I loved the letter from last week! Sorry I never got to respond. It is so awesome that you and dad had some missionary experiences of your own, mom. I really liked the story. I hope you follow up on that invitation to read the Book of Mormon.
Last week was pretty cool. We taught a ton and T. got baptized! That was definately the peak of my week. We were teaching some other people too but two of them moved so that was sad....
T's baptism was really nice. We got to the church filled the font and realized that the hall and room floors were filthy. So we busted out the vaccums and with the help of some awesome members we cleaned the place up. T came and then the baptism was wonderful. I peformed the baptism and Elder Poole confirmed on Sunday! It was really neat. After the baptism T's friend Emily spoke and gave a great talk on the Holy Ghost and then Taylor bore her testimony and it was powerful! What a wonderful baptism!
Well this week was an odd week. Elder Poole was ill with the flu on Monday & Tuesday and then was slowly recovering on Wednesday - Saturday. He had insomnia too which really slowed his recovery. He is getting back to his normal self quickly though so that is good. I finished up my essays and completed my application for BYU Provo. So now I'm playing the waiting game. We were able to set up a few lessons with O and also with two new investigators. O's lesson went well. He finished reading the Book of Mormon in two weeks!! Stayed up all night to finish on Saturday though! Hahah. I would have also, but Elder Poole was good about reminding me that obedience is greater than the fat of lambs. Haha.
We had an enjoyable thanksgiving dinner with our ward mission leader's family, the R's - and their turkey was awesome!!!, so that was cool. We also started teaching two of our referrals. One of them decided that she didn't want to come to church at the last minute but the other one came and it was good. We are going to try to use the Book of Mormon to help her devlop and increase in desire to learn by sparking her curiosity and then feeding her soul with the truth. We will see how it goes.
I have really been focusing my studies on the Book of Mormon and on the fundamentals of Preach My Gospel. I love the lessons from both. I finished the war chapters of Alma the other day and it helped me remember how much I love that book. I should finish the book this week. I love, love, love reading it.
Reading it to support O really strengthened my testimony of the Book of Mormon and helped me gain and show greater charity towards him. I know it will work out for him.
I hope all is going well for you. I am really enjoying working in this area. I hope I can stay here for a while but I am willing to do whatever the Lord asks. It would always be neat to go back to the southeast or serve with Elder Kyle Williams... or both! Hahaha.
I love ya all!!!!
Elder Britton Winterrose
Monday, November 28, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
So, how would I respond to Rev. 22:18-19? There is a verse that is nearly identical to that in the old testament. But most of the time I simply explain that the bible was 1. Not compiled in chronological order, ie. the book of revelations was written before other books were even finished. 2. I explain that John was simply stating that no one has the authority to add to or take away from THIS BOOK, meaning the Book of Revelations. 3. I explain that a bible is a compilation of books each with their own separate chapters and view points but with a common theme. 4. I explain that their church has added and taken away much more than the restored gospel.
That's what I could do. Or!!!
I just bear witness that I know that the Book of Mormon is the Word of God and that it has the power to bless their life. Then you read the end of 2nd Nephi!!!! Last chapter, and explain that it is their choice whether they ask God if it is true or not, but it is not up for them to decide, God will tell them. Otherwise, He is not there, and then in that case their first arguement is not valid.
Simply stated, all one has to do is determine whether or not Joseph Smith was a prophet. And all anyone has to do is read the Book of Mormon to learn that it is not adding or subtracting anything to the Bible. It's not even in the same book!!
Well Elder Poole is sick so we will have to email later this week. I love you guys. Just wanted to let you know everything is going good and we had a baptism this Saturday.
Taylor!!!! Nov 19, 2011!!
I'll send pics with the later email.
Love,
Elder Britton Winterrose
Monday, November 14, 2011
Hey Family! How's it going!
Well this week was a great week. We were able to begin teaching many of the people who attended the fireside with Elder Holland. It was pretty sweet. We were crazy busy this week.
