(Thursday May 26th)

Well I have this little opportunity to email today because I wasn't able to on Tuesday.

I ended up flying out of Anchorage on Tuesday morning at 8, which meant that the assistants wanted me there one hour before I was to board. I had to be at the airport at 6:20, so I had to wake up at like 5 am after staying up till 3 packing on Monday night.  (I didn't want to waste time on Monday packing during the day when I could be visiting with members.)

I had some really sweet experiences visiting members on Monday. I was able to visit the A. family. Y. A. was baptized after I left the Northern Lights Ward. I was trying to visit her and the family but she was at work. I got to visit with her husband, S., about how they were doing. They are doing wonderfully!

I think the most rewarding and humbling experience is when you leave an area and the people that you started teaching continue to progress and are baptized. I have been fortunate enough to have had that happen with 4 different people so far and I hope to see the other 5 from the Dimond ward, and 3 in the Lake Otis, ward get baptized.

I was overwhelmed with the spirit while I was talking with S. to see how much he, Y., and their family have changed for the better. It is an answer to many, many prayers. I think that is so hugely critical - just because you are gone from their lives temporarily doesn't mean that you don't care about them any less, or that you don't desire for them to progress and follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized. We should never stop praying for those we love. Ever I will miss the Samoan ward tons but I like my new companion, Elder Paul G. from Los Angeles California. He grew up on the outskirts of the city, in the rural-county part. I didn't even know LA had a rural area. Hahah.

He is a good guy - way different than Elder D. - and still awesome! He came out at the same time as Elder Tyler W. I am excited to be here in Craig. People say that the fishing here is phenomenal. I am grateful that President was willing to trust in the council of the Lord in sending me here. We have only met a few families so far, but I can tell I am going to love it here. The branch is strong, it reminds me so much of Valdez... Especially the rain. I am sure that my rain gear that I purchased last summer is gonna be worth its weight. I'm glad I put in the effort to haul that stuff around! Haha. They have excellent King, Silver, Red, Pink, and Dog Salmon runs here, as well as a very strong Steelhead run. I am pretty pumped to do some fishing! I will be sure to take lots of pictures!

Unfortunately I think I have outgrown my Xtra-Tuffs. I don't know what kind of prices you can find for them on the internet but I will go try some on and figure out what size I am now.

I've got that DVD. I will be sending it home on Monday along with the rest of the receipts for my medical treatments.

If you send up any packages please include food! Canned food is a great filler for flat rate boxes!! Hahah!

I love you all! I miss you! Love Elder Winterrose.

(Monday May 30th)

Well a few things of business before I get started on the real letter. I will need size 17 neck shirts just an FYI, and the Xtra-Tuff's are boots. The ones I have are insulated and steel toed. They would probably fit dad perfectly. I found a place down here that sells them for 80 bucks or so.. Yep. I will send these ones home if I get a new pair.

We have to feed ourselves every other day or so and breakfast and Lunch. So yeah it is pretty crazy.

My luggage survived. I was able to repair the handle on the small carry-on so that was good.

I love baked beans. Hehehe. Really though, anything that will hold up would be wonderful.

Other Questions... Do you guys want me to figure out the prices for shipping meat down this summer? I will be catching salmon and possibly getting some deer. Everyone says the deer meat is really good and I've tried it and it is! I could figure out the pricing and let you know then you could just deposit the money in my account and then I could get it all shipped to you. Let me know soon.

Well! This week has been fun. We have driven a lot and I've been able to meet most of the members in the branch. I am hoping to do some good fishing today, though it sounds like I missed the Steelhead by a week or so. :(

No worries though, there is more fish in the ocean. Our area is pretty amazing. We cover the whole Prince of Wales Island. There is a lot of fishing and a lot of logging. We get to cut down trees and do lots of service. We spent our day on Friday and Saturday helping out with the marathon, setting up and all sorts of crazy stuff. CRAP... WE just realized that today is memorial day!! That means everyone is going to be out fishing.

Combat fishing...

This place is beautiful and loaded with deer. The other night we were driving home and counted 43 deer. It was an hour and a half drive but still.. That is nuts!

Well I will be sure to keep you posted as more crazy adventures happen here in Alaska's bush.

I think that is all! Yeah, the fish are calling me!

