hey there family!

I have to say when i read dad's email i smiled when he said he hadn't been doing much to develop himself spiritually and then said just family scripture study, prayer and went on to talk about how church went. The reality of this is that the three most important things that we can do to further our growth in the gospel is pray, read the scriptures and go to church. It really is the little things that count. :) One big part of being truly converted is if you have consistency in the little things. It may seem like it doesn't make us build our faith much but the thing is when bad things happen that would otherwise weaken your faith, they don't. Those three things are the most important for members because it is the strong foundation that we have to build upon. without those then we have a very weak and unstable foundation.

Well this week has been a pretty good one. lately we have been seeing the fruits of our labor and have 4 people set for baptism on June 24th. 2 families and hopefully the two husbands will start meeting with us too so it should be an exciting month getting them ready. i have already met the husbands and they are super nice. :) it is just a matter of getting a while to sit down with them. The work is going great in Inglewood.

Well, the news, Elder Blackham went up to Silverlake area which is like everything north of my first area in Downtown and i got a new companion named Elder Zachary Mitchell who has been out one transfer less than me and is from St George utah. He is pretty cool and a nice guy.

Monday was super sweet.  For a zone activity we went to a park to play a game called Battleship and to join a barbecue that the Tongan ward was putting on. The game is  played by having 2 teams on either side of a net with tarps on it so you cant see and having them all lay down except for 2 people who are throwing.  you throw water balloons across to the other side to try and sink the other people. it was tons of fun. the best part would have to be the food though. I was initially thinking maybe like a few Tongans would be there cooking for us but then i was pleasantly surprised when we showed up hahaha. They had a giant pit and they were cooking like 2 pigs on it and there were like burgers, chicken, steak and everything else you could imagine. When they cut the pig they just hacked it apart and it was gone in like less than 5 minutes hahaha. :) It was super good food.
that was pretty much the highlight of our week. today was elder Gunnels and Elder Gonzales' birthday today so we went to the yogolicious and had a birthday lunch. today i am going on splits so it should be exciting. :)

I got that letter from a girl on Friday, britton, so you can let her know i'm writing one back it just takes a while. ;)

Man it is funny y'all say it feels like you're still waiting for summer to come because i feel like i have been waiting for about a year for winter to come hahaha. :) the weirdest thing is that it is like the same temperature but people are all like " Yay! Its summer and now we can dress like summer now!" (even though it is like seriously the exact same weather) it must be a Cali thing. I met some guy that served in Jamaica with brad baird today too. it was cool. small world right?

well that is all for today, I love you all and i am actually getting better at writing letters back so feel free to test my awesome literary capacities.

Love, Alfalfa.

(Elder Winterrose) :)

Hola todos!

this week has been a pretty good one. it is always crazy busy getting ready for transfers and this transfer is no different. this last week we have had some mini miracles. we have a zone goal that is really pushing us to work more with the members.  this has been tough lately but it is really helping to make the work move forward even faster. we have kinda been the anchor out of the 3 companionships in our district this week because the zone leaders have been super busy. our prayers definitely payed off though. one day we were sitting there literally trying to find out how we could get one more member referral for our goal and the phone starts ringing. it was a brother from another ward who had been working with a friend of his and he wanted her to meet with us. we were like HECK YEAH! and the next day we baptized her...              just kidding. :) that would be sweet. we did have an awesome lesson with her and she came to church and brought a friend! our bishopric was on them like flies on the LA river. they were taken to class and everybody did an awesome job. Way to go Inglewood segundo! :)  anyways now we have like 4 new investigators from that.  the other mini miracle was on Thursday night we realized that we needed a bunch of member presents for the goal. we took a second look at our plans and realized we already had 4 member presents planned! it was sweet.
it is super cool how god takes care of his children.
so yesterday was really nice. after church we went to the wards piano recital and it was really good. the kids play like Mozart. :) afterward we went to the missionary fireside and it was really cool. we are going to be losing a bunch of super great missionaries. i got to see a few other people i haven't seen in a while and it was nice.
On our way there it was a super cool solar eclipse thing and it was pretty sweet.

