May

Scripture of the Month: Matthew 6:24

24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

5/7/17

Hi Son,  How’s it going? The weather here is getting warm now finally. I got the swamp cooler all ready to go. Had to buy a new pump for it. We fed the missionaries Friday. We also went to see Guardians of the Galaxy 2 Friday morning as a family. It was a funny movie. There was one part where someone dies and Erana was crying heaps for ages. We also went to Montana, your cousin’s wedding reception Saturday evening. He married the sister of Blackie’s wife. Blackie is Montana’s older brother. 2 brothers married 2 sisters. We had a good time. Hey we also see that you are using your personal bank account to go eat out a lot. I think you should be only using that for an emergency not eating out. Use your mission money to eat out. Are you getting your own groceries? Be frugal with your grocery spending so you have extra to eat out each month and save your personal money for after your mission. You’ll have nothing left by the time you are done. We forgot to send your music so we’ll send it this week. We enjoy the photos. Keep working hard and Lord will bless you after the trial of your faith. Love Dad and Mum  

Hi Son, let me know if you are going to call me on Mother’s Day? Is it going to be a google Hangouts so we see you (sign in with your acct?) or just a phone call? Let me know when your going to call so we don’t miss you. Besides your music what else do you need me to send you, you said food last time? And that didn’t make sense since your mission is in america and there’s food all over the place, not like your in tonga? lol If you need food just go buy it, but only if you really need to, be frugal and not reckless with your money (like Dad said) I enjoy hearing from you every week and seeing your photos, keep up the Good Work Son, love you so much Mum xxx  

Hello Big Bro, so I have a job at Cupbop now. It is a korean bbq fast food restaurant that opened next to PhoCali, across the street from Culvers. I’m trying to save up as much money as possible. I work with strange people again, like peiwei... I wish i took your place at Chickfila haha. School ends soon and i am slacking on my school work. But don’t worry, my grades are still passing. Can’t wait to hear you on Mother’s day! 

Love Mina  

Hi Tyrell, I almost won my last game. The score was 20 something to 18. I made some shots. I went to a wedding after that, it was fun. On Friday, the whole family went to see Guardians of the Galaxy 2. It was a very good movie. After that, I played at Kage’s house. I think the rest of the week was pretty boring so i’m going to end it here. I love you Tyrell! I hope you have a great week!            Love, Leila XOXO

Hi TyrelI, I went to a wedding. I went to the movie theatres. I went to church. Love Erana xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox 

Hi Tyrell, on Friday we went to see Guardians of the Galaxy vol.2 in the morning. Mina missed school to see it with us. It was really funny. On Saturday we went to Montana and Titania’s wedding. It was fun there and there was a lot of yummy food. Hope you have a great week and remember it’s Mother’s Day next Sunday. Love, Jaxon XOXO

Haka

5/14/17

We made Candi breakfast in bed and a card for Mothers Day. The highlight was talking to Tyrell. We used my work ipad because he was at a members home on a mac so he had to use Facetime. We talked about an hour. He still doesn't say a whole lot. He is doing well. The kids went to Maya's swim party for her birthday at an indoor pool yesterday 13th. Candi and I ate out at Golden China for our date Friday.

5/21/17

Hi Son, 

It’s Sunday afternoon, we just ate Sunday dinner oven pot roast, Dad's favorite. Yesterday Dad had an activity at the apartments for missionary work, they had a bbq. We had to leave early though went downtown for ‘Living Traditions’, Leila and Erana performed with their Tausala group, they were awesome. We ate there afterwards too, some poly food, Otai, and chicken curry, and fry bread with honey butter.  Went to play cards with friends at Ollie Wolferstans house (Dad’s friend from CCNZ). The weather turned cold the past week and it even snowed again, but it was sunny and nice yesterday. I’ve just been doing my job and busy this week making and finishing the girls costumes. Praying for you and Love you Son, Mum and Dad xxx

Hi Tyrell, the performance downtown was great! I had a great time at the Wolferstans. We had yummy food at the festival. Mom and Erana and me went and got some food from Arctic Circle after dance practice on Thursday. When dad saw us with the food, he got mad because we were going to eat at the festival XD. I don’t know what I did the rest of the week so, love you! I hope you have a great week! Love, Leila XOXO

Hi Tyrell, I had my first rugby game was on Saturday. But I didn’t play because i’m just like you!!! On practice I got tackled and landed on my right shoulder. I getting my shoulder x-rayed on Monday. But I think I just did something to my muscle. Gosh dangit I wanted to play my first game. Oh well, I still went to watch my team. The first team got intimidated, I don’t know why but they were scared of us so they forfeit. And the second game we won. We scored a try on them in under 15 seconds. Our third game was close but we won. I bought Injustice 2 and it’s really fun. The weather gets weird here. It snowed here on Wednesday, and it’s May. I hope you have a great week! Love, Jaxon XOXO 

