Hey, I found this cute puppy at a member's house.  It is the first actual purebred pug I have ever seen in LA and it's name is Chata which literally means smashed face - hahaha.

okay, well family and friends i had a crazy week where i think i learned the true meaning of work and sacrifice... we just had a baptism last week which was pretty darn cool but it left us with one downside; after looking at the "investigators" we had, we realized none of them were really progressing. so we are doing a LOT of finding activities, one of which is tracting. to be honest it wasn't a skill i had really honed until just recently. my last area we did a ton of work through the members and we were always receiving referrals from them. even too many at times to keep up with. so goes the saying you don't know what you got till it's gone. now, without the pouring out of referrals, it is tough working. we have had a little success with the streets around our appointments and near our casita but still no really good leads. :/ bummer time. our zone just got like crazy switched up too. both of our zone leaders got dropped and now they have a new one and a bunch of other crazy stuff. i think the missionaries around here might not have been being exactly obedient....  tough stuff. I'm just glad I'm not a part of it. It is hard enough to do the work, i don't see how people can be working effectively and not be getting the blessings of obedience. cause for me it is super busy stuff speaking of all that. i have been trying harder to stay focused in the mornings. it was never my forte... ahh, so it has been a super fun and busy week. the crazy people we run into definitely make up for the people who don't feel like salvation is cool. :) in fact the other day we ran into a bum after tracting and gave him a Libro de Mormon. he said he was excited to read it and we were outside our house. so i also ran in and grabbed a shirt i didn't want anymore and passed it down to him haha. :) that all made me feel good. well, i remembered my camera today so i hope you all like the pictures i got! Love Elder Channing Winterrose

O-key-day! soooo this week was pretty crazy. we got some rain this week. literally a gift from above in a place like this. you can kinda see the stars a little better after it rains! still not great, but better nonetheless. it was just for a moment, but it made it easier to breathe the next day haha.

oh, so Friday night at like 7 someone got shot like 2 a block from our house! super crazy right??? yeah, i still think it is quieter than downtown... that would happen like once a week.

idk what it is, maybe my knowledge of how hard it is to shoot a gun if you don't have a lot of practice, or just my general crazy lifestyle, but i feel pretty safe when crazy stuff goes down and i usually know what to do. i attribute it to having been through some kinda sticky situations already. anyways so that was kinda crazy. i didn't get to see the aftermath or anything, but they did have the entire street block shut down with crime scene tape and cop cars. not something you see back in Richland. haha. so that was our Friday.

then Saturday we finally got to go to the Visitors Center and it was super amazing. the family we are teaching are awesome. :) its a mom, dad, and two boys. the older one was old enough to be baptized on Sunday too! it was an awesome experience. one more to the scoreboard. i love being on the winning team!

so the baptism almost went down without a hitch. Elder R was the one to do the actual ordinance but i think his Portuguese might have confused his Spanish a little, so after about 5 dunks we were in the clear hahaha. :) that's always fun. then right after that Elder Shumway and i did the missionary moment and the family's little toddler decided he would go looking for his big brother.  He walked up to the front and kinda popped the curtain and didn't see him in the font. I think he was very confused at this point. so shumway went on and the little guy came over and kinda did that thing that kids do to get your attention. he comes up and bear hugs my leg and tried to pull me down to his level haha.  so then he goes over to shumway and does the same thing. then he came back to me and started hitting me to get my attention and by this point everybody is doing there best to not laugh and to pay attention, but then he hit me and made it count.  That got a bunch of people cracking up. then his dad came and got him. it was a very memorable moment haha. :) so that was our Sunday and now we are starting the next week and we are kinda at a loss for a teaching pool cause nobody was really eligible for baptism or progressing so we definitely got our work cut out for us.

well, i love all of you so much and i hope all is going well in the Tri.

Les Quiero bastante.

Elder Channing Winterrose

Aye mamma usted ya tenia la oportunidad para averiguar si papa conoce el hermano Shannon? de su trabajo o algo asi?

(Note from Mom - I didn't know what he was saying here, so I used an online Spanish to English translator.  I don't think it worked very well...  Here are the three options is suggested:

1. Aye mamma you already had the opportunity to find out if Pope known brother Shannon?
2. Aye mamma you already had the opportunity to find out if pope knows the brother Shannon?
3. Aye mamma you already had the opportunity to find out if the brother knows potato Shannon?)

