tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58446028791969537302023-11-15T23:12:31.297-08:00Collin's TWO YEAR ADVENTURE!!The life and times of Elder Collin Winget as he serves a 2-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He is serving in the Fiji,Suva mission in New Caledonia, where he speaks French.Channinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17288400019912817903noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-73940052586658713382010-05-02T18:23:00.000-07:002010-05-02T18:53:38.110-07:00The Final Email<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPNSZ39YcxH__dtyJxEFkgb2AJ1IszZPQEOzax-aNaKAQw9Wzc_h5ru-pOVG9BHZ-yEinLdsjsNsfrsFwGJT-g3OVrdyvzgNpRbJE_7_rS9rCMlBGfozlyH9bZvZ-SnzQoK_pKPL8l-lU/s1600/PICT0003.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPNSZ39YcxH__dtyJxEFkgb2AJ1IszZPQEOzax-aNaKAQw9Wzc_h5ru-pOVG9BHZ-yEinLdsjsNsfrsFwGJT-g3OVrdyvzgNpRbJE_7_rS9rCMlBGfozlyH9bZvZ-SnzQoK_pKPL8l-lU/s400/PICT0003.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466855763402324370" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> We just finished emailing Collin - probably for the last time until we see him at the airport on the 11th!! But this won't be the end of Elder Winget's blog yet - I'm sure Collin will have something to say when he gets here. Also, I will post pictures/video of us meeting him at the airport, I'm sure. Thanks everyone for reading this blog, and also thanks for supporting him with your letters and prayers. 2 years really do go by quickly! I never thought that would be true for me, but what a blessing to find that it's really true! And now, here's the latest, and possibly last, email from Elder Winget : ( drumroll please...)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Yeah, this most likely is the last time I'll email y'all on my mission-- I actually might get to say a quick hi in Fiji but I figure since I'll be seeing you in a couple days anyway it's not really completely necessary. But either way I'm happy to receive your emails today as every day. I was packing my stuff this morning and I'm freaking out about it.. It still seems unreal that I'll be home in just a few days. I haven't been counting down the days though-- it's too weird to me.</span></span></span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I don't know what I want for dinner... I've had enough spaghetti to last me a lifetime (the easiest thing to make on a mission budget..) but I wouldn't mind some lasagna or something. I don't know, surprise me. All of that sounds waaaay too good... I can't choose. But you know what I like and know that I'll appreciate any and all of it. </span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Thanks for the itinerary- It's cool to know when I'll be home... albeit weird. I'm going to see how many books I can read in 11 hours.. :P I'm going to dabble in The Articles of Faith and the Book of Mormon and see how far I can get.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I'm thinking that I'm going to give away most of my ties to members.. And I'm thinking about giving my camera to Elder Harry- an Elder from Vanuatu- he doesn't have a camera and I know he'll regret not having one. I feel a lot more charity for everyone these days-- I don't really feel a need to have own and aquire stuff as much as I used to. As long as I'm living and I can eat a good dinner all the rest doesn't matter as much. :)</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Don't stress.. Just kick back under a coconut tree and eat a mango. Oh wait.. Too bad mango season is over. I love mangos.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">There was a 8 year old kid who got baptized on Saturday and I gave the talk on the Don du Saint-Esprit. I think that was the best baptism talk I've ever given.. Most of the other ones I gave were last minute and not very good at all. The baptism went well though.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I did an exchange in Ducos and ate chez Atiu. It was good to see him again-- he's doing great.. He's planning on going to the temple at the end of this year. He's doing great in his calling and he's as strong as ever. He also told me he really wanted me to baptize him but he forgot to ask me until it was too late. Frere Turi sort of forced him into letting him baptize him. (that makes no sense) But I'm happy that he's baptized, whether or not I was the one that baptized him. It's nice to know someone wanted me to baptize them though. :P</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The next baptism is happening on the 22nd- Amelie and Simone. I hope that works out.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We had a new Amie this week- her name is Marie (surprise surprise.. everyone's named Marie) she's really cool- we invited her to come to church after the first lesson and SHE CAME! Wow! I was really happy to see her. She liked the service and is planning on seeing us this Mardi and coming to church again Dimanche.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We taught Sevurine this sunday and taught her about the Plan of Salvation. She's really intelligent and pensive- she doesn't reject what we say immediately just because it's not what she believes (contrary to what most people do.. ) but she has thought a lot about it and I think she thinks it's true. She said she knows that it wasn't by chance that we came by her house on the only day that she was home.. She was really intreagued by prophets- she says it really makes sense that there would be a living prophet. We talked about the Plan of Salvation yesterday- and she was fascinated by it. It's really weird, but the vast majority of people I have talked to in New Caledonia have honestly never wondered where they come from why they're here and where they're going. I guess it's just the island lifestyle and way of thinking.. Casse pas la tête. (don't break your head.. don't worry about it) Most people are not intrested in thinking about anything later than this weekend. But anyway, she was really interested in the Plan of Salvation- and she said it completely makes sense and must be true. She's really cool- I'm sad that she's going to London in a couple weeks though.. Maybe the Lord can do a miracle for us and send a French missionary to wherever she is moving.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Anyway, I'm excited and sad to come home.. I see so so so much potential and so so so much room to grow in this branch-- I've been really frustrated and tired out over the past few weeks in Mont Dore. The first 2 weeks I didn't have </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">any</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> idea what was going on (the first time in like a year..) where anyone lived, what they needed, or how to make things progress.. The last missionaries didn't do jack in the area book so everything was a mystery to me. Know I know more or less what is going on-- and now I'm frustrated because I have my vision of how to get things moving-- and I know that I can't possibly make much of a difference in the time I have left. Of course I know that's not true- but it's hard to know that the only difference I might make I will never know about or see the fruits of. I'm doing my best, but it's frustrating and tiring. I know what I would do with the Amis and the branch if I was staying for a few months-- but I know that whoever comes after me can't possibly keep it up in the same way I would. But I guess it all turns out alright in the end. I will just trust that.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I also found out that Elder Wilcox is going to be my replacement- he's coming here to take over Robinson when I leave. Every single companionship is training- because the entire mission (no exaggeration) besides a very small few is leaving in 2010 and there are 5 new missionaries that just got here and more on the way. This mission is going to be hard for the next few months... too bad I won't be here to help. Oh well.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I guess that's all I have to say about my last week in Caledonie.. Monday is mother's day, right? I guess if you want or need to call me you can on saturday or sunday, but i figure it's not really worth it since I'll be home the next day... Sorry I'm late for mother's day but it'll be worth it with the present I got for you. :D</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I don't have huge awesomeness to bring home to everyone, but I have a couple small things. Don't expect TOO much because I don't have a lot. But I hope you'll all appreciate what I bring.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I love you all.. I will see you soon.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Love,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Elder Winget</span></div><div><div><span id="q_1285ba9f7fb0f7ff_1" class="h4" style="cursor: pointer; color: rgb(80, 0, 80); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">- Show quoted text -</span></span></div></div></span>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-5834594675067300082010-04-22T07:24:00.000-07:002010-04-22T07:34:13.268-07:00Only a Few Weeks Left<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihGRPSv-YNWuVCnp-PETcLV3cgCjwXDWrDB7D78oMEBq_6AIOh3do3aGJ5ZJis90lJ1W52FstwFi9N-zJjyC27CUJlha6LKVyZvqT1yHMZsNKjUAkj9DnNkvC6saXbQWyPOsWpMiDz7AI/s1600/IMG_0001_11.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihGRPSv-YNWuVCnp-PETcLV3cgCjwXDWrDB7D78oMEBq_6AIOh3do3aGJ5ZJis90lJ1W52FstwFi9N-zJjyC27CUJlha6LKVyZvqT1yHMZsNKjUAkj9DnNkvC6saXbQWyPOsWpMiDz7AI/s400/IMG_0001_11.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462969799690744306" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Well you're not gonna believe it.. But I'm actually going to be serving with Elder Amundsen until the end of my mission!! Whahaa?? Weird eh? It's fun though- we're just chillin in Robinson- that's in Mont Dore. I miss the Tontouta branch- and it is kind of lame that I don't have enough time left to get to know the people in the Mont Dore branch.. So nobody will care when I leave. They'll be like oh that kid that has been in our branch for 3 weeks is leaving. Tant pis. But whatever, it's okay. It's kind of fun to be serving en ville again- it's weird to see all the missionaries and lots of people all the time. I am used to seeing.. nobody... all the time. </span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It's really really weird-- I will be IN FIJI 3 weeks from this very moment. It feels like my mission has just begun.. And it's pretty much over. Sigh.. It's sad, but happy, but sad at the same time. I have strange mixed feelings- it doesn't seem like I will ever actually leave.. I'm just a missionary, I have never been nor ever will be anything else. I vaguely remember being a normal person-- but not really. I am really excited to apply all the things I've learned on my mission in the real world though-- I feel like I get a new chance on life that I didn't get before.. A new life but this time my priorities are a little bit more in order- and I've grown up just a little bit. I think I'm different from the beginning of my mission- I hope that I won't make the same mistakes now that I would have made before. I have grown to know my Savior more fully- and I have such a great desire to serve Him. I think that's the most important thing I've learned on my mission- I've learned that my priorities should be on the Lord first- and that everything else will fall into place- and all bad things (that I don't really want or need anyway) will just fall out of my life. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I was sort of worried that in becoming what I am now I wouldn't like the stuff I liked before-- but I realized that it doesn't matter. I am better now than 2 years ago and I'm happy about it. I've made mistakes on my mission but I am pleased for the most part at what has come from it. 4 people have changed and made covenants and are working to serve the Lord and His kingdom that weren't doing it before- and many other people have made changes.. Whether small or large- and I am confident that there will be more people that will change and get baptized through my efforts. I'm happy I was able to serve a mission. I love New Caledonia and I'm sure I'll get a chance to come back some day.<br /><br />As far as Robinson goes, we've got a baptism coming up the 8th of May normally, and another one the 22nd- sadly I won't be there for the second one (the reason I was saying I wanted to extend) but now that Elder Amundsen is here, he'll take care of it. And as long as the people here change-- I'm not too worried about being there for the "glory" of having a baptism... I just want people to change for the better.<br /><br />We have a great amie whose name is Simone- she is a sick lady, but has an amazingly strong faith. She has cancer, and is really weak- she's losing lots of weight because she lives alone and doesn't eat much. She says she's 47 kilos- which I think is barely over 100 pounds. She is doing great though, she is the one who is preparing to be baptized the 22nd of may. We made dinner for her last night and went over to her house and ate it with her. She really has the faith of a small child- and she uses it. When she hurts, she prays. When she's sad- she prays. And the cool thing is, because her faith is strong, she has the power to overcome her .. how do you say.. epreuves. Bah, I forget. She's wonderful though- I know she's going to be a great member of the church and has already applied the gospel in her life. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> (I looked up epreuves - it means tests... it's cute that he is forgetting english! )</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br />We had another ami who was preparing to be baptized- he's a Wallisian and he has a strong testimony. But he's starting to slip.. we're losing our rendezvous with him, and he's starting to push us off a little bit-- I'm really worried about it. But we're doing our best with him. I think he'll come back-- if not sooner, he'll definitely be back later. I definitely won't see him baptized, but I know that someone else will.<br /><br />Our other amie who is preparing to be baptized is a girl named Amelie. I think she's 15- and she's the niece of the branch president here. I'm impressed with her desire to be baptized-- I know how 15 year olds minds work, especially out of the church, and most don't really give a care about anything. But she's goign to church every week, she's friends with all the YW and she's preparing to be baptized. I hope I get to see her baptized before I leave. Her date is for the 8th- so normally I will.<br /><br />Well other than that, elder Maker is coming back to the sector soon- he will be my replacement. We will be in a 3some for my last 3 weeks, then he and Elder Amundsen will be together for 3 weeks- then.. who knows. But I hope we can get him ready to take care of the branch.. He's a new missionary, but we're hoping we can help him out.<br /><br /><br />well, that's all the news for this week<br />Love,<br />Elddr wingt</span><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#500050;"><br /></span></div></div></span></div>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-70852089271451674712010-04-04T18:49:00.000-07:002010-04-04T19:00:41.544-07:00A wonderful baptism - and transfers<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmz3l52IfDDKL5d_BA2y-ZlPghBR3iND25wgK6iStJ13vdnVtl9ZHCNc6fm_bPSachUlk56FLDTn3TwPAPaN6JGV2LdZUkUD1GV6Sv2wGU87SQSktECteqBZOex-nTFQ86pqYHF6kPtsM/s1600/P9082355.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmz3l52IfDDKL5d_BA2y-ZlPghBR3iND25wgK6iStJ13vdnVtl9ZHCNc6fm_bPSachUlk56FLDTn3TwPAPaN6JGV2LdZUkUD1GV6Sv2wGU87SQSktECteqBZOex-nTFQ86pqYHF6kPtsM/s400/P9082355.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456467255842741906" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Well.. There is much news. Victor Boa got baptized!! It went really well... And I was ever so happy that it happened. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong- but thankfully we were smarter than everyone else. The person who was supposed to fill up the font at 2:30 (the baptism starts at 4) didn't show up until 3:45.. Anyway, he was like Yeah i was worried no one was going to fill up the font. (???!?!?!?!?) BUt thankfully we are smart missionaries and we came at 2:00 and filled up the font, cleaned out all the leaves and dirt, got out the tables for refreshments and got everything set up, and prepared for talks. Sure enough, the people who were supposed to give prayers and talks didn't show up. Thankfully the Bearune's stepped up- they are amazing- and did prayers and music. Then our dear DMB made a mistake and said ELDER WINGET WILL GIVE THE TAALK and I'm like.. WHAT!? SO I gave a talk- 0 preparation- on </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">both </span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">the baptism and the don du Saint-Esprit. WACK! But it went really well- the most important part was that he did get baptized! Pres. Bondeanneau showed up with his white clothes, Victor had his white clothes, and he got dunked! Everything went smoothly in that sense. Everything worked out though-- Victor didn't even realize that we went through so much hardship to make it work. But that's what is important- it's for him, not us. I was overwhelmed with joy. He was SO happy too! That's the best part-- he bore a sweet testimony and I was happy about it. Marceline also bore her testimony. There is no drain in the baptismal font- (whose idea was that..?) So we had to bucket out the water- and we're smart and brought shorts and tshirts, because I saw into the future that that would happen. I was happy to do it though. And don't worry, we have plenty of pictures.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The other news... Elder Green is going to a different island!! WHAT?! Well, long story (that I don't even know the details) short, because of a problem with a person who wants to hurt elder green, he can't stay in NC and he left for a different island this morning. SO- I got a call late on April Fools day and they told us this news.. I didn't believe it of course. And said that I would be transferred. Well, it turns out it's true, so I'm going to a new area, and I'm supposed to go there with a mini-missionary-- and we're not sure who it's going to be yet. So that's going to be fun- I have no companion. So I told the whole branch, and they were all sad, we all shed some tears and now I'm out of Tontouta/Boulouparis forever!!! 6 weeks ago I would have killed to be able to get transferred. AND NOW I don't want to go!!!!!! WHAT weird eh? Well I'm sure it will work out. Everything is exploding in that branch- and I'm so so happy to have been part of it all. I will miss that branch and everyone in it so much. I spent about 9 months of my mission in that branch!</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So I'm on ville with Elder Turner and Elder Stilson (new guy) waiting to know if I'm going to have a companion.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Also I was able to confirm Victor a member of the church! I was so excited-- my first time! It went well, and he's now a baptized, confirmed.. priest! He also recieved the priesthood. Everything is great.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Well thanks for the package, the pictures, and the words of encouragement. I love you all so much.. I am so excited to see you soon. And so so so so so sad to leave NC! Bittersweet-- I'm scard for this day.. But It will be good. Thanks for everything.! I love you. I have about a billion pictures on this card that you haven't seen- I'll send it as sOON as I get the new one in the mail. Now that I'm on ville- I should get my mail every week.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I'm excited for conference!</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Love,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Elder Winget</span><br /></div></span>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-77557874219487476202010-03-28T18:20:00.000-07:002010-03-28T18:30:56.385-07:00Going out with a Bang!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk6e39lvu2NIvBDKwA4DTEGZCgtciyGCuP-8X7MyyJaoxLehIvUyW6FgEoCY8cJmZjKj_QjhUahGw9nYVpsgg2PO3VZ26Mk2ZO3U1pmzwyOt19e-HJhE1FDhqWWh1YPsUp4wfYVWv9_EA/s1600/IMG_0002_9.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk6e39lvu2NIvBDKwA4DTEGZCgtciyGCuP-8X7MyyJaoxLehIvUyW6FgEoCY8cJmZjKj_QjhUahGw9nYVpsgg2PO3VZ26Mk2ZO3U1pmzwyOt19e-HJhE1FDhqWWh1YPsUp4wfYVWv9_EA/s400/IMG_0002_9.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453861859498805586" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Good morning! Hi this is Elder Winget. You might remember me from such emails as .. All those other ones and such films as.. eating an orange or something. Well sorry I didn't email last week, we didn't end up having time, because we ended up teaching 3 lessons on Monday. So I think that was pretty effective. We taught Kalinka, who is doing great, and Victor, the last lessons he needed before his baptismal interview, and then at night we went to the Mahit's house. So internet didn't fit in, but I think that ended up being better. Sorry. We sort of planned on internet during the week but because of exchanges and busy-ness we didn't end up having time until Saturday.. And then I was like well it would be pointless to go on Saturday and </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">then</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> monday.. So here I am on monday.