January 2024 - Jaxon's 21st Birthday

Jan 2nd was Mum's birthday, she would've been 83. Scott invited us to go to Sizzlers with them. Our babies sat with their cuzzies and Tyrell and Alisa sat with us at the Adults table. My steak was meh, and I had the salad bar. Jason got the usual, Malibu chicken. I wore my unusual cardi I got from St.George, Hope Chest. We had a nice time eating and talking, visiting with each other.

January 5th girls went to their 'Believe' dance, put on by the Fergusons and friends. They came home saying it was a lot of fun and they got lots of compliments on their dancing. 

Jan 8th-12 was Spirit week at my school. Monday I wore my NZ snuggie I got from Lian for Christmas because it was Pyjama day. I had to turn down my room temperature cause I was sooo hot lol. The next day was Crazy Hair day, and I wore Mum's last of her wigs. Mr.Names the PE teacher was like is that a wig, cause I was like 'Oh no what has she done with her hair' lol. Neon Day was Wednesday and I wore Leila's Stitch socks for Crazy Sock day on Thursday and Spirit day on Friday.

Saturday January 20th Jared and family returned home safely in time for Talia's return on Wednesday 24th at about 10am. I wasn't going to go but I had hardly any work to do so I went to the airport. The men did the Haka - Jared, Fisi, Shaun, Jody, Jonah, Tyrell, Jaxon, Kage. 

Saturday January 27th, Leila had a 'Polynesian Cultural Arts - High School Senior Night'. I had made Nive Schwenke a red, black and white ribbon Lei and put $25 on it, and I added to money to one of Jaxon's Leis he got from his graduation, a yellow and blue one, cause I was running out of time.   Leila represented Ngati Hiona and Tausala. Their were amazing girls that had their Associates degree, had started a business already Wow awesome!. Erana pointed out that I had forgot to add 'PEARL' to Leila's first name, arrrrgghhh! I worried about it for a couple of days lol. Anyway Leila received her award rom her Aunty Fina after her Bio was read. Her award was for her cultural leadership in the Polynesian Arts of dance. And then she was asked to perform. I of course wasn't prepared and was running around like a headless chicken (Erana's words) But Leila did her Poi dance 'Kapohia' with her light up poi's. It was the bomb, I was a proud Mama! She nailed it and was quite refreshing to watch, cause nearly everyone's performance's seemed the same. Sheris and Hayden was there they were selling Hangi and stuff. Aunty Fina and Uncle Oliver were there, we sat in front with them, Nive had saved us seats. La'i and her bf Saul was there, she gave Leila flowers.  Mina and Tane came with us, it was a very long night and they regretted not driving themselves. But when it was done we shouted them to McDonalds where we bumped into Drayden and his friends lol.

LEILA PEARL WAITOHIRANGI WIHONGI, 18,

Kia Ora! - Leila was born and raised here in Utah, she is 18 years old. Her parents Jason and Candice Wihongi are Maori from New Zealand, she has 4 siblings.  She has a 3.9 GPA and has been attending Taylorsville High School for 3 years and will be graduating at the end of this school year. She is taking four CE classes with SLCC and has already completed six CE classes. After graduation she plans on serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her goal is to attend BYU Hawaii for her degree while working at the Polynesian Cultural Center. She is a well rounded person who excels in anything she puts her mind to. She plays the piano, is a part of the Stake Youth Council of the Bennion East Stake, and is on the Seminary Council at Taylorsville High School. Her passion is dance! She loves to choreograph, perform and share her talent with others. She has been a member of ‘Hiona’, a Maori performance group all her life. At 7 years old Leila joined ‘Tausala’, a group founded by Fina Schwenke, which performs dances from the islands of Samoa, Tahiti, Hawaii, Tonga, and New Zealand.

 

Sunday 28th - Jaxon turned 21 years old. We had his favorite dinner Chicken Enchilada's. 

Leila's Sacrament Talk - Prayer

Sunday Jan 28th, Leila gave her talk in sacrament:

[Heavenly Father, are you really there?

And do you hear and answer ev’ry child’s prayer?

Some say that heaven is far away,

But I feel it close around me as I pray.

Kia Ora Brothers and Sisters, for those who don’t know me, my name is Leila Wihongi. I’m 18 years old and a Senior at TVHS. My parents are Jason and Candi Wihongi. It's my brother Jaxon's birthday today, so if you see him, wish him a Happy Birthday!

