The Laie and Kaneohe Hawaii stakes organize a five-day event to share the stories of pioneers from the Pacific Island, Laie and the early church with youth as well as provide opportunities for strengthening testimonies
Tania Mahoni, one of the trek chairs for the Laie Hawaii and Kaneohe Hawaii Stakes’ Combined Trek, said the committee wanted the youth to recognize that they are pioneers in their own lives.
“We wanted them to know that they too can do hard things,” she said. Tania Mahoni said the youth’s choices and faith will impact their future and future generations and keeping the Lord as their focus will help them overcome challenges and achieve great things.
She said the theme "Journey," was chosen through prayer, fasting and temple attendance by the trek’s organizers.
They took the theme from the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 31:20 and President Monson's words, "Find joy in the journey." “This spiritual foundation was crucial to the event's success,” said Tania Mahoni.
Tania Mahoni and her husband, William Mahoni, were the trek chairs from the Laie Hawaii Stake, while Colleen and Darryl Tano served as the trek chairs for the Kaneohe Hawaii Stake. Tania Mahoni shared the committee strived for accuracy involving over 15 committees and subcommittees including youth participation. They researched to ensure an immersive experience, she said, with activities held at significant locations.
During the trek, Tania Mahoni said PCC generously hosted their Pacific Pioneer Day. The next day was dedicated to exploring Laie's pioneers with visits to Hukilau Beach, the Laie Cemetery, and the Laie Hawaii Temple. On Friday, the youth participated in the Handcart Trek and activities about the early church pioneers at Gunstock Ranch, tackling an eight-mile journey over challenging terrain as they pulled the handcarts.
Learning about Pacific Island Pioneers and Lehi's Dream
To kick off the Laie and Kaneohe Hawaii Stakes’ youth trek, 450 youth spent a day immersed in the cultures and Pacific Island pioneer stories at the Polynesian Cultural Center. In the evening of Wednesday, June 7, the PCC was transformed into a reenactment of Lehi’s Dream consisting of different scenes from the scriptures and gospel principles taught through audio.
Larie Manutai, the Laie Hawaii Stake Young Women’s secretary, shared her gratitude towards students from BYU–Hawaii club members who came to help with the morning and night activities. “We couldn't have done this without the assistance of the BYUH students, and it was just so crucial that we had them here to not only help with the event, but because they're also descendants of [Pacific Islander] pioneers,” she said.
Manutai said the trek’s objective was to honor pioneers, specifically pioneers from the Pacific Islands and help the youth understand their sacrifice and journey. “We have a lot of youth that are of Pacific Island ancestry and also Hawaiian ancestry, and the event that we're doing this year not only honors the Pacific Island pioneers but also the Laie pioneers, in addition to the handcart pioneers,” said Manutai.
Before embarking on a journey floating around the PCC’s river in canoes to experience Lehi’s Dream, the youth received guidance from Pete Meyer. Meyer, a seminary and institute coordinator and professor in the Faculty of Religious Studies at BYUH, invited them to hold fast to the iron rod and ponder on spiritual thoughts they might get while watching Lehi’s Dream.
Brad Wilcox, the First Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, who spoke after the Lehi's Dream experience, said the four Fs of happiness are family, friends, fulfillment and faith.
Defining each word that starts with “F”, Wilcox said if President Nelson was here, he would say, “I'm not who I am hopefully in light of my family. I am who I am because of my family, even though my family wasn't perfect.”
Wilcox also said there are friends, including the friends the youth made at trek, who are going to bring people joy and love to people just because of who they are.
Wilcox cited Arthur Brooks when he said fulfillment is important to happiness. ”What does fulfillment mean? It means that your life stands for something bigger than you. When you start focusing on others and do something because it's meaningful, then you do feel happiness,” he said.
The four Fs of happiness are family, friends, fulfillment and faith.
Lastly, for faith, Wilcox said spirituality is an individual thing but we need religion, which is a group practice of spirituality. He said, “The ultimate goal of the youth program is to learn personal revelation and to focus on Jesus.”
Tania Mahoni said the adult leaders over the various small youth groups called the “Ma and Pa” of each of their “family,” along with guest speaker Brother Wilcox, profoundly impacted the youth with their love and guidance. “The Lord was completely involved in this trek, in every single detail. We are so grateful to Brother Brad Wilcox, who was here for less than 15 hours just so he could speak with our youth. Everything he said resonated with them so clearly and brought many to tears,” she shared.
Learning about Laie Pioneers
On Thursday, event organizers added elements focused on Laie pioneers. The stakes took the youth to the Laie Cemetery to teach them about early church pioneers in Hawaii and other Pacific islands that were buried there. Naomi Saenz, a youth participant, said, “They talked about a lot of the pioneers who came to Laie a long time ago, like in the 1900s. They came from all kinds of places like Samoa and Tonga and New Zealand. It was crazy how much some of them sacrificed to come here for the church.”
The youth then went to the Laie Hawaii Temple grounds where many of the pioneers they learned about made sacrifices for. The youth walked up to the temple holding various candles to represent and honor the people who were a part of building Laie.
Learning about the early Saints
On Friday, the youth participated in a handcart trek in remembrance of the early pioneers of the church. Saturday was filled with team-building activities that led to faith-building testimonies to the youth and leaders of both stakes.
William Mahoni said, “The activity was a success. A lot of sacrifices were done by both parents and youths of each stake to make this special event happen. Moreover, it created bonds of friendship between stakes and helped the youth realize the sacrifices made by their ancestors.”
Tania Mahoni shared the challenges faced during planning, stating she felt the adversary was at work when an unexpected trail closure forced the groups to take an alternative route, bringing to mind the pioneers' trials. “We continuously reminded ourselves time and time again that this was the Lord's trek. It took a lot of prayer, faith, discussion and research to overcome any concerns that we were facing,” said Tania Mahoni.
According to Daniel Bradshaw, the first counselor in the Laie Hawaii Stake presidency, the activity only happens every four years, and all youth are encouraged to join special activities like this. “I am glad God helped me to determine the leaders who are going to assist and make the event happen. Because of them, the youth in both stakes had a wonderful experience,” he said.
Taylor Sakaguchi, a youth from the Keolu Ward in the Kaneohe Hawaii Stake, said, “I hesitated to join at first because I was afraid of what was going to happen. But because of church leaders who encouraged us to join and promised us that we will have abundant spiritual experiences, I joined.” Moreover, she said the event was fun and was filled with faith-building activities like their reenactment of pulling handcarts. She said it helped her realize the sacrifices that were made by the early pioneers of the church.
Tyler Kunz, a recent high school graduate from the Laie 5th Ward, said the event was a great experience. “It is something that we do not do a lot. Unlike any other youth conferences or ward camps, this event helps us to walk in the shoes of the pioneers before us,” he said. He said his relationship with other leaders and youth from different wards grew and helped him to better prepare himself for his mission.
A participant from the Kaneohe Hawaii Stake said this event is how they envisioned Zion being, Tania Mahoni shared. She said she is grateful for the community's willingness to serve which has embodied their vision of a united society. “Our goal was to let the youth know that wherever they were on their journey, whether on or off the covenant path, the Lord was always there for them. We wanted to provide a spiritual experience so they could feel this and they did,” she said.
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