I will do my best to document my adventures up here! I love ya!! Byebye!!

Elder Winterrose!

Service Softens Hearts (and bears everywhere!)

Dang! That's awesome that Cody finally is taking off on his mission! With all his baseball stuff, it seemed like he had to wait so stinking long!

Well, life is going well here in Valdez! The bears are really starting to get crazy around here now. When I first got here people said "Oh yeah there's bears all over during the summer," and over the past few months I've seen quite a few, but most of them were from a distance - they were in their respective habitat and I was in mine.  But the bears are really going nuts now! I have seen 3 in town, like 50-feet away from people's houses, even just wandering down the road. Most of them are black bears, so it's not as big a deal as a grizzly, 'cause black bears are usually more afraid of people than we are of them. But grizzlies, they are the man-hunters and there's tons of them in town! The city sets up bear traps. They look like a huge barrel with a trap door that slams shut when the bears take the bait. When caught, they take them up to the dump, shoot them, and just dump them. It's kinda sad, but once a bear has started to feed on human food they become a huge danger to everyone.

Here in Valdez, they have garbage pickups twice a week, but the bears still get into the trash cans. You can tell when it was a bear, because they just crush the can to get the lid off. So you will be driving down a street and just see can after can crushed. It's pretty crazy. I'm considering investing in some bear spray but it costs $35 per canister! Bears are awesomely scary. They are nimble like a small dog just bouncing and sprinting around. And they can run freaking fast! There's a story in that Saints In Alaska book that I sent home that talks about a guy using his priesthood to rebuke a bear. It's a pretty funny story!

Thank you so much for the pictures from Inconnu! That is so exciting that Poot caught a fish on a fly rod! In fact, all of you guys did! That's pretty stinking cool! Pootie can try to tell you that's his first fish but I know we have pictures of him with fish from rainbow lake and from the family fishing pond! I feel that excitement when I see those pictures! DUDE M.'s lake trout is HUGE. Not quite state-record huge, but stinking big!  It must have took some skill to bring that one in on an ultralight. I actually bought an ultralight rod and reel a few weeks back, it was an okay one, an Abu Garcia combo, but I broke the rod so I went back to the place I bought it, and I'm pretty friendly with the owners, so they hooked me up with a much nicer, $80 Rapalla ultra light for $10. It's always an awesome fight with those ultralight rods. Yeah, totally not Poot's first fish, maybe the first one he can remember though! I also liked the picture of grandpa in his waders. I hope you had an awesome time.

I love helping people fish! Especially when it is their first fish! I remember one time when we went fishing to the family fishing pond with our scout troop as deacons and we were all helping people fish and I helped Garth catch a fish! He was so excited! Catching the big one is always awesome, but nothing is as gratifying as helping someone catch their first! That excitement is universal!

I hope you guys enjoyed being out in nature like that too! I still vividly remember many of my adventures that I had while at Inconnu. Dad was awesome about letting me and C. dictate the day's adventure, and he even let us do our own thing. One of the things I remember is driving one of those little skiffs with just me and C. Dad was usually with someone else in the other one following us, but still that was pretty crazy. I remember one really warm day when C. and I just hung out at the lodge and used the hose and slid down a muddy hill in sleds. It was awesome! I'm sure it really stressed grandpa out, but it still was one of the funnest things we did. I also remember going to a few of the streams that fed into the main lake and making fish traps with C. using rocks. I love nature. I'm glad you guys had a good time. Keep it up. Buy yourselves a pole and keep on fishing!

The missionary work here in Valdez is picking up and as always we are staying plenty busy with tons of service. Rain or shine we are usually doing service of some kind and it is opening up tons of doors! Service is amazing because it is a very direct way to show our love for people! And it is an undeniable thing. People see us helping their friends and their attitudes towards us change instantly. I cannot really divulge the details of the work, because of the sensitive nature of it, but it helps so much. The best part is that it helps me love the people that I am serving even more! I gain more understanding, more charity, and my faith in them grows, as does theirs for me. They begin to love me and I them - I am able to share the source of my love, of my light of my charity. And because they love and trust me, their hearts and minds are open. That is the beauty of missionary work; getting lost in the love. And because of my willingness to share the gospel, my willingness to just open my mouth and say what I would want anyone to say to someone that I love, my Heavenly Father blesses me with more opportunities to serve and to open my mouth.

