Tyrell's Talk 'Come Unto Christ'

Tyrell was on a stake youth council and was part of a sacrament program in each ward in the stake. This is the talk he gave at a few of the wards. The sacraments were spread over a few months.

Good-morning/afternoon Brothers and Sisters, for those who don't know me, my name is Tyrell Wihongi, from the Brookshire ward. I am the oldest of five and my parents are Jason and Candice Wihongi. I have three sister's and a brother .  I am sixteen years old, I go to taylorsville High School, I'm learning how to play the piano/gutiar, I like to play rugby and hang out with my friends making cheesy homemade movies.

Just recently, I had ward youth conference, we all traveled down to the Manti temple to do baptisms.  It was an awesome spiritual experience but even better, we went to the Monticello temple and than the Vernal temple the next day.

Each temple had its own peaceful feeling to it, and I walked away from each one feeling cleansed and happy.  You're probably wondering why we traveled that far just to do baptisms. Well that's because my youth leaders decided sometime last year that it would be awesome if we visited every temple in Utah, and do temple baptisms in each one.

I thought it was a brilliant idea because I would be able to brag to all my friends that I've been to every temple in Utah, well at least all the ones that are completed so far... but also because I haven't been able to visit the temple that much and thought I needed that spiritual lift.

Going to the temple is a great way to gain spiritual blessings and a great way to draw ourselves closer to heaven and Christ.  Every time I enter a temple, I say a quiet thoughtful prayer in my heart to help me invite and feel the spirit and to help me feel more connected with our father in heaven and Jesus Christ.  That way it turns out to be a more, spiritual experience, and I feel a lot better and at peace with myself, and everyone around me.  It also really helps me think of the savior more often and see the hands of the lord in things throughout the day and I remember him more.

I have a quote taken from Gorden B Hinkley - "I urge our people our peole everywhere, with all of the persuasiveness of which I am capable, to live worthy to hold a temple recommend, to secure one and regard it as a precious asset, and to make a greater effort to go to the House of the Lord and partake of the spirit and the blessings to be had therein."

I like how he calls a temple recommend a 'precious' asset, it reminded me of the movie 'the lord of the rings' where in the movie everyone wants the 'ring' which has power to rule. A character in the movie 'Golem' calls the ring his 'precious' and he fights to get the ring back even to his death.  Well I would like to think I would have courage to live worthy to keep a temple recommend even until I die.

We are also Precious to our Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ and going to the temple to do temple services is a great way to stay connected to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and probably the closest we will ever get to being near them here on Earth in our mortal state, because every tmeple is a house of the lord.  How amazing of a privilege is it that we are able to do services for the lord and for other in his house? How cool is that? surely, it is probably one of the most honorable privileges we can ever receive her on Earth, and to think that not everyone is able to enter the house of the lord, makes it even that more important, because of course, we must be worthy and faithful to be able to enter his house, meaning that we must be worthy and truthful to obtain a temple recommend.

Brothers and Sisters, I invite you all, I encourage you all to just take some time to visit the temple, or to visit the temple more often, because it really is a great way to come unto Christ and to draw nearer to him, and he will pour many blessings upon you, the spirit will be with you, you will be filled with the love of Christ, and you will be at peace.  I testify this to you Brothers and Sisters in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

August

August 1-3:
Friday 1st we saw Guardians of the Galaxy at the movies. We didn't know what to expect since we don't know much about those comics but it turned out to be quite good. Was funny and had good effects and characters. Saturday we went to Scott's and had a pot luck dinner for Daniel Golder and his wife Penni-Rachel. Golder got us to play a little game of touch rugby in the back yard that turned into tackle. Spencer was slamming his uncles.

August 4-10:
Before we left to go to Pineview for camping I had to take Erana to get her teeth fixed, she had a cavities in nearly every tooth! So they had to sedate her, and put her to sleep.  It took longer than we planned, I was at the dentist with her and Jason was at home making sure the van was packed and we were ready to leave straight when I go home. Erana took a very long time waking up from her sleep, I had to talk and move her body and all kinds of stuff to help her wake up and stay awake, took over an hour.

