Cooper Winegar: May 2022

Gooood morning, ye beloved sons and daughters of God. Just wanted to handout a quick congratulation to my siblings and friends that either graduated, finished the school year, or just made it to summer. Hope everyone goes on to continue the summer partying!

We got some pretty big news last night. When we got home for the day, we hopped onto a district call, where we found out that we're going to be having emergency transfers! Fortunately, I will be staying here in Mezquital. Unfortunately, our neighbor area, Central, got slammed by the ET's. One of the missionaries will be going to Torreon, while the other one will be going to a different area to finish up his training. That leaves the poor little area of Central to be our new expansion pack. We will now be absorbing that area for the next 3 weeks and we will probably not do much there. Yayyyy.

Other fun stuff was that we had Stake Conference this week! We didn't have anyone come to church on Sunday, but at the Saturday night session we got a few people to come, one of which we're gonna try to put on date to be baptized next week.

On Tuesday, Elder Vance and I stumbled upon some super nice Baptist missionaries! They were two very Southern people from North Carolina, and they were apparantely out helping their Mexican representative of their church down here. I would've been perfectly fine if we ended the conversation there, but he ended up sharing a 15-20 minute lecture about why we are only saved by Grace, how we don't need to do anything good, and about how we don't need a Prophet or just one single church. Cool guy tho, would've been nice if he took a breath now and then to let us make comments lol.

Last weird story that happened yesterday was we gave a blessing on the side of the road. We were walking along (big surprise) when we heard someone start honking their car horn and yelling missionaries. This lady from Mexico city ran up to us and asked us for a healing blessing because she said she had a headache. So we just walked under a tree where we stood up on a curb and gave her a blessing as cars and people whizzed by. Hopefully our next street blessing can be cooler, maybe something like healing a dude that gets shot by a gang, we'll see.

Spiritual thought: In stake conference, the seventy that came talked about Luke 10:25-37. This is the scripture where Jesus answers a lawyer's question about how we can receive eternal life with the parabol of the Good Samaratin. We analyzed it super close and it was super cool. Basically, Jesus just said that we've got to love everyone. Big surprise, I'm sure.

In this upcoming week, please try to love everyone, no matter how weird, different, or rude they might be. Jesus gave out some pretty good advice, so I promise you guys it'll be worth it!

Love you all, peace outttt

-E. Winegar

--Foto haul--

Face mask, avatar, family with a funny baby, puppy, the Virgin Mary, pure chaos, sunset

"I killed a Tiger"

Monday, May 30, 2022

Good day to my friends, family, and acquaintances. There's no way I'm going to be able to put every single noteworthy story in this email, but the email itself will be noteworthy nonetheless.

First off I've gotta talk about the baptism we had!! On Friday, we baptized Angel, Sara, Samuel and Gabriel. I've been with those guys since day one so it was super cool to see them get baptized. However, almost everything that could have gone wrong ended up going wrong lol. Here's a detailed list to show the insanity of the baptism--

-Hermana that was supposed to bring us lunch at the church at 4:30. She got there at 5:30.

-Investigator that we invited also showed up at 5:30, so we gave him a tour of the church until 5:50.

-We then went to eat super quick because the baptism was planned to start at 6. While eating we realized the baptism clothes were still at the house.

-While Elder Vance was going to get the clothes with an hermano, I realized that the font that had once been totally full had drained to knee level. I then frantically turned on the water and closed the drain.

-E. Vance got back to the church at around 6:30 and we found out that one of the baptism jumpsuits was way to big for one of the kids. Nothing we couldn't fix with clothespins.

-Turning the water on didn't help somehow water kept draining. We ended up baptizing the 4 kids on our knees because the water was so low.

-Halfway through the baptism service, we realized our investigator wasn't there anymore. We then heard a car honking and realized it was his car. We ran outside and saw him driving away with his crying nephews that didn't want to leave the church. He told us that he was leaving because our mission leader told him that his nephews were being "too disruptive" and that he couldn't be in the baptism service with his nephews.🤦‍♂️

-We finished the baptism and went to eat cake. I thought I was out of the clear, until the second youngest kid we baptized told us that kids were swimming in the baptismal font!! Right after that we heard a cannonball splash. So, we sprinted to the font and saw a dirty 12 year old swimming in the now dirt colored water. He ran away very quick until

-The same kid came back with 10 of his friends.