Hi Tyrell, I went to Sofia Wolferstans house . Love Erana ooxxoo

Hello Big Bro, not much has happened. I just work. My grades are not the best... because of missing school a lot. We made State for Concert Choir and we had straight 1’s , which is suppose to be really really stellar scores. We sang an African song that translates to “They took our Lord. The Lord who walked among us” and stuff. It’s about Christ and you can really feel the spirit when you sing it. We are singing during graduation this week. Then it’s summer! Hope you stay safe, read your patriarchal blessing often! Love you - Mina 

 

5/28/17

Hi Son, 

It’s Memorial weekend we’ve been having a lot of fun, and making a lot of good memories. Friday went to the movies to see ‘Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead men tell no tales’, it was a good ending with happy ending. Then we went to ‘Lehi Seven Peaks Fun Park’, went on a kiddie roller coaster, and Leila went on the race cars, and Erana got a wet bum when her and Leila went on the bumper boats. They also had miniature golf, arcade, carousel and other fun things. Jaxon couldn’t or didn’t want to do some of the things because he has a broken collar bone from rugby, I’ll let him tell you about it. Yesterday went to watch Jaxons rugby team play, it was a beautiful day. Then went to Provo for the ‘Pasifika Festival’ where the girls performed again. Oh we’ve been doing these things without Mina because she’s too busy with graduation ceremony and work. 

Today is Sunday and we wore our ‘Poppies’ because of memorial weekend, we also had to sing in sacrament, Aunty Heather played the Piano and Dad, Grandma, Mina, Jaxon, Uncle Scott, Kage and I sang - ‘Koutou Katoa Ra or Hark all ye Nations’, in Maori and English. Now we're waiting for our peach, strawberry, cherry cobbler to cook and were watching old family movies. Tomorrow we're going to get kfc and eat at the park next to Grandpa & Grandma Wihongi’s grave, and then go hike ‘Ensign Peak’ again. Hope you're having a fun, safe Memorial Weekend too, Love you and know you're being watched over! Love Mum and Dad xxx

Hi Tyrell, guess what!!! Turns out my hurt shoulder wasn’t a hurt muscle, it was actually a broken collar bone. The bottom bone is still attached but the top of the bone snapped upwards. So it’s not completely broken. But I broke the same way as you. I got tackled and broke my right collar bone. But I didn’t cry cause I thought it was just bruised. And now I can’t play rugby cause I’m out of the season. And I was really bummed about it cause I really wanted to play cause I had a good team. We saw ‘Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead men tell no tales’, it was funny and good. School finally ended so we might be going to free lunch and the pool soon. That’s all I have to say today so Happy Memorial Day. 

Love, Jaxon XOXO

Hello Big Bro, School is over!!! No more stress! Well…. I still have to work which can be stressful. Oh well. The siblings and I are starting to watch Young Justice together. It makes me wish you were here to join us! But I know you are where you are supposed to be :) I don’t have any plans to this summer but to save up. What a boring summer of my last teenage life. Well, that’s all I have to say. Be safe, love you! - Mina

Hi Tyrell, I went on the rollercoaster. Love Erana xoxo

Hello Tyrell, I hope you had a great week! I had a great week, I went to Seven Peaks Lehi, it was very fun. The next day, Erana and I had a tausala show. I forgot to tell you that the whole family, except Mina, went to the movie theatre’s on the same day we went to Seven Peaks Lehi. We went to watch The Pirates of The Carribean Dead Man Tell No Tells. That’s it, bye love you! Hope you have a great week! Love, Leila XOXO

April

Scripture if the Month: Matthew 5:14-16

14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

4/1 to 4/9: 

Hi Son,
We are doing well, weather all week has been cold and rainy and last night it had snowed! Remember the week you left it was nice sunny warm weather and I had packed away all the kids winter clothes away, well looks like I was too eager beager for spring! Work is going the same and we missed Mina this week while she was on tour. It really looks beautiful in Raleigh, and it sounds like you are keeping busy. We thought it ironic that your schedule is precise, seeing you were always running late. Mina says you need to know the difference between the word ‘than’ and ‘then’ because you’re saying ‘than’ a lot in your letters and it should be ‘then’ instead of ‘than’ lol hahaha Oh well I enjoy hearing from you even if your spelling is wrong :) Love you Mum xxx

Hi Son,
Hope all is well and you are happy. Haven’t done much else this last week since I wrote last. Mina was gone for the week. It seemed strange to have just 3 kids in the house. It felt half empty. Is anyone else writing you other than us? If you have more personal things to write back to any of us then do another separate email from the main one you send to everyone. I’ll just put the main one in the blog. Keep working hard and working smart.
Love Dad

Hi Tyrell,
I went to rugby practice and it is tiring. Talia slept over and brought her kitten too and her kitten is very small. The kitten's name is Kea. It’s so cute and so soft, but it does massive diarrhea. It smells so bad it’s so disgusting it filled up the basement. The weather here used to be all sunny and cloudy and windy but then it snowed today. How’s the weather in North Carolina? And do you even read these?
Love, Jaxon

