MTC Pictures 2

Approaching....

Outside the Provo Temple

District Temple Day

Zzzzzzz.....

Elder Winslett and Elder Jordan

Haha! XD

He's almost done with the MTC!! Scary thought!

The fountains

Look! It's Elder Myers

Posing!

District outside the Temple

Es Mexico!! <3

The aftermath of the face cream thing (See MTC Letter Week 6).  Notice how Elder Winslett aint in it? Hmm...

!! They allow lightsabers at the MTC!

I think this is Elder Cottle (I think thats what his nametag says). Does he remind anyone else of Elder Green from Saturdays Warrior?

MTC Letter Week 7

Hola! Familia Winslett! Como estan? Yo espero estan haciendo bein. Estoy progresando y aprendando muchisimo (I think thats how you spell it) Espanol esta bien y estoy lo aprendando poquito rapido. Mi distrito y mi compenero estan bein tambien. -Hi! Winslett family, how are you? I hope you are doing well. I am growin and learning a bunch. Spanish is good and I am learning it fairly quickly. My ditrict and companion are all doing well, also.-

Gah! I don't think I miss the Texas weather at all, haha. Sorry about the mosquitos, only a few more months until they all will perish in the cold. Speaking of cold, it is about 40ish degrees in the mornings here, and probably no warmer then 50ish during the day. I love it! I hope it snows atleast once while I am here.

 

I'm rooting for the Rangers as well. Did the Astros make any sort of attempt at a comeback? Or was it a fail season.

Ok now my story time! That was alot of one liners, sorry. Time is running short. First things first, our zone got another district on Wednesday, I haven't meet any of them really, but most of them are going to the Mexico City East mission, so there going to be next door to me. Pretty cool. Oh and I found out that my mission is the smallest in the world. That isn't counting land size, because I know there are smaller land areas in the Phillipenes and what not, but square milage mine is the smallest! Next! We whent outside and played soccer and much to my shock, I actually scored a goal. Soccer, if I was to ever play a sport, would be something I would play, and conveniently enough they play alot of soccer in Mexico, so hopefully I can get some practice and tips during my Preperation days. Next week, on Wednesday, the 2nd I believe, I get to be a new missionary host, meaning I get to pull the new missionaries away from there families. This could be interesting. I'll tell you about that experience next week. Last but not least. Our Branch President, President Studdart, was released last Sunday. Our district was sad. He was so awesome! So many good stories, and he was so loving, but I got a name and an email, and ofcourse a picture before he left. So don't worry.

Les amo! Hasta proxima semana -love you all! Until next week!-

Ame -love-

Elder "Tall Son" "Frijoles" "Winzie" Winslett

MTC Letter Week 6

Hola! Familia Winslett! Como estan? Como fue sus semana? Ok I promise I won't write in Spanish, maybe... Lo siento... Ok I am done now.

 

The service project sounds cool, to bad y'all couldn't go. We do service every Tuesday here. It's pretty easy though, they have us clean one of the residence buildings. Jobs like vacuming and cleaning, easy stuff.

 

Glad to hear you got my SD Card, haha. Just wanted to make sure it didn't get lost in the mail.

 

The language.... yeah.... It's coming, I am just afraid of when I get out there and sound like a bafoon, haha, I've heard horror stories from my teachers and there missions, but the reassuring note on that is they said by my 4 month mark I should be descently fluent, which is insanely exciting, I cannot wait until I don't have to worry so much about Spanish and I can focus more on the investigator. It's all good though no worries. Some days are tough and others are easy peezy lemon squeezy. Sorry couldn't help myself. My district and I are trying to speak only Spanish, so hopefully that will help alot with picking it up better.And don't worry If I get grey hair then I'll have to get a cane and walk like an old man!

 

Yes I am pretty sure I will get my Visa too so no worries.

 

Yeah ZL or DL would be amazing, but I got one more week before I can find out. While were on the topic of my zone, on Wednesday we got a new district in our zone. There all Spanish speaking, and the best part of it all is one of the Hermanas and one of the Elders is going to the Houston Texas South Mission, which is were you guys are now! So exciting! I'm going to give them y'alls address as well as Elder Banks and Elder Smouts name (They were the companionship that would take me out alot, I want to get them my address.) so that when they get down there they can harrass you guys.

