Tasha lives her YW Values

Growing up and living with Tasha was definitely not easy. It's true that she set really high standards to live by. Not that it was bad, it made it difficult for us to live in "her" world. Now that we're adults we see and understand why it was important for Tasha to set such a standard. Her standards were the Lords standards. Everything and anything she did was to please the Lord. When I realized what it meant to "fear the Lord" thinking back on it I didn't realize that she was a perfect example of it. She feared the Lord so much (in a respectful way) she didn't want to disappoint Him. Like the Lord Tasha is very loving, giving, and did/wants what is best for anyone yet she's direct and clear. If I could sum up what Tasha is it would be...

Tasha is a daughter of our Heavenly Father, who loves her, and she love Him. She has "stand as a witness of God at all times and in all things, and in all places" (Mosiah 18:9) as she strives to live
the Young Women values, which are:
Faith
Divine Nature
Individual Worth
Knowledge
Choice and Accountability
Good Works
Integrity and
Virtue.
She believed and has accepted and acted upon these values,
she has prepared to make and keep sacred covenants,
receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation.

Because of her example I strive to be like her and be what our Heavenly Father wants us to become...like Him! Thank you Tasha, I love you! Sister's Forever!

Sweet Letter of Inspiration

I have had the privilege and pleasure of being called "Aunty" by many but there are those who truly are my nieces and nephews, one of them Tasha, and throughout the years they have blessed my life in more ways than I can ever have imagined. One day I received a letter in the mail. It was dated June 20, 2006 and I'd like to share just a portion of it today.
It reads;
I'm glad my cousins have a great mom, because I have a great aunt! I can't even express how much love and gratitude I have for you. I know I can always count on you for comfort, strength and support. Thank you for loving me for all the right reasons and not simply because I am your niece. I appreciate the love and respect you and your children have for my mom. I love you very much and Richard too and know that I am blessed to have you in my life. Ofa lahi atu, Tasha

Written in her own handwriting...this has become so precious to me as I ponder on her life and the way she inspired me to be a better person, to work harder, to serve better, to be kinder, to forgive, to love unconditionally, to understand the Lord's plan for us, to not complain but to endure and endure well, to show compassion to others, and to live the gospel of Jesus Christ a little better.

Tasha inspires me!

Love eternal,
Aunty Robin

Tasha Inspires Tim Critchlow at BYUH

Free Agency and Gratitude
BYUH Devotional Thought
August 2, 2010

Like many of you, I went to Natasha Vimahi’s funeral Saturday. It was a beautiful service – lots of family, lots of friends and lots of pink ribbons and dresses. There is something unique and special about the funeral of a faithful Latter-day Saint who dies prematurely, who dies in the prime of life, like Tasha. For certain, there was a feeling of sadness and loss. The world is a little darker now without the wide, bright smile that Tasha cast daily into the lives of so many who loved her in Laie.

But that feeling of sadness and loss was so overwhelmingly overcome by a profound power of joy and certain sense of gratitude during Saturday’s services that the luncheon following Tasha’s funeral felt more like a family reunion than a wake. In between heaping plates of Polynesian potluck food, everyone present certainly celebrated the life more than they mourned the death of a lovely, young Polynesian woman.

One of the speakers at Tasha’s funeral Saturday quoted Thorton Wilder who said: “The greatest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude.” How true that statement is and what an apt description it is, not only of Tasha’s funeral service, but of her entire life. Tasha’s life, her very nature seemed to personify gratitude.

I’m sure there were some at the funeral who wondered why such a lovely, young, caring and contributing soul was so early taken away from those who loved her. Some may wonder, but I believe Tasha knew why. I think she learned why from her mother. Yesterday, in the Kahuku 1st Ward Fast and Testimony Meeting, Tasha’s mother bore her testimony. Tasha’s mother said she learned a lot from watching Tasha deal with cancer. She said she could only deal with the death of her daughter by focusing on the blessing of having been given Tasha as a precious gift. What a lesson in gratitude from a loving mother.

From what I could tell, Tasha had a very deep and profound understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and something tells me that her sweet mother had something significant to do with that. When things got hard, Tasha would tell her mother that she knew her Heavenly Father loved her. I believe Tasha knew her Father in Heaven. I believe she had this life pretty well figured out and I think she had a pretty strong inkling of what she would face in the life to come. I think Tasha was prepared for whatever events or circumstances she now faces. I just hope you and I will only be as prepared when our time on earth has ended.

