BYU–Hawaii students share keepsakes that serve as totems of home for them
For BYU–Hawaii students who have defied odds to pursue dreams thousands of miles away from their families, home is no longer a fixed address. They said home travels with them wherever they go in the form of tangible objects they hold most dearly. For Amartuvshin Mendsaikhan and Mitzi Chou, home becomes photographs tucked into notebooks, a mother’s engagement ring or even a plush Pikachu wearing an aloha shirt. They said home will never be erased by distance so long as they can hold onto these keepsakes.
Home in faded photographs
For Amartuvshin “Amara” Mendsaikhan, a freshman in TESOL from Mongolia, home always begins with her family. She described being with her family as a “warm feeling that fills you with love.” This emotion, according to her, extends beyond geography. Despite being vast distances away from Mongolia and her childhood home, she said she carries that love and warmth with her through printed photographs of her family. These photos, as she described, are not simply recent snapshots but mementos from different stages of their lives, from her childhood to the present.
“I usually collect pictures and things of memories,” Mendsaikhan shared. “It’s like a personal hobby. I can see how it’s changed over the years, from my younger time until now. It helps me remember important moments.”
For Mendsaikhan, although coming to BYU–Hawaii brought forth opportunities to connect with people across different cultures, the decision came with significant challenges. She said holidays and special occasions in particular intensify her longing for her physical home. “We’re all trying to make this place feel like home,” she said. “But sometimes, especially during special days, we miss our home very much.”
Mendsaikhan said she often finds herself leafing through these photographs during difficult seasons. “Whenever I feel down,” she said, “I turn to those memories to find motivation. Especially during holidays, I just miss that feeling of being with them.” These little pictures, she said, are things she reaches out to as emotional anchors.
Over time, however, Mendsaikhan said her understanding of home has also transformed. Before going to college, she shared her experience that first required her to live away from home: serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Since I started my mission and then came here, I learned how it is to stay without my family,” she said.
Whenever I’m making memories with people around me who encourage me to keep going; that really feels like home to me.
Mendsaikhan also shared that in her six months of being at BYU–Hawaii, many new things have joined her special collection of keepsakes. Standing out among these objects, she said, are her notebooks. She said she has been regularly keeping journals filled with impressions from class lectures, teachings from devotionals and personal reflections. “I try to write down what stood out to me,” she said, “What professors say, what speakers say, what I learn about myself.”
Mendsaikhan said she would never throw these writings away. “They hold memories, my feelings and experiences,” she said. She expressed that losing these things—photographs and journals alike—would feel like losing pieces of herself. “People forget a lot of things when we experience different challenges,” she said. “When I look back at those pictures or journals, I remember who I was, what challenges I had, what happy moments I spent. It helps me understand who I am and where I’m going.”
Home in her hand
Meanwhile, across campus, Chou, a senior in music from the Philippines, said home is also tucked into one of the objects she brought with her as she traveled to BYU–Hawaii. For her, it’s in a smaller but equally significant form.
Chou shared she has been in Hawaii for four years. The decision to embark on this journey, she said, was something spiritual. “I wanted to come after my mission,” she said. “Then something happened that made me not want to. Then something happened again that made me want to. Ultimately, I think this was an answered prayer.”
Chou said in her first two years of being here, homesickness didn’t really consume her. She shared it was only recently when academic responsibilities started building up that homesickness surfaced more intensely. “I feel like I’m running toward my goals,” she said. “But then I realized my family is far away from me. That’s when I started to feel homesick.”
To cope, Chou said she turns to a keepsake she received from her mother: an engagement ring. She said it was something her mother entrusted her with before she left for Hawaii. “I don’t usually wear it because it’s precious to me,” she said. “But it reminds me of her love and the sacrifices she made for me and my siblings.”
Although Chou described herself as not “emotionally close” with her parents in a conventional sense, she said her mother remains her source of comfort, and that is reflected by the attachment she has to the engagement ring. “The sentimental value in that ring is higher than the price it was bought for,” she said. “If I lose it, I will cry. I would be so sad.” And when asked what object she would bring with her wherever she went, her answer was immediate: “The ring. I would put it in my hand.”