I took Thursday the 7th off so we could go camping at Pineview. We camped at Jefferson Hunt again at the same spot we have before a few times. We went on a walk along a trail. Had a camp fire and hot dogs and stuff and stayed up talking. It wasn't as cold as it has other years. I think because we had cloud cover. The next morning we had breaky and packed up and went to the lake around 12:30pm. We rented a sea doo again. The kids had turns and enjoyed themselves. We turned it in about 5pm then we went into the little Huntsville town and Candi got a shake at a new place to see what it was like. We drove back home and got some KFC for dinner. It was a nice little camp trip. I always enjoy those with the kids. Saturday the 9th we went to Ikea and to the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie. It was ok but kinda lame. I've been going to Ikea because I'm making an Ikea kitchen in the basement where the old bar was. It's looking good and it has been fun actually building it. It's a big accomplishment for me since I haven't done anything like it before. But Ikea has easy instructions for their stuff.

August 11-17:
Monday 11th Kimberly and Vic had a pool party at the Kearns Pool at 8pm. We went to it. It was there daughter's 8th birthday as well as Dana's daughter who was 5. I left early with Erana. She wanted to go because she hurt her leg. It was a tiny scratch but she makes big deals over the littlest owies. Mina had young womens camp the 12th to the 15th. They went to a place up by the Church's Heber Girls camp cabins but they weren't in cabins, they were in tents. It rained on them a few times. On the 14th we went to the Wairhouse Trampoline place for Talia's birthday. They bounced on tramps and had pizza. On the 15th, Friday, Candi and I had a date. We ate at Fortune Buffet and then saw the Hercules movie with the Rock in it. It was better than I thought. We like going on dates, especially to buffets. Saturday we went and saw a play that Juju was in called Totally Modern Millie or something. Julia danced and sang songs during the play, doing the Charleston and stuff. She looked like she was having a good time. I went with Candi, Heather and Mum. Candi gave her a huge Charleston Chew but she didn't click with the Charleston reference until later.

August 18-24:
Jaxon went on vacation with Jared, Camila & kids to Vegas. They met up with the 'Golders'. Here are a couple of funny stories he told us about. Aunty Camila forgot to bring Alessandra shoes, so she had no shoes. In the casino she let baby run around, Uncle Jared didn't agree to that. (Jaxon kept an eye on her) the police came and they got in trouble for letting Alessandra run around with no shoes. Jaxon and Talia slept on the couch for at least two days, heads at either ends. Well Talia left her headphones in the couch when they left and so they went back to get them and discovered that the couch was a couch bed!!!

Tyrell got his braces off on the 19th and now only has a retainer. His teeth are very straight. We went to our Ward Pool party at Taylorsville on the 20th it starting raining and had lightning in the distance so they shut it down and post-poned until Friday 22nd. Friday night it was raining even more so it got canceled. This month has been really rainy. Lots of thunderstorms and some parts of the SL valley got floods and stuff during some of the storms. It has been the most I can recall for any August. Saturday the 23rd we scabbed one more day before they closed all the pools. We went to the West Jordan pool. It was sunny enough between all the clouds. I got Jaxon and Leila to race, then Kage raced Leila. They were tied going to the pole but Leila loses coming back. Mina wanted to race me so I did and I beat her. She couldn't believe she got beat by a 42 year old. When I sprint it feels funny, like my legs are weak. It's like I should be going faster but I'm not. I wasn't that far ahead of Mina. Sunday, 24th we went to Olga and Gary's Tongan ward. Hanna came back from her mission and spoke and gave a powerful testimony of the Savior. Montana spoke as well for his farewell. He's going to Tonga. We ate a park afterwards near there home in Alpine/Highland area. After we went home and Shaun and family, Jody, Josh, Danny and bro-in-law Destin Cox came over for the Fantasy football draft. We drew names for the draft order and I got the No 1 pick. I chose Peyton Manning. We'll see if he can be as good as last year.

