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