Ka'ena Point Trailhead - Mark

April 24, 2023

Aloha Family and Friends,

Sister Soderborg: Another month has passed. We finished up Winter Semester and we are getting ready to start Spring Semester on Wednesday. Spring is an accelerated semester and is half the time as the other semesters. We have been assigned two classes this time, so we will be busy teaching twice as much in half the time. BYU Hawaii is different than the other BYU campuses in that the students are expected to attend all three semesters.  This is also the time that grades come out and we see if the students we’ve been assigned were able to raise their grades. We are sad to see how difficult it is for some students to do well and frustrated to see the students that could do well but don’t.  We rejoice with the students who are able to turn things around and be successful. 

We are happy and doing well. We’ve been exploring the island more. We drove to Ka’ena Point which is the furthest north and west one can go. There is a trailhead which goes right to the tip of the island if one wants to hike for 3 miles. We may try it someday. We attend devotionals, study the scriptures, visit beaches and look for craft shows and farmer’s markets. We are making new friends as new missionaries arrive. We feel truly blessed. 

Elder Soderborg: Sister Soderborg and I were listening to the first talk from this past general conference given by Elder Gary E. Stevenson. The title of the talk is The Greatest Easter Story Ever Told. He mentioned that traditionally our methods of celebrating Christmas and Easter are very different. 

At Christmas we tend to read Luke 2, put up creches and reenact the nativity scenes with children dressed in robes with towels on their heads, sing songs about the birth of Christ, give presents, decorate a tree, and have large family gatherings.

At Easter time the festivities often do not go beyond attending an Easter-themed Sacrament Meeting, watching the children go on Easter egg hunts and over-dosing on candy from their Easter Baskets. Elder Stevenson suggested that maybe we are short-changing Easter, which our church leaders have told us commemorates the most important event to ever happen on this earth – The Atonement and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

I started thinking about what might be an appropriate decoration to set out on our shelf or end table that would remind us of Christ’s death and resurrection. I have seen in pictures a small replica of an empty tomb with a large flat stone rolled away from the entrance. The words came to mind that an angel spoke on that occasion – “He is not here. For He is risen.”

I thought of the image of the tomb. Bible scholars say that the tomb was borrowed from a disciple, perhaps Nicodemus, because neither Jesus nor his family, nor his disciples owned one.

Then my thoughts switched to the birth of Christ. Many bible scholars believe that the manger where Mary laid her baby was located in a large depression in the stone, maybe even a cave. The inn-keeper let Joseph and Mary borrow the space because they had no place of their own. 

It occurred to me that Jesus’ mortal body, a small helpless baby, came into the world in a borrowed stone room. At the resurrection, Jesus’ mortal body, that of a glorified and eternal king, left the world from a borrowed stone room. 

That made me think of the condescension of God. In the December 2011 issue of the Ensign, the condescension of Christ is defined as “His leaving His high and holy station in heaven and coming to live as a man on earth to accomplish the Atonement and Resurrection.”

Angels heralded his coming, yet he was born in a manger. I’m sure angels heralded his return to his Father as well. Jesus could have had anything he wanted on this earth, but he sacrificed it all for us. I like to think that perhaps we were in the throngs of angels that welcomed the Lord back to his heavenly home.