Anyway, I'll tell you everything I can think of that has happened thus far. After I hung up with you guys on the phone, I ran up to the gate and was second to the last person to get on the plane, and the lady was really surprised I got there. I run up and they were getting ready to load the next plane, and she's like are you going to Atlanta?? So I said yes, am I too late? And she said No, but we're doing very last call right now so you better hurry. And I said Okay! Thanks! and I hurried down the ramp. Luckily there was still a few people in line to get on the plane still, so I wasn't missing much. The problem was, however, that there was almost no carry-on space! Lots of people apparently had put their personal item in the top racks and I had nowhere to put my little rolling bag. So I sat there in the back of the plane and waited for everyone to sit so I could get to the front of the plane where the only last little bit of space was, and then when I got there it was all full! So I just stood there and I'm like ah, crap. But it wasn't just me, there were about 3 other people with the same problem. The flight attendants announced for anyone who put their lap bags in the overhead space to please take them out so we could put our crap up there and actually leave the gate on time. (it was getting down to 2 minutes before departure) so everybody did that, and I found basically the last remaining space and I took it. Fortunately there ended up being just enough space for everyone, so nobody had to check their carry on bags, and we took off right on time. On the flight I ended up sitting between an RM and Elder Flanagan. He eventually fell asleep and I eventually got to sleep as well. I'm glad I did, I only had between 1 1/2 and 2 hours sleep the night before. Unfortunately though, I didn't get to preach to anyone on the plane, which was something I was looking forward to. When I woke up I messed around a little bit with the screen thing on the back of the headrests, where usually they have movies, tv, and games. I didn't have any headphones so I wasn't too tempted by anything. I watched probably 2 min of CNN without sound, and I read a little bit of the scrolling stuff on the bottom. They also had a section where you can see exactly where the plane was in the states (tracked by GPS), what the speed, temperature, miles travelled/to go, came from time and destination time, and estimated arrival. That was very interesting and I watched that for a few minutes, but after that I made my way to the games section. They had an inflight trivia that you compete against others on the plane, and I decided that was the only thing I could justify within the rules, so I gave it a shot. Some rounds I actually did pretty good, but most of the questions were geared for older people, with like older movies, tv, and sports so I had no idea for a lot of it. However, one game I ended up getting about 3rd place on the high scores list (just for that flight). But that was pure luck. I didn't know any of the answers and just ended up randomly clicking the right ones for a long streak.
I ended up travelling with Elders Flanagan and Haws, and Sister/Hermana Howard. Me and Flan, obviously, are waiting for our New Caledonia visas, Elder Haws is waiting for a Tahiti visa (also through France), and Sister Howard is waiting for a visa from.. Somewhere in South America. I can't remember exactly where. But anyway, we got off the plane smoothly and went towards baggage claim, which was about a half mile walk. They literally had a train that went from one end of the airport to the baggage claim area. But we just walked and took the moving sidewalk things. Our APs for the mission met us there, told us about our companions, and drove us to our destinations. It was about a 45 minute drive from the Airport to my apartment, and that's where I said goodbye to the other elders and the sister. Since it wasn't a normal transfer day, I didn't get to meet the mission president like most new missionaries do. I was the only elder going to that companionship/area/apartment. They were originally a threesome, and I broke it up into two pairs. My companion is Elder Lewis from southern California. Like, really really southern. He says it's 7 miles from the ocean, 7 miles from the border. He's been out 18 months. He's really chill and I get along with him great. The other two elders are Elders Tigges (tigger without the r he says :)) and Allred. Elder Tigges (pronounced tiggis) is from North Carolina and Elder Allred is from Salt Lake. Those two elders get the car, and me and my companion get the bikes. That afternoon I unpacked and took about a half hour nap, went to wal-mart and bought some food (they gave me 160 dollars.. apparently they usually give the visa waiters like 30. awesome!!) and then we went out to visit a family. They are a black family a few miles away