Serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Monday, December 26, 2011

No letter today.  Maybe because we talked yesterday?  Maybe because it's a holiday and the libraries are closed?  Regardless, we miss hearing from him. 

Maybe next week! ~  Mom

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Hey family! sorry it's a little late! this week has been extremely hectic and crazy due to Christmas coming up, Elder Filiaga going home, and also our baptism coming up this Sunday!

this last week i received all of the boxes! that was so fantastic. i loved everything i got. :) my favorite things were all the food! the cookies and peanut brittle and caramels. haha, it really helped make this place feel closer to home.
thank you for everything else too! the letters and also the prayers. :)

okay, so like i said there is a lot going on this week which explains the tardiness of the letter. yesterday after elder carver and i got back from the temple we met up with filiaga who just got back from traffic court. bad news, we had to go back like right then and get more paper work done and today too. so we have been over there it feels like the last two days. also with fili going home we are saying goodbye to all the families in this area which i always love because it gives me a chance to get to know the few that i don't already know. they are really great families.

so last Sunday we had a cool experience. our investigator who is on date for baptism this Christmas gave us an invitation to a birthday party for her 3 year-old-girl. it was right after church so we went over to check it out and say hi. Man, they know how  to throw a party! there was a bounce house, catered food, 3 pinatas and one of the best cakes i think i have ever had in my life. haha. it was sooo cool. we also got to talking to a lot of the people there and now we know some more people in that apartment complex. I think i have learned that working through the members and investigators is like the best way for finding. that is as long as you are doing it right.

oh, almost forgot! this Saturday we had our Christmas dinner and it was super great! the only bad thing about it was one of these three missionaries who was acting as an angel in the nativity totally forgot his part and thoroughly embarrassed himself. I won't name any names...... ( Elder Winterrose) *cough cough* :) it was all fun though, he had a little help from the narrator. so, i don't think i am very cut out for acting anymore but it is a good thing i never aspired to be an actor. :)

well, i think that is about all i have for now. i hope Morgan had a splendid birthday and i cant believe how old he is. just crazy haha. also i hope britton has a great Christmas and that his ward treats him good this Christmas. i love you all and wish you a merry Christmas! I can't wait to hear from you! i will see you all Sunday after the baptism!

Love,

Elder Winterrose

Wednesday, December 14, 2011



Well, this has been another crazy-eventful week. we had some success and some super bummers. we have been doing a lot of finding lately and through our work with the ward we are receiving a lot of referrals and support from the members. it is really awesome to see this change wrought in their hearts. now we are just trying to unify them as a whole cause i think that would keep this fire burning.

with our two investigator sisters it has been really hard and great at the same time. one hasn't been home to find. we don't know where that will lead but i hope it is just something legitimate that is keeping her from coming. on the other hand her sister is making great strides because she has a goal to get baptised before Elder Filiaga leaves and she wanted to get baptised with her sister too. She is showing great acts of faith that truly testify of her dedication. i hope it all works out.

okay, now for some of the big news! TRANSFERS!

Well, i lost one of my mission friends, our district leader Elder Orozco. he left us to be our zone leader, so he is still close but not in our ward. it is alrighty though cause i know he will be an amazing zone leader for us. Okay, now for me.  I'm in the same area, with the same companion, Elder Filiaga.... annd Elder Paul Carver! from west valley Utah. he is going to be my breaker! and we are in a TRIO! it is so much cooler than i thought it would be haha. it makes lessons very interesting haha. now, this is just till the 28th when fili goes home but it is gonna be a great Christmas. :)

man, the home front sounds pretty cool fam. i cant believe it is that cold up there! here it is in the lower 50s and it just started raining again haha. it is such strange weather down here. one of my members checked for me and told me that it is warmer by like 10 degrees in anchorage than in richland haha. ;)

hey Morgan, send me your fitted cap size will ya?

well, that is all from me for now. Thank you all for the support and the letters and prayers. :)

Love Elder Channing Winterrose.

Monday, December 5, 2011


hahaha, i see you found the big news! we won the clean apartment award! it might have something to do with moving into our brand new apartment the day before or that we are just awesome cleaners haha. so we won the lunch with president that day and it was pretty neat. i guess it does pay off!

well this week has been pretty good, first things before i forget. mom that sounds fine with the card thing but how about putting the money on it and i just take it out of my wallet or something. i think that is like 90% of the problem. i also told my comp we cant keep buying 10 double cheese burgers every time we go to McDonald even if they are one dollar a piece. ( i think my Tongan is rubbing off on me.) so I'm going to take it out of my wallet and that will help a lot. also i think i am going to put some money back on it today if i get the chance. oh, also i got a jacket for really cheap. i went to Ross so i don't have to worry about that anymore. :) i was starting to freeze down here. it has finally gotten cold and i feel like it has been summer since may. haha. also, i will send you some cards cause I've had them for a while. they do come in very handy. speaking of hands. could you maybe send my biking gloves down? i want some gloves that are warm but not like really thick or anything and my hands freeze when we go biking. oh, almost forgot. also i am sending home an underwater camera case i found in the trash room. we find all sorts of cool stuff in there.:) and it just needed a little fixin and it is good as new. it still doesn't have a camera in it but i don't know what i will do with it when i (or Britton) get home. also i got some other sentimental things i don't want to get lost while I'm out here that i am sending too.