Hi Tyrell!
I played at my friend’s house with Erana on Tuesday. Erana and I went to the Care Center with grandma and I had my recital on Wednesday. Kage and Dray played over at our house then Erana and I went to play at Kages house and got to see Talia’s new kitten, and Erana and I had Tausala on Thursday. Erana and I played at Kages again, but I slept over at Kages on Friday. I had my basketball game the next day and the score was 20 for the other team and 15 for my team, I made 5 points out of 15. After my basketball game, I played with Kage, Dray, Talia, and Talia’s kitten at my house then at Kage’s house on Saturday. We had church today and watched the movie Willow and had brownies. Bye! Love you!
Love, Leila

Hi tyrell I went to church love erana xoxo (Erana typed this herself)

Mina didn't write an email, she had gotten back from her San Diego Choir Tour. She had fun!

4/10 to 4/16: 

Bonjour Big Bro! I had a really fun time at tour. The first all-night bus ride was really hard to sleep because it was so uncomfortable. We went straight to the San Diego Zoo. Then we went to our hotel and got dressed up for a Broadway show, Finding Neverland. It was very interesting and I love the music in it! What i did overall was go to an Old Town that was hispanic/western looking, partied on a Dinner Cruise during a beautiful sunset, went on the Military USS Midway ship that we went to on a family vacation, had fun at Seaworld and won lots of Awards (we took home the GOLD), and partied at a place in SeaWorld with other schools. I also ran for senior SBO Activities (the main SBOs) , I made primary voting, and Final voting is this week. I’ll find out on Friday if I made it or not. I miss you occasionally, I really enjoy your emails! Love you! -Mina

Hi son, I’m so stuffed with yummy Easter food!!! Pork crackle roast, Curry, Salmon,, Ribs, chopsuey, sides and dessert!!! We had a lovely beautiful Easter Sunday, Mina had to read ‘the Living Christ’ in Sacrament and bear her testimony, she cried and I was teary eyed too. We had yummy food and Easter Egg hunt at Uncle Scott’s house, went overboard with the eggs! Grandma gave out her money eggs. We hope you had a nice Easter day too! Love you Mum & Dad xxx

Hi Tyrell, we had a wonderful Easter Sunday. We had some of our family there and the food was delicious. We played a game of basketball and I sucked, my team wouldn’t even pass to me. Ella Rae looks so cute. I didn’t do much this week so I don’t have anything to talk about except Easter. The weather is nice here, it’s getting sunnier. My rugby practices are tiring. Erana wants to keep these socks she hasn’t taken off since probably February that have massive holes beneath them. We’re always telling Erana to throw those away but she wants to keep them because they’re her favorite socks. Mina did a good talk today at church. And brother Boley gave a good talk and made us crack up because of his jokes. Hope you’re safe and doing what you’re supposed to be doing.
Love, Jaxon XOXO

Hello Tyrell! I had a very fun Easter Sunday! Mina had a wonderful Easter talk, too. We had Easter at uncle Scott’s house, and played a game of basketball with Spencer, Wesley, Savanah, Savanah’s boyfriend, Maddie, Kage, Dray, Talia, Jamie, Connor, Mina, and Jaxon. It was a very fun and funny game. Love you!
Love, Leila XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Hi Tyrell I EASTER egg hunt.love erana xoxoxoxo

From Tyrell
I love you all! Thank you for the letters, I enjoy them so much! Sorry I don't have much time to something to each one of you, but I hope you are all doing okay. Love you!

Elder Wihongi

4/17 to 4/23: 

Hi Son, We skipped our ward today and went to Uncle Don & Aunty Charmaine Peterson’s Homecoming. You saw them when you were in NZ. We ate afterwards at that park we usually eat at when we have Peterson gatherings. Many people asked how you were doing, or they would comment on your letters they read from your blog. We are watching a documentary on tv now called ‘Weird Wonders of the World’ and it was talking about ‘tubefex’ (not sure about spelling) They live in Raleigh, NC. That’s what reminded us to email ya! lol Hope all is well, Love you Mum & Dad xxx

Hi Tyrell, I had a fun time at Uncle Don and Aunty Charmaine Peterson’s homecoming today. I lost my basketball game, but I made a basket. Mom and dad were really mad at the ref’s because they didn’t call all the fouls the other team did, but it was a fun game. The rest of my week was pretty boring, so I’m going to stop the letter right here. I love you Tyrell, and I wish you a great week!
Love, Leila XOXO

Hi Tyrell, we had fun at Uncle Don and Aunty Charmaine Peterson’s homecoming today. We watched a weird show, I think Mom mentioned it in her letter but these ‘tubefex’ look disgusting. They live in the sewers and they’re these weird worm things. I just did the usual on weekdays, homeschool, playing games, and then going to rugby practice on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Hope you had a great week!
Love, Jaxon XOXO

Hi Tyrell, i had  for dinr was one tinea mufin and a bag of chips and onle meet in a brgr.love erana xoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxxooxoxox.

