This might be the shortest letter we have receive so far.....

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May 23, 2016

Hey everyone! I'll start off by telling you I'm doing great!!! And while the work here is going well, I just heard it's going even better back in Maranga...

Now, let’s rewind a bit.

April 11th.

I wrote to you detailing the experience I had sharing the gospel with a young family in a gas station.

Well. It is my pleasure to inform you that they are now members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Sunday morning after the sacramental services I received a phone call from the elders in Maranga. Elder Villarroel told me that someone wanted to talk to me. I waited, wondering who it could be, when I hear "It's me, Gisella. Elder Winn, thank you for sharing the gospel with us, we’ve all been baptized and have just received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Thank you so much".

I was dumbfounded. I asked her about their conversion, about the missionaries, about the family. While there were certainly trails, there had never been a lack of faith on their part. From what I heard, nearly the whole ward attended their baptism, and President Larson himself affected one of the baptisms.

And while that may be one of my favorite experiences as a missionary, I think there's one more that tops it. One that illustrates exactly what I've done here....

And It looks like I'll be sharing it....along with pictures next week.....I'm sorry!!! I promise a super great e-mail next week!!! Love you!!! Bye!!!

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May 16, 2016

Well the internet here is dumb, so it appears as if you will not be getting pictures this week!!! Sorry!!!

Apart from that; I just received news that Elder Rasband will be visiting our mission June 10th! That'll be awesome!

Also my $60 suit came in today, it's quite the purchase if I do say so myself! Although the sleeves were a little long and it wasn't as slim as I would've liked (Don't worry mom. Even though it's a $60 suit I didn't settle. It's getting sent back to get tailored again).

Today we went to the center of Lima!!! I found out I can pretty much navigate the whole city now.....like....really. Which is saying something because like 10 million people live here and it is not tiny at all.

This week we contacted; knocked doors, received 50 references, and planned out Bryan's baptism on Saturday.

The noteworthy events there are Bryan's baptism, and the fact that we received 50 REFERENCES THIS WEEK. A normal week for us would include about 2.

Bryan is Kiooshi's younger brother. And in case you don't know who Kiooshi is, he's Victoria's grandson. And in case you don't know who Victoria is.....that's perfectly understandable. I really haven't spoken much about any of them.

Hahaha Victoria is a little old lady who we reactivated last week. Elder Castillo and Elder Adams baptized her grandson (Kiooshi) before I got here, and we will be baptizing Bryan this week. He's 12 and is excited to pass the sacrament. So he's leaps and bounds ahead of me when I was his age.

Hahahaha so I'll be making sure to let you know how that goes.....and in relation to the references. They all came from missionaries in this zone.

For two hours all the missionaries in Callao came over and contacted people in our sector. After all was said and done we have 50 potential new investigators, so this should be a very busy week!

I'm doing quite well and am really excited to keep working with Elder Castillo. We get along great, and he's got lots of energy for the work!

Hmm....I can't think of much more to say....but I'm doing great!!!

Love you guys!!!

Hey everyone!!!

This week's been great!!!

We've been kind of all over the place, but here's this week's rundown.

Monday: P-day, we went to the zoo, and ate at Chili's!

Tuesday: Full day of work, lots of meetings, lots of dropped meetings, lots of street contacts

Wednesday: Service for Mario and Marino. I put in a roof....Now I know what you're thinking ¨Oh wow. Elder Winn and his Companion helped fix a roof¨.....no no no. I built a roof. It was hard. It was quite difficult. But while my companion helped clean up trash and junk from the back room. I tore off the old roof, and put in a new one....If you don't mind having a roof made of plywood and cardboard, I could totally build you a roof for less than $10.

Thursday: We went to the temple! The temple's kind of a ways out of our mission, and our session was at 2:15, so we got home about 8:00 at night. So that was about our whole day.

Friday: Another full day of work. Pretty sure the average age of our investigators is 70. We have one youth who's 12 years old, and then Great-Grandparents who are like 85....so....lots of love, lots of patience. Lots of speaking very loudly into one ear so they can hear, but lots of progress.