I’ve been asked to speak on ‘Prayer’ from the general conference talk given by our Prophet Russell M. Nelson in April 2003, called ‘Sweet Power of Prayer.’ He made some points; I will use them and add them in my own words. The first one is:

WHY WE PRAY:

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are taught to pray at a young age. You can’t get out of it. You have to give prayers starting in Nursery, like blessing the snack, and then in Primary and Young Women’s, you have to provide opening and closing prayers. At Primary age I didn't really think about why we pray, I just did it. But now that I'm older I know exactly why.  It’s because Heavenly Father loves me and wants to know how my day was or how I'm doing. Just like my Dad, I love talking to my Dad about controversial stuff cause that’s what he seems to like talking about all the time. It makes me happy to spend time with him. And that’s what it must be like with Heavenly Father, too. 

Pres. Nelson said - “Through prayer, we can show our love for God. And He has made it so easy. We may pray to Him any time.”

WHEN TO PRAY:

In D&C 90:24, the Lord said, “Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good.”

In our family, we pray together after we read our scriptures in the afternoon. We bless our food in English or Maori. I say my prayers morning and night by the side of my bed. But what I love the most is to know that I can pray to my Heavenly Father whenever I want to, at any time of my day, in my head- I know he is listening. 

Sometimes, I don’t realize that I am silently praying in the back of my mind every day until the Lord answers my prayers the moment I need it most. I remember wanting to quit my job because I was tired of it, and I already had a lot on my plate with school, callings, and extracurricular activities. I guess I prayed to Heavenly Father that I wouldn’t feel this way and to think of the benefits of working. On a day I felt the worst at work, my boss expressed their gratitude for what I was doing and told me that I was greatly appreciated and did a great job at what I did. I immediately felt it was my Heavenly Father speaking to me, telling me that I was doing great and that I was needed.

INQUIRE OF THE LORD:

In 1 Nephi 15:7-9 it says, “7 And they said: Behold, we cannot understand the words which our father hath spoken concerning the natural branches of the olive tree, and also concerning the Gentiles. 8.And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord? 9. And they said unto me: We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us.”

Nephi understood the teachings of the Lord because he turned to Heavenly Father and prayed that he might understand, knowing that he would receive an answer. It’s easy to be like Laman and Lemuel and think that the Lord won’t answer our prayers for reasons like, “It’s a silly thing to ask” or “I’m not worthy enough to receive an answer.” But I know from experience that Heavenly Father cares about me and understands exactly what I'm going through. I know I can turn to Him for anything, good or bad.

ANSWERS TO PRAYERS:                                                                                                                 Since it’s my brother Jaxon’s birthday today, I want to share how his birth was a miracle. During the pregnancy, my parents prayed every day that he would be healthy and that there would be no complications during delivery. From Jaxon’s baby scrapbook, my mum wrote, “Jaxon came a month early… Complications were [that] Jaxon’s heart rate would go down every time I had a contraction. He was born [at] 11:37 am, the doctor told us the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. But most shockingly to the Doctor, was when he took my placenta out, he had never seen something like this before in his years of delivering babies that the umbilical cord was in the wrong place on the placenta   surrounded by veins. And when my water broke the tear in the placenta avoided all those veins  - if not, he would have bled to death.” The Doctor was so fascinated by it that he asked my Mum if he could keep her placenta for research. Heavenly Father was able to answer my parent’s prayers and keep Jaxon healthy and safe when he was born.

Nelson - “We should pray in accord with the will of our Heavenly Father. He wants to test us, to strengthen us, and to help us achieve our full potential. When the Prophet Joseph Smith was held in Liberty Jail, he pled for relief. His prayers were answered with an explanation: ‘All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.’”

Testimony - I know that Heavenly Father will answer your prayers and that through prayer, we can gain personal revelation. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

December

 Saturday December 2nd, we had our ward Christmas Party at the chapel. I had signed up to make a Breakfast Casserole (note to self don't sign up for that next time lol) We had to go early cause I had to bring my casserole at a certain time. It was just us and not the newlyweds, Jaxon came a little later. All the food was yummy and the decorations were Christmas. Kage had come with James, but he sat with us, next to his favorite cuzzie Leila. We wrote Christmas cards to our Ward Missionaries. We were entertained by people in our ward. Sadly we found out there was no Santa. Bro. Morley couldn't be Santa cause he had surgery on his knee. Bro. Ashworth was suppose to fill in but last minute he got sick, so I heard. As I looked around the room I was thinking Bro. Masina, Bro. Foot, Bro. Jones, Bro. Latta could've been Santa. I mentioned Santa to Jan Jones and she went irate about it lol like she had been stressed about it and was done, cause she was in charge of our Christmas Party. Anyways went to put up the Christmas tree in the Primary room for the Primary kids to see during Primary. 