Hello Big Bro, Guess who made the main SBO Activities? I did! Haha, but I kinda feel like it is going to be so stressful because I have to plan assemblies and food trucks for football games and spirit week stuff. What have I gotten myself into… Anyways, I went to prom yesterday. For the day activity, we went to a park and played different sports like basketball and frisbee. Then we went to a chinese restaurant and partied at the Capital. Afterwards, i went to my friends house and had cheesecake. I feel like life is going too fast right now. I just want to relax. Oh yea, this kid in my French class was playing The Bird and the Worm by The Used and I thought about how you used to play that on the piano haha. Hope North Carolina is treating you well.
Love Mina oxo

From Tyrell
Thank you for the letters and love family. I love you Leila, and Erana, and Jaxon, and Mina. I hope you are all doing okay, and listening to mom and dad and helping out at home. I miss you all.

Dad, I need another SD card with all the music on it because I left mine at the MTC... could you send me another? And here are the songs I want you to add:

Once and for All- Lauren Daigle

I Feel Heaven Here- EFY

Go the Distance- Hercules

When you come back down-Nickle Creek

Oh Jesus- Jon Mclaughlin

In Christ Alone- Christina Grimmie

Come Thou Fount of every blessing/ If you could hie to Kolob ( with the three young women singing)

Lord of the Rings Soundtrack (in dreams, concerning hobbits, the main track)

Paul Cardall album

Spirit of God-Mormon Guitar

Come thou fount- Mormon guitar

May it be- Celtic Women

My Kindness shall not Depart from thee- Rob Gardner

Lighthouse- Nickle Creek

Destination-Nickle Creek

21st of May-Nickle Creek

Savior Redeemer of my soul (with the three young women singing) ( and the original)

My little prayer- David Archuleta

Arohainamai

And That one group I forgot the name but we went there concert as a family.

All these should be okay on my mission, if you could find these and put them on that would be awesome! Ask Mina to help out she should know a lot of these. I'll run them through my President to but all these songs will be okay I think according to him. Thank you! I love you and mom!

I love you Family! xoxo

Elder Wihongi 

4/24 to 4/30: 

Hello Big Bro, nothing exciting happened this week. I went to PizzaStudio with my friends. It’s next to Zaxby’s. Then we went to play Apples to Apples at Stockton’s House. It was fun. I play tennis every day after school with the boys team. Let me know if there are any cute missionaries who wouldn’t mind having a cute girl write to them ;) (the cute girl is me btw). Taylorsville High School is either filled with not-so-attractive or immature boys. It’s quite sad for me lol.  I’m learning songs on the guitar. Ed Sheeran songs of course. I don’t know how you taught yourself, it’s quite difficult! Hope North Carolina continues to treat you well.
Love you- Mina

Hi Tyrell, nothing exciting really happened this week so this will be short. I went to Aunty Heather’s house on Saturday. I went to Bennion to meet my counselor to choose my classes for next school year. That’s all I did this week. Hope you’re having fun in North Carolina. Guess what!!! I saved 8 baby ducklings in the sewer. Erana and I went to the building next door to us and ride our bikes and my longboard. When we went there we saw a mother duck quacking a lot by the sewer. So then I went over to the sewer and heard baby ducklings chirping. And so I went back home and grabbed a dustpan and went back to the building next door. I lifted up the sewer lid, and went down and saw the baby ducklings. They weren’t even scared they just hopped right onto the dustpan. I climbed back up with 8 ducklings on the dustpan and went over to the mother and the mother was soooo happy to see them. There was still one more that I heard in the sewer. I left the dustpan down there to see if it would get on it. Eventually, it did but I got down there and it ran away. It was too scared. I didn’t know how to save it, so I left it down there. There were already two that were dead down there. So then I got out of the sewers and put the lid back and started to ride my longboard. I went over to where the mother lost her babies in the sewer, and I figured out how the ducklings fell into the sewers. The mother did a big diarrhea and the ducklings slipped on her diarrhea and fell into the sewers. I found that out because there’s a diarrhea stain right next to the sewer and there’s little footprints leading to the sewers. So that’s my story about saving the 8 ducklings. Dad said I was a Saturday warrior. This happened last week, I just forgot to tell you. Hope you have an awesome week!