Sunday was a good fast and testimony meeting. A bunch of the members told us how happy they are that we are staying another transfer. There were a ton of Returning Members who came as well so that was good. I really love this ward and I love getting to be around people my age. It really eases a ton of stress. President Beesley was there on Sunday too! That was cool. I bore my testimony and it was funny because I got up and sat on the stand because someone else was getting up to speak and then after they finished the bishop got up and started to close the meeting. I was just going to sit and wait out the rest of the meeting sitting up on the stand haha. While he is standing up the 1st Counselor looks back, sees me, and reaches up and tugs on the bishops jacket. Well the bishop being as awesome as he is, let me get up and bear my testimony very quickly. I am grateful for the inspired leadership of the church and I am grateful that our meetings are run by the spirit and not by dogmatic policy. I will always remember it as a lesson in leadership.
I'm sorry for the short message! I love your mormon.org profile mom! It's sweet. I hope life is going well. I will probably send a letter home later on this week. Life is hard, but my faith is strong. I finished up part of my BYU app, and now I just have the final two essays. I should be able to finish them this week.
Well I love you all! Dad, you should make a mormon.org profile too!
Love,
Elder Britton Winterrose!
Well this week was a great week. We were able to begin teaching many of the people who attended the fireside with Elder Holland. It was pretty sweet. We were crazy busy this week.
Sunday was a good fast and testimony meeting. A bunch of the members told us how happy they are that we are staying another transfer. There were a ton of Returning Members who came as well so that was good. I really love this ward and I love getting to be around people my age. It really eases a ton of stress. President Beesley was there on Sunday too! That was cool. I bore my testimony and it was funny because I got up and sat on the stand because someone else was getting up to speak and then after they finished the bishop got up and started to close the meeting. I was just going to sit and wait out the rest of the meeting sitting up on the stand haha. While he is standing up the 1st Counselor looks back, sees me, and reaches up and tugs on the bishops jacket. Well the bishop being as awesome as he is, let me get up and bear my testimony very quickly. I am grateful for the inspired leadership of the church and I am grateful that our meetings are run by the spirit and not by dogmatic policy. I will always remember it as a lesson in leadership.
I'm sorry for the short message! I love your mormon.org profile mom! It's sweet. I hope life is going well. I will probably send a letter home later on this week. Life is hard, but my faith is strong. I finished up part of my BYU app, and now I just have the final two essays. I should be able to finish them this week.
Well I love you all! Dad, you should make a mormon.org profile too!
Love,
Elder Britton Winterrose!
Monday, November 7, 2011
Well hello family!
I'm glad I get to write you guys today! This week/weekend has been incredible. I guess I will start from the beginning. I received Chan's letter for Elder Holland and then I finished mine and prepared them so I could give them to him. I made copies of them so I will be sending those home so you guys can check them out if you want. We were going crazy this week trying to make sure that we had everyone that we have been working with at the fireside on Saturday night so most of our time was spent with that and teaching. We taught our new investigator twice this week, and when we taught the Restoration on Tuesday it was amazing! Truly phenomenal. The spirit was so incredibly strong during the part describing Joseph Smith's first vision. I held up a picture of it, looked her in the eye and then began to recite the vision in his words. It quickly changed though... the spirit engaged and all of a sudden it was as if the words were being spoken by someone else and I was just there observing it all take place. I bore my testimony and then Elder Poole, her friends shared theirs as well. The spirit was incredibly strong for the remainder of the lesson as well. We taught her again on Friday and taught the plan of salvation. The Spirit bore witness of Heavenly Fathers love and mercy through His Son as we taught about Jesus Christ. The Spirit was really strong at the end as well when we discussed the mercy with which all mankind shall be judged and bore testimony that everyone will have the opportunity to accept or reject Christ as their redeemer.
Then Saturday was stressful, stressful but good. We were trying to save seats so we could make sure that our investigators would have good seats, because we knew that like half the active membership of Anchorage would find some excuse to come to the missionary fireside, even without an investigator.
So we made some reserved seats and reserved a row for the 14 people that we had coming... then someone said we couldn't save seats and removed the signs while we were gone so we had to scramble to get some members to save seats... that was stressful.
Then we had a sweet little meeting with the missionaries and Elder Jeffrey R Holland, Elder Paul D. M. Christensen, Elder Tad R Callister, and Bishop H David Burton. CRAZY. It was cool. Each of them got up and spent 5-10 minutes sharing their testimony and then Elder Holland spoke last. He talked about Preach My Gospel, how it was born the day that President Gordon B. Hinckley decided that he couldn't stand to meet another less active return missionary. Preach My Gospel was written to convert the Missionary, and through that converted individual - convert the investigator. I had long since suspected that was the purpose but it is now clear to see that the missionaries who never made Preach My Gospel part of themselves, who never made the gospel part of themselves, are the ones who fall away. The ones who harden their heart and receive the lesser portion until the knowledge of the mysteries of God are taken from them. There is just too much to share and I don't have time to write it all. I will probably dedicate the remainder of my pday to recording the proceedings in my journal. After he finished speaking we were able to shake all their hands all at once. I shook Elder Holland's hand and then gave him the letter saying, "This is a thank you note from me and my brother. He was in the MTC when you spoke in August." He said "Thank you Elder, I will read it tonight." Pretty stinkin cool!
So we then rushed to find our peeps and get some seats, and thankfully we have a whole ward of RM's who just happen to be some of the most awesome fellow shippers and they had got everyone seated so I went and moved a chair up to the end of the row and joined them. I knew that if I did everything I could that Heavenly Father would make it work out and I really had done everything I could and it did!!!!! Whoot!!!
The fireside was awesome. Elder Christensen bore testimony of the atonement that was really good. Bishop Burton spoke of the need to know the words of the living prophets and shared an awesome story about when he was a boy. His father was a bishop and would take them with him when he went to visit people so he could spend time with his children. Well one evening Bishop Burton's father called for him and Bishop Burton didn't want to leave the football game he was playing in but he went along with his father reluctantly. He said that they went to visit a member who was sick and that he, Bishop Burton, was busy just longing to be back in that football game. He went outside on the patio and sat on the steps and a car rolled up. Out hopped President David O. McKay, and the prophet went inside to help Bishop Burton's father give a blessing. Bishop Burton remained on the steps and on his way out President McKay stopped and sat down next to Bishop Burton. He spoke to him and told him a story of how when he, David O. McKay was young that he desperately wanted to go to general conference but every year when the time to go would roll around they would have farm duties to attend to. One year though when he was 12 or 13 President McKay was able to attend. They traveled to Salt Lake and went in the tabernacle before conference began. His father went up to meet the Prophet John Taylor and President Taylor invited them to sit on the front row of the tabernacle. President Taylor then sat down next to young David O McKay and rolled up his sleeves and then... this is the part that gets me... showed him the scars and marks that he sustained while with the Prophet Joseph in Carthage. Crazy. Way cool.
Elder Callister spoke on the Fruits of the spirit and knowing the truth through the fruits of the spirit and through prayer. I love that man's voice. He just has an awesome speaking voice.
Elder Holland spoke on the event chronicled in Acts Chapter 3 where there are these two young Galileans, who came from a background of being poor fishermen, who had known Christ and been members at best for three years, heal a man crippled from birth and then teach the multitude who gathers to see this man who had been lame from birth, jump and skip, and run and hop and cheer! They then rebuke the people for standing in wonder and wondering how it was all possible... these the same people who had shouted 'crucify him' at Pilot's palace. They assert that these things can only be done through Christ. And many are baptized. He also spoke of how people cannot fight the evidence of the Church. They can try, but they can never destroy the church.
It was awesome but I have nowhere near enough time to share all the things I learned and all the things they shared.
So that was Saturday. We had Stake Conference on Saturday and that was awesome. Elder Christensen shared a story about how he was doing philanthropic work in Africa establishing orphanages and he was able to share the gospel with a congregation of monks in this orphanage and teach them how to pray and how to study the scriptures. Crazy awesome.
Then Elder Holland spoke again. It was wonderful. He left a blessing at the end of his talk and the coolest part was that one of our investigators was sitting next to me as he began to talk about the blessing, and I noticed her close her eyes and start praying, I thought to myself, AWESOME SHE PRAYS ON HER OWN!!!! WHOOT!!, and didn't think anything else of it till later on. Then as Elder Holland was speaking he paused, listened and then said something along the lines of "someone in this room is desiring for these blessings on behalf of their loved ones who are not here.... I extend this blessing according to the power of my Apostolic ministry to all those that you are thinking of. To all of those that you cry over. It wasn't until later that I realized that he received that pure revelation, which I testify that it was - the Holy Ghost bearing witness of it to all who were present, at the moment she finished her prayer. Heavenly Father sometimes does answer prayers immediately but the fullness of that blessing may take months or even years to come to pass... nevertheless it was a pretty flippin' sweet occasion. Well later on that night we heard from our investigator that her mom called her up and asked how the church thing was going, and told her she would need to help them (her mom and her sisters) start going too when she comes home on break. TOO COOL!!!! TOO STINKIN COOL!!!