okay, enough about that. so this week was very eventful. I got a letter from Fio and i could actually understand it all in Spanish! so i think it is coming along very nicely! it always makes me happy to receive mail. i am trying to catch up on sending out all my letters but it is a lot of writing when it comes from me. i love it tho. :) also this week we had the lunch with the president and that was really cool. then last night us and some members went to the missionary farewell at the artesia bldg and we got to see all the leaving missionaries and listen to them talk. but best of all i got to see elder Casper! my pal from the mtc! i haven't seen him since we left the mtc cause he got delayed a week. ahh, it felt so good to see him. :) so that was really really nice.

along with all that, we had some really good lessons this week with our investigators and also our investigator did her baptismal interview so we are now set for baptism. the only bad thing is she could not make it to church yesterday so  we still don't know if it will be next week or the week after. that has been stressful seeing as we were shooting for having the baptism yesterday. . . anyways, transfers are coming up so i just hope it all goes well. i really want her to be my first baptism.

alrighty besides that we don't really have many others we are teaching because we are in finding mode. we are working a lot with getting the ward reactivated  and pumped for missionary work. it has helped so far with quite a few referrals being generated. i just hope the momentum continues.

Alrighty well that has been the work so far. my health has been generally good but one thing has been bugging me a lot. i don't know what it is but when i sleep or try to my shoulder joints hurt excruciatingly. like i take pain medication before bed and wake up in the middle of the night and take more but it still hurts. i don't know if it was something i did or if it was from sleeping wrong one night but there isn't a comfortable way to lay down and i am losing a lot of sleep over it. they hurt all day too. it is  really weird. i'm going to ask the dr what is up tho so hopefully it will all blow over. (i just hope it isn't like that thing i had as a kid with my hip joint. you know, the one when i couldn't walk when i got sick.. ) i also gotta get a flu shot. thank you for reminding me!

well it is always good to hear of the changes that are occurring back at home. i love hearing your stories about sharing the gospel because they are a great motivator for me as well. i am glad you are having these opportunities. ustedes son muy bendecido. :)

well i love you all and hope you keep it up.

Love,

Elder Winterrose

Monday, November 28, 2011


December 2011 Clean Apartment Award Winners (He didn't send this first one - I got it from the Mission Website.  Proud Mom moment!)


2011 Turkey Bowl - Griffith Zone
Dear Family and friends.

Hey there everyone! this week has been really good. lets start with the good stuff! Monday we had our turkey bowl and it was a blast! the only field they could find was kinda just a giant muddy field tho so that was interesting. haha, it was tons of fun. we even had some really great plays. also this week we had Thanksgiving! i sent some pictures to mom but we had it with the C. family in our ward and they always take good care of us. Hna. C. always makes whatever we want and that is nice when we are tired of beans, chicken, rice and tortillas haha. it was an amazing dinner. i gotta say i don't think in my entire life i have ever seen a turkey that big! it was like the size of three Busters. they said it was a big one for them too haha. they had to go out and buy a special pan just for it. (i thought that it might just be a Latino thing) but yeah it was a giant. then they made us these Salvadorian sandwiches and they were the best thing ever. i had like 3 of them and then two giant slabs of turkey. also i almost forgot! haha. i told Hna. C. that i missed potatoes one day because we never get that cause it isn't very common and she makes them every night we eat with them now haha. so that night she made a whole thing of potato salad and it was delish. so that was my turkey day. definitely something to be grateful for. :)

so besides the festivities this week has been pretty good. we have three of our 4 investigators prepped for baptism and one just needs to get married. (that is one of the more common challenges around here) but besides that she is set. the date is the 4th of December so hopefully all goes down without a hitch. :) but as with everything there was one or two hiccups. they are all sick this week so it has been hard to get them to church and also we wanna take them to the Visitor's Center but they weren't feeling up to it on Sunday. this dang sickness is bugging me. it's all good though, if i pray hard enough, then it will all work out.

so Christmas is coming around and the only thing i really need is like an overcoat of some sort. besides that i am all set so far. :D

oh goodness i almost forgot! last night we had an amazing dinner at the Peterson's! they are the senior couple in our ward and they always love to have us over for some home cooked Idaho food. and boy is it good. it is like my favorite! they had roast beef and home made rolls. like 100! cause those are our favorite haha. they are soo nice and they really are a blessing to have. they are great in the ward. in fact just about 2 Sundays ago sister Peterson gave the closing prayer in sacrament, In SPANISH! and that was remarkable seeing as she didn't know a thing in Spanish like one month ago. Although it was about 10 seconds long and very gringo-ish i think it put a smile on everybody's face. :) they are like the replacement mission grandparents haha.

we also got a lot going on for Christmas coming up at the vc and it should be a great opportunity for missionary work. :) we have at least one thing happening every night for the entire month of December it should be great.
also transfers are coming up! on the 7th or something. elder filiaga is going home on the 28th, mid transfer and i hope i get to keep him till then! i'm really loving this ward and hope i can stay here for a long run. they are finally starting to really help us out too. it is great to see this progression.

well, i love all of you so much and i pray for you every day. i hope all the fam is either doing great or recovering well soon!

have a great week all y'all.

