Elder Winters - May 28, 2012

Dear All,

I hope you've all had a relaxful week of summer.  And for those of you still in school, I hope you didn't have quite as a relaxful week, but rather a good balance of work and fun.  Speaking of which, that's what we at least try to make it in the mission field.  Unfortunately, some of these attempts can get out of hand, like the other day when we thought it would be fun to try out some of Taiwan's famous 臭豆腐, or stinky tofu.  As it turns out, it wasn't fun.  (I know many of you are shaking your heads right now, but you must remember that we are still nineteeen-year-old kids.)  To put it frankly, upon closer examination and putting the stuff right under your nose to get a good whiff, it smelled like the inside of an elephant cage.  After nine months of not being cleaned.  It may have tasted okay, but the smell and the tears that inevitably came out upon eating it drowned out all other bodily senses.  Moral of the story is, don't trick yourself into thinking eating stinky tofu might possibly be fun.

In other news, I have a new companion.  Elder Wang is straight off the boat from northeastern China, went to the Provo MTC for three weeks, and has now been with us for a little under a week.  He is a convert of three years and elected to go on a mission after meeting an awesome returned missionary from New Zealand.  His accent is very thick, so if I can master listening and understanding him I think I can handle pretty much anything else.  His English is really good for never living in the USA before, a result from a few foreign teachers and watching some good old American TV shows.  He's going to be an awesome missionary.  Which is awesome for me, seeing as I'll be with him for a year and a half.  So for that, all's great in the microcosm that is the California Anaheim Mission Chinese Program [(CAMCP) - alright, I confess, I just made that up three seconds ago].

In more spiritual news, I have recently been thinking about priesthood power and authority.  The greatest distinguishing factor of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is her claim to the divine authority of the priesthood.  Our church has the priesthood authority restored through heavenly messengers to the Prophet Joseph Smith.  Priesthood power, however, comes only when acting in righteousness.  I can think of  many uses of priesthood power, though none stick out more to me than raising a family.  I think of my own dad and the example he set for me and what I want to bring to other people.  That's why I'm out here, really - to help God accomplish His purposes which include happiness in the family, something that priesthood power nourishes and helps grow with acting in kindness and righteousness.  I know the message I teach is true.

You're all so great.  Have a nice week.

- Elder Winters 

Elder Winters - May 28, 2012

Editor's note - Our computer was in the shop for a week so you should be getting another email from Daniel tomorrow!  Sorry for the delay.

Hello everybody, and welcome to a new transfer.  Not too much new stuff happens on transfer day in the Asian programs because the only changes we get are welcoming new people and kicking out old people, and, through knowing the right people in the right places in the mission office, we know that months in advance already.  This transfer we are actually doing both.  Tomorrow we get our new companion, Elder Wang from China, and then three weeks later will be Elder Kim's send-off back to Korea.  The influx of elders from Asia tells me that there is something I need to learn from these people.  Either that, or I just can't be trusted with another white guy struggling to learn Chinese.  With that picture in mind, I am truly grateful to not have that trial just yet at this point in my mission (knock on wood). 

Even with all this Asian talk, there's nothing like good old English once in a while.  This past week I had the privilege of going on an exchange with one of my zone leaders, who is assigned in an English ward here in Irvine.  It was legit and weird at the same time.  For one thing, I could talk and had to talk to everyone.  It was a pretty thrilling experience and also very humbling.  Kudos to those of you who are completely surrounded by the people you serve and teach.  My testimony about just being willing, worthy, and working and then watching the Lord do His work was strengthened that day.  

In other exchange news, I went on a brief exchange with the Vietnamese elders to visit my grandmother's friend in Anaheim.  The visit went well, though we also went on some other visits I was not expecting.  We went to see a member who had not been to church for some time.  He was maybe seventy or so and spoke nothing but Vietnamese.  Strike that, he spoke a little English, but it was harder for me to understand that than it was for me to understand his Vietnamese.  Near the end of the lesson, the man grabbed my arm suddenly and then apparently said something along the lines of this: "You look like the person who baptized me.  That is wonderful.  Say the closing prayer."  After all that fun, it is refreshing to be back teaching Chinese people, when I can at least partially understand what's going on.  

