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

Monday, April 30, 2012




holy cow! my comp just showed me a picture of him doing high jump jumping 7 FOOT. it was pretty sweet.

well, This week was kind of a slow one. We have been super busy and it feels like we don't have the time to ever do all we need to do. so that kinda makes the work slow... or fast. i don't know really haha i have tried to stop keeping track of the days.

this week was kinda cool. on Tuesday we had Zone conference and it was kinda cool. they talked about what i had been doing all my mission. Working with members. It was kinda an "I told you so" moment. ;)

Wednesday and Friday we went on splits and i went with Elder Boyd the first time then the second one i went with Elder Ferrin, one of our zone leaders. it was cool both times.

when i went with elder ferrin we gotta teach a few families from the Tongan ward. it was kinda cool cause i have been there like 3 weeks straight and a lot of them know me now.

Thursday was kinda interesting we had weekly planning and then i gotta call from elder Ramos, the one i am letting ride my other bike. he said that the back tire and rim got jacked... I guess they cut through the chain on the back tire and got it. I told him that's fine as long as he gets it taken care of, so he went and did that real quick. that was super nice of him.  i'm glad it's with someone who is responsible.
Saturday was super cool.

We got a chance to help out with Mormon helping hands and it was a whole stake effort. We had a ton of work to do and we knocked it out with like 2 hours to spare haha. i got a picture to download of me and elder casper working hardly. :)
We spent most of our time shovelling dirt and grass from around the trees and  putting in wood chips so it was a lot of work to do.

This Sunday was great. we went on splits with the zone leaders again and i went to the Tongan ward. it was sweet. i really like that ward. then we switched back and i went to our ward. after church we went to dinner and then to a baptism. it had been a while since i had been to a baptism. it was nice. after that we went to a missionary fireside for the ward where there were 2 more members than missionaries haha. so 22 in total. but i asked a couple that had just gone through the temple recently to give a talk and they did great. Their testimonies of temple work were way stronger than anything that us as missionaries could have shared so it was sweet.

today was BEACH P-DAYYYYYYYY and it was fabulous. I will TRY to send some pictures. These computers  kinda stink but you get what you get and you don't throw a fit.  Anyways, it was pretty cool. we went to a beach in our area and played for a couple hours. like from 11 to 2. we played football, soccer, baseball, rugby, volleyball, then a game with towels and water balloons. it was tons of fun. afterwards we went and took a bunch of pictures. I got one of me leaping over elder casper's head.

well. It is glad to hear Morgan is working hard haha. don't worry it will make it easier when you get on your mish and realize that it is allll you do.

Send elder Christensen an hola for me. :)

Hey britton. give me an update on you!

Dad when you give it your full 100 you never have to worry about not making the cut. I'm so glad for all of you doing great work and can't wait to hear from you on MOTHER'S DAY.

Well, I love you all and keep up the big work!

Elder Channing Winterrose

Monday, April 23, 2012


Hey! funny thing, today elder blackham was just telling me a story about how his mom told him she had found a relative who was also buried in a cemetery in Inglewood too. so that is kinda crazy haha.

okay, questions first. I usually do wear long sleeves in sacrament but last week and this week i went to the Tongan ward and my ward so it was a loong church. it also tends to get hot in church so i don't really wear them. We haven't gone on splits a lot yet but luckily we only have 2 other companionships in our district so we wont have to go on a bunch. they kinda are annoying because they mess with the schedule... another thing is it has been hard to do a lot of work and our numbers aren't as good because we have like a meeting almost every day. I wish i could just be a regular missionary haha. Elder Blackham has been serving in this area since he came out to the field a transfer after I did. Right now we are in central zone and we have our beach p-day this next Monday. I am soooooo excited. we are even going to the beach in my area. our church is also in my area so that's nice.

well, this week we had some fun stories. haha first things first. i don't know if any of you know the significance of April 20th but down here in Inglewood it is like the biggest holiday. I can say i was not surprised when we knocked on a door and a this lady opened the door and a cloud of yellowish smoke rolled out of the top of the door and right into my companions face hahaha. I had no idea what to say so i asked them if maria lived there and then we ran away. :) So that was one of the funniest stories of our week.