Love,

Elder Channing Winterrose

Monday, November 21, 2011

haha, okay just to start off that sounds like an awesome missionary experience mom. i am so excited that you have all had an opportunity to share a bit of the gospel and to also apply more of it to your lives. that is really cool. :)

our apartment is really nice and i might have to send pictures soon. transfers are in December 7th and elder filiaga is going home mid-transfer, 3 days after Christmas. so idk if he will be with me but it would be super cool. it is getting really chilly here believe it or not. yesterday we got rain all day and that made it really cold. it is really really hard to find an overcoat here because most missionaries are like me, doubting that it will ever get cold here, and are doing anything to find them. also the Goodwills here are pretty picked clean. i think this has to do with the fact that we are kinda in an area where people are always looking for a good bargain. so still haven't found one yet and i am kinda low on money right now so i cant really purchase one.

we are doing great on food and our ward always makes sure we are fed now. :) that Sunday when we all gave talks kinda got us on the radar so we are doing just fine. I'm excited for thanksgiving too! we should have some bomb dinners. last Saturday we had a like ward dinner thingy and they had great food. it was a great opportunity to bring our investigators and introduce them to the ward too.

man, i don't know what it is, maybe the time of season or something, but they are shooting movies like EVERYWHERE in downtown. they usually have like half a street blocked off and they never really get in the way but they have dozens of trucks packed with equipment all down the street. it's pretty cool haha. last week they had one street with like 50 old school cars like you would see in a Scarface movie or something it was pretty sweet.

oh yeah! im trying to read the whole book of Mormon before the end of the year too and it is crazy! lots of reading but i am really seeing a difference as i am reading more.

today has been good too. we had the turkey bowl and we did pretty great. i didn't really keep track of score but im pretty sure we won. it was our zone, (Griffith) then Westwood and Marina. it was pretty fun.

It is getting closer to Christmas and it is getting harder and harder to think of things that i would like that would be easy to get to me. but don't worry mom, i don't think you can possibly go overboard. i would sincerely appreciate everything. ;)

okay and with your investigators, mom, i would just invite them over for a little FHE and like treats or even just for dinner. think of it like running a relay. you are the starter and you gotta run your hundred then pass off the baton. :) plus the longer you know them the more they will trust you. sometimes, actually all the times it is hard to be patient and you kinda just wanna give them the whole pizza. but if we get them to eat one slice and like it then they wont need any convincing to eat the rest... okay. that sounds like a meal right there. :) ive been living with a Tongan for too long..... also getting to know them and be friends helps the missionaries a lot because then they have a fellowshipper who they will feel comfortable coming to for questions when the missionaries aren't around. good luck!

Alrighty, well i still gotta email the pres and go to a dinner apt so i will see all of you later! I love you all and thank you all for the support and prayers.

Love,

Elder Channing Winterrose

ps. i am sending the receipt to you along with my short Christmas list for now haha. there isn't much on there but they are kinda just the things i really really wanted.

Monday, November 14, 2011


okay, somewhat ignore the backwards-ness of this email, i do have some things i would like for Christmas. and if i don't type them i will probably forget cause it's almost 8 and i can never remember things. haha. i would really like any v-neck sweaters that i left at home because it gets chilly here and we can wear them under our suit coats. and also any vests. like regular or sweater vests because they are nice to wear under a suit. also, if you have the biking gloves i left there those would be nice too because it is cold at 6 in the morning when we jog. please send me my green Spanish notebook. i think i accidentally sent it home when i was leaving the mtc and i could definitely use it. also we moved into a new apartment and they have stationary bikes so if you can send my black and red jersey and i can wear it to work out in. all the rest get really really gross.... like think of dad in an RPM class at the gym... that's why i want it. cause it usually soaks through like 3 regular shirts. also, i am always accepting ties! even though here in the alley i can get any one i can imagine for about 3 bucks a piece. i still like the ones from home the best because they are just special... like sentimental. that's the word. :)

Which reminds me we moved apartments!! we moved over to this huge resort type complex with all these fancy wingdings that we will never use but also they have a gym which my comp (linebacker for the Utes) and i (scrawny kid from washington....) were super excited to find out about. right now he is trying to eat less and get cut and i am trying to eat more and bulk up while staying cut. it is an odd diet haha. it's kinda just like i will eat all i can and then still end up giving it to him and having him eat like half my plate plus his... :) 

anyways, that reminds me we are getting fed about once a night if we are not busy but we are never really hurting for food. i have a almost full pantry now we just had to get some different things and we are good.

we have a family in the ward who are my favorite, every Tuesday she feeds us whatever we can think of! and it always turns out perfect! i told her that i make good onion rings and she wants us to come over and help her make onion rings and burgers for the family! so i told her i needed to get the secret recipe from you mom and then i would see what i can do. ;)

this week has been really good. we went to the visitors center with our investigators, well two of them and the visit was really good. the Visitors Center is remodeled and it has a lot of the same cool stuff as the salt lake one just more condensed. we watched the families thing, it is the same as the one i watched in salt lake with grandma right before we went to the mtc. it was really good and our investigator was crying with joy. :) the vc is truly an amazing blessing. :)