In spiritual news, we're teaching a kid named Jack.  He's the son of one our recent converts.  He is a stud.  It's such a privilege to be part of his journey on the path that we all should want to be on.  His mom is excited for him and is now working on her husband.  I'm reminded of President Boyd K. Packer's words from his last general conference talk, in which he succinctly stated: "The ultimate end of all activity in the church is to see a husband and his wife and their children happy at home, protected by the principles and laws of the gospel, sealed safely in the covenants of the everlasting priesthood."  That's it.  I've seen it happen in my own family, and the purpose of my mission is to bring that to others.  It is a wonderful process and is something that is incredible to watch happen.  I know by the power of the Holy Ghost that the things we teach are true and they bring lasting happiness.  

Have a wonderful week, everyone.

- Elder Daniel Winters

Elder Winters - May 21, 2012

Hello everyone.  It's been a marvelous week here in sunny California.  The English elders are complaining that it's starting to get hot, but I wouldn't know.  Sometimes I feel like I'm not a true missionary without a bike under me, but it's all good.  We'll see what the future holds.  

Talking with the fam last week there was again mentioned the subject of food.  I have come to the realization that I have neglected to mention food for a while now.  Sorry about that.  I will now disclose that I think my favorite food here is Vietnamese food.  Vietnam was occupied by the French for quite some time, so think of an Asian-French cuisine hybrid.  It's awesome stuff.  Except fish sauce.  I asked one of the Vietnamese elders here how they make it.  His answer: they put down a layer of fish, put a layer of salt on top of that, then put on another layer of fish, and so on...and then all the juices that leak out of that creation are bottled up and sold as fish sauce.  Good stuff.

Now, let's get down to the nitty gritty.  Remember that last week we had a surprise investigator?  Well, this week we had two surprise baptisms.  It was the weirdest thing ever.  One thing led to another and then our surprise investigator turned out to be amazing and got baptized on Tuesday.  After that, her friend who has been meeting with missionaries since before I got here decided that she wanted to get baptized as well so they could do it together.  She was baptized on Saturday.  The Lord works in funny ways.  No matter how we taught her, there was still that catalyst that she needed to actually make the baptismal covenant.  She gave up coffee as soon as she learned she was going to be baptized this week.  All of this because the Lord led us to her friend who was super prepared to receive the gospel.  Wow.  This is the Lord's work, which means He's in charge of it and He pretty much does it on His own.  We just kind of have to be here and be willing and worthy to do what He wants.  It's incredible.  I love it here.  I know what we teach is true.  I've had confirmations from the Holy Ghost time and time again.  It's true.  God is our loving Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ is His Son, and they both love us perfectly.  What a blessing.

Have a sweet week.

Elder DBW

This is from his baptism on Tuesday, May 15th:

Elder Winters - May 14, 2012

Hey everybody and happy Mother's Day.  I sure hope some of you at BYU aren't mothers just yet; I haven't been gone that long. 

So this week has been a good one.  First off, I got to talk to my family yesterday for a little while.  If anyone is curious, they are doing great, and I'm doing just swell as well.  Also, another good thing has been a surprise investigator that came to church last week and then called us Tuesday morning asking if she could meet with us to discuss Priesthood authority in our church.  She is on fire and is coming to know the truthfulness of the things we share with her.  

This morning I was able to do some Tai Qi with about thirty old Chinese people in a nearby park.  If anybody says that Tai Qi is not a workout, they are lying.  I got worked by the 60-80 demographic.  Though it was a lot of fun just mimicking what the group leader did and it was a good opportunity to find interested people to boot.  I had my workout clothes on today, but still I heard some whispers of "传教士" (missionary) among the old women a little bit.  They must know that no other nineteen year old would be crazy enough to be white and learn Chinese at the same time if he didn't have a true message to share.  

That brings me to the message we share.  I know it's true.  I know that our Church has the Priesthood authority restored through heavenly messengers to the Prophet Joseph Smith after it was lost after the Apostles were persecuted and killed.  We have the authority given from God to baptize in Jesus Christ's name, as did John the Baptist and Jesus' apostles in His time.  It is what distinguishes us from other churches.  I know it is a blessing and is only used to serve others.  It's the Lord's work I'm doing, and He's not letting me do it by myself.  