I truly love Valdez and I have grown to love the people here, as I love my own family. It is my desire to help them make their families eternal, and to bring that joy that only the Savior's Atonement can bring to people's lives.  This fuels my efforts. I strive to become more like Christ; I want to be His hands. And as I get better at seeing through His eyes, I am becoming better at seeing the opportunities to share my love. I am so grateful for the chance I have had to serve in Valdez.

I found myself laying in bed, nervously contemplating the idea of getting transferred. A new start. New people to learn to love and serve. I would miss this area so much, and I hope I don't get transferred because I love to see the progress of these people! But I trust the Lord. I have faith that wherever I am sent, is where I am needed. I will go anywhere. And I realized that my love for the people of Valdez is not reserved for just the people of Valdez, but is a reflection of my love for my Savior, and it is for all of God's Children. I hope to maintain this love, because it is what helps me work beyond exhaustion. I will go where he needs me, and will always love Valdez.

I know the Lord has a lot in store for me. I know that he wants me to continue to grow, which means adversity is near in my future. I hope that I am ready, but I know with the Lord's help I can overcome all things. The greatest joy comes when I take a step back and look at the people here that I have interacted and worked with, and how far they have progressed. Overwhelming gratitude fills my heart. This is what the work is all about!

Well family, friends, I love and miss you. God be with you.

Love,

Elder Winterrose

Six New Investigators (and Fishing too)

So, First Item of Business...

Last Saturday I helped a bunch of the families in our branch fish for the kids derby. It's a fishing tournament for kids under the age of 14, and guess what! I caught the winning fish in a division and the 2nd and 3rd place fish in two others! Well, I at least hooked the fish, and let the kids reel them in. It's pretty sweet, cause they have some awesome prizes, like they were giving away skateboards and longboards. One of the kids I helped got a complete element skateboard with trucks wheels and everything. It was a blast.

We have also been helping the members install a snow-melt system on the roof of our building, it's been fun. And the work is going fast!

The missionary work has been picking up as well. Our teaching pool has grown and we now have 6 investigators that we are working with who all show promise. Will they accept the Gospel? Only time will tell...

We have been struggling to contact some of them and to arrange times to teach them because of their jobs. People here work odd shifts, 12 hour days for one week straight from 6 to 6, in a week-on, week-off schedule, swapping night and day shifts. OR they work over at the cannery and are super busy anytime there are fish coming in!

You talked about that guy that grandpa's friend knows helping people make $10,000 in 10 days, that is like every single summer job in Alaska! I am seriously contemplating coming back to Valdez the summer after my mission because I could get a job as as a deckhand on a seiner (a fishing boat) and make between $20,000 to $40,000 working July through August. That is a very conservative estimate too! This year most of the people are making almost $60,000 per person on most of the boats.

So I sent a few packages home, you should be getting them soon. I put some of the salmon that I smoked in there for you guys!

I'm pretty jealous of the brothers getting to go to Inconnu.... but no worries! (Haha) I get to live the dream for the next few years! They are going to have a blast! I had forgotten how much fun fishing was, before I came up here.

Life is going pretty well here overall. I love this city and I really love Alaska! I am so grateful that the Lord chose me to serve here! It's like getting picked for the winning team! Epic snowfall in the winter, epic fishing in the summer... Alaska is the only place where you could use "Epic" to describe almost everything and it would still be a gross understatement!

I miss you guys! I miss my brothers tons! I saw the pictures of Bryson and the girls in the newsletter and initially thought "Balla!!!" till I realized it was my cousins..... Hahah, it's so weird to see how everyone has grown up!

Well I love you all! And I hope for the best for you!

God be with you till we meet again!

Elder Winterrose

Fishing, Catching and Predators : )

Hi Family and Friends!

Today has been wonderful so far! My comp and I woke up early this morning and got out to go fishing at 7:00 a.m. It was one of the best days of fishing I've ever had. It's hard to even call it fishing because you hook a fish nearly every time you cast. It's really not good for my fishing patience though. I start feeling like I'm having to wait forever when it takes more than two casts between fish. It's so stinking much fun.