I saw the pic of buster! it is sooo cool! i am going to send some pics too! and I am actually in them this time! ;) haha. i hope you like them. oh and also i sent Britton a letter for elder Holland and i hope it made it to him. well, i gotta send off these pictures too so i gotta go. i love all of you and thank you all for the letters and pictures!

love tons,
Elder Channing Winterrose

Monday, November 7, 2011

Buenos Dias hermano y hermanas! Hey family! i got the letter from dad! I'm glad you are all doing great and that through us you guys can open the conversation on the gospel, haha.  That is really cool!

well this week has been kinda hectic i got some of the stuff done i really needed to though. we have been teaching two investigators and they actually referred us to two more, so now we are teaching the 4 of them together and have them set for date for baptism on the 4th of December. hopefully all works out. we wanna make it more enjoyable for the younger of the 4 and make our lessons more meaningful for them. i think we will go to the temple visitor center with them. we just have to get rides figured out for them because they don't have cars, which is another problem we have run into here. there are a lot of unique situations like that that i didn't think i would run into.

well oh yeah, i got some things done i needed to too, i scheduled a dentist appointment to get my filling fixed because it cracked and is like really loose . :/ so at least I'm getting that taken care of. also i got myself a brand new, in the box, seagate 500 GB portable hard drive for a deal, only 35 bucks, a dang steal if you ask me. that is the beauty of this city. if you keep your eyes open you can come across some real treasures. so i backed up all my pictures, inspirational music, and documents like my baptism programs. :) that way if i accidentally throw away a memory card i wont loose my mind.

so for church yesterday we had fast and testimony and i managed to be the last one up there haha. i gave my testimony and it is amazing what just a simple testimony about the gospel can do. we had our investigators there and i think it made a big impact on them. :)

so the weather, dad just emailed me back and asked about the weather. down here we have gotten a little bit of rain and it comes in torrential downpours for like one day then there is no more for like up to a week. then it has also been getting a little cooler like 65 is the coldest during the days but nights have been getting kinda chilly like almost 50 some nights so still warm but we can feel the season changing finally.

well, we have been doing pretty well, just a little cough and cold combo that has been going around but with this many people it is inevitable.

i have been getting pretty good mail too! I can honestly say it makes my day like 1billion times better. :) thank you all who have been writing me and i love you all soo much. :)

well i hope all of you have a splendid week and don't be strangers!

les amo,

Elder Channing Winterrose

Monday, October 31, 2011





ahh, well i think this week might have been a little better. just finally knowing what was going on with -- helped a lot because i could worry a little less after the initial shock. it sucked a lot. haha but i think it will all turn out alright in the end. im sure if i dive into the work headfirst it will keep the outside world and whatnot from discouraging me. so it has been better. i just try not to think to much about it. Also i know that God looks after his missionaries so i need not worry. i sent home some cool pictures this last week and i hope they make sense. i wish i could like tag them somehow so you could know what to look for in them.

we also had a cool sacrament on Sunday, it was the 5th Sunday soo I GAVE A TALK!!! it was on humility and i wrote it in about 10 minutes ( like 3 scriptures and points i wanted to include) and with the brief outline i spoke from the heart at the pulpit for about 8 minutes and it was remarkable. hahaha. i only messed up a few words but everyone said it was great. also we sang a musical number a Capella and it turned out pretty good. so, first talk in Spanish in the bag already haha. the funny thing was that Elder Filiaga gave his talk too and it was the first time for him too!

Crazy week haha. we got payed so it's nice to have some moola for food and whatnots. we had transfers this week too and our district got smaller and now it's just the four of us ( me, fili, orozco, and penrod) and three new elders, two greenies and their trainer. our zone got all moved around too it is crazy! our church building is out of our zone! but you gotta realize our area is like the equivalent of from like the Campbell;s to the mall. it is tiny! and our area is on the southern border of the zone.

we also found a bunch of new investigators in our area and that was cool. one is this kid who is into some really crazy stuff and we teach him and these other kids in the apartment complex who are all around the same age. i am pretty sure that at least one of them will get something out of it and all of them want to change. but we can only hope!

i also wrote and sent my letter to britton for elder holland and i hope it gets there in time. i put a pic in there too. I will send some cool pictures here too.

I went through hollywood blvd too and got some cool pictures when we went and dropped off some elders.

oh! i almost forgot!!! we got a shiny brand new car!!!! it's a 2011 mustang!




...okay, it's just a corolla.... but still!!! it only had like 8 miles on it when we first got it and it is still just a baby! we left all the stickers on it so it looks fresh like a baseball cap. haha. so that was pretty cool too.

there;s some pictures of us actually doing service at the ACS too that you might like.

well i love all of you so much and im glad to hear all the updates!

much love from sunny California!

