IT'S FIXED, GUYZ!

hey so I, in all my fabulousness, fixed the link to the piktchurz of collin. so if you were to click on the link on your left, it would ACTUALLY take you to some pictures. incase you were wondering.


*this blog entry brought to you by channing*

Working on the problem with the photos

For those of you who can't see Collin's pics from this blog, hang in there - We are working on it.  The problem is, some of the info here was set up on Channing's google account, and some of it was set up on mine ( Kristie's). The 2 of us have been so busy that we are never both home at the same time except when we're asleep! We need to be together to figure this mess out.  That will probably not happen until Saturday. Until then, here is another cute picture of Collin :)

Collin sent us pictures!

Collin sent us a bunch of pictures on Monday!  Here is one of many - if you want to take a look at the rest, go to the link section and click on the picasa website.  It should take you to our album.  We are really new at this picasa thing, so if you are having trouble seeing the pictures, leave a comment at the end of this post and I will see if there is something I can do about it...  I hope!  Collin reports that he is doing well at the MTC.  He says learning french is hard work, but he is not struggling with the language.  He says he is told that his french accent is quite good, actually.  The hard part about the MTC is waking up so early, he says.  But the food is really good, he says, because there's so much of it!  The above picture is Collin and some elders in his district on their way to the temple. Next to Collin , in the red tie, is Elder Amundsen.  On the other side of Collin is Elder Boome, who is from England.  The guy on the end I don't know - Collin forgot to tell us who he is.  He mentioned there is an elder from Austria who speaks German and English, and is now learning french along with all the elders in their district. So, that might be him.

  It's so wonderful to get his letters and hear how much he enjoys being a missionary. He says,   " The Spirit is quite strong here and it's helping me a ton. I'm glad I'm here."

I just figured out how to do links!

 ( from Kristie) I am so proud of myself !  This is a big deal, because Collin, who is a computer genius, always did everything  for me on the computer.  Now our family is forced to muddle through things without him for a while.  Collin really had us spoiled, I guess!  Anyway, check out the links over to the left - "Collin's mission- related websites". DearElder is the easiest, most convenient way to send a letter to Collin, and he reports that he LOVES getting DearElder letters.  The New Caledonia site is a great one to get an idea of where in the world he will be -  just check out the interactive map, it's pretty fun. When I find other sites of interest I will put them in the links section, so I can try out my new skills.

Entering the MTC

We said goodbye to Collin at the MTC on April 30, 2008. It was harder to say goodbye than I thought. I had tried to mentally prepare myself for this day for a long time, but when it came right down to it, I cried so hard I thought I would run out of tears! You can tell from the picture that Channing and I are the big cryers in the family.  

  They had a name tag all ready for him with "Elder Winget" and the name of the church in French printed on it. It was exciting to see him with it on - in spite of our tears, we truly are so proud of him! I took a blurry picture of his dad putting on his tag. 

   We had to wait a week to get a letter from Collin. MTC life is very busy! Here are some quotes from his letter " Everything is going great here in the MTC... My companion is Elder Amundsen from Sandy, and we are both going to the same mission...I am getting along really well with everyone and even though I was really quiet the first day,I'm starting to make friends and it's all good.  The Spirit is quite strong here and it's helping me a ton.  I'm glad I'm here."

   " I'm having fun and stuff. And learning French and stuff.  I know how to pray in French which is cool."    "Tell everyone you know to write me!"  "Please take note  that I can usually only write for a few minutes a day, and I may not have time to respond to every letter with a big, long, in-depth letter... However, I will always have time between classes to read your letters so I hope you don't stop writing."

   Speaking of writing to Collin, one of the best ways to do that is through DearElder.com.  I'm not smart enough to know how to make a link to that website from here, but it's worth checking out.  You need to know his mailing address ( which is posted on our first blog entry).

You just go to the DearElder site, and you can type him a letter, which they will print out and deliver to the MTC for free. So, you don't have to worry about whether you have any stamps or envelopes around, which I never do anyway, and that's why I am terrible at sending letters to people!  I now have to make a 2 year resolution to get over that bad habit.

Owen and Abigail

We had to have a picture of Collin holding his cousin Amber's tiny twins - we can't wait to take a similar picture when he comes home. All three will have changed a lot, I'm sure!

real leis from Fiji (in a way)

Sheila King has friends who are from Fiji, and they made beautiful fresh flower leis for Collin and his Mom to wear.

signing the sheet

Collin's farewell was on April 27 . Lots of people came to our tiny house to wish him well and sign his bed sheet. ( He had to bring 2 sets of sheets to the islands, so I figured why not make them interesting) * For those of you who may not hear from Collin very often, maybe I should mention that he is going to the Fiji, Suva mission, where he will serve on the islands of New Caledonia, which is a French territory.  He is learning French right now, and that is what he will be speaking.  I will post some more farewell pics, then I'll try to get more info about New Caledonia.

collin's MTC address

hey y'all. this is a blog that is all 'bout collin and his MISSIONARY EXPERIENCE. so yeah. here is his new address

Elder Collin Russell Winget

MTC mailbox # 93

FIJ-SUV 0707

2005 N. 900 E.

Provo, Utah 84604-1793

we'll send you updates on awesome things as they come. so far he has sent 1 (one) letter. and it's just normal beginner-missionary stuff.  like new caledonia in french is Nouvelle Caledonie. and his companion's name is Elder Amundson (i think that's how you spell it)

so yeah, we'll give you more information as we get it. in the mean time, WRITE TO COLLIN. 

( www.dearelder.com is a great way to do that.)