Elder Winters - December 16, 2012

Hello everyone, I'll relieve you all in advance by saying today's email will be pretty short.  Things are rolling over here, Christmas is in the air, and time is flying by.  Sunny California has been a little rainy and somewhat cold as of late, if you can imagine.  I personally really enjoy it, just because it's a change.  And the air seems to be less hazy when it's this kind of weather.  

To celebrate the Christmas season, we had a dumpling-making party with some investigators.  You would not believe how hard it is to pinch some dough that has meat and vegetables in the middle.  Also, my hands are at least 68% larger than our investigators', thus allowing their nimbleness to exceed ours.  And, as they say in China, some people were born with a dumpling in their hands.  Okay, they don't really say that, but people in Northeast China get pretty serious about it.  I highly recommend it.

In some news, I was made district leader over the Chinese/Korean district.  That should be fun.  My responsibilities include presiding over district meeting and....that's about it.  Actually, I also get to go on exchanges with everyone every transfer cycle, which should be exciting.  Not going to lie, I love going to the Korean program.    

To end, I'll share a story.  It was pretty sweet as we managed to find someone willing to set up an appointment with us a couple of days ago.  We were looking for a completely different number on the street when we stumbled into her.  That is a testimony to me that God takes our weaknesses and still manages to do something with us.  The Holy Ghost will make up the difference as long as we're obedient and worthy and trying.  The scripture D&C 80:3 brings great comfort to me:

"Wherefore, go ye and preach my gospel, whether to the north or to the south, to the east or to the west, it mattereth not, for ye cannot go amiss."

 So, we can't go amiss in this work, because it is God's work and nothing will stop it from progressing.  Have an awesome, Christmas-filled week, everyone.

Elder Daniel B. Winters

Of the Yale Branch

Elder Winters - December 10, 2012 Spreading joooooooooyyy and cheeeeeeeer!

Hello everyone, it turns out I won't be home for Christmas, you can count on me, unless I do something really goofy in the next two weeks.  But I'm guessing that that's one present my family would not be happy with.  Don't worry, I'll keep my nose clean.  

This week: it's been a good one.  We've had a record number of investigators take us out to dinner, which we see as a sign that they trust us enough that they'll feed us with their cooking.  Actually, the husband of someone we're teaching is a chef by profession, so that was a pretty legit dinner.  According to him, all of the restaurants around here are not even remotely authentic, mostly because the people that are chefs here used to be teachers or something else in China.  So if you want Chinese food, go to China, or talk to our investigators.  

This past week we also had our annual Yale Branch Christmas Party, something that reminded me just how amazing our little branch here is.  There were many, many nonmembers there and tons of fellowshipping was going on.  I got drafted into playing Melchior, King of the East Number Two for the Christmas program, and the good news is that our people that are investigating the Church are still interested after hearing the performance.  

There's been a lot of emphasis lately in the mission about asking for referrals.  Sometimes as missionaries we just kind of tack it onto the end as something as a last hope that we already know what the answer is: "Do you know anyone that is interested in this message?" "Of course not, bye."  We talked about asking inspired questions, like "Whom do you know that is really struggling in life right now?''  The cool thing was that when we really tried this out, it really worked.  One lady was not very interested at all, but when Elder Haviland asked her as question very much like this, she thought very hard and then gave us three people to go visit.  It's times like these when I wish I was a junior companion again so I could just learn from the best and not have to struggle and make mistakes and....simply not be human.  I guess that's what we all learn in the end - we're all going to make mistakes and struggle, but that's what a loving Heavenly Father puts us through to help us grow.  I am grateful for Jesus Christ and His perfect atonement he wrought for us so that we do have the possibility of repentance and improvement when we correctly exercise our agency and turn to Him, our Savior.  It's a joy to share His gospel with the world.  This work is true, have a great week everyone.

- E W

Photos members posted on Facebook of their Christmas party (he may hate me forever for the Melchior one!):

Elder Winters - December 3, 2012

Editor's note:

As you are writing your Christmas cards this year you might want to send one to Daniel.  Here is his address:

Elder Daniel Winters

California Anaheim Mission

2500 N. Bristol St.

Santa Ana, CA  92706

Hello, everyone.  It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, as you can hardly knock a door without having a wreath in the way these days.  One perplexing moment of this past week was when we went to knock on this one door of a house that had a huge Christmas tree displayed in the living room.  I though, "Oh good, this person already believes in Jesus Christ."  When the door opened, we asked the lady who answered what her religious background was.  She informed us that her entire family was Buddhist - she had been to a Christian church maybe once or twice before.  So I guess the Christmas Spirit is so contagious that even the Buddhists are putting up Christmas trees!    Which is a good thing, as long as we keep in mind what this season is all about.   