Elder Winterrose

Monday, October 24, 2011



wow, what a crazy week it has been! so much has happened but i think it has made me reestablish why i am here and that i am dedicated to the work enough i can just get lost in it and not worry about anything else. I think i know what Britton meant that time he didn't really say much about his investigators. "because he didn't want to count his chickens before they hatched." i think this transfer we had catch and release licences or something, cause it was hard to get investigators and things always fell through. I think I'm going to put in the extra effort this transfer and get myself a big boy license so i can get in the water sooner.

we have been to a few baptisms but our investigators are slow and steady and we don't wanna pressure them anymore cause right now it seems to be working.

well, there isn't really that much new this week besides just the same old same old. i don't have my journal right now so i don't have any funny stories. sorry fam :/

oh, just remembered one! we parked before an appointment the other night and we saw a van with like a 9MM bullet hole in the back door of it! and today i saw a car with 12 ga shotgun spread on the back trunk and light! I tell ya it is getting realer and realer every day here haha. i sent a pic of the van back home on this sd card.


well, i loved the update from the home front! (mom, i totally know what you mean with the money thing. i think i have the same problem sometimes. i tend to justify it because it isn't an individual but i am getting better at it as my morals are improving.... and my spending habits..:)

I am glad you are doing something that is a little more recognized at your work dad, that sounds awesome. it is always good to be recognized for your potential and even just to make friends with the people you work under i.e. the bosses bosses boss haha. i did that at all my jobs and it helped me love my work just a little more.

daino!!! i saw the coolest thing at the alley the other day! luchador masks like off of nacho libre! I'll send you a pic of them some time they were sweet! there's one i think i might get that is blue and white. it's pretty sick.

Morgan! hey dude glad to hear your making it through school without a hitch! it still amazes me all the smart kid classes your in. your absolutely brilliant as they would say on harry potter.

well, i hope all of you have a swell day and i love all of you tons. and if you are reading this and have made it this far then send me a dang letter! and i will try my best to send one back fast! love ya!

Winterrose boy #2

PS if you could get some of the people in the ward to start writing me that would be awesome. maybe you could get Ryan O. to send me one? i haven't heard from him in forever!

Monday, October 17, 2011




Hey! It's a much better week or at least since Wednesday. We didn't do a lot on Thursday, but Friday was busy, busy.

Friday we had a Fundamentals Training class from 9 to 3 and it wasn't actually too bad, haha. I was expecting it to be boring lecture for hours, but we were actually really involved. It was sweet. Then Friday night we had a Latino Festival at 7 p.m. Boy, do they know how to party! It was really cool, they had booths for all the different countries and lots and lots of food. :) They each did like a skit or something to represent their country. USA was the funniest. Haha, it was like set up really well but the food to represent it was ham 'n cheese sandwiches and that was just funny.

Anyways we stayed there till like 10 p.m. because there were so many people to meet. One of our part-member families was there and they brought their little boy a 2 year old. He is soo funny and I love him to death. He always wants to play with us when we're there and he is such a little monkey boy. :) He reminds me a lot of me when I was a kid.

Well besides that, the work is going good.  We are receiving a ton of referrals from our key member families who we are really close with, and we have 3 set for baptism. The other ones I don't think worked out, (the elderly lady moved and the other one isn't quite ready) but I am super excited for these 3 and we are working hard to keep them on track.

Well, it has been a short week because of the temple p-day on Wednesday, so not a lot going on.

Alrighty, you asked about my comp and our day to day stuff and whatnot, it is like this: My comp is doing pretty good, he might be getting a little trunky though, haha. But we bought a football and are playing catch to keep his mind off wanting to play already and that seems to help. He is like a teaching guru it is great that I get to have him as a comp. We wake up at 6:15 each day and go to the park and play catch for gym.  Then we come back, get ready, and do personal study at 8 for an hour.  Then we do comp study from 9 to 11, then we have lunch and then we do Spanish study from 12 to 1.  After that it's off to work with our appointments and a dinner, then we come back at about 9 and plan out our next day, then I journal and get ready for bed! :) Being busy is great cause it keeps my mind more focused on here and now, not on the other things that are going on.

Daino's birthday sounded super awesome! Man Hunts are always a fun activity, Haha. Mo, good luck with the job hunt, Bud. Britton, your letters always help me out, I'm glad to be tag-teaming this work with ya, finish strong! Mom, keep feeling good. Dad, I love what you did with the deck, great idea.  You guys should send me some pictures of that too.

Well I love all of you and wish you a good week!

Elder Winterrose jr.

Monday, October 10, 2011



Hey family,

It has been a crazy week.  It has been hard but good at the same time. I have had a lot of trials and at times it feels like it will never end. I received some more letters finally, but all the mail is like 2 weeks late when I get it because they get mail Thursday and we don't open it till Monday, or like this week on Wednesday. I think all my mail is getting here on Friday cause it keeps missing the cut off. It is depressing at times getting no mail, especially when I have been mailing people every week. I didn't think it would be that bad but it really sucks not getting mail.

Anyways, so besides mail we got our car towed last week and I figured I might as well tell ya now rather than later that it was expensive. We lost track of time while tracting one night and came back and it was gone. We called the towing hotline and it was closed so we had to wait till the next day and it charges by the hour. I was super mad. We got there the next day and it was about $266 dollars for the towing. When we finally got it there was an $88 dollar parking ticket on it. Do the math, whatever that was I have to pay half of it. I have been super stressed about that and the fact that I have to come to you guys and ask for more money which I hate doing with every bone in my body. It has been a horrible week in the means of temporal things and on top of that I am still broke for going on 2 weeks cause I have no blue card to buy anything. It has been really crappy this week cause of all this. It makes it extremely difficult to concentrate on the work.

