After a life dedicated to service in the Church, Laie Hawaii Temple Visitors’ Center Director Stephen B. Allen said coming on a mission to Hawaii was inspired by the Lord, and he and his wife have been following the Spirit ever since.
“Our only desire is to do what the Lord wants,” Elder Allen explained. “We don’t have an agenda. We’re on His agenda. We know we are Preach My Gospel missionaries. We are part of the Hawaii Honolulu Mission.
“Our purpose as missionaries here is the same purpose as all the missionaries. The missionary purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.”
Sister Katelynn Olson, a missionary from Utah, described how Elder Allen was “pretty much raised all over the world. His dad built chapels in Australia. Since then, he was the media director for the Church, a mission president, and an area seventy. He was really involved in Preach My Gospel, so we focus a lot on Preach My Gospel here at the Visitors’ Center.”
Their purpose at the Visitors’ Center, she described, is “to invite people to come unto Christ. [The Allens] have made a lot of improvements to the Visitors’ Center, even with just structural stuff like getting the walls and carpets redone. They’ve been waiting for that for 10 years. We have been able to see some of those things start moving despite things running on Hawaiian time.”
What distinguishes the missionaries in the Visitors’ Center from other missionaries, Elder Allen said, is “instead of these missionaries knocking on doors, people knock on our door. Every day, hundreds of people come here. Missionaries have an opportunity to engage them, talk to them, meet them and invite them to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement and so on.”
Finding out they were assigned to Hawaii, Nancy Allen shared, was shocking, but exciting. “I have chronic kidney disease, so I have to stay in the United States. I thought, ‘Hawaii, that’s not in the United States. Oh, wait. Yes, it is.’ I never dreamed of Hawaii. I thought maybe Alaska, but this is much better than Alaska.
“We were excited. [Elder Allen] has been in on this change into digital devices for years. He retired, and it was kind of fun to be able to come to some place where not only is it changed to digital devices, but they’re taking calls from ComeUntoChrist.org. They can take people who request to have missionaries come. All of the people who call, they try to turn it into having missionaries because you can’t be baptized without meeting with the missionaries in your ward.”
This digital teaching service, explained Elder Allen, allows them to see how the people they come in contact with progress through the gospel. “In the month of September, as an example, there were 26 people baptized into the Church who started with the work our sisters did in the center. They were all over the world, not here in Hawaii.”
He described how they can use the answers provided by the caller during a screening process to build common ground and answer specific questions the caller might have. The sisters can use the address provided by the caller to get them in contact with their local missionaries. Using the information they gained from the phone call, the sisters can help the local missionaries learn the best way to minister to the caller.
“With missionary work, we direct people according to their needs as directed by the Spirit,” he said. “We follow the Spirit very closely. How does the Holy Ghost want to get you into this? That is what they’re doing, and then they stay in touch with you during the teaching process online. That’s how we can tell there were 26 people [in September] who were baptized.”
Sister Allen shared, “The sisters are getting good at trying to make it short and follow the Spirit. [Callers] have their days they would prefer to be contacted. They ask [the caller] first how much time they have and respect that.
“They try to really teach by their needs, and they’re getting really good. It’s fun to listen to their stories. We have a sister who went home about six months ago. She went the next week to the temple with someone she taught online.”
Before coming to the Visitors’ Center, Elder Allen described how he spent his career serving in the Church Missionary Department. “I was the staff supervisor for Preach My Gospel. There were a lot of people. It takes a lot of people to put that together. I was the managing director of the Missionary Department for 18 and a half years.
“I was involved in every single facet of the missionary program. It’s in my blood. I have taught missionaries all over the world. I have taught mission presidents all over the world. I was always under the leadership of the general authorities. I know what it is to be a Preach My Gospel missionary. These are Preach My Gospel missionaries. Online [work] is so exciting. Now we get to take the message to the whole world.”
Sister Christine Creer, a missionary from Utah, said this involvement is evident in the Allens’ life. “I could tell he’s done a lot for the Church. That is what his life has been geared towards, and Sister Allen too. We’ve had a lot of good experiences. You can tell they’ve been around the block as far as Church service.
“He’s always been very missionary-minded because he was born into that. His dad was in the missionary service building chapels and then his own mission and media.”
When the couple returns home this January, Sister Allen said they will miss the people and the aloha. "It’s very sincere and very deep. These are such humble people, and they love the Lord. The aloha connection is the closest to Zion [I’ve seen].”