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.
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!”