So this has been my week:
We did have some success this week though. We set 3 people for baptism on the 23rd and the 30th. I am excited for that and also we have a Latino Festival this Friday and we should get some new investigators from that if it all works out.  All I can do is try not to dwell on all the stuff that is discouraging to me and do the best with what I have.

Well that is about all the work here.  Sorry if the letter is a little short.  It is pretty much the same old stuff. I know the 5000 hr project thingy and I think i saw it in the MTC. It is one of my favorites on LSD.org.

Tell Daino Happy Birthday for me and that I love him.  Tell Mo that girls are poison and to stay away from them till after his mission haha. I hope you and Dad are doing great.  I love all of you and you too Britton, keep up the good work Bro. and send me some stinky fish man. It is all my comp ever asks for down here haha.

Love you mom, thank you for the great emails it is nice to have something I can rely on and I love all the funny stuff in them. I wish I could write more but I can never remember all the things that go on during the week.


Well, I love all of you back at home and I miss you.

Love your missionary,

Elder Channing Winterrose

Monday, October 3, 2011

Okay, first things first, conference was soooooo long! I didn't realize it, but when you have to watch every session in conference, it is crazy long.
The fine Elders Filiaga and Winterrose

This has been a long week! I'm still getting things each day cause I keep realizing that we don't have something simple, like toilet paper, water bottles, (the water isn't very safe here) and bread, and have to run across the street to get it! We just got our allotment the other day though, so hopefully it won't feel like we are so stinking deprived anymore. I just gotta wait for my allotment card, cause it still hasn't gotten here.

I thought we would be fed more often, but most the times we don't have a dinner appointment until late, and sometimes we have none at all because of stake or general conference, or cause nobody can feed us. It has been a really expensive last 2 weeks. It has been frustrating some days when we have no dinner appt and we get home to an empty fridge. I'm trying to only eat at home because it is usually cheaper.

Right now we have finally got a teaching pool started with one progressing investigator and a few others that we can teach. Our progressing investigator is an elderly lady and she lives with another elderly sister from 6th ward. (We're in 3rd ward.  The wards in our building are 6th and 3rd, and both have two sets of missionaries.) But the thing is that they are in our area, so we can still teach them!

Anyways we saw these two ladies at a baptism for the 6th ward and they sat next to us. We got a referral at the baptism and decided to check it that night. We went there preparing to teach a new family or something, but the two of them answered the door! (At this point we thought they were both members.) So we thought they just wanted a little visit.  They talked our ears off for about 2 hours straight about their life's story. :)  Right before we left we asked if they had anybody we could teach and the one sister was like, "Yeah! you can teach me!" So then we figured it out! Now we have my first fresh investigator, just in the nick of time! We have a baptism date set for the 23rd so hopefully all works out.

Well besides that, it has been a crazy week. I came to the mission home today and Finally got my mail! I got some letters from people at the MTC and a few from elsewhere so that was really nice. It had been a long time since I got mail so it was refreshing.

We have been receiving a bunch of good referrals from the families around here and have had the opportunity to meet a bunch of cool families, give blessings, and lots of other cool stuff. I will have to take pictures of them with this next memory card and send a bunch of them home. I realized when I sent the last one home that it had been al long time, so I will do it more often.

Well, all is going pretty good in Los Angeles. We hiked up to the observatory today, so I got a bunch of new pictures waiting for you guys when you send that card back to me.


First door?

Hope all is going well back at home!

Gotta go work on some other things, so I will see all of you later!

Love,

Elder Winterrose

Monday, September 26, 2011

LA's Pretty Cool

Ahh, that is soo cool that the brother's went to a Boise state game! My companion says that he will hook you guys up with some Utes football tickets if you are up to it once he gets home after these two transfers.


Okay, to answer the questions first so I don't forget. - Yes we have a car, it is a 2009 corolla i think and it is tan. My comp does all the driving.  Yes traffic is crazy here. It's not very far to church. I don't know our address but we are near La Fayette and Third Street I think...  The buildings here are huge. Our church has a parking garage next to it. It's kinda cool. Oh and it is just west of USC, like one street over from the main campus. It's cool. All our meeting's are in Spanish and I speak a lot when we are with members. They feed us dinner most nights, sometimes we forget to get an appointment and have to make something. (Couldn't name what we cook, it's usually good, consists of ham and eggs and rice and there is always lots of it) We work out on the roof sometimes, our apt bld is 4 stories high and there's nobody up there ever. Our neighborhood is right between Korea town, Filipino town, and downtown if you want an idea, but we only ever see Latinos and tons of Koreans like crazy down here. It's just down here though, don't know why.

Okay, some cool stuff I saw this week. I saw the air force one helicopters flying into LA with like 3 Chinooks cause the president is in town or something. There was a huge bike race through down town on Sunday that was like the 4th stage or something of a huge California tour thingy. It was kinda cool but like everybody was late for church cause the freeway in downtown was the only way over and the road they used was closed for the race.

