God’s creation and how he would ask, “Of all these creations, tell me, which is your grandest accomplishment? Is it the Grand Canyon? The Galaxy? Mt Everest?” The answer that came was the memory of a “boy in the mud” from his mission in Argentina, and of different individuals he met, and all of us who are children of the same God who loves us all equally.

Continuing on, Davis taught that “our purpose in this life is not to “prove ourselves to God, but to develop faith in ourselves…to prove to ourselves what [God] has been trying to tell us”. “When you envision God going down and make sense of a…planet or universe without life or void, it is not really that different” from deciding whether to go on a mission to a foreign land and speak a foreign language, or deciding to get married and have kids when it does not make any financial sense, Davis continued.

Lastly, the BYU-Provo alumni counseled students to hold onto their values, which include fidelity and love. Fidelity is a “central component of leadership”, Davis continued, a value that is “mocked in the world today.”

“You are going to change the world. You have no choice. It is up to you. You have to be, because you know who you are, and where you are going.”

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