To appreciate Inoke Funaki, who will make his first collegiate start as Hawai'i's quarterback tonight, is to understand patience.

It is to go back to 2003, to the Dominican Republic's capital city, when Funaki tried to share his Mormon faith in a language he had learned during five weeks of training. He used a Bible that was written in Spanish.

"You're out there," Funaki recalled, "and guys are saying stuff, and you're like, 'huh? What? I don't understand? You're speaking too fast."

There were some who "weren't welcoming," choosing to make fun of Funaki. But he refused to give up on a pledge he made when he was younger, "when the light went on," and he knew it was his destiny to serve a two-year mission.

When he wasn't attending classes or practicing football, he was working for his uncle's company, building rock walls. Most of every paycheck was set aside for his mission.

Several months after graduating from Kahuku High, a school he led to consecutive state football championships, Funaki was sent to the church's training center in Santo Domingo.

"For five weeks, we learned the basics," he said. "It's so funny. When you get out there to the country, all of a sudden you feel you didn't learn anything. There's a lot of pressure. They teach you a little bit, and then you do your thing."

Funaki, who was born with the personality gene, made several friendships. After a few months, he became fluent in Spanish.

"I learned how to read and write in Spanish," he said. "Imagine, you're out there two years. That's all you speak. It's eventually going to come."

Mastering the language helped him to offer advice to families torn apart by alcohol abuse. He helped build houses. For the next two years, he did everything except toss a football.

As the mission wore down to its final days, Funaki was overcome with sadness — and indecision. "I enjoyed being there," he recalled. "I was thinking: What am I going to do?"

Back on O'ahu's North Shore, he felt out of place initially. "Spanish words would come to my mind," he said. "I would be thinking in Spanish, and I would have to adjust. It took a while to get back into it."

And, for the first time in a long while, he had to consider his future.

"When I got home, the whole perspective changed," he said. "For the two years, you're thinking about other people, how you can help them. You don't think about yourself.

"Now that I was back, it's like, 'What do I have to do in life to progress, to move forward?' I was nervous. I know a lot of missionaries come back, and they're kind of lost. It's: 'Now what?' "

Soon after, Funaki received a call from Dan Morrison, who was UH's quarterbacks coach. Morrison assured Funaki that the Warriors would honor the scholarship offer made in 2002.

Funaki, who is 5 feet 11, weighed 170 pounds. "I heard stories about guys coming back and not being able to get back to where they were in high school," Funaki said. "Sometimes they lose the drive. Sometimes coaches lose trust."

Neither of those worst-case scenarios happened.

Funaki joined the Warriors in 2005, redshirting that season, and served the next two years as the backup to Colt Brennan's backup.

Now, after a gritty fourth-quarter performance against Florida last week, Funaki is the No. 1 quarterback.

Funaki knows about the scrutiny that accompanies the marquee position on a community-centered team.

"You experience a lot of pressure playing for Kahuku," he said. "The people love their football team. There's a lot of pride and tradition over there."

UH, as the state's only Division I football team, is a bigger community pond.

"I know about the quarterbacks before me — my own coach Rolo (Nick Rolovich), and Timmy (Chang) and Colt and even Tyler (Graunke)," Funaki said. "They set high standards. There are big shoes to fill. I feel when they throw me out on the field, I'm not playing for me. I feel I'm playing for the guys around me, and for the state. That's motivation for me."

Visit Tsai's blog at http://warriorbeat.honadvblogs.com