Asian
Pacific Celebration at Washington,
D.C. Visitors Center
“Pioneers of Today”
by Rose Datoc Dall
Chieko Okazaki’s message to those Asians who have joined the Church is
that “[you] are pioneers of today!” likening modern-day Washington, D.C. as their Kirtland or Nauvoo.
“Plant [your] feet firm!” she said. There are very “few times”
that one can see “[one’s] place in history, but this time is
one of them!”
April of this year marked the first annual Asian
Pacific Celebration at the Washington, D.C. Temple Visitors
Center, which joins the growing list of annual multi-cultural
celebrations held at the Visitors Center including Black
History month, Hispanic Culture and Native American Heritage
celebrations. These additions not only honor the heritage
of a growing and ethnically diverse membership of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but are part of the
program to expand the Visitors Center’s missionary effort within its culturally diverse community
and to continue building community and international relations.
The Visitors Center, which enjoys 220,000 - 250,000
visits per year, 30 percent of which are by those outside of
the Church membership, is expected to process 12,000 missionary
referrals this year, up from 5,600 from last year with its expanded
programs, according to Director Elder Knight after early projections.
Over the 3 days of events, the Asian Pacific Celebration
attracted 3,200 visitors.
Highlights include demonstrations on origami, calligraphy
and the martial arts; workshops and seminars on Asian American
issues; performances by the Chinese Children’s Chorus, folk
and traditional dancers representing China, Cambodia, Tibet
and Vietnam, and break-dancers straight from contemporary Asian-American
culture; and a fashion show with close to 40 stunning costumes
representing 17 countries.
In addition, the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) Dancers,
Hawaii’s most popular tourist attraction, made an appearance
as part of their eastern U.S. tour to perform inbetween television appearances on
CBS’s Early Show, Fox & Friends on Fox, as well as
a local TV spot on an ABC morning talk show.
One of 2 speakers, Chieko Okazaki, former counselor
in the Relief Society General Presidency, best-selling author,
beloved speaker, Japanese immigrant to Hawaii, convert and one
of the most prominent Latter-day Saints of Asian descent, spoke
before a packed auditorium on April 25th. Most well-known
for her irrepressible optimism, vivacity and loving inspiration
to the sisters of the Church, Sister Okazaki addressed her listeners
with the same message of love and hope in the context of her
own Asian-American, LDS experience.
On May 1st, the Honorable Eni Hunkin of the
U.S. House of Representatives from American Samoa made his address.
Dynamic speaker, adventurer and author, Congressman Hunkin,
in his 16 year-term, is the longest serving American
Samoan in Congress, and is also a ranking member of the International
Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, Berkley Law School alumnus
and a return missionary.
The message by both speakers was about the strength
of families, the common trait among all Asian Pacific cultures.
Brother Hunkin also identified the tremendous contribution that
the Asian Pacific Community makes not only to the Church, but
to this country.
“Build well on what you have brought with you from your
homeland,” was Sister Okazaki’s message to Asians who have left
their homeland to live in America and urged them to make a record from their past. “They
must have your stories,” she said.
Another commonality possessed by Asian Pacific cultures
is a sense of traditional values that is similar to virtues
taught in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sister Okazaki identified
four traditional values, which she related in her native Japanese,
are “om” or an obligation and indebtedness to those who have
gone before us; “gaman” or an acceptance to endure life’s trials
with dignity; “”gambari” which means a determination to never
give up; and “kansha” which translates as gratitude.
|
Chinese
Children's Chorus |
Both speakers, understanding that the Asian-American
experience can include insensitivity from others, discrimination
and hatred, sacrifice and pain, focused rather on the positive,
strength through adversity. Sister Okazaki’s message was that
of a brightness of hope: even in the great tragedy of Hiroshima,
the flowers bloom and somehow hope survives.
Chieko Okazaki’s message to those Asians who have joined
the Church is that “[you] are pioneers of today!” likening modern-day
Washington, D.C. as their Kirtland
or Nauvoo. “Plant [your] feet firm!” she said. There are very
“few times” that one can see “[one’s] place in history, but
this time is one of them!”
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