April 2026

 Talofa Sister Wihongi,

Today is Monday April 13th. Last night I couldn’t sleep, because of jetlag from Japan. I don’t know why I couldn’t sleep. Anyway now I’m at work (school) subbing, and it’s been a good day so far. I will probably go home and conk out. We spoke to you yesterday, that’s when you told us about your lice you have -eww! No worries, Mum and Dad had lice when we were little in New Zealand. Here’s what we did in Japan, short version: 

Japan Family Adventure: April 2026

Day 1 & 2: April 1st (April Fools’ Day) – The Journey Begins

4:30am: Arrive at airport

7am SLC → 9:58am HNL 

3 hour layover

1:00pm HNL → 5:10pm HND (April 2nd)

Flew from Hawaii to Japan. April Fools’ surprise: Erana finally realized we weren't actually heading to Orlando for Spring Break! A very loooong day, a 6-hour flight from SLC to Hawaii, followed by another 9 hours to Japan. By the time we landed, my ankles were swollen. And they stayed swollen the whole time due to all the walking we did. After landing in Japan the airport was "kkraazzee", we navigated the Keikyu Line to our Airbnb in Sumida-ku. Exhausted but excited, we ended our first night with a classic Japan experience: a 7-Eleven run for snacks and munchies - chicken balls, spicy chicken, custard cream puffs, onigiri, lollies, ice-cream.

Day 3: Disney Sea – Politeness & Playfulness:

6:00am Wake up and get ready/Konbini Run for breakfast

7:00am Head to Maihama station (44min)

8:00am Arrive to Tokyo DisneySea (Adults around $74 and Teen around $61 via klook. $10 - $17 for lightning lane per ride)

9:00am Doors Open, it was crowded! 

We tried getting premier passes for rides but had issues with our bank, mum had to call the bank so the payment on our cards can go through. It was annoying. The first ride they got a pass for was Journey to the Center of the Earth ride. We walked around mostly and tried different treats. They liked the gyouza dog. Because of the issue with our cards, I had to call to get their second passes for the tangled ride. After disney, we went back to the airbnb on a bus that stopped at the mall by our airbnb. We walked into the pokemon center store and looked around a bit at the mall. Did another konbini run

• Cleanliness: Hardly any rubbish bins to be found, yet the streets are spotless.

• Etiquette: The trains are incredibly quiet. At the park, the "lines" were more like chaotic bunches of people, yet everyone remained polite and patient.

• The Vibe: Japanese people love to wave while you’re on the rides! Also, the dress standards are so high, everyone looks so cute and put together.

• The Disney Sea App does not play well with foreign Visa cards. So frustrating, we only could pay for one ride, and it was the Journey to the center of the earth, which was a lot of fun.

• Public toilets with bidets and they play music or rushing water sounds to hide the bathroom noises. 

Day 4: Shrines, Samurai, and Shopping:

8:30am Head to Samurai Museum 

9:30am Be at reserved time at Samurai Museum ($28 per person) 

The Museum was a little cheesy but still learned interesting facts about the history of the samurai

10:30 Walk around Asakusa Shrine -Asakusa nishi-sando shopping street for treats. It was crowded and rainy. We bought food by the food stalls near the shrine. And had our umbrellas up most of the time. 

1pm Head to Harajuku/Meiji Shrine

We walked down to meiji shrine and it was a rainy peaceful walk in the middle of bustling Tokyo. Afterwards, we ate at a ramen place at the beginning of takeshita street. Then still had to rest feet afterwards. We didnt go down takeshita street. But we saw the Harry potter store

Afterwards, we retired to the airbnb and skipped going to shibuya and shinjuku. Early night at airbnb to rest

• History: Toured the Samurai Museum and finally learned why people here walk on the left side of the street. Tane and Erana made it to the champion round of the throwing stars, but blew it at the end against a Dad who had twin sons - he made them proud.

• Asakusa: Strolled through Asakusa Shrine, they had some food stalls right next to it. We ate some cabbage and meat flat bread, takoyaki, fish pastry filled with cheese and another filled with custard.

• Nishi-sando shopping street for local treats. Navigating the open markets in the rain was an experience—we were all cramped together, dodging everyone else's umbrellas while trying to see the stalls. Umbrellas aren’t allowed in stores even when closed, you have to leave your umbrellas at the front entrance of stores, if you want to look inside.

• Ramen: To take a break out of the rain, we went to eat at a Ramen restaurant near the end of the market street. It was so nice getting out of the rain and just relaxing eating our amazing ‘Ramen’ bowls. 

• KDRAMA SCENE: Coming out of the Ramen restaurant the ground was uneven and I began to fall over, stammering trying not to fall. I was able to turn my body around and reach out my hand to Jay and not saying anything but thinking in my head, ‘PLEASE grab my hand, because if you don’t I will fall’. I’m pretty sure my face said it all and luckily he read my mind and grabbed my hand and saved me - Yay, my hero! 

• Retail: Shopped at Uniqlo, you need to remove your shoes if you want to try anything on. 

• Harajuku: Visited the Meiji Shrine, looked at a very small anime art gallery, and checked out the Harry Potter store. Bought Erana a Harry Potter long sleeve top that had Harajuku, Japan on it. 

Day 5: From Tokyo to Osaka:

6:30am Check out of Airbnb and head to Tokyo Station (30 min)

7:00am Have breakfast at the station and find the gate. Buy ekiben

8:00am - 10:30am Shinkansen Tokyo Station to Shin-Osaka Station($107.14 each, paid)

10:45am made our way to Osaka castle (36min train ride) We put our luggage in some coin lockers on the Osaka Castle garden grounds and walked to the castle. The cherry blossoms were beautiful.