In the afternoon we took the girls downtown for a concert 'Christmas with Marie Osmond'. I had won tickets from work and I asked Jay if he wanted to go but he didn't so I let the girls go. But kinda silly that Jay and I ended up going with them to drop them off and then getting something to eat at the Food Court at City Creek Mall and then waiting there for the concert to finish..... like we could've just went to the concert? Anyways the girls enjoyed it especially Leila, Erana would've enjoyed it more had it not been for her sore tummy pains she was experiencing during it cause she held in her gas lol. She was a bit grumpy with Leila and Leila didn't know why, poor Erana. 

Thursday 7th, was my Dad's Birthday. And I was asked to give a talk about 'The Light of Christ' for our Relief Society dinner which I thought was today. I had prepared my talk and Jay made checked it and made changes to it, helped me with it to make it amazing. Anyways I got myself dolled up and dropped the girls off at their YW activity and went to the chapel. But no one was there? well then I remembered I'm a week early lol so I went home and told Jay. 

Thursday 14th, got off of work early to go to Brent Woods Dads Funeral. Jay picked me up, and we went to the funeral service. Sat next to Shaun, Scott played the Piano and he also gave the prayer at the gravesite. Grandkids gave talks about their Grandpa Eugene, he was Utah's first incubator baby, and that's how he lost his site, too much oxygen. I had bought flowers in behalf of Barney and Barbara's family, siblings chipped in. Tania had done the program and the date of his death was wrong lol Shaun made fun of it to the Funeral Director. 

That evening I got dolled up again and went to the chapel for the Relief Society dinner. Luckily Jay asked me what time was it at and I said 7pm, but I said but I better check that to make sure. Luckily I did cause it was at 6pm and Jay said lucky you checked or else you would've showed up a week early and an hour late! baahahahaaa he's so funny.  

The decorations in the gym were amazing, there were huge white canopy's set up with amazing decorations like a Winter Wonderland. I was at the table with Eliza Morgan, Linda Morgan, Sis.Emma Brown, Tiffany Brown, My neighbor Sherri and her daughter. We had yummy salads, rolls, mashed potatoes and pot roast meat. I chatted with Eliza, she had broken up with her boyfriend and I said to her there's always 'Jaxon', she cracked up laughing lol Sister Emma Brown sang a beautiful song. Kendra Garcia spoke first, and then me, JoDee Barham and then Shauna Morley. I brought my stool to sit on for my talk, I also used my phone to give my talk (first time ever, I should've taken my glasses off though) I hopefully gave my talk clearly and at a good pace. Anyways I loved my talk before I gave it, I knew it was special. I got compliments afterwards and text msgs too. Sharlene Coomb absolutely loved it, said it was like a General Conference talk lol. 

Friday 15th, dropped of Scott, Heather and Boys at night to the Airport. Their cruise to the Bahamas cancelled and was changed to a Canada Cruise, how dreadful lol. Anyway they will be gone till the 24th Christmas Eve late at night I'll pick them up. 

Sunday 17th, we had invited Seamus, Moleni Bros, Duane Gudgeon and Ollie Wolferstan for dinner at Scott's house (since were house sitting) Only Duane and Ollie's families came including Imogen, Jake and baby. But I was kinda sicky and my voice sounded horrible so I tried to keep a distance with everyone. Jaxon invited his friend Zander he came too, since he knows the Gudgeons. Shaun showed up to eat and mingle a little. We had a lot of yummy food. I was going to make a Brisket but Ollie said he'll smoke up some pork roasts so I let him. I made japchae and Lupulu, Tyrell and Alisa made yummy Asian otai, there was a lot of leftovers. I gave each family my 'tomatoe and zuchinni relish'. 

Tuesday 19th, my sister Lian and my nephew Leo flew in from Dallas, and NZ. I went and picked them up at the airport in the afternoon, after work. It was my last day of work before Christmas Break. I stopped and picked up baby from school and went and went through Apollo Burgers drive through to get Lian and Leo a burger for dinner.  When I brought them home they unpacked and gave me all my New Zealand goodies. They had Christmas gifts for everyone too. We got ready for our trip to Las Vegas tomorrow. 

Wednesday 20th, we set out on our way to Las Vegas about 10am. Jay, me, Leila, Erana, Lian and Leo. The girls sat in the back seat. We had very little boot space we only brought one pair of clothes because we only staying for 2 days. We stopped in Beaver for Rootbeer milk, but they didn't have any, sad. We got ice-cream and cheese curds. 