The salmon that we are fishing for are Pink Salmon. Some of them are good Sea Bright ones that are good to eat, but more and more are looking like they are in the early to mid stages of the spawning transformation where their flesh turns white instead of pink and starts getting all mooshy. I caught a huge one today though, it weighed 8 and a half pounds. That's a pretty huge pink. I haven't actually seen any others bigger than that one. The state record though is like some freak behemoth fish at 14lbs. Anyways, so we fished for 3 hours and caught around 40 - 50 each. We have eaten so much salmon that I can't even stomach any more of the Pinks, I'm always game for Red (Sockeye) and King (Chinook) as long as they're fresh and free! We only ended up keeping 4 fish then we went and filleted them. I'm getting pro at filleting fish, I've done ~100 this last week between my own catches and helping people fillet their fish. One of the fish cleaners down in the harbor taught us how to fillet them right! In the 30+ years he's been doing it he's filleted more than 200,000 fish! A lot of them are freaking huge ones too! Today was all about catching fish though, not keeping it.

We went to the Solomon Gulch Fish Hatchery and fished down stream from the hatchery. Then when the tide was way out we went down along the river that runs through the tidal flats and just caught fish after fish after fish! It was an awesome morning. That whole area is pretty awesome though because all that food in one area brings in the coolest predators! Orcas, Sea Lions, Sea Otters, River Otters, Black Bears and Brown Bears! And tons of tourists! We contact so many people each day just because we are polite and helpful, the other people usually even start the conversation! We are also able to donate our fish that we catch to the local food bank! It's awesome because we get to do service by fishing. Service and contacting - all while enjoying nature and some of the best fishing it has to offer. It really is wonderful.

I'm sending some pictures of my comp and I! That reminds me...? Did you ever get my memory card? Are you sending it back?

Well... I really miss you guys. It freaks me out how much all the brothers have grown since I've left. It's also weird to think that I am already 4 months into my mission.

This guy drives around town and has the biggest malamute I've ever seen. His dog is a beast. I want one like it.

Well shoot............ it won't let me attach more than one picture per email. Freaking stupid.... Well here comes a few emails and an explanation of the pictures! Haahah.

Well the work here is going slowly but it is progressing! I really miss you guys!

Love Elder Winterrose!

P.S. I really liked Elder Berke's idea of the car wash and Sizzle but it rains all the time here. :)

Summer in Valdez

Dear Family and Friends,

So right now my companion is sitting looking at pictures of his younger sister who just got married to some guy he has never met before! Makes me so glad I don't have any sisters. I'm bummed that you guys are selling the boat but I guess it's for the best because that means that eventually dad is going to give in and buy a wake-boarding boat..... way down the line. It's not like we spent a whole lot of time on it last summer, but it is still a bummer. So let's go over what I did last week........

Caught some salmon. Talk about Alaskan experiences! I caught 3 pink salmon last week when they first started to come in! It was pretty awesome because it was my first salmon. Now the run is hitting full swing and the salmon are just pushing each other up the fish ladders at the hatchery. It's a wild life party over there.

Last week I saw a pack of river otters swimming in the ocean chasing the salmon. It was weird because they were about 50yds out and I couldn't figure what they were because they were too small to be sea otters and they had long skinny tails. But then I saw one closer and realized that they were river otters. There were 5 or 6 of them swimming off of Allison Point, one of the better fishing locations. Then Saturday the pinks were really charging in. They swim in in schools and they swim so fast and are packed so dense that they create a wave that rides on top of them and a wake behind them as they come in and up the river. It's pretty sweet to see the Sea Lions that chase them around too! Those things are huge! Like freaking massive! Their heads are about the same size as a grizzly bear's. Wanna know how I know? Because there was a mamma griz and 3 second-year cubs chillin 15 yards upstream from the bridge where we were taking pictures! It was so cool! All the tourists there on the bridge just kept saying "OMG OMG!!!" and "THIS IS A ONCE IN A LIFE TIME EXPERIENCE!" and then the member that we were with replied "Unless you live in Valdez"........ it was funny, I guess you had to be there though.

The nature here is pretty phenomenal. I've seen Brown/Grizzly Bears, Black Bears, Sea Lions, Sea Otters, Various types of seal and Fur Seal, mammoth Halibut! ~ the largest one entered in the derby this year was 200.2 lbs ~ and huge runs of fish! Not to mention the number of amazing waterfalls and huge glaciers all around Valdez. This place is amazing. Honestly, this is the best time of year to visit Valdez because it's just packed with wildlife.

The pictures that lady sent you were of us catching our dolly varden from a secret spot that a friend showed us. :) We got 16 of them. It was a pretty nice day of fishing and I'm getting much better at filleting fish, I can actually do a little fish like the dolly's in one cut. We are going to go and fish them again today though! I'm pretty excited for that! I'll be sure to let you know how it goes! We eat so much fish! Usually we just end up giving a bunch of it to members. The members here are awesome about feeding us too!


And I did have a baptism two weeks ago! I can't believe that I omitted that part! It was great! The boy is 9, his mom is a member and his dad is not but we did end up teaching the whole family! His mom had been struggling with church attendance but now it's not just her getting the two little boys to go to church, now she only has to worry about the youngest because the older boy is more motivated to attend church! It was a great baptismal service too! The primary did a really great job getting people to turn out!! I even taught the younger boy why we need to tuck our shirts in and wear ties and then he did it! HE TUCKED HIS SHIRT IN! Talk about milestones. The mom was very happy that he did it! We made sure that we included the dad through the entire process and I feel that he progressed as well.

So last week, besides fishing and nature-loving, we got to paint a big visitor bureau kiosk. It took the better part of 3 days! The good news is that while we were doing it we met a ton of people in the community who were happy to see the pile of junk off of the side of the road finally getting a good paint job. They would stop by and chat! And I learned how to use an airless sprayer! Those things are awesome. To put the icing on the cake the people we were doing the service for took us out to dinner, lunch, and breakfast. We literally ate at every restaurant in town last week! It was a fun service opportunity!

Sunday was a blast too! My companion and I were asked to teach a primary class because it was the lesson about missionary work but it turned out that we had a potential investigator show up to church so we had to split-up. He went to the gospel principals class and I taught Primary 9! it was way fun, we had a few visitors, and I was asked to teach at the last moment's notice, but seriously what missionary cant teach how to be a missionary! I even used the manual! It was a blast. It was a pretty large class though, 9 kids, but that's nothing compared to my Primary class! Haha. The only rough part was when we went to do sharing time and singing time, my little missionaries started going crazy! All in all it was a blast and now I have a army of mini-missionaries that love me, and my companion was able to pick up a new investigator, so it was an awesome Sunday!

After church we went and wandered around all the various activities that the town was having! It reminded me of when we went to the 4th celebration down in Fillmore, how the entire town was at the parade and then they had that big barbecue after. That's exactly what it was like here except I'm sure they don't have anything like that in Fillmore on a Sunday! Haha. So we just walked around and talked to a bunch of people. Later on we went to a family party at one of the member's house and then went and watched them light off fireworks. It's weird lighting off fireworks here in Alaska because it really doesn't matter if its 7 pm or 12 pm, it never gets dark. So people don't even wait. They just start lighting off their fireworks as soon as they get done with dinner. All in all it was an excellent end to a fantastic day!

Well family and friends, I miss you much! I hope you are all doing well and I hope you are all asking Heavenly Father to increase your Charity and Faith. Faith and hope. Charity and love. These are the Christ -like attributes that are critical in being Christian. Without these, it is impossible to emulate Him, and all of our actions, (attending church, attending the temple, serving in our callings, serving a mission) are all in vain. The Pharisees had all the right actions but lacked these basic characteristics, that is why they were Hippocrates. Pray always for these things. Mormon beseeches us to seek after these things in Moroni 7 .

I love you all so much, I wish the best for you and I hope that you all will do these things. I have noticed a drastic change in my life as I have prayed for, received, and used my strengthened charity and faith. It has helped me become less cynical, critical, and stressed. It has made me more understanding of others, it helps me see others as the sons and daughters of Heavenly Father that they are, and helps me treat them they way they deserve to be treated. I'm so grateful to be here on my mission and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Much Aloha,
Elder Winterrose

Are you still learning Tongan? Yep Still working on it! How’s the work going? Slow, but it seems to be picking up! Are you getting letters from anyone else but family? I was receiving letters from ******* but I haven't got one in quite some time.. You should bug her a little bit next time you see her in person. Seriously though I haven't received a letter in like 5 weeks! Hahaha

There's Always Service!

Dang C. that's some serious road rash! Last time I saw some that bad was when Kevin Turner hit a dog going like 30 on his bike and it launched him over his handle bars. I'm glad that you were wearing your helmet though! Just remember... keep the Sabbath day holy! HaHaHa. But seriously I'm glad you are alive and still in one piece.

Other thing is was it your right or your left elbow that took the beating? I sure hope it was your left... You did the right thing by getting a Priesthood blessing though. Amazing things happen when you get Priesthood blessings because you are opening up the path for Heavenly Father to bless you! Seriously though the Lord must have something awesome planned for you on your mission because you are still alive! I love you little bro so don't go dieing or maiming yourself before we have the chance to go snowboarding again!

Well Family and Friends, this week was a good one! We had a baptism on Tuesday, and we have been doing tons of service! As far as teaching goes it's been pretty slow, but that's just how it goes here in Alaska! Tons of service is good though. Every time we do service it reminds me of the missionaries who used to come over and help us work on our house. I always loved it when they came over! The spirit was just always so intense!

Other news... well I gave another talk this Sunday! That brings the total to 3 or 4 now in Valdez!  HaHaHa. I spoke about charity! I wont tell you what all I said, cause I don't want to deprive anyone of learning about it for themselves! Start in Moroni 7:45 and Preach my Gospel Chapter 6.

Well I love you all and miss you!

God be with you!

*****Note from Mom: I wondered why his letter this week was so short, but figured he was off to do something fun! I guess I was right - I just got an email from a family vacationing in Valdez. They wrote:

"We are RV travelers in Alaska and visiting Valdez. We were on the dock and talked to two nice young men and they told us that they were on a mission. So I asked them if they would like me to take a photo and send it to their moms...and of course the rest of the family.

Don't they look happy and having fun fishing? They had been fishing all day and came to the dock to clean them. Those fish are Dolly Vardens. Enjoy the photos.

Thanks to the Seaman Family for the photos!

!!!!! 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!

Fishers of Souls, Sole, Halibut and Crab

Well this last week, between Thursday and Monday, has been pretty laid back. We did service all day Friday and Saturday and then we went to a surprise party for a member in our branch and they had TONS of shrimp there! We're also just working with our investigator, C., and getting everything planned for her baptism. She had her interview yesterday and she passed, so we have the green light for Saturday! It's so exciting. So this week our focus is going to be on contacting our former investigators and less active members, especially those with part member families. Then we are going to really strive to do more tracting! I'm pretty psyched for this week; I know it's going to be a good week! We really need to expand our teaching pools if we are going to baptize more... IT'S GONNA BE GOOD THOUGH!!!

I really wish I could go out on a boat. That would be so freaking awesome, cause then I could go halibut fishing *legit* and even shark fishing! There's tons of members with boats that would be more than happy to take us out... Honestly, it's the biggest temptation in my life right now. I'll just have to come back some day I guess! Hahahaha.

I won't have to leave Alaska without having caught a Halibut though!!! Two weeks back, when I was fishing on my p-day, I CAUGHT ONE OFF the city dock. I think I am one of like 2 people who have ever caught a halibut off that dock!!!! It's pretty awesome! It was tiny for a Halibut, but it was a Halibut none the less and I caught one!

So that was two weeks ago, and my comp caught nothing when we went out that time, so I fixed his set-up then we went back out last Thursday after I emailed you guys and I was just destroying the fish! I caught one Sole every cast for my first 5 casts, only 2 of them were big enough to be great eating, and I caught a crab. MY COMP didn't catch anything. He was so ticked off. Hahah, and then I was like "Ok if I can use your pole and I catch a fish then it means it's you not the pole." So we swapped poles and within 6 minutes of my first cast I caught a little cod! HE WAS SO BUGGED! It was hilarious. He just couldn't believe that I was catching em and he hadn't caught one! And that's how the day ended! Elder Winterrose - 7 critters Elder C - 0!

Well that's about it for this week in Valdez! I cant wait to hear from you guys again! I love and miss you guys! Talk to you later!!