Well, this week has been a good one.  Looking back at where we started with a month ago, a lot of things and miracles have transpired since then.  We were blessed with a great Sunday yesterday as well.  I feel like Sundays have so much potential to go wrong, especially on fast and testimony meeting days.  Maybe this is just me, but it's hard not to draw up worst-case scenarios as a missionary.  Like all it takes is one not-so-spiritual testimony, and then your investigator will just say to you, "I think I'll find myself a church where things work a little differently," and then in a puff of smoke, they're gone.  But then I have to remind myself that at the Yale Branch, things can't go wrong.  It is great here.  If you remember the guy from last week, yes, he did come to church, and yes, he did love it!  So we're psyched.  The Lord has blessed this little part of the vineyard so much.  

Another highlight of the week: TV.  That's right, we got to watch the First Presidency Christmas Message at a member's house yesterday.  Talk about kicking off the Christmas season.  It was superb.  I know for myself that those men are called and inspired of God.  They have been prepared throughout their lives to be in the positions they now hold, and they are literally God's spokesmen here on the earth.  What a blessing.

Well, everyone.  It's time for me to split for another week.  As a final note, I've been hearing about a lot of friends getting called on missions.  That's wonderful.  The work is really moving, all over the world.  If you have any chances to go out and teach with some missionaries, take advantage of them.  First of all, the missionaries will love you for it, and second of all, you will really feel the special Spirit that comes from sharing spiritual truths with others you love.  

That's about it for this week - the work is true and awesome, keep up the great work on the home front.  Have a good one.

- Elder Winters

Elder Winters - November 26, 2012 Happy birthday, Jacob!

Hello everyone.  I hope your Thanksgivings were all stuffed with turkeys, stuffing, and thanksgiving.  Mine definitely was.  It's too bad that people weren't very filled with thanksgiving when we knocked on their doors.  So, we opted for a different form of work, namely, putting up Free English Class posters so that no one in Irvine cannot not know that we have a Free English Class.  For Free.  Free English Class has actually been quite a success as of late since the development of our marketing technique of putting up flyers near Chinese markets.  One newcomer has been to church the past two Sundays and asked us yesterday when she could get baptized, so I think that it must be a hit.  

Another thing that happened this week was that both of my trainers, Jeremy Bray and Myungho Kim, showed up for the holidays.  That was pretty crazy.  It really brought back memories of the Glory Days for me.  That was nice because I got to look back and see how much I've changed since then.  But then I heard both of their Chinese, which reminded me of how much more I need to improve.  But there's time.  Actually, you all might be interested in the incredibly sad news that I have one year left in the mission field as of today.  Time flies by, that's all I can say.  And no, I'm not trunky, because how can you have the following experience and be trunky?

Okay.  So we were tracting yesterday.  We just happen to have the addresses of all the Chinese people in Irvine, so we were out knocking on those.  Then we hear the wonderful sound of Chinese people talking in a house that was not on our list.  We knock.  This guy opens up.  He says he is Christian as of last month, we ask him what it has been doing for his life.  Then he says, "Well, how about you come in?"  Which is like asking a missionary, "Do you want some free food?"  So we go in and start talking religion.  He was receptive and very interested in ours.  He heard about our church on the news - Mitt Romney being the facilitator, if you can believe it. We reviewed the baptismal interview questions with him and read some of Moroni 10 together.  He read over everything again and kept saying, "This is really good.  This is true.  God led you to my house tonight.  I'm usually in China.  This is great."  Man.  I would knock on a thousand doors to get another experience like that.  It was wonderful.  We'll keep you updated on how this all works out.  

Alright, everyone.  This work is sweet and more than worth all the knocking.  It's true and that's why it's worth it.  Heavenly Father is preparing His children to hear and accept the truth.  I know for myself that that is true.  

Have an awesome week.

- Elder Winters

This is Sherry's baptism.  Daniel taught her until his new companion arrived in the mission.

Elder Winters - November 19, 2012 Piqu Tailai

Hey everyone, Happy Thanksgiving.  Eat some turkey for me, because the Chinese don't quite celebrate it, even though they are a thankful people.  But, thanks to America, I will most likely go to a white member's house to eat a feast. I was actually just talking to Elder Wang about Thanksgiving.  The conversation went a little like this: 

E. Wang: "So why do you celebrate Thanksgiving?" Self: "You know, because the pilgrims came and made friends with the Indians, and then shared a cornucopia full of fruit and a turkey together.  Yeah."  E. Wang: "Oh."  So, maybe my history isn't the best.  But anyway, we should just live in thanksgiving every day.  Yeah.

As part of Elder Haviland's training, we took this course on Family History so as to get more familiar with this other aspect of the work of salvation.  I actually managed to roughly calculate my heritage in the meanwhile, which was quite fun.  I figured I'm about 75% English/UK, 9% Danish, 12.5% Swedish, and, unfortunately, .014% French.  Okay, just kidding.  But still.  I also discovered that my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather's name is Marmaduke Horseman.  Enough said.