3pm Head to airbnb (40min train ride)

4:00pm check in Airbnb at Taisho-ku and leave luggage, head straight to 

Solaniwa Onsen spa/rest day ($10 bathing tax still need to be paid) chill. 5pm private onsen for mum and dad

Had a fun relaxing time at the onsen. Tane, Erana, and I just did the footbaths, ate at the restaurant, and walked around while mum and dad had their private bath. Then ate again at the restaurant when they were done. Went to airbnb at night

• First Impressions: Osaka feels different—not quite as pristine as Tokyo, with a bit of trash on the ground, and interestingly, people here walk on the right!

• Exploration: We had to put our carry on bags and back packs in lockers at the park. Visited the iconic Osaka Castle, the museum, and the gardens. Bought gifts and souvenirs. 

• Checked into our Airbnb in Taisho-ku. Two rooms upstairs with a single bed in one and two double beds in another. Kitchen, couchbed, bathroom and toilet downstairs.

• Relaxation: Ended the day soaking at Solaniwa Onsen. Jay and I got some much-needed alone time in a private spa room. Soaking our sore muscles and feet was heaven. We loved wearing the Japanese robes (yukata). After our time was up we joined the others and ate a delicious meal, watched a little bit of entertainment with guys doing skits, but we couldn’t understand them.

Day 6: Temples, Waterfalls, and Daruma

7:30am Head to Tour Meeting Spot ($55.75 per person)

8:30am Meet at Kani Doraku Dontonbori East Branch 

-first tour bus stop was at a Yodogawa Seiwari Cherry Blossoms area, it was a long beautiful strip of cherry blossoms

-Second stop was at Uji, a city known for their Matcha. It was an older looking town with many shops by a river. We also walked through Byodo-in temple, the temple on the 10 center coin

-3rd stop was Katsuo-ji temple, a temple in the mountains with many daruma dolls. It was very beautiful and we walked around to different stamp stations to make a postcard.

-4th stop was Minoh Falls. It was a steep walk to the falls, saw a wild monkey in the trees on the way there. Our tour guide HuaHua was fun

6:30pm return to Dontonbori

Had yakisoba and Okonomiyaki and walked down dontonbori strip

• Spiritual Sites: Visited Byodoin Temple in Uji, where the town is really old and they make ‘matcha’ or green tea. We got a strawberry ice-cream, because the other flavor to everything in this town had ‘matcha’ lol. That’s when we were talking with Leila on the phone. 

• Katsuo-ji Temple it’s famous for the thousands of Daruma dolls that are tucked into every corner. They are so dang cute and they were absolutely everywhere! At the start, we were given a postcard to carry through the grounds. As we explored the historical monuments, we found six different stamp stations; by the time we reached the end, we had a completed picture of the Daruma dolls to take home as a souvenir.

• Hiked to the beautiful Minoh Falls, and saw a wild monkey in a tree on the walk there.

• The Highlight: Our guide, Huahua, sang to us in multiple languages! We capped it all off with dinner and market exploring back in Dotonbori.

Day 7: Universal Studios Japan:

7am Wake up eat brekkie

7:30 leave Taisho St. to Universal City St. (30min) 

Universal Studios (Paid)

Had fun at universal studios, mum, dad, and erana had express passes for 4 rides. It was a little Sprinkle rainy that day. 

After being at the park all day, everyone rested at the airbnb while tane and I went to shinsekai

A massive day at USJ. Erana and I went on the Harry Potter motion ride. And then joined up with Jay, Mina and Tane in the Broom Restaurant. We got hot butterscotch and a butterscotch treat. Both of those made it too sweet, but it was yummy. By the end, Jay, Erana, and I were totally wiped out—too tired to join Mina and Tane when they headed off to explore Shinsekai!

Day 8: Kyoto Highlights & The Return to Tokyo:

Kyoto

Check out at 9am

Take train to Kyoto (1hr train)

• Dropped bags off in a locker at the train station.

• Went to Nijo Castle , it was less busy than we thought. Walked the grounds and went inside the castle of Tokugawa shogun

• Took a bus to Nishiki Market and bought some wagyu beef sticks and other food . Then made our way back to Kyoto station for the bullet train

6:01pm - 8:08 Kyoto to Shinagawa Station to Kamata Station 2 hr 32 min ($101.64 each paid)

Check in to Kamata Hotel in the evening, konbini run 

• Explored the stunning Nijo Castle.

• Wandered through the "Kitchen of Kyoto," Nishiki Market. Ate ‘wagyu’ meat on a stick $$$ and other tempura treats. 

• Travel: In the afternoon, we headed back toward Tokyo, traveling from Kyoto to Shinagawa, on the ‘Tokaido Shinkansen’, bullet train and eventually settling into our hotel in Kamata.

Day 9: Final Farewells:

Spend all day in Kamata

Bought clothes at GU and rested at McDonald's and also bought treats at Donki. 

6pm leave Keikyu airport line to airport

Be at airport at 6:30pm 

9:20pm HND → 10am HNL (april 9)

***7hrs hour layover at the airport

7:11pm HNL → 5:25am SLC (april 10)

Our last day! We spent the entire time in Kamata doing some clothes shopping at GU, a sister store to Uniqlo. They had some really nice quality clothes for cheap and us girls spent over an hour in there, trying things on. This time we were given a head cover, so makeup wouldn't get on clothes. We had one last delicious feed at a small restaurant where you order from a tablet, food was yummy. We walked over to an arcade across from Donki and I was videoing and then tripped at the doorway because the floor level rose and I fell on my hands and scraped my knees and banged my head on the wall. A guy saw me and I was embarrassed. Jason was in the arcade and saw someone falling from the side of his eye and was hoping it wasn’t me, lol. We took our very last subway ride (thank goodness, lol!) to the airport and finally flew to Hawaii. We tried to go to Pearl Harbour but decided not to, due to the bad weather and just didn’t want to bother with everything. We aren’t very adventurous. It was a long lay over and we just chilled by our gate. Jay and I sat in the seat massages and got a nice massage. It was good to get home from that day of traveling, and to go to bed. 