Tasha understood why certain things happened to her in this mortal life. I believe she understood that some things happened as a consequence of the choices she made. I also believe she understood that some things happened because of the choices made by other people she encountered throughout her life. And I believe she understood that some things simply happened as the natural consequence of living in this earthly environment, not because of anything anyone else caused or crafted. She knew that some things such as cancer and disease occur and are simply a byproduct of being born and living in a modern, evolving, and imperfect world.

Tasha handled it all with grace and gratitude. From what I know about her, I think Tasha made some pretty good choices throughout her life. I know she believed that one of her first and wisest choices she made about life on earth she made even before she was born. With that decision, Tasha chose faith over fear. Leaving her premortal life, Tasha chose to follow our Father in Heaven’s plan, rejecting the plan of Satan.

Bruce R. McConkie taught that “the plan of salvation was ordained by the Father. It is not the plan of Christ or of Adam or any of the other of the Father's children. Rather, it was ordained by the Father so that Christ his Firstborn Spirit Son and all the rest of his spirit offspring could progress to exaltation. The Firstborn accepted and confirmed to the plan of the Father -- "Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever" (Moses 4:2) -- as did all the rest of his righteous spirit children; and all played their respective and assigned parts in carrying the great plan forward.” Mormon Doctrine, p.575 PLAN OF SALVATION

Fear and love were the two motivating forces behind the two plans proposed in the council in Heaven. Satan’s plan was based upon fear. The Lord’s plan was based upon love sustained by faith in him. As spirit children of our Father in Heaven, we were endowed with free agency. We were free to choose which plan we would follow. We were so grateful about our choice to follow the love of the Savior’s plan that the scripture tells us we all “shouted for joy.”

Tasha’s first choice regarding earth life was a good one. That decision led her here and to the opportunity of making more good choices. Tasha played her respective and assigned part and became an example of strength, perseverance, grace and kindness to just about everyone she met. Tasha followed the example of the Savior. As she was in the preexistence, she was on earth. Tasha showed her love for the Savior through her obedience in choosing to in following him.

Tasha understood the joy that comes from obedience to our Father in Heaven’s plan, despite all of the pain and suffering she experienced through her illness. Tasha suffered pain and loss in her life, but she was grateful for having had the opportunity. How many opportunities did she take to teach others what she had learned from her experience? How many people did she teach that God loved them, too? How many people watched her carry the burden of her illness as she transformed the pain into gratitude and joy? Saturday the chapel was full of them, all the way through the cultural hall and on to the stage and throughout the halls. Many wearing pink.

Gratitude is the highest, purest form of love. It is the type of love that blossoms even when it is not returned. It is the outward-bound, self-renewing form of love that has no dependence upon romantic attachment or family ties. People who are truly grateful feel the same about the object of their gratitude whether it is present or not. Gratitude asks for nothing, and gives everything. That sounds like Tasha.

I have come to believe that the prayer of gratitude to our Father in Heaven is the highest form of communion with God, and one that releases great power in our lives. Tasha knew that expressing gratitude to God for everything was not something she should do only when she felt good; rather it was an act of obedience she performed whether she felt good or not. Showing obedience to the will of the Father was the only way she could show her love for God – and the fruit of her obedience released the power of God in her life. And as she continued to express gratitude to God for all things his power grew into a stream that washed away the pain, the hurt and the suffering.

The Apostle Paul taught: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. (Romans 8:28) I learned that lesson again Saturday at the funeral of Natasha Vimahi. Her life taught me that God is aware of every detail of our lives and he is working out everything that happens for good for those who love him.


