Hey there friends and family!

Well first i gotta apologize for not sending a letter last week it was kinda hectic and i will try to make up for it this week! we have a cool zone goal this month where we all play Moroni Kart. each of our companionships is together in a cart and throughout the week we do missionary tasks to get items to use in the game. Due to our baptism we get a star which means invincibility, double rolls and you knock back everybody you pass one space for 3 turns! We're gonna smash them this week. :)

So last week we had a crazy time getting everything ready for the baptism. We spent most of the time getting everything figured out for it which, if any of you are RMs, you may know what it is like making a program for a baptism when the people on it change every 12 hours or so, haha. We had a lot of editing to do so the final copy was done right before i had to teach elders quorum!

We had a weird experience this week, one of our investigators fell off of the map about 3 weeks ago after looking really sick at church and telling us he was ill. When he showed up to church he looked yellow like a lemon. the other elders and I realized those are the signs for liver failure and we weren't sure to tell him or not. Well, the zone leaders went by and checked up on him. we received bad news. By talking to his brother they found out he had passed away on the 27th of December and that is why we haven't heard from him in so long. we all kinda felt bad about it cause jokingly whenever our investigators disappear it's for unknown reasons and we might say something like they probably died, cause literally there is no way of contacting them - it's like they don't exist anymore. anyways, it was definitely one experience i didn't think would happen to me out here. At least we got him started in the gospel.

It has been kind of lonely getting no mail lately, haha. I realized that the only people i am writing have never met me in person and all the people i knew before my mission must be busy and on to other things by now. crazy how things happen while your gone.

It was a pleasant surprise to get the message from dad that he was down here at the visitor's center. Crazy how small the world is! :) I got the planner cover britt. it's pretty cool! It's a little big for my back pocket now so i'm still figuring out the best way to carry it lol.

Attached are some pictures from the baptism and our zone goal. hope you all enjoy them!

Love Elder Channing Winterrose

No letter this week.  :(

Dear family and friends,

Another good week!

Well it's the new year and that brings a few changes. we now have church at 9:00 and as always when church gets earlier people take a little bit to adjust. so we showed up on time Sunday and there was like half the people there, haha. Luckily our investigators showed up as the rest of the ward trickled in to fill the chapel.

This year also brings new meetings called fundamentals. For the next month or so we will be meeting every Tuesday and Friday and going over fundamentals based on helping us apply ourselves to the work more efficiently. Although I'm not a fan of extra meetings I'm excited to see the successes come out of them in the next couple of months.

Man that's crazy Britton is turning into quite the acrobat. I don't get much time to be crazy but on the occasion I will do a back-flip just to remind myself I'm fearless. :) I guess just living in LA isn't enough for me anymore.

It sounds like things for everyone are slowing down again as they get back into the daily grind. That's kinda like back here were really slowing down but we will pick up the pace again here soon once we get everything figured out for this next baptism. Hopefully we will get it all figured out before the 20th!

Anyways thank you all for the New Years wishes and for reading my letters! I appreciate the letters as well! Muchas gracias!

Con cariño,
Elder Winterrose

Well, this week has been full of Christmas miracles!

It was sooo nice to have the chance to speak to all of you and to see you was even cooler! it is great to catch up on work, play, friends, and family through a little phone call. I was really hoping to see Buster but then i remembered y'all were out of town.

For Christmas we went to a family's house and it was super fun. I think my tie collection has doubled in the last week and my companions is like octupuled if that is a word haha. but yeah, all the gifts were great, i even got to meet his family on Skype so it was a cool experience. The funny thing is that pretty much everybody down here celebrates Christmas on the 24th so we had a big shindig at a member's house on Christmas Eve and we all did presents there. lol. i think it is cause they just can't wait one more day. :) The food was great, we had chicken on Christmas that wasn't pollo loco for the first time and it was super good.

I really miss the snow back home. it is cold here but some days around noon we can still walk around with just a tshirt on so it isn't the same. and the cold just sucks cause then it rains and it's just miserable. at least if it was snow we could play in it! I feel like i am finally getting over being sick for like the last month so i hope it stays that way till summer lol.

We have been having a lot of success with one of our investigators and we set a baptismal date with her this week. We went to the visitors center the other day with her and it was the best! you can really tell when someone is elect because you can feel the spirit almost to the point of crying with them. The part i liked the most was the Mormon message the sisters showed us at the end. here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrZij9MSTRI&list=PL4E784EC0770935C0&index=34 It is a perfect message for the new year. I invite all of you to watch it with your families. :)

Tomorrow we will have a morning devotional for the whole mission to go over our goals and Standards of Excellence for the year. Last year it was a great experience and i am looking forward to it.