 

Gah, I'm so jealous that you guys are gonna be all together for Thanksgiving, but nananananah I will be in Mexico for Thanksgiving. the sad part of that is Mexico really doesn't have a Thanksgiving.

 

Ok I think I addressed everything, now on to the good stuff! Well, lets start off with the most grand of them all. On Tuesday we had a Fireside and ... wait for it.... Elder Richard G. Scott came and spoke with us. It was such an intense talk, and so powerful, it was AMAZING! The next best part about that is, with some last minute seat changing, I got to sit literally 10 feet away from him. I was in the 2 row, he was radiating with the spirit it was insane. Next best news, both of our "Investigators" have been progressing, both have commited to baptism and one of them, "Enrique" aka Hermano Demke, knows El Libro de Mormon is true! I was extremely happy even though it was fake, haha. "Vergelio" aka Hermano Jensen is now praying correctly, and not saying the Lord's pray (He's Catholic) There both progressing, and it's awesome.

 

Quick funny story then I gotta go, I'm 11 minutes over my time, haha. So we were in class, and to make a long story short, Elder Hamilton was dared by Elder Leavitt to try and slam the hydraulic door for our class. Yeah, the hydraulics broke, busting off the cover and oil started spewing out, the door slamed about 2 inches away from Elder Leavitt's face and made a loud noise. To make the rest of the long story short, Elder Leavitt was pretty freaked out and everybody laughed. Then Elder Hamilton felt bad for breaking the door. But, it was fixable so no worries.

 

Also our district was dared to all put on the facial face lift cream, so yeah we all put on facial cream that Elder Leavitt's mom sent to us. I have pictures don't worry. The sad thing is it felt really good, my face has never been so clean! Haha.

 

Les amo todos de ustedes! (I love all of you!) No puedo hasta eschuchar de ustedes! (I can't wait to hear from you!)

 

Amor, (Love,)

Elder "Tall Son, Frijoles, Winzie" Winslett

MTC Letter Week 5

Hola! Como estas mi familia! Como es tu dia y semana? Haha ok I won't write all in Spanish, promise. Como le va? How's it going?

 

Español is... to say the least, insanely difficult. Haha, I can´t even imagine how hard Chinese, or Japanese would be. I'm getting it though, and I can teach in Spanish now. The lessons aren't very thurough though, and I'm not teaching to the Investigator's needs like I need to be. But, I still have a month before I leave and we're almost done with all the grammer principles so there's not much more to learn, just vocab, and the darn irregulars. That is going to be my downfall is irregulars. They conjugate differently for each tense then the normal verbs. I'll get it though. I'm starting HSI (Hable su idioma -speak your language-) which means little to no ingles por me when I talk. It should help alot with my learning so we will see. And yes Stephen Spanish is messing up my spelling. Every time I write "Priesthood" I end up writing out "Sacerdocio" and "gospel" is "Evangelio" So my vocab is slowing shifting into all Spanish haha.

 

My departure date is November 15th. That's assuming I get my VISA though. Mexico apparently is being dumb with VISAs right now so not everyone is getting there's. But, hopefully it isn't the case for me, so I'll let you know as soon as I get my departure date and time.

 

"Winzie" is a nickname that my district gave me so in a sense yes my companion gave it to me. I don't know why they call me that but it's cool either way.

 

Ok now time for my news! We'll actually this week has been quite uneventful. Oh! Julie Beck, the General Relief Society President came to speak to us Tuesday Night. She talked about the Importance of Temple work, so it's gotten me excited to go this afternoon. Also the other two Peru missionaries in our district left for the Peru MTC this week on Wednesday and yesterday. Elder Spencer and Elder Nelson was there names. Yesterday we got to move ALL the beds in one of the buildings into another building for renovation. There renovating everything here so there's construction everywhere. After this next monday there will only be 2 districts in our zone until Wednesday, when we will get 2 new districts. Also there is a good chance that me and Elder Jordan could be Zone Leaders. The current ones leave week after next and then our district will be the oldest. The tripanionship in our district is exempt and the only other companionship that could be Zone Leaders is Elder Millerberg and Elder Cummins, and Elder Millerberg is District leader, meaning it's almost certain they won't be choosen, unless someone else was going to be assigned District Leader. So either way, there's a chance I could be either ZL or DL. Exciting, yet scary. The work load for ZL and DL is alot more then just a missionaries. We will see though. Umm other then those few things nothing else has really happened. Just chuggin along. Pretty uneventful of a week.