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So yesterday it rained and rained ... But no hurricane, unfortunately. I haven't heard a thing about Fiji, but I heard that Wallis and Futuna got hit and it was pretty terrible. Apparently there were two cyclones (a hurricane in the southern hemisphere- it spins the opposite direction, like the toilet. Or.. So I'm told) in the South Pacific and they were pretty destructive. But not much happened here. It rained and stormed but not enough to do much besides wash our car- and for that I was pleased.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Well the biggest news is that.. drumroll.. Victor got his baptismal interview and is getting baptized on Saturday! Yay! I'm happy. During the interview that Elder Styles did, he said some rad things-- like that he doesn't want his dad to go to another kingdom than him- that he wants an eternal family and that he wants to serve a mission. He's 16, he'll be 17 in August. I'm so proud of him. He's doing great.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Church was full, as usual, to bursting. We had about 10 people or so sitting on chairs outside the chapel listening throught the windows. Also Soeur O came to church with her son, for the first time since 2005! It's not a baptism, but for some reason I feel better than if she was baptized. She stopped going to church because of some disputes with church members and leaders and hadn't been in a long time. We started teaching her, and doing service for her, and she finally came yesterday! I was so happy. She even went to seminary in the morning! She's great. Elder Mautz came to our church yesterday as well and he was very happy to the progress in the branch. Things are happening.. And it's so exciting.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">We're hoping to get this Bislama sunday school class rolling ASAP.. Apparently they had one before, but a couple years ago they stopped the class, didn't let them sing in Bislama in Sacrament meeting, and they all went inactive because of that and other things. But there used to be 25+ in sacrament every week and it went down to 4. Anyway, there are prolly about 10 or so Bislama speaking members coming to church now and we're going to keep them coming. Hopefully.<br /><br />As for K, we have been teaching her and she's doing great. She reads in the scriptures, comes to church, and she told us that since she started taking lessons she just hasn't had the will to drink! Before she said she would drink all the time, every weekend and more, and then since she started taking lessons, she just can't do it anymore! So she hasn't drank for like a month now I think. And then, a week after she tells us this, we teach her the Parole de Sagesse (word of wisdom) thinking she might have a little issue with it, and she said well I actually stopped smoking 2 days ago- It just felt like the right thing to do. So she starts doing things before we tell her. That's the amazing power of the Sprit of God. When we teach someone something, it has a small amount of power. But when the Sprit teaches someone, it has the power to completely change the person.. Inside and out. It's absolutely amazing how that works. I'm so happy for her and proud of her. She's a golden investigator, for sure. We have talked about baptism, and she's not ready but she wants to be baptized some day.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Elder Mautz told me that I'm going out with a bang for the end of my mission, and I guess it's true. Things are looking up in Tontouta- in a way that they haven't been in years. I'm excited to be a missionary and be a part of this amazing work. Of course I'm excited to come home and see y'all but I am going to be sad to leave this place. It's weird how it's almost over. I can hardly believe it. :(</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Well that's all I think. I hope you have a great week and I'll see you soon. I love you much and I pray and think about you all the time. Peace out!</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Love,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Elder winget</span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#500050;"><br /></span></div></div></span>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-10039971015566002322010-03-09T18:06:00.000-08:002010-03-09T18:22:45.140-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheM_ArRQJLy-BT1ZUyoGKX3_eIfzL_3ZcmLuQ1XpAjr-Q13wz5LQDMWIoKqOSr2lgy6SWPTS6vypl2ekImTqbl_tT6rM3rVlEo5rjFdEU25zUf2-TeIaDJGH2mI503hpP3OTJ9fs0qw-Q/s1600-h/IMG_0001b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheM_ArRQJLy-BT1ZUyoGKX3_eIfzL_3ZcmLuQ1XpAjr-Q13wz5LQDMWIoKqOSr2lgy6SWPTS6vypl2ekImTqbl_tT6rM3rVlEo5rjFdEU25zUf2-TeIaDJGH2mI503hpP3OTJ9fs0qw-Q/s320/IMG_0001b.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446824673868743362" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Here's an excerpt from LAST last week's email ... then I'll post an excerpt from last week's email. :D</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Good afternoon family.. What's up?</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Well it's Pday and we were planning on going to the beautiful beaches of THIO but then I was standing and my knee blew out and I couldn't walk.. Stupid knee- it's going downhill.. I didn't even DO anything this time. But then we went up to Boulouparis to do laundry and I started getting really sick.. So right now I'm sick.. So I'm going to make this short so we can go home and I can sleep. . I hope I'll be better soon.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Things are going great-- things have all started happening at once! I swear not one month ago we had absolutely nothinnnnnnnnnnng going on.. Nobody progressing and no new amis. But then right now we are working with some less actives- Sr. Ozoux promised us she would go to church before I leave.. Maybe next week. She has COMPLETELY changed in just like a month and a half.. She was miserable as miserable before.. always angry, yelling, and just downright.. miserable. But then we invited her to start reading her scriptures and praying.. And it's like night and day. She's happy, and she's doing great. We did an object lesson of the sirop and the javel.. Which is the food coloring and bleach. We talked about how repentence requires baptism.. But we can't be baptized a second time. But we can go to church every week, and take the sacrament.. And we'll be just as clean as the day of our baptism. It was really cool and spiritual and she loved it-- I actually think she'll go to church. Which is amazing.. Most less actives here are really less active.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Yesterday we stopped by the family Naïus- a family from Vanuatu. The parents were baptized back in 97 and have been inactive for a long time. We started talking and it turns out him and his wife basically don't understand the Restoration at all-- which is why they are inactive. Their daugher, who I think is about 15, is not baptized and was really interested. We explained the whole thing- and engaged them to read 3 nephi 11 as a family and pray together. I have a strong testimony about family scripture study and prayer.. It seems to work every single time people actually do it. It's amazing how the Gospel just works!! Anyway, I had a great feeling about them and they seemed really interested. It was hard because he doesn't speak very good French, but I understand a decent amount of Bislama and his wife was able to explain and it all worked out. I have a good feeling about them-- for the parents and the daughter.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We came to the realization that about half of the people we teach- mostly inactives- are from Vanuatu-- they don't come to church partially because of the language.. French is a struggle for them. They want a Bislama speaking branch.. But for the moment there are not enough active members to make that branch. But President Ostler suggested we start a Bislama sunday school class-- and I think it will work. We're going to give it a try. Hopefully we can get something moving.. and then enough people will become active one day that they could organize a branch. Then I think the mission work would move along really well with the Vanuatu folks.</span></div><div> </div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Other than that, Kalinka is doing well. She wasn't at church.. again.. and we're not sure why but she had some great questions when we talked to her and I think she's really sincere. She's really rad and I think she could definitely get baptized someday.. Hopefully someday soon.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Victor Boa (marcelline's son) has a baptism date fixed for the 3rd of April. We're excited for it</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I love you and I am excited to see you soon. What time do I get home, anyway? I haven't heard much about this travel plans.. Weird. Well have a great sunday and I'll see you later.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Love,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Elder Winget</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Now here's the most recent email. Just so you know, I sent a card to Marcelline, the nice lady who threw Collin a birthday party last year. She sent me a letter in reply, which I just got a couple of days ago. It's all in french, of course, so I had my good friend Nathalie translate it for me.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:13px;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">YAY I'm glad you got her letter.. She said she had sent it like a month ago and we were worried it wouldn't get there. But I'm glad it did. She's so funny.. When I first met her I thought she was mean but she really is really sweet-- she likes to joke a lot. She was telling me that she was going to write you and say that I'm "insuportable" which I think means the same thing in English that it does in French. Anyway, she said she was going to tell you how horrible I am and that she's not going to be able to deal with me for 2 more months.. :P But of course she's kidding.. of all the people in our branch we're the best of friends-- not a whole lot of people like me cuz I'm cool just cuz I'm a missionary and then they'll forget me when I go home. But Marcelline and her family actually like me and say that they'll miss me when I go home.. I'm glad someone likes me. We have lots of fun over there. She is hoping to go to the temple at the end of this year-- her biggest hope is to be able to be sealed to her family. We're working on getting the rest of them baptized.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">That's good that you're getting snow still.. random. It's getting cold here. In the mornings it gets down in the 70s sometimes and I think I'm going to freeze to death. It's low 80s at night and it's nice.. Sometimes I put on a hoodie, it's so cold. I could swear that it snows at like 65 degrees-- thats about how cold I remember it being. :)</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">That's really weird that my departure date is so soon.. Gwah. I wonder what I'll do for a couple hours in LA.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Well anyway, not a whole lot happened this week. I'm happy that things are picking up in the sector though.. President asked me in my last interview with him to make a plan of what to do with this sector when I leave.. Close it, combine it with Paita, keep it open, etc. And I was ready to tell him to combine it with Paita and have them come up one day a week to do everything that we do in a whole week. But we've been praying really hard and working hard and praying united..ly as a district and things have picked up dramatically.. We set a goal as a district to find 20 new investigators this month between the 3 companionships. We have been praying and fasting for it and we've already seen results.. We have 3 people that next week should be new investigators- and more on the way. We're trying to work more in the one tribe that we are allowed access to- the one that Marcelline lives in. And since Marcelline is there, and really motivated, things are working out well so far. We're hoping to get more fruits from it and that sometime we could get into the other tribes as well.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">As for the Bislama class, we don't know enough to teach it.. I can understand it but I can't speak it that well. I can kind of communicate with someone who only speaks bislama but it's a struggle. Me misnary blong Jos blong Jisas Kreas blong ol Lata-Dai Sent. Me wantem sharem gospil blong Jisas Kreas long yufalla. Ha ha. Something like that. There are some active members that could teach it though-- we'll work on it.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Kalinka came to church and she thought it was a little long I think. But we talked about repentance and baptism with the food coloring and bleach thing again, and she said she's had the desire to repent and has been making things good with her family ever since our first lesson! That's awesome, we didn't even tell her to. She's good. We asked her if she wants to get baptized and although she was a little hesitant she said that is a desire of hers. So hopefully we can get her baptized.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">A few weeks ago we only had about 5 set lessons planned each week, and ended up with about 7-10 at the end of the week. This week we have 15 planned, and we could prolly squeeze in a few more. I think we could possibly hit 15-17 this week.. That will be a record for me, and the most lessons this sector has had in probably about 2 years. Of course a few will fall through, but I think many will work out. Things are going great here. There are actually too many people at church-- the building is designed for 70, and we have consistantly 115 or 120 the past few weeks. Awesome!!!!</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I told you a little about the Naius family last week- we stopped by again this week and they weren't there, but we were able to talk to the daughter. I think she's about 15, and she is actually really interested. She said that they </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">did</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> read as a family.. And that she really liked it. We gave her a Bok Blong Momon and told her to read it with her family. She's cool.. I hope the parents are there next week.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Well other than that, not a whole lot has happened.. Next week will be great though. We're going to go eat lunch with Soane (from Paita) and that will be fun.. Blast from the past. He's a great guy.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> ( Remember that picture of Collin holding that huge slimy octopus in the Halloween video last year? That's what they had for dinner at Soane's house! ha ha ha)</span></span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Well, I love you a lot and I hope that everything is going well with y'all. I pray for you a lot and I will see you in about 2 months and.. what, 4 days? Something like that. Time flies... way too fast. </span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Love,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">elder winget</span><br /></div></span></span></div></span>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-47298404284396467452010-02-28T19:20:00.000-08:002010-02-28T19:30:20.986-08:00A Parent's Payday<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSui9RbzK7EYh39qYOm08D8DxNPjTYFLbpOLi8vO0vnshF7pncE9h14xPa-hR8xp7hnFX_NEcqwhHFhQzgkSwwYMp3dcbT_nmyfIGmVT-xwYVaeh2WoS7aObDzaOadpTCgyUaMZilJ__4/s1600-h/IMG_0002.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSui9RbzK7EYh39qYOm08D8DxNPjTYFLbpOLi8vO0vnshF7pncE9h14xPa-hR8xp7hnFX_NEcqwhHFhQzgkSwwYMp3dcbT_nmyfIGmVT-xwYVaeh2WoS7aObDzaOadpTCgyUaMZilJ__4/s320/IMG_0002.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443502168609829250" /></a><br />Here's the most recent email from Collin. It's what Rusty and I call a parent's payday. We are so proud of Elder Winget and the sacrifices he is making to serve the people of New Caledonia and teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ.<div><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">This week was good. Elder Troutman taught me a new way of doing porte-à-porte--- WHICH WORKS. I haven't had ANY new investigators since I got to Tontouta. Pretty pathetic. Kalinka is the only new one. But in one day we found two people who talked to us--- Amazing! The method is.. drumroll.. a survey! He has a series of about 13 questions about family, beliefs, etc. and we just come to the door and say "We're missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and we're conducting a survey to know how to better help the people of New Caledonia. Do you have a few minutes? IT WORKS. It's amazing, and we were able to teach 6 lessons in a day which we normally would have 1 or 2. I'm going to keep doing it and I think it could work a lot.<br /><br />We also taught the Chief of the Ouinané Tribe- where Marcelline lives. Apparently the old missionaries had taught him a few times, and we decided to go say hi. So we went in there and he was really nice. He asked us what we do when we go to peoples' houses and teach them-- And we're like well.. We'll show you! So we taught him a short lesson before we headed up to Marcelline's house. It was cool-- he likes us and wants us to go hunting with him sometime. Hmm.. Well we can't touch the guns but we can go with them. It was a cool experience.<br /><br /><br />Zone conference and district conference was amazing.. Elder Hamula is an amazing teacher and he got us all motivated. He talked to the Youth and Young Adults about mission work and serving a mission, and part of his talk was that he said if you ask any missionary, or any returned missionary what was the most rewarding, most worth it, most spiritual and best 2 years of his/her life, they will say that it was their mission. I thought about it and I felt the Spirit really strongly. I felt that what he said was so completely true-- I feel that the last 21 months have been the most rewarding of my life. This mission is definitely the most important thing I've ever done. I'm so happy to be here. I have come to the realization slowly that I wouldn't trade anything for these two years. I've done cool things before but nothing as rewarding as a mission. Sure it's hard, but there is nothing, nothing, nothing else I would want to be doing. I wish that everyone could have the experience of going on a mission. I have met the most amazing people, and seeing the Saints of God give everything they have to serve Him has strengthened my testimony more than anything I've ever done. I know that this is the Lord's church, it's His. I've realized how much wickedness is NOT happiness. I am happier now than at any other time in my whole life. All I want to do when I go home is be good and do all that I can to serve Him. I have worried for a while about what I'll do when I get home but I realize that whatever I do, I will be cared for if I keep the commandments. It's simple.. I'm so happy to come to that knowledge. I see the people who don't know the truth and my heart aches for them. I see the people who don't want to know anything about it and my heart aches even more. Whenever I drive to church and I see all the people who are just doing... whatever.. boating, working, going to the store.. And I really feel sad for them! I want to grab them and shake them and say DONT YOU KNOW its SUNDAY!?? I love the Sabbath day and I love the Lord and I'm so happy to be on my mission. I'm very sad and also very excited for it to end-- Not cuz I want to leave New Caledonia-- at all. But because I am excited to apply the things I have learned on my mission to the new life I'll have-- I really feel like I'm getting a second chance on life. I'm also exstatic to see my family more than just about anything.<br /><br />Elder Hamula also told us how we're in a "land of milk and honey"-- in Numbers 13, the people of Israel arrived at the promised land and they sent scouts in to find out the conditions.. And they came back and said yeah it's great, milk and honey and blah blah happy joy but there are also GIANTS and we feel like Grasshoppers in their eyes. He said that WE are like them. We see the challenges as GIANTS- unsurpassable. He showed us how we are SO close to having a Stake in NC and that we need to increase our Vision and Believe that it can happen. I feel like I can overcome anything at the moment. I don't think anything can stop me. I'm so happy. I was really hoping I'd get transferred from Tontouta/Boulouparis.. I've had it to about HERE with it. BUT after that Zone Conference I feel like I can do it- that things WILL look up and that everything will be awesome. He said that in Ch 14 not one person who didn't believe they could get the promised land got there. We need to believe and we will get there.<br /><br />I'm currently in Noumea but I'm going back up in about an hour or so. But i'm fine with it.. I think things will be alright.<br /><br />Sorry I don't have much more time but I love you all and I hope you have a great week.<br /><br />Love<br />Elder winget</span></span></div></div>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-3111580129656851862010-02-28T18:22:00.001-08:002010-02-28T19:32:53.775-08:00Bougna!<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;"> So I finally decided to update Collin's blog. We had been all excited because we thought his return date was April 21, but it turns out it's actually May 11. I'm happy because he will start his journey home on Mother's Day! Just knowing he's on his way home will make it a great Mother's Day :)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;"> Here's a funny but gross story he emailed us a couple of weeks ago. If you have a weak stomach, just skip the first paragraph.</span></div>Last week this bump started to appear on my arm and I thought it was like a zit or something-- I tried to pop it and all it did was hurt. Long story short it turned into a Boil and that was fun. I had never had a boil before. It was super painful-- painful enough that I couldn't sleep. But then the other day I finally got it to pop and a big old column of off color brownish yellowish redish .. stuff .. came out. It wasn't watery either- it was a nice jello-y consistency.. And it kept on coming out. About enough to power a city. It was gross but awesome. So it kept bleeding for a long long time- the hole that all the stuff came out of was a pretty good size.. A nice portal to my blood system. So I put a big piece of toilet paper and a band-aid over it and the blood soaked through so I changed the badnndnangide and toilet paper so I had this bandaid thing on my arm. So I was talking to this less-active member at the store, (we had stopped by to pick up some dinner) and we were talking and then out of no where she reaches over and RIPS off my bandaid! AH weird! And she's like woah, what was that? were you painting? And I'm like, um.. And I lift up my arm to show a giant nasty WOUND and she was like AH! I'm sorry! And then runs away. Me and my companion laughed until we died. Then we never saw her again.<br /><br />I also deep fried my hand.. Rather, we tried to make deep fried fries and oil splashed all over my hand and burned me. I had some pretty good huge long blisters on my hand.. They hurt at first but they don't hurt for the moment. One of them has popped. That's cool.<br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3366FF;">Now the gross stuff is over. You can read on from here :)</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The only other thing that happened this week was that we went to an activity with the members, in which they cooked an entire pig-- head and all. They cooked it in what we call a Bougna... actually I have no idea how to spell that. Boon-ya. It's cooked by putting super hot rocks at the bottom, putting banana tree trunk on top of it, putting the pig meat along with a bunch of vegetables and fruits around it, covering it in lots of banana leaves and blankets to keep in the heat-- and it cooks the meat by the steam and smoke inside. I love pig--- not pork, pig. Pork is different. It's so good, I've only had it a few times but I love it.</span><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size:-webkit-xxx-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3366FF;">Here is a video telling all about bougna. It's a little long, but if you REALLY want to know about New Caledonian culture, this is a good one to watch.</span></span></span></div>Hmmm... I don't know why the font size is so huge! I have tried everything I know to change it. Oh well...<br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0Dqgsw9FS74&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0Dqgsw9FS74&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-56192023295457555582010-01-03T17:09:00.000-08:002010-01-03T17:11:51.197-08:00BONNE ANNEE!!!!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">Good Afternoon! It's Elder Winget.. As usual. Sorry I didn't write last week, I didn't have time or kilometers to get down to Paita to do internet. Also our car was dead-- It stalled and then died (I can't remember if I told you guys that) And we had to push start it to get it going. It worked fine if we push started it but it wouldn't start on its own. But we went back down to Noumea and got it fixed-- it turned out it was just the battery. We got the battery replaced and it works like a charm.<br /><br />Well the biggest news is that Elder Ulivaka went home today, so there are transfers. I will be staying in PK7 in Noumea for the next week with Elder Seiko and Elder Flanagan. Then I'll be going back up into exile to bore myself with another mini-missionary from Riviere Sallee. His name is Elder Blucker- the brother of the Elder that Sister Page saw in the MTC. He's 18 and he's really nice. I'm sad that he has to serve his mini-mission in Tontouta and Boulouparis because it makes mission work seem like a drag--- nothing ever happens and it seems like we're not working very hard even if we are. So it's kinda just like that. But I hope that he likes it anyway. Elder Ulivaka had a great time and he thanked me for being his companion. He said he was really worried he was going to be stuck with an over serious boring stick in the mud of a companion and he said that he was really happy that I am normal and that we were able to laugh. We did laugh a lot/all the time. We should have been more serious, which I feel bad about.. But at least he got a decent taste of mission work and he wants to go on a mission. I think I taught him a couple things and he feels the desire to strengthen his branch and his family and progress the travaille missionnaire. So I'm happy. His mom is also happy. So that's good. She was thankful that I treated him well. :)<br /><br />On what you said about kids--- I agree. Sometimes it seems like adults are so "childish" while kids are "childlike".. huge difference. I see SO much of that here as well.. I wish the adults would just calm down and grow.. up? down? Me and Elder Ulivaka talked to some kids on the road in Boulouparis. They were really nice and I was happy. Most adults we talk to reject us before I can get one word out of my mouth, but these kids were genuinely interested and curious about what we did. They asked us who we were and we're like well we're missionaries and they asked us what that meant, and we more or less gave them a crash course on Christianity. It was really interesting, they didn't have preconceived ideas of who we are so they listened intently and genuinely. They asked us who God is, who Jesus is, and what prayer and repentence and all that is. We responded simply and they listened. One kid was less interested and didn't listen as much but one kid (his name was Antoine and he's 11 I think) was genuinely concerned for his soul... Reminds me of what Joseph Smith says about himself when he was 14. He asked us, well what do I do to be forgiven and clean? And I'm like well, repent. Pray. And he's like does God really listen when I pray? And I said yes. He said he'd pray and ask for forgiveness. He was more genuine than I've ever seen in any adult.. And I was really happy to talk to him. We gave him our phone number and asked him to ask his mom if we could talk to him more. He said he'd call... I hope he does.<br /><br />Other than that we did service for Mamie Mo'o and Yvan (I think I told you about that on the phone). For new years we made steak (which was aaaawesome!) and mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans and french fries and it was oh so good. We watched church movies until midnight and then we went out and looked at the fireworks. It was cool- everyone had those ones that are illegal in the states (and probably here too) that shoot up in the air like the professional ones-- and they were everyone. Everyone drives through the streets with music really really really loud and screams BONNE ANNEE!!! It's cool and fun. We yelled bonne annee at a few people too. It was fun. Bourail elders weren't able to come down for New Years but we had fun anyway. The last part of Christmas was alright-- we went to a baptism and ate with the family Blucker. Good stuff.<br /><br />You asked me about Soane and Vaea- they are blocked by some sort of paper. Soane was born in Vanuatu and the name on his birth certificate doesn't match the name on his passport.. or something weird. So they're waiting on papers. I don't know much else. But they might as well be active church members, although unbaptized they act like members of the Lord's true church more than lots of members do. They're great.<br /><br />Other than that, not a huge amount of things have happened. I'm happy and life is good. I'm hoping to get transferred someday to somewhere where I can do real mission work but until then I guess I'll sit tight up in the north. I'm still sort of vexed because of the lack of information that gets passed up there-- I didn't know I was coming down to PK7 until Saturday when it was too late to go up to Boulouparis to get my stuff-- so I'm unprepared. Oh well that's life.<br /><br /><br />Well that's all I guess- I'm excited to see y'all in a few months. Thanks for all the emails- sorry if I missed a question or forgot to comment on something because there were many emails.. Tell me if I miss anything, okay? Thanks for all the emails and I love you all even if I don't have enough time to reply to everything. I hope your holidays were all great and if you need anything tell me. Thanks for everything- I love you all. Have a great sunday.<br /><br />Love,<br /><span style="color:#888888;">Elder winget</span></span>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-62326500703621446962009-12-27T16:15:00.000-08:002009-12-27T16:25:43.892-08:00Twas the week before Christmas...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJz_CJCF5gl-4P0t5CZA-Zz9T0QDkfHEUDg9qysgmhjDLhO8AsRzRKOvnAuplJrr5POgTci75CfT45SPJe4WpTGUdkMVJrQHTmUDMZyVeWqdNkjtmQXTfbnnoC_ViNhpp7qOeuW4tztps/s1600-h/web+cam+of+Collin.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJz_CJCF5gl-4P0t5CZA-Zz9T0QDkfHEUDg9qysgmhjDLhO8AsRzRKOvnAuplJrr5POgTci75CfT45SPJe4WpTGUdkMVJrQHTmUDMZyVeWqdNkjtmQXTfbnnoC_ViNhpp7qOeuW4tztps/s320/web+cam+of+Collin.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5420075682153321826" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; ">Bonjour! Je viens de prendre cette photo avec l'appareil photo webcam machin ici.. J'espère que vous allez l'aimer. Salut!<br /><br />Bises!<br /><span style="color:#888888;">Elder Winget</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; "><span style="color:#888888;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><i>Collin was at an internet cafe that had a computer with a webcam last week, so we were lucky enough to get a picture! If you know french, then you can read the message he sent along with it. :) Here's an excerpt from last week's letter:<br /></i></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;">My companion's name is Elder Ulivaka- he's from Ducos. He's 18 and he's been a member since 2000. His dad is branch president in Ducos. I can definitely tell a difference in maturity level compared to ordained set apart missionaries who have been through the MTC and have been on a mission for a few months, and a convert member who has been teaching with the missionaries a few times and will be hanging out with me for 3 months. But for an 18 year old-- I couldn't have asked for better. He's a good kid and we have lots of fun and try to work hard. My sector is getting progressively more difficult- I've <i>already</i> knocked almost every single door personally--- but I've talked to as many people in my whole 7ish weeks here than like 1 week in VDC or Ducos. It's hard but it's good. Elder Ulivaka is the first Wallisian to go on a mission- even if it's just a mini mission. Wallisians are <i>very</i> catholic- and as such are hard to convert. They're basically like Mexicans that speak French. They even look alike. They are also similar in that once they're converted- they're very strong. So the few Wallisians that are in the church are very good church members. There currently are not any members in Wallis but I guess they're working on it.<br /><br />Well as well as what happened this week, we sang in a choir in Paita- the Parau family invited us to sing with them. We sang Abide with Me in English, Tahitian and French. It was really cool. We sang in front of everyone in Paita- about 200ish people. It was mostly just me who sang in English, then I sort of hummed in Tahitian and we finished off with a bang in French. Abide with me fast falls the eventide the darkness deepens; Lord with me abide. I like that song.<br /><br />Also this week a group of 17 youth and young adults came from Vanuatu to play Futsal- and they were all members. The branch did an activity thing for them at the chapel- we ate and there was much dancing and singing and partying. It was cool-- then they all came to the chapel on sunday and they pretty much did the Sacrament meeting. They blessed the sacrament and did all the talks- in Bislama, English, and French. It was cool. What was even cooler was that I understood a lot in Bislama-- it's just like English in a blender. It was cool beans.<br /><br />Then after church we went and sang Christmas carols for some of the Parau's friends in Tontouta, Tamoa and Paita. It was cool to go to Paita-- blast from the past. It went really well, and we heard from quite a few people in Paita that we had sang really well. I think it was partially because French people can't sing so some of the other choirs weren't so good- and at least one was aaaawful. But we didn't stay long enough to hear the others-- just in practice. Anyway, it was a decent week.<br /><br />It's humbling to serve with Elder Ulivaka- I realize that I'm not the missionary I need to be. I realize with my other companions, they already know how to be a missionary so we sort of push each other when the other doesn't feel like going on any more-- but with him, he doesn't really know what we're supposed to do, he doesn't really know the rules, and I want to show a good example for him.. I don't want to ruin his image of what a missionary is. I know that members sometimes think that missionaries are these amazing perfect spiritual giants-- and it's only true a very small amount of the time.. We're all just the same as everyone else. I don't want him to go home thinking that missionaries are just fakers during when they visit with members and then completely different when they're alone. So I've got 2 more weeks to convince him otherwise. Theeeen the plan is that I train another new missionary-- if he ever shows up. He's from Vanuatu and may or may not speak French or english......... So that will be a kick in the face. But it'll work. And either way plans change every time so I have no idea.<br /><br />Friday (Christmas) I'll be going down to Noumea to hang out with the other missionaries and stuff so maybe you could call me Thursday at about noon (my time) and I'll tell you exactly the best time to call me. I think that 2:30 christmas day will work but I'm not 100% positive.. So yeah.<br /><br />Anyway, don't worry about me, everything is going well. Elder Ulivaka is a good missionary and isn't even difficult-- the only difficulty is being a little bit more serious than I want to be.<br /><br />I'll talk to you Christmas. I love you. Have a great week. Merry Christmas.<br /><br />Love,<br /><span style="color:#888888;">Elder Winget</span></span></div>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-54543039853904050752009-12-06T17:57:00.001-08:002009-12-06T18:06:49.876-08:00Christmas Program and a surprise Baby Blessing<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNdNNoW62Ece77o0EanBr_JRvHgxcNdeN67lelcAdkvEWZr7gRrlwaDVsD69FkFGILpoegF6oR1EguwfR6DH17vD_pzCjxp8Mds__3kwIRgd5aIZq8H6gYrAEtPRwh6WxCxxcgmkfnkz8/s1600-h/IMG_0255.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNdNNoW62Ece77o0EanBr_JRvHgxcNdeN67lelcAdkvEWZr7gRrlwaDVsD69FkFGILpoegF6oR1EguwfR6DH17vD_pzCjxp8Mds__3kwIRgd5aIZq8H6gYrAEtPRwh6WxCxxcgmkfnkz8/s320/IMG_0255.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412308899513648994" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">Here is a picture from last Christmas. I don't have a current one yet - Elder Winget is very busy these days, which is good :) He hasn't had time to send pictures for a while, but that's okay.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> this week was interesting- the "missionary committee" at church, which ended up being "Elder Winget" organized a Christmas fireside which took place at our church this Saturday evening. We wanted it to be sort of like music and the spoken word, so we kind of got a general idea put on paper and then Elder Winget put it all together. The point I tried to get across was that there are too many things that distract us from the real reason why we celebrate Christmas and so we wanted to do a night of songs about our Savior instead of about santa and stuff. Anyway, we had choirs from each auxiliary (elders quorum, relief society, ym, yw, primary, and returned missionaries) sing a Christmas song, and at the end we had a choir from each foreign language represented in our branch. We had a choir from Vanuatu sing in their island language and then Bislama, Tahitian, Drehu (the language of Lifou) and English (me, Elder Wilcox and Sister Cummins). It was supposed to start at 6:00 pm. We invited people and had it announced at church… So we showed up at 5:30 and there were 3 people there- of course Marcelline was there- she’s awesome. Then Sister Temake and her daughter were there. Then the sister missionaries showed up- Sr. Seiko and Sr. Cummins. And then… We waited around until 6:35 when the branch president showed up and opened up the chapel. (we were sitting out on the grass at this point) Then we hung out until 6:45 waiting for a few people to show up… and we decided to start. There were only 11 people there at the start including 4 missionaries. Eventually more people showed up and it went pretty well. We sang some cantiques and I read scriptures from Isaiah 7 and 9, Luke 2, Matthew 2, and Helaman 15. The Young Women ended up being a solo- and everyone else’s parts were slim- but by the end it worked out. It actually went really well, in spite of all the problems. The Vanuatu group really pulled through for me- they dressed up, they brought candles and a baby Jesus and did a whole little.. Show. I’m really sad it was in the chapel- not allowed to take pictures!! But they did really well and I was really surprised and really happy that they put so much thought into it.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Bislama is a really funny language- maybe you can look it up to find more or something, but it basically started because Vanuatu is a group of islands that had more than 1200 languages or something.. English and French traders came through and sort of established a language.. And it eventually evolved into Bislama. I gud and I stret are from Bislama- meaning are things good? Are things straight? Ha ha. It’s funny. Anyway, they sang Silent Night in their island’s language and they sang a song in Bislama called “Jesus was born in a Manger” and something about how it makes us happy. It was really awesome and I was so happy to them that they actually worked on their part for the program. It went really well and everyone thanked me and said that I sing really well-- which is dangerous- that’s when people start asking me to sing crap. Dang it. What the gladsome tidings?! We actually sang Angels we have heard on High for our English part. Cool beans.<br /><br />Afterwards I found out that the reason nobody came was because there wasn’t food. -_- island people……….<br /><br />Other than that, the news is that President Callister came and did a zone conference on Tuesday and it was awesome.<br /><br />Also, I blessed a baby on Sunday. Not really sure why or how or who still… The 1st councilor in the Branch Presidency is Tahitian and seems to hate Americans for some reason. He comes up to me and says GET your companion. And he starts just talking really fast and as if we were in huge trouble. He was like I’m going to smack you two- I don’t know how I’m going to do it but I’m going to do it. Then he just starts writing on our program for Sacrament meeting- “Baby blessing” and then the name of a child. Then he circles the place on the program where we’d do it and then said Okay baby blessing and then he left. And I’m like um… No “S’il te plait”? no “Hey there is a family who needs their baby blessed- do you think you could do it?” Nothing of the sort, just I’m going to hit you and then baby. Bam.. Anyway, I blessed the baby and I still don’t know why or whose baby it was. That’s life in the Tontouta branch. I almost lost my cool actually because of all the ridiculousness that happened that day- but I decided it wasn’t worth it and I just vented to my companion later. Weird.<br /><br /><br />I have to do 2 exchanges this week too, so I’ll be on the run all week. I have been living out of my suitcase all this week anyway- since we have 1 bigger apartment and 1 apartment about the size of a small hot prison cell, we leave the majority of our stuff up in Boulouparis and pack a few days’ worth of stuff and go down to Tontouta- but then I have to go up to Borail on exchange- and then down to Kutio the very next day. Oh dear.. I might run out of clothes.<br /><br /><br />There are 3 French Christmas songs that I know of that don’t exist in English- “Il est né le divin enfant” and “Noël nouvelet” which is actually rad I think. And “Un flambeau jeanette Isabella” Which I guess exists in English- bring a torch Jeanette Isabella. The first two are in the French hymnbook.<br /><br />Thanks for all the birthday stuff—I’m still working on the scripture challenge. I haven’t found myself with oodles of time to do it but I’m about 1/3 of the way through and I think they’re all right. :D<br /><br />Well that’s all- merry Christmas and happy new year.<br /><br />Love,<br />Elder Winget</span></span></div>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-21101666458429489352009-12-01T11:08:00.000-08:002009-12-01T11:22:16.438-08:00Happy Birthday Elder Winget!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOkiwzjg4F4x_BRaQhPJm_thLpchM4yGoY-hALmkokgNg767a6QPjzzAk6LTPoCTGofU4_-aHmVaSNAxmKFwWzmekTdEXrXu0X2-D2JViCFettFQxu4xKLriSNwQ6Qg9Y6Znf5zYYhU0c/s1600/CIMG1894.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOkiwzjg4F4x_BRaQhPJm_thLpchM4yGoY-hALmkokgNg767a6QPjzzAk6LTPoCTGofU4_-aHmVaSNAxmKFwWzmekTdEXrXu0X2-D2JViCFettFQxu4xKLriSNwQ6Qg9Y6Znf5zYYhU0c/s320/CIMG1894.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410349961770977218" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;">Here's an excerpt from Collin's latest email. I'm glad he had cake and birthday presents for his birthday, since his birthday package didn't arrive until 2 days later! </span></div><div><br /></div>Good Morning! That's how you say Hello or hi in silly english. And hellohowareyouwatsurname is SillyEnglish for "this is the only thing I know how to say in English after taking english classes daily for 7 years isn't French school great?" I am doing well. Sorry I'm emailing you late- you're prolly all in bed and stuff. We're in Noumea because of Zone Conference tomorrow and we were doing random things all morning and we just got here to internet.. I guess we'll just do nothing for the rest of the day.. Darn. Well tomorrow will be fun because Elder Callister- our area president will address us at Zone conference tomorrow and he has scheduled a personal interview with each and every missionary in NewCal.. how scary! I don't think I'm bad so I'm hoping I'll pass. He's a great guy and he gave a great talk. I did actually get your package this morning and I've been slowly looking at it throughout the day. I actually was needing to buy deodorant and pens- and I was happy I looked in the package before I did shopping. Now all I'll have to buy is razor blades. Oh how I hate shaving.<br /><br />Weeeeeell I'll tell you about my birthday.. It started out with Elder Wilcox made me pancakes in bed and it was good. We went out and tried to talk to some people about the Gospel but people don't live in our sector. I think we may have the least populated missionary sector in the world. It has about 3000 people.. And none of them are ever around. I miss being rejected when I knock on doors back in Ducos-- or being rejected in street contacting in VDC. In Boulouparis and Tontouta every house has a gate and a fence around the yard so we just have to yell at the house. I stopped saying "porte-à-porte" and started saying "yelling at houses". So we end up seeeeeeeing about 3-5 people in a day and 4 of them flat out say no and some times 1 of them will at least accept a brocure to be nice. I figure maybe I just have something to learn in this sector.. We'll see if I learn it. At least my companion is awesome because if he weren't my life would be hard and ridiculous. Anyway, so we did that all day and then that night we were invited by Marcelline to eat and have cake. She is awesome. She's very hard to read and at first she scared me- she looks angry all the time but she's really really nice and actually happy most of the time. She's a funny lady and actually one of my favorite people on this rock. So she invited us over and we shared a short "lesson" which was sort of just a mess-- we did "the turtle lesson"- had them draw turtles and then we shared 3 Ne 27:21 and 27 I think it was about examples and patterning our lives after the Savior. I think I got the reference wrong-- sorry. The kids didn't pay much attention but whatever. Anyway, this is a sort of poor family who lives in a Tribe- so they're not so fancy but they're uber nice. So we're sitting outside under this.. shelter? thing? They have a normal house but we always do lessons outside under this... well picture those table things that they have at Westmore park- covered by those.. deal thingers. And that's basically what we were under- except it's constructed out of like wood and trees and stuff. Cool. Anyway, so they start blowing up balloons and hanging them up around the awning thing and it was cute.. then we ate dinner and then they brought out the cake. Which was actually really good. They made a 21 out of candles and I blew them out and they sang happy birthday. So we ate cake and then Marcelline bought a present for me!! I was so excited. I had no idea what it was going to be and so I was preparing myself to be "pity excited" and thank her kindly- but it is actually really cool. She bought me a Kanaky t-shirt which is rad- I wanted to buy one exactly like it and almost did. And she bought me a towel that has a map of New Caledonia on it. Another thing which I wanted to buy myself before I leave! I was so excited and I was super happy that she cared about me and thought about me. She's great and her family is rad. Her 11 year old son is also baptized and they're trying really hard to become an eternal family. I admire them a lot.<br /><br />Thanksgiving- me and Elder Wilcox went to Super U- the local grocery store in Tontouta- and we bought stuff.. I made Cheesecake from scratch and Elder Wilcox made this cool apple steak stew thing. He cut up apples and tomatoes and peppers and steak type meat and a bunch of apple juice and put it in a big pot and then we cooked it for 45 min ish and then we ate it and it was good. I was happy. Definitely no thanksgiving in america but I was satisfied.. kind of. I actually sort of caught myself staring off into the hot night sky being eaten alive by mosquitoes in our doorway wishing I was with you guys. Oh well, in a couple months. We get to have 4 july together as our next holiday. w00t.<br /><br /><br /><br />District leading is going well.. I did a training on the Christlike Attributes- as explained in PMG chapter 6- and asked everyone to be more Christlike this week and remember that we're called to Serve and not called to preach. I talked to Sister Cummins a few nights ago and she said it was a great training and that she and her companion Sister Seiko have been trying their hardest to be as Christlike as possible this week and have lots of experiences to share next week. I'm excited. I have to keep my own commitment and I'm going to try my best do to the same this week. I've thought a lot about what it says in the missionary handbook that leaders are called not just to direct but to edify and uplift and inspire the missionaries in their district and I'm going to try to do my very best. I'm hoping to do even better this time around than last time I was DL. :)<br /><br />Anyway, thanks a billion for the package.. I'm still going through it and I'm happy as a clam to have recieved it. I haven't checked out the scripture deal yet but I'll look at it later and i'll tell you how well I did. that's really clever and I appreicate all the work you guys put into it... Thanks for thinking about me- sometimes it seems like nobody cares... but I'm glad that someone remembers me back home and I love you a lot. I think about you guys probably more than you think about me and you're all in my prayers. I'm glad thanksgiving went decently well in the end and I hope you have a great week. Merry Christmas and Happy thanksgiving. Bears. I love you.<br />say hi to luke and jake and aaron and everyone else in the world.<br />Love<br />Elder Winget<br /><div><div><span id="q_12543920c1f4e214_1" class="h4" style="cursor: pointer; color: rgb(80, 0, 80); font-size:9px;">- Show quoted text -</span></div></div></span>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-38769054060475817132009-11-29T16:14:00.000-08:002009-11-29T16:21:57.536-08:00What Thanksgiving means to Collin<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIrvGukhP3yCojVh6WlDTK4uus8hSj5RTpZBuAVd10s5P13akzDdOaYanP1opn2y4TWnkf35L6mCL2MLYnAG-B1zsFb9Hrhfe9kWBID88AoOL8jCxVHiHGN9YlZB-I8s_-KjSDJpXm3g0/s1600/Conf%C3%A9rence+de+branche+TONTOUTA+110.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIrvGukhP3yCojVh6WlDTK4uus8hSj5RTpZBuAVd10s5P13akzDdOaYanP1opn2y4TWnkf35L6mCL2MLYnAG-B1zsFb9Hrhfe9kWBID88AoOL8jCxVHiHGN9YlZB-I8s_-KjSDJpXm3g0/s320/Conf%C3%A9rence+de+branche+TONTOUTA+110.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409684730986306450" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"> Yesterday we went to church and found out that one of our families dropped us- I sort of said a little about them, the parents who want their daughters to sin and the daughters who would rather just be good and get baptized. Apparently the mom "took the truth to be hard" and said that she doesn't mind if we came over and ate with them, but they don't ever want us to teach them again. Then we found out that our lunch appointment for after church was canceled.... And I realized we had absolutely NOTHING to eat chez nous. I was really worried about that. Then the branch president brought out a buttload of cantaloupes and watermelons and we all ate until we were stuffed. I must have eaten 10 cantaloupe pieces and 3 huge watermelon pieces. Which was good since our lunch was canceled. We tried to go around and see some people and no one was around so we just went home to do studies.. I was all sad because of the Nothing to eat thing- we just ate this tuna stuff.. Then later for dinner.. We found out we didn't even have butter, so we couldn't make Macaroni and Cheese--- we were basically just out of luck. So the day wasn't going so good.. But then we found some Rice-a-roni! And life was saved. It called for BUTTER ... which we didn't have. But we tried it with vegetable oil and it worked fine! We mixed it with some canned peas we found lying around and it turned out to be the best meal I'd ever eaten. The day was saved and life was good again. I'd still love some In-n-out though--- I heard rumors that the owners said they would never open one in Utah-- but I guess the rumors were FALSE because there it goes. Apparently Lucky Buns was supposed to be an in-and-out copy but they went out of business. Hopefully in-and-out will do better.<br /><br />Other than that our ami Yvan came to church, so that was good. He didn't feel like wearing a tie- but whatev, still good. :) Not a lotta happened this week besides that. I found out that President Callister is coming in 2 weeks- and that he wants to do an interview with every missionary. Kind of intimidating. He gave an awesome talk in General Conference- if you didn't get the chance to hear it, I recommend it.<br /><br />That's about all that happened this week.. We're trying to plan something for Thanksgiving- no one knows it exists in this country, so it's just a normal Thursday. However I was thinking about how thankful I am for everything.. I've learned so much on my mission- I wouldn't trade the experiences I have daily for anything. I'm so thankful for all that I've learned and all the ways in which I've grown. I actually have a reason for all the crappy things that happen, because I have so many opportunities to grow. I remember the times I just responded negatively when bad things happened and I found myself even more miserable. But when I am just optimistic and happy things work out. I think about something I heard in a Zone Conference- I can't remember if it was from a conference talk or what, but there was a guy who lived in a German concentration camp for years and obviously suffered much. He figured, however, that the German soldiers could take away almost everything from them.. They could take away all of their freedoms, their clothes, their belongings, they could withhold food and water and try their best to make their lives miserable- but the only thing that they couldn't take away is one's attitude. They can't control it, and no one can. I am happy when I choose to be happy. Stuff sucks sometimes, that's life, but we always are able to choose the way in which we'll react.<br />I'm thankful for my family and for your letters and encouragement every week- I always look forward to it. Sorry my letter was super lame last week.. I felt like I was going to die. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;"><i>( he was SO sick last week!)</i></span>But I'm okay now. I hope you guys get something out of my letters each week.. Sorry they're not horribly interesting every time.. Sometimes nothing happens really in the whole week. But I'll try my best, eh? I'm so thankful for everything that you guys do for me and all your prayers.. Thanks for all the letters and packages and everything.<br />I'm thankful for the Gospel in my life- what would I do without it? I'm so happy for what I've learned on my mission.. I've learned how important the Church is and how less important some of the "really important" things are in life. I read in Alma 32 and 33 this morning and me and Elder Wilcox were discussing how Mormon left this section in, not because there are necessarily apostate churches all over the place in our day, but because we, as members of the church, sometimes risk becoming like the apostate Zoramites. How? Well, the Zoramites had the gospel, and decided to say the same prayers over and over, go to church once a week, and forget about God for the rest of the week. I'm happy for all that I've learned and all the good examples of the members here.. May we not forget how important God is in our lives-- all 7 days of the week.<br />I'm mostly thankful for everything, but those are just a couple things. Don't forget that Thanksgiving isn't just to eat, but to be thankful too. Remember how merciful God has been in our lives.. I'm trying to remember how unimportant I am- how little I am. In Mosiah 2 it talks about how even if we were to serve all our lives we would still be unprofitable servants.. God gives us EVERYTHING- right down to our breath. And all he asks us to do is keep his commandments.<br /><br /><div><div> 20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the <sup>a</sup><a title="Job 1: 21; Ps. 34: 1 (1-3); D&C 59: 21; D&C 62: 7; D&C 78: 19." href="http://mosiah/2/20a" type="A" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(20, 125, 186); ">thanks</a> and <sup>b</sup><a title="1 Sam. 12: 24; 1 Ne. 18: 16; D&C 136: 28." href="http://mosiah/2/20b" type="A" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(20, 125, 186); ">praise</a> which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and <sup>c</sup><a title="D&C 63: 3." href="http://mosiah/2/20c" type="A" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(20, 125, 186); ">preserved</a> you, and has caused that ye should <sup>d</sup><a title="Neh. 12: 43." href="http://mosiah/2/20d" type="A" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(20, 125, 186); ">rejoice</a>, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—</div></div><div><div><a name="125426fb04a93a89_1251e5b8d383dfaf_21" style="color: rgb(20, 125, 186); "></a><div> 21 I say unto you that if ye should <sup>a</sup><a title="Job 22: 3 (3-4)" href="http://mosiah/2/21a" type="A" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(20, 125, 186); ">serve</a> him who has created you from the beginning, and is <sup>b</sup><a title="Neh. 9: 6." href="http://mosiah/2/21b" type="A" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(20, 125, 186); ">preserving</a> you from day to day, by lending you <sup>c</sup><a title="2 Ne. 9: 26." href="http://mosiah/2/21c" type="A" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(20, 125, 186); ">breath</a>, that ye may live and move and do according to your own <sup>d</sup><a title="TG Agency." href="http://mosiah/2/21d" type="B" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(20, 125, 186); ">will</a>, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your <sup>e</sup><a title="TG Dedication." href="http://mosiah/2/21e" type="B" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(20, 125, 186); ">whole</a> souls yet ye would be <sup>f</sup><a title="Luke 17: 10 (7-10); Rom. 3: 12." href="http://mosiah/2/21f" type="A" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(20, 125, 186); "><span>unprofitable</span></a> servants.</div></div></div><div><a name="125426fb04a93a89_1251e5b8d383dfaf_22" style="color: rgb(20, 125, 186); "></a><div> 22 And behold, all that he <sup>a</sup><a title="TG God, the Standard of Righteousness." href="http://mosiah/2/22a" type="B" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(20, 125, 186); ">requires</a> of you is to <sup>b</sup><a title="Gen. 4: 7; Lev. 25: 18 (18-19); Mosiah 1: 7; Alma 50: 20 (20-22)" href="http://mosiah/2/22b" type="A" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(20, 125, 186); ">keep</a> his commandments; and he has <sup>c</sup><a title="1 Ne. 4: 14; Omni 1: 6; Ether 2: 7 (7-12)" href="http://mosiah/2/22c" type="A" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(20, 125, 186); ">promised</a> you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth <sup>d</sup><a title="TG God, Perfection of." href="http://mosiah/2/22d" type="B" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(20, 125, 186); ">vary</a>from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do <sup>e</sup><a title="Ps. 19: 11 (9-11); 2 Ne. 1: 20; D&C 14: 7; D&C 58: 2." href="http://mosiah/2/22e" type="A" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(20, 125, 186); ">keep</a> his <sup>f</sup><a title="TG Commandments of God." href="http://mosiah/2/22f" type="B" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(20, 125, 186); ">commandments</a> he doth bless you and prosper you.</div></div><br />I love thanksgiving-- mostly cuz of the food. But I'm going to try to be as thankful as I can, and not forgetting from what source everything comes from. We don't prosper because we're just awesome and amazing and strong people, but we owe everything to God. Any blessings we have in our lives, we owe to Him and we should thank Him as much as possible.. especially during this thanksgiving time. Cool.<br /><br />Thanks for everything, I don't have a whole lot else to say, but I hope you all have a wonderful week and a wonderful thanksgiving. Be good and be happy.<br /><br />Love,<br /><span style="color:#888888;">Elder Winget</span><div><div></div><div><br /></div></div></span></div>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-89936352368016113252009-11-22T06:36:00.000-08:002009-11-22T07:14:40.948-08:00Lots of news from Elder Winget!<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div><br /></div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">I have been SO busy for the past month, but I finally had time to update Elder Winget's blog. He has some interesting stories to tell about people he has been teaching, and people he taught last year when he was a new missionary. He and Elder Wilcox are splitting their time between 2 apartments - one in Tontouta, and one in Boulouparis. But the branch they attend is the same one he and Elder Tekurio attended last year when they were in Paita. So he has the wonderful opportunity of seeing people he helped teach last year and find out how they have progressed in the gospel. I'll post several excerpts from emails from the past month - I hope I can put them together in some kind of order that will make sense to you ...</span></span></i></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I have always heard the quote that a testimony is gained on your Feet not on your Knees and I never really understood-- I came to the realization that that is really true this week. I thought about everything that has gone into finding and teaching these people.. I'm just a 20 year old American punk who doesn't speak that good of french, and isn't that good of a speaker in English either way. I don't know a huge amount about anything. I'm immature and silly and I don't take things seriously enough. I know that if I was inviting people to join something of my own will and power, not one person would listen on this island. I KNOW that the experiences and countless others that I've shared and not shared with you are guided by the Spirit-- If it wasn't so, I know the results would be very different. My testimony has grown so much, not just on my knees, but in living and teaching the Gospel- or in other words, on my feet. I've grown so much- all these experiences have changed who I really am. I'm so thankful to be on a mission and to have the opportunity to help the Lord change these peoples' lives. I know that not much is happening of my own doing--- I'm just an instrument in the Lord's hands. I'm so excited about it too. I love my mission! </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It's interesting getting to know my new sector. It's more of what I expected when I got my mission call to Fiji.. Missionaries in Noumea don't know what real life is. Even Paita seems like the big city and there's only like 10,000 people who live there. Boulouparis is a city that was originally built around a police station. The population is less than 2,000 and it has 1 gas station and 2 chinois stores- or convenience type stores. Tontouta is where the international airport is, and our chapel is. The whole town is pretty much just airport workers and "gendarmeries" - that's what the police is called. Elder Wilcox bought bikes for the sector, because our kilometers are severely limited for the size of the sector- so every Wednesday we bike to save kilometers. Malheureusement, my bike broke already and we're going to have to figure out somehow to fix it. We're working on it.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> I don't know if I told you, but we have 2 apartments in this sector- one in Boulouparis and one in Tontouta- that way we don't have to keep going up to Boulou every single night.. That would waste lots of time and kilometers. So a little more than half of the week we stay in Tontouta and the rest we stay in Boulouparis. Boulouparis doesn't have much in it.. Just a couple people. Every door has been knocked and everyone in the whole town knows us- so missionary work doesn't move too quickly. So that's why we stay in Tontouta more often- there's lots more people and actually stuff to do. The bad part is.. The tontouta apartment is about the size of my room back home.. The Mautz's call it the "country house".. It's right in the middle of the country.. far from civilization. It's basically a little cabin. Whatev. We cleaned it this morning and rearranged it and I organized everything much better so it's a much better place to live these days. I guess that's just my thing- I hate cleaning but when I start doing it I HAVE to get it right or I'll go nuts. The good thing about both our apartments is that it's very quiet- a huge change from VDC. AND I can see STARS!!! Millions of them! it's really weird, one can see much different stars in the southern hemisphere. Last night I went outside and stared at them for like 30 minutes.. Then our neighbor's dogs scared me so I went back inside. Our neighbors have these evil dogs and we're sort of scared of them.