from our apartment, comprising of Pearl who just got baptized about a week before I came in, and is divorced. She has a daughter from her ex-husband and two sons. The two sons are 16 and 18 and are named Kaliid and Jabrii. The spelling is a little different, but I can't remember. Her two grandsons who are from her daughter also live there and they're named Ray Ray and Didon. The two older kids are getting ready to be baptized on Friday, so we went and taught them the fourth lesson, or the commandments. They seemed to be a little bit queezy when we taught them about chastity and the word of wisdom, but they seemed to accept it. They are reading and going to church, and haven't had much chance to go to young mens activities, but I think they will start going soonish. The next day they had their baptismal interviews, and it turns out Kaliid (the 16 year old) doesn't feel ready to get baptized on friday, so it will just be Jabrii. They're all really cool and really nice and Pearl works for Great Clips. Ray Ray is super friendly and is always really excited to see us. He is sadly addicted to video games, and has been playing Grand Theft Auto, so he talks a lot about killing cops and running people over, and my companion tells me he can have quite a mouth, but I haven't heard it. We're not sure if he learned it from the video games or other people or both, but GTA is famous for its very very course language so I wouldn't be surprised either way. He is a pretty good kid and Pearl tells us he gets up some days and really wants to go to church, and she has to tell him to wait until Sunday!! He's really cute and I'm excited that he's so excited to go to church and read from the Book of Mormon stories book. I think he isn't allowed to play the violent video games anymore since pearl got baptized, but I don't know how well that is working out so far. He still has a ton of potential though and I'm sure he'll turn out to be a good kid with some help from his family. He likes to pray when we come over and it's so cute. Heavenly Father, thank you for family, help us be good, name of Jesus, amen. :D awesome kid. Didon is 8 and wants to be baptized (grr, i keep typing baptise because of french.. Il veut que se fait baptise. wait, is baptise a word? blah.) and we're waiting on his Mom to receive the lessons, and apparently she's very willing and interested, but the missionaries in her area are slacking. Grr. They're great people though, and I'm happy to teach them. I'm still a quiet shy sidekick missionary right now, but I'm warming up quick.
We also visited Eugene and James King, who are a family that live a little closer to our appartment. Every time we come over they're just chilling out on the porch smoking. I wanted to tell you about them, but interestingly enough, James (I think he's 20) showed up at the library and talked to us for a little while. He's a funny kid. I like him. I wish he would keep his commitments because I think he would be a good investigator, if he was willing to progress. Eugene is his dad, an older guy who has been a trucker for a while. He has a really thick southern accent and I can't understand half of what he says. But he's interesting. He has a long beard and smokes a lot, but he's still cool. I'm not sure what the deal with the mom is there, I think she lives there but I don't know if they're divorced or what, but I'll find out later with more time. I can't just like go up and ask these things, ya know.
Today we went to a restaurant about 15 miles away from our appartment with a member, who is very interesting. She's a chiropractor from the area and before that she lived in Minnesoda. She says that she knew some Wingets from there who actually pronounced it our way! It was cool to hear that! She said Hi Elder Winget (pronounced right) wait.. is it Wing-it? I was so surprised. It was cool to hear someone pronounce it right the first time!
Right now we are at the University of West Georgia at their library. And this brings us to now. :D I set up my email the way I like it and looked at my Picasa site and posted something on my blog, and now here we are. :D I sent a letter to Aaron and Janae today, and I think I'll send a little snail mail to home, but it will be short since I have sent this ridiculously long email! :) I put my addresses up on my blog, so if y'all wanna send stuff, send it there!
Well I guess this is the end, i hope you have enjoyed this!
Love,
Elder Winget
I have a little time today, so I'm going to tell you one of Collin's stories... once upon a time, WAY back in the MTC, Collin told us a funny story about this man here - He is in the bishopric in Collin's branch in the MTC. His name is Brother Matage (pronounced ma tong ee, but I don't know if I spelled it right) He is from Samoa. I'll let Collin tell the story in his own words from a letter he wrote us back at the end of May:
