A professional basketball team in New Zealand lost a big game Sunday because it was missing a key player.
Paora Winitana, a shooting guard for the HBS Bank Hawks, didn’t play because he's a bishop for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and elected not to play on Sundays. As a result, the Hawks lost to the Wellington Saints, 106-97, in the NBL’s grand final Sunday night.
Anendra Singh, sports editor of the Hawke’s Bay Today, wrote about how the bishop's absence on the court affected the Hawks.
HBS Bank Hawks coach Paul Henare said not having Winitana hurt the Hawks, but the coach admires him for holding to his standards.
"Paora's my brother and he's come into his faith so I respect him even more," Henare said in the report. "I look up to the guy as a human being. If everyone strived to be like Paora Winitana, the world would be a better place."
Winitana was named the New Zealand NBL’s rookie of the year in 1996. He led the Hawks to a league title in 2006. A 2008 article in the Adelaide Advertiser offers more insight about the 6-foot-4 shooting guard.
In other Mormon-related news on the Web, twin football player brothers from Houston are preparing to serve missions in August. Garrett and Mitchell Juergens walked onto the BYU football team last season as freshmen and are taking a two-year break to serve the Lord. Garrett is headed to Peru and Mitchell will serve in Mexico City. The twins talked about their decision to serve a mission with a reporter in Houston.
“That will definitely be a change,” Garrett said. “We’ve done every single thing together our whole life. I look forward to sharing stories and experiences with (Mitchell) after we return.”
Two LDS missionaries currently serving in New Bedford, Mass., shared their conversion stories with Southcoasttoday.com.
Elder Josip Giunta, a 19-year-old native of Curitiba in South Brazil, was raised in the church, but his faith was shaken by some difficult questions. A teacher encouraged him to pray to the Lord.
"As I did, I saw my whole body shiver; and I felt a burn inside," Giunta told the reporter. "All throughout the First Vision, something powerful and strong happened that I was sure couldn't happen by reason. I had recited the vision many times, but that day I was converted."
Elder Renan Echi, 20, was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, but moved to West Jordan, Utah, when he was 12. As a teen he drifted from the faith, but he returned with help from the example of a friend. With time, he decided to serve a mission.
"I could tell he was happier than I was, even though my life was better financially and at school as well," Echi said. "He was going to church every Sunday and passing the sacrament, and that was the difference between my happiness, which was material and circumstantial, and his happiness that was eternal. I started coming back slowly."
In addition to reading the article, listen to the two missionaries sing “Where Can I Turn for Peace.”
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