Twas the week before Christmas...

Bonjour! Je viens de prendre cette photo avec l'appareil photo webcam machin ici.. J'espère que vous allez l'aimer. Salut!

Bises!
Elder Winget

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:
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 already 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 very 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I'll talk to you Christmas. I love you. Have a great week. Merry Christmas.

Love,
Elder Winget

Christmas Program and a surprise Baby Blessing

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.
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.

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.

Afterwards I found out that the reason nobody came was because there wasn’t food. -_- island people……….

Other than that, the news is that President Callister came and did a zone conference on Tuesday and it was awesome.

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.


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.


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.

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

Well that’s all- merry Christmas and happy new year.

Love,
Elder Winget

Happy Birthday Elder Winget!

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!

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.

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.

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.



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. :)

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.
say hi to luke and jake and aaron and everyone else in the world.
Love
Elder Winget

- Show quoted text -

What Thanksgiving means to Collin

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.

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.

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.
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. ( he was SO sick last week!)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.
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.
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.

20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the ^athanks and ^bpraise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and ^cpreserved you, and has caused that ye should ^drejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—

21 I say unto you that if ye should ^aserve him who has created you from the beginning, and is ^bpreserving you from day to day, by lending you ^cbreath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own ^dwill, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your ^ewhole souls yet ye would be ^funprofitable servants.

22 And behold, all that he ^arequires of you is to ^bkeep his commandments; and he has ^cpromised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth ^dvaryfrom that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do ^ekeep his ^fcommandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

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.

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.

Love,
Elder Winget

Lots of news from Elder Winget!

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 ...

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!

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.

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.

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.

from Nov. 1:
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.

from Nov. 8:

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.

Also from Nov. 1:

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.

and a continuation, from Nov. 8:

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.

And here's some more interesting news:

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.

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 completely 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.

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.

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!

One more thing...(this is from Nov. 8th)

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.

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.

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.

A Good Report from A New Caledonian Member

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 :)

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!

Hello,

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^th 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.

From the LI-KHAU family……

TSUNAMI ! ... well, not really

(Here's Elder Winget on a recent windy day)
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.

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.

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.

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.

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... ;)

Thanks a million! I love you!

Love,
elder winget