Given by Tim Critchlow at BYU

Kathy's Talk on Tasha's Family Tree

Today I’m speaking as Tasha’s friend, but what you may not know is I’m also her cousin, at least we’ve been telling that story all these years now. Cause its my understanding somehow my dad is related to the Unga’s, which is Tasha’s mother’s family and I never bothered to check the genealogy because I just wanna be cousins so I don’t wanna check if its not true. But we’re cousin’s not just friends.
And its also my understanding in the Tongan language there’s no word for cousin, there’s brothers or sisters and your extended family and relatives are that close. Um, I never check that either, um I don’t know the Tongan language very well but I like that too so I’m not going to check. I’m gonna stick with that story.
And so that’s why I refer to my cousin Tasha as my sister. And when strangers would ask us,
Are you guys sisters and I would say, YES and I remember one woman when we were shopping at Ala Moana asked us that question and we said, of course, yeah, and she said, “Oh yeah I CAN TELL YOU GUYS HAVE THE SAME FLAVOR! See even strangers know we’re sisters, we’re sisters.
My relationship with Tasha and all those sitting behind me in pink is more than friendship.
We are family and we’re also her bridesmaids in her line, that’s why we’re matching…..if you we’re wondering why the heck, yeah……….!
We thought it was important that you know the history and the origins of this family so you can understand the depth of our friendship. And that’s what I’m gonna talk about today.
We have pretty much two generations in our family of friends. I might get scolding’s for this. And there’s a younger generation, that’s me, Sina, Keawe, we’re talking today. We’re classmates, Class of 90. And then there’s also part of that younger generation..Tasha, who’s actually Class of 91 and Carol, and others but everybody always thought Tasha was our classmate because we were together all the time but she wasn’t but we’re that younger generation. And after high school we went to college at BYU Hawaii and there we hooked up with our “older generation“, my sister Janet, Class of 85, Lori Atoa, Class of 82, Wendy Anae Class of 83 and Sonny Campbell Class of 81. These two generations, we found ourselves doing things together all the time. We were now fellow students together at BYU Hawaii.
And Janet, Tasha, Sina and I, we were also house mates in a place we like to call Hale 7 dorm which was my parents house on Iosepa Street.
And Tasha and Janet were roommates in one room, although Tasha never really officially moved out of her house at Kahuku, that was just her second house and roommate in Laie, and Sina and I were roommates. We did everything together. We rode bikes, took naps, we were laughing but napping was very important for us, the sleeping part. Talk story, went shopping, wrote newsletters, had parties and outings, stayed up late laughing and talking.
Our neighbor, who was a fellow student, would tell us, “Wow, you guys always have fun parties, lots of guys at your house.”
And I was like, GUYS?
“Yah, I can hear them laughing!“ But yeah that was us!
We never ever had guys, maybe only once in a while Keawe came over. But we were all sisters there.
And my dad thought we were all sisters too and that we were all his daughters. Whenever he needed something he would call on any one of us, to come do it, without hesitation.
Like the time somebody rode down Iosepa on their horse and then dodo, horse dodo right in the middle of
the street and who was assigned to clean it up? Sina and me. And who’s the one that took the pictures of us? Janet and Tasha.
We had laughs between the two generations. Um like the one time when Tasha and I who were underage got passed security at the night club and then Wendy and Janet got stopped, and they were way over age,
because they said that they looked too young! (loud laughter)
And sometimes we had little feuds between the generations.
Just a few years ago you know Tasha was a teacher and so are many of these pink people here.
So the last day of summer after talking to Sina we decided, hey lets go eat Papa Ole’s. Last day of summer…you guys gotta go back to school so you know just call each other. Call Tasha and Keawe, come meet us over there. And called Janet, she said okay, and you know some time passed by the time I was getting around to calling Wendy and Lori. Called Wendy and she’s like, “I can’t make it”. Called Lori and she’s like “I can’t make it” and Janet called “Oh, I can’t make it.”
So Sina, Tasha, Keawe and I roll into Hauula Shopping Center, and who do we see sitting at Papa Ole’s?
With a red table cloth, centerpiece with glasses with beautiful juice and garnish on it is Wendy, Lori, Janet and Sonny. They were like, “Oh are you coming to eat here?”
They thought we took too long to invite them like they weren’t invited so they made their own party. And we were not allowed to sit with them on their beautiful table. (laughter)
We had to sit on the side. So we love each other but we also feud with each other.
But way back when we decided we all need to be related somehow. So we made up a genealogy for all of us that would connect us all to the same family and we decided we would all be related through Captain Cook. And the story was that Capt James Cook sailed in his boat and he had three daughters. And one of them jumped ship in Tonga and the next two jumped ship in Samoa. These were Adele, Alice, and Helen. Mine and Janet, Wendy and Lori’s mom’s. Timing doesn’t work out but it works for us and then they all married local Tongan and Samoan boys and had their families and then all of the rest of the people that we have in our group are somehow connected to these extended families. And so we really think we’re a family and we even have a genealogy to prove it even though it’s fake.
We do all things that families do. We took family pictures, went on family vacations, had FHE, we had family Christmas traditions, and there’s been numerous weddings in our family and we even had a family reunion. Our very first Cook family reunion was held in 1995. We made the family tree. Me and Tasha stayed up all night coloring the tree and making the pictures so that we knew how we were all related to each other. We are very dear to each other and through the years our roommates and housemates have changed. We’ve started families of our own and followed in new pursuits.
But we still get together to celebrate the special occasions and in the last few years Tasha has brought our family back even closer again. Planning pink parties, making videos, making pink costumes, driving her to appointments. Going out to eat, giving massages and fighting over who give the best massage.
Spending time with her and thanks to Tasha we now have a family uniform. I cherish the family times that we had with her. Especially in this last year where we bonded, shared, laughed, cried, sang and loved each other. Now she has gone before us. She is our first generation in heaven. Now she will be there to greet us. And we’ll see her again someday. I’m so grateful for her love and example. I’m just glad for her loving us but I just I know how much she loves her family. She would do anything for them. And I am just so thankful to watch her family and the service they gave and their love for her. Thank you so much. And I am grateful for the plan of salvation and the knowledge that our bodies and spirits can be reunited and that we can see each other again. I love you my sister Tasha and I will see you again someday.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

