Multicultural music brought the Christmas spirit to BYU-Hawaii

       With the theme from Luke 2:14, “On Earth peace, good will toward men,” different cultural chapters on campus were invited to perform in their languages, for the special Multicultural Musical Gospel Forum on Sunday, Dec 16. The crowd filled the BYU-Hawaii McKay Auditorium to hear chapter members sing, play musical instruments and pray in their native languages. The event was hosted by Kaylee Huchendorf in partnership with the David O. McKay Center for Intercultural Understanding. 

 

“Our goal is to united people from various backgrounds to share their testimonies and to worship Jesus Christ through songs,” said Huchendorf.

She said the forum was put together after she contacted “each chapter president and those who were willing to participate were able to join.” She said she appreciated those chapters and their members who “sacrifice their time in the last week of finals to put together this event. They brought a great spirit.”

“Projects never work out the way that you want. It is just reality,” she said with a smile, when she was asked if the program worked out as planned. “We have a lot of last minute changes, so we just try to go with the flow step by step. Overall I think it is a good experience for everyone.” 

        Huchendorf said she had a wonderful time in the event. “[It is] great to see people from such different backgrounds coming together and worshiping Jesus Christ. It really shows that we are all children of God across the world and Jesus Christ knows each of us. And he is in the details of our lives.”

 “Although every chapter sang in different languages and I didn’t understand any of them, I felt what they’re trying to express,” said Robert Chacon, an accounting senior from Arizona. “I never experience something so unique before. I appreciate that I came to BYUH.”

“It is good we can laugh together,” said Vai Iro, a political science senior from Tahiti. He sang with the Tahitian Chapter. “This school is so diverse and it is great we get to know people from different countries.”

Maciel Romero, an ICS senior from Mexico, said the theme of the forum was inspiring. “We are no different to our Heavenly Father wherever we are from. We are all in one in the gospel. This peace is what we are working for.”