Terainui Johnston found her love of serving people and rekindled her dancing talent in Hawaii. Johnston, a senior graduating with a degree in social work from Tahiti, said, “The more I learned about social work, the more I felt that this is for me because I love serving people. I just love it. It has kind of opened my vision and perception of my life.” Throughout the classes she has taken at BYU-Hawaii, the most influential ones for her have been all of her social work classes. She explained through experiencing them, “Life became larger. The fact that there are so many things that are given to us that we take for granted, and when I see people out there who don’t have what I have, I feel that I need to do something. It also helps me to be more grateful for what I have.” Her opportunities to do service at BYUH are among the highlights of her time here. Johnston shared, “A few of my favorite moments are probably the service projects that the school had or even New Student Orientation (NSO) where we have to be there for the new students.”After returning home from her mission on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, she said she was unsure about coming to BYUH in the beginning, aiming instead to go to Canada or New Zealand. “But for some reason, I had to come here, and I gave myself six months and if I don’t see why I am here, then I will just go home. But what truly helped me to find my place here is serving others.”Called as a Relief Society president, she said she would find someone to help in her free time because “I felt like I just needed to go do something for people. That stage of my life really helped me to be more humble and even though I don’t understand everything there is always something. I always tell myself, ‘You cannot do everything for everyone everywhere but you can do something for someone somewhere.’” Johnston said even if it is the smallest way of serving, like just listening to someone, she will do it.Johnston started learning Tahitian dance when she was 4 years old. “My parents, for some reason, saw that I had an interest for dancing. They signed me up in a group, but I had to stop because of health problems. I got back into it when I came here and it was hard.” Johnston has displayed her talent of Tahitian dancing at both the Polynesian Cultural Center and in BYUH’s Culture Night.Johnston said her heart is full of gratitude as she looks back on her years at BYUH. “What has truly made my college life the best and what has truly made me happy is service. I just want to encourage all of us to stop complaining. There’s always something to be grateful for, and one of them is the ability and opportunity to cheer someone up and make them smile.”Some of Johnston’s future plans are to volunteer at the Humanitarian Center in Asia and other non-profit organizations. She also hopes to work with a famous French baker in the next 10 to 15 years because she counts baking as one of her hobbies, along with photography. Her advice to the future graduates is to “always be grateful, and if you make the Lord your priority, he will make you His priority.”Uploaded on May 20, 2015
Writer: Alyssa Troyanek