But ya that should be everything that happened. With all of that happening, it made it very hard to feel the spirit. BUT, after the baptism, mom/aunt of all the kids shared a testimony that touched my heart. She shared that she is the only member on her side of her family and that she was converted because of her husband. She then said that her husband is now very inactive, which has made it very hard for her to stay active in the church. But, today, she now has four brand new members of the church that are all on her side of the family.

I know that this hermana will not go inactive again for a very long time. She now has people surrounding her that will help support and grow her own testimony of Jesus Christ. AND at the same time, she will help them continue to learn and grow in this path they have just started.

Please surround yourself with good people and influences. I promise that your testimony will be strengthened and intensified. The joy that comes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ is real. Go live it and you will see the blessing.

I wanted to talk about other things, but oh well, this email got mega long hehe. Lmk if you're dying to hear more sweet stories. Love you all tho, nos vemos pronto <3

-Elder Winegar

--📸--

Baptism pics, us at a mother's day activity, swag, cats, garbage, video of when I realized my comp was recording me

"He ain't right, but he's got spirit"

Monday, May 23, 2022

What up gang, it's hot here, but what's new. Hope you all did something cool this week and that you're all accomplishing your dreams and such. We had an awesome week here in Bonito Durango so strap in.

Elder Vance and I have had a super fun second week together and we've been joking around a ton. Thing that I laugh at the most is his inability to eat spicy food. Poor guy got called to the pepper capital of the world and I feel so bad for him, but it still always gives me a good laugh to see how he reacts to all the pepper filled food.

This Friday, I went on exchanges with my old companion, Elder McArthur! I'm still in the same area from back when I was with him in February, so the nostalgia was real to say the least. Also ended up being mega successful, we now have four kids that are on date to be baptized this Friday! I've been teaching and talking to them all since I first got here, so I could not be more excited to finally get these guys in the font. After all was said and done, we got back to the house and did not go to sleep for a very very long time lol.

Other miracle was Sunday, we had another lesson with Sergio. Sergio has liver cancer or something and is super weak. But, he absolutely eats up the gospel of Jesus Christ. He wanted to come to church, but couldn't because his wheelchair was broken. He then went on to tell us that his son, Brandon, was super disappointed because he wanted to church super bad. He wanted to go to Church super bad because he also wants to get baptized super bad... We've never even talked to this 11 y/o about baptism, so when he ended up telling us himself that he wanted to get baptized, we got a bit excited.

Last awesome story was an investigator that showed up to Church super late that we didn't think was going to come! Dulce already know's loads about the bible and everything and likes to cite lots of unrelated scriptures throughout lessons, but we were so happy she came. We had a cool lesson with a member after church, where we heard about how her house is super haunted. I was hoping I could go and bless her house, but unfortunately she lives out of our area. The good part though is that she's going to keep progressing awesome.

This is only a fraction of the miracles I saw happen this week. I wish I could share everything, but that'd be tough lol. I love this church so so much and I know that our lives are so much better when we follow the commandments. Hope you all enjoyed my weak spiritual thought.

Les amo y extraño a todos:)

-Elder Winegar

Pix- Guy didn't answer the lesson, cool cloud, Bricks, Awesome fam, milk spaghetti, yuck, church ready, us and flor

Email with a meme

Monday, May 16, 2022

What's good home boys, welcome back to another email. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and that you're all ready to return back to life this week. Good luck.

This week was crazy awesome fun, I've been with my new comp Élder Vance and it's been the weirdest most amazing thing to be able to talk in English whenever. Also probably a bad thing for my Spanish, but ni modo. Fun fact about Elder Vance, he started his mish in 2019 before the pandemic, got sent back home after being out 5 months, and then came back after waiting for a year and a half. Kinda cool stuff.

For the week, I can't even think of what to say because everything that used to be crazy here is now normal ahaha. But ya, water went away on Thursday and never came back, not sure what the deal is. Also found out on Wednesday before the water went away that our filter doesn't work. Basically I've just been drinking raw Mexican sink water since Feb. 1...lol

Other funny story that Elder Vance wants me to share was when he locked the keys in the house on Tuesday morning. We forgot about it until we got back to the house at 9pm, soo then we made the 15 minute walk to the Landlady's house and then waited for her son who didn't get home until a little after 10pm. Since then he has been very cautious with the keys.