Anyways, if you haven't noticed we eat a lot as the two of us. Some of the things I didn't think I would run into while living alone is we never have enough food! It's like I buy a ton of food, like a dozen eggs, a bag of rice, lunch meat, big bags of tortilla chips, 2 loaves of bread and a 35 pack of water bottles and we are out of food in a week! And our area is so small that there is no chance of getting to the Costco, and Walmart is wayy out of our area too.. :/ I guess we will need to learn to invest in Top Ramen where we can find it cheap.

We still haven't found like any new investigators, but we are hard at work. We have one potential investigator, an elderly Spanish lady we met at a baptism.... She talks a lot so I am just so so..... so excited to teach her...  (She told us her life story for 2 hours on our first visit before we could really do anything.. )

I haven't gotten any mail for about 3 and a half weeks so I hope I get something this Thursday when they give it out.

Well, that's about all I have for today! Alrighty, I gotta go and try to find the people waiting to hear the gospel!

Love all of you and keep doing great!

Love, Elder Winterrose

PS I'm sending the pictures today on the back of the card. hope you like them!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Finally In LA! :)

Oh man! I can't believe AJ got his mission call!!!! That is soo sweet! Tell him congrats for me!

Well here's a brief rundown of what it is like here, I sent this letter to Elder Casper today, so I'll just tag it in.  (Elder Casper was supposed to go into the field with Elder Winterrose last Wednesday, but an injury forced him to stay back in the MTC.)


Elder Winterrose, top row, second on the left.

Elder Filiaga - Elder Winterrose's trainer.  First row, first on the left.


DUUUUUDE!!!! It's soo Sick here! So many nice cars here I'm having like sensory overload. Today just driving to the temple I saw a Bugatti, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Rolls Royce, Maserati, and tons and tons of Mercedes, Range Rovers, and BMW's and like a billion nice Porsche's. It's sooo awesome. 
My comp is pretty much the coolest. He's Elder Filiaga, (Elder Garrett Sr's old comp.) And he's so chill. We saw Elder Gonzalez too and he is in my district. I'm in Downtown where it is super nice and super ghetto at the same time. Spanish is hard sometimes, but I'm getting the hang of it. 
Well, let us know what the verdict is man! Can't wait to see you here! Oh, PS - One baptism but I just went to it, I didn't really do anything... It was still pretty sick. and we also had stake conference with Elder Claudio Zivic of the 70 and it was cool to hear him talk in Spanish. 
 
So, yeah, its crazy here. Some other crazy things - I went to Target and got new bed sheets and there was this hot pink fuzzy blanket that was like $20 off so I had to get it and now my bed looks like a thirteen-year-old girl's. (It's actually pretty awesome.) We went to this place called Pinks and they have crazy hot dogs there.
Everybody wants to shake my hand at church. It's weird some times. Our church is like fenced in and it has a parking garage.

My apartment is nicer than most of the ones I have been to and it is still super super ghetto, ha ha. There are no speed limit signs downtown. At least if there are, they are impossible to spot. Evangelists sit on the corner and preach through megaphones. It's as funny as it sounds.

We went to this awesome place called the Graffiti Lab. It's a place where someone bought this giant piece of property and they charge people to tag it up and there are some really sick tags - like a 3 story picture of Michael Jackson - and other awesome ones.
When you can't find a parking spot, and you need to run into the apartment, you Ghetto park, or park next to the cars on the side of the road and put your hazard lights on. And hope nobody hits it, ha ha.

Anyways those were some of the things I learned. It's super crazy in this city and I am in the epicenter of this craziness. I think I will learn to love it here! Also my comp is super awesome and also is good at basketball and rugby I learned today.
well, I am truly blessed to be here and it is a great experience here and I love the members. I gotta peace out though so I will catch you all later!

Sorry if the message is short, I am kinda pushed for time. I will probably send pictures in next week's message when I have more because I have been too busy to really take any yet. Tell Britt I loved his letter and that I will write him back when I get the chance. J, hope all is going well in Idaho! I'll send you a letter soon too!

Love all of you back at home and off abroad!

Elder Channing Winterrose

Oh, and P.S. tell people to write me!

P.P.S. I got my bike from Ryan but I didn't get the helmet and one of the forearm pad's from the aero-bar is missing... and I don't know where to get one around here and I checked the box and all the packaging for it but it was nowhere to be found.  If you could call him and check to see if it is sitting around in his shop somewhere, that would be great!

Friday, September 9, 2011

Well, this week has been pretty good. The best part about it was that last Thursday.  After my email we found a game we play now, and it's called hallway soccer. We pretty much just start at the water fountain and then try to get it past two other guys and get it in our doorway at the end of the hall. It's a stroke of luck that we have the perfect room for that, 'cause nobody else can really play with their rooms on the side. Oh, and the fact that we found a tennis ball too.

I'm pretty sure I have like a ton of stuff going home. Over the weeks I've collected like 20 bottles of shampoo and I'm selling them for 50 cents a piece and making quite a bit of money. we are also going to give away all the other food we have collaborated. But besides that I need to send home the sheets, some shorts, some t-shirts, and maybe a few other things. (I still don't have the fitted bottom sheet so if you can just send it straight to California.) I also don't have that sd card and you never told me if you put that stuff on the computer yet...

