Janell

Congratulations!! My sisters boyfriend is going in tomorrow as well!

Yeah, it was. Sorry. I didn't even think--obviously.

Welcome to the board Amy!!

I am very against abortion as are I'm sure a lot of people on here. I have always felt this tug to learn as much as I could about it. Both in High School and College--if there was a paper that I needed to get done and I could pick the topic--I always went with abortion. Fast forward a number of years later. I am now married, with a daughter and for some reason we could not get pregnant a second time around. We tried for 2.5 years and nothing happened. My OB is LDS and she always told us to remain positive she as did we--felt there was more behind the real reason we couldn't get pregnant. Now, we did everything short of in vitro to get pregnant. My husband and I never felt right about in vitro. Fast forward a couple more months. My parents came to Utah and told me they had something they needed to tell my husband and I but wanted to wait. A few days a later they took my husband and I for a drive and told us the following... Through various promptings of the spirit by many different people my dad found himself heading back to Hawaii from a business trip to NZ a week early. The only way for him to return to Hawaii would be for him to fly through Los Angeles. Now, my dad grew up in Southern California so he was looking forward to spending a couple hours with his brother and sister. LONG STORY SHORT--My Aunt informed him that my cousin was pregnant (She's 17) and that there have just been a lot of problems that have risen since learning about the pregnancy. My Aunt did inform my dad that they were seriously considering abortion. My Dad then gave her the number to LDS Family Services in her area and made her promise to give them a call to see what they could offer my cousin. The goal is/was to keep this child alive. There is no reason this child should need to pay for his birth parent's mistakes with his life. As my dad is telling my husband and I this story, we both start to cry and continue to do this as he explains to us the train of events that occurred. No words were needed, we knew without a shadow of a doubt that this baby was ours. This is/was the reason we could not get pregnant. After my dad told us, we both went upstairs, got on our knees and thanked the Lord for all our blessings. While we were in pain about not being able to conceive the Lord was smiling because he had a bigger plan for us. My Dad called my aunt the next morning and another train of events happened, but they agreed to let us adopt their son/grandson. I called my OB and she was in tears. I guess my main point of this story is that I want to encourage you to at least encourage your friend to give LDS Family Services a call or any agency. This innocent child should not have to pay. There are other ways to dealing with an unplanned pregnancy. Had my cousin followed through with her plan, we wouldn't have our son. There is no doubt in our minds that the reason we couldn't get pregnant is because had we gotten pregnant we would not have been open to offer to adopt this child. The lord has blessed us in more ways then we will ever know. There are so many things I am leaving out, but the story behind it all is truly amazing. Our son and everyone else--is sent from Heaven for a purpose. I hope your friend allows her child to see his/her purpose in life.

Hey Iaeli, I just thought I would come welcome you to the site. There are a couple other polynesian's on here along with myself. I'm Hawaiian/Samoan--so welcome!!

That's how they did it when I was going to a singles ward. I don't like it because I think having sacrament first kinda sets the tone for the rest of the meetings.

Mahalo plenty for representing us locals and our side of the island! Is there anyone else from our side on here that you know of? With my haole name if I don't explicitly say that I grew up in Laie, no one knows. So let me know if you meet someone else from our area!

I thought it was really good. I have never once taken offense to what she said. My mom and I thought it was done in a very tactful way. I am glad she gave the talk she did and would welcome more like it.

I went to BYU and although I will be the first to admit that it is not for everyone, it was for me. I just graduated about three years ago and so College is still kinda fresh to me. When I decided to go to BYU there were a lot of factors that lead me to that conclusion. A couple factors were-- Of course education. I did get into other very good Colleges, but decided that for my major BYU was the best. Another was Location. I wanted to stay on the West and had no desire to go anywhere East of the Misssissippi. I grew up in Hawaii so I didn't want to get too far from home. Another was Family. At the time both my older brothers were at BYU and I really missed them-- so I wanted to more then anything go and just hang out with my brothers and just be around them. For awhile I could not make up my mind between USC, UCLA, and BYU. I grew up with quite a few members of the church and I really wanted to continue that. I didn't want to have to worry about other distractions of the world and just wanted to focus on school. Although I did consider other Colleges, I grew up in a very huge BYU family and due to my major it was kind of a no brainer. Now, had I had a different major I am almost positive my school of choice would have been different. I loved BYU, but I was not going to let my love of BYU decide the quality of education I received. For my major, I feel BYU offered the best quality of education. I've had people ask me if I went there to get married. I think that if you are going to college to get married--stay home and go to a singles ward. I think if you go to College and get married great, if not don't worry about it. Granted, I met my husband there, but he and I were best friends for a couple years and did not even talk about dating until we had about 2 months left of school. I was never "The married student"--thank goodness and never went there to get married. I think you really need to consider what you plan to major in and do your homework about that specific major. Talk with professors, if possible talk to students who are currently in that major, and definitely tour the campus and feel out the school if possible. Ask other students how their experience has been at that one specific school. When it all boils down I think you of course need to do your homework on the Unviersity and make a list of what you want out of your College education/experience. Decide what is important to you about a College and what isn't and then go from there. Go where you feel is right for you and not for your friends or your parents. I hope this helps!!