My birthday came and went, with a very successful haul in terms of loot acquired, but even more successful in terms of investigators acquired!  That was probably the highlight.  It's strange to think that people are now more important to me than cake.  Boy, my mission has changed me.  

Well, everyone, please have a successful Thanksgiving in terms of how many notches you have to loosen on your belt.  The work's moving along just fine, and it is a sheer pleasure to play a small role in it.  Have a great week.

- E. DBW

We finally got pictures!

Elder Winters - November 13, 2012 It's my birthday present to me! I'm so happy!

Hello, welcome to the Tuesday edition of the Monday weekly reader.  Librarians yesterday were protesting at too low fees for unreturned books, so we did not get a chance to do email.  Let's hope that the irregular day does not affect the quality of the email.  

As for me, it's been an excellent week.  Things are happening in the area, prayers are being answered, and despite all the dunder-headed mistakes I keep making, Heavenly Father still loves me.  

Some of you have been concerned about our finding efforts lately.  Well, two, I repeat, two new investigators came out of the woodwork this past week. And people are being prepared as we speak!  These two new people live up in Anaheim, so we attended that ward to go speak with them and then have a lesson.  They walked by the church and noticed that the people going in and coming out were different.  They had very warm feelings about the church, so they went in and attended two sacrament meetings.  This past Sunday was their third Sunday going, all on their own, to an English ward that is super hard for them to understand.  If they aren't feeling the Spirit, Who transcends all languages, I don't know what the Spirit feels like.  Buckle up!  There are great things about to happen.

Another very awesome thing that happened was our zone conference with Elder Kopischke of the First Quorum of the Seventy.  He is a very jovial, forward-thinking, friendly man.  His training was incredible as well.  He is so full of faith and helped us create a greater vision for our mission.  Something cool that happened the morning of the conference was that Elder Kopischke interviewed me at the mission home for about ten minutes or so.  The way the assistants selected the handful of missionaries to be interviewed had to do with the fact that their last names start with a W.  Anyway, it was an awesome experience.  He asked me about my family and how they are doing.  He then asked me, "Well, Elder Vinters, how can I help?"  That made me regret not preparing anything.  We then talked about finding people, after which he shared a few scriptures with me, in a way that edified me beyond what I got when I had read them myself before.  At the close of the interview, he offered a prayer for us.  It was an amazing experience having a General Authority pray for you, your work, and your family right there.  After his prayer I extended my hand, which he ignored and pulled me into a big bear hug.  It was awesome!  Definitely an unforgettable experience.  

Well, that's my life right here.  The large, burly Library Policeman that monitors all those soundmakers at the library is giving me looks like if I stay here any longer the keyboard's going to be most inadvertently broken over my head.  So I better go.  Have an awesome week!

- E. DBW

Elder Winters - November 5, 2012 Happy Halloween!

Hello, everyone.  If you've been watching the news, you are probably aware of a momentous day coming up.  It's huge.  More than huge.  It will shape the future of the United States of America in particular, but also in a very real way it will affect all of the free world in ways not yet imagined.  That's right, you guessed it: my birthday is on its way.  Buckle up!  

Of course, there's no time to pay attention to that, because there is a new elder in town.  Elder Haviland has arrived, and he's awesome.  We're pretty similar, so that aids in just about every aspect of missionary work.  He's on fire and ready to get some work done.  Which is good, because there are doors to be knocked on, especially at Halloween time. Okay, we didn't really go tracting on Halloween night, we ate at a member's house and then went home to plan for the week.

Other than that, we've been knocking.  And knocking.  And knocking.  And I've felt Heavenly Father support us as we've done so.  He is real, He is doing His work, He is testing our faith, and He loves us.  

Have an awesome week!

- E. DBW

Here's a portion of his family email:

Happy Halloween.  Well, kind of.  I think I wished you one last time.  But still.  I am in a new library today, one that I can't send pictures in, but next week I will give you picture proof that I had a successful Halloween.  Or maybe a successful week after Halloween, when candy is 80% off.  Yea!

You are probably all very curious about Elder Haviland.  He is awesome.  We are pretty similar, we're getting along really well, and his Chinese is great, so that's all wonderful and dandy.  The no investigators part is kind of a downer, but he has great spirits about it all, and we're confident that we'll find someone soon.

I would also like to address another serious matter.  I heard from my zone leaders that Disney bought Star Wars!!  Is that true?!?  I'm sorry, but for me, in terms of importance that ranks up right there with the election.  Okay, maybe the election isn't THAT important.  Alright, just kidding. (I'm actually wearing a red tie today and tomorrow.)