The work here in Durango keeps trudging along though! We have a baptism scheduled for May 21st and I'm so stoked. Angel is a 13 kid we've been working with since my time here with Elder Alejandro (which was like two transfers ago) and at first he wanted nothing to do with the gospel. Now, just this last week, we invited him and his cousins to be baptized and Angel said yes without hesitating! Now we just gotta get the mom's permission for the 3 cousins to be baptized on the same day as his baptism hehe.

Before I go, here's a scripture I like in 2nd Nefi 33:1 that says

"...For when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men."

Yesterday, after I shared this scripture as a spiritual thought after lunch, we ended up having a lesson that proved exactly this. We met a very sick man named Sergio who is afraid of death and doesn't think he's going to be saved. But, the spirit that ended up entering in the room as we shared our message was so apparant. It was a super quick lesson that was far from the first idea we had planned, but I know that the spirit carried the words of christ directly into his heart.

Use your power of your testimony this week and go share it with someone. It's gonna be awesome and you'll see miracles happen.

Love you all, peace out, BYE

-Elred Winerag

Pic$

New district--Pic with a member that had weird face altering tech--cat--master big boy--Elder Vance w/ Bloody nose--Dog that followed us for 20 minutes--river--taxi--painting--ball--Elder Vance having a crisis--Elder Lugo

I'm tired of tanning

Monday, May 9, 2022

Wowie never have I done so much in one week, but so little at the same time. I promise that the more you read the email, the more you'll understand what I mean. Actually here's a little bullet point list of anything significant that happened last week that doesn't need too much explaining

-Painted the house
-Interviews and Zone Conference W/Pres
-Emergency transfers that left me in a trio for a few days
-Helped my comp E. Medrano with all of his last minute things he wanted to do before he went back to his house
-Dropped comp off on Sunday :(
--Now it is just me and E. Alcala (comp from MTC) waiting together for our new comps to get here
-I'll stay in Durango in the same area for 7 more weeks thanks to weird transfers

So ya pretty much we've just been busy all the time with anything but missionary work, which has been so frustrating for the people that we're working with, but has also made life super fun ahaha.

For example, Friday we were trying to cross a street, when we got stopped by a homeless man. He than started to say how he loves Mormons and that his brother's a Bishop and that we need to give him 40 pesos so that way he can save the world.

I was confused how a homeless man could save the world with 40 pesos, but luckily he informed me that he could do it because he was our new God. To prove it, he stared at E. Alcala for a very long time, and said that you have exactly 63 pesos in your pocket. E. Alcala did not, in fact, have 63 pesos, but instead a solid 16 pesos. We then left him to return to his post... standing in the middle of the busy street.

Other story but I've become addicted to the new Coca Cola 8-bit. Granted, I've only had two so far, but I plan to change that in the coming week lol.

Super spiritual experience was going to the baptism of Alejandra in E. Alcala's ward. Thanks to the testimonies, conversion stories, and the baptism itself, I ended up having what I believe has been one of my most spiritual experiences on the Mission so far.

I can't justly explain what was said, but I will say that the intense peace and joy that I felt is something that has carried with me since Thursday. As I watched Alejandra be baptized and become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, I was left thinking, "What experience led me to becoming converted?"

As I have pondered this, I've come to believe that I never had a huge, instantaneous conversion, but rather a mosaic of different sized, life changing spiritual moments. I went on to share my testimony on Sunday to share my experience about this baptism, and at the end I asked everyone this same question I asked myself. Now, I want to ask all of you,

"What experience led to your own conversion?" Along with that, "How have you held on to that conversion?"

As for me, I know that I am still here because I need this peace and joy that the spirit brings into my life. It has become a bigger addiction than my problem with Coca Cola 8-Bit, and that's saying something lol

Please think about this question this week. I don't ask for much in my emails, but this week I ask for this. Let me know what your answer is to this, or simply just think about it. Allow yourself time and let the spirit help you answer this question, just like it did with me.

I know this Church is true, Ily all, Peace❤

-Elder Winegar

Pics hehe, kitten, bye bye Elder Medrano, trying to unplug the baptismal font, sunrise, painting out house, cutting hair, and coke 8-bit