Love, Jaxon XOXO

Hello Tyrell! I hope you had a great week! My game went very well! I scored 8 points out of 10! We still lost, but I made a lot of points! It was the best game I’ve ever done! I hope we win the next game because we didn’t win any game and it’s the last game next week. I played at Kages house on the same day and had yummy cheese bread balls. On Wednesday, I went downtown with my friend, Jenna Fullmer, you’ve probably seen her, but you don’t remember her. I went downtown with her and her grandparents to watch a show called the Shen Yun. I went with them last year too, it was a beautiful and funny show. The hotel this year was better than the one we were in last year. The dinner was very good, but I didn’t eat it all because it was too much for me. The food I chose on the menu was called “The Santa Fe”. It was a fried beef steak with beans,  carrots, and french fries. I know french fries seems boring, but the french fries there were the best fries ever! The place we ate in was called “The Coffee Shop”, and it had a lot of pictures in that place. The show was beautiful again and I had 2 favorites. Jenna and I had an awesome room. We both had our own comfy beds and their was a couch, too. The bathroom seemed better than the whole room, literally. We had some snacks when we came back to the hotel and we played some games. The next day we went to “The Coffee Shop” again for breakfast. I had a breakfast burrito, it wasn’t very yummy. On Friday, I went to the store with mom, dad, and Erana. After that, I had activity days and saw some cool braids that we learned to do.  I hope you have a great week! I love you!
Love, Leila XOXO

Hi Tyrell, I have your music requests ready on a sd card. Try not to lose this one. What do you use to listen to music? That was a funny story with the crazy little nacho giving you crotch shots. I had a companion one time that spoke spanish and spoke spanish to some people. We’re having  some similar experiences except for the crotch shots lol. I enjoy reading your testimony and seeing it grow each time you write. Work has been pretty stressful lately, I’ve been trying to handle it with faith and trust in the Lord. Leila had an awesome game yesterday. She already wrote about it. I try to show her some moves to do during her games. She’s getting better. Erana is really good at riding her bike now. Mina looked very gorgeous in her prom dress last week. She is looking for a summer job already and may start working at Cupbop a korean food place across the road from Culvers. I taught Leila, Kage and Jamison how to do backflips on the tramp when it was Easter. They are good now. We’ll send your music in a package. Tell us what else you want in the package.
Love you son. Dad and Mum xxx

Hi Tyrell, I can ride my bike.
Love Erana oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo.

From Tyrell

Thank you for the letters! :) I enjoy reading them so much, It's the best way to start my week, I look forward to these every week! Love you fam. And send me some food, haha. I don't know, you can send me whatever. We listen to the music in the car when we're driving place to place. But Thank you so much! I love you.

 Elder Wihongi

March - Tyrell Left on Mission

Scripture of the Month: Abraham 3:22-23

22 Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;

23 And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.

3/1 to 3/11: 

Sunday 5th that evening we had a special family home evening with Tyrell and bore our testimonies to him. I cried a lot when I bore mine, I shared a story about Marsha, from the Bennion Care Center a trial I had about her and in the end praying for her helped my relationship with her. Tyrell went to the Orthodontist on the 6th, go get him a retainer, he had lost his one a long time ago. And I wanted him to have one for his mission, so his teeth won't move back out of place and go crooked again. It costs about $100. Tuesday 7th, President Lundquist came over to set apart Tyrell as an Elder. Mum came, we had to bare our testimonies again, mine was dumb and I didn't know what to say? Mum and Jason gave really nice testimonies.  Shaun showed up in his police uniform he was on duty.  President Lundquist shared some experiences he had with blessing prayers etc it was really nice. Then he set Tyrell apart, it was a really nice blessing, and the part I remembered from it was that Tyrell will blossom like a butterfly! That night we all slept together in the basement, in the morning I made bacon and eggs and we got ready to take Tyrell to the MTC. 

On the way to the MTC we stopped at the Provo Temple to take photos, and then we dropped Tyrell off, he was ready to go, we gave him hugs and our love and off he walked with his Escort. 

Friday Jay and I had our yearly PEHP check up, Mum came with us because we were taking her out to eat at 'Chinese Gourmet'. Jay didn't pass his test, because he had drunk a glass of milk for breakfast so we had to wait for him to do 10 mins exercises to see if he would pass it to get a full payment of $100.

 

Hi Tyrell,
I added the emails of our family into your contact list in your email when you were logged in here so add me to your emails when you write Mum. I’m glad to hear you get along well with your companion. I hope you are doing well. Take advantage of the MTC classes and training, it can really help in the field. I know at times it is hard to stay awake with the new schedule of waking up early. I struggled a bit with that. Hopefully now that the first few days are over that you are getting into the swing of things. Those were the hardest for me but I know you can handle anything I did and even better. Mum and I went on date and saw Kong. It’s a fun movie. Jaxon is going to be my new home teaching companion. I’m grateful to have had all those years with you as my companion. I’m proud of you.
Love Dad

Dear Tyrell,
I miss you already. I know that we didn’t play with each other that much, but I still love you. I didn’t play with you or ask you to play with me because you looked busy, and even if you weren’t busy, you had a mad face on so I was too scared to ask you to play with me. I don’t know you that much, but I still cried when we left you at the MTC. I wish I would have been brave enough to play with you. I wish I got to know you better so that I wouldn’t be nervous or scared around you. I wish you good luck!
Love, Leila XOXO

