In Fairbanks with Elder Loomis

Hello family!

I'm glad to hear that the trip down to Utah went well! It sounds like everyone had a blast! I'm proud of Poot for being brave and going for the eel and squid! That was very brave of him! With sushi many of my favorite ones are some of the more weird kinds. That place is the place that grandpa took me as my last meal before I entered the MTC... It sounds like everyone had a blast and I hope the brothers just take all that they learned and focus on it. EFY was always amazing for me because no matter how delinquent or off the track I was, it was a time that would remind me who I am, and what my potential is. Like a spiritual booster shot. Not to mention all the cute girls you meet there! Hahah. MO!.... 'Nuff said.

I can't believe C. is turning 19... then again I can't believe I'm already on my mission... Some times it just hits me and all I can think is, "Whoa...!"

I miss the members from Valdez, but Fairbanks is wonderful. My companion, Elder L., and I get along like two peas in a pod... He has a sense of humor like SamSamBean. It's such a blast serving with him! ALSO he is like Uber-obedient. We have already had so many wonderful teaching experiences.

Like just the other night, we had 15 minutes left. It had been the slowest friggin day ever. We tried to contact EVERYONE... and all of our lessons just kept calling and canceling. But we were diligent. I was ready to give up, so I just didn't say anything. We drove all the way back home and we sat there in the truck,(WE FINALLY HAVE A TRUCK) and pondered for a minute. Just sat and listened to the silence. Then he said,"I know who we are going to go visit." So we went to this less-active member's house and just happened to catch her on her way out, but we started talking. (Talking as a missionary means trying to address her needs and helping her.) It felt like it was going nowhere, she was having some issues with people in her life, compounded by a divorce, and was angry. It's so important to listen, and then ask bold questions as the spirit directs. After she got done telling us why she didn't want to come to church, I asked her, "Sister, when did you first realize that the church is true?" That's when she broke down. It was a humbling experience for me, because the spirit was able to work through me to help this sister realize that what she needed was help... help that only the spirit could deliver. She even decided on her own that she needed to go back to church. We left her home with the hymn,"Count Your Blessings" and a prayer.

As we were walking back to the car we were talking about how it went and all we could both say is, "This is why we are here." This is why I am serving a mission. Because there is no experience more amazing than the Lord working through you to help His children.

One last thing, Always thank the Lord for your spiritual experiences. First thing, right after you feel it.

That was probably the highlight of my week, oh but the best part was, that she came to church the next day! And she paid her tithing, and she met with the bishop.

I heard that some times in your mission you will be lucky enough to have that companion that you can trust perfectly, and they trust you and you will be able to work uber effectively together... I think that's what I've got here and it's wonderful.

Well, now for a little about Fairbanks. It's warm, and there is like a massive wild fire somewhere a ways away. It fills the sky with smoke and makes my allergies CRAZY. But luckily they are having a really wet summer with lots of rain, so it keeps the air pretty clean. The people seem really nice. There is a lot of work to do, especially less active work. In our ward there is around 400 people, but only 100 or so are active.... It's nuts! A lot of people come up here, it seems, to run away from the church. SILLY PEOPLE. You can't run away from the church. They will always find you. And you will always do something to blow your cover, then they will sic the missionaries on you. :)

Only bummer... the fishing isn't like it is in Valdez.... :( But I will FIND FISH!!!

Transfers were good. I got to see Elder V., who is now HOME IN PARADISE, and I said farewell to Elder C., who is now serving in Anchorage YSA. I drove to transfers which was good and bad; Bad because it took like 12 hours of driving and I pretty much covered the entire state in one day, good though because I was able to bring an EXTRA suitcase filled with all the crap I accumulated in Valdez! :)

Oh and yes I do know Elder S., he is the Zone Leader in my zone and he is currently sitting right next to me. I told him that my mother cyber-stalks him via his blog. Hahah. Seriously though, he is an awesome missionary. Super-obedient and a tracting machine.

This week my comp and I set a goal to get over our tracting fears and go track lots. I guess by telling you, it will set my goal in stone and hold me accountable. Hahahah.

Well I love you all and hope for the best!

Love Elder Winterrose

Fairbanks 2nd Ward! My new home.

Well transfers are upon us and my companion and I are both being transferred. I hope it helps this area. I love Valdez, and the people here with all my heart. This area is doing great and we are seeing a lot of doors opening up. I just hope it continues to thrive and that the next missionaries will mesh well with the personalities of the investigators and the members. I trust the the Lord and I am confident that it will all work out.

I'm stinking excited that I get to go to Fairbanks! It's gonna be awesome. It's gonna be way different than serving in a small area where I know more than half of the people who live there. I imagine it will be kind of like serving in the Tri-Cities. I heard there's some good fishing up around there too! So who knows!!!

It's very bitter-sweet getting transferred, but I will get to see my trainer, Elder V., at transfers in Eagle River. I was really hoping that I would get to see him again because he is going home in 4 days!!!!  HOLY CRAP!! 4 Days left on his mission. I don't even want to think about going home till 2012... as Sister Dance told another missionary, "That's space-ages away...."

Well, I apologize for the short length and spiritually-dry letter. My mind is tumbling in a maelstrom of emotions........ Excitement, worry, happiness, and a little bit of fear. But I'm really not afraid, because I know that it's the Lord's will.
FIRST FREAKIN TRANSFER.

Well I have loads of laundry and packing to do. And very little time to do it. I'm gonna miss this town, but I can't wait to get to Fairbanks.

Till next time!

Love,

Elder Britton 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