2023: My Top 5 Significant Moments by Izaeya Kekoa Tili

June 21 - Youth Camp!

1063174 — 2024-01-10 03:30:09 UTC

When I shot that shotgun, I thought it was gonna be the end of my shoulder. We had traveled for about 2 hours from our church, meeting around near Barstow, which is like halfway to Las Vegas. My vision of the youth camp was no where NEAR the real thing I saw we were traveling into, the desert in the middle of nowhere. 3 days of just us boys and the wilderness. It took about half an hour to try to get to the destination that one of the leaders had gone to before to shoot guns, and you can already hear other people in the distance going: BLAM BLAM BLAM. When we arrived, I thought I wouldn't survive here for more than a day, but to my surprise, just listening to my instincts and instructions I made it through the first day of camp. Once the first day was done, we got comfortable with our environment and started exploring around the mountains surrounding the camp site. Furthermore, we got the opportunity to fire guns and clay pigeons that we set up ourselves on the mountain that you see in the picture. To make it even more interesting, we finally got to shoot shotguns while targeting moving targets in the air. There was this launcher that shot clay pigeons 40ft in their air and my first time I wasn't able to shoot one down, but then I got the hang of it after a while. The worst part about this camp was that I had a fever the whole time, and still survived out there. Overall, it was one experience I will never forget.

June 2nd - Disneyland Date!!! (ft. Melanie)

1063174 — 2024-01-10 03:30:49 UTC

It was the first time EVER that we went to Disneyland together as a date, and it was the best one yet! Ever since my mom got a job at Disneyland, it has been one of the greatest blessings that happened in our lives because not only was she still making good money, she brings magic to anyone she meets at her work. Since Melanie's quince was around the corner, my mom decided as a gift to her from our family to take her to Disneyland! And so, I didn't hesitate to say yes and I knew it was gonna be one of the best birthdays ever for her! It was perfect too since Melanie hasn’t been to Disneyland ever since she was a little girl and I just wanted to make her proud by taking her along with us. We got there around 9:00 in the morning and despite how early it was, there were a lot of people in line already to get in. After my mom got us our tickets, we immediately started to take pictures before we even got on a ride. Eventually, we got to start our adventure in Disneyland first until 11:00 am when we were able to then go to California Adventure which was where the best rides were such as Guardian of the Galaxy, Incredicoaster, and Radiator Springs Racers. Soon after, we decided to split up from my mom and my brother so that we could ride other rides that catch our interests. After walking across the bridge, I noticed the nice view in the background where I wanted to take pictures, CLICK! One of the cutest pictures we took at Disneyland and one that will be in my memories forever…

June 17th - Melanie's Quince!!!

1063174 — 2024-01-10 03:31:02 UTC

To think I would ever go to a Quince before...more importantly my girlfriend's! Saturday morning was like a sugar rush for me, getting ready, getting to the church on time, while also being one of the many excellent chambalans. The feeling of excitement overwhelmed me when I opened the car door and headed towards the quinceañera herself. Right when I saw her, no words came out of my mouth, but "O...m...g." After that whole admiring scene, I hugged her tight but not too tight for her parents to notice, and I went along and greeted her family. My heart was feeling two emotions at once: nervous and happy. In addition, we took pictures outside in the courtyard, then headed inside the church where many other quinceañera's showed up to receive blessings from God and make commitments to being 15 years old. Following the ceremony, we then took more pictures near the party bus that the quinceañera and her chambelanes will go into and party inside. After that...the rest is history.

(July 3rd-July 8th) - FSY (For the Strength of Youth)

1063174 — 2024-01-10 03:31:15 UTC

One week in Santa Barbara in a bus full of Polynesians, who you would think that you would be hanging around the people you know right? But that situation changed the first few days of FSY. An opportunity we have once or twice a year where we grow socially and spiritual ways to strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ. This was actually my brother and I's first time going to FSY, and we are so glad that we attended this event because straying away from the world and into a place full of spiritual beings filled with joy. When we first arrived at the campus, we had lunch before we headed to receive our keys for our dorms and the cool T-shirts you see in the photo. Later on, we then got to meet our counselors that would be guiding us throughout the week, and in my opinion, I felt like we had the best counselors there. For the boys, we had Tommy and Joshua, Josh being Hawaiian, which was perfect because he could relate to my brother and I being islanders. For the girls, we had Millicent and Kari where they were the leaders for their own group of girls. This relates to what I said before on how all the poly's were separated into different companies, with a different name for each. Our being...THE POWER TO BECOME. Each day we had different activities including, classes throughout the day, game night, dances, reflecting after each day in our dorms, and having free time to hang out with our new friends. As for me, of course I had to play beach volleyball on the sand while meeting amazing volleyballers on the court. While receiving 3 meals a day, FSY definitely strengthen my testimony in Jesus Christ as well as my faith in the world.

August 27- A Special Day at Disneyland!! (ft. Jorge & Carlos)

1063174 — 2024-01-10 03:38:06 UTC

Going to Disneyland before my birthday is one of the best presents from my mom and I am so grateful for all the things she has done for me. Sunday morning and we were all awake around 6 or 7 am by the excitement in our veins that made us get ready so quickly. We had to pack wisely since we were gonna be there the whole day so we all brought a small bag to carry our food and water as well as sweaters since we were gonna be there the whole day till night time. On the way to Disneyland, all that we could talk about was what rides we were gonna ride, or IF we were gonna ride them-cough Carlos (just kidding man). Additionally, my mom gave us free coupons where we could get free snacks throughout Disney; for example, churros, pretzels, popcorn, etc. Once we arrived, we immediately took pictures of us standing awkwardly looking somewhere in the distance, and this was not that picture. Anyways, we decided to use our money wisely all around Disneyland, and have specific times when we could eat our meals so we wouldn't be starving by the end of day. We rode on an abundant amount of rides that day like: Incredicoaster, Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, Guardians of the Galaxy, the Little Mermaid ride, Star Tours (great ride), and many more. What was cool about that day was that my mom was working so we decided to visit her before we went to eat, and explained how much of a fun time we were having thanks to her. The whole time we had to be laughing on every ride we went on, and the one ride that Carlos didn't go on...was Incredicoaster. I didn't blame since it has a loop da loop, but he would've loved it, despite going on a free fall ride but not going upside down for 3 seconds. Oh yeah and could I forget, this was the day I lost my phone was talking to Crush! (Don't worry I eventually got it back.)