Went to China town when we got into Las Vegas and got us some Korean hot dogs and Boba drinks. Walked around a bit. Checked into our Hotel and went for a little stroll around Vegas at night. Got me a pink cardi with polar bears lol. Girls and Leo went on the roller coaster at NYNY. 

Thursday 21st, ate our Hotel's yummy breakfast, they had a nice selection of yummy breakfast foods, buffet style. You could get someone to make you eggs, omelette.  Went and walked around Vegas again went to see the huge flower display in Bellagio. Bellagio had a Christmas themed flower display with Christmas trees, nutcracker. Lian, Leo and girls went to see the Avengers Station in Treasure Island. Jay and I had seen it tons before so we just went and did a bit of shopping. Looked at Caesar Palace and then went to China Town again and got some Mochi doughnuts. We came home on Friday. 

Sunday 24th - We had a nice Christmas program. 

Monday 25th - Christmas Day! We opened gifts, had breakfast, and lounged around. Lian had bought Jay & I Maori Snuggies, mine was lilac and his was black, they are so Awesome. Scott, Heather and boys joined us for a nice steak dinner, they had gotten back from their cruise the night before. 

The rest of the week, we did some sight seeing downtown, malls, outlet stores and Ross. Till Lian and Leo left on Friday 29th. 

Saturday 30th - We had a family WIHONGI get together at Jody & Moni's home. We played our white elephant, ate pizza and took photos. We put one of Mum's last wigs in the White Elephant again. It was only Jody's, Scott's and our whanau. 

Sunday 31st - We had just Sacrament again - Yay! We had a New Year's party at our home for whoever wanted to come. It was just our family and Scotts family lol. We ate yummy finger foods, and played Scotts Trivia game and other games that Kage set up for us. He brought his friend to our party, I wonder what he thought of us when we'd put silly/potty answers on the game! 

The Light of Christ - Mum's talk for RS 12/14

When I was young, about 12yrs old, I was swimming at the river with my sisters, cuzzies and friends, like we usually do on a beautiful sunny day in NZ. That day we were swimming by one of the huge concrete pillars that holds up the bridge. We were standing on a fallen tree that was sticking half in and out of the water,  jumping off it into the current, swimming with the current down a bit, getting out on the side and doing it all over again. Out of the blue one of my mischievous cuzzies pushed me off of the tree and I fell into the water unprepared.  Immediately the current pulled me downwards right near the concrete pillar under the water, it was pitch black and the water got colder. I used all my strength to try and swim upwards back to the surface where I could see the light. I wanted so badly to get back up to that warm radiant light, where my sisters, cuzzies and friends were waiting….But the current was too strong, and the cold dark water enveloped me. I was scared. I was running out of breath and my fear turned into panic. At that point the only thing I could do was to pray -  

Sometimes life is like this experience I had. Sometimes in life we are in dark cold places, and sometimes it gets scary and it can happen out of the blue. Sometimes we make bad choices, we lose a loved one, you could be fighting an ongoing illness, going through unemployment or financial hardship, are alone and feel unloved. It is through Christ where we find the light to lead us out of those dark times.

During His mortal ministry, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

The Light of Christ is given to all who come into the world. It is the source of our conscience which tells us naturally what is good and evil. But it's more. It is His love, it is His grace, His mercy, it is His truth, it is His spirit.

A few weeks ago, Sister Belnap gave a wonderful talk in sacrament reminding us about the parable of the 10 virgins. I wanted to emphasize that again and talk a little about the oil and the light.

When we put oil in our lamps it is the same as receiving this light and it can grow within us. When we ask God for repentance, when we forgive others, when we pray and exercise faith in God, when we love and be kind, when we renew and keep covenants all these things give us more light, it can give us strength and we’re able to face any of the dark times.

Christ also said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

You can shine your light through your love. The Apostle John mentioned this in a recent Come Follow Me Lesson that, “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light”. 

Even though we may not be able to share the oil in our lamps, we can share the light. The oil in your lamp is your obedience to the commandments, sharing your light is your example of keeping those commandments.  The oil in your lamp is your faith, your testimony and sharing your light is bearing your testimony to others and sharing your faith. The oil in your lamp is the love you have in your heart and sharing your light is the love you are showing others through kindness and service and kind words. The oil in your lamp is having the spirit with you through your faithfulness and sharing that light is inviting others to have opportunities to feel that spirit, coming to church, ministering, teaching them. So although you can’t give away your oil they can see your light and they can choose to fill oil in their own lamps. 