4/10/26 - Back Home

We got home and went to bed at 8am and woke up around 3 or 4pm and stayed in bed another couple hours. We were wiped out. Went to sleep at about 3am then had another long sleep and lazy day. It was nice to sleep and lounge around for a couple days before getting into the swing of things again. I think we adjusted faster in Japan to the time change than we did returning to Utah. Tyrell and Alisa came over Friday and brought us In N Out burgers for dinner. We showed them our treats and talked about our trip. I gave Jaxon a paint job in the kitchen and said to finish it before we came back, but it wasn’t finished. All the lower cupboard doors are off and he still needs to paint those.

Friday 17th, Erana performed a Tahitian dance from Tausala, for her Seminary Talent Show. It was early in the morning and I went and filmed her, she was AMAZING! 

Saturday 18th - Went to Uncle’s and did some carving, my tewhatewha and patu. I went and had lunch with my Hiona buddies, it was Ali Sitake’s Birthday. I went and picked up Keala and then we went to ‘Tucanos’ in Orem. We were on time and everyone was late. There was Cher, Karen, Monica, Shallyn, Keala, Ali and I. The food was yummy!

Other’s things that happened this month was, been going to Uncles after work on Monday and Tuesday to do my carving. Went to the dentist, no cavities. Our garage door broke and had to get fixed, we upgraded to 2 springs instead of 1. We had one spring and that was what broke. Made Homeless Lunches for our YM & YW combined activity. 

Saturday 25th - Hiona did a show for Julia Prime and her Widow/Widowers church community. We did good, except the girls messed up the boys with Tika Tonu and chanted it wrong… anyways ate some yummy Luau food there.

March 2026

3/1/2026

Talofa my Sister,

Sorry i havent been the best at emailing. I am just exhausted all the time with my stake calling, work, and being pregnant. I am 19 weeks pregnant today and my tummy is getting bigger. My first trimester I only felt a little nauseous but never threw up. I just got headaches, sleepy, and hungry most of the time. I want to tell you a sweet story about my husband, I also want to write it to you so I have this memory to keep lol. Yesterday, we cleaned our house and went shopping to find some maternity garments but the Deseret store ran out of them. Then we went shopping at Ross and Smiths to buy a couple things. Then we went home and I only had an hour of rest before I had to leave to drive 40 min to Downtown SLC to take Drayden's dance photos. (Being pregnant makes you so tired fast) when we got home, mum called me and said i forgot to pick up some hangi plates that she bought from our bishop Seamus. So I had to rush and pick those up and come back home for only 20 min. Anyways, when I got home from picking up the hangi, I started crying because I didn't want to do the photos anymore and drive all the way there and all the way back. I'm just too tired to do anything. So I was crying getting my camera stuff ready and Tane came to comfort me and he fed me the hangi by the spoonful. He said something like "It's okay baby, I can come with you downtown. I'll drive, and then we can get a treat afterwards. I know you are tired so I'll come with you" But I said he doesn't have to do that (because I'd feel bad to waste his evening) He kept feeding and comforting me and then I felt so thankful and blessed to have him that I started crying harder hahaha🤣 then he was like "No, I'll come with you babe." he is so sweet to me. So he drove me all the way downtown and he sat in the car for an hour while I took Drays photos. And then after we went to check out scheels so I can try on some walking/hiking sandals for our trip soon (I wanted hiking sandals because my feet will most likely swell up from being pregnant). And he bought me new Teva sandals♡ Then we went to look at another place for maternity garments but they were out too. Then we ended our night with our treat from Culver's. My treat turned out to be a whole meal🤣 and he got a concrete. I'm so blessed that he always comforts me whenever I cry. He never ignores my tears or makes me feel like a burden, he never complains when I cry. I love him so much, bbygirl and I have the best daddy/hubby♡ every night before we sleep he'll kiss my tummy and mumble "goodnight my babygirl" into my tummy lol I am lucky to have a golden retriever husband. Anyways, I will probably no longer take photos for awhile since there's too much on my plate.  In my stake calling, we've had ward conferences every week since Jan-End of March. So every week we visit sisters in need and have trainings and stuff almost everyday. Then I help teach 2nd hour at ward conferences on Sundays sometimes. I work 10 hrs monday-thursday and get off at 6pm and then would have to go to a visit/training right after working so it's been tiring. But I enjoy it sometimes. I just wish I had more time to rest. Oh ya, I also try to fit the gym in as much as possible because I hardly move my body around with all this going on. So anytime I can squeeze going to the gym with Tane, I'll take it. How you doing sis? Hope all is well and you are loving the work. Take a moment to soak it all in and be like "wow. Im in samoa serving the Lord. Soon I'll look back on these days and miss it" so stay positive and keep shining your light! I love you and so proud of you! Xoxoxoxxo 

-Mina

Talofa Sister Wihongi,

There was drama at our first Kapa Haka practice, kinda awkward lol Got a quote for Botox for my TMJ. Decided to get it since I got sick after we came back from St.George and it hurt really bad. A dental office quoted me $1800, he was really nice and seemed to know a lot. I made an appointment but later I thought about it and since Botox only last maximum of 6 months I decided not to do it. I then found a Botox place, an Asian one that’s next to King Buffet and went there and an Asian young girl nurse quoted me $300, so I got it with them. Now I’m seeing if it helps. Erana played with her friends Friday evening and got pizza. Dad and I went to the temple and did sealings, then we went and ate at Hwa’s, since we haven’t been there for a while. We just get the same thing, Pork bulgogi and japchae, it was yummy! Went and did some carving with Uncle yesterday. Dad has been busy with his calling, he helped a member move last Saturday, and has endless meetings. He hasn’t been able to upload his next album onto Youtube. I’m patiently waiting for his ‘Cosmic Crew’ album to be uploaded to Youtube. Sunday, Jaxon, Erana and I went to Vintricks baby girl blessing, her name is Silivia. It was a Samoan ward in West Valley. Sat with Kelly Settle, her husband is the Bishop. Kelly and I talked about BYUH, cause her son is going in the Spring,he got the Hukilau scholarship and will be working in the Maori village. It was good seeing all Vintricks family, Jaxon went and ate with them at Chuckarama’s. Baby and I went back to church, cause she and her counselors got set apart for Youngwomen older class presidency, she’s the President. 