Saturday: Another good day, lot of contacting in the street, because, while we started the day with 9 planned meetings, all but 1 fell through.

And Sunday!!! SKYPE!!!!!

It was great talking with my family!!!! Hahaha they made it pretty clear that I would be home in about 2 months.

Hahaha life is good! I'm loving how things is going here!!!! It's kind of hard to find people to teach, but we're trying to do everything we can to find new people to teach!

I'm loving life here!!! This week we've got a multi-zone conference! So I'm excited for that!!!!

That's all for this week!!!

Love you all!!!

Well this week has been great!!!

We've been contacting just about everything that moves, and we're seeing results!

Highlights include:

-Carlos V., who: Warmly welcomed us into his home, listened to our message of the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ, and accepted the invitation to be baptized  by one holding the authority to do so.

-Ericka (and family), who: is actually a less active member. Along with her husband, she was baptized about 16 years ago. Her two children ages 12 and 11, have recently been asking  many gospel related questions, causing her to ponder her current direction  in life, and pray to God wanting to know his will for  her family.

-Severino, who: Is a firm Christian believer, who is simply looking for a way him and his family can improve their relationship with God.

-Pedro, who: After asking for a contacting card about "The Big Beard in the sky" frankly told us that he was drunk and that he just wanted to know what religion we were from

-And Andy who: Is incredibly racist; although only against those from South America, despite the fact that he is from Peru....He's actually a great guy. He just hates everything from Argentina, which is kind of a bummer for Elder Castillo!!!

Hahahaha This week has been moving along smoothly!!! Life is going great!!!

We've been teaching plenty of people, and have been really busy! This week Mario and Marina came to church early and stayed all 3 hours! It was pretty miraculous!!!

I honestly don't have that much else to say!!! Love you guys!!! I'm doing great!!!

Drum roll please.

After two short changes as a zone leader I.....

Have been transferred.

To Callao.

To Train.

WOOOOO!!!!!!

Hahahahaha you should be happy and not scared!!! Because my sector and my companion are really awesome!!!

Well....this week has been interesting to say the least.

So Monday night, we get the call for transfers. And to my surprise I was one of the few that had a transfer!!!

They told me I'd be heading to Callao, and I'd be finishing the training of Elder Castillo!

So Tuesday morning I grabbed my bags (They were still packed since we had moved earlier that morning) and headed out!

I'll be honest. I wasn't too keen on coming back to Callao. Less so when I knew it was the heart of the city...but I've got to admit. Coming back felt like coming home!

Everyone here knows the missionaries, and the majority respect them. Which means I always hear some form of "Hey Elders"! "How're you doing"?

Also. The work is moving faster here than in any other sector I've ever been in.

We've had a solid 25 lessons planned out this past week (as a point of reference in any other sector (Even Rimac) I only got to about 15 (Maranga was the worst with like 5 a week)). We find new investigators every day! It's great!!!

Also my new house is awesome!!! It's like....100 years old....but it's way big, and actually pretty clean (from a mission apartment standpoint. Not a United States standpoint).

So far that's about all I could tell you.....We live above a market in a street called Colon. It always smells like dead chicken.

Hahahaha so that's my life right now!!!

We're currently working with a couple named Mario and Marina. They're going to get married the 7th and baptized the 14th. We hope.

And there's a convert of 10 months in this sector! He's awesome! Elder Tasker (an elder who was in the MTC with me) baptized him. He's awesome, and leaves with us to preach like 3 or 4 times a week, despite the fact he's like 50 and has a full time job.

So, I'm great! The work's going great. And I'll leave you all with the recommend to read Elder Holland's talk 'Because of your Faith'.

I absolutely loved it.

Much love,

Elder Winn

Goodbye to a good friend, Elder Bates.

And Hello to my new companion, Elder Castillo!

Here's a scenic view from my new house.....oh wait....what's that?

Where we study.

Also the bathroom's gross. I'm well aware.

Big fridge. Entrance and Couches!

Kitchen

New bedroom

Oh.....This is what Europe is like....

