On the 3rd of July my good friend Elisa Ho gave a special talk to the youth in our ward. She talked to them about her background and why she is so grateful to be an American. Elisa asked me to be there to support her, and I was so glad that I could attend.
Elisa began her talk by showing four paintings by Norman Rockwell. They depict four freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
She then shared some of her story. Elisa is of Chinese descent and grew up in Vietnam in the 1960s, just before the Vietnam War. She lived in a community of Chinese families and attended Chinese schools. All the time she was growing up she was surrounded by fighting and war. She fell asleep each night to the sound of gunfire and explosions. Fear was always present.
The government was chaotic and suspicious. Speaking out against the government was not tolerated and swiftly punished. Random curfews were imposed on the civilians, and anyone caught out after curfew would be suspected of being a Viet Cong and would be immediately jailed and would sometimes vanish. The curfews often stretched on for days or weeks, so schooling was constantly interrupted.
When young men turned 18 years old they were conscripted into the Vietnamese army, and that was a certain death sentence. Families knew that their sons would not come back alive. Families with any resources or family abroad would send their boys away as teenagers to avoid military service. Because of this Elisa's graduating class at a Chinese High School was comprised of mostly girls.
There were several dominant religions in Vietnam prior to Communism, but as the war continued and the Communist power increased, the freedom to practice religion was swiftly curtailed.
Elisa recalled the long lines they would stand in to get food to eat. Often the kind of food they wanted wasn't available, even if they had the money to buy it. They had to get by on very little and be very frugal. Many people were very hungry.
When Elisa was an older teenager, some remarkable things happened in her life. Through her association with the military base, she came in contact with the Mormon church and was baptized a member. Her branch president could see that there was no future for Elisa and other young woman like her. He pulled some strings and arranged for Elisa and her good friend to receive a tourist visa to attend BYU Hawaii. They were the last group of Vietnamese to leave on tourist visas before the fall of Saigon.
She said that her first week in Hawaii she had a hard time sleeping at night because it was so quiet. She was used to sleeping with the sounds of warfare. After a year or so she and her friend received notification that their visas were expired, and they were ordered back to Vietnam. In a panic, they turned to a teacher at BYU Hawaii who was Chinese and a kind mentor. He somehow worked a miracle and was able to get the Chinese Embassy to issue them passports which overrode their Vietnamese passports, and then they received visas through China.
Elisa eventually met her husband Ben at BYU Hawaii and they settled in California and then in Vancouver. She said, with great emotion, that she understands why people who return to the U.S. fall to the ground and kiss it. She said she feels the same way - so grateful to be in America and so grateful for peace and the freedoms we enjoy here. Freedom from want. Freedom of religion. Freedom of speech. Freedom from fear.
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