Love Mum & Dad xxx

Talofa Sister Wihongi, 

It’s been a while since I’ve updated. Friday March 6th, Dad and I went to Stan Moleni’s Retirement party at Embassy’s Suites in West Valley. A lot of Molenis there of course, Mina and Tane not lol Had some yummy food, bbq chicken, ribs, rice, maori bread, curry. Live poly’s playing electric guitars and singing. Sunday 8th, Dad spoke in sacrament for our ward Conference, he gave a good talk. He didn’t save any time for Bishop. He got a lot of compliments, his talk was ‘Spiritual Preparedness that Pres. Nelson taught us, especially for the 2nd coming’. 

Had ‘Spirit Week’ at school before Spring Break. Been busy substituting for teachers and covering the front desk. Which is a lot of fun and a nice change, plus I get paid more for substituting. Dad and I going out eating every Friday, date night, went to Hwa’s, King buffet, and Rollz. Been having Kapahaka on Thursday, preparing for Living Traditions, learning a new song, Karanga by Tawaz, it’s a nice song. Molenis girls have been coming. And being the secretary is keeping me busy as well. 

Right now is Monday March 23, I’m on Spring break (Murray District), I went and dropped of Erana and Sawyer at school, then went to Uncle Richards to do my carving. I came home and ate and then went to look for carry-on's for our Spring break trip with Erana, Tane and Mina. Dad’s been trying to take Erana driving every Sunday, she needs to learn how to turn properly, she’s turning too fast, she needs to slow down. 

Erana's Sacrament Talk

Live Up to Your Privileges

Good morning everybody, my name is Erana Wihongi, and today I have been given the opportunity to speak on Sister Emily Belle Freeman's talk, “Live Up to Your Privileges” from General Conference October 2024.

When you hear the word privilege, what do you think of? For me, I think of a wealthy or well-off person. 

Well, the real definition of privilege is someone of a particular group with a special right, advantage, immunity, or benefit.

Sister Freeman in her talk often emphasizes that understanding and wielding priesthood ordinances and covenant promises will help us access God's power, and that is her version of living up to our Privileges as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and specifically as women part of the church.

Sister Freeman says, “Priesthood ordinances and covenant promises allow God to sanctify us and then work wonders in our lives. But how does this happen?”

She goes on to say that we must first manifest God's power from ordinances through the authority from the Son of God. The way I interpret this is that as a girl, I can learn from the example of my father who has the priesthood and has shown me bits of its power every time I am blessed for being sick, whenever I get a calling at church, or at the beginning of every school year.

The second step on this is that we don't just make covenant promises, we must keep them.

A few Sundays ago in my young women's class, my mum taught a lesson on covenant promises and I learned how a covenant with God is two-way and that God will always keep his promises. Knowing God always keeps his side of his promises, to me, is encouraging and lets me know he'd never leave me. It also means that every time that a covenant is broken, it is because of me, but because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I can repent and start over again. And again as you strive to keep your covenants with HeavenlyFather, he will bless you.

Even knowing these things, Sister Emily Freeman still wondered if she fully knew how to access the gift of God's power through priesthood ordinances and if she recognized how God's power worked within her.

Sister Freeman also talks about Emma Smith and her duty in Doctrine and Covenants section 25. Reading this section, the Lord tells Emma right off the bat that she is His daughter, and that all who receive His gospel are his sons and daughters, part of his kingdom. I really love verses 2 through 4 which say:

“2 A revelation I give unto you concerning my will; and if thou art faithful and walk in the paths of virtue before me, I will preserve thy life, and thou shalt receive an inheritance in Zion.

3 Behold, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou art an elect lady, whom I have called.

4 Murmur not because of the things which thou hast not seen, for they are withheld from thee and from the world, which is wisdom in me in a time to come.”

Emma must've also wondered the same things of her duty and place in God's plan that Sister Freeman wondered, and she also must've been scared or lonely at times as she had also lost her baby boy at this time. But these three verses from God assure her that as she keeps on walking on His covenant path, He will preserve her life and she will receive an inheritance in Zion. That he has forgiven her and sees her as an elect lady, elect meaning he has chosen her. And in the final verse, I would personally find it comforting that I do not have to worry about things I don't know yet, but that God knows these things and I can trust that He'll also let me know them when the time is right.

The Lord gave Emma purpose and she grew to learn her place in His plan, and through revelation learned about sanctification and covenant connection that would increase the priesthood ordinances working in her life. Her work in the Restoration was great as a daughter of God, and she learned how to recognize and use the priesthood to her advantages on His covenant path. Truly, living up to her Privileges.

I know that just like Emma, through the priesthood and the covenants I make with God, He can transform me into the person I need to be to have my eternal destiny. I know that I am a daughter of God and that I am also a disciple of Christ. I know God loves me and He has shown me that every time I turn to him each day and each week. And I also know that as a daughter of God, I can wield the priesthood and do good in these latter-days.

And in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

February 2026 - Mum's 51th Birthday

 2/23/26

Talofa Sister Wihongi, 

Monday 2nd, Erana and I went to another concert but at TVille High with ‘James Thorup’. It was a bit cringey. What was nice the first person that performed first was Ben Taylor, I thought he looked familiar and the name sound familiar. Well it turned out that I was right, it was Mina’s friend from High School and she had made a music video for him, he sang a nice song. 

