!!!!! Baptism !!!!!

Dear Mom, Dad, Family, Extended Family, and Good Friends,

Well I guess I should start with the good news first! C'S BAPTISM went down smoothly! Our only hang-up was on the day of the baptism - we realized that we had forgotten to ask anyone to make the programs! SO we tried calling a bunch of people but no one was home or able to do it on such short notice. SO we ran down the street to the P's, the greatest fellowshippers ever ( ill speak more on fellowshipping later), and then decided the only thing I could do was to GET ER DONE. So I jumped on their computer (a little apostate, but desperate times call for desperate measures and I already knew how to make it so that made me the man for the job) and the computer even had Microsoft PUBLISHER!!! (For those of you who aren't familiar with publisher, it is amazing!! It has so many different pre-made layouts, but the best part is the way they are formatted, like you choose to make a half page program and it will split one piece of paper and print the front, back, and two middle pages all on the one page.)

Needless to say the programs turned out beautifully. We couldn't find a good quality picture of Christ though, so we just chopped one of our pass along cards and glued it to the master copy! Presto! It looked good! AND Sister P. was touched because I spelled her name right. Her name is D** ***, so I thought of how no one ever spells Mom's name right, De Anna, and I heard mom's voice in my head saying "It's the little things of service that you do that really show people that you love them" (from one of the many times she lectured me on my cleaning!). BUT IT'S SO TRUE. It's the attention to details that shows people how important they are to you and it really means a lot! End of the story, we spelled everyone's name right, did some cutting and pasting, got the line up mostly right (mixed up the order of the speakers) and got enough copies printed out! And we did it just in the nick of time! The Lord was definitely watching over his missionaries!

The baptismal service was pretty awesome too though! The spirit was so strong! There were tons of little kids struggling to be reverent, but they did a pretty good job, and they were all so excited for C.! It's awesome because the little children are the ones who usually have A.) Been recently baptized and remember it vividly. Or B.) Are getting ready to be baptized and are quick to share their personal excitement and translate that into excitement for C.! Sister L., my companion, and I were the ones who were asked to speak at the baptism and I felt like everyone did an amazing job. The spirit was so strong. It reminded me of how strong the spirit was at Casey G's Baptism. I thought his was awesome, so that made me feel really good about the one we put together for C. She also got up after she was dunked and got changed and bore her testimony, which was awesome! Then the Branch President got up and did a welcome to the branch talk that was basically a really good talk on baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end! Then we had a bunch of refreshments after the baptism and they were really good!

Sunday was the confirmation and it went down smoothly. Everyone who C. asked to be present was there and the spirit was strong! Brother P. did a great job voicing the blessing. It was fantastic.

The whole process as my first baptism couldn't have been more amazing! From the start we were blessed with bundles of amazing fellowshippers! The lessons were taught, and when they were taught the Spirit was very strong! C was so diligent in applying the lessons and commandments that we and her fellowshippers taught her! She didn't even hesitate to move out on her own when her parents told her to "Stop going to that church or get out of my house". She is amazing, and the Lord is so proud of her!

She talked about how the reason she started looking into the church is because her mentor and friend, Brother L, would always tell her how the church helped him! He would testify of how it helped him! It's so important that anytime someone else is facing trials in their life and they turn to us, we share stores of how we overcame trials with the help of the Savior and the church! The other thing that he did is that he was diligent about inviting C. to church! And all of this is what C. said was important when she bore her testimony of how she found the church.

Fellowshipping is so important! Many times people just try to invite people to church, but it is also important to invite people to learn about the church. Invite the people you know to learn more about the church from the missionaries. Don't just give the missionaries a name and address, talk to both your friends and the missionaries and do whatever you need to do to get them all in the same room!
Also, make it very clear to the missionaries that you want to help them fellowship people. Tell them in very plain English "I want to help you by fellow-shipping investigators, introducing you to my friends, and giving you opportunities to meet people." If you give a good missionary the opportunity to meet one of your friends, then a GOOD missionary will do what needs to be done to move the discussion towards one on the gospel. If you know anyone who needs service done or is doing work, give them the missionaries number! Service is awesome because 1.) Missionaries love getting into work clothes! 2.) It softens the hearts of people that they serve and opens doors that would otherwise be closed by misunderstanding, ignorance, or intolerance. 3.) It gives the missionaries the opportunity to prove to the people that they are serving that they are good, hardworking young men and women who would be worth listening to for at least a few minutes! Some of the most amazing conversions have happened because of the service provided for nonmembers by missionaries. I guess the bottom line is HELP MAKE ALL OF OUR MISSIONARIES MORE EFFECTIVE BY PROVIDING THEM WITH INVESTIGATORS TO TEACH! Missionaries are ministers, called to teach the gospel.

