Laie Hawaii Temple President James E. Hallstrom Jr. said using their agency allows people to be a better tool for the Lord, and it allows the Spirit to be their constant companion. He explained, “We are the only people who can change ourselves.”
By embracing the gospel and looking towards the Lord, he said people can live in the moment and make full use of their covenants.
Melenaite Semani, a sophomore from Tonga majoring in accounting, said President Hallstrom’s message about the importance of choices helped her be more reflective about her decisions now and in the future.
Hallstrom began the devotional on June 15, 2021, by urging students to write down and act upon the promptings they felt or heard. As a result, Savaira Veikoso, a senior from Fiji majoring in business management, said she felt a prompting from the Spirit to check in on her roommate during the devotional.
She said she had received a message from her roommate but usually doesn’t look at her phone during the devotional.
Veikoso said she felt it was important to check her phone, and when she did, she found out her roommate needed her help. “Had I not followed the prompting to go to her, I don’t know how even more lonely, scared and frustrated she would have been.”
Hallstrom, who attended BYU–Hawaii, said he does not believe it is an accident he moved back here as the Laie Hawaii Temple president. He said the spirit at BYUH is unlike anywhere else. The students here are purposely at BYUH to grow and learn and are not here by accident, he explained.
BYU–Hawaii President John S.K. Kauwe III said the Laie Hawaii Temple has had a profound impact on the community by allowing students and those in the community to draw strength and light from the House of the Lord.
Kauwe said Hallstrom’s example and service both inside and outside the temple has blessed him.
Hallstrom said, “Life is about knowledgeably making and keeping essential covenants.” He explained life is all about choices and how people use their agency makes a difference.
Hallstrom said there are no small choices because each step or choice leads somewhere new. “To not maximize the [present], wastes our opportunity for [future] progress. ... Our conferred right to always have the ability to choose … is second only in magnitude to the incomparable sacrifice of our Lord, our Savior.”
Hallstrom said, “The greatest gift is the Atonement, but we can only activate and receive its highest blessings through our own use of agency.”
He said all growth learning and decision making has effects in the present and long term. He said the spiritual quality of life depends on how members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints exercise their agency in the moment.
He said as people use their covenants moment to moment, they determine who they are and who they will become. He added as people use their covenants, it impacts their hearts and changes them from within.