Friday February 13th, Dad, baby and I went back to St. George to stay there till Monday. Baby and I had a long weekend off from School. And had no plans so we decided to go and stay with Uncle Shaun & Aunty Christine again, since last time was too short. We got an ice-cream at the Cheese Factory in Beaver. When we got to St.George, I made Curry Chicken dinner for everyone. Shaun took, Dad and Baby to get some dessert, they came back with bananas, ice-cream and toppings to make banana splits. We went to one of their condos hot tubs and lounged there for a while. They have firepits too, we sat around one, it was hot. Saturday morning after breaky we went with Shaun to the Main pool area to make Valentines gifts, we made heart finger print key chains and magnets. Then we went and picked up Gracie, and went to visit Maddie and Nephi, and the new baby - ‘Saint Mahia’. They have a nice home, Ziah and Dad were bonding, playing with playdoh. Later Shaun, Christine, Dad & I went to Mesquite to have the All You Can Eat Seafood Buffet. The buffet was ok lol, Shaun and I mainly just ate the Crab legs, they were yummy. We went to the same hot tubs again and relaxed.

Sunday went to their ward sacrament, it was packed full of visitors. Shaun and Christine stayed for classes, we came home with Gracie after sacrament. Connor and Jamie, they work on Sundays, they both seem to be work-a-holics. Christine made a yummy chuck roast dinner, with roasted potatoes. Monday we had breaky and then packed up and came home. While I was driving home I noticed I was getting sick. Tuesday I was sick, I was having bad allergies sickness. Congested, sinus, runny nose, like I usually have BUT I also had sore achy muscles and my tmj in my jaw was painful. So I put a hot bean bag on my jaw…. and didn’t know till Thursday afternoon that I had burned my skin on my face from the hot bean bag. Wednesday I didn’t go to work or to our YW activity, I was still too sick. Thursday I substituted for the Librarian and Science. Thursday was my 51st birthday, Dad, Tyrell, Alisa and I went and ate at The Cheesecake Factory. I ordered spicy ginger beef tenderloins, Dad had Steak Diane, Tyrell got shrimp gumbo and Alisa got 5 cheese pasta. Dad got me a slice of mango and lime cheesecake. When we got home, we used it for my birthday cake, Dad bought be a neck massager (Christine had the same one). Jaxon bought me a candle and a can opener. Saturday I tried cleaning and de junking, ended up putting our leather couches on FB Marketplace and in the afternoon, some guy came and took them away - that was quick!. Now I have to go find a new couch and chair for our room. On Sunday we celebrated my birthday again, I had tried to make the same dinner Jay got, Steak Diane. But I used chuck roast, and it turned out yummy. Mina and Tane bought me a bag of New Zealand treats, and Tyrell and Alisa made me a pavlova. Monday after work I took a nap, still my jaw has been painful. Scott and Heather came over with a mango cake from Tous Le Jour, and Scott gave me $50. 

January 2026 - Jaxon's 22nd Birthday

1/19/2026

Hello Sister Wihongi, I'm sure everyone else told you about Christmas and new years already. So I'll tell you the things you maybe don't know yet. Alisa’s dog Harry passed away right before new years. It happened so fast we noticed he was acting very strange. Trouble breathing, would wander around at night, and refuse to sleep and eat, wouldn't lay down either. We took him to the hospital a couple times, but eventually in the end we learned he had cancer and bleeding in the heart so we had to put him down. Alisa was so heartbroken for days. Alisa and I found out she was pregnant back in October. The baby is doing well now and it's going to be a girl. Shes expected in early July. We made raspberry cream puffs to reveal the gender to the family last Sunday. We have some ideas for names but we don't want to reveal anything yet. Other than that we've just been working. I've working and boxing still. Right now we're just watching the college football championship game with Alisa's family. Anyways, we miss and love you! Hope you are doing well, you are doing an amazing work keep it up! 

Love Tyrell and Alisa

1/20/2026

Talofa Sister Wihongi, 

January 6th we had a combined YM/YW activity. We went to the Murray Ice Rink and did some ice skating. Erana was like a beginner and she was holding onto the side walls. I decided to skate too, since I hadn’t done it for yonks. It was ok, but I was more unstable than I thought I would be. My legs got tired easily, and I fell over and conked my head right in front of the Young Men leaders lol, yup it was embarrassing. We had yummy hot cocoa afterwards. 

Erana had her Piano Recital on Wednesday 14th, at Daynes Music. We went an hour early so she could practice lol. And lucky we did, cause she needed it lol. But she was awesome when it was her turn. We couldn’t eat at Arctic Circle on State street, it was being remodeled. We ate at Freddy’s instead, they had yummy burgers and shakes and fried cheese curd. 

I had a 4 day weekend, which was nice. Friday Dad and I went and did some sealings at the TVille Temple. On Sunday the Young Women sang at the Old people’s home (Monument Health) is what it’s called now. I just keep calling it The Bennion Care Center lol. Alisa and Tyrell made cream puffs and hid the gender of their baby in the cream puffs. It was fun and yummy, and yay - it’s a GIRL! Now we are waiting for Mina and Tane to find out. How exciting aye! Dad went and shot his new gun on Monday, while Erana and I went thrifting and ate lunch at Tous Les Jour. We got some good finds, especially a couple of temple dresses. I will need them if I ever get to work in the Temple. 