Dear Tyrell,
Sometimes I wonder what you’re doing at the MTC. Are you missing us? I miss when you would show us funny youtube videos and played the piano so nice and sweet. We didn’t really play that much but we would play when we were little. And I miss when you would buy cool games that were so fun to play and that you bought me something on Titanfall 2. I wish you good luck on your mission and don’t forget something at the MTC before you go on the airport, cause you would forget things a lot.
Love, Jaxon XOXO

Dear Tyrell,
I gave a talk in primary. I love you. From Erana (I made this Lion for you)

3/12 to 3/18: 

Hi Son,

It’s so nice hearing from you weekly and knowing how you are. It makes me happy knowing that you are well and have awesome friends to help you stay motivated and uplifted. We pray for you every night that you stay happy and overcome any challenges that come your way. Well the past week I did the usual which was work, home school, clean and mother stuff. I got the girls summer clothes out of storage already because the weather has been nice and warm. And that started me de-junking the crawl space, and rooms etc. So I’m in spring cleaning mode! Started walking on the treadmill again since your clothes are no longer on it, trying to lose at least 5-10lbs by summer. And that is pretty much what’s going on with me.
I love you Son! Mum xxx

Hi Tyrell,
We had our yummy St. Patrick’s Day dinner and it was delicious. We played tennis on Friday and it was Mum, Mina, and Leila against Dad and I and my team won even though they had 3 people on their team. Mum was doing a weird exercising thing, she looked funny. Hope you stay awake during your classes and don’t mack around be a good example to your district. And hope you have a good flight to North Carolina on the 27th.
Love, Jaxon XOXO

Hi Son,
Loved to read your letter. I’m glad you like your companion and district. Sounds like you’re doing well. I remember the food. I gained weight in the MTC. It’s good you’re getting confident with the role-playing. You’ll be a good teacher. But don’t ever get to a point you feel there’s nothing more to learn or to get better at. Stay humble and teachable and the Lord will stretch your capabilities you never thought possible. This week I visited a sick friend in the LDS Hospital close to my work that has cancer. He is Wayne Tarawhiti from Temple View where I grew up. He’s Uncle Shaun’s age. I gave him our L&P white chocolate bar. Hopefully he gets better and beats the cancer. I created a blog that I am posting your emails to. If you have friends you don’t send emails to you can direct them to your blog. http://eldertyrellwihongi.blogspot.com/. When your mission is done we can get the blog printed into a book. Keep studying hard.
Love Dad

3/19 to 3/25: 

Hi Son,

sounds like you’ve had some very spiritual experiences and testimony builders. That’s awesome. Makes me happy and proud that you are already seeing a lot of growth. Grandma inherited some of her brother’s money after he passed and she gave us $1000 because she didn’t need it. See the Lord is already blessing your family in small ways because of your faithfulness. Wesley posted a pic of you and Elder Wheeler on FB so I put it on your blog. We put Jaxon into the Hunter U14 team this year so that I wouldn’t have to coach. They are coached by the Moleni brothers. I didn’t want to be coach. General Conference next week. You’ll probably appreciate it more and pay attention to it more now that you’re on your mission. Remember that your bike is at the Performance bike store in Raleigh under my name. Work hard and love people.

Love Dad

Kia Ora Son,
It’s the sabbath we have decided to write to you every Sunday after dinner. We really enjoyed your email yesterday, and the photos were nice too. Dad and I were teary eyed and felt the spirit when reading your experiences, we are glad you are having those amazing spiritual experiences. This past week besides work, Mina started her spring break, she got her ACT test results back and got a 23. Jaxon started rugby, and is still playing way too much games. He is your Dad’s home teaching companion and they visited the Garcia’s today. Leila played another bball game and lost, I was yelling a lot! lol. Erana just a while ago fell off the chair into the reading nook for the 4th time taking Jaxon down with her and the chair squished her leg and the curtain fell off and broke in half!! I was yelling and growling mostly at Jaxon lol and Erana was crying! Lol Spent a lot of money at Ross the other day on summer clothing for me and Leila. We are trying to eat more healthier and I made some Dr.Oz cookies last night, they looked like cow poop, and we call them cow patties, they taste too healthy. I don’t have to buy 4 gallons of milk each week just 3 and that’s still a lot, and I don’t have to buy as much cereal! Kids have said, “why are we changing stuff around here after Tyrell left?” lol We are excited for you to be finally leaving tomorrow morning, sorry we can’t be there to see you off - not allowed!
I love you, Mumxxx

I miss you so much! Nothing special last week. I lost my basketball game yesterday, 3/25/17, by 2 points, we had 11 points and the other team had 13. I love you!
Love, Leila

Hello big bro,
I enjoy hearing your experiences. You have so many already and you’ve only been gone for about 3 weeks! Just imagine how many experiences you’ll receive within these 2 years! Well, I just got my ACT test scores. I got a 23. It’s spring break this week and then I have Choir Tour the next week. I’ll be going to San Diego. I’ve been missing your piano songs. Anyways, have you gotten used to your sleeping schedule yet? I hope so.
Love you! - Mina