Have a great week.

Elder Winters

Daniel at the home of a member who wrote me an email, the subject of which was "We love Elder Winter."  So fun!

Elder Winters - May 7, 2012

各位弟兄姐妹們，大家好。It's been a great week full of unexpected happenings that have all been exciting and interesting.  One of these happenings was a surprise two-day exchange (48 hours) with my district leader, who speaks Korean and knows maybe four words in Chinese.  Needless to say, it was an exciting two days.  It made me realize how much I really love my companion, and maybe even more love his ability to speak Chinese fluently.  All in all, it was a much-needed experience that has increased my desire to become better in Chinese.

Another exciting experience may have been when we taught one of our older investigators this week (he's around 80 or so).  His hearing's not too great, so it was pretty hilarious to see my companion practically shouting at him about getting baptized and believing in Jesus Christ.  After that, he brought up his concern that if he got baptized, he would have to shave his head just like the Buddhist monks do.  Needless to say, we were a little surprised at this and I hope we resolved that concern in a diplomatic way (for any non-LDS readers out there, we don't require baptismal candidates to shave their heads).  After the lesson he took us to a Japanese restaurant where they served me what seemed like half a raw salmon.  I asked my companion why Asians eat fish raw.  He said that there a certain nutrients that are cooked away when you fry or boil them.  Those have better been some darn good nutrients, because I'm not sure it was worth eating it.  Anyway, during our lunch chat, our investigator told me that I was handsome, so that naturally made me feel willing to eat any number of raw fish for the guy.  What a nice man.

On a more spiritual note, I know that the things I teach are true.  I haven't had any huge manifestation that they are, but I feel the Holy Spirit testifying through me every time I teach those truths.  This work is true, and I wouldn't rather do anything else right now.

Have an awesome week.

Elder Daniel Winters

Elder Winters - April 29, 2012

Hello everybody, I hope all is well wherever you are.  To my friends who just had exams, I hope you did well, or at least feel you did well.  If not, you may feel better by the thought that you will have most of them out of the way by the time I get back.  

California has been treating us well lately.  We moved over to Irvine, where most of our work at the moment is centered, so that means less driving and less ghettoness for us, because Irvine is the quintessential suburbia.  The weather continues to not do anything out of the ordinary, and the work continues to go on.

In somewhat exciting news, we went to the headquarters for Blizzard Entertainment today for our preparation day, taking a tour of the place with a member in our branch.  They are the makers of the big MMORPGs, FPSs, SATs, CVSs, IHOPs, and any other combination of capital letters you can imagine.  No, seriously speaking, they created the games like Starcraft, World of Warcraft, and Diablo that every middle schooler gets hooked on these days.  Personally I haven't played any of them, but seeing as my district is all Koreans except for me, I was mandated to go.  It turned out to be pretty cool.  Though it was almost entirely just buildings of offices and a small museum, it was fun to look at everything.  If you don't have several hundred orc action figures on your desk here, you are pretty much the odd one out.  All of the cubicles were completely decked out with video game paraphernalia.  My perspective changed actually changed from seeing it all as a bunch of highly addicting computer games to an intense medium of art.  I'm not sure if I'll ever play them, but the games have now earned my respect.

In more spiritually uplifting news, we've had the chance to teach many of our branch members the message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ this week.  Even though some of these people have been hearing it their entire lives, it is always a spiritual experience to have a refresher course.  As we taught it many times, I felt my own testimony of it grow stronger.  It made me think about what blessings the Restoration has brought in my own life - the knowledge that we are led by a prophet, that we once again have priesthood authority, and we have precious and simple truths that were lost, such as the nature of the Godhead.  I know that the message we share is true, otherwise I wouldn't be putting in two years to share it.  I also know the prophet who called me is a true prophet, or else he wouldn't have called someone like me to try to teach people in Chinese by the power of the Holy Ghost.  It's all true, and it's blessed my life when I live according to what I know.

Have an awesome week.

Elder Daniel Winters