Students from Oceania and Asia learn first-hand about early Saints
More than 20 students from 13 different countries visited selected historical sites for the Church History Travel Study Program this June 2024. According to the BYU-Hawaii website under the Academics category written by Elise Mitchell, the program’s goal is to visit historical church sites and is all-expense paid.
The website said to participate, students need to take three classes: Religion 390R, History 333 and English 315. Additionally, Jared Marcum, a professor and a faculty member accompanying the students, shared how the coursework will help students have a deeper understanding of the early Latter-day Saints. “Telling stories of the restoration where it happened adds power to the event. It also deepens one’s testimony of the restoration,” he added.
Faith builds testimony
Tommy Laurel, a senior majoring in intercultural peacebuilding from the Philippines, quoted Marcum saying, “The system chooses who will qualify for the trip. And one way to think about it is, whoever gets picked to come is the will of God.” Laurel said he was grateful for being one of the participants for the trip.
“Visiting Carthage Jail was significant to me,” said Laurel. He said the Prophet Joseph Smith could have just denied his testimony to be spared from death, but he chose not to. “ To me, it was a sacrifice that helped a lot of saints become firmer with their faith,” he added.
“A general rule that we all had to follow during the trip was to minimize our phone usage and actively listen to missionaries and fellow students speaking at the sites,” Laurel said. Additionally, he said he understood why because it was a time to reflect and learn deeply from what is in front of them.
“Before going on the trip, I thought I had a pretty strong testimony of the gospel but there are moments when my faith wavers,” shared Laurel. He said the experience of stepping on the historical grounds and seeing the sites firsthand, truly helped him develop his testimony of the gospel even more.
A unique experience
“My situation was nothing like anyone else during the trip,” said Rosalind Pedron, a senior majoring in political sciences from New Zealand. “I was pregnant at the time. I was in my third trimester so it was a bit physically demanding.” She said she also prepared herself spiritually before going on the trip.
Pedron recalled what a typical day looks like on the trip. “I’d be up at 6 or 7 in the morning and get breakfast. At 8:30 a.m., before we travel by bus to the first historic site, we have a morning devotional to start the day. At every single site, each student was in charge of doing research prior and given the chance to introduce it, almost like a tour guide, to the group,” she added.
The Kirtland Temple was a personal favorite, she said. “The church and its members during the early years faced persecutions and trials that we read about in church history. When we got there, I felt a sense of relief. For me, it was special being in a place where the saints have gotten a break amidst all of the trials they faced,” she added.
Experiences worth taking home
Emmaline Ferguson, a junior majoring in human resources from Fiji, said she was the first Fijian to participate in the trip. “I am proud and grateful to have gone on the trip,” she added. She said the hardest part of the preparation was getting a sense of background of the places they were visiting. She added, “Most of the participants in the trip were from the Oceania and Asian rim. We didn’t have much knowledge on the early saints or the sites we were going to visit.” She said they had to read the entire first volume of “The Saints.” “Brother Marcum made sure we couldn’t skip through chapters. We did learn a lot from it in the end,” she added.
Ferguson emphasized how students being from different places could take the knowledge they gained on the trip to share it when they return home. ”The diversity, evident in the group, is already a surety that all of us who were there will surely take the experiences and stories from the trip and share them with other people back home,” she added.