<br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /><br />The sector in general- the branch is really difficult and verging on ridiculous- They're small and far from Noumea. But we're working hard with them and things have improved even since a year ago when I was here last. So things are inching along. </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">from Nov. 1:</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />As for our Amis in this sector, we're working with a guy named Yvon- an old Caldoche (white guy born in Caledonia) guy. Apparently originally all he was looking forward to was death- he doesn't take care of himself anymore and kind of gave up on life. He was smoking a huge box of 144 mini cigars per 2 days and spending all his retirement on cigars and cigarettes. Since the missionaries (Elder Wilcox and Aiho) found him, he read the BOM in 6 days, and has a better outlook on life. He's slowly but surely improving. He's down to about 15-20 cigarettes a day and reads a lot in the BOM. He's got a raging beard/mane and only has one eye-- (an accident with a shotgun and alcohol..) He doesn't change his clothes and doesn't shower. We're trying to get him to clean up a little bit. We kind of tricked him into coming to church for the first time yesterday. We lent him Elder Wilcox's hair clippers and he said he was going to get all clean and stuff for church the next day- but we showed up and he was still just dirty old Yvon. He said he wasn't pure enough to come to church- but we said well, how about we just go do a tour of the chapel before the members show up. And he's like well, alright. So we went and got him to sit down in the chapel and then we're like well look, it's Fast and Testimony meeting and you won't want to miss it- what do you say we just stay? And he stayed the whole time. He liked it and we'll be seeing him tonight, and hopefully we can engage him to continue going to church every week.<br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">from Nov. 8:</span></span></i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">our friend Yvon came to church again! He cut his hair and trimmed his beard and I gave him a shirt and tie to put on and he looked great! He loves church and as soon as we can get him to quit smoking and drinking, I think we can baptize him. Apparently I'm taking it all for granted since I just got here, but this is something elder Wilcox and Aiho were trying to get him to do for MONTHS. They even lent him the clippers and he never got around to clipping his hair. But this time it worked out. I'm really excited about it.</span></span></i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">Also from Nov. 1:</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The amazing news though--- Me and elder Wilcox were building a house/thing for this dude and I got a phone call from Elder Green- he said that Soane and Vaea have started their marriage papers!!!! They're definitely some of the best Amis I've ever had, and I had no doubt they'd get baptized someday.. They always talked about when they are baptized and how they want to so bad, but didn't always DO something about it. But they've gotten their papers started and have asked me to be a witness at their wedding! The Zone Leaders said no (it's their job), but President Ostler said yes! I don't know the date yet, but their kids are going to Tahiti on Dec 14th and they want them to be their for the Wedding- so it's going to be before that. I'm inexplicably ecstatic. Of all the people I've taught I feel like I have the strongest bond with them and their family, and I am so happy for them. I knew they could do it!! They're amazing people- they're at every church function and are applying gospel principles better than most members- they still do family scriptures and prayer every night and talk about temple marriage.. They just get it and I know they're going to be an amazing addition to the Church. </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">and a continuation, from Nov. 8:</span></span></i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> We saw Soane and Vaea and the kids- they stopped in Tontouta to see me and so I could sign their marriage papers, since I'm going to be a witness. I'm so excited--- I honestly consider them my friends- people I would keep hanging out with even if I wasn't on a mission. And So I'm really really extatic about their marriage and baptism. Elder Green told me they won't stop talking about me and asking about me and he's like hey, I'm still here! Let's talk about me! Soane said well you're here and Winget isn't so let's talk about him. :P I guess the kids ask about me and my news and such. The kids have memorized up to 8 in the articles of faith, and they have speaking parts in the primary program- even though they're not members yet. I'm so so so so So happy about their progress-- it makes all the hard work worth it!! The Sékémé family is the last actual FAMILY to get baptized on this island for a LONG time.. It's really hard to get entire families to except the gospel.. ironically. But Soane and Vaea's little family is going to be the next one in. I'm so excited. I've seen the slow but steady progress in them.. They're genuinely so much happier.. I remember when we first went to their house months ago.. There was no spirit in their home and I thought they didn't even like each other.. They NEVER went ANYWHERE as a family-- it was work, school, fight, sleep. But now they actually love each other.. The gospel really does strengthen families.. Something I don't think I could have learned without going on a mission. I really took our family unity for granted-- but I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the reason why we're so close.<br /></span></span></i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size:medium;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">And here's some more interesting news:</span></i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size:medium;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; font-size:13px;">I saw Atiu Atiu (my buddy that got baptized back in the Vallee du Tir days) this week and he's doing amazing!!! He's the life blood of the Ducos branch these days. They were really struggling before he came along- and he's doing wonders for them. He's 1st councilor in the Elders Q Presidency and he is pulling the whole branch along with him. He's doing absolutely amazing.<br /><br />Since I'm back in the Tontouta branch, I'm in contact again with Soane and Valerie who I taught and who got baptized back when I was in Paita. They're both still active and very very strong. Soane is sort of like Atiu- he's put so much strength into this branch that wasn't there before. He's <i>completely</i> changed since I first met him. You wouldn't even think he's the same guy.. He's so great. Valerie is in the Young Womens presidency and is doing wonderfully. She's also like Soane in that she brings so much to the branch and won't back down.<br /><br />In New Caledonia, activity rate is 30 something percent and about 80 percent of Recent Converts go inactive in their first year. We're working ridiculously hard with our recent converts to try and change that- but the fact still remains.. It's getting lots better, and this year is better than the last. But The 3 people that got baptized under my watch are still active--- and not only active, but REALLY REALLY active. It's absolutely amazing!!! I know Soane and Vaea are going to be the same for the Magenta branch-- and their kids will be an amazing addition to the Primary there. Did I tell you how Tiro stood up and said the 1st 4 articles of faith in front of the primary and no one else could do it? Amazing, eh? Well, that's awesome.<br /><br />We taught this kid and his mom this week, Marcelline and Claude- they're both recent converts. Marcelline is doing really really well-- she is amazing. Claude is only 11 years old, and doesn't 100% get it that he has to come to church every week.. Sad, albeit understandable. He hadn't been in 3 months when I first got here. Me and Elder Wilcox were doing planning and we planned to teach them about the Plan of Salvation, focusing on Eternal Families. I thought almost it was too cheezy-- we talk about eternal families all the time and I always think that Okay, we all got it, we can be together forever.. Blah blah blah. But we taught it anyway. It seemed like just any other lesson, we taught it, they listened, we left. But that sunday, Claude went to church again.. And was happy to be there. We came over during the week and his mom said that he's been talking ALL week about how he needs to be GOOD and keep the COMMANDMENTS so he can have an Eternal Family!!!!! I was blown away--- 75% of the time I wonder if anyone even listens to our lessons-- he took it to the next level. He has commited himself to be at church EVERY sunday and he has started praying and reading his scriptures- and praying so that his dad will get baptized and they can be an eternal family. I was so so touched- I didn't realize it but we really followed the spirit, and not our own silly thoughts. Elder Wilcox said the same thing, that he didn't know if that was too cheesy to teach, but we did it. And it worked!<br /></span></i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#CC0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size:13px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#CC0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size:13px;">One more thing...(this is from Nov. 8th)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#CC0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size:13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; ">Well more about my week in general- Monday we went to the beach after I emailed y'all and we took some silly jumping pictures-- the only problem is that I didn't take my knee into account and so I completely killed my knee when I landed. It made a huge cracking sound and I was dead. Well, close. It hurt and I couldn't bend it or straighten it or put ANY weight on it. This has happened already way too many times on my mission so I sort of figured if I just toughed it out for a few days, it would get better. And a family gave me these crutches to use for the week. So I was fine, but we called the mission nurse anyway and she was all scared and said I had to go down to Noumea to get it X-rayed tout de suite! So we dropped everything and went to the hospital in Noumea and they X-Rayed it and there's nothing broken.. They just gave me anti-inflammatory pills and pain pills and said to take it easy. Which is what I knew they would say-- So I just wasted time and lots of the mission's money to have them say that. but whatever, I did what the nurse said. By now my knee is fine-- the medicine actually helps quite a bit! I can walk almost normal, although I have a very noticeable limp. I am still taking it easy- which is easy since we have a car.<br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;color:#CC0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><i>I think that should get everybody up to speed who have asked about Collin lately... Later today we should be hearing from him again, and I'll update the blog again hopefully tomorrow.</i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;color:#CC0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><i>Thanks to everyone who sent a birthday email - it's not too late if you missed his birthday... We are sending a Christmas package right after Thanksgiving, and if you email me (or bring me a card or something), I'll make sure it gets in the Christmas package.</i></span></span></div>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-5198764937738006362009-10-25T08:19:00.000-07:002009-10-25T08:38:59.894-07:00A Good Report from A New Caledonian Member<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioIkYYHjK9Ky1Lbunp_APjOZ-Z5B_gjSV5wt3sruul338AROCZ18WaxHwts9FXFMFQ9hBr_X8r55lMn3nCpexdtHTJ6bRpv_x0VoNeumaIFfWn9nSn2zTxW1obBFyLPd_DuSIFKTHmY8M/s1600-h/Conf%C3%A9rence+de+branche+TONTOUTA+118.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioIkYYHjK9Ky1Lbunp_APjOZ-Z5B_gjSV5wt3sruul338AROCZ18WaxHwts9FXFMFQ9hBr_X8r55lMn3nCpexdtHTJ6bRpv_x0VoNeumaIFfWn9nSn2zTxW1obBFyLPd_DuSIFKTHmY8M/s320/Conf%C3%A9rence+de+branche+TONTOUTA+118.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396561363748127986" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkmIvQQ0SGB2ALeY1mG5WZSVAczB_W1S_gJDFmjscNWj4G9mcj3z4Iaxu9A9hgYGiLPJ2ert3WBorgafTKVoapfSUCEhOdj8hlGT0IHKYgNuBCaPolEY_MBmW2Yq4ZKh_pfgy5YT1vh9w/s1600-h/Conf%C3%A9rence+de+branche+TONTOUTA+205.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkmIvQQ0SGB2ALeY1mG5WZSVAczB_W1S_gJDFmjscNWj4G9mcj3z4Iaxu9A9hgYGiLPJ2ert3WBorgafTKVoapfSUCEhOdj8hlGT0IHKYgNuBCaPolEY_MBmW2Yq4ZKh_pfgy5YT1vh9w/s320/Conf%C3%A9rence+de+branche+TONTOUTA+205.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396561357584856562" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfb2HI5DrZu90UjWukIVb702-wT6k_78QNflmgCuYxAi7l3JiSWOkYKI4YZnjjOx_5OZ8ozT8dWunozvz7mM1ydaj_kzqvzMPnVplOT2tHx2iHONpPscoQRypM8Rkos1LFM60TUPQ8I7g/s1600-h/Conf%C3%A9rence+de+branche+TONTOUTA+100.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfb2HI5DrZu90UjWukIVb702-wT6k_78QNflmgCuYxAi7l3JiSWOkYKI4YZnjjOx_5OZ8ozT8dWunozvz7mM1ydaj_kzqvzMPnVplOT2tHx2iHONpPscoQRypM8Rkos1LFM60TUPQ8I7g/s320/Conf%C3%A9rence+de+branche+TONTOUTA+100.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396561353745305906" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXOJBcewZESl39MBZpwHL1CQrwrsglrqnafJJEf_dv-VVsSIHDtiM6yZ8sPDtr8DQfxrvsGSOZL8_OxkFELUUSIHUD-zhipD7EiAwm__tYhGRia_078TRv9jm-bN0lSJlz4aosrEIAbik/s1600-h/photo+de+famille+%C3%A0+chapelle+de+tontouta+017.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 238px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXOJBcewZESl39MBZpwHL1CQrwrsglrqnafJJEf_dv-VVsSIHDtiM6yZ8sPDtr8DQfxrvsGSOZL8_OxkFELUUSIHUD-zhipD7EiAwm__tYhGRia_078TRv9jm-bN0lSJlz4aosrEIAbik/s320/photo+de+famille+%C3%A0+chapelle+de+tontouta+017.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396561349402994354" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:medium;"><div id=":s9" class="ii gt" style=" margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 15px; padding-bottom: 20px; font-size:13px;"><div lang="FR" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><i>We just got a very special email from Brother Harold Li-Khau who is in Collin's new branch. It looks like he has been transferred to Tontouta and he gets to be companions with Elder Wilcox again! We didn't hear from Collin about this yet, but I'm sure we will later today. I thought it was so sweet to hear from someone in Collin's mission and to read what they think of him. It was very nice of him to take the time to email us and send pictures too. He looks good and happy, and it looks like he gets delicious food to eat :)</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"><i>The Li-Khau family I remember hearing about when Collin was in his first area, Paita. They used to go over there for dinner every week. It's wonderful to hear from Brother Li-Khau how much Collin has improved with his french since the last time he used to go visit them, which was a year ago. Wow, time really flies! He will be coming home in about 6 months. Amazing!</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Hello,</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">My name is brother LI-KHAU Harold you can see my family picture, I just wanted to let you know that Elder WINGET is doing very well here with us in our branch, I remember for the time he came on his mission, his first area was our branch and his French was not really that but you know it is normal for a new missionary , every Thursday they always come home have dinner with our family, we really help him to learn our language, our father in heaven and with your prayer really bless him, I believe in the 7<sup>th</sup> article of faith, myself too I was like him wen I was on my mission in Fiji, I did not how to speak in English and through that experience, I know that Elder WINGET can do it, like I did it, today he can speak really good French, 2 years far away from his family it is sounds that it is longer but for me no!!! compare to the eternal life , Elder WINGET is a good example to us , today he is back to our branch with a really good French, every week we always have dinner with the missionaries at home, my wife and I know what is mission life ,we are both return missionaries, I serve my mission in Fiji and my wife in Tahiti, we understand the missionaries that why every week they use to come and have dinner and sharing the gospel together, we like to thank you and your family the big sacrifice to let him come on his mission to serve the lord ,we know that it was one of his goal to come on the mission, we know also that you had, and you will receive more blessing from the lord, may god bless you more in everything that you need, do not worry for your son, he is in the good hand, the gospel of Jesus-Christ is true, my wife and I have 4 children’s, Rebecca 16 years old, Dan 15 years old, Nathanaelle 11 years old and Catherine 7 years old, you can see in our pictures you can see also some others picture of Elder Winget during our branch conference with his companion Elder Wilcox, dear family we hope this news will make you happy, the church is true, I am sorry for the mistake, may god bless you all. One of the members on the other side of the world.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> <wbr> From the LI-KHAU family……</span></p><div><br /></div></div></div></div><div class="hq gt" style="font-size: 13px; margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 15px; clear: both; "></div></span>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-76018462274985343222009-10-11T17:34:00.000-07:002009-10-11T17:52:01.822-07:00TSUNAMI ! ... well, not really<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH96rtwtqaA8MN1mLXpOZxrySMArQZ3kHWuvC_R1CYX1iK2cBJnNf1yR9Ngqm_Iz2UyVUzcQQSjnxQl5so0UkShuTgFVbUY_Bg5EeTY-xYT4XbVC8_nCHZU5DYzjjFAy2QdLs_2WROetE/s1600-h/CIMG2336.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH96rtwtqaA8MN1mLXpOZxrySMArQZ3kHWuvC_R1CYX1iK2cBJnNf1yR9Ngqm_Iz2UyVUzcQQSjnxQl5so0UkShuTgFVbUY_Bg5EeTY-xYT4XbVC8_nCHZU5DYzjjFAy2QdLs_2WROetE/s320/CIMG2336.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391506749739111202" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><i>(Here's Elder Winget on a recent windy day)</i><br />Well, speaking of TSUNAMI-- that's about all the excitement from this week... Or rather, not exciting at all. We were chilling in our apartment on thursday morning when we got a call from the Zone leaders and they're like Hey there was a Tsunami in Vanuatu this morning and New Caledonia has a Tsunami warning so don't go close to the beach. And we were like so if we were planning on doing "service" at the beach, we shouldn't do it? They said yeah don't do that. Thursdays we're supposed to do service for people and no one ever wants us to do service for them so we have to make something up. Sometimes we pick up garbage and a few times we helped someone move or paint or whatever.. This time we just thought about going to pick up garbage on the beach. So we're like well, what now? Then about 10 minutes later the Zone Leaders called and said that president said to evacuate everyone to higher grounds as a precaution and that they were picking us up in 5 minutes. So we were like hmm, maybe there is something? So we went up on this big hill to this property the church owns- for when there is finally a stake here they'll build a stake center.. And at 11:15 there was supposed to be an earthquake again. Since Vanuatu is really close and there was actually an 8 magnitude smoething there i was thinking, well, maybe something will actually happen for once. Whenever pres and the ZLS freak out it always means nothing at all will happen. So we waited.. and waited... and nothing ahppened. it didn't even rain. I was like come on, just a Little wave even... There are no waves here since the entire island is a lagoon- so the water is always really calm. No waves, no earthquake, no nothing. so we went back home. And then it turns out Vanuatu didn't even get hit by a tsunami, they were just on tsunami warning... there was a 8 mag tremblement de terre ( earthquake) in the ocean though. Hmm, watev.<br /><br />Conference was great! For once there were no problems with the transmission thing so we got to watch all the sessions. We had some amis there and they liked it. I was happy. The most intense talk would have to be Elder Holland's talk about the Book of Mormon. I really enjoyed it. We all said they should have just ended the conference right there- it's anticlimactic to do anything else.. :) Anyway, it was great. I also liked when President Uchdorf talked about mormons being known for streams that talk, and trees that produce popcorn. We had a huge laugh about that.<br /><br />Other than that, not much happened. We did a small family home evening thing and invited Soane and Vaea who weren't able to come- but we did a small lesson and ate anyway at a family's house in our branch. The wife is from Vanuatu and speaks english and the husband is from here, and did his mission in Vanuatu. They have unidentical twin boy and girl that are absolutely adorable. In Vanuatu they have a ridiculous language called Bislama. Look it up- it's really interesting. It's basically like putting English in a blender.. We meet lots of people from Vanuatu here- it's close and they speak french over there.. kind of. Anyway, so the little kids think that missionaries are all named "shakehands" because their mom always says shake hands to them when they see the Elders. So they called me Hey! Shakehands! And I'm like what!? What's my name? Shakehands! Ha ha!!! It was adorable and hillarious. I'll have to get a video of them.. I'll try anyway.