Well, i'm glad all is going forward back at home. it is crazy how fast things change in the lives of the Winterroses. It is sad to hear daino was having a hard time with baseball. i hope he sticks with it and doesn't let it get him down. He is a great little player and i know he is probably the only one tough enough to play that position. Dang. i remember having that van like 2 weeks or something before we left. it will be super weird getting home and having that one. haha.

well, This week has been great. the members of the ward have been a big blessing lately and i hope they keep up the momentum. :)

I love you all and am glad to be serving on the lords time.
Every member a missionary. always look for opportunities of service.

Les Quiero,

Elder Channing Winterrose

Hey there family! sorry but this one is going to be a little short. right now i am re formatting my hard drive and i had to take a driver test but this week has been great!  We had a really fun activity dinner thing for mother's day at the chapel and it was a great missionary opportunity. it seems as though this week our members were also doing great getting investigators for us too. our investigators are doing all right but i always hope for more for them. it was sooo nice to hear from all of you and i hope you all have a great time.

I will write more next week i Promise!

con carino,
Elder Channing Winterrose

Okay, I'm going on double trouble.
i thought we would be more pressed for time but i guess it isn't that much of an issue. I LOVE FAST COMPUTERS. if you didn't already guess that about me. i just got done moving over 1,180 pictures that i had taken on my mission to the compy then back. I think i should probably go through them some time and delete a few hahaha. :)

I was wondering if anybody has good suggestions for Cd's that are good for missionaries but that aren't just Mo-tab. and if you feel so obliged send a copy my way. ;) Well, i think it was way sweet to hear from all of you. I love hearing your voices and it was funny having my friend Elder Casper call Daino. we recorded it haha. :) E. Casper was like you sound different! and Dain said, "you sound like your nose is all stuffed up!" we all busted up laughing. I miss you guys a lot but i remember what mom told me. Everybody says they miss you but they still don't wanna see you for 2 years. :) This has been a really cool ward and i am super excited for it while it is gaining momentum.

I like a lot what you said about faith and trusting in the holy spirit. if you have a good idea that you think is from the spirit, just follow it no matter what. Just give it the benefit of the doubt. God won't chastise you for at least trying to do what is right. :)

I hope you all continue to do what you know is right. if there is any doubt about it then just STOP IT.

Well, I hope you all enjoy my words of wisdom!

Love,
Elder Channing Winterrose

Me and my typewriter

A painting on my desk that has probably been there since the beginning of time

Hey there!

I am glad to get a letter from you! This week something cool happened. I was digging through the apartment and i found an Electric Typewriter! It needed a little TLC but i got it back up and working and now i can send you a few snail mail letters. it really helps because i don't do the best at hand writing. i think it is just cause i can usually find something else to do first then get caught up in crafts or something. haha. well, this week has been pretty good. during our lunch time one day i took the time to make some cool t-shirts for me and my comp! i found this iron on patch stuff and cut out letters and made us some matching shirts with our names. We found some new people to teach after like what seems to be a long dry spell. so that is really nice. we have a really big area and now that we are in car we have a hard time sometimes getting to appointments on time due to parking and travel time.

We don't have a lot of time this week because we had a lot of different places to run to but i am super excited to be talking to you all on mothers day.
We were teaching this investigator the other day and he was talking about how when you get older you start to put aside your dreams and by the time you have kids and a job and all that going on they are pretty much just obsolete until they all leave and by then it is too late. i thought about it and i believe that the best part of having kids is living out our dreams through them :) at least that's what i think is pretty cool. cause then if you happen to have 4 boys, just saying, then you have 4 different dreamers to live with and plenty of snowboarding, baseball, college, mission, and all other dreams that they can think of. it is kinda cool. i thought of it the other day and how much our parents sacrifice for us but how awesome it will be when i have kids of my own. to be able to help them magnify all of their talents to achieve their dreams. :)

anyways that was just a thought.
This week i went to the English ward and it was way different. it felt foreign hahaha. ;) I got the chance to bear my testimony in English. it was cool.

I am so excited for Baxter and you're gonna have to pass the word along. I just feel sorry for him because when he gets back nobody will know a word of Portuguese ;)

Well, i will talk to you all on Mothers day!

Cuidense,

Elder Channing Winterrose.

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

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

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