Well, unfortunately this week’s subject line has to do with this week’s key indicators.....They were awful European.

I honestly have walked more this past week than I have any other week in my life!!!.....although it’s good exercise I suppose.

I can't really tell you about any great lessons or anything....although I can share with you one of those treasured "I can't believe that actually happened" moments.

- We were on our way to visit a less active family, when up ahead in the street we see two gentlemen having a heated discussion one in a wheelchair, and one with crutches....As we get closer, we still can't make out what they're saying, but it's apparent that the man in the wheelchair has had enough, and is now trying to run the man with crutches down.....and....oh wait....the man with crutches seems to realize he's got a much longer reach than the paraplegic....In horror we watch the man with the broken leg place his crutch on the paraplegic's chest, laugh like a madman, and push him over....We run over, help the man up, and before we can get a word out, the man we have just helped out has picked up a shard of glass and is going in for round two.........I'm pretty sure someone called the police.

So that was fun......

Jorge continues preparing for his baptism, which will now be taking place the 30th of this month! Woo!!!

We're currently working with Gisella and her family (they couldn't come to church this week, because Gisella and one of the kids were sick). With Danika (who unfortunately slept in this week, and also couldn't make it to church and with Claudio (who's really cool, and I would tell you more, but we don't really know him that well).....

We're currently in the process of weeding out true investigators from "investigators". So we're not in houses that much as of late.

But things are still going well!!!

Other than that, this week we moved into our new house!!! I'll try to send photos!!!!

#1-3 New apartment--It's the 3rd floor, with the spiral staircase!!! It's great

#5  I had the opportunity to go back and visit the Reyes family today!!! They're still doing great!!!

#6-7  We have Star Wars shirts in our zone.  Be jealous!

I'm doing great and still loving the work!!! I love you all!!!

Well let's start off with a cool experience.   

*Rewind a week and a half to the run down gas station in our sector*

*a very white looking couple enters the gas station*

Me: "Woah....they look like gringos!"

Villarroel: "They are, I've heard the man talk in English before"

Me: "Let’s go talk to them"!

Villarroel: "no way, I'm not going to understand anything they say"

Me: "Well whatever I'm going in to see if they speak English"

*Missionaries enter into the gas station*

*hears pure Spanish*

Me: "aww, they don't speak English"

*Missionaries leave the gas station*

*White(ish) woman quickly follows suit*

White(ish) Woman: "Hey......uhh....could you two....uhh.....I don't know how to say this...."

White(ish) Man: "Well uhh......we were wondering if you two could come to our house and tell us a little about religion....Quite frankly we'd just about given up on organized religion....but we felt we should talk to you two".

*Missionaries smile at each other*

*fast forward a week and a half*

Missionaries: ......."So that's what you two need to do to have an eternal family"

Gisella & Cesar: “Sounds perfect! We're in!"

So......that was awesome. Sometimes sharing the gospel is as easy as wanting to hear two people speak your native language.

Hahahahaha really though! Gisella and Cesar are amazing!!!! They'll be coming to church this week and (fingers crossed) now have the goal of entering into a temple to be sealed about year and a month from now!!!

One just never quite tires of miraculous experiences....

Let’s see.....what else...

Danika is progressing! In case I have never mentioned her before, Danika is a reference we received from her nieces in LA, California about a month ago! She's studying to be a vet, and is super smart! She believes in God and wants to live according to His desires, so it's a good start!

Lately she's been devouring anything we leave her to read and looks forwards to our visits! She's great!

In other news.....I don't know why I didn't eat pineapple in the states. Like....I didn't know you could just buy one and eat it.....and then repeat the process. Pineapple is amazing.

Also I would like to know are the following fruits available to you guys?

-Prickly pear

-Custard apple

-Soursop

-Granadilla

-Passionfruit

-Starfruit

I love all of those and will miss them dearly if you can't find them back home.

Hahaha we've found a new house and will be moving in.....sometime.....hahahaha

So.....the missionary life carries on!!! I'm loving the service and am doing great!!!

Love you all!!!