Besides that we had a rare opportunity this week on Friday to give our old teacher, Sister A., a priesthood blessing because she was having a really hard time teaching her new class. They made her cry by telling her dumb things like they don't think that she should be going away from the curriculum and that she isn't teaching what they need to know, ie: to love and care for your investigator and to teach the investigator and not the lessons. Then the four of us went into her class and taught them about what it takes to be a successful missionary and that you don't have to know everything and speak the language perfectly to feel and have the spirit testify. Then we all bore our testimonies on how much she helped us and how we have changed and I think that made a huge difference in their attitude.

Oh, which reminds me! Hermana D. left so it's just us four boys now. I love it! and besides that it's just smooth sailing till Wednesday.  I leave for the airport at like 5:30 and we will probably be at the airport at around 7 to 8 and I will call you then. Now remember that is about 6 in the morning on Wednesday.

I also haven't received any letters for about 4 weeks now from anybody but J so if you see any of my friends tell them to shoot me an email.

I'm sending a few more of my journal entries this week but they might be a little boring. I think that Mo and Dain will enjoy them though.

I think that I will love Cali and the Spanish people. Can't wait to get there. It feels like this is the longest week in existence.  My ankle has been getting really swollen and sore after each gym when I play soccer and it kinda does this popping thing when I move it (hard to explain). So that's the reason I'm going to the doctor. Nothing really to worry about.


(Later that afternoon)

Well, I'm glad the family's doing good, it's so weird thinking of  Mo driving around places it's crazy!

Mo, remember car's aren't go carts.
Dain, go play outside.
Mom, keep feeling good, it's good for you.
Dad, you make me crack up.
Buster, go on a frickin diet you fat pig. I love you and you better not die before I get back or I'm gonna kill you.

Nope! didn't get Britt's letter yet! I've only been waiting forever though so I thought he might have forgot. Thanks for sending the sim card. We don't get dearelder Monday or Tuesday and we fly out on Wednesday morning. I got the return address stamp. There is evidence all over our room. Dang roommates. Haha. They decided everything had to have our address on it. :)

Thanks for checking with Ryan. Oh and by the way I may email you once or twice this week if I need to get a hold of you for anything so just check each day if you can. (They're a little nicer when you're getting ready to go.) I'll just send home one of the top sheets then and take the other with me and pick one up there.

Brogan, send me some pics of that shed if it ever got done. Love ya bro. keep it easy. :)

Love,

Elder Channing Winterrose

PS The answer to last week's message is: And I hope that your classes are very marvelous and that you don't have too much homework my buddy. But you need to remember that if you want to have success, your habits in your studies are the greatest part.

Monday, September 5, 2011

My Notes and Thoughts From Elder Holland's Talk

Hey Everybody!

 
Hey all you!  How's my family doing?  It's officially my 8th week and we get travel plans today!  I'm so excited!  It has been an awesome week and very eventful.  We hand an Apostle of the Lord come and visit us!  It was soo cool!  I even got to sing in the MTC Choir for him, and he said we did GREAT!

Hope you are all doing great.  Thanks for the picture.  It's my favorite and I really needed boxes so thanks for sending them.  

I hope you all continue to do great and enjoy school!


These are my notes and thoughts from the talk given on August 30, 2011 - Elder Jeffery R. Holland.
 
Okay, this is officially the coolest day in my life!  One of the twelve is here.  And we are singing for him!!  I don't know why, but I just about cried when he came in, the Spirit was so strong.  I feel kinda dumb, because I'm soooo excited to hear him talk!  It's like it's actually coming true!

Alma 7: 23 & 24 And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works. and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.

  • This is the only one that will not go through apostasy. 
  • We are the chosen dispensation.
  • Almost all missionary work that will matter will be done in this dispensation.
  • (Read Mormon 8)
  • We (Missionaries) are the most prayed-for people on the face of the earth.
The most universially accepted icon in the world is the picture of two missionaries.  Everybody loves missionaries.  We do not have the right to comprise that image; to damage that image.

...a missionary who can come home and forget what he is doing here (in the field)...  Four hours ago someone gave their life for this church.  Don't come home and turn against this.  Don't pretend it didn't happen.  I want you to go into this forever.

What is the most important thing that Christ wants us to know?  That EVERYTHING he said was true.

You are going out to help people not suffer.  He suffered so we don't have to. 

3 best pieces of advice:
  1. Go on a mission.
  2. Marry as directly and as honestly as he could.
  3. Get as much education as he could get.
People pay for your brains.  "I like people who know how to do things."

What is the greatest gift we can give to the Lord Jesus Christ?  Our Heart.  "...they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." 


Why does God love us?  There is not anything he wouldn't do for his children.  This is why God loves us; we are his children.


Welp, that was the best day in my entire life.  Probably because it was in a point of time in my life when I could be old enough to remember, as well as a point in time when I needed it most.  I know that God loves me.  I know that feeling that everybody has been talking about now.  I know that we are here, doing the Lord's work.  I don't think that, as a grown man, I would cry if it wasn't so powerful; so true. 


I am Important.  I am afraid of the future.  I am afraid of the past.  I know that if I work one day at a time and love the Lord and trust him then I won't have to think about the past or worry about my future.  


I've already gained so much by going on a mission.  I had NOTHING.  And now I have everything. 


I owe my future family everything God has given me.


Final thought:  I am not who I left behind.


Love you all,

Elder Channing Winterrose