I miss you Tyrell. I watched Leila’s basketball game.
Love, Erana XOXO

Hi Tyrell,
it’s been a great week here. I’m so glad that you’re on your mission and that I hope you have safe travels to North Carolina on Monday. All I’ve been doing this week is play games and go to rugby practice. My rugby coach is actually Nathan Moleni. Their rugby practice is pretty hard, a lot of exercise and it goes on for 2 hrs. I was playing against Dad on Call of Duty 2. He would always win but there was this one match where I would always be on the roofs and I would snipe him. I think I killed him 17 times and he killed me 9 times. But the next match was pretty annoying because he did the same thing to me and I was raging. And that is pretty much everything I did this week.
Love, Jaxon XOXO

3/26 to 3/31: 

Hi Son,
It was Mina’s spring break this last week, so the kids did half a day of school work. Mina leaves on tuesday for her School Choir Tour to San Diego. Jaxon has been doing his rugby practice tues, thurs & sat. he has really sore muscles and Dad has been getting him to do pull ups.  Leila has her Piano recital this coming tuesday, not sure if Erana will do anything for the recital because she just started. The other day Erana says to me, “she wants a husband that respects her, cooks her dinner and lets her pick her own gowns”! lol  Didn’t hear from you yesterday, we usually hear from you on Saturday’s.  We enjoyed listening to General Conference, it’s been raining lately and nice to stay inside and do nothing. Hope you are well and getting settled into your new place and adjusting to change, remember we are praying for you and love you, Mum xxx

Hi Tyrell,
This week we went and saw beauty and the beast. It was pretty good. I went against Dad on Call of Duty 2 and this one round I won with 25 kills using a rifle. I’m getting pretty good at that game. We may even get Joshua to play against Dad and I. Dad got me northstar prime on my Titanfall 2 game. You got me scorch prime remember. Mom showed us a picture of a mysterious creature that washed up shore in Bear Lake. It had a beak and it was long and big like a snake. Dad said there has been sightings of that in Bear Lake. Any ways how is it in North Carolina? Is it super hot that you sweat a lot in your church clothes. Hope you’re safe and that you can be a good example to your partner.
Love, Jaxon XOXO

Hi Son,
This email is a little late being sent. It’s Tuesday instead of Sunday. We got your email yesterday. I’m so happy you have a good trainer. It’s good to pick up on the good habits early in your mission. You may not always have a companion that is spot-on with the rules. We looked at your area in google maps and saw your apartment and the beach area. Looks like a beautiful place. Your experiences are very similar to mine. I was so scared the first time tracting. Overtime I got used to it. But it will build your character. Remember to use a map and pray and ponder about where to tract and do that at different times in the day as people are home at different times in the day. That is if your companion isn’t already doing that. If not just bring it up in a morning planning session. I hope all goes well with Christian, sounds like an interesting guy. We enjoyed conference weekend. Leila had a basketball game. She scored some points and is getting better. I try and show her some moves to get out of getting trapped. She pulled it off in her game one time. I helped out at Jaxon’s rugby practice the other day. Nothing much else new. I love you and pray for you. Dad

Tyrell's Farewell Talk

Kia Ora Whanau & Goodmorning Brothers and Sisters.

My name is Tyrell Wihongi, but most of you probably know me or have known me as the “Quiet one”. It must be exciting for a lot of you to hear me speak, words. But you all know the saying, like father like son. So in my defense, I definitely inherited my quietness from my dad. My dad is a very soft spoken person, and he was just like me before he went on his mission, or so he’s told me. A mission changed my father, I’m sure of it. And I’m hoping that it does the same for me. Apparently I have a lot of ancestors who lived in North Carolina, ancestry that come from my Grandmother's side who inherit her maiden name “McKinley”, The name was originally from Scotland, but emigrated to the states and eventually settled in North Carolina in the late 1700’s, and then to Texas which is where my Grandma is from. I love my Grandma. I report to the MTC on March 8th.

To the topic that I was given, and asked to speak on.

When Jesus Christ ministered on the Earth he established his church, but it was lost from the Earth following his crucifixion and the ministry of his apostles, we call this “The Great Apostasy”. Because the true church was wiped from the Earth, it meant that many truths, ordinances, prophets, and the priesthood were wiped also. And the world entered a state of spiritual darkness. That apostasy made it necessary the restoration of the gospel. I just wanted to give a little better understanding of why it was necessary for the restoration of the gospel. When I hear the word Restoration I immediately think about the Prophet Joseph Smith.

In 2 Nephi 25: 17…”And the Lord will set his hand again the second time to restore his people from their lost and fallen state. Wherefore, he will proceed to do a marvelous work and a wonder among the children of men.”

Heavenly Father was able to do a marvelous work and wonder through Joseph Smith. When Heavenly Father speaks about his marvelous work and wonder he is speaking about the restoration. I know that Joseph had faith when he prayed in the grove, not only did he receive an immediate answer, God himself and Jesus Christ came down before him, and gave him a mission to restore the true church (the church of Jesus Christ) back on Earth. In Joseph’s owns words this is how he describes what he saw after his faithful prayer in the grove.