<br /><br />Well other than that nothing much happened. That's the scoop. Hey I might ask you next week to make me some CDS from conference- so you could send me them in the next package. But I want them in a special way so I'll show you with the computer controller thing next week or something. I wanted something else in a package.. But I don't remember now. Blah. Don't worry too much about me getting a package by halloween-- I'm not super concerned about it.<br /><br />Good luck with the primary program-- as long as the kids are singing I dont' think anyone can complain about it. And if they do you can tell them to take their kids to the other primary in the ward... ;)<br /><br />Thanks a million! I love you!<br /><br />Love,<br />elder winget</span>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-68507897161344400312009-09-27T20:28:00.000-07:002009-09-27T20:43:01.543-07:00Music, and beautiful beaches<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPRoQVrl1RJBLENIyv9Jo0dzAUGjp_mxi7yrXpB5mUhHF7qsA_Qk7TPd-1AarUFCO8IbFg5r1jzaUhLzO9lEKDiC1DxL0etrB2-Fsu5BwR9jAQV0ddBK6S0HLoh7nWlWGIb9jRbiNwK08/s1600-h/CIMG2534.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPRoQVrl1RJBLENIyv9Jo0dzAUGjp_mxi7yrXpB5mUhHF7qsA_Qk7TPd-1AarUFCO8IbFg5r1jzaUhLzO9lEKDiC1DxL0etrB2-Fsu5BwR9jAQV0ddBK6S0HLoh7nWlWGIb9jRbiNwK08/s320/CIMG2534.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386357341691230034" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Hi, it's me. Yes, it is September 28th.. Weird! I am bien surprised... Time flies, eh? Today me and Elder Green decided to watch the sunrise.. So we woke up at 4:30 AM and walked out to a nice little spot under a coconut tree and at about 5:45 it rose. It was marvellous. Then we decided, why not continue our tour? So we walked basically all around the bottom of the peninsula of Noumea and saw all the beaches. Well, we walked along Anse Vata and Baie des Citrons.. Which are amazingly beautiful beaches. We stopped by a little bakery and bought some french pastries (which are amazing, by the way..) and stopped by our dear Zone Leaders' appartment and shared them with them, along with some fish and more bread that they had. (they're tahitian.. I guess they eat fish and mashed potatoes for breakfast) Then we trekked out and did more beach tours and moseyed our way home by 11. It wasn't a super long walk, but we stopped to rest and take pictures every 20 min or so. We have some cool pictures of us under coconut trees and such.</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"> ( BTW, I looked these places up on Google Earth, and wow, they are beautiful beaches! )</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br />Other than that, this week we saw Soane and Vaea a few times, and Elder Mautz asked Soane when he's getting baptized and he said "bientot"- soon. They know what they have to do, and they're hopefully going to get married and then baptized. I think they're completely ready to get baptized-- besides that they live together unmarried. But I have noticed a huge change in them. Soane was a huge drinker and has stopped completely. Vaea used to be really meloncoly and sad all the time and actually cried during one of our lessons-- and now she seems happy all the time. The kids seem so much happier. We printed out a copy of that little picture we took of them (I think I sent it to you) and us and they put it in a little frame next to their TV. :)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">( That </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><i>picture is the one above) </i></span>They love us a lot and we love them back. I'm happy to be the instrument by which the Lord could bring them His Gospel. They'll make a wonderful addition to the Magenta branch.... Sooner than later I hope. Marriages are tricky in anywhere french... Especially since neither of them are from NC- but they're both French citizens so I hope it will go smoothly.<br /><br />We had a fireside in which we sang and spoke about Jesus Christ. The spirit was strong and Soane and Vaea were there- it doesn't seem like soemething they'd be amazingly impressed by... i kept looking at them and they didn't seem to be paying attention-- but afterwards they were both really really happy and said they loved it. Sister Swapp sang and she has an amazing voice. It really made the program.<br /><br />We had a practice for a fireside that we'll be singing in in October and for the Christmas program with the district .. sometime in Christmas time. And everyone keeps telling me that I sing really well.. I hate drawing attention to myself cuz then people will ask me to sing solos and stuff- but they keep asking me to sing louder. Blah. Elder Mautz keeps telling me every time he hears me that I sing amazingly and that I need to take voice lessons and stuff when I get home. i'll think about it. I wouldn't mind singing in church every once in a while. Maybe I can sing something in French. :D<br /><br />We went to this concert thing at the Catholic Cathedral in Centre Ville on Saturday. These kids of 7-14 in age sang gregorian and latin and stuff.. And it was AMAZING! I was so impressed and entertained. It was really calm and cool music. I hope they come back again some time. They're all New Caledonian kids too.<br /><br />So on saturdays they are doing this rock concert thing in Centre Ville that local bands can come and play for everyone.. Kind of like a battle of the bands. Sometimes we're in the area to contact people.. And sometimes take a short peek at the music. :) While they were setting up we were taking a lunch break and sitting on this bench and this guy pulls up who was part of the set up crew..... His windows were down and he was playing loud music. There was this rad music playing with a cool bass sound and I was like woah, what's that? That's cool sounding.. Then the words came in and I realized it was MUSE!!! He was playing the new MUSE CD!!! . I heard about 10 seconds of a song I don't know.. But those 10 seconds were some of the best of my life. That little clip keeps playing over and over in my head. We went over and talked to the dude and asked him if that was the new muse cd. he said yes and he loves muse. He said they come to play in Australia sometimes and he always goes. He said that there are lots of people who like muse in NC. Go figure. I was happy though.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Well that's about all that happened this week. Cool beaches, and muse.</span></span></span></div></div>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-18833222118830199972009-09-13T20:18:00.000-07:002009-09-13T20:27:34.479-07:00Family ties and the Gospel<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKIN_8L7KeYQPVwTRr49jNQiKpFlRJ_Iy7Mu4Pp1bYuk9yjLiEftEFouMeoo7sF-8A380gjUEsGinlbF4vENB2FA3n2G-iJRB-CqaZSaUJJU9oC-KgQsNqY5CI-rOnyc1TzN9lbCazcjo/s1600-h/CIMG2421.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKIN_8L7KeYQPVwTRr49jNQiKpFlRJ_Iy7Mu4Pp1bYuk9yjLiEftEFouMeoo7sF-8A380gjUEsGinlbF4vENB2FA3n2G-iJRB-CqaZSaUJJU9oC-KgQsNqY5CI-rOnyc1TzN9lbCazcjo/s320/CIMG2421.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381159276782192786" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;"><i>this is Collin's hat that I knitted for him... here's his latest email:</i></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;">Not a lot has happened since the last time I talked to you-- 3 days ago. We did service for a less active member- she moved and so we moved all her stuff. Their family is sad- and it made me so very thankful for mine. We talked to the mom lady the other day- she owns a tahitian pearl shop, so she's decently loaded. She has nice cars, nice apartment, etc.. And the money really got to her head. We were talking to her the other day and she said she's currently going through a divorce and it's hard.. She said the reason she's getting divorced is cuz her husband wasn't a worthy priesthood holder and that the reason she doesn't go to church was because she didn't want the members to call her by her husband's last name. Well, turns out she's really more of the reason for the divorce- because she's having an affair.. She has 3 little daughters- 16 yrs old, 14ish and 3. And it's really really tearing apart the family. The 16 year old is amazingly strong, and has a ridiculously amazing testimony. Even though no one else in her family is really active and stuff, she really does her best. I really admire her- especially since she's only 16 years old. You can tell that the divorce and the affair is really affecting her though. All this garbage made me realize two things- number 1. i'm really blessed. She was talking to us the other day and said me and Elder Green are really blessed. And we're like yeah yeah.. And she's like no, are your parents sealed in the temple? How far away do you live from a temple? Do you get to go to conference in the conference center? How far do you live from the prophet? She said she's going through a lot of trials in her life.. And we could do nothing but say we're sorry and to keep doing the best she can. But it really made me think.... I am blessed!! My family is together and we love each other.. We are practicing members of the true church- and we are enormously blessed because of it. How great is that? I love you guys. But then the other thing I learned-- number 2: Her family situation sucks- her parents don't care, and actually complain about taking her to church and seminary. But she is there every week without fail. Her family doesn't pray or read scriptures together- and yet she does. We can be strong wherever we are- and we should never make excuses about our situation... We always have the choice ourselves to be good and to keep the commandments, or not. Let us not make excuses for our situations- but let us be strong and create zion in the midst of babylon.<br /><br />Other than that, we had a lesson with Soane and Vaea and a member named Frere Tuahiva (kind of-- his name is actually like 20 syllables, so he goes by a nick-last name.) He's great, and he helped us a lot. One really cool thing about being a missionary-- is that I know I'm not like amazing necessarily-- I don't have any magical powers and I don't know anything about anyone's problems or their lives.. Sometimes I have to pretend to know stuff about how to solve problems- but really all I can do is rely on the Lord. I don't know anything about how to fix Soane or Vaea's problems- but we do the best we can to teach them how to fix their own problems.. And it works! The last lesson I told you about- Vaea was having a really crappy time and we tried to help her the best we could.. she was looking for us to help her fix her problems. But the best answers we had were prayer, scriptures, and repentence. She didn't seem to like that answer because it sounded to vague- or so I gathered. But then the next time we came over with Frere Tuahiva- they were both doing SO much better. That was the first time I've seen her smile in a long time. She was happy- and participated in the lesson. Soane was doing good too. They said that they talked out their problems with each other and with the Lord. And even though I couldn't solve their problems- He can. And will. And did. They're doing better and going great. The kids are still awesome.<br />Frere Tuahiva helped a lot- he shared his experiences about how the gospel ahs really helped his family and that he is happy. I saw a huge contrast- you could tell that the rich lady isn't super happy, and nor are her kids. But then Frere Tuahiva just has an average manual labor job, a smallish dumpy house, and a so so car. But he's so happy- all the time. His family is happy. They love each other. Money really doesn't buy happiness--- we really need to realize that happiness comes from the Lord and His gospel. Reminds me of that quote from CS Lewis from general conference- can't remember who said it- but CSL said that life is a neverending struggle of man trying to find something other than God to make him happy.<br />Also during the lesson, Tiro, the little kid, drew us a picture.. it was so cute. he drew me and elder Green and the church- and he wrote (in funny kid-bad spelling) You are the best missionaries in the world and you teach us! I'll have to make a copy of it and send it to you.. It's hanging up on our fridge at home.<br /><br />So that's about all that's happened since we last met.<br /><br />I'm glad this primary thing is getting off the ground.. I'm glad Sister Gaya was so gung ho to do it.. I haven't had to do anything.. ha ha. If there's anything I can do though, I'd be happy to do it.<br /><br />I'm excited for the package. Thanks a million!<br /><br /><br />Well, thanks for everything, I love you a lot. I'll see you later!<br />Love,<br />elder winget</span>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-73751693545899494862009-09-11T04:51:00.000-07:002009-09-11T05:18:56.892-07:00"Obama made this sandwich" - and other adventures<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrqAfdSoT85l6HRW9RHmsdynobD1GAT9vwPp9mH-WWmgf61T9hrkPZQIsnXX5pPrmzavR4k7IcxTGjBEiu63gUgWtMQhjenR1aoFWK7-kTMjy9n8Q4krnym1ADCz1n5sRDc1ySZUoa1mM/s1600-h/CIMG2384.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrqAfdSoT85l6HRW9RHmsdynobD1GAT9vwPp9mH-WWmgf61T9hrkPZQIsnXX5pPrmzavR4k7IcxTGjBEiu63gUgWtMQhjenR1aoFWK7-kTMjy9n8Q4krnym1ADCz1n5sRDc1ySZUoa1mM/s400/CIMG2384.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5380180442634324658" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">A few nights ago we were hungry and tired and every single dish in our house was dirty- literally.. We just stopped washing dishes and dug all the random little ones out of the cracks to put our food in - instead of washing them. So we had a giant pile of dishes in the sink.. And didn't feel like washing them to make dinner. So we broke down and paid 40 bucks for a pizza. On our way home we met this crazy homeless drunk man that we call "Indian people" - he likes to speak in extremely broken french and a few months ago told us a story about indian people--- ?? pointing to the sky and stomping on the ground and saying how bush, kennedy and clinton were bad but obama is good--- and saying indian people over and over and over. I think. We didn't understand very much- but for that we call him indian people. Anyway, this night we were carrying home a pizza-- and we ran into HIM. Right outside our house. He starts saying things in extremely broken english/french and we eventually hear (over and over and over and over) that is name is Jake. Then he asks us to wash his clothes- and talks about obama and how bush is bad- and that his sister is a member and lives at our church. Then he tells us about random crap and then asks us for the PIZZA. I was like ah.... uh... Hold on. So we ran up to the house, and instead of giving him our 40 dollar pizza, we made him and his friend a sandwich, some crackers, and an apple. So we brought it down to him and he's like HEY did this sandwich come from AMERICA!? And we're like no, we made it.. And he's like OH this apple is AMERICAN! And we're like, no, we actually just bought it down the street at Geant. And he's like WOAH this comes from AMERICA!? And he wouldn't accept it because he was so confused... and I was like YES. OBAMA MADE THIS SANDWICH. And he was SO grateful to Obama. HE ate the sandwich and kept saying BUSH NO GOOD OBAMA GOOD. And I'm like well, good luck. So we went back in our house. Bad news- A bunch of hostile bums know where we live and want to use our washing machine- Jake is fine, but the other bums are scary. We're slightly scared. Oh well.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So, this internet place we're at was CLOSED on Monday, so we had to wait until we had a spare minute and so that's why we're writing you on THURSDAy. Sorry it's so late.. But it's worth it, right?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So lately the word has got out that I know a thing or two about computers- and everyone has been asking me for help. It's pretty sweet- I typed up a business paper and made some graphs for someone today while the other elders and sisters in my district painted her house. That's what we did for service today.. That was fun. I love messing around on the computer. It was interesting- I was typing all this junk in french and had no idea what it all meant. I tihnk they're designing a car.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We talked to some interesting people this week- We were knocking doors late at night (for New Caledonia- 6:30 pm) and we saw this lady getting into her car- she had a Vanuatu flag in her window- so we decided to talk to her (Vanuatu people are always nice.) Turns out she was jamming out in her car to some silly Pentocostal Christan Rock in English- and was really interested in talking to us. She actually suggested that we come talk to her.. So we were excited to take her number down and set a Rendezvous with her. So Elder Green says what's your number? And gets his planner and pen ready- and she says 80... And then.. closes her eyes.... and starts swaying back and forth. I thought maybe she couldn't remember her phone number.. Maybe it's a new phone? But then I looked closer.. She was ROCKING OUT to the music!!! Right in the middle of telling us her phone number!! We were dumbfounded.. And just kept staring at her. Remember that Seinfeld episode that Elaine's boyfriend has like "his song"- and won't talk while it's playing? It was exactly like that- so like 50-60 seconds later, my companion finally says, um.. good song! And she's like OH! It's so good! I'll make a rendezvous with you and I will make you a copy of the CDs! Oh it's amazing.. I love music in English! I hate music in French.. I don't speak english, but the miracle is when I'm listening to Worship music, I understand! And we're like um, okay. So, what's that phone number..?? So she gives it to us.. We've tried calling her since and haven't found her yet. We'll see.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Second interesting person- we were walking down the street, once again pretty late at night (about 7) and this woman passes by- we said bonsoir and almost kept walking- but then we felt like we needed to talk to her.. So we did. She said she has had a really hard life- her husband mistreats her, and she's looking for a church who really worships the Savior. She said she has gone to other churches, and they don't seem to be serious- they woship the Lord with their words- but don't do anything. She believes in God and prays every day that her life will get better- and she says she cries a lot. She lives in a squatt and doesn't have a very good job- her husband drinks a lot and it's getting hard. We started talking to her about the restoration- it sounded like Exactly what Jesus Christ said when he appeared to Joseph Smith (translating in my mind from french- won't be exact) They approach me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me--- We talked to her about the Gospel and how Jesus Christ has extended the invitation that he will lighten our burdens if we come unto Him.. She was really really touched and shed a few tears. We gave her a Restoration pamphlet and invited her to church.. She said she probably couldn't come to church because of her husband.. But was nevertheless very very happy to talk to us. We left her with a prayer and went on our way. We got her phone number-- and today tried to call her. Elder Green talked to.. her husband. Who was a complete jerk and wouldn't let us talk to her. He just insulted us over and over and yelled and wouldn't tell us anything..He left us with an ultimatum- if we ever want to talk to his wife again, why don't we just pray about it and that Holy Ghost of ours will lead us to her. We're going to take him up on the offer.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We taught Frere Katrawa again- his wife is studying to be a teacher- and was in Ouvea at the time on a student teaching thing. He had lots of questions- we didn't get to teach him what we had planned.. It was completely improv. But we came to the conclusion together that he needs to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true. He said his wife had prayed about it- and kept feeling this weird happy warm feeling.. But she wasn't sure if it was an answer. We're like AHH!! That's the answer! So we talked to her about it.. she said she's scared of change. I don't blame her. She's a member of a very strongly protestant family. I hope they realize the importance of all this.. I think they know it's true- but are scared to admit it.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We had Zone Conference this Tuesday. Me and elder green were asked to do a roleplay on street contacting- since we do it the most. We represented the people to be contacted- and some poor unsuspecting missionaries from Dumbea were our victim missionaries. We bascially just did what people do here- ask us about stupid things in america (DO YOU KNOW SNOOP DOG!? What does we will we will wattuu(rockyou) mean? How do you say smoke pot in english? Do you live in New york? Are you cowboys? Does your tie cost 300 dollars?) whistle and wave at every one of their friends at the most inconvienient part (everyone knows e</span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">vvveryone</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> - it's an island.. and when you see someone you know, you are partially obligated to whistle relaly loud and wave at them obnoxiously. even if it's in the middle of a missionary's testimony) and just basically were obnoxious. It was really fun and just about every single missionary came up to us after and were like HA HA HA that was so funny when you said.. whatever. But really we just acted out real life. Silly.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Also we had interviews with pres- once again he brought up that thing that I need to be a district leader or zone leader or something and I said aw that sounds hard. We'll see if I get called in the months that follow.