So this Friday we went to pick up a MINI missionary! yayyyyy. so we left and were in rush hour traffic for like 2 hours straight and finally made it there. we got our mini missionary and the drive home was like 15 minutes haha. His name was L. and he was a super great little missionary. we started our Saturday by going to the pep boys and getting our car taken in while we walked over to the in and out on sepulveda right next to the airport. as we were walking i realized i didn't have a way to pay for the food so i said a little prayer that there might be money on one of my cards. when we got there a lady walked up to us and said hi my name is "so and so". .I'm from Nebraska and i am going to buy you elders lunch. :) sometimes you can find your prayers answered in the coolest ways! Well, then we went outside to sit and watch the show. You see the cool thing about this in and out is that it is right under the landing path of the airplanes and you get to see all of them fly right over you as you eat your burger. :) We got to stand under an A380 as it came in to land. it was soooo cool. :) then we went out to tract some doors and then found a member to visit.

The rest of the day went great. The next day i went to the Tongan ward for all 3 hours and we were asked to give the lesson in sunday school. I love that ward haha. They always crack me up. :) That night we returned our mini missionary with a smile on his face, stories to tell and a testimony in his heart. I also got the opportunity to see a couple of my favorite families from LA 3rd ward and that was really nice.

Today we went running with the zone leaders and i thought i was going to die haha. it has been too long.

Morgan, for Prom go with a speedo, a batman cape and bunny ears as well as the WWF belt.

well, that is about all we did this week but it was a super fun week. I love and miss you all and pray for you.

Take care,

Elder Channing Winterrose

Monday, April 16, 2012

Inglewood Second Ward


well this week has been crazy. i can say i honestly didn't expect it (the transfer) coming. i do like change though. I felt like it is like i was climbing the ladder to get something off the top shelf and just realized i put the ladder in the wrong place. haha. now we moved it and I'm starting all over again. I am really liking it here so far though.

I am serving in the Inglewood 2nd ward in Spanish. My companion is Elder Zachary Blackham from Orem Utah. he is 6' 7" and a jolly green giant. :) i have been out one more transfer than him and we get along great. this is his first transfer being a district leader and it is pretty fun. our area is big. we are in a car. it covers from like somewhere in Inglewood, to the ocean. we have the north side of El Segundo, the LAX airport, Manchester, and Loyola Marymount University! it is kinda cool. i hear someone related to me lives in my area... :D it was a crazy week. we spent Wednesday up at the mission home while my comp went through training then Thursday we had weekly planning and did a ton of area book/planner organizing and met a few families. Friday we had ddm and i gave a training on how to work with the ward council. Saturday was sweet. we went and checked a referral down by the airport off of imperial highway and couldn't find the address so we decided to just keep driving. we saw the ocean! It was sooo cool. Seeing the ocean made me actually feel like i was in a tropical paradise for a moment and not just stuck in some gigantic city. :) I met a few of the families that Elder Filiaga was close with in our ward and they are all so nice. he got a lot of good relationships because he was in the area next to mine for 14 months of his mission.

So Sunday was different. we went on church splits with the zone leaders because they are in charge of the English ward in our building and the Tongan ward in another building. it was before our ward started so it didn't mess with the schedule. of course you can probably guess where i chose to go. The Tongan ward!!  it was fun haha. we sang in Tongan and i didn't understand a single thing. :) then we went to our ward. our ward is kinda different. i say that because it starts with the elders quorum at 1:00 and goes backwards ending with sacrament at 3:00. so that was hard to get used to. after church we had a little social thing kinda like a linger longer. So that was all fun and exciting. i forget the names of a lot of the people we have met so far but they will stick next week.
It is all different but super exciting. :) today we just did laundry then i gave my comp and another elder hair cuts and now were emailing.

the other day someone told a kinda cool story in elders quorum. There were these two brothers, one rich and one poor, both members of the church.  the poor one one day asked his brother if he was also doing the genealogy for their ancestors. he said he couldn't because he was too busy with his business and his job. so they went on with their lives. the poor man continuing on with his genealogy and the other with his business. one day the rich man asked his brother to interpret a dream he had. he said that he dreamt that they both passed away and were entering into heaven with all of their ancestors and they were greeting his brother cheerfully and hugging him when he arrived. He said also that not a single one even acknowledged that he had arrived.
I heard this story and thought that it was a really cool way to visualize what it will be like if we do and  don't do what has been asked of us about work for our ancestors who have died.

I am glad to hear everybody is keeping busy and happy.

Well that is the story for today. I hope you can all find something helpful in it.
I love you all and enjoy the letters i get! :)

Please take care,
Elder Channing Winterrose

Monday, April 9, 2012

Hey Happy Easter family!