“I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me… When the light rested upon me I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me by name and said, pointing to the other- This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”

How do you even cope with that kind of answer?

But I Believe him, I know he saw what he said he saw. I remember when I came to know for sure that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, and it was in seminary. I remember we had a memorial kinda day for Joseph Smith and it was just all about him, we learned all about Joseph Smith. His life, his family, his trials. Whenever I think I’m going through something hard, I sometimes think about the things Joseph Smith went through. You’d think that if he knew what he was doing wasn’t true, he’d just stop after being tarred and feathered, after being thrown into jail, after almost being killed multiple times, but no he kept going, many people didn’t believe, many doubted him, many wanted proof, many of those people were his friends, family, people he knew, but he kept going. How? Why? Because he knows that it is true, and I know that it is true. Back to my experience in seminary I remember clearly after learning all about Joseph Smith, we sang a song and it was during that song that the spirit testified to me that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. The feeling I felt I cannot describe. A poor Wayfaring man of grief. It is because of the faith of a 14 year old boy, that we are all able to be here today. It is because of him, who overcame many trials and never gave up, that we are able to experience the blessings and the joy that we have all already experienced from the gospel in our lives. And it is because of him that I know that Families can be Together Forever. That is one of the many truths that were restored to him. One of the many truths that are most important to me, And one truth I feel the need to talk about.

Not long ago, I went on a life changing and spiritually uplifting trip to New Zealand. It happened so quick. My dad just unexpectedly asked me if I wanted to go to New Zealand. And I was like pft, yeah. I legitimately thought he was just joking but then he told me that Uncle was dying. My Uncle Alwood (brother of my grandpa). Well before I knew it we (Dad, Scott, Tyrone) embarked on an unforgetable journey that I will never forget. Unfortunately though, My Uncle sadly passed before we landed. Our plan was to visit him in the hospital, but instead we attended his funeral. I cannot tell you how amazing that trip still was though. I had met family I've never met before and the love and the spirit that I felt from them was so overwhelming I felt like I was home. And though I didn't really know my Uncle who had passed away, I had a calm feeling that I would see him again. I’ve never experienced so much love from people who I didn’t really know, but it made me think deeply about the importance of family, and teary eyed to know that I would be able see all of them again, not just in this life but also in the next. I also got to experience a full dose of my maori culture, and to learn a part of who I really am. My uncles, and my dad would point me to everyone and tell me how I was related to them. During one of the services before the funeral, (me,dad,scott) were asked to speak. All three of us bore our testimonies in front of many people I didn't even know, half of which were my relatives, half of which were from another church. But shortly after, everyone was crying, and we were all giving each other hugs, I’m pretty sure I hugged everyone twice. My uncles would tell me you’re probably tired of all this hugging. Nope, I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. My testimony of God's plan for us and that families can be together forever was strengthened. I learned many things from my trip and one of them was that true happiness doesn't come from material things or anything of this world, True Happiness only comes from God, but through our family, and through loving others. Families can be together forever. That is one truth that I would not be able to live without. I can't imagine what it'd be like not knowing that, I wouldn't be able to not know that anyway because of course, I have been blessed to be born into the church and was taught that all my life, and because of that sometimes I take it for granted. Don't take it for granted like I did. I now realize how precious that truth is, that families can be forever. There are many people who don’t know that, many who wishes it were true.

Another thing that was restored is the temple. I had the amazing opportunity to go through for my first time last week, to be endowed. I chose to go through the Draper Temple. But all i can say is, it was weird, but my dad explained to me it's because that's how they used to do it way back in Moses and Abraham's day in their temples, so I guess that would make sense why most of the things we do in the temple would seem very strange in our day haha. I may have also thought it was a little cheesy haha, but then I started to feel the spirit so strongly at one point, I might have even cried a little, I prayed to God and said I was sorry that I thought it was cheesy haha. My bishop told me that going through the temple for your endowments is more important than going on your mission. And he’s right. It’s a huge step to take that brings us closer to our Heavenly Father. We are able to perform many beautiful and sacred ordinances in the temple. In fact, that is how we are able to be sealed to our families forever. My temple trip was like the cherry on top to my New Zealand trip. From my NZ trip I learned the importance of family. Now because temples have been restored I know that I can be sealed to them forever. Anyways, I had to share those three experiences I had with you all, but now it's about time for me to close.

Brothers and sisters, this is the message of the Restoration and my testimony to you. That God lives, he loves and knows each one of you individually. That Jesus is the Christ and your savior, he died for you. That many truths were restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and so long as you abide by the principles and laws of the truthfulness of the gospel, you will be saved at the last day.

3 Nephi 27:21-22

21 Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do;
22 Therefore, if ye do these things blessed are ye, for ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

I leave my love and my testimony with you, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.