August 25-31:
School started on the 25th for the kids. Summer is over. That was a fast summer. Can't believe Tyrell is a senior. He has grown up so fast. He is a smart and strong young man physically and spiritually. I'm proud of him. I can't think about the kids growing up so fast for too long, makes me cry. I love them all so much. They are my joy. I gave them all a Father's blessing for Family Home Evening. I try to remind myself to enjoy every moment I have with them while I can. They'll grow up and be gone before I know it. Tyrell takes the escort to school this year. Mina had taken 1 online class this summer. She had her test for it Wednesday. It was a computer app class learning MS Office mostly. We told her if she takes 1 every summer then that's 4 less classes during her senior year. Mina is smart and beautiful and very helpful but can sometimes bug Candi a lot with her messes. On Saturday the 30th we dropped Tyrell at off at a Scout day at Camp Tracy in Millcreek then we went just a bit further up the road and parked at the end of the Church picnic site road to go for a hike. We went along a trail that goes on the side of the mountain. It got a bit scary being on the edge so we turned back to go along a trail in the forest that goes to Grandeur peak. We didn't go all the way, turned back after a while. The kids had fun looking for insects, bugs and anything else in the forest. I enjoyed the hike and said to Candi that we should do it more often. I like forest hikes the best.

July

7/3/14
Went to Leilani Palmers home to have a Lu'au and it was with family and friends, Jason didn't come because he was being an egg and I slapped him on his head and he got mad and said he wasn't coming.  So we went without him. We picked up Brenna & her baby sister Sky who is Erana's age.  At their home there were family and friends including David and Gail Harkness.  Shaun drilled Brenna and was asking her ridiculous questions.

7/4/14
Went to the parade by 7'11 but they didn't start the Parade there this Year they ended it.  We only had Leila and Erana the rest were at sleepovers, Tyrell was with Brenna's family. So it seemed more crowded this year, and the girls didn't get any candy.  I got breaky at the 7'11, doughnuts and chimichangas. And we took the girls to see 'How to train a dragon II',  it was a good movie and the girls had a nice time.

In July took the kids to the Dentist, Jaxon was the only one that didn't have cavities and Erana needs to be put to sleep to fix every tooth. Jason and Jaxon still going hard with rugby, practices and games. Been taking Leila to Tausala so she can keep up her tahitian and she will be performing at the Samoan festival. Still working for Avalon three days out of the week, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, I'm not sure how long I'm going to last because it's hard work and had a couple of scary moments with some crazy mean old people.

7/16/14
Went to the airport with the kids to welcome home Elder Wesley Wihongi, was a good turnout. And the Men and boy cousins did a haka.

7/20/14
Elder Wesley Wihongi's homecoming, he gave a very good talk.  Wesley also had a girlfriend that he met on her mission, a sister missionary, she's pakeha and seemed very nice.  We ate at the park and hung with cousins. At 5:30pm we ate dinner at Clint Delacy's because Tyrone Wihongi was visiting from Aus.

7/25/14
Took the kids to Samoan festival and Talia too. Jason didn't come he stayed home with Tyrell and Erana. We got us a spot which turned out to be bad because we didn't find out later when the speakers were on it was extremely loud. We got food and Otai and I bought a couple of cool bone carvings. Tausala was on at 10pm when they should've been on at 9pm, but this Pink group went over board. But Leila did her dancing and did awesome, all the girls were beautiful and their dances were cool.

Jason added:
7/27/14
We had dinner at Fisi's home. Daniel Golder and his wife Peni-Rachel were here to drop their daughter, Tiana off at the MTC. She is going to Argentina. We had a good visit. We'll be meeting with them next week when they come over to Scott's for dinner.

The other day at Home Depot we were leaving when a guy said a truck had left his parking spot and banged our left rear tail light. He gave me his lic plate and said to call the police to file a report. I did and a West Jordan police officer came and took my statement and the guy's license plate info. He was a nice guy that recognized my NZ accent. He found the guy and he called me a few days later to arrange to get my tail light fixed at Dave's Auto Body. His name was David Andresen. We got it fixed.