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Soane and Vaea are doing.. good? bad? They want to get married and baptized at some point- we casually talked about it without sounding too pushing. They said they want to. Vaea is going through some hard times.. She says she's praying and praying and doesn't feel like God is forgiving her of her sins- we did an activity that we put all the books on Soane's outstretched arms and remove them with each step of the repentance process. She says she feels like the books are all on her right now.. and it's hard. We'll do the best we can to help them. They come to church most every week, they read the scriptures, and (this is a new update) drumroll... Started having family prayer and scripture study EVERY NIGHT!!!! I'm So happy that they finally took us up on that offer.. :) The kids are doing so well! They're about 8 and 7 and they LOVE primary SO much.. As soon as the prayer is over in sacrament meeting I turn my head and they disappear- ran off to primary! No one has to show them where to go. They love it so much. Tiro (the 8 year old little boy) has been praying and reading scriptures. They love it. Sometimes it feels like their family is progressing really well.. And sometimes digressing. The best part is though, they're seeing blessings and it's really cool to think that it's me and my companion who extended the invitation to accept the gospel into their lives-- I know it's not me that is blessing them, but it's cool to think that the Lord is working through me. I love it.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">That's about all that happened with us this week.. We'll try to write on monday again-- we'll have to rework our pday norm- they've changed their operating hours. But whatever.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Thanks for the package, whenever you can send it. Don't stress, I'm fine.. but I'd love a package. That's funny you saw that faux de fafa movie-- I love love love those guys.. they're so stupidly funny. Ha ha! That's so cool you met Frere Luke-- he wasn't my teacher but he was elder green's teacher- and he subbed for us a bunch of times. I'm glad he remembered me- it's been more than a year since I seen him.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Ironically I just started getting a bunch of letters- I guess they were already in the mail. Hopefully I'll get more though.. I think I'm doing pretty good though, for being over the hump and still getting some. So I'm happy.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">That's so RAD that you met sister Gaya! I'm glad this primary thing is working out for you-- Hopefully this can continue even after I get home-- then i can do some of the translating and stuff. That would be cool if this just keeps going and going for years and becomes a church legend. Ha ha.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Don't forget to send me a shirt or two if you send me a package.. :)</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Thanks for everything! Thanks for the email. I love you a lot and I miss you tons. I'll see you soon.. Time goes by quick eh? I'll be home before we know it. Keep being good and keeping the commandments- I know you'll see miracles.</span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Love,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">elder winget</span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#500050;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div></div></span>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-29866195054428484392009-09-06T20:58:00.000-07:002009-09-06T21:20:18.161-07:00the Meeting of the Primary Presidents<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOp0JoYK-mT7tf1oh0NTFeyakvT6GkcLrcyIswDoarFS5aEpitgyEYVNwen5nxL55wKuyTKQ47qn6cBvEM3HBRhQ1BWWI1cuBc9BHoJwEiu9KS9c8UTSvpmr0vGwsXgyzbxVaHPshZ5cE/s1600-h/P1010874.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOp0JoYK-mT7tf1oh0NTFeyakvT6GkcLrcyIswDoarFS5aEpitgyEYVNwen5nxL55wKuyTKQ47qn6cBvEM3HBRhQ1BWWI1cuBc9BHoJwEiu9KS9c8UTSvpmr0vGwsXgyzbxVaHPshZ5cE/s400/P1010874.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378570524835348610" /></a>Today was a very exciting day for me! This is Linda Gaya, who is the Primary president in the Noumea 2nd branch, in the ward where Collin is currently serving. And this is how we came to meet:<div><br /></div><div> Back last fall when I was called to be Primary president, I had this ambitious idea to have our Primary be pen pals with the Primary children in the areas where our ward had missionaries serving. I quickly learned that this would be an almost impossible undertaking, since missionaries are very busy and generally don't have time to visit Primary and set up things like that. I nearly gave up on that idea, until a few weeks ago Collin was talking to Sister Gaya and he mentioned my pen pal idea and how cool it would be if something could work out. Well, she surprised us all by telling him she used to live in Orem and would be going there for a visit soon! We exchanged emails and and today she came to Primary and spoke to the children. She had the children in her branch write their testimonies on the backs of postcards. The writing is in french, but my secretary is french and can translate for us! Sister Gaya speaks perfect English and french, so it was no problem getting to know her and having her answer the kids questions about living in New Caledonia. Then in a few weeks she will be going back, and we will have our Primary kids write postcards for them. And you can be sure that I will have something special for her to hand deliver to my favorite missionary :D It is amazing how this all worked out!</div><div>This has really been a fun day!</div><div><br /></div><div>By the way, thanks for reading this blog. When you get the time, please send a letter to Collin :) He would love it!</div><div>I'm trying to figure out how to put up his address in the sidebar of the blog. Be patient with me, I hope to get it solved soon!</div>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-38689631681983167212009-09-06T19:47:00.001-07:002009-09-06T20:03:57.548-07:00More run-ins with drunk guys, and a special message<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUtg-pbunEsY45c63DzS-hZxHj4pvyspsPOjdOUAxRBimFr_Ds6LfnGbBWeMIB3SRSDd3MGqKSk0ZU5IrYFlcgCDQAXx3n76V3yjH5qoWcz8JmvyEiP5NC8wajO1T4d2GdQfH4IOdLNu0/s1600-h/CIMG2358.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUtg-pbunEsY45c63DzS-hZxHj4pvyspsPOjdOUAxRBimFr_Ds6LfnGbBWeMIB3SRSDd3MGqKSk0ZU5IrYFlcgCDQAXx3n76V3yjH5qoWcz8JmvyEiP5NC8wajO1T4d2GdQfH4IOdLNu0/s400/CIMG2358.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378555281175430594" /></a><i>this is a picture of Collin surfing on a trash can overlooking Noumea on a very windy day</i><br /><div><i><br /></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(80, 0, 80); font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">Here's excerpts from last week's email - Collin has Zone Conference this week, so I will be surprised if he emails us today. Sometimes the elders can email their families on a different day of the week if they have Zone Conference or something, so if he sends us anything later I will post it.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">Collin has a message for his friends and family at the end of his email, so be sure to read it!</span></div>Yeah so I do have Adobe Photoshop- because of the USB flash drive you sent me. I actually use it a lot- just for resizing pictures and stuff. It works great. I have missed messing around in photoshop for a while-- So I decided to do it this time. Anyway, I'm fine now - I did use the medecine you sent with me- I had one theraflu left from last time I was sick and I used it and I felt decently well.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;color:#500050;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size:small;"><br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:100%;color:#500050;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size:13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:13px;">this week was fine- I forgot to tell you about one thing we did last week for service. We do service every Thursday- and this week we couldn't find anything to do so we just found this empty lot where lots of homeless people sleep and picked up all the garbage. We got everything that was visible- there was still much much more hiding in the bushes. I wouldn't be surprised if we picked up 2000+ beer cans.. And lots of other junk. The pile we made after having cleaned up the whole thing was about 6 feet tall and 15 feet long and 5 feet wide. It was HUGE - and a very small lot. As we were dumping off the last load and about to go home this dude comes up to us and starts complaining about white people- What are you guys doing!? What, so America has to come over here and give KANAKYs a lesson about cleaning up!? More like WE'll teach YOU a lesson! We don't need your lessons.. And i'm like dude, this was dirty, we have to see it 3 times a week and it smells and looks horrible so we just wanted to serve you. Stop complaining and let us go home. And he starts going off on us- The color of the skin doesn't matter! Stop being racist! I'm black and you're white but we bleed the same blood! And i'm like well.. I never said otherwise! And he just keeps complaining. Then this other dude- stoned and drunk off his mind comes up to us and says HEY are you going to pull some weeds while you're at it?? And i'm like... no. We don't have time. We just wokred for about 4 hours just on the garbage. BUt you can do it!!! And he said well.. I dont' have any gloves like you have. And I'm like look, if I give you these gloves, will you clean up and pull weeds and keep this place clean? And his eyes get all big and he nods his head excitedly. So I hand him my nice leather gloves.. Thinking he wouldn't do a thing with them. But he ACTUALLY STARTS PULLING WEEDS!!!! LOL! So he makes a huge pile of weeds and actually starts cleaning and we went home. We came back about a week later and it's already as bad as before. Oh well, we tried.<br /><br />Then this saturday we were involved in "Projet Mont Dore Propre" - project clean mont dore- a city next to Noumea. We woke up and went straight to the chapel.. They gave us a cool T-shirt and we picked up garbage all around Mont Dore. It was great publicity for the church- we had about 50ish members show up and almost no one else showed up. We did a great job too. They took our picture and it will be in the newspaper. Tragically, I missed the picture-- but they took another one and they're going to try to get it in the local news section of the Liahona. I picked up 6 or 7 bags of trash- and we separated it to be recycled. Cool! Lots of garbage pick up.<br /><br />Later this week my companion and I were talking to people in the Place des Cocotiers- the little park in the middle of town- and this dude waves us over. Just a little black guy. We start talking to him and he's really nice... He said he has been to prison lots of times because of "aggressing people" -- and I said woah, are you going to aggress us?? Ha ha, no of course not! So we kept talking about the gospel and stuff and then we asked him what he does for a living. And he's like well, I just ask people for their spare change! And we're like well... Do you want to change that? And he's like no, it's fine.. It's a good job. Adn we're like well, maybe you should work? Wouldn't that be better? And we get into an argument about how US - the white people- stole his land and ruined everything and that blah blah blah.. and I'm like well.. you can still go back to the tribu and work your land if you want! (he kept complaining about how me- the white people - paved everything so he can't work the ground and plant plants) and he gets all mad and starts saying that we don't know anything and us the white people ruined the whole world and blah blah blah and that i don't even know how to work the earth! And i'm like well-- I have a garden chez moi- and he's like yeah well you stole that land from the indians! and you stole the land in Australia from the Aboriginal people! And you stole the land from the Tahitians! And he goes on and on about how we kill people and I'm like dude, I've never killed anyone in my life.. I didn't do any of that stuff.. I'm probably not even related to any of these people. We're just here to serve and teach the gospel and stuff. And he just gets way mad and punches elder green- And I'm like woah.. Let's just go. cuz elder green wanted to hit him back really bad- and I'm like its not worth it.. Peace dude. So this dude just starts YELLING in the middle of town over and over and over- silly guy.<br /><br /><br />Mostly these days what we need is more investigators- this week we're going to work hard to find some new ones. I hope it works!<br /><br />Well that's about everything that happened in this past week.. I wrote a couple letters- I've officially replied to EVERY letter I've ever gotten- so could you put up a notice on my blog? Something like -<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">ATTENTION EVERYONE- I want some mail- send me some. This is a call to repentance. If you have been thinking about sending me a letter recently- do it! I have officially replied to every letter I have recieved as of September 1st. If you haven't gotten a letter from me in a while- that's cuz either<br />1. You haven't sent me one - I dont' have time to write people who don't write back!!!<br />2. It's in the mail and is coming to you soon.<br />3. I never got your letter in the mail- and so you'll have to send me a new one.<br />Do it!</span><br /><br />Okay that's all. .i love you a lot and I hope you have a great week.<br /><br />Love,<br />elder winget<br /><br /></span></span></span></div></div></div>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-5621497153746889152009-08-25T07:03:00.000-07:002009-08-25T07:14:36.352-07:00Elder Winget gets la Grippe<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIIlyySDs6D-gXCrIeCDYmGR0gpk8sGuPGeZDxyv5BCXt1UiU5Q5aeazeCMwWoFDaSQX8JZ6ms8aRbUPpT4uPaKzL0fnB_4UTZ6LKVLzxr7IZsZVlwVrVM-_U_LyXQTwllrc_udR7o2yk/s1600-h/Families+can+be+together+forever+copy.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIIlyySDs6D-gXCrIeCDYmGR0gpk8sGuPGeZDxyv5BCXt1UiU5Q5aeazeCMwWoFDaSQX8JZ6ms8aRbUPpT4uPaKzL0fnB_4UTZ6LKVLzxr7IZsZVlwVrVM-_U_LyXQTwllrc_udR7o2yk/s400/Families+can+be+together+forever+copy.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373902211044244114" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;">I</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;"> woke up this morning to a special surprise - Collin had emailed us during the night, and he even sent us this picture! He made it out of pictures I had emailed him recently, but he didn't mention how he got access to Photoshop... but I laughed so hard my stomach hurt! I feel just like that baby sun in Teletubbies :D So, here is most of the email he sent me:</span></i><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; border-collapse: collapse; ">So sorry I didn't send a weekly email on time- the internet place was closed in the morning and we were too lazy to go back in the Afternoon- so we came today. This week was not super eventful-- I can't remember a lot that happened. But I do remember a couple things.. I got pretty sick the other day and got all feverish and dizzy and wanted to die. I was hot and then cold and then hot and then cold.. It started out during church.. It was a nice sunny warm day and I was freezing cold chattering my teeth and shivering all through church. Miserable. Then I started dying so eventually we went home. I slept for about 15 hours.. kind of. horrible night. but then in the morning I was.. decent. Throughout the day it got better.. And now i'm okay. It was a pretty short flu. Everyone's freaking out over the swine flu (or Grippe A as we call it in french I guess) so I was thinking it would be something serious but I tihnk i'm fine now. I've still got about a gallon of mucus inside of me, but other than that all is well. Today was Elder Green's birthday- we made lunch at the house and the zone leaders brought over a cake and it was fun. I drank about a gallon of vegetable oil-- or rather I ate a bunch of deep fried food- and so now I am all tired and fat. But we actually have to go teach a lesson soon so I don't have a lot of time. I did make a picture for you though.. </span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;"> ( for this next part, I had asked him what people over there think of Americans)</span></i></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; "><div>People here.... have so many ideas of americans.. This one guy on the street told me to go home and told me in strong language that I should go back to america with my rich clothing and stop telling them how to live their lives. I said dude, do you know how much money is in my wallet? About 5 dollars. Do you know what I ate for breakfast? nothing. Dinner last night? nothing. Do you know what apartment I live in? No, not the most expensive hotel in noumea, a small crappy apartment in vallee des colons. My tie did not cost 300 euros (which he said) but about 9 dollars. My shirt was about 3 dollars. Calm down. Other people think that america is constant gang fights and that you're always running for your life. I do hear much talk about cowboys. Elder Livingston started telling these girls that the USA they see on tv doesn't really exist- it's all a hoax- people live in tin shacks and there's fires everywhere and you have to scrape for your food and that Socks in english is chaussets. He got sick of people telling/asking him what america is like.. So he made up a new america. So needless to say.. America is a hot topic. Some people are still grateful for America saving them in World War 2 (look it up- new cal was a huge military base aparently) and many people are flaberghasted and honored to <em>meet</em> americans.. so- it's interesting.</div><div> </div><div>Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful week and I'll see you later!</div><div> </div><div><br />Love,</div><div>elder winget</div></span>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-40057075093983232202009-08-23T18:44:00.000-07:002009-08-23T18:49:27.506-07:00Lost in the Jungle has a picture now!Hey, I just wanted to let you know I added a picture to the post a while back called "Lost in the Jungle". Collin emailed us some pictures - one of them was what he and Elder Wilcox looked like as they came out of the jungle all wet and dirty :D So if you're interested, go back and check it out!<div>Also, the last 3 posts are new and contain lots of stories and pictures, so if you have some time to read, have fun!</div>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-75169977908341728622009-08-23T18:16:00.000-07:002009-08-23T18:36:42.144-07:00Lots of New Stuff! part 2<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6A2plfT0vfJcraaCADGcfVLrlv_anU-rNwXrR7lQwAhlBZk2JG4AV-ML5rguT_onri8Qk_3dDjcy3fQFg_c7rYWGbOyWCuwPcQTmqN3R04BFL6Dse8RPLNjcEcsZ8HMB8n0qnib09Ao0/s1600-h/CIMG2594.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6A2plfT0vfJcraaCADGcfVLrlv_anU-rNwXrR7lQwAhlBZk2JG4AV-ML5rguT_onri8Qk_3dDjcy3fQFg_c7rYWGbOyWCuwPcQTmqN3R04BFL6Dse8RPLNjcEcsZ8HMB8n0qnib09Ao0/s320/CIMG2594.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373336508953449298" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ1ZQPSgIuhH4_BX0LTHOOqpFSE2vaBpGkBvbSYsL-hzFr_j6Wy3AyGeyRxhs84pr6eJDFIph8Q3MiMxSdXO6cl3A4lbghzQyD3tavzCpT_JjGKFI_Co4-YViM0Uzgx076kUlbjjyiacE/s1600-h/CIMG2600.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ1ZQPSgIuhH4_BX0LTHOOqpFSE2vaBpGkBvbSYsL-hzFr_j6Wy3AyGeyRxhs84pr6eJDFIph8Q3MiMxSdXO6cl3A4lbghzQyD3tavzCpT_JjGKFI_Co4-YViM0Uzgx076kUlbjjyiacE/s320/CIMG2600.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373336503571889426" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ZF2pTItUUUo5geL6fH_wou6BM4B8IVaKF25XsJR60AWb0AVRDA3Gkr_VFwYRV4uEJww55k0-boFpxqFzxR6QLYYBeMfRHgQvdj_b12b_8L4KOmXd2YDvziekVqWmaufhFFUUUwMheGM/s1600-h/CIMG2593.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ZF2pTItUUUo5geL6fH_wou6BM4B8IVaKF25XsJR60AWb0AVRDA3Gkr_VFwYRV4uEJww55k0-boFpxqFzxR6QLYYBeMfRHgQvdj_b12b_8L4KOmXd2YDvziekVqWmaufhFFUUUwMheGM/s320/CIMG2593.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373336072573985362" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQCXhdMI0nSc6eMH8pWJFa6x41-1v3SgIb_fe4npkchIHMQQk2OXwkAugyqEPx2XibxxVpUo_clk5N3uqF4w2wBRJQ5UMfz5SeNynRZe40Gj-pUJsdMmdNGyy4PSfUR8zkRHgNfo8dWv4/s1600-h/CIMG2585.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQCXhdMI0nSc6eMH8pWJFa6x41-1v3SgIb_fe4npkchIHMQQk2OXwkAugyqEPx2XibxxVpUo_clk5N3uqF4w2wBRJQ5UMfz5SeNynRZe40Gj-pUJsdMmdNGyy4PSfUR8zkRHgNfo8dWv4/s320/CIMG2585.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373335871985024002" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(80, 0, 80); font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Ha ha... Me and Elder Green convinced this kid that he doesn't want to go to America- he was saying how America is so great blah blah blah and we're like well, there are lots of problems too. Like, bears. And he's like huh? Yeah, bears in the streets. Thousands of them. In all major cities. Hundreds of people get mauled per month. And he's like well, why don't you shoot them? And I'm like um, environmentalists. It's illegal to shoot them.. Even in self defence. You get put in prison if you do. And he's like wow that's lame... Why don't you just go into the forest? And we're like um.. Forest fires. Everywhere. Millions of acres. And he's like wow.. america sounds dangerous.... Then he went and asked Elder Payne if it's really like that and he's like .. what? no.. And so our cover was blown. Dang. That was a few weeks ago though. </span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(80, 0, 80); font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />This week we went to the beach on monday- Kuendo Beach in Nouville. It's really pretty. It was really fun. We actually caught a small sting ray too! it was really cool. I saw A sting ray, a squid, lots and lots of little fish, and 3 sea snakes! All this week. They just came up to the shore randomly. We actually caught the sting ray and touched it and stuff. On Wednesday a girl threw up on Elder Green in the bus.. She's 15 and was kind of drunk. It was funny. It was only a little bit of barf. Embarrasing for her though.