 

Joke time, how do you spell haha in spanish? I'll give you the answer next week.

Les amo! No puedo escuchar por ustedes! -can't wait to hear from you guys-

 

Elder "Tall Son" "Frijoles" "Winzie" Winslett

MTC Letter Week 4

Haha I was having fun with the title, los siento. Anyways, this week has been quite eventful, to say the least. Well, for one, we did watch conference, but no, sadly we did not get to go to the conference center. To many missionaries and not enough space, and a lack of transportation as well, kept us from going. It was still awesome though, we watched the LIVE streaming of it on big projectors in the gym, which doubles as an auditorium! I STRONGLY incourage you guys to watch this one, my favorite was both of Monson's and Holland's talk. Elder Holland was amazing to say the least! He's probably my favorite out of th 12.

I got sick around last friday so the only downfall of conference is I was sick through it all. I've just got a cough now though so no worries, the sudephed (No idea how to spell it haha) I packed and the Tylonel helped alot.

My birthday was nothing really special, but it was still awesome. That package you sent me had not only cookies but mounds and mounds of sugar and a bottle of what looked like wine, but was actually a bottle of Sparkling Cidar. Thanks again for that we enjoyed it! My district likes all the sugar as well, haha! The next day I got a package from Stephen, which was, to say the least, a box of tape the size of a 18 pack of soda wrapped around a small box that contained a camera! I would've taken pictures but my original camera was back in my room, los siento. (Sorry) The camera is amazing! Thanks again Stephen and Tricia and Baby, haha and of course anyone else who helped chipped in. Also, thanks for all the Birthday wishes via dearelder.com I got them the day of and it made the day ten times better.

Yes we do see Apostles from time to time but that was the first time I saw an apostle from the 12! So yeah, haha!

I take back what I said about Elder Seigfried's companion looking like Jason, I guess he did at the time, but I've seen him since then and he doesn't really. Me mal.

Glad to hear my card is on the way, the camera's internal memory is so tiny! And my other SD card has pictures on it, and this new camera has to format it, so I would loose the pictures. It's all good though, I can wait haha.

Now, onto news about everything,but I'm low on time so it'll have to be quick. It snowed here for a bit yesterday but it didn't stick, but now it's REALLY cold. Stephen also sent me a Vneck sweater so I am putting it to good use! I am getting used to teaching in spanish so I'm not nervouse before each lesson, haha. I've learned commands as well so I get to tell people what to do now. Elder Zarian and Elder Cottle, 2 of the 4 that are going to Peru left Monday to go to the Peru MTC. The other two haven't left because they haven't gotten there Visas. Elder Zarian was our District leader and so he had to be replaced. No it's not me, not yet atleast, but Elder Millerberg, one of my roomies, is now it. Our Zone Leaders whent out into the field as well, so we have 2 new ones there as well. I've learned so much more, and have so many spiritual experiences, it's crazy! Pauline Renfroe and Brittany Riley mailed me and so now I have more people to write now. They also gave me sugar so don't worry about sugar anymore, I think I have enough for the MTC and then some, haha.

Dang out of time, well I guess I gotta go! Give Erica a big hug and a kiss for me when you guys get there! And good luck with everything, I know things will get better!

Les amo (I love you) hasta luego!

Elder "Tall Son" "Frijoles" "Winzie" Winslett

Yes. That's right. Some of this post was in Spanish!
...
Still can't spell worth a darn,but that's besides the point. :)

MTC Letter Week 3

Hey guys how's it going? Me? Good, real busy, as usual.

This week we started 2 new "Investigator" Which are both of my teachers, Hermano Demke, and Hermano Jensen. One's name is Enrique and the others name is Vergelio. Wierd names but yeah. We taught both of them in all Spanish, it was insanely scarey but I think we got the point across. It made me realize how bad my spanish was, haha. I can uphold a simple conversation in Spanish now which is real exciting. Still only in the present tense so I can't tell stories or anything like that unless I have them written down. Still cool though. My district had a bad day when they realized how not-good they were at Spanish, the Zone Leaders gave them a pep-talk and there back to where they were.