There have been many people that have influenced me and shared their light of Christ with me, for instance I had a very kind Primary teacher who I loved, and if it wasn’t for her I probably would not have gone to church. In Seminary, I had the best teachers but one especially encouraged me just with her lessons to love my scriptures, I would carefully mark my scriptures and write little notes on the side of them. Because of her I had the desire to wake up at 5am and bike 6 miles to our chapel for that hour of Seminary before School starts. These wonderful sister’s shared their light with me and helped me want to be good and do good. You beautiful sister’s also share your light with me, by your examples, and service and lessons, and kind words and deeds to me and my family. You are my family and I love you and appreciate you all.

So back to that scary moment when I was sinking in the dark, cold waters of the river because I was tired and out of breath from fighting the current and all I could do was pray. After I pleaded for help from Heavenly Father,  I stopped struggling and swimming and let the current pull me down under the water and through a scary darkness, and I went under the pillar and popped up on the other side of it into the light where the water was calm. Never had the sun and the air feel so good. No one was there to see me cry and no one knew I nearly drowned, except my HF. 

I know because of my faith in God, that I could pray to him to get me out of that dark situation. He knew the best escape was to go under and through the darkness, the opposite of my natural instincts, but I came out on top, into the light on the other side. Sometimes the Lord allows you to go through those dark times but when you put your trust in Him, even when you think you’re at a point when all hope is lost, you’ll find calm waters and salvation on the other side - you’ll find His Light!  You’ll find that He was with you all the way. And you’ll find that your light will have gotten brighter because of that experience.

In D&C 50:24, it says, “That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.”

Testimony

November

 Thursday November 16th, went to Erana's POP - 'People of the Pacific' performance at Bennion Jr. High. I had made 2 loaves of Maori bread yesterday for it. The performance was held in the Lunch area. Only the POP group had free food, lots of it and yummy - shrimp, rice, noodles, otai, desserts and my bread. I went and helped the boys with their haka - Ka Mate. I told them to lose the grass hawaiian skirts lol. POP were good kinda long lol Poly's always are. Erana was awesome, she was a pro and stood out. The boys did a better job in practice than the actual performance, they need to be louder. Out of the Chinese, POP, Mexican, modern dance etc my favorite was the American Indian girl with her hoop dance, just blew me away - I went and told her she was amazing!!! 

Wednesday November 22nd, began our Thanksgiving break, only 4 days off of school, girls have 3 days off. 

Thursday November 23rd woke up and watched a little of the Thanksgiving Parade on TV in the basement with the girls. I had to go prepare all my yummy food I was taking to Scott's.  I gave the turkey to Heather to cook, I made ham and funeral potatoes, shrimp ring, stuffing, cranberry sauce and cherry pie. Thanksgiving was just us and our kids, Scott's family, Moana and James Moleni. We had lots of yummy food, food I only eat once a year lol. James and Moana didn't stay very long. We went in the hot tub it was nice. 

Monday November 27th, the girls and I went to Julius Skipps Funeral. It was sad to hear of his passing, I was sad for Kehau and Aria and the rest of his kids. Julius had been sick for a very long time, hanging in there and doing his dialysis so he can be with his family. I had texted with him not so long ago about his Piupiu's he wanted to sell, and that was the last time I had heard from him. Now he's gone and pain free and in a good place. The funeral was long cause we went to the viewing, that was in the gym, heard from different people that talked about how they knew Julius and funny stories. They served food, the girls got some. When the viewing ended the girls and I went and paid our respects to Julius and his family, Kehau is always so welcoming and kind, Leila and Aria hugged for a while. Then we moved into the sacrament room area for the service. Julius's kids spoke and then Kehau, they gave beautiful talks. I was so impressed with Kehau she was able to talk about Julius and keep her composure. We didn't go to the burial site. 

Thursday November 30th at 6pm. We went to Kayla and Dodge's wedding in Draper at The Studio. They had beautiful decorations, and cute lil'japanese girls dressed in traditional Japanese clothes they took instant photos of us and stuck them in a book and then we write in that book next to our photo. We went and congratulated the Bride and Groom. We sat with Tyrell, Alisa, Mina and Tane. They had yummy asian food. Sushi, fried pot stickers, tempura veges etc. They had a drink stand, that you can get specialty sodas or make up them yourself. They had home made yummy lime sugar cookies and little ice-cream tubs (Selena's husbands parents made) peppermint, grapefruit sorbet. Leila again didn't catch the bridal bouquet because it hit the chandelier and fell on the ground and the only one that wasn't embarrassed to pick it off the ground was Leila lol We had a fun dance at together and sent of the bride and groom with sparklers.