Hey!

well at our apartment lately we have started the hobby of growing a weed....... haha. it has started the rainy season and we have a weed the same height as our mail box already! i think it's a dandelion. i must have a green thumb. the other day i noticed it and thought it was a small tree.

alrighty! first things first, i did get the package! thanks for the pump, it works great and the cookies are amazing. :) the wrapping ribbon/ construction tape stuff is a nice decoration for our door. it keeps the competition away haha. oh so this last week was kinda exciting! Tuesday we went on splits and i went to the other area with the district leader Elder Shannon and it was really fun. he is super nice and it is nice to talk about the Tri-Cities and reminisce with someone who knows what I'm talking about. by the way, no big deal or anything but Elder Shannon's dad does the exact same thing dad does at work. i told him what dad did and he told me all about how his dad does the exact same thing but for a private contractor and he does it for like Spain and other countries. it is way cool. he said he works like right by WSU tri cities. you might even know him! they are in Kennewick east stake.  anyways, so the next morning i wasn't feeling good and i got up and had to use the bathroom. because my stomach hurt a lot. after sitting on there for a while elder Shannon woke up and i told him i wasn't feeling so hot. then i took a shower to hopefully clear my head and help me out. after the shower i walked to the living room to ask if he had any meds i got that specific feeling you get right before you throw up. so the rest of the day we spent sick. oh, and when we called shumway he had the same thing so we had a fun little sick day. besides that the rest of the week has just been same old stuff. just been trying to get the energy back to get back to business.

Oh, i almost forgot, i think i have one of those meteorites grandpa gave me in my rock collection. it's black with little craters and the size of a quarter. i don't know if it is still floating around though...

well, i have a lot to do today and i wanna tell you all i love you all!

thanks for all of your support and prayers!

les quiero mucho,

Elder Winterrose

PS hey, my pal christian says hi.. .

Ahhhhh, dad i gotta say i always love getting your letters because they are short and sweet and always put a smile on my face.

remember dad, ether  12:23  
And I said unto him: Lord, the Gentiles will mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing; for Lord thou hast made us mighty in word by faith, but thou hast not made us mighty in writing; for thou hast made all this people that they could speak much, because of the Holy Ghost which thou hast given them;

we may not write a lot, but the faith and spirit of our message accurately pierce to the heart. (I'm pretty sure i got that from your side). :)

Alrighty this week i have been trying really hard to try and be more humble and have more faith. I think it has made all the difference too. God has been blessing us with great teaching opportunities every day and plenty of people to teach. It has been helping us out a lot especially to keep us from discouragement. On the contrary, as you all know, when we are closest to success and doing our best to keep up the Lord's work, Satan will always drive harder with his dirty work. our main investigator-family that were preparing for baptism had some hiccups this week as life threw some pretty big challenges. But, I have never in my time as a missionary seen anybody with the drive, determination, and faith that i have seen from this family. it truly is a testimony of the help we receive from God to prepare these people. Like with this investigator, there were a few things that were bugging him.  The next time we would visit, he would explain how he received the Lord's help to figure out what he needed to do and he'd do it. The Lord says jump and he says, "How high?"  I love having investigators i can be proud of. :)

He isn't the only one i have that is great though. i am pretty sure they all are golden. i feel like every time we show up it is almost as though they were expecting us! well, i just hope this momentum we have with all of our investigators will keep rolling, because it is an excitement i have for the work that i just haven't had for a little while.

okay, so last night i got the weirdest dream. i had a dream that i was in the living room and Briton walked down the stairs in normal people clothes and i was like HOLY CRAP! is this actually happening??? and i got so excited and i ran up and hugged him! and he was like skinnier than me! i was like, "dang fatty you been running??" and he was smiling and didn't know what to say and then he said. "shouldn't you be heading to an appointment?" and i realized i was a missionary! then i woke up. I think this dream was caused from reading his super trunky letters, and the fact that i cant believe he is almost done!!!! my big bro is gonna die soon!!! it is so weird to think that. i got a member here and he is just like Britt it is sooo weird haha. and he just got back from Brazil like 3 months ago and you two are the same age. it is crazy. well anyways that was my funny story for this week haha
 
alrighty friends and fam, i love you sooo much!

les quiero bastante muchisimo,
les cuidan

Elder Channing Winterrose