We had someone talk to us from the 70s this last Tuesday, Elder Clarke I think was his name, it was awesome!

Haha when I said "freaking out" I meant I was jumping up down, metaphorically, I've never been in the same room as an apostle so it made me a little, you could say, jump, haha. I was near tears a couple of times though so still really cool.

I remember you telling me that story once before so yeah, still amazing! Trust me I am very open to those experiences.

Tell the Mosis' I said Buenos Fuertes (Good Luck) and tell them they need to mail me, haha. I saw Travis the night before he left, and we got pictures! Haha so yeah I thought he looked ready, he could talk a heck of alot more spanish then I could though so yeah, haha. I'm gonna keep in touch with him if I can. I should be able to call you on my trip to Mexico sometime during that trip.

Thanks for Mark's address, I've had a letter written for him for quite a while so hopefully I can get it to him soon.

Saw Tristan once since he got here a week and a half ago, he seemed to be doing good, his companion, for the breif moment I met him, reminded me of Jason, for whatever reason.

I'm still jealous that I didn't get to see Gladys Knight, maybe you can send me a CD or something after I am out on the field.

I sure hope I can touch a lot of people while I am down there, I'm ever more excited as the time draws closer.

Gotta go, cuz I am out of town, but send me birthday wishes via dearelder.com and I'll get it the day you send it!

Miss you all so much, and Love you all!

Elder "Tall Son" "Frijoles" Winslett

MTC Letter Week 2

Hey everyone! It's me again!

Oh my heck, this week has been crazy to say the least, to start off we continued teaching our 'fake' investigator, and we committed him to everything and is getting baptized, haha, it is insane! Now here's the kicker, we're not teaching him anymore, he's teaching us, his name isn't actually Joordan, it's actually Hermano Demke, and he is awesome! He teaches one of my classes and Hermano Jensen teaches the other one, there both amazing and I'm learning so much.

I got alittle home sick on monday, but I prayed about it and asked fro strength to overcome it. The next day I was fine. Well, more then fine, I was amazing! We were teaching Jordan and I literally do not know were the words that were coming out of my mouth were coming from! The Espirtu Santo was teaching through me to Jordan! It was indescribably awesome! We said the closing prayer and went our ways and I was literaly freaking out, I've never had that happen! It was so inspiring and amazing! My companion was giving me some wierd looks after that cuz I was freaking out, but he understood. And to top that day off at the Fireside that night (Firesides are every Tuesdays and Sundays) Elder - wait for it.........- Russel M. Nelson of the Twelve gave a talk to us and his wife. What an experience, the second he walked in everyone could feel the Spirit insanely strong. Now me, I was freaking out because I have never been in the same room as an Apostle so yeah, haha. He's talk was awesome!

I've learned even more and am finding myself actually forgetting how to say some words in English, haha which is awesome! I've learned alot since last time and can say so much more! 

Me and my comnpanion Elder Jordan have grown closer, even though we've hit a few rough spots, but don't worry we've worked them out.

I can study alot better already then when I was at home, it's crazy.

To answer your questions, yes my district is my class. All but four are going to my mission, the other 4 are going to Peru. There's 11 of us total so 7 to Ciudad de Mexico Noroeste. Yes 4 of us are in each room, the rooms are surprisingly roomy so yeah no worries.

Other then those few things I can't remember anything else. It has gotten easier since last week, cuz I've gotten use to it.

Elder Seigfried got here Wednesday, haven't seen him yet, but it's still exciting. Haven't gotten the chance to take a picture with Elder Myers either. His class is down the hall way from mine so we see each other daily.

Hope you enjoy the pics. I sent in the mail. Please send the card back ASAP.

If you email me through dearelder.com I get them the same day, so I can read any news the day it happens, so feel free to email me that way too for more personal letters, I will respond via email too.

I love you guys so much, and miss you so very much! I know now that I am in the right place and am looking forward to hearing from y'all.!

Elder "Tall Son" "Frijoles" Winslett

Sorry this is late guys.  I will post some of said pics when they get here and I see them. :)