I love you guys and I know you will do it, not because I said to, but because the Prophet and countless other Apostles and Prophets have constantly admonished us to do it! I know many of you are busy, but do what you can! If it's one referral per day or one per year, every little bit helps! OH AND ALWAYS FEED THE MISSIONARIES! If the calender comes around and it's full, don't be afraid to put your name down on a day and write (Lunch) on the side of it! Hahah IT'S AWESOME when you get to join members for lunch!

Well that's the end of that rant for now! Hahah. SO this week we have started working the big city dock and started walking down by the harbor. It's so great to get to meet all the tourists and all of the fishermen who are all over this place right now! We contact so many people just by being down on the docks and opening our mouths. Especially when we're fishing! Cause people always wanna know "How goes the fishing!!" or "You caught anything?" Talk about taking the pressure off of us! They EVEN START THE CONVERSATION!!! Then they always wanna know if were from around here, then they want to know what brought us up here! AND BOOM! That's when we drop the hammer, "Oh. Well, we're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" and then we ask them "Do you know any one who is Mormon?" and they go blah blah blah, and then we start talking about our mission and then we just start looking for ways to kick our religion into the conversation. It's hit or miss. Sometimes the people actually are interested and want to hear our message, so we just start teaching right there. Other times it's just a nice conversation with a couple of really nice boys who are serving the Lord. Sometimes we sew, other times we reap. But we are always friendly and I try to help everyone down on the city dock who comes down and fishes with us to catch a fish while I share the gospel! I love it! It's so perfect for me! Hahah. And the people usually don't even know what they are getting themselves into!

So last week I got C's graduation announcement in the mail and I started to cry! IT WAS TEARS OF JOY FOR MY BABY BROTHER!!! HAHA I still can't look at the pictures on it with out getting teary eyed. :) I'm so stinking excited for you C!!

AND D! DUDE! I AM SO BUMMED THAT I WASN'T THERE TO SEE YOUR SWEET VICTORY IN THE TOURNEY!!! That's just too cool that you guys finally held it together to take the cake! I think it was probably because your team is a little older and the guys are more mature (like you) when it comes to keeping it together and not falling apart into a pile of emotions! Not to mention you didn't have the pressure of me being there and yelling at your ump!

Speaking of yelling at umps! Way to put a grown man in his place M! That's so stinking funny. I would pay money just to watch you ump 'cause I know you wouldn't take no Jibber Jabber from no angry old man! Hahah, that's just too cool

Buster, this week I have seen like 15 pugs out walking with people and I always run up and ask if I can pet their pug. It's a great ice breaker!

By the way does anyone know how much a polar bear weighs? Enough to Break the ICE!!! :)

Well Family I miss you! I love you! I hope you find the inspiration in your lives to become great member missionaries! And just remember that if you are ever struggling to remember that the Church is true, make sure you are doing everything that you are supposed to be doing - keeping the commandments, repenting, praying and reading your scriptures daily. And then if you still don't know - Pray. Pray to your Heavenly Father in the name of our Savior, and ask him to make it known to you that you are doing the right thing, and he WILL!!!

I love you all! Take care! Keep me posted! And do more fishing!

Love, Elder Britton Winterrose

PS So last week we had a bunch of water spill in the back seat of the car, like a few gallons... so it turned the little spot in on the floor behind my seat into a small pond and we didn't realize it until we heard the sloshing. So I looked back to see what was making the noise and I saw my scriptures, sitting half way in the puddle..... My heart sunk... I nearly cried. I had those scriptures so marked up already! Hundreds and hundreds of Inspired notes, scripture chains, highlighted and cross referenced. I was finally starting to know where every thing was. Well when I pulled the scriptures out of my case they were double their original size... totally saturated with water. I went to a members house and put them in a vice and squeezed them.... literally rung them out. Then the members helped me blow dry the pages, but the binding is ruined, the pages are now warped, and it looks like they were tie-dyed because all my notes, and highlighter marks bled through the pages. They are completely decimated. And they smell dank and moldy now. My heart was crushed, but there is no use crying over spilled milk... I was going to see if I could pay it using my monthly allotment but my 130 dollars just won't cover the 70 bucks for the scriptures and allow me to buy the food I need to get through the month... I really need new scriptures, these ones just wont hold up to the hundreds of hours of scripture study and teaching that are going to be required of them over the rest of my mission. I love you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Note from De Anna; we already took care of this.)

PSS OH AND THE OTHER DAY I stopped by a yard sale and bought over 300 dollars worth of fishing gear, tackle, weights, and hooks and a vintage tackle box and a pair of rubber boots... haggled the lady down to 7 bucks!!! Talk a bout a score!