1/26/26

Today is Monday, January 26th. I’m typing this at work. I don’t have much to do at work since it’s the beginning of the term. I study my scriptures and listen to Youtube podcasts on the Come Follow Me lesson for the week. We didn’t get to talk with you yesterday, you were busy. Hope you had a nice Zone PDay. Don’t forget to send us an email, it doesn’t have to be long, or write in your journal. Wednesday Mutual was an activity at the Seminary chapel and building by TVille, for all youth. They talked about the new Youth theme this year ‘Walk with God’ and about Seminary. Dad’s been writing a lot of AI songs, as you already know. He loves doing that now, it’s his new fun hobby and I like his songs. Baby went to a Youth Dance on Saturday at the SLCC institute building - I’ll let her tell you about it. I went to Uncle Richards Saturday morning and did some carving. I started Dad’s tewhatewha. Uncle doesn’t like President Trump, it’s because he’s probably watching the normal news on tv, plus his daughter in law is from Canada and they probably didn’t like it when President Trump said he wanted to take over Canada. He’s like Grandpa Pat lol. Looking forward to going to Vegas this Friday, to see the New Edition, Boys to Men and Toni Braxton concert. Love you Mum & Dad xxx

1/28/26

Talofa Sis. Wihongi,

Wednesday January 28th, Jaxon is 23 years old. He’s handsome, a friend to everyone, a little silly, likes to make people laugh, he’s loving and kind. 

He works with Ceedrek doing road construction sporadically when it’s nice weather. It’s winter so now he’s off of work, and he sleeps all day, not sure what he’s doing at night time in his room. He goes out and hangs with his cousins Talia and her husband Nate, Melia, Zion. He says they play games and watch anime. He also hangs with ‘the boys’, Ceedrek and Vintrick. 

He’s been going to his Uncle Clint’s house to play the drums which he’s pretty good at (even though I would prefer he stay home and practice his bag pipes). His Uncle Clint plays his electric guitar and sings, not sure who else is in their band. 

He has family scripture reading and prayer with us each day. He takes Noah Schwenke? to his church every Sunday. That’s if he’s not playing sick from staying up the night before. 

He’s been watching an anime with his minihim (Erana), they both have similar interests. Jaxon is fun to hang with. I wish he would spend more time with us on Sundays after dinner, watching our movie or in general.

He’s a little chubby or solid built is what Aunty Lian calls it, it’s because he eats a ton! And I haven’t seen him work out for a while. 

He’s on my mind, worries me a lot with the choices he’s made. Sometimes I just wanna give him a whack! lol I hope he knows Dad and I love him very much and want the best for him. He’s constantly in our prayers. He will always be my Sunshine! - Mum

1/31/26

On Friday 1/23 we drove to Las Vegas. We stopped at Beaver and got an ice cream. I had a pretzel piece ice cream with caramel and peanut butter and another flavor with chunks in it that I can’t remember. Mum had licorice and huckleberry. The weather has been unusually warm lately like it’s early spring already. We were able to get a coat hanger out of the car and roast some cheese curds around the outdoor fires they have. We drove on and filled gas up in St George since I forgot to in Beaver. I drove to Las Vegas and we went to eat at the Korean BBQ place Captain 6 first thing. We had lots of meats, short ribs, pork bulgogi and side dishes. It was nice but I didn’t get overly stuffed. After that we checked into our hotel Excalibur and rested a bit before getting ready to go to the concert which started at 8pm but we were going to start walking over there at 7pm. Mum and Erana dressed up nice. Our seats were ok, probably not any better than our last ones. Before the show the DJ played old songs and stopped the music to see if we knew the rest of the words. The audience did. I knew most songs until they played weird rap ones. When the show started New Edition, Boyz II Men, and Toni Braxton came out in the opening song. Then they took turns singing a song or 2 before switching to the next group. It was a fun concert but the singing mics especially for Toni Braxton weren’t loud or clear enough to hear the words. This is Mum now - we were in a crowd of black people, the occasional white person, but behind us were 4 white people and of course they were noisy and sometimes annoying. The guy behind Jaxon let everyone know within his shouting range that he’s an atheist, especially yelling that out when the singers were praising God. Dad’s being too nice, the sound system was crap, we paid $200 each and we could see the singers singing, their mouths would move but we heard nothing, especially with Toni Braxton, I felt bad for her. Anyways we overall had an enjoyable time. The weather was so nice, thought it was going to be cold, but we were hot with the clothes we wore. Jaxon and Erana went on the NYNewYork Roller Coaster. Saturday we slept in close to check out. We went to China Town and had yummy Korean Corn Dogs. We ate some yummy pastries at 85°C Bakery Cafe, walked around a little and also got bobba’s. Jaxon drove to Uncle Shauns’s home. They have a new home in a quiet community that's close to the border of Arizona. They also have a community swimming pool they can go to, and it’s the biggest one in the state of Utah. Also a wave pool is being built close by as well. Their house was beautiful and like minimalist living, they bought pizza for dinner. Uncle Shaun took Dad and Jaxon for a ride around in their golf cart. Afterwards Gracie took, Aunty, me and Erana for a ride too, while she was driving, Christine kept telling Gracie she was driving too fast and careless, it was funny! Dad showed Uncle and Aunty his AI songs, they loved them. Uncle Shaun wanted them, but Dad hasn’t put them on Youtube yet, that’s what he’s working on now. Aunty Christine purged her closest, and gave me tons of clothes, I went through them all while we were there. She had some really nice dresses, I was fortunate to receive them. I kept some stuff for you too. 

We slept in on Sunday and ate breaky and sadly we had to leave, so I could get home and make dinner for Jaxon’s birthday. But we ended up buying KFC before we got home and Tyrell and Alisa made Jaxon a Tres Leches cake. 