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;color:#500050;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(80, 0, 80); font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> And then we saw these drunk OLD WHITE men (weird..) tangled up on the ground.. Apparently the one guy had hit the other guy or something and they both fell to the ground. One guy was gushing blood out of his eye and the other guy was SO drunk.. Drunkest I had ever seen anyone in my life. He couldn't stand up. And he kept saying Je rend chez moi - I'm going home - and we're like um.. How? You're going to get hit by a car. So a passersby took the one bleeding guy to a hospital and we walked the other drunk man home. He was so drunk.. Me and elder green had to stand on either side of him and hold him up and walk really slow. That was silly. But lots of people saw us and were like awww, les freres you do such good things...it's annoying when people just swear at us and we want to say hey, we're actually here for your salvation, give me some credit. But then when people actually see us doing service, maybe the next time they won't cuss at us. We'll see. There aren't too many people in this city so it's pretty easy to be seen. :P Other than that not a lot happened. We're going back to the beach today and then on Tuesday the entire mission is being transferred- besides me and elder green and dumbea elders. Literally. Its really shaken up. Elder green is going to be district leader.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;color:#500050;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(80, 0, 80); font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Anyway... The yellowstone thing sounds fun.. It will be weird to come see mountains and bears instead of ocean ocean ocean. I really like the ocean a lot.. And there is a lot of it here. Since Noumea is a small peninsula (in french is presqu'ile- almost island) on a small island, there is water in every direction. And it's pretty. There's not a lot of ocean in Utah.. But that's okay. I'm excited to see what's changed. I was amazed when I got here that there's actually lots of mountains. I'd be interested to know the highest elevation.. On one of the mountains I heard it gets down as low as 40 degress! Holy cold... 80 degrees is fine with me. Why is it snowing in August at yellowstone? Weird.</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">( we just got back from Yellowstone last week )</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;color:#500050;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Well, that's the news from Elder Winget from the last month. Right now I am just waiting here at the computer for today's email... so when I get the latest from Collin I will post it right away this time :D</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, sans-serif;color:#500050;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Thanks for reading!</span></span></span></div></div></div>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-76093537016170174802009-08-23T17:45:00.000-07:002009-08-23T18:16:27.224-07:00Lots of new Stuff!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsVy3B92Gbc5AcbgbU-ZNFM9JAYCuMoTJIOl3Mev7YGgCWF2xnoaxp_8RvXtuOqH-kvR2OV6bAzuW-4VdMyw4NXXLoGM3fuJcOH2_8yDTZEDvhhYZss_UO9zvpkK2ysyi1HF4BvNStFY0/s1600-h/CIMG2485.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsVy3B92Gbc5AcbgbU-ZNFM9JAYCuMoTJIOl3Mev7YGgCWF2xnoaxp_8RvXtuOqH-kvR2OV6bAzuW-4VdMyw4NXXLoGM3fuJcOH2_8yDTZEDvhhYZss_UO9zvpkK2ysyi1HF4BvNStFY0/s320/CIMG2485.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373329006554107858" /></a><br />Hey everybody, I'm sorry I haven't posted anything new for a month. It's not that Elder Winget hasn't been doing anything interesting, it's just that I had some trouble with our photo storage on the computer and Rusty and I finally took the time to sort it all out. NOW I can post new pictures that Collin has been sending us, along with the stories that go with them. And there's a lot of them! So, let's get started...<div>Here's part of a letter he sent to Rusty early in August:<br /><div><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div>The weeks are indeed flying by.. it weirds me out that I've got only 30ish weeks left-- I remember when I was dealing with 104 of them and it sounded like an eternity... But really it was pretty short. The MTC was still pretty dang long though. Eugh.</div><div>Fast and testimony meetings here in New Caledonia are always a missionary's nightmare. People get up there and say n'importe quoi! (that means... whatever. random stuff. crap. etc.) They get up there and sing, tell stupid meaningless stories, and link strange scriptures together and somehow get to their point. But somehow, our investigators seem to love fast and testimony meeting. I think the thing is that I'm just horrified at what unorthodox things people are saying but the spirit is there regardless because it's sincere and from the heart. It will almost be boring to go home to Orem Utah where people follow the book... you know, don't pop balloons or answer their cell phone during sacrament talks and don't sing or yell during testimony meeting. Oh well. :)</div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div>People in New Caledonia always dump their TVs outside on the street. I see probably 10 a day- either TVs, computer monitors, etc. People also dump fans out on the street, and missionaries pick them up and fix them. It's silly and fun. Also this entire country is still on strike- apparently I found out that the strikers are actually blocking roads and getting violent with people trying to go to work and so the store shelves are getting kind of bare- the trucks bringing stuff into town can't get through. And also, the GARBAGe people are on strike.. So Noumea is very stinky these days. Oh well, what can you do.</div><div> </div><div>Well I hope all is well with you. Papa Winge as Elder Ammundsen says. :D I love you. have a great week.</div><div> </div><div>Love,</div><div>Elder Winget</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:13px;"><p>Also a big American Navy ship came into Dock in Noumea.. It was awesome. When we came around the corner and saw that American flag, it was amazing. Not a lot of American ships come in.. Once every few years maybe. A Mormon guy got off the ship and said hey elders! He explained their mission and stuff- he's a navy doctor stationed in Guam, and they are touring the really poor islands to give free medical care.. Noumea is just a "fun stop" he said. But I was really amazed at what cool stuff the US Navy does for people.. We hear about the crappy stuff on the news every day "spun" to make the US sound horrible.. But really they're doing good things for people every day.. And we don't ever hear about it. I love america.</p><div> ...</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:13px;"><p>So I had a bunch of CLB rings.. I found some in my apartment and I rounded up all the ones you sent me, and I ended up with 21 rings. So I wear one on my pinky all the time and whenever any kids comment on it I give it to them. So I've been giving them out from time to time. So I think I told you about the drunk guy on the street, whose name was "Manos"... (hands..??) who said Hey, give me that ring! And I'm like okay... here you go. He said he'd give it to his daughter. Anyway, that was a few weeks ago. So this monday we were walking back from internet to our house, and this drunk guy sitting on a wall was like hey! stop! Who are you guys? etc etc. We told him a little bit and he told us our religion was a cult and that we're satan's friends and stuff and we're like yeah yeah okay. And he's like hey! I hear you give out rings! And i'm like... What?? You mean like.. this one? And I held up mine and he's like yeah! And i'm like woah, woah, how'd you know I have a ring? And he's like... My friend told me! And i'm like whoah, is this.. Manos!? And he's like yeah!! SO i said well, if I give this to you, you have to choose the right! And he said yeah I'll do it.. blah blah so I gave it to him. I thought that would be the end of it.... But then last night we were walking down our street on our way home, it was about 9:00 and this lady comes running after us and was like hey!! Do you give out rings?! ANd I'm like..... Yeah.. I guess so... And she's like hey, I want one! And I'm like.. Well, do you know what it means? This says CLB- Choisir le Bien. When we look at it, it reminds us to keep God's Commandments. If you want to do something bad, look down and it will remind you to keep the commandments. If I give you this ring, will you choose the right? And she promised me she would... So i gave it to her. So weirdly enough, there are 3 grown people running around Noumea wearing children's CLB rings. I hope it helps them to choose the right.</p><div> ....</div><div>Now, here's some news from Aug. 9 :</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:13px;">Let me tell you about my week.. We didn't get very many lessons, but we did get a baptism. It went well and everything worked out. No I didn't get to use my white pants- although I actually did use them for when Soane got baptised last August. Ausia is a very large <wbr>guy- my companion says he'd <wbr>be a good NFL linebacker. But <wbr>he's a very gentle giant. And <wbr>then the guy who baptised him <wbr>is also very very large. So <wbr>they got out the big jumpsuit tihngs. It <wbr>went very well - All the <wbr>missionaries came, besides <wbr>those out in Exile (Paita, <wbr>Boulouparis, Borail) and they <wbr>all brought amis. There were <wbr>about 15 or so at the baptism.<wbr>. That's always really good <wbr>because the spirit is relaly <wbr>strong at baptisms- and <wbr>feeling the spirit is the <wbr>most important thing for an <wbr>ami to feel. Our amis didn't <wbr>come, but one got baptised so <wbr>that's good enough, eh? :)<br />So everything went according <wbr>to plan. Almost boring when <wbr>that happens- but I'm not <wbr>complaining. :) Other than <wbr>that, not a whole lot <wbr>happened. My shoes are on <wbr>their last stretch- My 1st pair of sandals died <wbr>months ago and I bought some <wbr>new ones and THOSE died- and <wbr>now these ones have huge <wbr>holes in the bottoms and hurt <wbr>my feet. BUT I made insoles <wbr>for them out of tape and <wbr>cardboard, and it actually <wbr>works really well. I am in <wbr>the middle of sewing them <wbr>together too- there is a part that <wbr>completely blew out so I have <wbr>to sew it. I already sewed it <wbr>once but it didn't stay so <wbr>this time I'm sewing heavy <wbr>duty. It's amazing that my <wbr>silly little needle can cut <wbr>all the way through leather <wbr>and rubber.. It's a little <wbr>bent, but it works. :D I'm <wbr>happy they're not completely <wbr>dead though- and I'm not <wbr>spending more money on stupid shoes. Blah. Other <wbr>than that, at the baptism on <wbr>saturday- --- we were talking <wbr>to a member and she asked us <wbr>which members fed us this <wbr>week and we said well... Only <wbr>the Sekeme family. And she <wbr>was like whaT?! The members <wbr>aren't feeding you? I have to <wbr>buy you dinner! And we're <wbr>like oh no, we're fine.. She'<wbr>s not in our area but she's <wbr>in our branch- so we can't <wbr>relaly go eat at her house. <wbr>But she said woah no I have <wbr>to feed you-- can I buy you <wbr>groceries? Make a list and I'<wbr>ll buy it. And we're like no, <wbr>we don't need anything.. don'<wbr>t worry about us.. And then <wbr>that night at about 9:00 she <wbr>pulls up with about 50 <wbr>dollars worth of food and <wbr>says I didn't know what you <wbr>liked so I hope this works!! <wbr>She bought us frozen pizzas, <wbr>ice cream, ham and cheese and <wbr>bread and butter and.. hmm.. <wbr>oh yeah chocolate. And we're <wbr>like oh no we can't take this-<wbr>- but she insisted and so <wbr>we're going to eat well this <wbr>week. :) We started <wbr>marinating our stake on <wbr>Friday night and still haven'<wbr>t had the chance to make it- <wbr>so we're going to eat really <wbr>really well marinated stake <wbr>on Tuesday night.. :D </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:13px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:13px;"><i>So, are you still with me? You haven't fallen asleep yet? Well if you're still reading, you must really be an Elder Winget fan! That makes me happy :) Okay, on to more stories and pictures, which I will put in another post.</i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:13px;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:13px;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div></span></div></span></div><div><div></div><div><div> </div></div></div></span></div></div></div>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844602879196953730.post-9759217748770257092009-07-19T18:39:00.000-07:002009-07-19T18:50:13.689-07:00It's Winter in New Caledonia<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYMpyhUBXMTySQ_x9VsFLvIibK6fzlGL7RR2BT7o_KlYHkbqncWthfngk_I1ufurPmLuIXNhw3MOsUeBqLtFvyYhZlWL9RUKNUq0eCijaZVXd-89gtWDIM52hi0LBFu8ZqsUhe4v0ZXpQ/s1600-h/CIMG2014.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYMpyhUBXMTySQ_x9VsFLvIibK6fzlGL7RR2BT7o_KlYHkbqncWthfngk_I1ufurPmLuIXNhw3MOsUeBqLtFvyYhZlWL9RUKNUq0eCijaZVXd-89gtWDIM52hi0LBFu8ZqsUhe4v0ZXpQ/s320/CIMG2014.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360353568433091138" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;">Hello! This is Elder Winget again.. It might be getting boring but here we are again. So this week was you know, same old same old. We're doing this choir missionary fireside thing on the 26th for like pioneer day.. And guess what- We're singing! Too much. We're actually singing this whole program thing for Joseph Smith (almost like pioneers..) And somehow the cat got let out of the bag that I can sing-- I was actually singing in the back of the Mautz' car (the senior couple) and he was like Wow! You should be singing! And I'm like noo...... So I'm singing like.. A duet kind of thing. Which is actually a solo part that we're singing in two- so I'll be singing with Elder Troutman. It will be interesting. And what would a pioneer celebration be without.. Dun dun dun.. Faith in every footstep!! Of course. It's cool in French though. I kinda like singing in French. I've started subconsciously unintentionally memorizing the hymns in French-- and forgetting them in English. It's weird.. I was trying to be dumb during church and sing in English and started singing Hail to the man who communed with Jehovah... Then when it got to the chorus I couldn't remember and started singing Ô grande prophète la belle victoire...... Silly me. It also takes me like an hour to figure out the words to Love One Another in English.. I sing Aimez vos frères so much. Anyway, so that's that. So the other day we were looking for Gerome- he's NEVER at home- and we came across his dad. Who is very nice, and pentocostal and hasn't been super interested in the Gospel. But always offers to give us rides places and stuff cuz we come over to see Gerome so often. Normally we go over there and he's not there so we talk to his family- and even though they're not interested in the Gospel, they like us a lot and always talk to us and we teach them silly little phrases in English - like See Y'all Later. Ha ha. So this time we talked to Gerome's dad - Marcel- and we're like hey when can we come over and teach you? And he's like oh, you know, huh? And we're like yeah, can we come over and tell you about all this missionary stuff we do? And he's like um, sure. Come over Saturday at 2. And we're like oh, that won't work for us, there's absolutely a baptis---- (then we SMACKED ourself in the forehead) Do you want to COME to a baptism?? You know, see how that works chez nous? And he's like sure! Come over and we'll go together. So we went, and he came! There was alcohol on his breath, but he still drove safely. We went in and this Wallisian guy got baptized- it was cool, and he liked it. So tonight we're actually going to do a lesson with him. Goes to show how important it is to just TALK to people! Even people who you'd think wouldn't be interested in the Gospel- Missionaries' objective is to Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them recieve the restored gospel by faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, Repentence, Baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end. (that was hard to figure out in english.. :)) so really, we just need to invite everyone-- even if we think they won't accept. So that's cool, eh?<br /><br />So we had a lesson with Soane and his... girlfriend.. and it went really well. Vaea (his gf) had a question in church about the fall- why is it a good thing? There wasn't enough time to explain it enough in church, so we came by and taught about the plan of salvation later. So Soane, who never understands the scriptures very well at all - (he's "not a guy who reads much" says he) we gave them a brochure and told them to read 2 Nephi 2. We came back to teach it to him, and SOANE explained the whole thing!!!! I was so amazed- he never understands when we read scriptures with him, but he understood completely. So we talked to him, and he was saying to us- He doesn't quite know why he let us in- he always violently opposed the Teigmoins from coming over- when we saw him at first, he actually INVITED us to come over- I was just talking and I gave him a brochure- and felt prompted not to rush into saying well, can we come over, etc. But he's like well, do you guys just wanna come over and teach me? And we're like, YES! So he said later, he doesn't know why he reads the BOM or the brochures or anything- he's not a guy who reads much. He has never read the bible, or any other books, and doesn't even read the contracts he has to sign for work- he always skims or has someone else read it and summarize. But he's read lots in the BOM since we gave it to him and two entire brochures. He doesn't know why he comes to church - he assumed it would be a just teaching at home thing, and never anything more. He planned on saying "no" if we invited him to go to church - but he came! Then we were talking about blessings he's felt- and he said well a big one is that I've stopped drinking. Just says it all non-chalantly. And we're like .... Huh? The very first lesson with him he asked us if drinking was a sin (He drank a LOOOOT!) and we hesitated... (not really knowing how to explain it on such short notice) but said yes it is. And he's like... Oh. So this last time, he's like yeah, I haven't touched alcohol since the first lesson with you guys! (which is like, 4 weeks ago) And we're like.... Wow!! So really, him and his wife have made huge progress. He says I'm not quite ready to be baptized (which means he's thought about it and is considering it) -- we told them to read 2 Nephi 31, which talks about baptism.. But he'll get there, I'm sure of it. I think we're witnessing miracles with this dude-- He's changed so much already.<br /><br />So, yeah. Also we talked to a drunk guy who, first of all, said he's literally drunk all the time. He wakes up in the morning, and drinks. Drinks all day. And at night, he drinks. That's what a lot of people do, but he's the first to admit it. Anyway, he told us how he doesn't believe us or our "John Smith" story- and we're like well, do you see Joseph Smith anywhere on my badge? It says the Church of Jesus Christ- and he's like well, He's a myth too! And I'm like.. What? Didn't you say you're protestant? And he's like yes. And I'm like how can you be protestant and not belive in Jesus Christ? And he's like Protestant means I protest YOU guys! And everyone! And i'm like, uh, come again? So being protestant to him means that he just protests all religions. So we made fun of him for a while, asking him if he protests big cars or white people or america, which he gave us rambling answers. He also said that God gives him almighty powers when he drinks, and he can predict the future. He was a silly guy!<br /><br />So that's about all that's happened this week. It was actually really cold this week- the first really cold day I happened to get a freaking rad HAT in the mail.. :D I love it!<i>(<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#3333FF;">I knitted him a hat, BTW)</span></i> So its interesting how when it's 100 degrees in Utah, it's cold here. So we went home and it started POURING rain- so I put on my hoody and hat, and made hot chocolate (which I do a lot actually, even in the summer. It's a french thing to dip baguettes in hot chocolate, isn't it? We call it Milo here though.) and sat outside with my mug and watched the rain. It's sad to see how much of a wuss I've gotten- I get chilly if it's under 75 degrees, and downright cold if it gets down to 60.<br />Anyway, I guess we call this winter- people just call this the cold season. They think it's weird that it's summer in America- and so do I.. I always picture it snowing over there and then when I get your emails I'm always confused for a split second.<br />So, that's about all. I love you alot.<br /><br />Love,<br />ELder Winget<br /><div><div><span id="q_12295a650c124c9d_1" class="h4" style="cursor: pointer; color: rgb(80, 0, 80); font-size:9px;">- Show quoted text -</span></div></div></span>Kristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06977011055840520744noreply@blogger.com0