Well, I love you all and i hope that this new year you remember to look not behind yourselves and make achievable goals that will make you more happy when you achieve them.

Con Cariño,

Elder Channing Winterrose

well, this week has been a fun one. a few of my best friends are in my district and they know how to enjoy the work while working hard. we have been having a blast while waiting for the news that comes tonight. I really hope i don't get transferred. I have a lot of work going on here and i have had more success in this area than anywhere else. I think it has a lot to do with the members and the way they work with the missionaries. they are great at making everybody feel invited. In this ward they really have the spirit of understanding when it comes to our investigators and new members. they know just what to do to get the goals they set and that is what i really admire. I have really grown to love the people in the ward and i feel like this is the place where i can reach the most of my potential. I sent off a little Christmas card to the family, i hope you get it soon. I got the cookies from grandma. they were amazing :) Anyways, transfers are tomorrow so i will let you all know what happens next week! pray for me! Love, Elder Channing Winterrose

Dear family and Friends,

Well, this week has been kinda cool. If any of you know Donny Osmond he is coming to our ward this month while he is doing a show at the Pantages Theater. My buddy, Elder W., was greeted by him at the door this Sunday and of course, Mr. Mississippi didn't know who he was talking to so he thought he was just "another nosy white guy asking where the missionaries were from" hahaha. when he realized who it was he was like "oh crap! that was Donny Osmond!!!" He really makes me laugh.

Yesterday Elder P and I stayed after church and practiced with the choir for our ward then came back at like 6:00 to practice with the English ward. Our organist is super good and after practices he belted out some beautiful songs like he could do it in his sleep haha. I was blown away. After we got home, Elder P was really wanting to sing so i gave him a voice lesson and DANG he sounds a lot better already. I guess that's one of the perks of having a piano in the apartment. :) Elder P is a really great companion. he is super humble and never afraid to try new things out. it's cool because most of the things i have done before aren't the norm. :)

Anyways this week we had the confirmation of our investigator and it went great. We ended up doing it right after sacrament because everybody kinda forgot about it during the announcements haha. but we made sure to get it done.

While at the temple i received some sad news.  the bike that i had let another missionary borrow got stolen like 2 transfers ago and i just learned about it. the missionary said he would pay me back for it. I'm not worried about it though. i was glad to help another missionary out with the resources i had. :) Plus i have a bike so i don't have to worry about that one.

I have been having some pretty bad luck with sending out mail lately but I'm still trying to write more often, so bear with me. As for this Christmas, I am going to be Skyping the family and probably around 6:00 if it works out, but if not let me know. we already have a family who has it so i just have to pray I don't get transferred on the 18th. I would be kinda upset if that happened. I already got transferred right before my birthday which kinda killed all of my plans so i hope it doesn't happen again. I love you all and wish the best for you.

Love,

Elder Winterrose

PS: Dear Morgan, please be careful getting off of the ski lift or your mullet may get caught in the lift and cause others the discomfort of being stuck on the lift. :)

PPS: Oh yeah, i almost forgot to mention! Elder S. in our district decided to take on the ultimate challenge at Fatburger - 17 patties on a bun! he didn't make it though - he only made it to 11 patties. it was a good effort though. :) I got myself a xxxl with two of the patties he didn't eat making it a XXXXXL. a very big burger haha.

Turkey Bowl 2012 - I think he's trying to look fierce

Welcome to a sweet new Sister!

I think we're looking at a special part he put on his bike, but I'm not sure which one. :)

Hello family and friends,

Sorry the last couple of weeks have been short letters, it has been a little crazy lately. We have had 3 baptisms in the last 3 weeks so it has been a spiritual high lately for me! Along with that I have been getting everything ready for my college applications and what not, which takes a lot of time on preparation days, so i haven't had much time.

I think that's super cool that you guys found a great older car. A small one's all you really need. As long as it can make it to the mountain right? :)

I got a letter this week and it was a sweet surprise. It seems like the postal system is having a really hard time getting my mail through, so sorry if my letters aren't making it out as quick as I try.
This week we got the chance to go through the temple and it was really nice. I always find peace when i go there.

Well, I don't really know what else to tell you....

Hmmm... last week we had the street closed off for the filming of the first episode 5th season of Southland sooo if anybody watches that we gotta see the stars in it. That was kinda cool.

yeah, but really this week we haven't had a lot going on, we have been working a lot with our just baptized recent converts and investigators who are getting baptized. There has been a lot of rain this week too so we have been kinda limited to how much of our area we can cover. We are about to really get back into the groove and start finding a bunch of people again so it should be picking up soon.

Well, I love you all soo much for reading my letters and giving me your prayers and support.
Please pray for me and continue to help the missionaries in your areas to the best of your abilities.

Love,

Elder Channing E. Winterrose