The second mission statement of the Relief Society is "to bless the individual woman." To me, this principle is fundamental to our Relief Society vision for women: "Each woman lives righteously and joyfully as she lives true to her covenants with the Lord, shares in the blessings of the priesthood, values the diversity of others, and uses her abilities to extend, exemplify, and teach." I particularly want to stress the connection between valuing diversity and blessing the individual woman.

As a Japanese-American from Hawaii, I grew up in probably the most loving and accepting place of racial diversity on our planet. Due to extensive importation of Japanese laborers on the plantations, 42 percent of Hawaii's population was Japanese by 1920, mingling freely with Caucasians, Hawaiians, Chinese, Filipinos, and people from other lands. Racial diversity is simply a fact of life - a joyful fact of life - in Hawaii.Yet only two months after my 15th birthday, I became aware of my diversity in a painful way. One Sunday morning about 8 a.m. when I was getting ready for Church, I heard on the radio that the Japanese Imperial Air Force had bombed the U.S. Naval fleet at Pearl Harbor on Oahu and the harbor near Hilo on our own big island of Hawaii.

Suddenly, a great chasm ripped my world apart. I was an American citizen. So were my parents. But my beloved grandparents had been born in Japan and my face, my skin, my eyes, my hair - all were Japanese. The gulf that suddenly divided Japan, the country of my ancestors, from the United States, the country of my birth and my loyalty, went right through my heart as well.

That was a hard thing for a 15-year-old to understand. It was hard for my parents. And we were frightened. The next day, my mother and I stood over a fiery blaze in our incinerator. Into it we stuffed anything in the house that might say "Japan" - fans, fabrics, books, scrolls, clothing, paintings, chopsticks. But when the fire had died to ashes, I looked in the mirror and saw that I still had a Japanese face.

It was then I started to understand something important about diversity: It is part of life. It is woven into the very fabric of the universe. Whatever the forces for sameness, diversity is irrevocable and eternal.

I also started dimly to understand something that has become much clearer to me over the years - that I must be a bridge-builder across the chasm that divided my two worlds. If I did not, I would remain forever stranded between the two.

Racial diversity is only one kind of diversity. Think about diversity in ages, in educational levels, in health, in economic well-being, in family circumstances, in numbers and ages of children, in Church experience, in gospel understandings, in spiritual gifts, in strength of faith. . . . Why, the list just doesn't end!

It is because of that diversity that we must bless women as individuals. As we approach the Relief Society's sesquicentennial, we celebrate 150 years of united sisterhood. That's thousands and thousands of individual women who have been strengthened by Relief Society and who have contributed their strength to it.

What does it mean to bless the individual woman? To me, it means to see her as unique. Value her individual strengths. Comfort individual sorrows. Celebrate individual gifts. Accommodate individual needs. Apples are delectable, but who wants a steady diet of them? The Lord made peaches, pears, pineapples, and persimmons as well! Let our sisterhood be a flourishing orchard of diversity!

But that is easier said than done, sometimes. How do we feel in our hearts about the diversity of a Church of individuals? Do we rejoice in it? Or does it make us just a bit uncomfortable?

Here is the Savior's attitude about diversity: "He inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile." (2 Ne. 26:33.) That's a considerable latitude, isn't it? And so what business do we have excluding people, even mentally, who the Savior has already invited to come to Him?

There's a saying I just love: "If we both think exactly alike, then one of us is not necessary." We are all necessary - necessary to the Church and necessary to each other. We should share a desire to know the Savior. But there are many different ways to seek Him, and we are all at different places in our quest. Accepting the diversity of others is just another way of dropping the terrible and terribly unnecessary burden of judging others. But how do you feel about your own diversity? Do you sometimes feel uncomfortably different - as I felt being Japanese-American? Do you sometimes sit through a Relief Society lesson thinking, "I'm just not the person the teacher is talking about. In fact, I'm not like any of these women." If this is a hard time for you, I have three suggestions.

1. Never, ever, let anyone else decide whether you belong in the Church. It's the Lord's Church. It doesn't belong to the bishop, or the Relief Society president, or any one group of women, no matter how perfect they seem or how imperfect you may feel. You're where He wants you to be. Stick with it.

2. Accept circumstances you can't change, and be a bridge-builder. For nearly all of my adult life, I worked as a teacher or a principal. I always wanted to be connected with Relief Society, but I couldn't attend the weekday meetings. So I did what I could. I came to the evening and weekend events. I welcomed my visiting teachers. I served gladly as a visiting teacher myself. And when I learned of a need that I could supply, I quickly and joyfully provided what service I could.

3. Be patient. Change is inevitable. Don't resent it when it occurs, and help it along when you can. Because I was part of Relief Society in my heart, I rejoiced at the inauguration of Sunday meetings. And that change allowed me - the full-time principal of a brand new, four-track, year-round school - the inestimable blessing of serving as ward Relief Society president.

It takes a full spectrum of colors to make a rainbow. It takes a full spectrum of diversity to make a Relief Society. Individual women bless the Relief Society by different points of view, different experiences, different needs for service, and different capabilities for service. Value your own diversity! Don't remain silent! Don't withhold your talents! It is only when we offer our own gifts on the altar, however humble they may seem to us or however unwanted we may feel they are, that we see their splendor in the sight of the Lord. In turn, the Relief Society will become an instrument of blessing as it meets individual needs, draws on individual strengths, and celebrates the individual ways in which we experience the Spirit.

Some wonderful Hawaiian sisters saw a skinny, 11-year-old Japanese Buddhist edging shyly into the little Mormon chapel by herself. They made room for her next to their children, taught her the hymns, testified of Christ and loved her. Because they did, I was baptized four years later, during the first year of World War II. They accepted and loved me - not because I would someday serve in the Relief Society general presidency, but because freely they had received; freely they gave. (See Matt. 10:8.) They did not condemn my diversity. Instead, they valued it and drew me "into his marvellous light." (1 Pet. 2:9.) May we do the same!

(Additional information)

About the author\ Chieko N. Okazaki was born in Kohala, Hawaii. She was converted to the Church in 1942 and married Edward Y. Okazaki in 1949. They were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple in 1951 and are the parents of two children.

Sister Okazaki was called as first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency on March 31, 1990. Prior to her call, she was a member of the Primary General Board. She has also served in many Church capacities such as stake Primary in-service leader, stake MIA counselor, on the YWMIA General Board, as ward Relief Society president and as a teacher in the auxiliaries. She served with her husband when he was called to preside over the Japan Okinawa Mission, which later became the Japan Central Mission.

In addition to her Church responsibilities, Sister Okazaki was a teacher in the public schools of Hawaii, Utah and Colorado for 23 years. She served 10 years as principal of an elementary school in the Denver area. She received a bachelor's degree from the University of Hawaii, a master's degree from the University of Northern Colorado and an administrative degree from Colorado State University.

She is a member of the Wasatch 5th Ward, Salt Lake Wasatch Stake.