Kathy Pulotu and Tasha Vimahi

Inspirational stories of Tasha by Me'e

I am Natasha’s younger sister, also known as her “head nurse“.
I’ve had the privilege of spending every single night with her for the last five months. Who can say that? In my thirties. Maybe when you’re younger, yes, you spend every single night with your siblings. But she gave me that opportunity. She literally did give me that opportunity. Because when my siblings called to see if I could come down. She fought. She fought against it. She was so independent. She thought that she could take care of herself. She thought that my husband and my son, needed me to be there with them, and she didn’t want to take me away from them. Because of my being away. But I was with her for those five months. It wasn’t easy, not at all. I thought growing up with her was hard, the last five months was harder. But she meant well by it.
The first night that I came home, because of the time difference, I’m six hours ahead, I came home, she made me put my covers on the floor and then lay right next to her and I was supposed to stay up with her all night but I went right to sleep. And then I heard her telling my mom, “This one down here is waste time!” (loud laughter)
So, I heard her, I got up just that second. So I thought if she thinks I’m a waste time I’m just gonna sleep till tomorrow. So the first couple of nights, yes I had to catch up to her sleeping pattern and towards the end I got to tell her, “this one right here is waste time cause I was up all night and she was sleeping”.
Tasha is, like my brother said, very organized, and very picky unlike the rest of us. So it was very hard for me at four o’clock in the morning when she wanted her things in order for me to get them and to put them the way she wanted. I was going through her things and I found a poem and I had asked her what this was. And she said this is what describes me. So I’m gonna read this:
"The main reason I became a teacher is that I like being the first one to introduce kids to words and music and people and numbers and concepts and idea that they have never heard about or thought about before. I like being the first one to tell them about Long John Silver and negative numbers and Beethoven and alliteration and "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" and similes and right angles and Ebenezer Scrooge. . . Just think about what you know today. You read. You write. You work with numbers. You solve problems. We take all these things for granted. But of course you haven't always read. You haven't always known how to write. You weren't born knowing how to subtract 199 from 600. Someone showed you. There was a moment when you moved from not knowing to knowing, from not understanding to understanding. That's why I became a teacher.
(Quote by Phillip Done, a 3rd grade teacher)