Thank you for the Easter surprise! it was really nice!

this week was really nice and made me really appreciate the members. Sister Hidalgo is super nice and always takes care of us. She makes really good white people food hahaha. :) she is always asking what we would like and tonight i am going to repay the favor by cooking them some big old American steaks. :) so speaking of potatoes, (because they always go with steak.) I started growing some in our front yard! i was growing a potato in a cup for all last transfer and just lately i planted it and it is already sprouting up some vines. it is pretty sweet. This week i went out and bought myself a new soccer ball and it is really nice. i had a bunch of food lately so i am going to try to live off of what i got for a little while  and that left me with a bit of extra cash. Along with that i bought a new bike lock too and now i don't have to worry about anyone jacking my bike haha.

so this week has been very nice. We went last night to the visitors center with some members and our investigators and it was a really cool experience. it is definitely a blessing to have in the mission. we watched the Joseph Smith Prophet of the Restoration video and it really helped them to understand more about exactly who he is. afterwards we went to a little concert they were having from a YSA Ward from the USC area and they sang beautifully. all in all i think it has gotten them more excited about the things we teach them.  I will have to send some pictures soon because i have a ton :)

Well, i would have to say it wouldn't be a real Winterrose vacation if nobody got hurt. we are just too extreme for our own bodies. Hey Morgan, i heard that if you kiss a lizard it will make your tongue grow back. ;) and Daino, if you just drink some pickle juice it will  make you land softer next time. Sorry Britton but i don't have any tips for finding a wife.... yet... :D maybe try squeezing a lemon on your feet. anyways if any of those really do work let me know so i can invest in lemons.

as usual i will let you all know if i get transferred but i really like it here so i hope i will stay. I wanna get these people baptized haha.

well it is cool to know that you are all enjoying your spring and back in the routine again.  I love you all and miss you a ton and don't forget to send pictures!

Con Carino,

Elder Channing Winterrose

Monday, April 2, 2012

well, in the last week and a half I committed myself to start reading Jesus the Christ. I was motivated by something i thought; if I am doing my job with His name on my chest, then i would like to have a better knowledge and understanding of the man I'm preaching about. i started off on page 55 where i left off in the mtc and I'm now on page 178. I think i found my love for reading again haha. :) when i started, i was trying to look up all the scriptures and eventually gave up and just read when i realized i got more out of it by just reading. The notes are a gold mine for background info and make it much easier to understand the circumstances and the environment during the time of our Lord. so that has been really cool. Today i was reading about how he visited the Samaritans early on in his mission and how they were described as the most hated people by the Jews. When i read this i thought of the saying we heard in conference, Love thine enemies, and how He was such a perfect example of practicing what he taught by ministering to the Samaritans. I learned so much from this book so far and i am super happy with he help and examples it has given me to apply to myself.

The conference was super sweet and i think my most memorable moment was when someone ( i cant remember who without my notes so i apologize) said that you wouldn't ask somebody if they needed saving if they were drowning but you would dive in and save them before the water got deeper. This is something awesome that we can apply to our lives. All around us we find people in need of "saving" but they may be too prideful or afraid to ask for help. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints we are all missionaries.  one of the greatest testimonies people had of the savior was due to the service he gave to others through his Godly Power. I thought of the Priesthood that us as Men in the church have and how we are always told that it is to share. During my mission i have seen many miracles and blessings come by the power of the priesthood. I think the reason why i saw so many was because we were constantly offering our service. Now, this isn't something that only the men can do, but all can consecrate their time or talents in the form of service. I know that the Relief Society is founded on giving Relief or "service". So i just want you all to know that indeed there are people drowning and the way we can save them is to always keep an open eye for opportunities to serve and always have an open invitation to the gospel in your heart for them.

okay, so I'm gonna hop off my soap box for a minute. this week has been really nice.  we had Conference and that took up the larger part of it and because it was a short week, we have only taught a few lessons here and there in between weekly planning and meetings. I did get a great opportunity to see one of my favorite families from downtown and it made me super happy. :)

I am so glad to hear Britton found a girl who makes him smile (an Alaska-sized smile). :) Just remember Britt. Virtue will always overcome Vice so as long as you put your prayers into motion God will make the path clear for you.

I miss the snow if i haven't yet made it apparent hahaha. :) but while I'm on my mission i will just have to accept that we will ride our bikes in beautiful weather.
You all have fun and don't do anything crazier than i would do. :)

Con CariƱo,
Elder Winterrose