October 30, 2022

Sister Soderborg:

I’d like to tell you a little more about our responsibilities. We are with two other missionary couples in our office. The office is off one side of the library and is called, The Center for Academic Success. Each couple is assigned about 25 students and a college success type class to teach. The student who are assigned to us are struggling with classwork and sometimes life in general. We are seeing the many challenges our youth are having these days. Many were not successful taking on-line classes during Covid.  They are away from their families for years at a time. They are learning in a second language. And they are facing anxiety and mental health issues, financial problems, etc.

Our assigned students are supposed to meet with us each week. We are still trying to figure out how we can help them. I think mostly having to report to someone should help them keep on task. We talk about their problems, refer to help if applicable and help them set goals. Mostly, we remind them that they are at BYUH for a reason and God wants them to succeed. We tell them that God loves them and that we are praying for them. 

I was an academic advisor for 20 years at Snow and SLCC. Meeting with students and talking about academics was like going home for me. But bring God into our conversations is something I wasn’t able to do before. I had never attended BYU and was a little taken back with a few things. Our supervisor told us at the beginning that if the students asked for blessings Elder Soderborg could give them. We sometimes ask a student after a particularly difficult meeting if we can say a prayer together. We remind them to pray and trust in the Lord. We start each class with a prayer and include a gospel connection in our lessons. Many times, we show conference talks and church videos. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to learn how to make Christ more a part of everything we do. I feel so blessed to be here having this opportunity.

From Elder Soderborg’s journal

October 25, Tuesday

Our campus-wide devotional today was Sister Sita Jasper. Sister Jasper has an amazing story about starting out with almost nothing until eventually creating a very successful distribution and logistics company in Salt Lake City.

She described in detail her time at what was then the church college of Hawaii. When the Hawaiian and mainland students went home for the summer, she and most of the Polynesian and Pacific Rim students stayed in Laie and worked to pay off their student loans. This is how she described her time here:

“Eating in the cafeteria was a luxury during the summer so in order to reduce spending, we opted to provide our own meals. There was no grocery store in Laie, so this developed our talents to become very creative. I remember sharing a pack of hot dogs someone gave us and a roommate showing us how to grill each dog on a hot iron. Sometimes we went into the mountains looking for mangoes, papaya and bananas. One of our roommates found an old electric frying pan to cook with. It was the first time I learned to cut up and fry green papaya to make stir fry with a can of fish. Another roommate worked at the PCC diner. When tourists left uneaten food on their plates, she would bring it home for all of us to enjoy. Our dorm parent was Bella Stokoe. On occasion she would make a large pot of Koko rice and feed us when we arrived home from work. On the weekends, there was no food to eat. We became more creative. We walked down the streets of Laie and began knocking on doors. One of us would stand at the opened doors and say, ‘We are hungry. Do you have any food to spare?’ Sometimes the answer was ‘sorry we don't.’ ”

Sister Jasper repeatedly used the phrase “for such a time as this,” when describing the opportunities, she had growing up. She recounted the story of Esther in the Old Testament who was responsible for saving the lives of the entire Jewish population of Persia. Esther had become queen because the king was so enamored with her. Though risking her life to do so, Ester approached the king unannounced, explained her situation and convinced the king to spare the lives of her people.

When Mordecai, her cousin, learned of this, he sent a message to Esther suggesting the possibility that she had become queen, “for such a time as this.” 

Sister Jasper suggested to the students that:

“Each of you is here at this institution for a purpose, at ‘such a time as this.’ You may be a student living in the dorm or off campus. Most of you have roommates. Please don’t be afraid to get to know them, befriend them and share with them your spiritual experiences that may help them along their path. Reaching out to others may be difficult, especially if it’s someone from a different country, from a different background or even different habits and beliefs. Learn to love them and be patient with them. Pray for them and invite them to attend sacrament meeting with you. Invite them to attend the temple with you. Your good example will have a positive effect on them forever . . . .”