December 2025

12/7

Hello Leila, I love you. Very very much. It’s max day tomorrow in my weight training class, so I want to get better than 55lbs for my bench (my goal is at most 75), 73lbs in my squat (100 for my goal), 65lbs for my clean (75 for my goal), and 150 for my dead lift (200 for my goal). I had a dream 2 days ago that I was a tall muscular girl (I had abs and biceps but in the normal female way not in a steroid manly way), and I also was in some sort of superhero group because I had powers where I had fast reflexes and I could jump really high. The guys in my group all liked me but I had an asian short king boyfriend so everyone was jealous of him lol. We have cereal that’s green balls because it’s Wicked themed (wizard of oz), and I’ve been craving it and it’s just in our pantry but I haven’t eaten it yet. I’ve not been good at eating lately. Kiko found out how to get under the blanket on my bed so he likes to sleep under the blanket now. I’ve had time to know you were my best friend and now my best friend is gone :(, but that’s okay.  I don’t really do much these days, but I probably should. I think I’ve been mentally drained by PoP because I have not gone to pop in weeks. I feel bad but it just makes me feel awkward because I’m always there in the class we’re supposed to be in, waiting for people to come and for pop to start while I know they’re just mucking around outside in the halls. Tausala isn’t happening next year so that made me sad. I want to dance because I like to dance but now there’s no tausala and I just get stressed with pop. I’m also in key club, a community service club, and there’s a asian boy in that club that I thought was cute but he straight up talked to my asian friend whom he doesn’t know and looked like he wanted to befriend her and completely ignored me (I was sitting right next to her), so I have no chance with him as I assume he likes asian people that look asian (I’ve noticed most of the people he hangs out with are asian because they look asian). Oh well. I wanna start reading again because I read a few books last year and a little bit in the beginning of the year, but I had a burn out for the rest of the year because I literally couldn’t read another page of the Percy Jackson series. I’m still in that burn out, but I can’t stop thinking about Mistborn because I love it so much and you should’ve read it because it’s so good but that’s okay because you can read it when you get back, but I just want to read the first book again.  So, since I keep on thinking about how I should probably read the second book, but I’ve been dreading it because Mina said it wasn’t as good as the first. Anyways, goodbye. - Love Erana

12/11

Tonight is our Ward Christmas Party, I’m wearing my new Christmas sweater I got thrifting - I love it! Erana and I went thrifting yesterday, she got her red Christmas sweats, and a cool beanie, it has Big Foot on it lol I scored me a beautiful temple dress, I’m going to wear it this Friday. Dad and I been buying lots of stuff from Amazon, gifts for Christmas, stocking stuffers etc Christmas is stressful lol Got our family Christmas cards yesterday. Weather’s been nice, no snow yet, only in the mountains. Dad and I been busy with our callings, Dad especially, a lot of people in our ward need help, moving, need blessings etc. 

12/12

Today is Friday 12th - The ward party was enjoyable, we had ham, scalloped potatoes, green salad, rolls and pies. TVille Madrigals came and performed their holiday christmas songs for us, they were cool. 

Last week of School we had Spirit Week. And it was themed with Christmas stuff ie. Red/Green, Tinsel/Sparkly, Ugly Sweaters, Bows/ties, Pjs. It was fun!

12/21

Sunday 21st, we had our Wihongi Whanau Christmas Party at Uncle Jared's house. After we ate we had a Christmas message from Jared and also watched an old family video from 2014. We enjoyed yummy food. I had made Lupulu and Chop Suey (my chopsuey did not turn out the way I wanted it to). We played White Elephant. I had put together our White Elephant gifts from stuff in our home. One bag was purple themed with a Harry Potter lunch box that had Mum’s Hymn book in it, hat, scarf and gloves, treats. The other bag was blue, had blue hat, scarf and gloves, nativity picture, a nativity, Away in the Manger book, and a brownie kit. Lawson got the purple bag and Louisa got the blue one. I had pulled #3 and I chose Minas' gift which was a basket with towels, candle etc which got stolen from me by Alisa and then Talia stole it from her. I swapped my Chocolates with Alessandra’s ‘Golem Fugler’, for Tristan. Erana swapped her gift with Maya. I gave my siblings gifts out, which were Korean sauces and sparkly. Heather gave me a Trader Joes bag of goodies. Jared gave me chocolates. Jody didn’t get us gifts but later sent us a Megaplex gift card. 

12/22-23

Monday to Tuesday, went shopping with Baby to find a gift for Sawyer. We got a couple of things but ended up with a Shrimp squishy holding a pringle container, and so we got him the same pringles to eat. Erana and I handed out all our neighbors and church friends gifts. 

12/24

Christmas Eve, I made Shrimp soup, and we had ribs from Maceys, a shrimp platter. Tyrell and Alisa didn’t eat with us cause they had Alisa’s family activity to go to. But they came over to do Secret Siblings. Baby had painted Jaxon a picture of Psyduck and Akaza off of Demon Slayer, it was cool! She also bought him a beanie with Big Foot on it. Tyrell got Baby a Pokemon card package. Mina got some nail/beauty things from Alisa. Jaxon bought Tane a t-shirt and gift card. We made gingerbread men cookies and decorated them. Dad chose Erana’s cookie for Santa’s plate. Mina and Tane slept over. 

12/25

Christmas morning, we slept in. When Tyrell and Alisa arrived we did stockings and opened Christmas gifts. I had bought Jaxon an AI Jesus picture of Jesus protecting a lamb from wolves. I thought it was the best gift lol But Mina gave me a gift. I opened it up and saw a baby ultrasound that said Best gift ever! I was sooo happy and then Alisa gave me her gift, it was practically the same thing - whoah!!! So both of them are having babies, in June and they are about 2 weeks apart from each other. I was soooo excited, and I was thinking of what my Moko’s can call me. I watched a KDrama and the kids were calling their Grandma ‘Halmeoni’, I like that so I’ve decided that’s my grandma name lol.

Scott, Heather and Dray joined us for Christmas Dinner. Mina and Tane didn’t eat with us since they were going to Fisi’s house to eat. We had Prime Rib Steaks, mashed potatoes, steamed squash and salad. We hung out, you called. 

In between Christmas and New Years, I had gone shopping to look at the Christmas clearances, at Walmart. And then did very little each day, cleaned, ate, watched Kdrama’s ate again, and again lol. 