Erana Sayings:

7/8/14
She is singing, "I like to move it, move it. I like to move it, move it" next to Mina. She sings, "I like to...". Then whispers to Mina "...move it, move it". Mina repeats it loudly and Erana says, "That's the spirit!" LOL

Tyrell's 17th Birthday

I took the day off for Tyrell's birthday. We took him to Fortune Buffet for lunch then went to see Transformers 4. Mum came with us to eat but took Erana home with her when we went to the movie. It was a pretty good movie. Tyrell had a few friends over in the evening. They sat around the firepit and talked and ate hot dogs. We made him a tres leches cake. We just gave him a bag of goodies and money.

He his growing so fast. I am proud of the young man he has turned out to be. I still worry about him having a serious girlfriend already though. He spoke in another ward the other week as part of the Stake youth council. He talked about his Temple trips with the ward. On the 19th to 21st of June, he and Wiramina went on their youth ward conference final trip to Utah Temples. They went to Manti, Monticello and back up to Vernal and did baptisms in all the temples. They did baptisms in all the temples in Utah except Payson which isn't open yet and Ogden which is being renovated. They had a good time on their trip. Tyrell scraped his face on the bottom of a pool when he dived in. He had scabs on his chin, nose and forehead.

On the 27th and 28th of June, Candi and I, Jaxon, Leila and Erana went to Cedar City for Jaxon's rugby. It was the Utah Summer Games and they invited rugby. 8 of Jaxon's team came. It was hot. We had 2 games Friday and 4 on Saturday. We lost all but 1. We were missing our 2 of biggest boys. Jaxon did ok at times but when he doesn't feel like it he will not make an effort to tackle. He likes to hand tackle and grab and pull them in like a squid instead of going straight in with his shoulder. He also needs to be more assertive and in control on the field but isn't. He is slowly getting it but it is his 4th year so I expected more progress. One frustrating thing has been other teams cheating by playing bigger and older kids. The kids were tired as on the 3rd and 4th games Saturday. I was glad it was over. We stayed the night at the Knights Inn. The kids played in the pool.

June Happenings

June has been a nice and warm month. I started coaching Jaxon's U12 rugby team back on the 29th of May. Another parent named Andrew Buehner helps coach. The kids are Blake Stewart, Jackson Buehner, Jackson Zander, Fau & Joe Alusa, Dallin Thornton, Konnor Humes, Landon, Taliafi, Tyler & Mason Ludwick and Loimata Mauga. Loi broke his hand riding a scooter so he is out for a while. They had their first 3 games on the 14th. We tied all the games and were so close to winning each one. Jaxon scored a try by out-running everyone across the field to score in the corner. It was good.

The next day we went to Tama Peterson's grad party at a chapel in Sandy. We danced to songs after. Had a good time. When we got home Candi, Tyrell and I went to see a movie, Edge of Tomorrow. It was good. Candi and I have been eating at Burger King a lot lately on Friday's just because they had some good coupons such as 2 Big King combos for $6.99 and they have a big variety of fizzy drinks. They add cherry, vanilla, raspberry, lime, grape, etc to other soda drinks like ginger ale and sprite, etc. We like trying all the drink combos.

Father's Day they got me breakfast in bed and a nice card. Candi also got me some chocolates and treats. I love my family very much.

Erana's 4th Birthday

For Erana's birthday we went to the zoo. She had a great time. It was just our family on a hot day. She loves to look at the animals. W brought sandwiches and ate them there. But I can't believe she is 4 already. Our little angel is growing up so fast. We had her cake and presents in the evening. Kage and Drey came for that. 

May Photos

 Pelicans on the Jordan river. 5/4

Tyrell's school choir concert. 5/19

Burger King. 5/23

Gardner Village. 5/24

Memorial Grove. 5/25

Leis Candi made for Tama and Spencer. 5/28