Gifted and Lifted

Feb 17, 2019

Will Tukuafu is an American football fullback. Will grew up in Salt Lake City with his parents and 15 siblings. After high school, he served a mission in Jamaica for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. When he came back from his mission, he moved to Scottsdale Arizona where he played football for a Junior College. After playing one year at junior college, he moved to Oregon where he played football at the University of Oregon. Will played for the Seattle Seahawks in 2010 and also played for the San Francisco 49ers. Will and his wife Krystal are the parents of three children. You can follow him on Instagram @willtukuafu

Show notes

• Will’s gift is to be charitable, his parents were an example him to be giving [2:30]
• Will and his Dad would cut lawns without people asking. When they didn’t get paid, his dad would say, “This is our Labor of Love” [3:40]
• “When I do show charity, it always comes back ten-fold” [4:20]
• Will has learned from his parents that although they may not have much, whatever they have they give. Give love and it will always come back. [4:40]
• Will always had an attitude of gratitude to be a playing football and being apart of the team [5:35]
• Will had a particular play where he knocked someone out. This guy was a heavy hitter and known for knocking people out. [7:25]
• Mark discusses how being willing to block something that hurts is an act of charity. [10:30]
• Will talks about his family. Will has 15 siblings, not including his first cousins who were taken in by his parents. [11:30]
• Will house growing up was small and cold in the winter as it lacked insulation, but was always full. Although the house was small and simple, it provided warmth to a lot of people in many aspects. [12:20]
• Will talks about his parents being examples of working hard and passing on work ethic to him as he learned to work from a young age. [13:00]
• Outsiders looking in at Will would say that Will’s gift is the willingness to do whatever it takes. [14:05]
• Will entered the NFL a little later than the average NFL player, so he understood from where he started he would have to earn his way and do whatever it takes [14:50]
• Will doesn’t really think about what “haters” have to say about him and tries to focus on the positive. “I am who I am. People have their opinion.” [15:30]
• Mark quotes a reporter that said, “Polynesians players are built for combat, built for football. The warrior spirit is within us, we love contact, we love people… we love the comradery… we are able to do whatever it takes to help our teams win.” [17:10]
• Will attests to the comradery and spirit of Polynesians on and off the field, doing whatever it takes for family and being faith oriented. [18:00]
• As a fullback, his job is to protect the running back regardless of who it is. Will tries to give it everything that he can. [18:40]
• His experience mowing lawns of his friend’s houses when he was younger in order to put food on the table for his family taught him that he needed to do hard things. It grew with him. [19:50]
• “One thing that embodies the culture is love and willingness to do whatever it takes for those you care about.” [20:15]
• When you act upon gifts that you are given by God, you are given opportunities to see more of your gifts and traits come out. [21:00]
• He has seen this in his life as it was unlikely that at 25 he would make an NFL team. [21:15]
• Losing his scholarship at BYU and starting over was a huge part of his journey and taught him to persist even when things seemed dark and hopeless. [21:40]
• When he graduated high school, he signed with BYU but deferred to go on a mission. He served in Jamaica [21:50]
• Will got his associates degree at a junior college in Arizona and got scholarships at division 1 colleges after 1 year. He chose to go to Oregon. [23:00]
• There were many trials he had to overcome, but there was a lot of blessings along the way. [23:21]
• During his mission during a study session, he was reading The Ensign magazine and saw a picture of a girl that he told his companion he would date when he got home from his mission. [24:00]
• When he came home from the mission and was in Arizona he met and started dating Krystal. He eventually realizes she was the girl from The Ensign. [25:00]
• Will has learned that everything has a rhyme and a reason. [26:10]
• When God gives us different obstacles and we do what is right, we are blessed, although it may not be immediate. [26:20]
• Mark asks Will “What is it like to play at a school you are too good to play at?” [27:20]
• Will says that it was a humbling experience. He had to buy cleats at Ross. [27:50]
• Will never had a mindset that he was better than his team, he just focused on getting to work. [28:30]
• The number one recruit was at Scottsdale with Will. There were coaches from everywhere coming to Scottsdale to see this guy. This was another blessing in disguise. [28:50]
• Getting offers from D1 colleges was big for Will, but having to play at a Junior College put a lot of things in perspective. [31:00]
• “The way things happen is the way things are supposed to happen.” Going through obstacles and experiencing many cultures shaped him and helped him go into the NFL. [31:40]
• Will talks about feeling the spirit. “The feelings of the spirit are warm, meek, peaceful.” [33:00]
• It is not only about looking for opportunities to help other people but allowing other people to help you. [33:55]
• When Will was at the 49ers, he was on the sideline and a teammate asked him to teach him how to pray.  [34:30]
• The player and Will go and pray in a back room where Will teaches him to pray. [36:00]
• His teammate offers a prayer and Will felt the spirit [37:30]
• Later on, that week they were doing a drill and his friend Vernon asks him to say a prayer on the sidelines. Vernon tells Will, “The Lord will bless you as you offer this prayer.” [38:10]
• The coach sees Vernon and Will praying. The coach tells them to “make sure you guys pray for the rest of us.” [39:15]
• Will has had a good relationship with his team when it comes to talking about faith and God. [40:40]
• His coach started a fund that was donated when they were late to a meeting, and the team would agree on what to donate it to. [41:30]
• Will felt strongly that the fund could help this boy, Tony, who had a heart condition. A prompting lead him to mention it to his coach as a cause for the fund. [42:25]
• The coach tells Will that the whole team needs to agree on this cause. [43:15]
• Will tells the team about the boy with the heart condition and using the fund to help the family. The team unanimously voted to use the fund for Tony. [44:10]
• Will realized God didn’t put him for himself but put him there to help other people. [45:30]
• Will agrees with Mark the God may have prolonged his experience in the NFL because he chose to follow promptings. [45:55]
• “It is not about me.” As long as Will strived to help other people, God would help and bless him. [46:30]
• “I know for a fact that I would not have made the NFL, played as long as I did, met as many cool people, or helped as many people as I have had I not listened to those promptings.” [46:55]
• Will recalls a time when he noticed a car broken down and stuck at a crosswalk.Will ignored the prompting to help the man, but because of his wife, he went back to help the man. [47:50]
• The car was a old heavy car, and Will knew that there was more than just him that was pushing the car. [49:50]
• Different promptings happen daily, but Will has noticed that you need to act on the promptings you are given. [50:50]
• Mark talks about maintaining flexibility in life. [51:30]
• “No one is perfect. We are all striving for perfection, and we all fall short.” [52:10]
• We are all on this journey to do what is right, and happiness comes as we do the right things. [52:40]
• Repentance allows us to have clarity, understanding, and love one another. [54:00]
• Will tries to understand and love people from different walks of life instead of judging them. [54:20]
• Mark talks about how repentance can change a culture, and further discusses the clarity and love that repentance brings. [55:40]