12/31

New Years Eve we celebrated at our home. I made Clam Chowder and a bacon and egg pie. I got some KFC, Mina paid for that. We had pizza, little sausages, chips and dip, veges and fruit and oreo rice krispie treats. Jaxon took Dray and Jonah with him to his Uncle Clints house. We played games (2025 Trivia-Dad won, Jack Box 11, a card game) and Jared and his family showed up after 830pm, Jared was flying in from Orlando. He brought us a package of Party Poppers, they were fun to shoot off when we rang in the New Year!

November 2025

 11/2/25

Hello Sister Wihongi

A lot has probably happened since last time I wrote to you but I can't remember anything lol. Leading up to Halloween Alisa and I carved pumpkins with her sister Kayla and Dodge. Alisa and I did scary creepy faces and Kayla and dodge did cute ones. For Halloween Alisa and I went to Chinatown in the morning and bought some yummy treats. I bought lemon egg tarts and candied hawthornes. I dont know what a Hawthorne is but it's like a sour plum the size of a strawberry. Anyways so good you'll have to try. Then at 6pm we went to Aunty Heathers for Halloween party. Alisa wore my fedex clothes, and I just wore a big box lol. We ate yummy boil up, chowder, chilli, and pizza. Then we went out for a walk around the neighborhood to see everyone's decorations and stuff. It was kinda sad because the streets were empty, there was hardly anyone out trick or treating. So sad not like what it used to be. Some nights Alisa and I would play phasmophobia online with Tane and Mina, a scary ghost hunting game lol. We watched all of demon slayer again and a show called Wednesday about Wednesday Adams. Oh I had an interview with Delta, but unfortunately I didn't get the job. I'll try again tho. Anyways that's all I remember. We love you and hope you're doing well. You're doing an awesome job!

Love, Alisa and Tyrell

11/14/25

Talofa Sister Wihongi,

I went to our work free Stamp In up giveaway at Murray District building parking lot. It was my first year going to get free stuff. I should’ve taken a wagon, there were lots of serious people there who came prepared lol Anyways I had 20mins to grab as much as I could because I still had to go pick up Erana and kids from school. I grabbed an empty box and filled it with free paper, stamp kits, markers, bags, ribbon, string, paint, pill boxes, cut outs. My box was soooo heavy. I squatted down to pick something up, and couldn’t get back up lol a lady had to help me! 

Most of my free stuff I gave it away to my teachers and I made a back full of everything for Sharlene Coombs in our ward, she appreciated it a lot. 

Today is Friday 14th, had a busy week. Monday, Erana and went to Murray High’s School play, ‘Once Upon a Mattress’. It was funny and I got to see some of my old students perform, and an old student saw me and said Hello and everything he’s a senior now, sadly I couldn’t remember his name. Also I posted a photo of Eran and I on our whanau chat and Jaxon compared my hairstyle to a japanese guy who has no hair on the top part of his head. It was so funny that Erana and I cracked up laughing and couldn’t stop. Wednesday the youth had a Stake Carnival. Each ward did a booth, and they had cotton candy and popcorn and you could win small prizes, they handed out colored tickets. The girls weren’t sure what the tickets were for. There were also spiritual booths, and I told the girls that I had a similar stake activity when I was a teenager and the more spiritual tickets you have probably means you go to the Celestial Kingdom. And I was pretty much right, they ended it as where do you spend most of your time. Who do you give your time to? And if you had white tickets from the spiritual booths you were giving your time to the Lord. 

Last night baby and I went to the Relief Society Friendship dinner. We ate a Thanksgiving dinner, I tried to not eat carbs. Because we had already ate McDs cause I forgot we had this argh! Anyways let us know how your transfer went, and Sonia La’ulu says that her Husbands Dad is from that village you transferred to.Today I’m taking Baby to her Drivers Learners License test, hopefully she’ll pass, cause I don’t know if she studied for it lol. Aunty Heather said, it took 5x for Dray to pass lol. So hopefully she won’t take that many times hehee. 

Love you Mum and Dad

Update: Erana did pass her driver learners permit test on the 2nd try. 

Hey Sister Wihongi!

A lot has happened, sorry I haven't been writing a lot. I got a new job as Intake coordinator at Hopeful Beginnings. I just verify new patient insurances so patients can start therapy (social work). I was sad to leave my old job because my old job was so chill and had such kind people, it was so chill that I just watch YouTube while I worked all day. Anyways, training at this new job is soooo stressful. The training was terrible and I just am faking it till I make it. I applied for this job because it pays more, I can work from home, and I get Friday off since I work 10 hr shifts. But holy cow is it stressful! I just gotta pray and pray that everything will be okay. My photography has slowed down but I don't even feel like doing it anymore with this new job… we'll see. Have you read your patriarchal blessing recently? We had a lesson on it to teach our Sunday school class (11/12 yr olds) not too long ago and no one in our class knew what it was. Anyways, we love you heaps! Keep fighting!! Gambare!

Love you,

Mina and Tane

Thursday November 26th - ThanksGiving Day!

Talofa Sister Leila Wihongi, 

Woke up earlier to put my brined Turkey in the oven. Dad and I watched the ‘Macy’s Parade’ on t.v. We celebrated Thanksgiving at your Uncle Scott’s home. We had a ton of food, Mina did the mashed potatoes and stuffing. Tyrell and Alisa made ‘cream puff’s’. We had turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, grilled veges, corn, gravy, cranberry sauce. We had too many pies, pumpkin, lemon, banana, chocolate and a cheesecake. And it was just us and Scott’s family, you know this cause you called and was talking with us with Kage lol. Mina took photos of Uncle's family, sadly we didn’t - I regret. Dad and I and Erana were the only ones to get in the hot tub. We listened to New Edition and other old songs. It was nice and relaxing but it was also kind of a boring Thanksgiving this year. We need to make family traditions, like add a spiritual thought, take family photos, and play fun games together - next year! 

I gave out the Secret Siblings list to everyone, you are exempt for this year lol 

Arohanui Mum and Dad xxx