Dear family and friends,

Well this week has been extra crazy. My new companion Elder Stinson is awesome. He is from Alabama and has been out for just a year. We are opening a new area called Cimarron. We are the newest edition to the ward with now 11 missionaries. (4 companionships and one trio) It seems like a lot for a small ward but there is definitely work to do.

My district is not large and it has us, one other companionship of elders and a pair of Visitor's Center sisters.  They seem like a great bunch and i am happy to serve them.  The area that we are working in has many challenges including not having any ward directory or map to work with, and not a lot of people to visit.  Today i don't have much time because i have to do service.

Because they were replacing palomino and me with sister missionaries, we had to get rid of a lot of stuff in the apartment and we also had to visit my recent convert for a last time, so we didn't have much time to really clean the apartment. President Baker decided to call us in to do service for our p-day instead of going back to the apartment and finishing cleaning the next day like they told us the rule was. soo long story short it is going to be a day short pressed for time.

We also had some surprises of our own when we arrived to our new apartment, as we were unpacking we realized we had no fridge or oven in our kitchen. luckily after many phone calls we had one delivered later that night. Along with that, Sunday night we got a phone call telling us that we will be receiving two new additions to our home.  The English elders. After some gang activity going on near their street, President decided they needed a new temporary place to stay.

One has been out for 6 months and is training the other who just got here. it is super cramped now and let's just say i love being hospitable but i hope this is extra temporary.  :) The experience has reminded me that if you want someone to change you have to invite and set an example and they use their agency to follow (rather than order and boss around). It helps me to keep myself in check because i never want do that. I would hate to be the district leader people remember as a tyrant.

We are going to continue working hard to find more people and get some investigators.

well, i love you all so much and i hope you keep the gospel your priorities.

Elder Channing Winterrose