Temple moments: 'Wings of faith'
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After Jane Chong of the Kaneohe Hawaii Stake contracted lupus, a skin cancer, years ago, she felt she would eventually die from it. For six long years she was bedridden. Eventually she was hospitalized.
It was while she was lying in a hospital bed that her 82-year-old father visited one day. "He was spry compared to me, his 40-year-old daughter," said Sister Chong. She remembers her father looking sadly at her for a time and then suddenly saying, "I want to take you to Japan and show you that part of the world before you die."
"I was shocked to hear him say that," she recalled. Despite her protests and reluctance, he insisted I be ready to travel in three weeks."
She asked her doctors, who advised against it but said if she could survive the immunizations and examination, she could go. "I decided that anything was better than lying in bed," she declared. "I decided that I would go on the wings of faith and prayer. If I died, at least I'd die trying."
She received a priesthood blessing, and her name was placed on the temple prayer roll. "That was the beginning of a miraculous healing," she said. Her lupus went into remission and her medication was decreased.
She and her father immediately left for Japan. "I treasure the memories of the time I spent with my father," she related. "It wasn't long after we returned that he passed away."
Sister Chong brought back the names of seven or eight great-grandfathers, and was able to trace her geneology back to the 1400s. She was able to do her ancestors' temple work, along with having her father's work done. When her husband, Wai Yen, retired a decade later, the couple served a mission at the Hawaii Visitors Center. Before that assignment was completed, they submitted their papers to serve another mission. This time were called to the Taipei Taiwan Temple.
After their return, they wanted to serve another mission, but, now that they were in their 70s, their medical coverage would be canceled if they left the islands. So they decided to do the next best thing - they became temple workers in the Hawaii Temple under the direction of Pres. D. Arthur Haycock.
"We love it," said Sister Chong.