So we had a lesson with this same investigator later that day and it went well. Elder Poole and I are teaching with a spirit that hasn't been this strong for a long time... its really quite amazing. Its made for a lot of thin veil moments of spiritual growth and light has been cast on many of my questions pertaining to the mysteries of God.
I really am just overwhelmed with gratitude towards my Heavenly Father. The work is going well and I get to stay with Elder Poole one more transfer. We got to watch Elder Packer's fireside last night as well. Two apostles in one day. Crazy. Heavenly Father is wonderful.
Too much to write. Too much to write.
Brandon Flowers of The Killers has a mormon.org profile see it here: http://mormon.org/me/5233/
I have one too!! http://mormon.org/me/698X/
Well I love you all! I hope all is well!! The snow is deep here and the wind is cold! Winter is definitely here.
Love ya!
Elder Britton Winterrose!!!
I'm glad I get to write you guys today! This week/weekend has been incredible. I guess I will start from the beginning. I received Chan's letter for Elder Holland and then I finished mine and prepared them so I could give them to him. I made copies of them so I will be sending those home so you guys can check them out if you want. We were going crazy this week trying to make sure that we had everyone that we have been working with at the fireside on Saturday night so most of our time was spent with that and teaching. We taught our new investigator twice this week, and when we taught the Restoration on Tuesday it was amazing! Truly phenomenal. The spirit was so incredibly strong during the part describing Joseph Smith's first vision. I held up a picture of it, looked her in the eye and then began to recite the vision in his words. It quickly changed though... the spirit engaged and all of a sudden it was as if the words were being spoken by someone else and I was just there observing it all take place. I bore my testimony and then Elder Poole, her friends shared theirs as well. The spirit was incredibly strong for the remainder of the lesson as well. We taught her again on Friday and taught the plan of salvation. The Spirit bore witness of Heavenly Fathers love and mercy through His Son as we taught about Jesus Christ. The Spirit was really strong at the end as well when we discussed the mercy with which all mankind shall be judged and bore testimony that everyone will have the opportunity to accept or reject Christ as their redeemer.
Then Saturday was stressful, stressful but good. We were trying to save seats so we could make sure that our investigators would have good seats, because we knew that like half the active membership of Anchorage would find some excuse to come to the missionary fireside, even without an investigator.
So we made some reserved seats and reserved a row for the 14 people that we had coming... then someone said we couldn't save seats and removed the signs while we were gone so we had to scramble to get some members to save seats... that was stressful.
Then we had a sweet little meeting with the missionaries and Elder Jeffrey R Holland, Elder Paul D. M. Christensen, Elder Tad R Callister, and Bishop H David Burton. CRAZY. It was cool. Each of them got up and spent 5-10 minutes sharing their testimony and then Elder Holland spoke last. He talked about Preach My Gospel, how it was born the day that President Gordon B. Hinckley decided that he couldn't stand to meet another less active return missionary. Preach My Gospel was written to convert the Missionary, and through that converted individual - convert the investigator. I had long since suspected that was the purpose but it is now clear to see that the missionaries who never made Preach My Gospel part of themselves, who never made the gospel part of themselves, are the ones who fall away. The ones who harden their heart and receive the lesser portion until the knowledge of the mysteries of God are taken from them. There is just too much to share and I don't have time to write it all. I will probably dedicate the remainder of my pday to recording the proceedings in my journal. After he finished speaking we were able to shake all their hands all at once. I shook Elder Holland's hand and then gave him the letter saying, "This is a thank you note from me and my brother. He was in the MTC when you spoke in August." He said "Thank you Elder, I will read it tonight." Pretty stinkin cool!
So we then rushed to find our peeps and get some seats, and thankfully we have a whole ward of RM's who just happen to be some of the most awesome fellow shippers and they had got everyone seated so I went and moved a chair up to the end of the row and joined them. I knew that if I did everything I could that Heavenly Father would make it work out and I really had done everything I could and it did!!!!! Whoot!!!