Tasha loved teaching, she loved her coworkers, she loved her students even more. And we could tell by all their visits, up until the end. Her students who are now in high school came to visit her came to bring her things and came to show her their work that they’ve accomplished due to her teachings. Her showing them first how to do it or how to do it right. She also loved her friends back here. They were her ladies in waiting.
Like my brother, at times when she thought I wasn’t making the right choices, I wasn’t doing the right things, she would come to me and say, "Come on get ready, lets go."
Like where are we going? We’re going with my friends. So off I go to do whatever her and her friends had to do. Because everything that she knew she was going to do with her friends were of moral standards, were a good example to me and something that I could remember her by.
She also had a love for our Heavenly Father and the gospel. As Vili said Tasha was very organized and a perfectionist and she left us a goodbye note. And in her note, part of her note she says,
“Please never forget that Heavenly Father will never give us anything we can not handle. Too bad he thinks I can handle a lot. I wish he thought I couldn’t handle so I could stick around for a long time. But you do what you have to do. I love you, I love our Savior, I love the gospel. I’m grateful for all the love I’ve had. I’ve had a wonderful life.
She was a true example. She did not get to go on a mission but her mission was here to share the gospel and the teachings and just her presence.
I want to share with you one story. One her last day in the hospital we had a meeting with a chaplain, a doctor, a nurse, a Social worker just so we could transition her from the hospital to home. And everyone had questions. She had a list of questions for them and they answered it.
And then it came to the chaplain and he asked her of what faith she was and she said I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints, have you heard of them? And he said, yes I have, I have.
Are then he asked her, “Are you angry, are you mad? What are you feeling?
And with a smile on her face she said I’m happy, I can deal with it. The Lord wouldn’t give me anything if I couldn’t handle this.
And he kept tugging and pulling at her saying aren’t you mad at God, Don’t you just hate him right now for everything that you’re going through?
And with the same smile on her face she said my older brother has been through worse pain. This is nothing. And the chaplain looked at her and said I can tell that you are such a good example to everyone that you teach, everyone that you meet, just everyone in your life. And that’s what Tasha was. She loved the gospel, she loved her family, she really loved these ladies in pink and Keawe. He’s wearing a pink tie.
And on behalf of our family and Tasha we’d like to thank everyone for all your love and support through this ordeal.
And I really love my parents for raising such a wonderful sister that I had.
I am so proud that I can say that Natasha was my older sister. She is still my older sister, and I love her very much.
And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ , Amen.

Viliami's Life Stories of Tasha

Tasha was born Nov. 11, 1973 as Nadasha Anela Vimahi.
I didn’t mean to say Nadasha, the way it was, she was born Nadasha.
And then, the person she is….at the age of 12 she decided “ I need to change my name, it’s the wrong way of saying it, Mom and dad are fobs”.
So she went ahead got the paperwork done, changed the “d” to a “t”.
(laughter)
Growing up with Tasha was fun but hard. She was such a perfectionist. Everything was organized, I tried to be like her that’s why it was hard. Everything was perfect, everything was organized, everything was labeled.
She remembered everyone’s birthday from Laie, Kahuku, and Hauula.
She was an amazing sister. She always took care of us. I think that’s why it made it extra hard. She was always scolding us knowing what was right when we were doing wrong.
She lived that way throughout her whole life. She always told people what they needed to be doing.
The children she taught, our children, my children, and I’m sure along with all my five other sisters, they were more afraid of her then they were of us. Because she had things her way because they were the right way.
Tasha made everyone feel comfortable, everyone feel welcomed with that big bright smile of hers.
In high school, when I was having a rough day or even a rough week, Friday night would come along and I would just hang out at home. Didn’t want to go with any friends or former girlfriends
She would always say, " Get ready we’re going."
Like where we going? I always have to go out with your friends! (laughter)
It was never just she and I, it was all those ladies in pink today. I had 15 girlfriends each Friday night.
Anyway she surrounded herself with great friends. I can not think of any other true great group of friends that I’ve ever had or even any friends that I’ve ever known and their group of friends. She was such an example to all of us and them and they showed their love and support throughout this whole ordeal. I live in Utah and every time I called, one of the ladies in pink were there.
She was such an inspiration to me that I was not afraid to wear pink to work on the construction sites.
I know I was hounded, everyone tested my manhood. Until I started putting pink ribbons on my shirts at work. Everyday I wore one. I had more pink shirts than my wife.
I know my kids and my nieces and nephews will miss her so dearly
I named one of my daughters Natasha and I hope she can live up to the life of her namesake.
And I just want you to know I love my sister very much and I know she loved all of you.
She always told me I was her favorite brother and I was like dah and she was like
no, you’re my favorite brother.
I just want to leave these stories with you and my testimony of this church, that I know this church is true. I'm so glad Tasha you’re back in heaven paving the way for us
to be together again.
I know she lived her life the way she should’ve that she could be that vehicle for us to return to her and to our Father in heaven.
I want to tell you all that I appreciate all your support, this community has been so strong for our family! Not only here in Hawaii but our community in Utah. Everyone from the north shore to Utah.
And I leave this testimony with you humbly in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.