LAIE, Hawaii — During the sesquicentennial year of the establishment of the Church on these tropical islands, President Gordon B. Hinckley admonished more than 15,000 members, gathered for two regional meetings here, to live the gospel.

"What a great thing — 150 years, a century and a half of the work of the Lord here in these favored islands," said President Hinckley. "It is a time for celebration. It is a time to give thanks. It is a time to praise the Lord. It is a time to shape up and change our lives and bring them into conformity with the gospel and live as Latter-day Saints."

Members gathered in the Cannon Activities Center and overflow areas on the BYU-Hawaii campus, to listen to President Hinckley's addresses.

President Hinckley's visit to Laie was the first stop on a 10-day tour throughout the Pacific and Australia. After dedicating the Kona Hawaii Temple Jan. 23-24, President Hinckley planned to meet members in Tarawa, Kiribati, and in Cairns, Australia.

During the next leg of his journey, he was scheduled to stop in Jakarta, Indonesia, where he was to meet the president of the country and address some of the 5,000 Church members there later in the week. He also planned to address members in Singapore and Guam. (The Church News will have a report on his travels in an upcoming issue.)

President Hinckley was accompanied to Hawaii by his wife, Marjorie, and President Boyd K. Packer, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve, and his wife, Donna.

President Hinckley encouraged the members to believe in their capacity to do great and worthwhile things.

"Believe in the nature within you, the divine nature. . . . Walk on a higher plane with your heads up, believing in yourselves and in your capacity to act for good in the world and make a difference. You can do that, you have demonstrated that. Keep it up."

But, President Hinckley emphasized, "the battle with the evil one will go on and on and on. It will rise against this Church. It will rise against you individually. It will be felt in the future as it has been felt in the past."

Members can fight evil with prayer, said the Church leader.

"Believe in getting on your knees every morning and every night and talking to your Father in Heaven concerning the feelings of your hearts and the desires of your minds in righteousness. Believe in prayer. There is nothing like it. When all is said and done there is no power on the earth like the power of prayer. "

Then President Hinckley told the members to make missionary work a priority.

"I reflect on our presence here for 150 years. We ought to have twice as many members as we have in Hawaii. I believe that. I can't understand why we don't have," he said. "We still have about the same percentage that we had a century ago. . . . If we were more faithful, I believe that we could bring more people into the Church in these beautiful islands. And we have a responsibility to do so. I think the Lord would be very pleased if we would get on our knees, each of us, and ask Him to help us bring someone into this Church and then, when that occurs, stay so very close to that individual until he or she becomes [established] in the faith."

During the second regional meeting Jan. 23, President Hinckley encouraged members to not let temple work in Laie diminish because of the new temple in Kona.

"Keep the temple as busy or busier than it has been," he said. "The Lord will bless you and you will be happier. I make a promise to you that every time you come to the temple you will be a better man or woman when you leave than you were when you came. That is a promise. I believe it with all my heart."

President Hinckley closed his remarks by encouraging the members to "keep the faith."

"Keep the faith; be faithful; walk with integrity, in storm and in sunshine; be faithful, in richness or in poverty; be faithful, in youth or old age; be faithful. . . .

"What a beautiful and magnificent thing it is to see humble and sweet and good people who keep the faith through thick and thin, through adversity and prosperity.

"You are so richly blessed to live here in this land of peace and beauty, in a place that speaks of love, leis and all of the other things that we call the 'Aloha spirit.' "