The fireside was awesome. Elder Christensen bore testimony of the atonement that was really good. Bishop Burton spoke of the need to know the words of the living prophets and shared an awesome story about when he was a boy. His father was a bishop and would take them with him when he went to visit people so he could spend time with his children. Well one evening Bishop Burton's father called for him and Bishop Burton didn't want to leave the football game he was playing in but he went along with his father reluctantly. He said that they went to visit a member who was sick and that he, Bishop Burton, was busy just longing to be back in that football game. He went outside on the patio and sat on the steps and a car rolled up. Out hopped President David O. McKay, and the prophet went inside to help Bishop Burton's father give a blessing. Bishop Burton remained on the steps and on his way out President McKay stopped and sat down next to Bishop Burton. He spoke to him and told him a story of how when he, David O. McKay was young that he desperately wanted to go to general conference but every year when the time to go would roll around they would have farm duties to attend to. One year though when he was 12 or 13 President McKay was able to attend. They traveled to Salt Lake and went in the tabernacle before conference began. His father went up to meet the Prophet John Taylor and President Taylor invited them to sit on the front row of the tabernacle. President Taylor then sat down next to young David O McKay and rolled up his sleeves and then... this is the part that gets me... showed him the scars and marks that he sustained while with the Prophet Joseph in Carthage. Crazy. Way cool.
Elder Callister spoke on the Fruits of the spirit and knowing the truth through the fruits of the spirit and through prayer. I love that man's voice. He just has an awesome speaking voice.
Elder Holland spoke on the event chronicled in Acts Chapter 3 where there are these two young Galileans, who came from a background of being poor fishermen, who had known Christ and been members at best for three years, heal a man crippled from birth and then teach the multitude who gathers to see this man who had been lame from birth, jump and skip, and run and hop and cheer! They then rebuke the people for standing in wonder and wondering how it was all possible... these the same people who had shouted 'crucify him' at Pilot's palace. They assert that these things can only be done through Christ. And many are baptized. He also spoke of how people cannot fight the evidence of the Church. They can try, but they can never destroy the church.
It was awesome but I have nowhere near enough time to share all the things I learned and all the things they shared.
So that was Saturday. We had Stake Conference on Saturday and that was awesome. Elder Christensen shared a story about how he was doing philanthropic work in Africa establishing orphanages and he was able to share the gospel with a congregation of monks in this orphanage and teach them how to pray and how to study the scriptures. Crazy awesome.
Then Elder Holland spoke again. It was wonderful. He left a blessing at the end of his talk and the coolest part was that one of our investigators was sitting next to me as he began to talk about the blessing, and I noticed her close her eyes and start praying, I thought to myself, AWESOME SHE PRAYS ON HER OWN!!!! WHOOT!!, and didn't think anything else of it till later on. Then as Elder Holland was speaking he paused, listened and then said something along the lines of "someone in this room is desiring for these blessings on behalf of their loved ones who are not here.... I extend this blessing according to the power of my Apostolic ministry to all those that you are thinking of. To all of those that you cry over. It wasn't until later that I realized that he received that pure revelation, which I testify that it was - the Holy Ghost bearing witness of it to all who were present, at the moment she finished her prayer. Heavenly Father sometimes does answer prayers immediately but the fullness of that blessing may take months or even years to come to pass... nevertheless it was a pretty flippin' sweet occasion. Well later on that night we heard from our investigator that her mom called her up and asked how the church thing was going, and told her she would need to help them (her mom and her sisters) start going too when she comes home on break. TOO COOL!!!! TOO STINKIN COOL!!!
So we had a lesson with this same investigator later that day and it went well. Elder Poole and I are teaching with a spirit that hasn't been this strong for a long time... its really quite amazing. Its made for a lot of thin veil moments of spiritual growth and light has been cast on many of my questions pertaining to the mysteries of God.
I really am just overwhelmed with gratitude towards my Heavenly Father. The work is going well and I get to stay with Elder Poole one more transfer. We got to watch Elder Packer's fireside last night as well. Two apostles in one day. Crazy. Heavenly Father is wonderful.
Too much to write. Too much to write.
Brandon Flowers of The Killers has a mormon.org profile see it here: http://mormon.org/me/5233/
I have one too!! http://mormon.org/me/698X/
Well I love you all! I hope all is well!! The snow is deep here and the wind is cold! Winter is definitely here.
Love ya!
Elder Britton Winterrose!!!
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