Fifteen Referrals!

We had a real fun week! Kihei is very touristy so wherever we go we always run into members somewhere.. So this week we got 15 referrals from members! It was the craziest thing.. haha!

This ward hasn't had their own missionaries in a long time so they are really trying to help us out a lot. It has been really cool! It's the first time on my mission I've had to keep track of the referrals we have gotten. The ward really trusts us and is helping us any way they can, so I'm pretty happy out here haha!

It's been real fun with elder Lokotui! I just figured out he actually has a scholarship to play safety for BYU when he gets done with his mission! Pretty cool haha! For our studies I've been helping him with English and he has been teaching me Tongan! But man I've been so lucky to train two missionaries who are so cool!

Everything is going good and hope you're doing ok! Love you! 

Ofa Ki He Hoa!

Man this week was crazy!! I said all my goodbyes Monday and Tuesday which always really stinks.. haha So I didn't like that part as much! But Wednesday morning Elder Heimburger dropped me off at the airport and I met my new greenie there! Elder Lokotui He he is from Ha'apai Tonga! So to start off our day, once we got home and unpacked a little bit, I took him tracting! As soon as we started, some Jehovah witnesses came and started knocking on all the doors right after we got done knocking on them.. So I wasn't too happy about that.. Won't talk too much about that! haha But we are just trying to kick start the ward! There isn't much going on right now so we're just trying to find people and visit members for referrals which has worked pretty good! We have gotten 5 referrals since Wednesday so It should keep us busy. But on Thursday we spoke in a missionary fireside with our WML and then Friday there was a wedding reception for our ward, and our bishop told us to come, so we did! And then he called me to say the prayer for them hahaha! I've never done that before.. So that was fun! And on Sunday we gave talks at church! haha poor Elder Lokotui we've had to give all these talks in front of a lot of people! Church on Sundays has a lot of people because of all the tourists coming to Maui! But it's been an awesome week all in all. We have a lot of people to see and the ward trust is building! I love you guys and hope you have a great week! Elder Collings

Transfer and Maggots!

Man so pretty crazy week! I'm going to Kihei, Maui! I'll be white washing in and training another new missionary haha. I thought maybe I'd get a break for a little bit!! ;) But I'm pretty excited to get another greenie! I'll being the district leader there as well and its really cool because I'll be able to go on exchanges with people in my district serving on the island of Lanai, pretty crazy haha! Elder Heimburger is training a missionary too! So I'm a grandpa in the mission! haha I'm going to miss Waipiolani ward a ton.. But It's pretty cool because a lot of the families I met here that I really liked all grew up in Kihei! And their family is still living there, so I'll be able to get to know them. 

 haha so funny story as well.. Here is the story in my comps words

 So...it was a dark and stormy night...much like tonight, when we were eating dinner at an Auntie's house from Japan.  She knows I love Papaya!  So she always cuts me some Papaya to indulge on.  I was scarfing them down.  Halfway through my last Papaya, I froze... I stared down at the fruit in my hand.  Part of it was moving...there was A BIG MAGGOT IN MY PAPAYA!!!  The worst part is that I had seen them before, they had looked like simply part of the fruit, and I was so enthusiastically eating the papaya I didn't even think about it.  GUYS!! I ate a couple maggots last night!!!! It was horrible!  I couldn't even make a face, I had to graciously decline eating more fruit and ask if I could take it home.  I couldn't offend our host, so she doesn't know.  I awake late last night with horrid dreams of worms in my stomach.  But needless to say, I am still alive.  haha so that is my horror story from last week.  "Return of the Maggots"

Conference Weekend

So my tag is made out of Koa wood! There is a member here that will make them for us! I have a mango one as well! I never wear it during the week! Only when I have service projects or stuff like that

But my favorite talk by far was elder Oaks on Saturday! It was super cool because last week I told you how we aren't going tracting anymore.. So I got our district together and we brainstormed.. One of the things we thought of was during dinners leaving a social media commitment! So whether that was taking a picture with us and posting it, or just sharing your favorite Mormon message, or quote etc.. And it was super cool to see that Elder Oaks gave a talk on that. Also there were a lot of talks given saying not to look beyond the mark and just focus or the simplicity of things.. Then they followed up with the Doctrine of Christ, explaining Faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, Repentance, Baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. And it just struck me that we really don't need to look beyond the mark.. That was my favorite thing about conference!

But everything is great! We get transfer news this week. so we'll see if anything happens! I've been here for half a year so I'm thinking something might change haha! But we will see. I'm definitely not excited if I do leave because of how awesome this ward has been to us! 

We had a great week. We were able to think outside of the box and find some real solid new investigators that we'll be teaching. One came and watched conference with us so I'm really excited to see how he felt. But I love you and thanks for everything!!